Bonus Blog: Akuma VS Raoh (Street Fighter VS Fist Of The North Star)

 

(Kaiser)

(Kaiser)

(Kaiser)

(Flip)

(T0m)

“Strength is the morality of the man who stands out from the rest, and it is mine” - Friedrich Nietzsche 

Akuma, The Destroyer of the Heavens from Street Fighter.

Raoh, The Conqueror of the Century’s End from Fist of the North Star.

Might controls everything, and to become the mightiest fist on Heaven and Earth, one must embark on a journey of violence and glory. These two fighters took on such a journey, and today, their paths cross in a fight to the death. Let’s find out which of these Heaven shattering fists comes out victorious in a DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…

This is a bonus blog tied to Ryu vs Kenshiro, and as such uses the same material for research and shares a lot of content. Following is a modified excerpt of the blog that goes over what will be used for both characters.

Both series have had a lot of discourse of what should be used in terms of their canonicity, but thankfully, the Street Fighter World Warrior guide makes Akuma’s side easier then you’d assume. We will be using the mainline games, guidebooks, Udon comics that are backed as canon by the guide, the Final Fight games besides Revenge, and the Rivals Schools games. We’ll talk about the rest of the Udon Comics, EX, and Revenge in Before the Verdicts.

Comparatively, Raoh is simpler - the main Fist of the North Star and Fist of the Blue Sky manga and their anime adaptations with other material such as the various spinoff games being used as supporting material. We’ll discuss the various Gaidens in Before The Verdicts as well. 

The art team (L.A.D, Aggravating_Floor and Flip) tried to make this blog as pleasingly looking as possible, and in this blog we tried doing something different with the background cards to be a bit more creative, so we hope you guys enjoy the change for future blogs. On the other hand, we also decided to tone down the usage of custom GIFs, given they make the document more heavy and therefore not load as well on Wordpress, which we will use as a backup eventually. Sorry if that comes as a disappointment. Special thanks for ishi_yuki as well for clutching in with some of the final images. We hope you guys enjoy this blog!

Background

Akuma

“I am Akuma! And I will teach you the meaning of pain!”

Before he was a vagabond who sought the strength to transcend the heavens, Akuma was merely a cub, training alongside his brother Gouken in the deadly martial art of Ansatsuken, a style focused on assassination. From the start, Akuma displayed a frightening natural talent. As they grew, their master Goutetsu prepared them for the day they would wield its most dangerous secret: the Satsui no Hado.

But as their training advanced, their ideologies began to diverge. Akuma embraced the lethal roots of Ansatsuken, fixated on mastering the Satsui no Hado to become the true Master of the Fist. Gouken, on the other hand, forged a spiritual variant centered on control and self-defense, rejecting the art’s ruthless nature. This schism led to an inevitable clash. With full knowledge of the consequences, Akuma challenged Goutetsu. Teacher and student fought like demons for hours until Akuma claimed victory with the Shun Goku Satsu. He took his master’s prayer beads as proof of his triumph and stood as the new pinnacle of the art, seeking enlightenment through power. In his final moments, Goutetsu could not have been prouder. Years later, Akuma returned to face Gouken. His aim was not revenge but vindication, to show that Ansatsuken reached its peak only when unburdened by compassion. Once again, he unleashed the Raging Demon. Believing his brother to be dead (though he survived), Akuma vanished to continue his search for worthy foes. His legend spread as the Master of the Fist, feared and respected alike. But in his mountain path of death, even with all his might, Akuma felt only emptiness. Who could possibly challenge him now?

Then came Ryu and Ken, Gouken’s students. After their master’s apparent death, Ryu sought out Akuma and challenged him on his island. Recognizing the boy’s lineage, Akuma accepted. During their battle, he sensed the same dark energy slumbering within Ryu. Ecstatic, he destroyed the island and promised the boy that if he embraced the Hado, every fight before this would feel like child's play. From that day forward, Akuma watched Ryu closely, determined to push him down the same path. Not just to disprove Gouken again, but to forge a rival worthy of a true death match. But no matter how far Akuma pushed, Ryu never surrendered his soul. He remained loyal to Gouken’s ideals and ultimately cleansed himself of the Satsui no Hado, embracing its opposite: the Power of Nothingness. This forced their most fated battle yet. Human and demon. Light and darkness. When they fought at their highest peaks, not even Ryu’s purity could defeat Akuma. Yet even in loss, Ryu smiled, knowing their battle would continue forever. Their fists had become their dialogue, and Akuma would always answer the call. From that point, the two men acknowledged one another’s paths. Akuma swore to meet him again at the journey’s end. Years later, the older Ryu faced Akuma once more. Akuma won again, but this time Ryu sensed something different. Joy. Though Akuma dismissed this as an insult, he later carved a wooden doll with a smiling face. Maybe, just maybe, Ryu was right.

Now in old age, Akuma still walks the scorched paths of Gokuento, godlike and unyielding. He continues to face all challengers, and has even taken a new pupil: the Player Avatar, one who smiles in the face of death. Whether or not the Master of the Fist ever meets his match, as long as Akuma can lift even one finger, heaven and earth will tremble until the day he rots.

Raoh

“I was given life in this world…And one day I will have the world within these fists!”

Born into a long line of martial arts legends known as the Ryou line, Raoh was a prodigy in the martial arts from a very young age. Raised with two brothers, Toki and Kaioh, he lived a rough youth until he and his elder brother Kaioh were forced to bury their mother after witnessing her death, upon which Kaioh declared a lifelong commitment to evil. Eventually separated from Kaioh, Raoh and Toki committed themselves to a life of learning Hokuto. Being a natural talent at his young age, the even younger Toki often struggled to keep up with his elder brother but looked up to him as an idol. However, when the time came to select the next champion of Hokuto Shinken, Raoh and his brother were shocked when not he, but the youngest student of the school, Kenshiro, was selected to succeed it. Raoh had come to love Kenshiro like his own brother, but such a shock was not taken well by the young master, who proceeded to break an almost 2000-year norm by refusing to relinquish his power when Ken was chosen.

Years later, an apocalypse ravaged the world. All of the world’s supply of nuclear weapons had been unleashed, essentially wiping out most life and civilization as we know it. Still insulted by the school’s rejection of his skill, Raoh set out to use his power to become one of the greatest conquerors the world had ever seen, amassing an army with the help of comrades he gained along the way. However, it would not be long until Raoh had to face his own brothers. After kidnapping Toki to prevent his power from overcoming him, Kenshiro soon freed Toki, ensuring one final battle between the two. After a hard-fought battle between the brothers, Raoh surprised them by granting Toki a merciful death, allowing him to live out the rest of his short life in peace.

Yet the war was not over, as fate proclaimed that Kenshiro and Raoh must fight face to face, and eventually they did. Unfortunately for Raoh, Kenshiro unlocked the highest power of Hokuto Shinken, Musou Tensei, which allows him to enter nonexistence for a prolonged period of time, an ability that Raoh was not prepared to face. After a close match that Raoh barely survived, he fled to prepare for their second battle. After confronting many of his old rivals and master, he soon came face to face with the woman of his dreams, Yuria. Despite his deep love for her, Raoh realized that the only way to unlock the power he sought was to experience the highest form of despair. In a fit of rage and sorrow, he attempted to kill Yuria but stopped once he learned she only had a few months left to live from an illness, leaving Raoh on the verge of tears knowing he could not cruelly take the life of the woman he loved. From this newfound sorrow, he unlocked the power of Musou Tensei.

Raoh soon confronted Kenshiro one last time. In a fierce battle that shook heaven and earth, both were pushed to their limits, with Kenshiro emerging victorious. Despite having lost everything in a matter of days, his kingdom, the woman he loved, and his own life, Raoh briefly expressed pride in his younger brother and told Yuria to live in peace with the few years she had left with Kenshiro, as Raoh had extended her life by just a little. Then, he released his soul into the afterlife and made peace with the world by his own hands. In the end, the mighty Raoh lived a life without regrets.

Skill & Experience

Akuma

Akuma had started in the ways of combat before a single hair even popped up on his noggin, Or well….. at least according to Retsu if we’re to trust him. So it wouldn’t be a surprise to say he grew up to become a natural combat genius, with Goutetsu considering him his fastest learner yet, mastering the Ansatsuken to terrifying perfection without a single inch of inexperience. Such skill allowed him to kill fighters in just three moves, rip and tear his way through the demons of hell or discern if a fighter was throwing a fight until Akuma fought him for real, before he proceeded to knock the lights out of him. He also was the only other person outside of his master to manage the Satsui no Hado, this is important because Goutetsu until then was considered to be the pinnacle of the Ansatsuken. And Akuma battled him for hours until he defeated him.

And his achievements certainly don't stop there as he dedicated every moment to training. Engraving every moment of his life by pushing his body to the absolute limits and felling hundreds of opponents with his fists both in and out of tournaments. Gaining Akuma a legendary reputation as the Master of the Fists that would bring both fear and respect from many fighters around the world, even M. Bison doesn't wanna mess with Akuma ever since he proved his skill against him and jumpscared him with a Raging Demon. He also defeated Seth on two separate occasions, and Seth is a cybernetic warrior whose artificial intelligence is designed to copy the skills and abilities of other fighters through data and mere observation, even with all they gathered Seth admitted Akuma had some of the greatest fighting techniques he’s ever seen yet. 

With the incredible power Akuma possesses, only four notable people in-canon outside of Goutetsu did manage to give him a semblance of challenge, with varying results:

• Gen: A 70 year old assassin with a 180% assassination success rate on many of his assignments who mastered many martial arts over the course of his life, many young fighters or killers hoped to build their legend by beating this legendary fighter but Gen had killed everyone who came on his way. However Akuma was a whole different story, he gave Gen the joy in fighting again through their constant battles. Sometimes losing, and sometimes winning but Akuma eventually surpassed him as time marched on, with Akuma's strength growing even greater and Gen’s illness eventually overtaking him.

• Oro: a 140 year old hermit and martial artist who mastered senjutsu, usually fighting handicapped with one arm to give his opponents a fighting chance. Akuma once fought him during the events of Street Fighter 3, although some often say they stalemated(can’t find the source on this) the outcome to their fight remains unknown.

• Gouken:  In a match of opposing styles of the Ansatsuken, the brothers fought during several periods of their lives. Prior to Gouken’s resurrection Akuma had killed him, but once he got resurrected with the Power of Nothingness both brothers fought to a stalemate to see who would look over Ryu.

• Ryu: Perhaps Akuma’s other greatest rival in more ways than one, we’ve already talked about some of his achievements before. And Ryu is no joke, his martial arts skill is so great that he can master Ansatsuken to such a level that Gouken said he could easily be mistaken for its creator and can anticipate and counter attacks through Ansatsuken’s flexible use in battle. This skill has made him one of the greatest fighters in the world, often winning tournaments, beating 20 well known fighters of Muay Thai and going toe to toe with some of the most skilled fighters and threats in the world(Sagat, Seth, Bison, etc.). But Akuma through the course of Alpha-SFV smacked him like a baby(not that he’d ever do that), belittling Ryu’s skills and lack of reliance on the Dark Hadou. Even when Ryu started to catch up over the years, Akuma had proven to be his superior.(unless you count a few non-canon sources like UDON or mangas where Ryu did claim victory.)

Raoh

As a man of Hokuto who wanted his name to echo everywhere, you can bet Raoh had a belt of experience like nearly no other to match his mighty status.

Ever since his childhood days, Raoh along with his brother Toki had been harshly trained in the assassination art of Hokuto Shinken much earlier than Kenshiro and he had frequently sparred with Souther of Nanto as well. His master Ryuken noted that Raoh grew to have both powerful toki and a tremendous kenpo technique as a result. With such tremendous abilities Raoh and all of his brothers (minus Jagi) brought the style to its absolute pinnacle in its 1800 year history, this is especially impressive as Hokuto Shinken is a martial art that requires extensive knowledge on the human body and extreme precision to master and use it.  Making it the ultimate martial art, capable of perfectly copying and adapting to enemy entire martial arts, and taking down entire armies and bringing the world to ruin if the wrong successor is chosen. Hence why the art is passed to just one. Which unfortunately for Raoh turned out to be Kenshiro, but this doesn’t make any of his achievements lesser.

After killing Ryuken, Ken-Oh’s path of conquest led him to travel around and evolve his technique as much as possible to become the strongest. In this journey, Raoh created a prison for martial artists, imprisoning hundreds and stealing their secrets, which led him to master almost every martial art. He went around amassing an army of followers, but he could also slaughter entire armies by himself and fodderize Nanto Shinken masters with his bare hands.

Raoh also fought Hokuto masters, namely his brothers Toki and Kenshiro. While he did defeat a very sick and Toki, he did tie with an early 100% Kenshiro, who could already negate precognition with sheer skill and instinct, and adapt to enemy styles after brief studies, having defeated dozens of enemies that could kill 500 guerillas each at the very beginning of the series.

Kenshiro would eventually unlock Musou Tensei, being the first to master the technique in the history of Hokuto. Despite that, Raoh did not lag behind, unlocking the technique himself after a first encounter that ended in his defeat. This makes Raoh and Ken the only two characters that mastered the most powerful Hokuto technique in 1800 years, putting them among the most skilled characters in the series. Raoh and Ken had their final battle, and while Kenshiro did end up victorious, the mighty Ken-Oh still put a fight that pushed both to their limits.

That, of course, allied with the statement about the pinnacle of Hokuto, puts Raoh on a similar or superior level to some of Hokuto Shinken’s past successors, like the 62nd successor Kasumi Kenshiro. And that guy’s instincts can perfectly perceive and see blind spots in martial arts with no weaknesses. 

As we’ve seen, Raoh’s battle strategy is not to be taken lightly. His quick thinking, cautiousness and battle analysis abilities led him to win battles where he was in real danger of dying. One of these times was against Rei, who almost killed him with the Nanto Self-Sacrificng Fist, but was countered at the nick of time by an unorthodox strategy. Juza also almost delivered a lethal blow to him in a very quick exchange, but Raoh managed to counter that in time too by pressing pressure points on his shoulders, showcasing his predictive skills. This is notable, as Juza has a completely unpredictable fighting style whose free form and speed was initially overwhelming Raoh. His quick thinking isn’t exclusive to fighting human enemies one on one, as he also was able to pass the traps set by Rihaku on the Nanto Capital with his wits and power.

Equipment

Akuma

Prayer Beads

Prayer beads that Akuma sometimes wears. Originally once belonging to his master Goutetsu, Akuma took them for himself after killing him. Maybe as his way of honoring him.

Sandals

Brown sandals that Akuma sometimes wears between games, to contrast with Ryu’s lack of footwear. Strangely has them missing in Street Fighter 6, maybe Ryu stole them from him.

Onigiri

Even Akuma sometimes needs his time to dine on some fine rice to satisfy his hunger for battl- i mean food. Can be performed as a taunt, if the player lets Akuma finish the rice ball he turns into Shin Akuma and gains two moves as well as a massive damage buff.

Fishing Rod

When Akuma doesn't train he seeks sustenance by killing off animals in the wild and plants, and commonly takes fishing as a pastime. Busting out a fishing rod whenever he wants to catch a big one.

Raoh

Knife

A rather large knife that Raoh used to stab Toki on the foot to restrict his footing, as much of his combat style relied on swift movements. Perfect for starting some good old fashioned dribble combos.

Cape 

Raoh wears a cape large enough to match his imposing figure, usually using it whenever he fights while riding on Koku-oh. If Raoh feels his life is in danger, he won’t be afraid to resort to using some dirty tactics and throw the cape in someone’s face just to get a free hit.

Scythe 

A one handed scythe. Raoh never actually uses this at any point of FOTNS history, but it’s funny Tetsuo Hara drew him with it once just because it looked cool.

Abilities

Akuma

Ki Manipulation

In Street Fighter, Ki is a spiritual energy naturally obtained by those in their pursuit for championship. Techniques derived from it do technically all come from the same source, but are still brought about through different circumstances. Goutetsu’s training and guidance under the Ansatsuken allowed Akuma to manipulate the ki within to manifest and use Hado in different forms, made even more terrifyingly powerful after Akuma fell into the clutches of the Dark Hado.

• Sensing: Ki sensing is a general ability that plenty of cast members have shown, often using it to gauge someone’s strength or sense their location and tell what they're currently doing.

