i'm still in doubt if i really need to shade the characters. i want to try working more with flat silhouettes on complex backgrounds, but seems it doesn't look okay here.

Лол

it's a shame you simply don't shade the bear in both your pictures :/

realism aside, the flames themselves with the animation look great

try putting abit more work into detailing and shading and I'm sure you'll enjoy pixeling way more since that's the main fun part about it