Nice idea and good execution, I loved the adorable main character and the feedback on the parry mechanic and start cutscene. It takes a little bit of time after you click for the parry to work, and your character keeps falling down during that window- it led to a lot of my deaths feeling unearned ("I parried correctly but still died!"). After you die you need to wait a second for a screen to flash- because you die a lot it is important that you will be able to restart quickly (maybe put the death counter somewhere else that does not interrupt the gameplay?)
The level design is good, I appreciate the generous use of checkpoints and the character feels good to control. Great work!