I got this game for Christmas, and tried it out for the first time last night. I fooled around a bit in training mode, then did one vs. COM match with me as Reimu and the computer as Marisa. After that, I went through Reimu's story mode. I lost thrice to Patchouli (I was still trying to figure out how to make my spell card work-- once I got it, I won), and then lost twice to the final boss (I got 2-shot by the surprise laser the first time, and my spell card somehow refused to activate the second time) before I managed to pull off a win (I didn't even use my spell card to win here, as the boss was defeated at about the time my charge meter filled up).
I'm sure I could get better with more experience (and if I could make my spell card work more consistently). The gameplay does feel a bit flawed though, like with the camera occasionally not focusing on my opponent just after I melee them, and it felt like the guard button just didn't want to work at all sometimes (aside from quickly dropping out of a jump as Gesh86 mentioned, which did work every time). At least the story and the final boss of Reimu's story did give me a decent chuckle.