Akuma

"I am Akuma. And I will teach you the meaning of pain!"

- Akuma "The true fighter can stare death in the face and lash out in rage against it!"

- Akuma

Akuma is a powerful and dreaded fighter, as well as the brother of Ryu’s master and adoptive father, Gouken, and an antagonist from the Street Fighter series.

Past
Akuma and Gouken studied martial arts under the master, Goutetsu, who taught them an unnamed martial arts style that had elements of karate, judo, and kempo and threatened the user’s life. However as time went by, Gouken began to dispute with Goutetsu about the violent nature of his style, eventually leaving to form his own dojo. Goutetsu allowed him to go while Akuma remained under his tutelage, vowing to use his style how it was intended. To learn the Shun Goku Satsu, a powerful killing move that endangered the user, Akuma took on the principle of “Satsui no Hado” or “Surge of the Intent to Kill.” Thus he gave up any compassion he had towards others and developed a desire to kill his opponents, unlike Goutetsu who did not give in to the dark side of Satsui no Hado.

Akuma realized he could increase his limits as a fighter and left Goutetsu so as to train his power, finally returning to kill his master with the Shun Goku Satsu. Deciding that he was the true master of their style, Akuma took Goutetsu’s prayer beads.

Gouken arrived at that moment, having come to visit his master, and, seeing what his brother had become, chastised him for his actions. Akuma said nothing and left, returning many years later to fight Gouken while a young Ryu and Ken watched. He said that his brother was not strong enough to fight him without giving in to the killing intent of Satsui no Hado. Gouken said that the style they had been taught was about more than destruction, saying that Akuma disgraced their master. He replied that Goutetsu had not truly understood their style and was foolish not to give into the Satsui no Hado completely. Gouken managed to defeat Akuma, who told his brother to kill him and when Gouken refused, he called him weak, saying he’d return.

A few years later, Akuma returned and fought his brother again, striking him down with the Shun Goku Satsu. He believed that Gouken was dead, however he’d survived by emptying his soul and had instead been put in a coma. Ken found the defeated Gouken and confronted Akuma, but he was beaten and Akuma disappeared.

Street Fighter Alpha 2
Akuma began a search for worthy opponents, keeping to the shadows where he watched small tournaments and street fights. He became desperate to find someone able to match him and eventually received a challenge from a fighter called Gen. He proved to be a powerful opponent for Akuma and even managed to survive his Shun Goku Satsu by emptying his soul. Akuma started to think Gen was the challenger he’d been seeking, but suddenly sensed something was off. After Gen started to bleed from the mouth, Akuma realized he was sick and the fight wasn’t evenly matched. He eventually managed to knock Gen down and the old fighter asked him to kill him.

However Akuma refused and left, not wanting to continue the fight, much to Gen’s anger. Akuma became obsessed with making Ryu embrace the Satsui no Hado to make him the opponent he sought. Eventually Ryu found his way to Akuma’s island home and challenged him to a fight. Though Ryu won, Akuma had only been testing him and told him to find him again once he’d given in to Satsui no Hado. He unleashed a powerful strike on the ground, causing the island to start falling apart, and disappeared. Akuma’s drive to find an opponent strong enough to kill him in a fight remained and he began his training again in an isolated cave, waiting for his next fight against Ryu. On one occasion, Akuma fought and killed a fighter that was about to challenge Adon. Seeing this as a challenge, Adon became determined to find and battle Akuma so as to prove himself stronger. In Akuma’s ending, he realized that he had fought worthy opponents and decided to stay alive for the moment, so as to perfect his power, knowing that there would eventually be someone able to kill him.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
Akuma continued to wait for Ryu to embrace Satsui no Hado while still seeking other worthy foes. Eventually Adon confronted him so as to demonstrate the supremacy of his Muay Thai style. However Akuma easily beat him, but chose not to kill him, apparently deciding he wasn’t worthy. Later, Akuma was challenged by M. Bison and thought it would be an easy win, since he was unable to sense Bison’s enormous amount of chi due to it being channeled through the Psycho Drive. Akuma attacked with the Shun Goku Satsu, but it had no effect on Bison due to his lack of a soul. He was able to catch Akuma off guard and easily defeat him. After this, Akuma fought against Gen again, but it is unknown what the result of their fight was.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Though Akuma was not an official competitor in the second World Warrior Tournament, he observed the tournament seeking a worthy challenge. Akuma eventually ambushed M. Bison at the beginning of the final fight, easily taking him down with his Shun Goku Satsu. Bison had been forced to merge with part of his expelled soul previously and this time was destroyed by the attack. Akuma proceeded to take on Bison’s opponent, but the details of this battle are unknown.

Super Street Fighter IV
As Akuma continued his training, he sensed the Satsui no Hado starting to re-emerge in Ryu. He headed out to fight him and make him give in to it so that he could become the opponent he wanted. After watching from the shadows for a time, Akuma found Ryu under the care of Gouken. The two brothers engaged each other with Ryu as the prize to the winner, but both survived the battle. Gouken freed Ryu of the Stasui no Hado and Akuma went back to his training and hunt for a worthy opponent.

