After some experimentation, and let me know if this is the case for you,
It appears the settings RESET every time you refresh the page and aren't being saved with the game.
So if you go back to a previous save by reloading the page, you have to re-select text mode in the menu. Simply using the quick load button or returning to the title and keeping the same session seems to retain my settings.
Seems to do the same if I close/reload the desktop version too. Though again, works fine if I load the save without closing the game first. I'll see if I can figure out why my save/load functions are resetting the option.
You can tell if you have Easy mode if your opponent starts with less than half health. (It does a few other things but that's the visually obvious one) So if that wasn't the case it's not active.
If the character you were using is Chi, she doesn't have a block/shield. You need to dash away from where an attack will impact and let the 'clone' do the blocking for you. Galenta has a unique shield that prevents you from moving for 1 second but reflects special projectiles back to the attacker. If you were using anyone else and the block/shield wasn't working properly then yeah I have a problem to look into, possibly with the input handler.