Hi, sagana! Sorry for the delay in replying. I was so surprised by the fact you took the time to write this detailed comment that I wasn't sure what to do initially.
I will definitely look into improving the music, the presentation of the characters, and the difficulty curve. The intended response for the pencil question is "keep it". I'm also going to see about adding a hint, instead of an option for having a wrong answer bring you to the answer players failed instead of quitting.
Thanks so much for your kindness. I wasn't expecting it.
My plan is to release a walk-through as soon as I can and release an update in the next few days.