I love it! I'd recommend it to everyone :)
in the original crystal game I also stopped after the first E4, but kanto is very much fun as well
its fun to see how much has changed after (fire)red, since its 3 years later now after Red's story
I thought Kanto would be more of the same, but it isnt, it really has its own storyline which matches with the one in Johto
if you have more questions, please share :)