@bd yea i felt the same watching the first episode, but it gets better :). What were spoilers in the first version aren't in this one, and these early revelations help to drive the story (we learn more about plants). They rly developed Knives' character.
It is a mix of the 1st anime and of the manga(which has very different ideas). They played around with the order of events, and in the end I think it works really well (tho others may disagree :>)