• Energy Manipulation: Ansatsuken practitioners can channel their ki to manifest a variety of different energy attacks denominated as “Hado” by some media, with Akuma perhaps having some of the greatest ki control. He can shoot Gohadokens or rapid-fire them like a machine gun, imbue his physical strikes with dark energies, mask his ki to make his presence hard to track or release a blast of energy from his body should he be prone to sneak attacks. Sometimes even becoming massive pillars of energy that can set entire forests on fire or wipe them off the face of the earth.

• Attack Reflection: To a certain extent, Akuma’s control over ki allows him to turn other ki attacks right back to sender.

• Elemental Manipulation: Many users of Ansatsuken can manifest or imbue the elements with their normal attacks in many different forms. Akuma often uses fire to create fireballs or pillars of fire. His attacks also gain electric properties when he becomes Oni.

Ansatsuken

Also known as the Assassination Fist, Master Goutetsu would lay the foundations mixing traditional martial arts such Karate, Judo and Kenpo and techniques utilizing the Hado into a style deeply rooted in assassination. Befitting its name. Creating such iconic techniques as the Hadouken, Tatsumaki Sempukyaku and Shoryuken that many of your typical shotos use. Perhaps its greatest specialty is that the style itself is its flexibility, each practitioner of the style shapes their own variant of the style with the path chosen and defines it. So the Ansatsuken isn’t exactly set or defined, and assumes many forms.

Akuma subjected his Ansatsuken into a powerful and fierce style to overwhelm opponents with pure offense. Utilizing a wide variety of postures and stances that prioritise aggressive strikes, the painful throws of Judo and deadly ki attacks. Leaving them no chance to retaliate against him as he leaves no openings overlooked. Despite this though he has some defensive techniques, he can parry attacks and has plenty of counters of his own.

• Skull Splitter: A chop that breaks through crouching defenses.

• Resso Snap Kick: Long-reaching snap kick

• Rago High Kick: A vertical launching kick that can be canceled into specials.

• Viscera Piercer: A quick punch followed by a chop.

• Kikokurenzan: A double roundhouse kick.

• Kongoken: Akuma punches his opponent before hammering his other fist on top of them.

• Tenha: A rising palm strike that launches his opponents.

• Bone Crusher Axe Kick: A knee kick to the opponent's gut followed by an axe kick.

• Kikoku Combination: A combination of attacks that consists of a straight punch, a palm strike to the opponent’s chin and a roundhouse kick.

Satsui no Hado

Stemming as the natural killing intent contained within all life, the Satsui no Hado is a sentient malevolent aura of dark energy searching for those with a great desire to win or become stronger. All simply with the goal of possessing them with its intoxicating destructive power, pushing their inner killing intent to the extreme at the cost of any regard for human morality. With side-effects like glowy red eyes and demon fangs included!

It was only natural that it would end up on the fists of the Ansatsuken. Since y’know, it was a style originally built for killing and they used the Dark Hado plenty in many techniques. So while training along with Gouken under his master Goutetsu, Akuma sought to uncover the secrets behind the Dark Hado. Considering his predecessors to be fools for sealing the true side of the art. And unlike them Akuma was certainly no fool himself, he knew those same predecessors became possessed by the Satsui no Hado from just a single use of the forbidden technique, the Shun Goku Satsu. So Akuma started experimenting with the Dark Hado so that he would be accustomed to it, this allowed him to effectively wield it without the super dangerous risk of being fully possessed — so once he tamed it he later challenged Goutetsu in a battle to the death and killed him with the Shun Goku Satsu.

With the Satsui no Hado, Akuma can harness his killing intent from within and amp up his physicality and energy techniques to destructive proportions. Becoming so powerful that even his mere steps can shake the ground, get so good at hops that he can leap large distances with a single jump or behead giant rock demons from hell with a single kick. The terrifying power Akuma possesses expels out of his body like steam, manifesting as a red aura that distorts even the very air around it. But the Hado isn’t just for blowing stuff up, Akuma and other users have shown there’s more to it.

• Regeneration: As shown by Ryu. The Satsui no Hado can regenerate injuries like bullet wounds by shooting them out of his body and stop internal bleeding, Allowing users to recover from wounds much faster than the average human.

• Fear Manipulation: To a certain extent, in the world tour he made the player character be terrified of him with just a mere petrifying gaze. Other mediums make this more blunt, as the aura around Akuma is also so terrifying that at one point trees around him killed themselves as they feared wanting to be destroyed by the ensuing fight with Ryu.

• Teleportation and limited Phasing: Can teleport and phase through attacks or projectiles with the Ashura Senku, Akuma has also teleported around the world in the middle of one of his battles with Gouken.

• Telepathy: Those under the Satsui no Hado seem to be able to talk with each other through a sort of telepathic link.

• Telekinesis: Akuma has shown enough control over the hado that he can telekinetically lift big rocks in the air.

Movelist

Gou Hadouken

Akuma fires a murderous wave of purple energy to keep his opponents at bay, as well as fight off other projectiles.

Zanku Hadoken

Rains down projectiles from above, EX versions of this move have Akuma create a larger blast or multiple projectiles.

Shakunetsu Hadouken

Akuma takes a stance as he gathers dark energy into his palms, turning his already powerful Gohadoken into a hot flaming fireball which can win fireball wars.

Gorai Hadoken

Fires a projectile infused with the element of electricity.

Gou Shoryuken

Akuma leaps into the air to deliver a powerful rising uppercut, making it perfect for anti-airs should his opponent be foolish enough to jump. EX versions  have Akuma slam his opponent down with the Mu technique.

Tatsumaki Zankukyaku

By twisting and using the recoil of his body, Akuma can take you for a ride with a series of spinning roundhouse kicks. It can be done mid-air to change the trajectory of a jump or avoid projectiles. EX versions of this move have Akuma produce a similar vacuum effect to the Shinkuu Tatsumaki to draw opponents in.

Demon Raid/Hyakkishu

A swift leap that allows Akuma to assume a wide variety of techniques and postures to attack from the air.

• Hyakki Goza: Aims at the opponent’s feet with a crouching kick. 

• Hyakki Gosho: Hits them with a mid-air palm strike. 

• Hyakki Gojin: Performs an angled falling kick

• Hyakki Gosai: Grabs the opponent over their shoulders to flip them and throw them to the ground.

• Hyakki Gotsui: Grabs the foe as Akuma pile-drives their head upside down onto his knee.

• Hyakki Gohasetsu: Overhead chop that knocks sense into a fool's head.

• Hyakki Goha: Launches a Gohado mid-air

• Hyakki Gorasen: Performs a Tatsumaki Zankukyaku mid-air.

Ashura Senkuu

Akuma can swiftly move and teleport around the battlefield, seemingly being capable of phasing through projectiles and attacks. Reportedly, the user cloaks themselves with illusions to make afterimages. Akuma can also grab the opponent mid-teleport with the Oboro Throw, delivering a series of punches to the back and to the face.

Sekisei Jiraiken

Oni jumps to slam his fist into the ground.

Rakan Dantojin

Oni slides in to hit his opponent with a palm strike.

Zanku Hadosho

Oni fires a ki blast from behind to push or propel himself in the air, gaining the terrifying ability of anime air dashes.

Gouha Ken

A powerful palm strike to the chest that stuns the opponent.

Adamant Flame

Akuma engulfs his fists into flames as he delivers a combo of flaming strikes.

V-Triggers and V-Skills

Dohatsu Shoten

Akuma envelops his body in ki to enhance many special moves, his moves also gain new properties.

Shiretsu Hasshi

Enhances his attacks similarly to Doretsu Hasshi, with the difference that Akuma can freely chain special moves together.

Rakan

Defensive technique that allows Akuma to parry attacks and negate any damage, he can follow this with Rakan Gosho and Rakan Gokyaku if the counter is successful.

Kiai

Akuma stomps the ground as the Satsui no Hado radiates from his body, the aura formed from it has a variety of uses. It can negate normal projectiles, damage opponents that are at close proximity, build his V-Trigger meter or even buff his damage by 43.8%(1.438x). Though this can be only used once per round.

Drive Impact

Oni Goroshi

Slides in to deliver a powerful strike to the chest, can absorb the opponent’s attack if they try to fight back.

Souha Double Palm

A defensive counter that has Akuma hit the opponent with a two handed palm strike.

Supers, Ultras and Critical

Messatsu Gohado

Akuma takes a stance as he charges a projectile infused with the Dark Hado, unleashing a fast projectile that can hit up to multiple times and overpower other normal projectiles. Stronger versions of this attack have Akuma mix the attack with flames.

Tenma Gozanku

Throws a mid-air version of the Messatsu Gohado.

Messatsu Goshoryu

Akuma performs three Goshoryus that hit multiple times on his opponent.

Messatsu Gorasen

Akuma quite literally turns into a human helicopter by performing a series of repeated Tatsumaki Zankukyakus that carries his opponent into the air.

Kongou Kokuretsuzan

By gathering energy into his right hand Akuma punches the ground with enough force to create several geysers of energy around himself. At one point Akuma once used this very same technique to sink an island.

Sekia Kuretsuha

Similar to the Kongou Kokuretsuzan, Akuma instead slams the ground with volcanic fire to erupt magma from the ground. He used this technique to clear a forest.

Empyrean’s End

Converts the Satsui no Hado into a powerful flame that engulfs the opponent, before punching them so hard the flame pierces through their stomach.

Demon Armageddon

Akuma sends the opponent flying several feet into the air with a single powerful kick, before following it with a Tatsumaki Zankukyaku that turns him into a living hurricane of pain as he zooms in to kick his opponent in the stomach. Delivering a slow painful end as Akuma proves his superiority.

Sip of Calamity

Akuma grabs the opponent by the head and violently knocks them down, stomping on their chest as they are helpless to fight back against Akuma finishing them off with a ki powered punch to the face.

Misogi

Akuma leaps into the air, before quickly dropping in at an incredible velocity with the intent to either cut his opponent with his bare hand, or punch them into the ground by drawing a nifty ten kanji into the ground like the great artist he is. Finger Painting wasn’t enough for him, it seems.

Tenchi Sokaigen

Oni charges energy into his palm to punch several dark geysers of energy to launch his opponent in the air, he leaps in to deliver a powerful uppercut to the opponent’s exposed back. 

Meido Gohado

Oni stomps the ground as he begins to charge a Gohadoken, he can change the trajectory of this projectile to hit airborne opponents or launch it in mid-air. If the attack connects point-blank a special cinematic will play where the opponent is blown back by the attack, giving Oni another chance to fire another charged Gohadoken that penetrates through the opponent’s chest.

Shun Goku Satsu

The Shun Goku Satsu (瞬獄殺 “Instant Hell Murder”) or more commonly known as the Raging Demon is the Ansatsuken’s forbidden secret technique. As many of the ones who weren’t experienced on controlling the Dark Hado were driven to madness from just a single use, only Goutetsu and Akuma managed to tame the Hadou and master the technique.

When performed, the user teleports to grab the opponent as the screen fades to black and they deliver a chain of lightning fast strikes that are precisely aimed at their vital points. Targeting their life force, with the past sins and evil actions of the target weighing in and making the target’s death far more painful as each strike is landed and once the deed is done, the camera pans out to show the corpse of his opponent as the kanji of ten(天 “heaven” or “annihilation”) appears behind Akuma’s back. In the words of Akuma, “In numerous blinks of an eye, you have witnessed hell. It is not by my fist, but the weight of your own sins that killed you.”, talk about a literal karmic punishment.

Extended material like UDON takes Akuma’s words far more literally, as the Shun Goku Satsu not only does target the victim’s soul and kill them instantly but has their souls be sent to the realm of Makai. Y' know? like the Darkstalkers version of hell? So you are just straight up witnessing actual hell. But this does come with a bit of a catch, if the target has no soul they can survive the Raging Demon with no problem as the technique needs a conscious soul to target.

The only real ways to avoid the technique is by using the Power of Nothingness to negate the attack or by separating one’s life force/spirit from their body to prevent them from being destroyed, as latter is how Gouken was able to survive the Raging Demon before Akuma killed him, by rebuilding his body with his spirit as the years went by before the Raging Demon killed his soul. Other characters such as Gen have also been able to avoid it, Guy even noted his Bushinryu skill which let him take on many opponents at once allowed him to block every strike of the raging demon. You can also survive if you’re Gill and just get right back up with Resurrection, Or if you’re M. Bison and Capcom aren't fully willing to kill you off.

Wrath of the Raging Demon

A more powerful variant of the raging demon that makes his opponent die 1000 deaths, or more accurately delivers 1000 strikes in an instant(but this might just be metaphorical since it’s just 27 attacks).

Resistances

• Limited Precognition: Menat claims that reading the future of fighters is difficult, because they always fight against it.

• Limited Mind Manipulation: Should scale to Ryu, who was able to hold back Bison attempting to control his mind with Psycho Power for a while. Although it’s unknown if Ryu was able to fight it back fully.

• Electricity: Can take lightning-based attacks like Blanka’s Electric Thunder. The Satsui no Hado also made Ryu unaffected by C.Viper’s electricity, as Akuma mastered the Satsui no Hado the same should apply to him.

• Extreme heat: After being ragdolled through a volcano by Oro’s telekinesis, which erupted not too later after he threw a Yagyou Dama at it. He emerged from the lava butt naked completely unfazed by the lava. And this isn’t far off from what happens in the games, in the same ocassion where he destroyed a Volcano as Oni he completely ignored the eruption withiout a single scratch.

• Soul manipulation: Survived Necalli’s attempt at devouring his soul by literally ripping through his stomach with Mudo Tensho.

• Limited resistance to Corruption: One of the two who managed to tame and master the Satsui no Hado, which regularly corrupts and drives those who aren’t experienced under the Hado insane.

• Limited resistance to pressure points: In one of Akuma’s special intros against Gen he’s managed to block his Zan’ei, this technique disflows the rupt of chi/spirit pulse and causes the energy within a target to go wild. Creating an aftershock comparable to being hit by a hundred punches. The UDON comics depict this a little differently, as the Zan’ei causes the target’s chest to just straight up explode. This is important to note because before Akuma mastered the Hado he was one of the few to have survived his pressure point attacks, and as Akuma grew in power he seemed to be able to hold back and redirect the energies from his techniques. But as Akuma was still visibly affected and still had to block the attacks, it might be more accurate to say he’s more tolerant.

Raoh

Toki Manipulation

Referred to as “spiritual fighting energy” by much of the cast, Toki is an internal form of ki born of merciless blood and is used to perform many of the deadly techniques shown in Fist of the North Star. Having a wide variety of uses like projecting energy attacks or imbuing their physical strikes for greater destruction, creating protective barriers to coat their bodies and many other applications. Raoh in particular has mastered it to a tee, focusing his attacks into huge fiery beams of energy, large spheres of energy, shockwaves to destroy his enemies, energy blasts sharp enough to impale his enemies or other large scale attacks. His mastery over Toki also allows him to freely use techniques from other martial arts he’s stolen like the Densho Renppa or the Rakan Nio Ken.

• Energy Projection: The series features many named and unnamed ki attacks that can act as energy blasts to attack enemies from afar, tearing them apart and exploding them.

• Phasing: Ki energy has demonstrated the ability to phase through people and objects. Either completely going through someone to attack something behind them without causing them any damage, or selectively targeting their internal pressure points without causing any external wound.

• Non-Physical Interaction: Kenshiro’s Tenha Kassatsu, an attack made of Ki, was able to cause damage to Souther during his Tensho Juji Ho, during which he was completely intangible before.

• Ki and Energy Nullification: Raoh one time was completely able to nullify an energy technique by merely just…. yelling. Like really hard.

• Ki and Energy Absorption: Ki mastery can be used to drain others of their own energy.

Toki no Aura

When a fighter finally masters the true secrets of their martial arts and learn of their own essence they can finally manipulate their Toki to expel it from their body as an aura, this aura can be utilized to coat their bodies for both offense and defense, often negating attacks aimed at them. As an already powerful user of Toki, Raoh’s mastery over aura has led him to weaponizing it to more destructive proportions. Raoh has frequently used it to guard himself or attack foes from a distance, create tornadoes or launching invisible strikes without even needing to move.

• Barrier/Forcefield Creation: Aura can be used to project a protective barrier around the user, making them completely invulnerable to damage.

• Shockwave/Air Manipulation: Aura can be used to project shockwave blasts in any direction, pushing enemies away or just attacking them without needing to move. Powerful enough auras can trade countless invisible strikes without needing to move. The shockwaves can also deflect other Ki attacks.

