[P4A] Akihiko vs Yu

[Skye]

TL;DR verdict: ??:??

Yu's tools

Akihiko's answer to them

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Akihiko's tools

Yu's answer to them

[xS-1x]

Yu's tool

that goddamn sword's range and amazing 5D oki on knockdown

Akihiko's answer

block... I guess. Hope Yu messes up at some point. I've tried Double Uppercutting out of his pressure, but most of the time it just gets stuffed.

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Akihiko's tools

Duck and weave baby, duck and weave. Even that doesn't work a lot of the time.

Yu's answer

Uhhh, everything... All of Aki's pressure is pretty much DP-able and his persona is not useful for anything other than random hits occasionally. Yu will outpoke Aki no matter what. His mix-up and pressure make it difficult for Akihiko to do anything. Once he gets momentum it can be incredibly difficult just to get out of his pressure. If you end up in the corner, you might as well burst because if the Yu is any good you won't be getting out. Oh, and if by chance you do block Big Gamble then he can still cancel to Cross Slash (in Awakening) which is pretty much safe.

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Maybe I just suck, but this match-up is giving me a really hard time. I can't get in, and if I do I get almost nothing for it. Yu's damage and reset potential just keeps forcing me to block constantly. It feels like playing against Yu is just "Down-Back: The Game"

[Heroic_Legacy]

AHAHAHAHAHA. Every matchup Akihiko has is "Down-Back: The Game"

Especially for your opponents.

Whiff punish 5B/2B, Double upper 214B. Block slide. Just be patient. Do some fuzzies and eventually Narukami will get opened up.

If you get knocked down, don't do anything but block properly. Never mash reversals.

[xS-1x]

AHAHAHAHAHA. Every matchup Akihiko has is "Down-Back: The Game"

Why am I even playing this character? Oh wait, because he's awesome!

Never mash reversals.

I wasn't really mashing it out, but trying it at different times to try and find openings. Apparently blocking is really the only option I have.

[slytech]

If anyone would like some matchup experience against Yu I depesperatley need to understand this matchup better on defense. However I am on 360, my gamertag is slytechFL feel free to add me and i will be on around 11 est tonight

[Kicks]

Few things that have helped me...

Instant block his dive stab

C(Caesar) hits right outside of Yu's range. If he's anti airing or just out poking you by mashing 5B and 2B, keep him honest with C and j.C then you can get in. If C gets blocked, I don't know the frames, but it seems kinda safe for the most part, you just can't keep attacking. Get ready to block.

With any Persona heavy character, jab out that persona when you can.

[xS-1x]

C(Caesar) hits right outside of Yu's range. If he's anti airing or just out poking you by mashing 5B and 2B, keep him honest with C and j.C then you can get in. If C gets blocked, I don't know the frames, but it seems kinda safe for the most part, you just can't keep attacking. Get ready to block.

I don't know the frames on j.C or C either but they both seem to be heavily dependent on height (j.C) and distance ©. If you're a little too high with j.C and it gets blocked you'll probably end up paying for it. I generally don't use C since it's very slow and I've been hit out of it almost every time. Though I suppose if you were calling out Yu mashing 5B or 2B then you could potentially get a CH. But on block I'm pretty sure that C is more unsafe than j.C, it's also slower. In general I've found j.C to be of far more use than C. D, in my experience, is pretty much useless in this match-up.

Not that you'll find many Yu's just throwing out Ziodyne (I think that's its name, the lightning super), but after IBing it, assuming they don't RC, it's punishable by B kill rush. So, you know. There's that.

[zyphur]

xS-1x I don't really understand your negativity toward this match up. Mitsuru does everything yu does but better. The only thing yu has over Mitsuru is better oki. Wake up and r-action. Just once for his reaction. If he blocks and punishes you its worth it, because you learn so much about how he fights. From then on he will bait it. Jumping back/blocking or using his Persona to Oki you. If he jumps back then proceeds to either air dash in with a jump in or do 214 A, you can choose to evade dash away, or anti air him. If he never moves, hes going to block, Just wake up and throw. If he uses his persona(and he's really good at matching your recovery with his persona)then block the string, and evade dash the next(theres an opening). If he runs in with it r-action. Thats basically all he has for oki. Now onto your main complaint. His range. Its "ok" nothing amazing. Just jump in on him a lot. If he anti airs you, just bait it with j.c. I beat most Yu's by simply being the aggressor. No its not down back the game. Its only down back the game because you don't know when to switch things around. I mean you have a COUNTER, use it. You have r-action,evasive dash, Ex duck, i mean you just have so many tools to make that yu regret over extending.

