It’s more of a Soul Spark. Unlike Ryu’s hadoken, it’s not particularly safe at midrange or even full screen. It’s more optimum at around 3/4’s of a screen away, 1/2 or less is asking for a punish because of its startup/recovery
In many matchups as a Chun, you have to forget it even exists. It’s one of my weaknesses I feel-- I kikoken too much when she has better options in pokes. lol
Kikoken startup/recovery: L.14/44, M.12/41, H.10/41 = 30/29/31f ‘real’ recovery
Hadouken startup/recovery: 13/45 = 32f ‘real’ recovery
Just looking at the l.Kikoken, you see that it’s basically the same fireball (+1 startup, -1 recovery).
Soulspark startup/recovery: L.14/52, M.22/52, H.29/53 = 38/30/24f ‘real’ recovery (but with massive startup)
This on the other hand looks entirely different - just comparing the l.versions, SoulSpark has a massive +8f recovery at the same startup compared to Kikoken.
The only reasons for Kikoken being comparably inefficient at midrange are 1) it’s a charge move 2) Chun has a dangload of godpokes and doesn’t need to rely on it