True. But that doesn't mean we should connect them to any other works.
For now yes. The option always exists down the line where we -could-, in the fashion of PMiSS/Grimoire of Marisa where it adds to the canon of the games, or in a supposed Ijiyatsu 2. But that's getting ahead of things.
The forward animation in the Touhou games is 4 frames in the first few games and 8 in later games. I was trying to mimic UFO Reimu's sprites to get it animated like this. If I want to make better animations I need to do more than 8 frames.
Great work on the sleeves. I think what Cadmas is suggesting, and something that might be possible with just some shuffling around, is maybe you can vary the movement slightly so that it ends up being one blended continuous motion? Er, let me clarify.
So, the moving parts of the sprite are hair, sleeves, and skirt. Right now, they're all moving in sync with each other and there ends up being a noticeable pause when everything stops moving at once. But maybe if you stagger their animations so they all begin at different times, it would become more fluid? I'm not 100% sure it wouldn't look weird, but its an idea. That does mean that there would always be at least 2 of the 3 parts in motion animation in any given frame.