Just some impressions on characters...
Reimu's shot type: Homing amulets unfocused, Persuasion Needle focused. The homing is not very fast and seems to prefer stuff straight ahead so it's not like IN's crazy all-over-the-place homing, but it's not an intrinsically weak shot type either this time. Fantasy Seal seems alright.
Marisa's got lasers unfocused and missiles focused. Her lasers are actually really damn powerful, I was impressed. The focus shot seems to be a little bit weaker almost and not so great for stage segments, but they do explode ala SanaeB's frogs on contact. Seems to be the highest power normal shot. Master Spark.
Sanae's the spread type. Her spread is pretty good if a little bit underwhelming power-wise, and her forward focus shot doesn't seem that powerful either; but the spread gets really damn wide and isn't too bad for damage. Her pentagram bomb is awesome looking but I'm not sure how powerful it is yet.
Youmu's weird. The hit range on her charged shot is short vertically but surprisingly wide. Her normal shot isn't anything spectacular. She could be the most powerful if you can use her right - but it requires staying fairly close to bosses (you can't hit them from the bottom). It doesn't start charging until the old slash finishes, so to get the most damage, you actually need to fire regularly for a moment after starting each slash. Bomb is awesome-looking.
Also: For scoring purposes, the bosses let out a spirit as they take damage. If you're close enough to them, you can collect every spirit they give off (your 'absorption range' will include their spawn point), which can significantly pump up item value by a few hundred extra during a phase or spellcard.