• Fear/Empathic Manipulation: A strong enough aura can completely terrify enemies, making them freeze and be unable to fight, attacking them at their fighting instincts rather than their minds and making them sense death itself approaching. The effect can also make dozens of enemies collapse. Aura can also be used to dull murderous intent and calm people down.

• Telekinesis: Aura and ki can be used to levitate and throw objects and even alter the direction of physical bodies such as water and projectiles.

• Phasing: Aura can press enemy pressure points without leaving external wounds, without the user even needing to move.

• Weather Manipulation: Strong enough auras clashing has been shown to cause hailstorms, tornadoes and strong winds.

• Instinctive Action: Aura has been shown to automatically protect the user from attacks.

• Levitation and Flight: Kenshiro and Raoh have used their auras to fly in the air.

• Healing: Aura can be used to close wounds by powering up, or even heal someone himself back to full health.

Keiraku Hiko

  

A concept tied to ancient Chinese acupuncture. The Keiraku Hiko, or Meridian Channel Hidden Points, are 708 points in the human body that concentrate Ki. Hokuto Shinken users can send their own Ki into these points via contact to disrupt them and cause many effects, mostly destruction from the inside. The various effects include mind control, lethal muscular contractions, paralysis, healing, memory erasing and restoring, an increase or decrease in physical capabilities and so on. The Keiraku Hiko are used mostly in martial arts related to the Hokuto tradition, although some techniques such as Nanto Seiken occasionally employ them as well.

Pressure points do not require direct physical contact to be pressed, as Hokuto masters can phase through the opponent’s body to touch them, use their aura or simply target them with their ki from afar, which also has phasing properties. 

Striking the opponent’s Keiraku Hiko essentially negates their durability with many of their effects.

Masters of Hokuto Shinken like Kenshiro and Raoh should be knowledgeable on all of the pressure points and their effects. Here is a list of all of the known Keiraku Hiko and their effects.

Image	Pressure Point	User	Effect
	Shinkesshu	Raoh	Causes the opponent to bleed out all of its blood for three days until death.
	Kaiamon tencho	Raoh	Forces the victim to obey the user. If they resist, they will bleed out from all of their pores and disintegrate.
	Kyomei	Raoh, Kenshiro	Causes the opponent’s hands to explode.
	Unnamed pressure point	Raoh, Kenshiro	Makes the victim’s shoulder bones explode
	Unnamed pressure point	Raoh	Heals the user by closing any lacerations or cuts on the body.
	Unnamed pressure point	Raoh	Seals the opponent from feeling love.
	Toui	Kenshiro	Causes the victim to explode after 3 seconds, giving them enough time to think about their sins and feel remorse
	Zusetsu	Kenshiro	Puts the victim a paralyzed, catatonic state, after which they will have no memory of what happened.
	Meimon	Kenshiro	Causes extreme muscle contraction, rendering the victim unable to move. The muscle contractions slowly crush the victim’s spine, snapping it after one minute, or instantly
	Meiken	Kenshiro	Paralyzes the victim, taking complete control of their body. The victim is then forced to spread their arms open.
	Teishin	Kenshiro	Harmlessly makes the victim fall asleep and calms them down.
	Dōmei	Kenshiro	Takes the victim’s eyesight, making them blind.
	Shin-ichi	Kenshiro	Forces the victim to reveal information against their will.
	Shinfukumen	Kenshiro	Causes the victim’s body to explode if they take a single step.
	Kyōnai	Kenshiro	Causes the victim to have their mouth locked open forever.
	Daikyōkin	Kenshiro	Causes the victim’s muscles to become completely soft. Kenshiro used it on Kiba, who previously made his muscles harder than steel with a technique. After a bit, the muscles become stiff again, rendering the victim unable to move.
	Kenmei	Kenshiro	Restores one’s eyesight.
	Kyosetsu	Kenshiro	Causes the victim to turn any weapon they hold against themselves, stopping them from opening their hands.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro, Raoh	Incapacitates the victim’s legs, making them unable to move.
	Ryugan	Kenshiro	Turns the victim’s entire body into an exposed nerve, making so any slight movement or contact causes excruciating pain.
	Shitsugen	Kenshiro	Forces the victim to walk backwards and then explode.
	Zusho	Kenshiro	Forces the victim’s body to move against their will, answering questions they don’t want to.
	Keichu	Kenshiro	Causes immense, crippling pain
	Tei-Kaku	Kenshiro	Causes the victim to lose control of their own body.
	Jikyukyoku	Kenshiro	Makes the victim lose their depth perception.
	Jinchu Kyoku	Kenshiro	Destroys your body in three seconds.
	Zenha	Kenshiro	Makes so the victim can exhale but not inhale… and also explode
	Joketsukai	Kenshiro	Makes so the victim has no control over their right leg
	Kaketsu	Kenshiro	Unknown. Likely kills the victim somehow. Can be countered by cellular cauterization.
	Shihorin	Kenshiro	Allows Kenshiro to unlock the power to read Sanskrit and read the Hokuto Soke Stone in the Grand Holy Temple of Hokuto Shinken.
	Anbaku-kou	Kenshiro	Increases a Hokuto successor’s power to resist poisons
	Tōa	Kenshiro	The victim will follow any order that Kenshiro says to them.
	Zenchō	Kenshiro	Prevents the target from ever breathing and makes them completely suffocate
	Kokketsu	Kenshiro	An interrogation tactic meant for inflicting incredible pain on the victim’s head, willl go away if the victim answers.
	Suishō	Kenshiro	Expels the stench of blood from the body, leaving them paralyzed as they are eaten by crows and then explode.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	Restores a mute target’s ability to speak.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	Makes the target’s hands unable to move from a certain position.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	Causes immense pain on the victim’s entire body.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	Forces the victim’s body to contort and collapse unto itself, destroying the skeleton and making so the body fits in much smaller places than it originally should.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	Causes the target to shrivel up and be cut in half by lightning
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	Kenshiro strikes someone in the shoulder, if the affected person is in close contact with another the energy will be passed on and they will also explode.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kenshiro	The victim has their walking speed reduced to one hundredth of that of the average person.
	Senwanko	Jagi	Negates the effect of Kyosetsu, restoring normal arm and hand movement.
	Unnamed pressure point	Jagi	Completely paralyses the victim.
	Sen-yo	Amiba	Completely paralyses the victim in a T pose.
	Gekishinko	Amiba	Rapidly speeds up the victim’s heart pulse and blood circulation, causing the heart and veins to burst.
	Kensei	Toki	Makes the victim contort and feel intense pleasure before dying a gruesome explosive death.
	Shintanchu	Toki	Paralyses the opponent until the user frees them.
	Shinreidai	Toki	Extends one’s lifespan for a day after causing great pain.
	Unnamed pressure point	Toki	Cures the target’s fever
	Unnamed pressure point	Toki	Cures pain
	Sekkako	Kenshiro, Toki and Raoh	Gives the user tremendous strength, at the expense of shortening their lifespan or even taking their life.
	Zanchi	Kasumi Kenshiro	Forces the victim to keep eating uncontrollably.
	Fugan	Kasumi Kenshiro	Makes the victim susceptible to mental suggestions. Kasumi Kenshiro used it to make a man believe he was his friend.
	Kisho	Kasumi Kenshiro	Makes the victim’s teeth pop out all at the same time, causing horrible pain.
	Daishikokon	Kasumi Kenshiro	Makes so the victim feels the excruciating pain of their throat being ripped out if they yell.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kasumi Kenshiro	Puts the victim to sleep
	Unnamed pressure point	Kasumi Kenshiro	Incapacitates the body
	Unnamed pressure point	Kasumi Kenshiro	Instantly removes the strength of the opponent on contact with their arm
	Unnamed pressure point	Kasumi Kenshiro	A painkiller. Kasumi used it on a mutilated man’s legs before amputating them.
	Unnamed pressure point	Kasumi Kenshiro	Massively increases the speed at which a man can play the piano.
	Hirai-ko	Zhang Tai-Yan	Makes the victim wither, contract into themselves and turn to dust.
	Kushin Datsumei	Zhang Tai-Yan	Mind controls the victim.

Go no Ken

Raoh’s own personal brand of Hokuto Shinken, translated as Fist of Strength or Domination. It contrasts his younger brother’s style of Ju no Ken (Fist of Gentleness) in nearly every way, it’s a style that prioritizes sheer power and powerful toki to destroy everything in its path just like a raging torrent. Fitting, as Raoh also embodies the infinite destructive potential of Hokuto Shinken. It is also instinctive as the practitioner can fight without even thinking, making it difficult for foes to find any openings in direct combat. 

Gosho Ha

A powerful two handed blast of energy that’s used by uniting both hands. While Raoh has never been shown to finish the technique in the manga, other mediums like the Arc Systems fighting game or Raoh Gaiden depict Raoh using it as a one handed blast of fire or an air blast.

Tensho Honretsu

The user spins their hands to manifest and project a powerful beam of ki to overwhelm opponents.

Tensho Rangeki

A powerful vertical downward chop aimed at the opponent’s head.

Shuren Da

As expected of the series, Raoh can launch a barrage of attacks to beat down or clash against his opponents.

Raretsu Ken

Raoh stuns his foe with an overhead punch, unleashing a barrage of lightning fast punches that ends with a kick.

Haten Kaijin

A powerful blow infused with Toki that clears through hordes of enemies.

Ensho Ha

Raoh grabs two nearby attackers and creates a circular whirlwind around his arms.

Itten Sho

Raoh delivers a powerful rising uppercut that pierces pressure points through the airflow, even when the technique is blocked. The force of the attack is such that the victim occasionally feels the effect of the technique for a while.

Muso Insatsu

An instinctive technique that counterattacks at blinding speeds with a kick by sensing the enemy.

Koku Ten Satsu

Raoh points to the heavens and summons his mighty battle horse Kokuoh to aid him in battle, no i’m not kidding.

Shinten Rai

A powerful destructive dome of ki that can both repel enemies and keep the user safe inside.

Ken’Oh Tentsui Geki

Creates a massive spirit bomb made out of Toki, as he telekinetically crashes it into the ground.

Hokuto Shinken Ougi: Tokei Koho

A respiration technique that accumulates energy as you inhale, and releases it all when you exhale.

Goten Sho

Another Ki blast technique where the user projects a huge pillar of energy into the sky. The impacted area is several kilometers wide.

Zenrei no Ken

An attack in which the user channels their entire soul into their fist to finish the enemy with a single blow. Extremely dangerous and impractical to use.

Hokuto Shinken

The Big Dipper God Fist, an ancient Chinese assassination martial art with 1800 years of history. Founded by the heir of the Hokuto Soke clan, Shuken, by blending the ancestral arts of Hokuto Soke no Ken and Seito Gekken.  Born around the time of great turmoil in China, the martial art was created to bring peace back to the land after the assassination of the Emperor. After its creation,  there was schism in Hokuto during the period known as the Three Kingdoms: Hokuto Soka Ken, Hokuto Sonka Ken and Hokuto Ryuka Ken each served different generals. At the end, Hokuto Soka Ken became the defining martial art of Hokuto Shinken.

Hokuto Shinken is mostly based around striking the 708 hidden pressure points in the human body, injecting the opponent with ki to diverse effects, mostly related to destroying their bodies from within. It requires a great deal of precision and control, as it’s an extremely complex martial art. Beyond striking pressure points, Hokuto Shinken has many applications and techniques involving the mastery of Toki and adapting to other fighting styles, making it one of the deadliest and most invincible martial arts in history. Hokuto is so versatile it is considered to have infinite fighting variations.  It is considered more powerful than entire armies, and its successors are considered to be capable of bringing ruin to the world. 

Hokuto Shinken masters are capable of seeing through and mastering all the techniques from an opponent after a single encounter. Not only can they copy enemy martial arts perfectly, but also understand them at a deeper level than their original practitioners, seeing through their weaknesses and effectively negating their entire style. The same attack will not work on a Hokuto master twice. It is very common for Hokuto masters to incorporate learned martial arts to their own style, and logically pass them on to the next generation.

As it is extremely deadly, Hokuto is taught following a strict law: there can be only one Hokuto successor per generation, and the art must be passed from father to one son. Students that fail to become successors must renounce Hokuto Shinken, or have their memories removed or fists sealed. 

After passing Ryuken’s test of throwing children off cliffs with flying colors, Raoh and Toki were adopted alongside two other foster brothers Kenshiro and Jagi. During Ryuken’s care Raoh was constantly subjected to a harsh regiment of training in Hokuto Shinken as he was intent on making one of his four children be the 64th successor of the style, and all of them minus Jagi  brought the style to incredible peaks that were never seen before in the 1,800 year history of Hokuto Shinken. And wouldn’t you know that successor turned out to be Kenshiro. While Raoh wasn’t chosen as the new successor, primarily due to him being incapable of understanding the sorrow of others and using Hokuto Shinken for his world conquering ambitions. As one of the brothers who learned the secrets of Hokuto Shinken and bring it to its pinnacle, and having been stated to seek out learning its secret techniques in his journey as Ken-Oh, he should reasonably be capable of performing most of the techniques that Kenshiro knew prior to lifting his seals with the Hokuto Soke.

Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken

North Star Hundred Rending Fist. The user punches his opponent 100 times, dealing seemingly no damage but striking at their pressure points, and causing them to explode violently after a short time. 

Hokuto Shinken Nishinshikuna

A technique created to catch projectiles with just the user’s middle and index fingers and incredible precision. 

Hokuto Shinken Ougi: Tenryuu Kokyuu Ho

The Art of Dragon’s Breathing. Unlocks the hidden 70% power every human has, granting the user effectively a 3.333x multiplier in their base physical capabilities. It affects strength, durability and speed. You know it's being used when Kenshiro powers up and his muscles rip through his clothes.

Ganzan Ryozanha

A powerful chopping strike that crushes an opponent’s skull. Doesn’t even hit any pressure points, it just kills you.

Hokuto Zankaiken

The user drives his thumbs into the opponents’ head, pressing the toui pressure points and assuring they will die an explosive death after three seconds. The time is used by the victim to think and feel remorse about their actions before death.

Koshuu Hagaken

Two strikes to the neck and a knee to the face that make an opponent’s head split in half. 

Goshuu Retsudan

A gentle tap on the opponent’s hands that destroys all their fingers.

Hokuto Sozin Jizai Kyaku

Two kicks that paralyze the target and forces them to do whatever Kenshiro wants. 

Hokuto Gokin Bundan Kyaku

A seemingly harmless sequence of kicks that massively decreases the opponent’s muscle strength, to the point they become as strong as any normal man. Kenshiro implies he could have decreased even further.

Hokuto Shinken Kokyoku Ryobu

An evasive maneuver that renders attacks from any angle futile.

Hokuto Kaikotsu Ken

A strike to the forehead that makes the victim’s skeleton shatter and be expelled from their backs. 

Hokuto Kyomu Shidan

Ki finger bolts that erase the memories of the opponents for the past few days and puts them in a catatonic state, making them faint.

Hokuto Renkan Kumite

Basic Hokuto Shinken moves that specialise in fighting against a group of 7.

Hokuto Dankotsukin

Light taps that completely destroy the target’s joints and crushes their bones.

Hokuto Jūretsu Ha 

Kenshiro rushes in to beat up a whole line of enemies.

Hakkei no Hō

Referred to as a breathing style by Joker, Kenshiro can stop the momentum of thrown objects with Toki.

Meidatsu Hokai Ken

A technically specifically meant for destroying the corpses of the undead.

Enkan Zanshu Kyaku

A spinning aerial kick that decapitates every thug within the vicinity of Kenshiro.

Gekitsui Shi

Kenshiro embeds four fingers into his opponent’s head, leaving them with three seconds to live before they explode.

Kōshu Hatō Ken

Kenshiro jumps and kicks the victim at the back of their head, causing their whole body to explode.

Hagan Ken

Kenshiro caves in an enemy’s face with his fist, breaking their skull and later resulting in them exploding.

Hichō Kūzan Pa

A flying kick used against enemies that rely on well…. Flight.

Hokuto Shichishiseiten

Strikes 7 pressure points in the shape of the Big Dipper constellation, making so the target’s ribs are crushed and open outwards, exploding their chest.

Hokuto Senjukaiken

Hits the opponent with 1000 punches, and makes them explode 5 seconds afterwards.

