not the strongest touhou game for me, but not the weakest either. mechanically, the gathering spirits mechanic is almost something and i don't mind how punishing it is to get hit when you consider the relative ease of the danmaku, but the requirement to obtain exponentially more life pieces to get extra lives feels really really bad, as does having optimal resource collection be connected to smart use of the trance meter.

that being said, the music here is some of the strongest in touhou imo (faves include Legend of the Great Gods, Shoutoku Legend~ True Administrator, Let’s Live in a Lovely Cemetery and Old Yuanxian), and there are so many great girls here (Miko, Seiga Kaku, Yoshika Miyako, etc). there are some especially fun spell cards as well, such as Saint Girl "Oomonoimi's Banquet", Hermit Sign "Taoist of the Land of the Rising Sun", and Path Sign "Tao Fetal Movement".