Akuma – Major Disadvantage
While this isn’t as bad as Blanka/T.Hawk or some of the other downright awful matches, it’s a very uphill struggle. Akuma just shits all over her. It’s a match that she never really gets to control and has to rely on precise reads, both offensively and defensively.
So the problems – she has no good answer for his jump-back fireball game. If thrown properly she can’t U1 through them. It’s difficult for her to pressure him on wakeup because he has a good DP and his back teleport is pretty much a get out of jail free card. She can punish with U1 but it requires pretty much anticipating the teleport and being ready for it, which also takes away some of her offensive options. And then there’s the Akuma vortex – while Chun isn’t as free to it as some other characters it’s still a bad situation where she can lose a lot of life on a bad guess, and a good guess merely just lets her live another day.
While Chun technically wins the neutral game, Akuma never really has to play it. As stated before she can’t deal with jump-back fireball well, and Akuma’s go-to footsie will be his sweep to get Chun on her back and set up his offense. Before Akuma has U1 Chun can try to counter his sweep with FA, her own sweep as a counter-poke, and it’s punishable on block with U1 and super. Once Akuma has U1 Chun can no longer use FA or U1 punish as Akuma can counter with his U1. As a strategy if Akuma is throwing a lot of air fireballs you can try to absorb a few and get Revenge Meter before he does, and look for a sweep U1 punish while he still doesn’t have his U1 available. Super however is a true punish for sweep that Akuma can do nothing about.
FA in general can be risky against Akuma, especially after he gets U1. Fortunately Chun is one of the characters against whom the second hit of Akuma’s f.rh whiffs on crouch block, so if your opponent goes for it and you just happened to be crouch blocking you get a free punish. Again this becomes less free once Akuma has U1 or Super, and some players will do the f.rh knowing you’re looking to punish and cancel into Demon.
If Akuma is jump-back fireballing be patient and drive him to the corner. Absorb fireballs while dashing forward and push the screen ahead. Get him into the corner, then make him work to get out. Having Akuma in the corner is the only semblance of an advantage Chun will have in this match so you should be taking some damage from him, if not (with any luck) establishing a huge life lead and/or just winning the round.
If Chun gets knocked down and has to deal with wakeup vortex use the block/Hasanshu OS that Skatan mentioned. Most of Akuma’s setups defeat EX SBK so don’t bother. Don’t panic on the wakeup offensive – if you have to just block whatever is coming and then pick your spot to reversal/escape later.
This is a match where Chun will really have to capitalize on Akuma’s mistakes. If you ever get a whiffed DP punish with whatever max damage punish you can do. Don’t bother going for a sweep/throw into setup because the chances of the setup leading to something better aren’t that great. Punish hard. Hit training room and learn exactly which air fireballs you can and can’t U1 punish. Watch the match carefully – your Akuma opponent may make a timing/placement mistake and you should punish them for it. Some Akuma’s may even do full-screen fireballs – make them pay for their mistake with dash U1.
You’ve probably already figured it out by now but this is definitely a U1 match. While he doesn’t corner juggle you need U1 to try and limit/regulate the fireball game, and as a potential sweep punish while Akuma doesn’t have any Demons available. Try to use FA absorbs so you get Ultra first. Also punish any whiffed DPs with Ultra if you have it – again, max damage whenever possible. Back teleport is U1 punishable but it requires Chun to be relatively close to him on wakeup while sitting on charge – easier said than done. But it is doable so it’s something to keep in mind and utilize if/when the situation presents itself.