Seikyokurin

A secret stance that makes one’s defense so flawless it cannot be perceived. During a fake fight with Rei, Kenshiro used it in conjunction with the Hokuto Ryu Gekiko stance. It’s also a signal to mutually strike an opponent’s pressure points and induce a state of fake death. 

Hokuto Hachimon Kudan

Horrifically scars and deforms the victim’s face and head. Jagi was struck with it and had to wear a metal plate on his head to make the pain more bearable.

Zenkai Sekihoken 

Forces the target to walk back to their doom.

Hokuto Koretsuha

An extremely powerful grip that destroys all of the opponent’s shoulder’s tendons.

Hokuto Shichishi Kiheizan

A flying lunge punch that Kenshiro used to knock Raoh out of his horse.

Shichisei Tenshin

By tracing seven blind points in a person’s movement the user creates several afterimages in the form of a big dipper that make tracking them hard, and attack the target from different sides. Injuring even the strongest opponent. Raoh eventually learned this secret technique as shown by his final battle with Kenshiro in the anime, as well as the Musou games which present it differently. Having Raoh instead create seven pillars of energy that form a big dipper as he rushes into the opponent.

Hokuto Shinken Ougi: Suieishin

The Soul’s Reflection on the Water. Kenshiro can copy any technique from a single exchange with this skill. 

Hokuto Shinken Ougi: Tenha Kassatsu

A secret Hokuto technique that allows the user to strike the enemy’s pressure points using only their ki. The ki blast phases through the enemy and was able to hit Souther who was previously phasing through Kenshiro’s normal attacks. It is a variation of Hokuto Sonkaken, as shown by Kasumi Kenshiro. It can be used with a single finger as well and it cannot be blocked.

Hokuto Tenki Sho

An honorable stance taken between warriors before a fight to the death. It means whoever loses will ascend to heaven with no grudges or regrets. 

Hokuto Shinken Ougi: Genonkai

A technique shared with Hokuto Ryuken. It paralyzes the opponent like a statue until the seven stars of Hokuto shine in the sky. Then, their body will collapse and break apart.

Kento Shadan

A chop that phases through the enemy’s defenses and disables their hands.

Hokuto Senki Raidan

A technique where the user strikes the target behind their neck. It being used possibly purified Jukei of the influence of Hokuto Ryuken’s demonic influence which affects the soul.

Tomon Ketsu Hashiso

A barrage of strikes that completely destroys an opponent’s skeleton without leaving external wounds.

Hokuto Gokin Hadan Ken

A technique that induces the enemy’s muscles to degenerate to the point of uselessness.

Raibo Shin Kyaku

A technique that propels the user around at high speeds, making dents wherever they land.

Keiko

A similar technique to the Raibo Shin Kyaku, where the user propels themselves in a direction at such high speed they damage where they stand after taking off.

Tiaoqi Breathing Technique

An essential Hokuto technique. Enables the user to hold their breath for at least 10 minutes.

Hokuto Shinhozan

A technique that sends the opponents’ souls to the afterlife and completely disintegrates their bodies.

Kiko Yabu

Another secret breathing technique. By inhaling more air than normal, a Hokuto user can massively increase their aura, granting a giant power boost. It was used by Kasumi Kenshiro to overpower two giants that went toe to toe with his 100% mode. Kenshiro seemingly used this technique in the bonus Chapter 136.5, where it shows the user also grows slightly in size?

Senju Rakan Sho

The user throws a thousand palm strikes that form a protective dome around them, acting as a means of both attack and defense.

Musou Tensei (Check Before the Verdicts)

The Unconscious Transmigration of Souls, the ultimate technique of Hokuto Shinken. In 2000 years, no one was able to master it before Kenshiro, with Raoh following soon after. For one to attain Musou Tensei, they have to know true love and sorrow.

Ryuken describes it as moving freely between life and nothingness, the nothingness that predates life and is the strongest thing in the world. As proven by Kasumi Kenshiro (who was not able to actually achieve true Musou Tensei, but almost got there), it activates automatically to protect the user, even if they are completely unconscious.

It is a state of thoughtlessness, or “no-mind”, similar to the buddhist concept of Mushin, that allows the user to strike subconsciously with a blank mind, making their movements impossible to predict. 

Musou Tensei is also capable of making the user intangible, phasing through enemy attacks but still being able to harm them, even being able to appear and disappear through attacks, as if “vanishing through thin air”, and creating afterimages and clone-like illusions to further confuse the enemy. To add to the untouchability of the technique, it masks the user’s ki so well that their original body is impossible to locate, even in a setting where sensing enemies through their emotions and ki is normal.

As it is the ultimate technique of Hokuto Shinken, it is stated by Raoh to make every other Hokuto Shinken technique useless, to the point he and Kenshiro had to revert to beating each other with their bare hands in order to fight at all once both achieved Musou Tensei. The techniques would obviously include Tenha Kassatsu, which can hit opponents that can become intangible, and Hokuto Shinhozan, that can send enemy souls to the afterlife. Hokuto Shinken successors such as Kasumi could even directly touch souls and ghosts, and it is unlikely he has any special characteristic Kenshiro or Raoh don't have regarding special unnamed powers to interact with spiritual opponents.

In extended media, we have a little more clarification about the properties of Musou Tensei, and information that corroborates already present effects. In Legends ReVive, it is stated the technique allows one to “enter the void between life and death”. In Ken’s Rage, the intangibility is portrayed normally, as the user is completely invulnerable to damage during the activation of Musou Tensei, and the game itself states that it “erases the body of the user from existence”, or “allows the user’s body to be erased into nothingness”, giving credence to the notion that normal non-physical interaction is not enough to be able to touch someone during Musou Tensei.

The weakness of Musou Tensei lies in spatial distortion. More specifically, Hokuto Ryuken’s ability to distort space and “destroy the nothingness” that comprises Musou Tensei, with abilities such as the Anryu Tenha, making the user revert to their normal state. Kenshiro has, however, overcome that weakness and is no longer vulnerable to its effects by the end of the series. As Raoh never interacted with these techniques, he never adapted to them and as such is still vulnerable to them.

Misc. Hokuto Abilities

• Non-Physical Interaction: Outside of Tenha Kassatsu being able to hit Souther who was intangible during his attack, Kasumi Kenshiro could physically touch the souls of two enemies before sending them to the afterlife. He could also harm a wolf that was potentially a manifestation of Yahma’s soul and directly described in a guidebook to be a ghost. There is nothing indicating this is an ability specific to Kasumi, as he shares all his superhuman traits with Raoh (Toki manipulation, Hokuto mastery, etc.).

• Precognition and analytical prediction: Predicting attacks via reading subtle eye and muscle movement is considered a fodder technique by Kenshiro at the very start of the series, and he should be capable of the same. Hokuto makes it possible to predict enemy attacks after a single study. Other Hokuto masters such as Kasumi Kenshiro can perceive extremely small openings in enemy movement and predict their movements based on that. Kasumi can also play entire fights in his head, reading two steps ahead of his opponent. Hokuto Shinken masters can even anticipate techniques based on subconscious reflexes.

• Information analysis, reactive evolution and adaptation: Hokuto masters can adapt to enemy fighting styles after briefly fighting them, seeing through their techniques and negating their martial arts. It even works on abilities that warp space itself. Other fighters like Shachi are capable of the same.

• Accelerated development: Kenshiro’s strength evolves according to the level of strength of his opponent, and he grows by fighting opponents stronger than himself just like his brothers. Went from being blitzed by Souther to blitzing him in mere seconds. Raoh should have the same rate of adaptation.

• Technique Mimicry: Hokuto masters can copy any martial art or ki ability they see once and incorporate them into their own style.

• Extrasensory Perception: Fighters can sense Ki on others to locate them and prevent sneak attacks. Ken has even sensed attacks while he was sleeping and can locate enemies based on the movement of the air and fight with his eyes closed.  Kenshiro has been able to sense danger from far away, and others can sense the death of others without witnessing them. Ken can sense emotions such as hatred and sadness, and use them to locate enemies as well. Other fighters in the series can do the same.

• Stealth Mastery: Hokuto Shinken is a martial art created for assassination, and as such it fittingly excels in the darkness. Kenshiro can sneak up and disappear like Batman on opponents such as Shu and Han. Han is a high level Hokuto branch practitioner, and they can sense Ki just like Kenshiro could since he was a kid. Shu can locate enemies with his heart (likely referring to Ki sensing) despite being blind and has greater awareness than people that can see. In Rei’s Gaiden, Shu can sense Ki from hundreds of meters away.

• Afterimage creation: Hokuto fighters can create afterimages with their speed with many specific techniques or just their movement. 

• Rage empowerment: Rage and sorrow are the essence of Hokuto Shinken. This is corroborated by Toki’s Gaiden. Getting angrier can greatly increase the physical statics of Hokuto fighters.

Ju no Ken

The Fist of Compassion. It's a variation of Hokuto Shinken notoriously practised by Toki. Its focus is on fluid movement and agility, turning the enemy’s strength against them. In contrast to the brutal and painful results of other Hokuto versions, Ju no Ken causes the opponents to pass peacefully and painlessly… at least sometimes. Since Hokuto masters are capable of copying and adapting to martial arts by seeing them once, and that Raoh had an extended fight with Toki using that style, it’s reasonable to assume he would know the secrets of Toki’s techniques. While it’s not exactly in character for Raoh to show mercy for his opponent’s, it’s not unlikely he wouldn’t resort to a Ju no Ken move if it was necessary.

Hokuto Ujo Hagan Ken

The Hokuto Compassionate Visage Cleave. Strikes the opponents’ kensei pressure points with just the user’s ki. It causes them to explode while feeling intense pleasure. 

Hokuto Ujodan Jinken

Toki taps the pressure points of enemies, making their heads explode without them feeling any pain.

Hokuto Ujo Moshoha

A barrage of punches that finishes with a fierce straight to the chest that pierce’s the enemy. Causes them to pass away peacefully without any pain. It has also been shown to purify the enemy of evil influences and turn them to dust before sending them to the afterlife

 Hokuto Sonka Ken

One of the three branches of Hokuto Shinken during the schism it underwent in the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China, serving Emperor Sun Wu. It specializes on the mastery of ki and controlling the user’s madness to amplify their physical capabilities. It was incorporated by Kasumi Kenshiro, and Kenshiro is seen using one of its moves with Tenha Kassatsu, in a fight Raoh was observing. Since it was likely taught to Ken, it makes sense Raoh would also have knowledge of the techniques, given he sought to learn the secrets of Hokuto.

Soki Sho

The art of using ki to manipulate objects. It can be used to casually bend and shatter weapons as shown above, and also manipulate the trajectory of bullets.

Kyoshin Kon

The user can take control of their own pressure points and induce hikoheni, or pressure point transference by changing the blood and ki flow inside one’s body. It is madness inducing and causes immense pain. Some pressure points cannot be transferred.

Ki Draining

Hokuto Sonkaken users can utilize their mastery of ki manipulation to drain energy out of the opponent, severely weakening them. Kasumi Kenshiro was able to counter this with a breathing technique.

Hokuto Soka Ken

One of the three branches of Hokuto Shinken during the schism it underwent in the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China, serving Emperor Cao Wei. It specializes in channeling energy to allow the user to pierce through anything, and even phasing through bodies. Kasumi Kenshiro has mastered this style and should have passed it on to other successors, so Raoh should also have mastery over its techniques.

Kushin Datsumei

The user inserts their finger inside the target’s brain, pressing a pressure point and being able to control their mind.

Hokuto Sokaken Ougi: Bakuryu Yoen Totsu

A technique created by Zhang Tai-Yan. It’s a barrage of strikes with one's pointers that target the opponent’s pressure points. 

Muei Kyaku

A kick executed at blinding speeds that surprises the opponent.

Hokuto Sokaken Ougi: Genmu Hyakki Kyaku

A barrage of kicks so fast that the opponent isn’t even able to see them. 

Kiken

A technique where the user utilizes their perception and reflexes to attack and evade subconsciously.

(Possible) Deconstruction

Hokuto Sokaken users have been shown to be able to make perfect holes in glass without leaving any trace of damage besides the hole. Kasumi has been able to make a perfect hole on a wall after making it ripple and twist into itself by using this martial art.

(Possible) Phasing

By using Hokuto Sokaken principles, Kasumi has been able to push his finger inside a man’s brain and press a pressure point. There was no wound left after he took his finger out.

Nanto Seiken

The God Fist Southern Cross, a style that is the polar opposite of Hokuto in many ways. There are 108 sects of Nanto Seiken, but the style is generally based on the principle of cutting enemies apart with the user’s hands or feet, air pressure or ki, destroying the target from the outside instead of the inside like Hokuto Shinken. As a master of Hokuto Shinken, Raoh has incredible adaptation and technique copying powers from just witnessing them once, and has used them to steal Nanto Seiken techniques and incorporate them into his fighting style through the multiple battles with Nanto masters he has had or observed. Since there is an abundance of Nanto Seiken techniques and attacks, we’re gonna list just the most prominent schools of the martial art practiced by characters most close to Kenshiro that appear in his Musou Tensei. For a comprehensive list of all of the Nanto Seiken schools and techniques, check the Fist of the North Star wiki’s list.

Nanto Suicho Ken

The South Dipper Waterbird Fist is the Nanto style employed by Rei, and, in his Gaiden, his former master Rufu. It focuses on graceful flowing movements that are as deadly as they are beautiful. In Rei’s Gaiden story, he is able to use it to cut enemies so finely that their ligaments would regenerate if they stood still for a few seconds, meaning the style has absurdly high cutting power. 

Image	Name	Description
	Nanto Hien Ryobu	A backwards leaping attack where the user slashes the opponent in mid-air. So beautiful it made Rei earn Yuda’s envy.
	Nanto Suzaku Tensho	A leaping slash attack that Rei used to scar Yuda’s face.
	Nanto Seiki Moha	A rapid slashing technique that leaves the target cut in dozens of small pieces.
	Nanto Hisho Hakurei	A leaping attack where the user slices the opponent vertically with two hands down from their shoulders,
	Nanto Danko Sosai Ken	The ultimate Nanto Suicho Ken technique. The user imbues all of their life force into a double handed dive attack into the enemy. If it hits, it’s ensured to kill both the user and the target mutually. Rei almost killed Raoh with it, despite Raoh being vastly stronger than him.
	Nanto Gekisei Kabuku	The user performs a precise strike that cuts through skin like a knife.
	Nanto Komen Yu	Renders multiple targets unconscious without hurting them in a blitz of dashing strikes.
	Nanto Sejin Ganha Zan	A super fast slashing technique where the user cuts the opponent down to small cubes so fast they don’t even realize it.
	Nanto Mugai Zetsuei Sho	A thrusting attack where the user stabs the opponent through the chest with their hand.
	Nanto Hicho Rangeki Ha	The user stabs the air, creating multiple perforating vacuum waves against the opponent.
	Nanto Kubuen Ri Zan	A leap into the air that prepares the user to dive downwards to slash the opponent.
	Nanto Zancho Zan	Slices the opponents into pieces so finely that their ligaments will seamlessly regenerate if they stay still for a few seconds.
	Shoha Metsu Fujin	The user channels all of their aura and blasts his opponent with it in a Nanto slash.
	Rekku Jingai Shu	The user strikes their opponent downwards, debilitating them with a crushing blow.

Nanto Ho-oh Ken

The South Dipper Phoenix Fist is the style practiced by Souther, one of the Six Scared Fists of Nanto, a powerful fighter that had a rivalry with Raoh. It is the fastest out of the Nanto variations, and can even enable the user to phase through attacks.

Image	Name	Description
	Kyokusei Juji Ken	The user forms a cross with their arms and plows forward into their opponent, leaving a cross shaped scar on them.
	Tensho Juji Ho	The user’s body transforms into an aerial stance and attacks the opponent from above, doing a diving slash that can phase through the opponent.
	Yusho Gaku	The user unleashes a rapid fire fist attack to discombobulate their opponent

Nanto Kokaku Ken

The South Dipper Crimson Crane Fist is the Nanto style practiced by Yuda, a member of the Nanto Rokusei Ken that pledged allegiance to Raoh. Yuda was obsessed with beauty and Rei. The style focuses on vertical slashes and long distance air pressure waves that cut enemies apart.

