Honestly this game managed to be a rush job so in the writing department I get what you mean.
As for the character bust art, I tend to use traditional lineart. My art style tends to be very hit-or-miss because of that; So using a symmetry tool might give it the opposite effect since I find perfect symmetry to look less natural and uncanny. The shading I could work on more, I just need advice on it (but a lot of people tend to like it).
The sprites are actually 16-bit. I am glad that Hto's sprites are to your liking as well. I am just sorry the rest of your game isn't up to your standards. And Hatoge? I am not quite familiar with it.
Edit: Found Hatoge's page (it's best to mention if they are a user or not since English is a tricky language.) I'll definitely check them out since their art is cute and like you said, it looks right up our alley.