As a fan both of cute lesbians and of being out of my depth, Touhou Panel Date Pon is excellent. The story is funny and heartwarming at the same time, which is excellent for a lesbian love story. I loved the framing of the match-3 being in-universe dating with a fun callback at the end. I want Reimu and Marisa to be happy together so, so bad.
Gameplay-wise, it's Panel de Pon with spell cards. I've never played Panel de Pon or Touhou, so I got to come to this from the standpoint of a complete newcomer which is always nice, which meant I naturally gravitated toward story mode. Hoo boy. I was not prepared for Panel de Pon. Not one bit. I got stonewalled at the sleepy boss for almost 15 minutes, but yknow what? Even though I kept losing again and again despite not really knowing why, it was fun. The music's excellent, the sound effects are snappy, and the board's surprisingly readable. Ended up powering through in the end, and it was well worth it.
There's survival, versus, and Lunatic modes which definitely did not need to be included, but I can appreciate them even if they're not for me. Looking forward to seeing netplay tournaments for Panel Date Pon in my youtube recommendations soon.
Solid, solid game. Spell bombed my heart with its writing and I'm gonna be seeing falling panels every time I close my eyes. Thoroughly enjoyed it.