That's great incorporation of critique so far DTE462. Well done. I want to help too, but not so much with the shading (I think the 'more contrast' direction was very good) but with the construction of the character. I realize you're going for an anime-esque style, but I still think you might want to take a few steps backwards and clarify the character's construction a bit. The facial characteristics feel to me a bit 'symbolic', just placed on the face in a T shape without enough thought to the planes of the face etc. Does that make sense? I like that your character has a personality and an emotional state you're going for, so perhaps a little bit more construction will help sell that even more.
Simple things you could do back in the construction shape to sell the exhaustion etc:
1. make the head pose down, eyes looking lower, as a tired person might
2. have one hand interacting with the head, perhaps catching a strand of hair or adjusting the tennis visor
3. sweat drops! Very anime-friendly and easy to do. You don't have to do a huge one, even drops of realistic perspiration on the skin would read at this res. Show us what it is the character is doing that's making them exhausted.
On that last note, I can recommend:
4. finish the figure drawing. Even if you don't end up pixelling all of it, know what the character is doing, what their environment is in and how they're interacting with it, even if it just just by gravity. This is such an important thing that I wish someone had told me very early on. It's the best way to learn to place your characters in a setting and have them meaningfully interact with it, even if you only end up doing a bust. Challenge yourself.
I don't of course expect you to go hit the drawing board for this particular sprite just because I said so. I appreciate that you've already taken critique on board in this thread and you've already progressed from your initial sprite. Even if you don't return to this one, take the above points into account if you would for your next piece. More thought in the construction phase will ALWAYS pay off.