[Li Jianliang]

Humor or something quirky in the animation can make it stand out and very memorable... ^_^ From last year, I can clearly remember the cell-shaded Gaiden ninja one at the nationals.

Badly placed humor (and/or puns) doesn't add to the overall point at all. Seriousness is as hard to pull off as humor in my opinion, because most of times the seriousness is overplayed and makes the viewer feel that the animation is melodramatic or drabby in that sense.