Image	Name	Description
	Densho Reppa	The user creates a vertical slashing wave that moves along cutting the ground. Referenced by the Fatal Fury series with Geese’s signature long distance move.
	Yousou Hazan	A vertical slash done with a single finger that can cut an opponent in half from a distance.
	Kesshou Shi	The ultimate Kokaku Ken attack, depicted in many forms across Hokuto media. In Raoh’s OVA series, it is a series of claw slashes. In the Arc System Works fighting game, it is a screwdriver style attack.

Taizan Tenrou Ken

A fast and brutal style practiced by Ryuga, one of Raoh’s lieutenants and Yuria’s brother. It is a style with which the user can chop an enemy apart so fast that they feel a chilling sensation before they even begin to bleed. In Toki’s Gaiden, it is explained it stops blood flow around the wound and makes it appear frozen. Since Ryuga worked under Raoh and obviously had knowledge of his abilities, Raoh should logically know and be able to recreate his martial art due to his general copying abilities.

Tenro Toga Ken

A swift vertical downward strike aimed at the opponent’s head, presumably to cut off their face.

Rakan Nio Ken 

The Fist of the Arhat Deva King is a 5.000 year old assassination art that originated in India with a brutal history preceding it, which led to it being forbidden by the emperor at the time due to its destructive power and as no successors wereft outside of Devil Rebirth it remained unknown to many. It’s focused around controlling the powerful currents of winds as an attack to push opponents and even splatter them with its sheer pressure.

How Raoh learned it is a mystery as this is a filler from the anime, but we can assume that in his efforts to conquer the world and learn every martial art he likely found a scroll somewhere.

Resistances

• Hypnosis/Mind Manipulation: Should share similar mental resistances to his brother Kenshiro, who resisted hypnosis from Geira

• Fear/Empathic Manipulation: While it’s true that Raoh has had a notable history of shitting his pants as shown with Kenshiro and Fudo, this more so seems to stem from Raoh’s insecurities from his past with Fudo and his fear of Kenshiro’s Musou Tensei and the sorrowful eyes, rather than being affected by the fear effects of their auras. Even then, he was perfectly capable of fighting Fudo who did release his battle ki and Raoh outmuscled Fudo until he was reminded of the previously mentioned sorrowful eyes, even gaining the will to fight Kenshiro to a close match after Raoh unlocked his own Musou Tensei. So it stands to say as both a powerful user of Toki and having previously fought Kenshiro even prior to him unlocking Musou Tensei that he should be able to resist the effects of Toki aura.

• Pressure Points: Users of Hokuto Shinken possess multiple methods to negate even their own pressure points should they be affected by one of their own, in Raoh’s case he’s so beefy that he can survive pressure point attacks from styles such as Toki’s Ju no Ken. This is especially impressive for Raoh as Kenshiro previously stated early on that Toki’s pressure points could kill even him.

• Ki/Energy Draining: The 62nd successor Kasumi Kenshiro was able to counter a technique that could drain the strength and ki out of a person by inserting it back right in, Raoh should reasonably be capable of doing the same.

• Precognition and information analysis: Early series Kenshiro could already negate precognition from an enemy that could predict movements by reading subtle muscle and eye movements.

• Clairvoyance and possible Fate Manipulation: Men of Hokuto are capable of changing their fates, and their future is impossible to predict. One’s ability to change fate in the series is reinforced a few times in the manga and in Gaidens.

• Illusions and stealth: Spotted an entire village that was camouflaged in plain sight because of Gaia’s Kokuzan Ongyō Ken, which allowed him to hide between people. His brother Kenshiro was able to see through Patra hiding herself with illusions. sensing her movements with his mind.

• Radiation: Scaling from his brothers who are also Hokuto practitioners without any special characteristic besides their usage of ki. Toki could live for years after surviving being bombarded by radiation for two weeks and receiving a dosage 50 billion times higher than the one that would kill a normal person. In his Gaiden, Jagi survived being caught in the explosion of a nuclear bomb.

• Poisons: Raoh is unaffected by toxins from poisoned swamps thanks to his Iron Body technique, allowing him to walk through them freely. His brother Kenshiro also resisted a poisonous gas that would paralyze a normal person and is naturally resistant to all poisonous substances thanks to his bloodline, as Raoh is part of the Hokuto Soke bloodline this resistance should scale to him. This resistance can be enhanced by pressing the Anbaku-Kou and Gedokujutsu pressure points. Ken can endure 5 times the lethal doses of acidic and alkaline substances.

• Pain: Raoh along with his brother Kenshiro perhaps have some of the greatest pain tolerance. Examples of this include the time he didn’t flinch when stabbing his own foot nor react to having hundreds of arrows that were shot to his body. In his fights with Kenshiro, Juza and Toki he suffered many fatal injuries and lost tons of blood, and yet kept fighting. Even when his knees were starting to give out, Raoh persisted, as he tried his hardest to not kneel.

• Electricity: Raoh was able to overpower a metal gauntlet covered in electricity with no issues. But more impressively, his brother Kenshiro was also unfazed by the electricity of a gate that could fry normal people.

• Fire/Heat: Even after being engulfed in flames by Shuren of the Flame, Raoh remained unharmed by the attack and stated his attack did not harm him in the slightest. Should scale to his brother Kenshiro could withstand a barrage of flamethrowers and grab a volcanic rock barehanded just fine. As well as being far superior to his other worthless brother Jagi, who, in his Gaiden, could withstand the heat of a nuclear fireball.

• Deconstruction (Cellular level): Kenshiro could tank Gento Koken attacks, which can completely disintegrate opponents on a cellular level.

Forms

Akuma

Shin

(Check Before the Verdicts)

If Akuma is to ever find a foe that is worthy enough to challenge his Dark Hado, he unleashes the full might of his fist with no restraint. Becoming Akuma Blanco. Having greater power at the cost of further falling into the Dark Hado’s temptation, though he does seem to maintain control regardless. In Street Fighter 6 he can also attain this form by eating a rice ball if the opponent ever allows him to, implying that Shin Akuma is also Akuma but fully fed?

While the form’s abilities seem to be the same as Akuma, he does gain a notable increase in speed, the ability to shoot several fireballs in the air, a more powerful Raging Demon and two new techniques in the form of a counter and Misogi. Where he jumps and falls down to either cut the opponent in half/punch them into the ground.

 Oni

(Check Before the Verdicts)

Although Akuma had successfully managed to manipulate the Dark Hado without the danger of being possessed, this doesn’t necessarily mean he had fully tamed it and Akuma knew of this, willingly locking that part of himself at bay and considering the Satsui as merely a tool to his path. This side of Akuma sometimes manifests as a sort of shadow with actual sentience as implied by winquotes and even crossover media, similar to Kage. A shadow that promises to one day take over Akuma’s body if he sinks too far into the Dark Hado, and if it ever does happen, we’re all screwed. While the form is arguably non-canon, Rose’s winquote against Oni implies it’s more of a matter of when than if.

As Oni, the Akuma that was there is no more and it’s all Oni’s world from now on. Becoming a warrior consumed by battle but not abiding by his warrior code whatsoever, wanting to kill and kill and just well….. kill some more. So expect no mercy from Oni. This state is much stronger than Shin Akuma and is strong enough to no-sell a whole volcano eruption point blank. As well as losing none of the skill Akuma once possessed and he even gained a few new abilities, many of his physical attacks show parts of his body glowing with a volcanic aura and his projectiles even gain electric properties.

Raoh

100%

Similar to Kenshiro, Raoh can also achieve the state in which he unlocks the hidden 70% of his latent power. It is accessed via the Tenryu Kokyuho technique, and boosts his physical stats by 3.333x.

Mount

Akuma

T-Rex

You know what else is cooler than Akuma? Akuma riding on a dinosaur like a badass to stare you down. Very non-canon as this is from the SVC Chaos manhwa, but it’s worth the mention.

Raoh

Kokuoh

Kokuoh (translated as “Black King”) is the mighty horse that regularly lends his back to Raoh , he’s a massive steed large enough to be roughly compared to an elephant. Making him perfect for the 7 foot Raoh to mount and trample through entire armies. Kokuoh’s kick is also surprisingly strong, being capable of even harming Raoh himself.

But don’t think he is just a mere battle horse. Originally he led a herd of wild horses acting as their king, guarding the Valley of the Black King against any opposition that would dare trespass. Raoh would eventually come face to face in a meeting of kings after Kokuoh defended a wounded foal from tigers; Raoh killed the foal as an act of mercy without any pain to free Kokuoh of his burden. Afterall, what would become of his rule and men if a king were to sacrifice himself for the dying?. Ever since Kokuoh was recruited, he lent his army of horses to Ken-oh’s forces. Realizing that both kings were more alike than at first glance and gaining respect from one another as inseparable friends.

Kokuoh also holds respect for those who manage to yield his back, for example when Juza of the Wind tamed Kokuoh and stole him from Raoh; in the aftermath of Juza’s fight with Raoh he wanted a proper burial for Juza. And after Raoh kicked the bucket, Kenshiro would adopt the horse and lend his back to Kenshiro until Kokuoh’s eventual passing.

Feats

Akuma

Overall

• Mastered the Ansatsuken to terrifying perfection

• Tamed the Satsui no Hado, regularly using it to push beyond his human limits

• Defeated many fighters around the world, earning renown as the Master of the Fists.

• Was one of the few people in the world to have survived Gen’s pressure point attacks

• Battled his way through Makai and killed every demon he found

• Defeated Goutetsu, Gouken, Seth, Bison, Gen and Ryu

Power

• Saved a child from being crushed under the weight of a tree

• Beheaded a giant statue with a single uppercut

• Decapitates a giant lava rock demon with a hurricane kick

• Split Ayers Rock in half with Kongou Kokuretsuzan

• Kicked through an entire abandoned submarine while underwater

• Akuma destroyed an island with a single chop - (119 megatons of TNT)

• Akuma created a large energy pillar with his ki - (6.88 to 16.73 gigatons of TNT)

• Oni caused a large volcanic eruption (786.86 megatons of TNT)

• Shin Akuma destroys a meteor - (Inapplicable)

Speed

• Can launch over 30 strikes in a single second with the raging demon (23.34 m/s, rip)

• Avoided attacks from Ken Masters

• Fought against Gen in the blink of an eye, ultimately being victorious.

• Had no issues avoiding attacks from M.Bison, to the point that he didn’t bother dodging scissor kick right as it was about to touch him

• Teleported away from Evil Ryu’s Messatsu Goshoryu

• Akuma has matched strikes against Evil Ryu in a contest of raging demons

Durability

• Battled Goutetsu for hours despite both men losing tons of blood as a result

• Was mostly unfazed by a hurricane kick from Ryu

• Crashed into the side of a mountain after falling from space at terminal velocity

• Took being at the epicenter of Gouken’s self destruct (750 kilotons to 6.47 megatons of TNT)

• Powered through Gen’s pressure points

• Was blasted with a full powered Shinku Hadouken that could be seen from far away, vomiting blood

• Got thrown through a volcano by Oro so hard that it caused a massive eruption. He later emerges from the lava completely unfazed and naked.

Raoh

Overall

• Brought Hokuto Shinken to its pinnacle along with his brothers Kenshiro and Toki.

• Amassed a large army, conquering many kingdoms in his reign of fear as Ken-Oh, the King of the Fists.

• Defeated many martial artists throughout Japan and stole their techniques, mastering nearly every martial on earth.

• Defeated all of the Nanto Goshasei

• One of the few throughout the history of Hokuto to have unlocked Musou Tensei

• Defeated Koryu, Rei, Ryurou, Fudo, Juza and Toki

Power

• Beheaded a tiger with a single strike

• Threw a massive pillar

• Saved his brother Toki from being crushed under the weight of a tree… as just a kid

• Reversed the momentum of a giant boulder by pushing it back

• Created a crater over the ceiling with a Toki blast

• Has casually brought down numerous buildings and skyscrapers several times

• Sent the Kiba Clan King flying through several mountains with a single blast, destroying his steel armor.

• In a clash of auras against Kenshiro, they created a massive tornado by reuniting all the air around them, causing the clouds above them to dispersed as a result.

• With the last remaining bit of his life force, after already having spent his entire spirit into an attack and failing to harm base Kenshiro, still had enough energy left to launch a ki blast into the sky and ascend to the heavens, dispersing a huge thunderstorm and clearing the sky. (1.74 Gigatons of TNT)

• Anime version (1.9 Megatons of TNT)

Speed

• Blitzed Rei with his aura

• Exchanged strikes against Toki with their auras at FTE speeds

• Can punch at rapid speeds and even create afterimages with Musou Tensei

• Effortlessly catched the Demon King’s hidden poisoned weapons

• Catches a crossbow bolt fired from behind and throws it right back at Mamiya

• Triggered a trap that spawned several bladed weapons, Raoh shielded himself with two pieces of rubble that he ripped from the ground

• The Legend of Raoh OVA depicts this moment a little differently, as Raoh avoids all of them through sheer speed (see above)

• Sent his soul in the form of a ki blast to the heavens (Mach 250.5)

Durability

• Survived being thrown off a Cliff by Ryuken along with Toki, climbing the cliff with one arm while holding him back to safety.

• Kept fighting Kenshiro even after losing tons of blood

• Two metal pipes hitting Raoh bend on impact

• No-sells being set on fire by Shuren

• Kenshiro hits Raoh with enough force to send him through a pillar

• Withstood the impact of a 150m Howitzer shell

• Had enough energy to kill Ryuken, even after losing tons of blood from having seven of his blind spots injured

• Ignores having a piece of rubble fall into his head while attempting to lift a massive stone bloc, and came out unscathed after a building fell on top of him

• Fell through several stories after being caught in Rihaku’s final trap

Weaknesses

Akuma

As immensely powerful as Akuma is, he isn’t unbeatable. Too much stress or injuries can wear him out and even eventually knock him into weaker forms as shown when Gill or Ryu (pictured above) overwhelmed him, something that he can’t easily recover from. The Raging Demon also seemingly requires every hit from it to land to actually work, with characters like Gen or Guy being able to avoid it by blocking every strike.

Raoh

Despite his larger than life presence, Raoh is still human. Kenshiro defeated him by exhausting his life force and damaging his body beyond a point where he could fight. Raoh can also be knocked out of his Musou Tensei state by techniques such as the Anryu Tenra, which distort space and create an anti gravitational space, making the target disoriented and leaving them vulnerable to attacks. 

Scaling

Akuma

Akuma is arguably the peak of power inside Street Fighter, and is very likely on par or even above Ryu in the main canon. Therefore, he would scale to these feats listed below:

Ansatsuken Students

As someone who mastered the Ansatsuken and embraced the killing arts, it would only be natural that Akuma would come face to face with Gouken’s school of martial arts. Often proving to be an overwhelming threat to his students like Ryu and Ken by matching or far surpassing them in combat. Even when Ryu slowly started to match him over the years in games like Street Fighter 4 and 6, Akuma had still proved to be his superior. Other mediums like UDON also show Akuma being comparable to Ryu’s Shin Ryu state through his Oni form, though he did lose the encounter there.

• Ryu’s energy was used by Bison to power the Psycho Drive laser enough to destroy a city - (33.347 megatons to 1.157 gigatons of TNT)

• Evil Ryu has dodged machine gun fire

• Ken and Sakura created an explosion in a clash of Hadoukens

• As Shin Ryu, Ryu was able to travel from the mediterranean sea to Australia in a single leap (Mach 1320 to Mach 3960)

Misc Street Fighters

Akuma has thrown hands with just about everyone. Easily defeating and killing hundreds of martial arts over the years, often being unimpressed by the lack of challenge from the world even with some of the strongest villains in the series M. Bison or Seth. So it stands to say that Akuma should upscale many of the regular fighters in the series. 

• Birdie and Balrog survived the destruction of the Shadaloo base - (11.5 to 30.52 kilotons of TNT)

• Bison tanked Charlie’s self destruction

• The Psycho Drive Laser was used to blow up Easter Island - (158.6 megatons to 4.25 gigatons of TNT)

• Sagat can move over a hundred meters at FTE speeds - (Mach 1.24 to 9.34)

• Bison intercepted the Psycho Drive Laser - (Mach 967)

• Hakan tossed E-Honda hard enough to destroy a meteor - (961 megatons of TNT)

• E-Honda’s Delivery summons can deliver orders at high speeds - (Mach 39.84)

Final Fight Characters

(Check Before the Verdicts)

Akuma has often proven to be one of the strongest fighters in the world, often battling much of the Street Fighter cast that have fought against several Final Fight characters(examples include Ryu beating Hugo and Cody, Sagat beating Hugo, Sakura fending off Maki Genryusai, Charlie beating Rolento, etc.). So it’s only reasonable that he should far surpass many of the common thugs and even the heaviest hitters in Metro City.

