You could try to use battle animations. Like so:
Needs to animate -> Character Grapic = none -> Display animation at hero position -> change hero graphic to "graphic"
That usually works pretty well.
I don't think that'll work. Meh. I don't really think that it's a big deal. It takes place in a different world, Subcon. Maybe characters there are three-dimensional. Really, it's a GBA style Paper Mario. GBA, as far as I know, couldn't handle that kind of thing, with rotating, 2-d characters, and neither can RMXP. It's more of an interactive fanfic, anyway, not a continuation of the Paper Mario series. It's also my FIRST game, so don't expect any spectacular stuff, but that's not to say that it's not still a good game. I just know a lot more about RMXP than I did when I made it. I'm trying to add my newfound skills to it, but I'm still intermediate, so, again, don't expect an amazing spectacle.
You CAN expect an awesome plot, unexpected cameos, and suprise plot twists, though. I'm more of a writer/artist, and since I am doing the actual game development alone, with your input, of course, it's hard to make stuff like that. I'll try my best to make this an awesome game, though!