has anyone made headway trying these upscalers?
https://upscale.wiki/wiki/Model_Databasei see people mention the same ones all the time, but there's other good ones. ghibli_grain (moderate film grain, forgiving), 4x_NMKD-UltraYandere (goes easy on sharpening), AnimeFilmGrain28k (aggressive film grain, suitable for certain subjects).