[xS-1x]

xS-1x I don't really understand your negativity toward this match up.

I was probably just being salty and overly negative. Not long after complaining I played a few Yu's online and tried some of the stuff suggested, it really helped a lot. Basically, everything you said is true. It's definitely not a great match-up but it's also not that bad.

Also, totally forgot Akihiko has a counter. Whoops...

[Eshi]

Holding C Weaving can avoid Yu's pokes and you can punish on reaction, if you're fast. Same goes for Misturu. Don't bother with his counter, it is shitty.

Also, both Yu and Mitsuru's R-Actions are very easy to safe jump (IE, hold back during a very low jump in so you'll block if they do something invincible). This forces them to at least respect your okizeme. Remember to RUN UNDER THEM after you block a DP or they could hit you with a super cancel.

Like Chie, there's nothing really to get around Yu's persona oki except blocking well. So block well. Guard Cancel can get you out in a pinch, though, so save your meter if you think you'll need it.

[zyphur]

I completely disagree eshi. Just because your weak point is good reaction speed, don't go spewing your biased views to other members. His counter isn't meant to be an end all. Its for recognizing specific moves and countering them into good damage. In fact boomerang hook on counter leads into huge damage. But go ahead and stay blocking while the rest of us actually win this match up.

[iw2ma]

I completely disagree eshi. Just because your weak point is good reaction speed, don't go spewing your biased views to other members. His counter isn't meant to be an end all. Its for recognizing specific moves and countering them into good damage. In fact boomerang hook on counter leads into huge damage. But go ahead and stay blocking while the rest of us actually win this match up.

I'm unsure where this is coming from at all. Last Eshi post i read had him winning too?

I feel this is a fairly even match overall. Maybe a bit in Yu's favor but not that much.

[kazukifafner]

From my experience, trying to use FA on wakeup against a decent Yu is a bad gamble. They tend to time their jump arc with D's blockstun; so you might hit the persona, but are left vulnerable to an incoming jB. This is true with most of the remaining blockstring as well. Finding a reliable time to reasonably go for FA is difficult, so you've got to make specific reads to go through it based on how the particular Yu goes about it.

But obviously, the best way is to get through their mixup the old-fashioned way: proper blocking. During said blocking, you should punish his persona whenever the opportunity presents itself; and should your reactions be good enough/your opponent predictable enough, you can likely hit or parry him out of raging lion.

Honestly, this matchup is just one big battle of momentum. The instant one lands that first knockdown, the battle automatically swings in their favor. However, in comparison, it's harder for Aki to make a comeback the same way that Yu can (since Yu's oki is simply that much better), so you need to stay on your toes (which you should be doing anyway as an Aki player). Aki is also at a disadvantage during the neutral game. While it obviously isn't a bad against Yu as it is Mitsuru, Yu still has plenty of tools to out poke you.

Nothing especially different here in the end. Good Yomi > Knockdown > Keep Momentum. You just need to respect 5B/jB's range and get accustomed to his oki game.

[Eshi]

I completely disagree eshi. Just because your weak point is good reaction speed, don't go spewing your biased views to other members. His counter isn't meant to be an end all. Its for recognizing specific moves and countering them into good damage. In fact boomerang hook on counter leads into huge damage. But go ahead and stay blocking while the rest of us actually win this match up.

Counter is not good in this match-up because there's nothing long enough to react with it to. Sorry for not being clear with that statement. I implore you to take the stick out of your ass, though. You have a completely wrong impression of me. Edited August 17, 2012 by Eshi

[zyphur]

Holding C Weaving can avoid Yu's pokes and you can punish on reaction, if you're fast. Same goes for Misturu. Don't bother with his counter, it is shitty.

Also, both Yu and Mitsuru's R-Actions are very easy to safe jump (IE, hold back during a very low jump in so you'll block if they do something invincible). This forces them to at least respect your okizeme. Remember to RUN UNDER THEM after you block a DP or they could hit you with a super cancel.

Like Chie, there's nothing really to get around Yu's persona oki except blocking well. So block well. Guard Cancel can get you out in a pinch, though, so save your meter if you think you'll need it.

You came off shit talking parry. That was one of your earliest statements. After I just got done describing its benefits. Which makes you seem standoffish. You directed my responses to be strict, not the other way around.

