To Camus's other comment, sadly I've done a lot of run loops, but usually of the 8 frame variety. I tried to keep torso movement to a minimum as this is traditionally how samurai and ninja run. Always with at least one foot on the ground for stability... that way if your shoved you don't just go flying. I think adding arbitrary constraints to a motion creates character in the motion.. however you have to use those constraints to force you to be creative and solve the motion in a different way.. which I don't think I've successfully achieved.

I want to capture the charm of the idle anim, so I may take this all the way back to motion design... ah well.. when you care about something

(the other constraint is trying to use the minimum number of frames required to convey the motion and character in an appealing way)

Yeah, that was the problem I noticed too Kon, since you noticed it as well, I guess I have to fix it

Yeah, I noticed that when I was shading the top part of the legs. If the light area moved with the leg it looked wrong so I had to make it so it moved minimally while the legs moved.  It's a discipline that I need to teach myself when shading light, that will take some time... I'm not really an artist.. I just do it to relax and unwind every now and then.

I'm really happy with the progress on the sprite so far, I may give the light sourcing on the metal another shot...

I think you are right on all crits, I'll do an edit soon!