Sengoku high skipping stages?

I am having some difficulty with Sengoku High and wanted to see if anyone else is seeing the same type of behavior.

Sometimes after a stage when I click up over the next portal he gives me the experience and the coins but doesn't take me to the next stage. When I try again he gives me a message that says "defeat your opponent before you speak to me again". The problem is if I talk to him, and then try the portal again it gives me more experience and more coins but skips the next stage. This is so frustrating because I miss out on any coin bonus from killing the boss from that next stage which if it's the Kanna or Hayato stage can be up to eight coins each. Sometimes it won't even advance me at all and I get stuck on that stage until the time runs out or I leave on the left portal.

Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

There is already a thread, conveniently titled "Sengoku High". We've been discussing it all day