[zyphur]

Also eshi pmed to tell me to shutup and that hes right. I mean I guess if you can't have a convincing argument publicly, get petty and make it private? idk. Seems sour to me. Personally all he did was debase himself. I bring this up because he has no rhyme or reason to his argument so he goes around behind public eyes to try and shut down mine. Its truly pathetic actually

Edited August 17, 2012 by zyphur

[iw2ma]

From a 3rd party view here i STILL see anything where he came off strong arming you or anything you said. I think you're taking his general shitty statement way too personal.

[Erionn]

Few things that have helped me...

Instant block his dive stab

C(Caesar) hits right outside of Yu's range. If he's anti airing or just out poking you by mashing 5B and 2B, keep him honest with C and j.C then you can get in. If C gets blocked, I don't know the frames, but it seems kinda safe for the most part, you just can't keep attacking. Get ready to block.

With any Persona heavy character, jab out that persona when you can.

You can also 2B him out of the dive stab, if it hits him high you can super jump into combo, if it hits him low enough you can go into a 5b j.b loop. EDIT: Actually height doesn't matter, you can just delay the jump if you hit them high.

If he's far away throwing out random dives, you can actually get 2B to clash with it and go into 5b fatal.

Edited August 19, 2012 by Erionn

[ChrisFGC]

Could anyone further elaborate on how to safe jump Yu's uppercut?

[Eshi]

2B seems really difficult to AA Yu's dive stab with. I need to figure out a more reliable way to punish it, but IBing the unsafe one works pretty well. This is starting to become one of my favorite match-ups to play because of the emphasis on footsies. Yu's pokes are about as good as Mitsuru's but have a LOT more recovery, so if you space yourself correctly then you can reaction Kill Rush punish a whiffed poke. I dunno, playing with strong players just makes this match-up super fun. It feels very even IMO.

Could anyone further elaborate on how to safe jump Yu's uppercut?

After getting a long knockdown off of a move that grants oki (counterhit DP, Lvl 3 Corkscrew, any corkscrew in the corner), do 669 for a dash buffered jump and then do j4B. If timed correctly (pretty easy actually) and Yu tries to DP on wake-up, the jB whiffs through the invincibility but you land and block before getting hit. IMMEDIATELY run under him if this happens so that he can't super cancel on the way down. If he doesn't DP then just press buttons as you normally would.

Oh, and you can do SFIV-style cross-up safe jumps on him too, his DP has no hitbox in the back of it.

[HollywoodDart]

This is probably one of my top 3 fave matchups. Along with kanji and labrys. Since Akihiko has to outspace people at all times or he's getting wrecked. I play this matchup like I do shotos in street fighter. I try to space it so he has to do fireball or slide/raging lion then punish him from there.

[ChrisFGC]

snip

So, off of a long knockdown, is a buffered 66 into 2a also a safe way of pressuring against DP's it's something I noticed Kubota doing a lot, it seems pretty effective since off of corkscrew in the corner, buffered 66 into 2a gets you an invalid reset if they choose not to tech instantly

[Skye]

My write up on the Narukami Match up

TL;DR verdict: 4.5:5.5 Yu's favor

Yu's tools

5b - outspaces Akihiko

2b - great anti air

Oki - All around good

DP - Hard to bait since first hit is air unblockable

Akihiko's answer to them

C Weave - dodges 5b

C or D Ducking - also dodges 5b, can punish the whiff with a grab, but requires good reads

Blocking - Important when fighting Yu

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Akihiko's tools

5a/2a - very good once you're in

j.c - baits 2b when done properly

Yu's answer to them

5b/2b - outs paces you on a grand level

Misc. Notes

Keep most of your strings safe, Yu can punish you good for leaving holes.

Don't be too offensive, his DP is good.

DP Raging Lion (sword dive) on reaction, it is not real mix up.

C Weave is not very good vs him, his 214c/d can blow you up and can stuff an EX Hook or Corkscrew.

D Weave is good when you're trying to back off.

EX Weave is great for DP baits.

Prioritize hitting Yu instead of Izanagi, Izanagi has a lot of recovery, but Yu does not.

[xXisukaXx]

I have trouble with this match-up. it feels like high level carl clover lock-down when Yu gets in. Good blocking could only get me so far All I ever do in this match up is block and stay free. Would breaking his persona help with getting him in or break an opening?

[Skye]

Moke knows how to mow it down and tear it up.

A must watch for this allegedly evenish MU.

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?14482-P4A-Akihiko-Video-Critique-Discussion-Thread/page4&p=1490884&viewfull=1#post1490884