• Haggar can piledrive people through Earth - (129 gigatons to 216 teratons of TNT for power and 0.01c to 0.65c for speed) (Inapplicable to mainline, Check Before the Verdicts)

• Cody very regularly busts through a 50 cm thick wall.

• Hugo lifts a big truck and smashes it against the ground

• Hugo also threw the head of a statue at Sagat

• Elias can attack at “lightning-fast speeds” - (Mach 260)

Street Fighter EX Characters

(Debatable, Check Before the Verdicts)

While some of the accounts for EX’s lore are admittedly rather vague or minimal(especially with some misinformation in the SF wiki like Garuda beating Akuma), we do certainly know that SF characters are comparable with some of Arika’s fellow characters. With such examples as Ken beating Allen Snyder or Rolento wounding D. Dark in his backstory. So as far as we’re concerned, the original cast should be in the same ballpark as EX.

• Kairi breaks a boulder with a single chop

• Darun Mister humps a massive boulder into the air

• Shadowgeist potentially???? might survived a building busting self destruct

• Cracker Jack punched a Shadaloo train and can bat people into Jupiter and Uranus (1468 and 3400 times FTL respectively)

• Nanase can jump into space

• Cycloid Beta flies out of orbit

UDON Darkstalkers Characters

(Debatable, PLEASE Check Before the Verdicts)

Exclusive to the UDON comics, their version of Street Fighter shares a universe with the Darkstalkers series, with both casts having fought each other across multiple issues. While Ryu never encountered any of the Darkstalkers himself, his allies and rivals like Chun-Li, Ken, and Sagat have held their own against several of them, which can possibly lead to them scaling to the cast. 

• Felicia accidentally snapped a zombie’s neck and can avoid gunfire

• Morrigan cut multiple grown men in half, collapsed a wall on Chun-Li, was launched out of a building, and repeatedly impaled Jedah

• Jedah created the Majigen, a pocket of space-time between the human and demon realms that acts as a self-contained universe. It’s described later as a self-contained universe in the void between all dimensions where time, space, and the rules of reality are bent

• Anakaris intercepted a Huitzil while it was flying into space

• Pyron consumed his home planet and traveled from the furthest limits of the universe to Earth over the course of 3 years

Raoh

While Raoh was later surpassed by other characters in the series, he’s still a formidable force in-universe and somewhat close to the top dogs of the verse. Therefore, he should scale to these feats in particular:

Hokuto Brothers

As the three strongest men of Hokuto Soke history stated to have equal skill, Raoh’s goal was to surpass his equals before he would set foot on the land of Shura. So Raoh naturally should be comparable to his brothers Kenshiro and Toki given he’s frequently matched them to the point of beating Toki or matching Kenshiro’s Musou Tensei even if he did eventually lose. This scaling by extension also makes him far surpass the weakest brother Jagi, seeing as he’s kind of a weakling who couldn’t even harm a pre-Musou Tensei base Kenshiro and required dirty tactics to keep up.

While it might seem like a stretch to scale Raoh to Kenshiro later on in Hokuto no Ken 2, especially since he far surpassed him by the end of the series in the Land of Shura arc, given he received no notable power ups prior to lifting his seals in the years following Raoh’s defeat, we can at the very least compare Raoh to Kenshiro by the point of the Celestial Emperor Arc. This is further supported through Raoh’s past encounter with Falco of Gento Koken, stating that he could defeat Raoh but would die in the process of doing so, and Falco did evenly fight Kenshiro, cementing that the two should be comparable.

• Kenshiro has frequently lifted and pushed large boulders

• Kenshiro stopped hundreds of arrows and threw them all right back to sender

• Both Kenshiro and Falco split the skies in a clash of auras (44.89 Gigatons individually)

• Toki could live for years after surviving being bombarded by radiation for two weeks and receiving a dosage 50 billion times higher than the one that would kill a normal person (Check Before the Verdict)

• Jagi survived one of the bombs from the nuclear war that caused the apocalypse. Other works show the bombs causing gigantic air mass splits on the atmosphere, and they are stated to have dried the oceans of the planet and split the earth itself - (5.2 petatons of TNT) (Check Before the Verdict)

Kasumi Kenshiro

As Raoh, Toki and Kenshiro got stated by Koryu to bring Hokuto to new heights early on in the manga, and the fact guidebooks state that Raoh embodies the infinite destructive potential of Hokuto itself, it is reasonable we could scale the Ken-Oh to the 62nd successor of Hokuto Shinken before the underwent the ritual of touching the Stone of Hokuto Soke. This would apply to his base, pre-Musou Tensei state, as the statements all refer to Raoh during that time.

• His Toki Aura unleashed by the Soryu Tenra technique dispersed a large storm formed by start of the Hokuto Initiation Ritual - (2.13 teratons of TNT)

• Can casually walk through and outspeed bullets

• Saved a man from getting hit by bullets centimeters away from his eye using the Keiko technique - (Mach 222)

• The Keiko technique is also outright stated to make him move at lightning speed - (Mistranslation)

• Can fight on par with Fei Yan

• Fei Yan can casually dodge bullets centimeters from his face - (Mach 3.31)

• Could fight on par with Liu Zonwu, even while both were using the Keiko technique

• Liu Zonwu could evade a strike to a pressure point from Kasumi in his forehead before it could completely pierce his skin, all while Kasumi was using the Keiko technique. Given Kasumi could attack accurately during Keiko, and Liu Zonwu could evade an attack so close to him, in addition to them being able to trade blows accurately, their reactions should scale to the technique.

• Was capable of blocking Van der Kool’s Tento Kogai Sho, or “Heaven Dipper Imperial Hundred Quintillion Palm” - (Inapplicable, Check Before the Verdicts)

Misc. Martial Artists

As Ken-oh looked to expand his conquest with fear, Raoh fought many martial artists around the world who he personally fought to steal and incorporate their techniques into his style, or others who opposed him or his rule. With Raoh typically proving his superiority as he defeated and killed many, sometimes even recruiting them to his personal army or imprisoning them in the prison of Cassandra. He also fought the Holy emperor Souther to a stalemate in material such as Ten no Haoh.

• A barrage of attacks from Rei caused a boulder behind Kenshiro to be sliced to many pieces

• Fudo accidentally destroys a house with his sheer size

• Fudo can rip out and throw a pillar

• Garuda can attack at the speed of light 

• Juza, who is about as fast as pre-Musou Tensei Raoh, outspeeds Garuda

• Souther caused distant buildings to crumble from the shockwaves causes by his clashes with Kenshiro

• Souther dodges shotgun pellets at close range

Upscaling and Multipliers

Akuma

With the Kiai taunt Akuma can boost the damage of his physical strikes by 43.8%, making him 1.438x times stronger than his usual self. Though Akuma can only use this taunt once per round and keep the damage for a single combo.

Akuma has frequently pushed himself beyond his human limits by constantly training, to the point that even rivals like Gen could no longer match up to him anymore. And he has just as often proved to be superior to many of the series fighters and strongest villains to the point none could satisfy him, so it’s no question he’d be able to upscale from many of the series feats such as M. Bison’s blast, Honda’s meteor, Haggar’s piledriver or even some of his more casual showings like when he sinked that island or wiped a forest off the map. With Ryu in particular we have another way to show this upscaling, as we previously noted when he went up against Seth he went from getting completely stomped to completely stomping Seth in a matter of seconds once he unlocked the Power of Nothingness. And Ryu has fully mastered the Power of Nothingness by the time of SF6, so it’s safe to assume that Akuma should upscale from feats done by a younger Ryu from the Alpha Era by many times given Akuma beat Ryu when he became stronger. Forms like Shin Akuma and Oni would add two more layers of upscaling.

Raoh

Raoh can use the Tenryu Kyoku Ho technique to boost his physical stats and use 100% of his potential instead of only 30%, granting him a multiplier of 3.333x to his stats from his base state.

In their first fight, base Kenshiro couldn’t do much to Raoh at all, but as soon as he went 100% mode, he could fight Raoh to a draw. After learning Musou Tensei, his base form could casually match Raoh and frighten him with his power, meaning that unlocking Muso Tensei granted him a power boost even greater than Tenryu Kyoku Ho. After Raoh also learned Muso Tensei himself, they were evenly matched.

That means Post-MT Ken is much stronger than base Raoh and his own previous 100% state, who are 3.333x stronger than BoS Ken, putting 100% Post-MT Raoh at much stronger than 11.10x of Kenshiro’s starting base form.

Before the Verdicts…

DISCLAIMER: Some of the topics are going to be 1:1 with Ryu vs Kenshiro’s blog, they are here to be emphasised again in case some readers haven't checked that one out yet. That being said, THERE ARE EXCLUSIVE BtVs here, so if you already read Ryu vs Kenshiro, don't skip the entire section and read the newer ones. BtVs that were already on the previous blog will be colored in blue so the reader can easily identify the new ones, who will be in black.

Higher Street Fighter Arguments

Street Fighter has had a plethora of arguments to get higher stats then the one you’ve probably seen in this blog; however, a lot of these arguments are very fundamentally flawed for one reason or another - to be fair, we’ll go over each of the major arguments we discounted, and go over their flaws as to why they can’t be reliably utilized.

Final Fight Revenge

The most popular argument for higher Street Fighter stats has been Haggar’s piledriver from Final Fight Revenge; it’s been calced to a variety of ranges, but no matter what it gets, it’s always significantly higher than any other Street Fighter AP arguments. However, this feat is flawed to use.

Make no mistake, while it has been inflated in the past, the feat itself is fine in terms of the Large Island to Large Country range calc; however, the game is pretty blatantly non-canon, as confirmed by the World Warrior Guide. Cody’s profile says that he was arrested due to him committing assault, while in Revenge he was arrested due to being framed. Guy’s zombie infection in Revenge is also not referenced in his profile, and Belger becoming a zombie isn’t referenced at all in his. In addition, Belger appears in SFV and is not, in fact, a zombie. Haggar’s profile references the events of the other Final Fight games, but notably, not Revenge. In addition, the game itself is not referenced in the guide by name once. 

You could say Poison’s profile says she tries to frame Cody as a reference to Revenge, but it only says she tried, not that she succeeded, and considering that Cody’s profile openly contradicts this and no other elements of Revenge are shown to be canon, we can safely dismiss the game as being non-canon, and the feat inapplicable to the main Street Fighter continuity. You could use it, however, for both the Final Fight cast and in soft composites, but a majority of the time, it would be inapplicable to mainline Street Fighter characters.

Street Fighter EX

Street Fighter EX is another one of the various Street Fighter spinoff series that has been argued to get the series higher stats - in this case, MFTL speeds. However, when you look into it, it’s pretty cleanly not canon.

None of the original characters in EX are referenced at all in the World Warrior guide, nor is it listed anywhere on any of Capcom’s websites detailing games canon to the series. In addition, EX itself story wise is just a retelling of Street Fighter 2 with different characters as showcased by several ends such as Guile or Blanka’s being similar to their original Street Fighter 2 endings, and even several guides and books do specify it’s a parallel world set during the events of Street Fighter 2. The game during development was originally named with the subtitle “Street Fighter Gaiden”, meaning “side story”. Adding to that status.

Now, it’s important to mention that Street Fighter EX has actually been referenced before twice in the mainline. Primarily in the Shadaloo C.R.I and Zangief himself mentioning Darun Mister as “his friend” during a wrestling tour in India, the C.R.I even mentions that Darun gave him one of the pieces for SFV’s whole shindig with the Black Moon.

However, this doesn’t prove EX’s canonicity by itself, and Ruby Heart is acknowledged as canon too at some points (especially given Takayuki Nakayama has acknowledged C.R.I Ruby wasn’t the same Ruby as Marvel vs Capcom). At most, this means characters can be canon, even if the stories aren’t - and, let’s be real, going from Mach 967 to 3400 x FTL is kind of a huge outlier, even if EX itself had any acknowledgement in canon. Overall, we decided to rule out EX as non-canon, and as such, its MFTL arguments are inapplicable outside of soft composites.

UDON & Darkstalkers

Ever since they started publishing Street Fighter comics in 2003, UDON has created its own timeline in the Street Fighter franchise. It has earned its reputation in the Versus community as perfectly usable and canon for being official material. Death Battle has used it in the past, so it should be fine, right? Well, as we further investigate it, you’ll notice there is a lot to address regarding how coherently these comics fit in the Street Fighter universe.

Starting with the notion that the comics don’t contradict the original material, the games. Out the gate we can use Gen as an example. In the Street Fighter 2 UDON comics, Gen dies in a second confrontation with Akuma. In the games, he is still alive during the events of Street Fighter V, and even confirmed to be active after them by the writer of the games. Even Akuma and Gen’s original confrontation where Gen beats him is different, with a completely different portrayal and location between the game and the comic. Gen is also confirmed dead in the Darkstalkers crossover, as he is seen in Makai in Akuma vs Hell (and sends Akuma back to Earth after spending time in the void), and interacts with the cast as a ghost in Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers. So that’s a major character death that changes events of the games significantly, as none of his post-death comic activity is even alluded to in the games or the World Warrior guide at all.

Speaking of the World Warrior Guide, it does explicitly refer to UDON and the games as different continuities, only showing specific comic moments in the character profiles. From this we can infer that most UDON content is simply not canon to the Street Fighter games, with only a small handful of moments being usable.

Not enough? We have confirmation from Matt Moylan, official Director of Publishing at UDON comics and writer for many stories, that the chronological order for the UDON Street Fighter comics is different from the mainline Street Fighter games’, because they didn’t know Street Fighter V was supposed to be set before Street Fighter III when originally publishing the comics. As we know, official game timelines show otherwise. So now we have two separate official statements from UDON themselves that the comics are not supposed to be fully canon, but rather a different continuity. We also know that this continuity frequently contradicts the games themselves and has a sequence of events completely incompatible with them.

As you might have noticed, unlike with the games, this iteration of the series has rather explicit ties to Darkstalkers. And both of these series have had some rather strong ties to each other, starting with the end of Street Fighter Unlimited issue 11. Gill arrives in Hell after being killed by Ryu and meets Jedah Dohma, and the text box at the end advertises the crossover Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers. 

This crossover was also led into via the backup stories in Street Fighter Legends: Cammy where members of the Street Fighter cast engage in brief scuffles with the Darkstalkers cast. And when Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers finally came out, there were multiple instances of both series’ casts battling each other. So how would this affect Street Fighter’s scaling?

Well, the Darkstalkers comics are surprisingly light on feats. In their own series, the best feats are Felicia avoiding gunfire, Anakaris intercepting a Huitzil as it's flying into space, and most impressively, Pyron consuming his home planet and traveling from the furthest limits of the universe to Earth within 3 years. Of these feats, the only ones you could really scale the Street Fighter cast to would be Felicia since Ken manages to dodge and block her attacks. With Anakaris all we have to go off of is one panel where E. Honda is holding back one of his attacks, while Pyron flat out can’t scale to anyone. He was depicted as casually taking out Morrigan, Demitri, and Donovan, none of whom could harm him due to his weird physiology.

When the Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers crossover came out, it gave a massive buff to Jedah Dohma. He’s responsible for the creation of the Majigen, a pocket of space-time made of his own blood that acts as a self-contained universe between the human and demon realms. In a later issue Gen describes it as a self-contained universe in the void between all dimensions where time, space, and the rules of reality are bent. Jedah then works with Gill to create the Fetus of God, an infant that will break through the void separating the human and demon realms and eventually break through the barriers of all universes and realities.

With a feat this insanely high, it begs the question of if anyone would scale to it. And the answer to that is no. At least nobody in Street Fighter would.

Despite there being a massive fight scene where everyone on both sides fights Jedah, it’s pretty much a one-sided beating where any attacks the heroes land don’t amount to much because Jedah regenerates from them near instantly. The only reason the cast managed to beat him is because Gill rips out his heart and Akuma uses Donovan’s demon slaying sword to kill Jedah. And the Fetus of God isn’t even handled by the Street Fighter cast! It casually absorbs their projectiles no problem, requires Morrigan and Lilith to merge to so much as hurt it, and Anita to use her psychic powers to seal it away. 

