Even if you don't want smears, a frame or two of building up momentum on the hammer instead of instantly accelerating it to full speed would give it a much better sense of weight. Otherwise a very convincing silhouette!

The axe is well-implemented, and the expanded shadow is actually a good idea, but it's /so/ similar to the normal (lance) sprite that I'm inclined to ask, is it just an edit of that? It's good for what it is, but I feel like you're not supposed to upload that kind of thing here...

Aaaahhhh the dragon's design is so original and creative, it really looks like a totally new thing~

All of the sprites are all really good on their own, but as a set....  Well, the style doesn't seem too consistent. But maybe that's intentional? *hasn't looked into the game*

NYANPASSU

But wow that looks really 3d, I can't figure out how you did that @o@

 Oh, also, another way to antialias the hair there would be like this:

http://gyazo.com/c6fa2f6322b1a5bc98b255b9a325dbbc.png

You can do this if you don't want to break up the line, but take note that it makes the line look thicker. Anyway, best of luck!

 You've got some nice outlines going there, but one of the first things anyone will tell you is to antialias some of the jagged lines, like here:

http://gyazo.com/9e72dfe0828d1bb2a5d4df4e833f15e6.png

Also, those toes could benefit from antialiasing, since you've got some banding going on around there (if you don't know these terms, there's a nice tutorial on the forums with your name on it, so to speak!) Overall, though, quite a nice-looking start you have.

You've done a good job of avoiding overdithering and working with a limited palette (it could have fewer colors with minimal losses, but it's still pretty good) but the things with the black outlines are where the problems are, I think. The water darkens the pillar way more than it does the background, I'm not entirely sure what the enmy is (this would probably be helped with animation, but as-is it looks like a snake hatching from an egg with eyes) but most of all I can't tell for the life of me what the main character is doing with his arm. I feel like you miight've been trying to have his shoulder really low down and his hand by his face, but that part of his arm and body are trying to blend together to make it look like his arm is going backwards.

Hopefully that made enough sense, my computer's running too slowly right now for me to try and reword this ^-^;

It's a good idea that reads nicely, but you've got quite a bit of banding, especially (at and) above the belt. Also, the greens are oddly dull and hard to distinguish. The mini is, interestingly, nice and sharp compared to the full one.

Just one thing about the animation, it pauses stiffly at the ends. I know they slow down at the sides, but not quite so suddenly, so it might be a good idea to add a tiny bit of variance between the two "stopped at sides" frames. You've got a nice illusion of rotation when it's moving, though!

It looks very nice as a whole, but it slightly baffles me how you managed to use 10 colors.

 A-actually, I could've (and, in retrospect, should've) put more work into this, but I wasn't sure if the contest deadline meant it had to be submitted or in the gallery by that time, so just to be safe, I tried to submit it quickly. But then it got accepted overnight, so whoops~

But thanks! I'll try to be less self-deprecating with my comments in the future... ^-^;

 The style is nicely simple, but the one thing that stands out to me is the shape of the near foot being awkwardly rigid on the side. What were you going for with that, exactly?

 I love the expression~!
(Th-the sprite itself is nice and clean, too)