Street Fighter III
Akuma’s training pushed his power to new heights, resulting in him developing new techniques, ones that could even unleash cataclysmic effects. Akuma did not officially compete in the next World Warrior Tournament, but again watched from the shadows. In the final match, he appeared and used his Shun Goku Satsu on Gill, sponsor of the tournament, and fought the other finalist himself (though Gill managed to resurrect himself later). Akuma eventually battled against Oro, after the two sensed each other’s massive amount of chi. The two were mutually impressed at each other’s strength, but held slight contempt for each other. Akuma and Oro’s battle ended without any real conclusion.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3
After the Marvel and Capcom universes began fusing together, Akuma became drawn into the conflict. In his ending, Akuma, having defeated Galactus and many other opponents from the Marvel universe, decided that he would no longer wait for strong opponents to appear to him and instead seek them out himself.

Street Fighter X Tekken
Akuma began hearing voices from within that became clearer after the meteorite containing Pandora crashed into the Earth. He decided that Pandora had brought a new era of chaos as fighters from all over the world tried to obtain it. When Akuma reached Pandora, he encountered another fighter; Ancient Ogre. Akuma could immediately tell that Ogre was a much more powerful fighter than any of the others he'd encountered. They challenged each other to see who was the superior fighter and in the end, Akuma managed to defeat Ogre.

In his ending, Akuma approached Pandora, but when it opened, a manifestation of Oni, Akuma completely consumed by the Satsui no Hado, came out. Recognizing that this being was an enraged shadow of himself, Akuma engaged it.

Asura's Wrath
Akuma makes an appearance in in the DLC of Asura's Wrath. Akuma has the opportunity to fight Asura after witnessing the latter's match with Ryu and is impressed by his skills. In order to prevent distractions Akuma immediately executes the Demon Armegeddon on Ryu, knocking him so hard he flies back to his home dimension.

When Akuma learns of Asura's name he seems to be very familiar with Asura's background as a being of Wrath and challenges him to a fight. Asura gains the upperhand and punches Akuma so hard he flies straight into a wall and Akuma suddenly transformed into Oni. This prompts Asura to transform into his second strongest form, Mantra Asura, and Oni goes toe-to-toe with wrath emodieded god. Asura once again gains the upperhand when Oni initiates all of his Ultra Attacks but prove to be useless when Asura counters all of them, the battle escalates to the point where the very moon splits apart to the core and breaks from the sheer force of their blows. Asura and Oni start to fight in the moon, among the asteroids, and then in space. The two crash land into the Earth's atmosphere in a struggling, they then engage in a punch-off with neither one refusing to step down. Asura and Akuma continue to fight with fight apparently lasting for 500 years.

The two fighters turn into statues and finally begin to move to end the battle ending in a cliffhanger.

Personality
Akuma is a cold and extremely powerful warrior whose sole reason for being is to hone his fighting skills by battling and destroying strong foes. He rarely displays any sign of emotions, aside from occasional bursts of anger, and rarely smiles. He takes his training very seriously and deals brutally with those who dare interrupt him, as seen in his Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike ending. Occasionally, he likes to test himself against worthy rivals (e.g. Gen, Oro). He is also somewhat nihilistic by principle as he seeks someone able to kill him and it is shown in his Alpha 2 ending.

Akuma detests his brother Gouken for not giving in to the dark side of their arts which is, according to Akuma, the way they were intended to be used. He also blames Gouken for sealing off the darkness within Ryu, thus preventing Ryu from reaching his true potential. This forces Akuma to give up on his planned duel with Ryu, as he believes that only a fellow practitioner of Satsui no Hado can one day hope to defeat him.

Akuma refers to himself as a "denizen of hell" and "evil incarnate", and is seen as such by many. This may be a result of the Satsui no Hado ("Surge of Murderous Intent") taking a toll on his mind.

Moral Code
Most of the time, Akuma abides by the code of the warrior. He is not evil in the dry sense of the word - he does not randomly seek people to kill, but rather only kills strong opponents in their best condition. He fights to improve his skills and defeat powerful foes - though on rare occasion, he does so to gauge the other's abilities. Although he killed his teacher and believed he did the same with his brother (Gouken), Akuma did so in combat, and thus can be said to have not transgressed on his principles.

In combat, Akuma almost never resorts to his true strength, especially if testing another fighter; he only fights warriors that he deems worthy, or the ones he believes have the potential to become such. During the events of Street Fighter Alpha 2, Akuma fought Ryu only to gain insight on Ryu's abilities, while in 3rd Strike, he faced Oro in order to test his own strength.

Although Akuma usually prefers an even bout (as he backed out of a duel with Gen once he found out that Gen was fatally ill), it is not uncommon for him to deliver a lethal sneak attack to an unprepared opponent (as he did with Bison, Gill and Adon's unnamed rival). While the evil nature of Satsui no Hado itself may have corrupted Akuma's ways, it is worth noting that Akuma considers Bison a much more abhorrent type of evil. Also, he once saved a child who got lost in his cave.