Apparently fans of the original anime were all up in arms about it, but that's anime fans for you, amirite? We're about a dozen episodes into the original and I think the live action series captured its flavor pretty well, while obviously being a different-but-similar story told via a different medium.
Probably the thing that bums me the most is that the end of the first season was obviously a setup for the start of season two and left the thoroughly likable Spike, played by John Cho, as down-and-out as it was possible to be without actually having a midget in a clown suit run out and kick him in the junk right as the credits rolled.
Anyway, I blame anime fans.