Even without those two big feats, the idea of scaling the Street Fighter cast to the high tier Darkstalkers is rather flawed. The only occasions where the Street Fighters interact with those guys are Necalli getting bodied by Morrigan, Morrigan weakening Akuma and draining some of his soul with a kiss, Donovan shooting a fireball at Chun-Li, Ken, and Sagat, Ken and Sagat doing decently against Donovan, and Lilith bodying Elena until Chun-Li hits her from behind. But what about Chun-Li’s fights with Morrigan?

Well, despite Chun-Li seemingly winning their first fight, Morrigan was very clearly holding back as shown by her being more amused than anything afterward. This is even shown when they fight again in Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers. Morrigan flat out tells Chun-Li that if she wanted to kill her, she’d already be dead. When Chun-Li still attacks her on that same page, Morrigan responds “Enough of this! If the only way for you to get out of my way is for you to die, so be it.” The only reason the fight doesn’t continue past that point is because Chun-Li notices the Fetus of God being created. So we have pretty blatant evidence that Chun-Li’s only fights have been against a casual Morrigan who’s holding back. Neither Chun-Li nor anyone else in Street Fighter would scale to the higher tier feats from this crossover. The only one who would scale is a full power Morrigan.

But wait! What about that one recent Capcom art exposition that shows Darkstalkers as part of the Street Fighter timeline??? Surely that makes Dan multiversal???? Well… no. There are ZERO interactions between Darkstalkers and Street Fighter in the canon game timeline, and zero allusions to big scale Darkstalkers events in Street Fighter material. Darkstalkers is also not mentioned in the World Warrior guide or the SFV timeline. Even if you want to treat this art exhibition as more canon and reliable than actual guidebooks, there is no scaling chain to be found anywhere, outside of... simple cameos and gags like Felicia referencing Blanka. 

To summarize: The UDON Street Fighter comics are not canon, save for small specific exceptions that do not change anything in terms of stats. The Darkstalkers crossover in the UDON comics is obviously not canon, and also does not change anything in terms of stats, as the SF characters do not have a reliable or consistent scaling chain to the Darkstalkers top tiers at all. At best ability descriptions from this continuity can be used.

Meteors

The Street Fighter series has its fair share of feats involving meteors, some of which have been argued to be worth country and even multi-continental levels of power. As it turns out, they either have problems that make them worth much less, or are just unusable. Let’s break the three feats down.

E. Honda’s Meteor (Street Fighter V) - The meteor is seen dispersing clouds in the sky which align with the descriptions of Stratus clouds, which form at most 2 km above the surface. There’s no other way to measure the size of the meteor if not by ang sizing this based on the height of the clouds. A common method of trying to figure the size is assuming the meteor is visible 100 km from the ground which is where they can usually start to ignite… but that completely ignores the clouds we’re seeing on screen, as they would not form at those altitudes. The statement regarding how if Hakan and Honda could “save the world” if they work together is pretty vague and could be considered hyperbole, given in the same game the Black Moons were going to crash into the Earth in the story, and their stated destruction radius of 10 km would pale in comparison to an actual extinction meteors such as the one that caused the Chicxulub crater. Even then, no one in the entire cast was considered able to stop them, and the two wrestlers that performed the meteor feat didn’t even try. Characters stronger than them such as Juri and Chun Li followed a plan to stop them through different means that weren’t brute strength. Pretty damning narrative evidence that Honda and Hakan wouldn’t be able to stop an extinction level event like that.

Gill’s Meteor (UDON comics) - Gill... does not actually overpower the kinetic energy of the meteor, he simply destroys it. Much similarly to the feat performed by a JACK unit in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. We also have no way to measure the size of the meteor because of perspective and timeframe issues, so this feat is basically impossible to calculate without making unreasonable assumptions about its size. Even if you assume it is a meteor the same size of the one that killed the dinosaurs, destroying it would only be worth 901 megatons of TNT. Even if you were to fully scale the kinetic energy of the meteor to Gill… UDON comics mostly aren’t canon, and this one hasn’t been even alluded to in the World Warrior Guide. If you want to soft composite and attribute the kinetic energy of the meteor to Gill, it would get 72 teratons as compared to the Chicxulub impact, which would just be lower than another non-canon feat such as Haggar’s piledrive anyway.

Shin Akuma’s Meteor (Capcom Fighting Evolution) - Perspective and lack of information makes this meteor’s size impossible to be calculated without unreasonable assumptions and massively inflating the number. If you were to compare Akuma’s size next to the curvature of the meteor you would end up with a pretty low size too. Regardless, the feat is not canon, as Capcom Fighting Evolution is a crossover game with no story and characters from different time periods of Street Fighter meeting characters from Darkstalkers and Red Earth. It is not present in the official timeline as of SFV and has no mentions whatsoever in the World Warrior Guide. 

In conclusion, none of the meteors affect the stats the Street Fighter characters should get within canon or soft composite, and the Shin Akuma feat is just not usable at all.

The Black Moons

The Black Moons have been argued to be a really significant feat for the Street Fighter series, which may make it a surprise that any mention of them up until this point in the blog has been absent. So, an explanation is in order.

The Black Moons are doomsday devices meant for Bison in Street Fighter V to increase his Psycho Power, which are designed to also be able to disable electronics across the world to cause chaos as part of his plan. Now, the usual argument is that Bison was able to move 7 of them psychically, which has been shown to grant absurd results… but, both ends of this have problems.

Let’s address the problems with the calcs themselves - the Black Moons cannot be as large as suggested. They would cross into the Earth’s Roche limit if they had the mass of Mercury and were orbiting as close to the Earth as suggested (as seen in this shot, for example) - meaning that the calc itself can’t get in the absurd ranges stated before. In addition, it’s directly stated the impact range would be 10 kilometers if they crashed into the Earth - with the sizes suggested, the impact would have to be bigger than the surface of the planet, probably destroying the world. Reasonably, if the feat was accurate, then it would get much lower - likely in the Island ranges.

…However, that leads to the second problem. Which is that there is, uh, no feat. At all. The scene used for the calc is Necalli showing Ryu Bison’s plan in a vision, it’s not an actual thing that happened, he didn’t move the Black Moons to begin with. No one would scale to them crashing into the Earth or being put in orbit, or staying in orbit.

What about the EMP? Well… The thing is no one scales to it either. In the story, the Black Moons were created to generate electromagnetic pulses and cut power around the world in order to create chaos and despair, which in turn would fuel Psycho Power, and make Bison stronger. The same applies to the plan of making them crash into the planet.  Bison is not empowered by the energy the Black Moons dish out, and so scaling him to their detonation has no real justification whatsoever. Why would Shadaloo even need to send them into orbit if that was the case, anyway? 

Let’s assume that people would scale to them for whatever reason. It should get pretty high then, right?

…it would get 72 tons of TNT. The reason for that is simply because there is no air in space, and we cannot treat it as a generic nuclear fireball and use the explosion calc, so we have to settle for the luminosity. Actual nukes have been detonated in space, about 400 km above the surface. The 1.4 megaton warhead created a giant orange aurora borealis effect visible from the ground, and their EMP reached the surface and disrupted electronics too. If one were to highball this feat by comparing it to the effect of an actual nuke, the radius of the pulse itself would be at most 5.9x bigger and therefore the yield would be around 302 megatons of TNT. Mind you, with this high end it makes no sense that the nearby satellite wasn't completely vaporized. 

In short, higher ends of the Black Moons rely on a completely incorrect interpretation of the scenes in question as well as highballed sizes that contradict SFV’s story (and the laws of physics). You can’t scale anyone to either feats attributed to the Black Moons, and even if you did, they would get relatively low numbers compared to other feats in the verse.

Ocean Running

Street Fighter 6 has granted us another popular higher argument for speed, via its assist mechanic. As you can call in characters in story mode who are in locations across the world to where you are at any time in a fight they must be running there, right? Moving at insanely fast speeds?

…Yeah, no. This same game makes it explicitly clear they need planes to travel anywhere, and this is likely just a case of gameplay and story being separated. It’s pretty obvious that it’s not intended for Ryu to be able to run across the world at relativistic speeds, and doing so contradicts the same game.  As a result, this feat is inapplicable.

Gill Parts The Sea

On paper, this seems like something that should be very impressive. This feat had previously been calculated at island and even large island AP levels, but these calcs have fundamental logic issues that contradict real life science.

First off, it is usually assumed that the depth of the sea parting is equivalent to the average depth of the ocean. This sounds reasonable until you evaluate this assumption further. The feat occurs very close to an island, a geological formation that sits over a continental shelf, where the landmass of the island would logically extend further to relatively shallow waters until it reaches an edge to the ocean depths. In short, the ocean is much shallower when close to islands and continents, so assuming the average depth near an island to be about 3 kilometers is not very sound. A much safer assumption would be to use the height of the average mountain and compare it to the sea parting, which would get a much less impressive height for the ocean parting. You could assume the ocean got shallower as the path to the island went, but there's very little indicating that in the art itself, and the distance would make it an extremely upturned angle. There's also the issue of the narrative, in which it makes absolutely no sense for Gill to need to make a path that's KILOMETERS wide (the path is depicted as wider than it is deep) for a couple hundred people to pass, making 90 meters (the result we got for the recalc) much more in line with how these feats are usually portrayed.

In short, higher versions of this feat use faulty logic and have inflated results.

Seraphic Wing

Seraphic Wing has been used to push some faster than light arguments for the Street Fighter cast, but as interesting as they are, they’re not really applicable in any way.

First of all, what is Seraphic Wing? Seraphic Wing is a super art from Gill in Street Fighter 3 and Street Fighter 5, that notably emits waves of light at the player. Naturally, the argument would be that as a result of this, if you could react to it, they’d be faster than light, buffing the speed of the Street Fighter cast.

However, this is pretty blatantly flawed for multiple reasons. First of all, the light blatantly shows force, which light can’t do, meaning it’s debatable if it’s even light at all (which it is never even stated to be). However, the real problem is that you can’t actually react to it in either game legitimately. The only way to react to it in either game is to use a glitch to be able to parry it in Street Fighter 3 - but this would be the equivalent of giving Mario infinite speed due to the BLJ letting him climb the infinite staircase in SM64. It’s abusing a glitch in the game to do something not intended, not something the character can canonically do. As such, Seraphic Wing FTL arguments are dead in the water, as no one can react to the light in question.

MORE Cosmic Street Fighter

Ughhhhhhh… Alright, we’ll talk about this… While not exactly popular or widely accepted (thankfully), you might have seen that one document scaling Street Fighter characters to planet, universal and beyond, reaching even OUTERVERSAL levels of power. This is not valid for multiple reasons. We have talked about the ones pertaining to the UDON comics. Let’s address the arguments for canon now.

The main method would be using Dhalsim. In a text story, a conversation between him and Oro gets him thinking about his Yoga training and about how meditation lets him connect to the infinite vastness of space. There are other mentions of this in winning quotes from Street Fighter 4. This means absolutely nothing for AP scaling at all. Meditation simply allows Dhalsim to get in tune with the life force that connects all living things in nature and the universe, it is a concept used in REAL LIFE YOGA MEDITATION. Saying Dhalsim should scale to the power to destroy the universe because he talks about how his philosophy works is nonsensical.

Some people also argue that Guy and Akuma have planetary destruction statements. No, they do not. These are blatant hyperbole. Akuma is destroying Ayers Rock, the statement is about him being strong. “Heaven and Earth” statements are common hyperbole in Japanese media to describe someone being powerful, and they would be massive outliers for the cast even if you were supposed to take them literally.

There are way more other arguments that people use. Inflating Haggar’s piledriver feat, arguing the Black Moons are being moved by Bison directly and are the size of Mercury, arguing the Satsui no Hado is conceptual and would therefore be outerversal (???), arguing Akuma destroyed the void that Gen sent him to (this is never even alluded to), but they’re all very exaggerated and crumble like a sandcastle once you apply even the tiniest bit of sanity to them. For the surprise of almost nobody, cosmic levels of power for Street Fighter will be considered invalid. 

Extra Arguments

Haggar’s lightspeed statement - Mighty Final Fight is an obviously non-canonical chibi spinoff of Final Fight where Belger comes back as a cyborg. The statement is also nowhere to be found in the Japanese manual of the game.

Psycho Drive satellite moving clouds - We have absolutely no timeframe or idea of how much of the mass of the clouds is being moved, as spinning implies centrifugal force and the conservation of angular momentum as observed in real life hurricanes. Lack of detail also stops us from knowing what’s even being done to the clouds, as they could have been gathered from unknown spots or be made to spin at completely unknown speeds and distances, and the mass would never be spinning at the same speeds at once. The clouds being likely cirrus also puts their distance from sea level as extremely variable. As we don’t know anything about this feat it can likely be discarded as too vague and inconsistent. Other satellite shots from the series have never been shown to do that, as they would have destroyed much larger areas if you take this effect into consideration. They are usually just shown to destroy cities, not countries or continents, making it even more inconsistent and outlier-ish.

Scaling to the full yield of Bison’s self destruction - The blast completely destroyed Bison’s body and no one was at the epicenter. No scaling chain and narratively inconsistent.

Karin’s Street Fighter 5 ending - In this Karin performs a technique said to be able to overwhelm enemies up to 12000 km away with just the rhythm movement of her muscles. This is clearly not supposed to be treated as a perfect omnidirectional air blast or else Shibasaki wouldn’t be standing right there besides her performing the move just fine. It is likely she can just project the vibrations up to that range and target specific individuals, calculating it like a nuclear blast has no justification whatsoever. 

Cammy’s "country busting statement" and Cannon Spike - This is clearly alluding to the her being a deadly fighter and being able to kill a country’s worth of military, not being able to wipe it off the map, or else they wouldn’t use psycho drive technology to accomplish destruction on a far smaller scale. About Cannon Spike, this explosion has been calculated at island level before… based on extremely generous assumptions. Looking at it more reasonably made the feat land comfortably at megatons. Bear in mind Cammy shouldn’t even scale to the full yield at all as she wasn’t at the epicenter. 

Asura’s Wrath - Come on now.

Higher Fist of the North Star Arguments

Fist of the North Star has also a plethora of arguments to get higher stats then the ones you’ve probably seen in this blog, however in most cases they are either inflated or plain misinformation. We will now go over the most major ones that people use to justify higher FOTNS scaling.

The Dragon of Hokuto

In a chapter by the end of Fist of the Blue Sky, we see a Dragon that is the incarnation of Hokuto Shinken fly to the Big Dipper constellation in a few panels. The speed of this feat has been calculated at millions of times faster than light. This is often argued to scale to the speed of the characters but… this makes absolutely no sense. No one reacts to this and it’s a flight feat that we can’t prove that scales to reactions. You could argue that the Keiko technique is stated to be “divine speed” or that Kenshiro being taken over by Indra, the god of war, would allow Ken to scale to this feat by the end of the series but at that point it’s just a massive outlier. 

This feat is inapplicable.

Raoh parting the sky high ends

You might have seen some calculation of Raoh’s cloud feat that gets pretty ludicrous high results. It can range up from country to multi-continental levels of power. The truth is these are highly inflated and ignore a scientific property of air: the higher the altitude, the less dense it is. They also often use a pretty unreasonably big thickness for the cloud, instead of a safer low end, which ends up inflating the width of the hole as well. 

For our calculation, we used a low end cloud thickness estimation to be conservative, which led to a much lower end than expected. Granted, this feat, while visually impressive, does not change much in the grand scheme of things, as Kasumi Kenshiro renders it irrelevant.

The Endless Dimension + other cosmic arguments

While not exactly popular, you might have seen arguments floating around for FOTNS characters achieving Star and even Universal levels of power. Unfortunately, they’re… not very good. Let’s address the major ones.

Starting from the bottom, we have the star level arguments. The first one is that Toki summoned the omen star of death (shichosei) for Raoh and that should mean he scales to star level. There is a lot wrong with this. But what is the omen star of death exactly? It is Alcor, the eighth star of the Hokuto constellation, and not normally visible to the naked eye. In the context of the series, those who witness the death omen star are fated to die, and viewing it varies from person to person. Two people can look at the sky at the same time in the same place and only one would see it, for example. It is not something that pops in and out of existence, it is a real celestial body. You simply see it or you don’t, and you can stop seeing it if certain things happen that change the possibility of your death. It is a real cosmic body that exists. Toki “summoning” it at best would relate to the ability Hokuto Shinken users have of shaping their own fates. Or that the star was alluding to the future where Raoh would die in his final fight with Kenshiro. It would also be a blatant outlier. The second instance would be Dragon of Hokuto scaling again. Some people assume that the creature flying to one of the stars of the Hokuto constellation would necessarily give it Star level attack potency… for some reason. Not only is the appearance of this dragon extremely vague but there is no scaling chain to it either so nothing checks out, and it would also be extremely outlier-ish for the verse. In short, none of the Star level arguments work.

