Can't say I'm that excited about the character but the moveset does look interesting to play with. I'm rather amused by a lot of the rage I see online. I mean, right after the DLC was first announced many were expecting a Fire Emblem 3 houses character, so it's not like it should be a huge surprise. Reminds me of the last Direct before the base game was released when people got angry over Ken and Incineroar being the last 2 revealed because we had Simon and K Rool shown in the previous Direct. Had Sakurai revealed Byleth before Banjo and Terry, the reaction wouldn't be as overblown. Then again, if Joker, Hero and Byleth were the first 3 characters shown, I'd imagine the complaining about it being nothing but JRPG anime characters would have been just as vocal, so I guess they needed to get Banjo and Terry in there to show some better variety.
Of course the funny thing is, out of all the DLC characters shown, Byleth is from one of the more popular recent games. Banjo and Terry are more 90's picks that aren't as relevant with modern audiences and 3 Houses sold a lot better in the West then Dragon Quest 11 did. When Nintendo finally releases end of year numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if 3 Houses ends up matching or outselling Persona 5 as well. Plus keep in mind Fire Emblem Heroes has been insanely successful for Nintendo on mobile, so it's not like Fire Emblem is some niche franchise only a few know about anymore.
If anything, you'd think this would make people more excited for the second season pass since it'll have 6 characters this time and won't have to worry about one being from Fire Emblem. Of course as Broodwars already stated, it looks like that hate will go to the guaranteed Pokemon character instead. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pokemon choice is Rillaboom. We got the water starter in Wii U with Greninja and the fire starter in Ultimate with Incineroar, you can't tell me Sakurai isn't looking at the grass type of the most recent game for the DLC. Especially when this grass type is a gorilla that plays the drums. You know Sakurai is going to have fun with him since it has the most unique potential of the Sword and Shield starters.