Akuma (悪魔 Akuma?, "Devil"), known in Japan as Gouki (豪鬼 Gōki?, "Great Demon", "Great Devil" or "Great Ogre"), is a playable character and an on-off character in the Street Fighter series and UDON comics. He is known as "The Supreme Master of the Fist."
Originally appearing in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss, he is Gouken's younger brother and Ryu's adoptive uncle. Akuma is voiced by Tomomichi Nishimura in all of Capcom's 2D Games; in Street Fighter IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter X Tekken, he is voiced by Taketora and Dave Mallow.
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.