Then we have the Universal arguments regarding a lot of statements about some characters and techniques’ potential to “destroy Heaven”, such as Raoh. Heaven in Fist of the North Star refers to the entire cosmos, as evident by the kanji used and how people who die become stars in the universe. The Dragon of Hokuto is also stated to be the guardian of the creator god of the cosmos. Not much to comment on the destroying Heaven part outside of the fact the usage of hyperbole here is extremely clear. On the Hokuto Dragon, the scaling chain has also been addressed as non-existent already.

Finally, we have the weirdest cosmic Hokuto argument. In the final episode of the Fist of the Blue Sky: ReGenesis anime, Kasumi Kenshiro gets trapped in a sort of pocket dimension created by a technique called the Black Cave Heavenly Death. The darkness in which he is enveloped is called limitless (in japanese, the word 無限 or “mugen” is used, meaning infinite). He then proceeds to use Soryu Tenra to illuminate all of it, destroying the pocket dimension and bringing his opponent into the void created by the technique. This could be used to argue infinite universal levels of power… but that would be silly. Not only do we not know how literal the infinite part is supposed to be, there’s no real reason to assume this is also not a weird space where space fluctuates and Kasumi merely has the sensation of being in a void. We have seen techniques such as the Anryu Tenha distort space and gravity before, and the Matoki Aura messes with your depth perception. No to mention, for the millionth time, this would be a blatant outlier.

In conclusion, cosmic levels of power for Fist of the North Star are not consistent nor based on solid evidence, rendering them inapplicable.

Tento Kogai Sho 

In Chapter 6 of the Fist of the Blue Sky: Regenesis manga, Kasumi Kenshiro blocks an attack by Van Der Kool called the Tento Kogai Sho, or “Heaven Dipper Imperial Hundred Quintillion Palm” (天斗皇垓掌). Since numbered and named attacks that involve punching hundreds and even thousands of times tend to be accurate in the series, one could assume this attack involves the user striking someone 100 quintillion times. Let’s break this down.

First, how do you get 100 quintillion out of those kanjis? The term 天斗皇垓掌 can be broken down into two parts, 天斗 and 皇垓掌. 天斗, or Tentou, refers to Tento Seiinken, or Heavenly Dipper Sacred Palm Fist, the martial art which the move belongs to. 皇垓掌, or Kogai Sho, means 100 quintillion imperial palm. The kanji 垓 (gai), specifically expresses a 100 quintillion. Why does a kanji for such a specific number exist? Long story short, Buddhism. Japanese and Chinese languages needed ways to express the absurdly large numbers listed in the sutras (Buddha’s teachings) that describe impossibly large concepts such as eternity cycles and the size of the universe. So yeah, 100 quintillion is the actual number. 

So what does that mean? Well, if you take it literally, the user of this move would have to be striking 100 quintillion times. Extremely conservative estimates put this at around billions of times faster than light, with high ends reaching trillions. But is it usable? Well…

On one side, this name is likely hyperbolic. We only have confirmation of attacks throwing up to thousands of strikes at once such as Hyoh’s attempt to press all 1109 of Kuroyasha’s destructive meridian points and throwing 10000 punches with manju maon ken, so it’s likely a jump to such an absurdly large number like 100 quintillion would not be literal. Even if it was supposed to be literal, this is a pretty blatant outlier for the verse.

For the sake of consistency, this feat is inapplicable.

Scaling to the vaporization of the oceans

In chapter 182 of Fist of the North Star, Jukei utters a relatively infamous statement about Kaioh’s power. According to him, Kaioh’s power when released out of his armor could unleash a disaster of unmeasurable proportions. People have often used this to scale his power to the output of the entire nuclear war, which vaporized all the oceans of the planet. Let’s investigate further to see if this checks out.

Let’s base our assumptions on the original Japanese statement, which reads “その鎧が裂け崩れた時とてつもないことが起きてしまうのだ”, meaning "When that armor tears and crumbles, something tremendous will happen." The term とてつもない or Totestumonai means something extravagant; absurd; unbelievable; preposterous; unreasonable; tremendous, huge in scope, etc. Since Jukei was alive when the nuclear apocalypse happened, it is assumed Kaioh’s power being unleashed would be absurd in scope even relative to it, ergo, Kaioh’s power would be relative or superior even to dried the seas of the planet with nuclear bombs. There are a few problems with this.

First, it’s extremely vague. We don’t know if Jukei is thinking about the nuclear apocalypse when saying that at all, and no feat performed by Kaioh indicates it to be true. Second, it could very easily just be hyperbole. Kaioh was stronger than any other fighter in the setting at that point and Jukei doesn’t know if Kenshiro was strong enough to him without power limiters, meaning there would be no one to stop Kaioh rampaging through the Land of Asura out of control. You could argue the notion of surface wiping with the statement that Hokuto Shinken successors can bring ruin to the world, but that’s another clearly hyperbolic statement.  

With Jagi’s feat, this doesn’t even matter, as Kaioh would reach similar levels of power thanks to multipliers and upscaling. 

In all, this scaling will be considered inapplicable.

Shadowless attacks

Don’t act like Jagi, please

…not this type of “shadowless”, Flip.

Anyway, a few attacks in Fist of the North Star get argued to cast no shadows and therefore be faster than light, such as Han’s. The problem is that in this instance, the phrasing pretty directly implies that the shadows are too fast to be seen, not that they aren’t being cast at all, so the attack would be faster than eyesight, not light. There is however, the case of Zhang Tai-Yan, whose shadowless kick is stated to be too fast to create a shadow in a guidebook. In the Legends ReVive mobile game, Tai-Yan’s kicks are also stated to be too fast to cast a shadow. 

What does that mean? Well that is… pretty vague. In the context of physics, shadows are created by an object obstructing the path of photons, or light particles. Does that mean that kicking too fast to create a shadow makes you FTL? Well, it is fundamentally impossible to kick through the already existing photons in the air without obstructing them, meaning that your leg would have to turn transparent too. The statement is clear about it being related to speed, so you can potentially argue it’s supposed to be faster than light, but it is too vague and, honestly, scientifically impossible to be considered a reliable FTL feat. At best you can use it as support for Garuda’s speed of light statement, and at that point it’s not really relevant because it grants the same rating.

Han’s statements are inapplicable, while Tai-Yan’s are arguable but not really important.

Kage and NPI

An argument in the past is that the Street Fighter cast should have Non-Physical Interaction due to being able to hit Kage, the embodiment of the Satsui no Hado. Unfortunately, these claims aren’t really true - as stated twice in the World Warrior Encyclopedia, Kage is an entirely physical being, being referred to as such not once but twice. Hitting or interacting with him wouldn’t be NPI, and as a result the argument doesn’t particularly work and we couldn’t find any evidence for canon Street Fighter characters to have non-physical interaction.

Are Shin Akuma and Oni canon?

Now this is an interesting one. Due to their ambiguity and vaguely established nature within SF lore, especially with some of the differing origins to his forms(Oni is a lesser state to Shin, Shin is either Akuma with full control or a byproduct of him having the power of Orochi, etc.). It's a good question whether or not these forms are canon. So what do we think? Are these forms usable? Yes or no?

Sorta. It’s weird.

First let’s talk about the Satsui no Hado, there’s a very underlying idea about how the Hado itself can possess people if they’re not experienced with it as implied by several endings and books. Akuma mastered it to weaponize it without the usual risk of being possessed by it, and willingly tries to hide that part of himself. Seeing as how he just sees the Satsui no Hado as a tool to his strength. This will be important for later.

In the context of Shin Akuma, the form has appeared in a variety of games as a secret boss. But it did make its canonical and most defined debut in Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact, if the player meets the right requirements Akuma will kill the player’s rival with a raging demon and they will be forced to face him. If he’s beaten with a super art Akuma will get right back up instantly and exclaim to the player “Behold the true power of my fist” (Waga ken no shin no chikara o miyo” 我が拳の真の力を見よ“), transforming into Shin Akuma. This seems to imply that Shin Akuma is Akuma no longer holding back, having found a worthy foe to challenge him to a deathmatch. Potentially falling further into the Hado’s influence to do so. And Street Fighter 6 shows the form yet again in a similar fashion, as Akuma transforms into Shin Akuma once his hunger is literally sated by eating the Onigiri. So it seems the form generally retains an idea of Akuma himself both being at a top physical condition and trying more against his opponent.

As for Oni, the form is even more ambiguous as its only real series appearance is Street Fighter 4 and Oni’s ending doesn’t provide a real answer outside of him just aura farming although his intro shows him transforming. But let’s backtrack to what I said earlier about the Satsui no Hado, Akuma trained himself to master the Hado without the consequence of losing his mind as the same happened to the other predecessors of Ansatsuken, and later on did we know that Akuma did try not to stray too far from his warrior code as shown by Street Fighter V locking that part of himself away. Something that we see in games like Alpha 2, where Akuma spares Gen once he’s able to tell the illness is preventing him from fighting fairly.

We actually get foreshadowings of Oni even prior to his debut appearance, in Super Street Fighter 2 Revival we see Akuma talking to a strange entity that refers to itself as Akuma’s shadow, and that one day said shadow promises it would take him over, to which Akuma replies that he doesn’t fear death. Not far off from Oni’s description on the Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition manual. Describing him as “being stripped of all human emotion” due to the Satsui no Hado taking over his mind, and his win quote against his past self have Oni straight up say he isn’t the same person anymore. 

Rose’s win quote against Oni provides an interesting insight about Oni’s status within the overall canon, as she wonders why Oni did appear much earlier than she expected. Implying that Akuma turning Oni might be an inevitability that will very much appear in the future. How this didn’t happen in Street Fighter 6 is beyond me though…

This is all to say that both forms have a decent basis in canon, Shin Akuma literally appears in two games. And Oni is supported by lore and brought up with the same shadow metaphor, as a hypothetical form that Akuma might eventually take in the future if he’s not careful.

What does the Raging Demon even do?

The Raging Demon. The forbidden technique that’s so awesome that it inspired many other finishers, has sparked all sorts and misinformation alike around several communities within the vs sphere, particularly as to how the technique actually even kills the opponent and if the technique itself should even count as a form of durability negation. Some say it destroys or attacks your soul, others say the technique just insta kills you based on karmic influences, some even say it’s Akuma killing you by hitting your vital points or that the technique itself is completely useless and has no form of hax at all. Some of it stemming from the few explanations we get over the years, but where does this all come from?

First let’s go with what the games did try to explain to us, in his Alpha 3 ending Akuma fights Bison and lands the Raging Demon. Which kills Bison instantly. As Akuma states in this ending, the Raging Demon does not kill you by destroying or attacking your soul, but by killing you with the weight of your past sins. He even clarifies that his own physical strikes do not cause your death as well, and the World Warrior Encyclopedia does seem to support this notion. In Gouken’s page it is stated that at the time of his death Gouken was able to “protect his lifeforce” with the Power of Nothingness to separate his spirit from his body, thus allowing Gouken to take that lifeforce and rebuild his body with his spirit as the years passed by. So while the raging demon does not likely destroy the soul (supported by how characters like Gill can get up running and survive the Raging Demon with resurrection methods) it is still a direct attack on your lifeforce that factors in the weight of your past sins. Making it likely a form of death hax with added karmic influences, if Gouken could just survive the Raging Demon all willy nilly and resurrect he wouldn’t have felt the need to protect his lifeforce in the first place.

Though we should note in order for Akuma to actually kill someone he does need to land every hit on the victim for it to work, if he’s interrupted during the course of attack the Shun Goku Satsu will not work as intended. Several games and other media like mangas seem to support this idea. To start off, Gouken has been able to negate the attack entirely with his Power of Nothingness. And in his exchange of attacks with Gen, Gen was able to block each and every hit of the Raging Demon and he emerged from it unaffected. Something similar happens in the same game as well, Shin Akuma and Evil Ryu both were able to cancel out their raging demons by matching strikes with each other. And to top it off, while an alternate source, the Street Fighter Alpha manga shows Guy being able to avoid Evil Ryu’s Raging Demon by blocking each and every hit thanks to his Bushinryu skill. Supporting the notion that the user does need to land every hit in order for the Raging Demon to matter.

But what about UDON? Doesn’t that prove that the Raging Demon destroys the soul? Well you’d be right, The Shun Goku Satsu in the UDON comics does indeed stick to the famous fan notion that many knew. As it’s stated to attack the soul by Gouken and does require a conscious soul to target for it to matter, with the resulting victim instantly being killed by the attack  or sending their souls to the hellish pits of Makai. However, as we previously stated, not only does UDON just outright contradict canon on several occasions with several events(V taking place after III, Gen dying, etc) but some of the people who have spearheaded the UDON comics have stated that the comics are their own specific continuity. It also makes it consistent that the Raging Demon can be interrupted, as Ryu knocks Akuma out of attempting the attack with a ki wave. So this specific property of the Raging Demon cannot be applied to canon, and can only be used for soft-composites.

In short, the Raging Demon is a form of karmic death hax in canon Street Fighter material, and a form of soul removal/banishing hax in UDON. In both cases, the technique needs to land all hits perfectly, and can be blocked, parried and interrupted.

Akuma’s Pressure point resistance

A rather popular argument surrounding the discussions of this matchup is that Akuma could likely resist the effects of Hokuto Shinken via having survived Gen’s pressure point attacks. As it turns out, there is a lot of context around this claim, let’s break it down.

First, what do Gen’s pressure points do? In Street Fighter canon, Gen uses the Zan’Ei technique, a pressure point attack, to assassinate countless targets. In the Street Fighter Sakura Ganbare manga, the technique is described as disrupting a person’s inner flow of energy, generating a chain reaction with a power equivalent to a hundred punches. In the UDON comics, the attack has a rather explosive effect on people and objects, very similarly to how Hokuto Shinken can be used to explode people from the inside. This is relevant because in the UDON Street Fighter 2 comics, it is revealed that Akuma survived the technique, albeit barely, in a first confrontation with Gen. In their rematch, they clashed, with Gen using the Zan’Ei and Akuma going for the Raging Demon, with both attacks apparently landing. Akuma was unharmed, but Gen died shortly after. In the Akuma vs Hell comic, we also see Akuma seemingly redirecting the energy released by Zan’Ei and using it on his own attacks too. So it should give Akuma the resistance to pressure points altogether, right? Well, not exactly.

It’s important, again, to highlight the difference between how these events and the technique are portrayed in canon and extended media. As you have seen, the comic portrays both of their fights in Hong Kong, while the games show them happening in completely different places. In the comics, Gen hits Akuma with Zan’Ei to defeat him, while in the games we have no proof that’s how it happened, as we just see Gen holding a defeated Akuma and sparing him, with no evidence Akuma survived Zan’Ei. In their second fight in the comics, they clash attacks at the same time, but in the games, they take turns attacking, with both defending and blocking each other’s attacks. Of course, the biggest difference is that in the comics Gen… dies. In the games, we know that does not happen, as Gen is alive in Street Fighter V, way past the events of Street Fighter 2. In Street Fighter V, they do fight again and Akuma seemingly kills Gen (though this was retconned, lol), but we never see Gen landing Zan’Ei on Akuma. It’s also important to remember that all the sources about Zan’Ei’s explosive effects on people and objects come from the UDON comics, and are not referenced in the World Warrior Guide, making them definitely non-canon as we have established by the previous section about the canonicity of Street Fighter UDON. Since it works more similarly to how it’s alluded to work in canon and to how actual pressure points are supposed to work in real life, the manga version of Zan’Ei should take precedence.

In conclusion, there is no evidence to say Akuma can resist pressure points or anything similar to Hokuto Shinken in canon. It is arguable that Akuma can resist the explosive effects of Hokuto Shinken in expanded media, but nothing suggesting he could resist other FOTNS pressure point effects.

Are Hokuto Shinken pressure points really durability negation?

While relatively unpopular, you might have heard of the argument that pressure point attacks in Fist of the North Star aren’t actually a form of durability negation. Let’s address the concerns around it, first by explaining how Hokuto Shinken works.

Hokuto Shinken is based around hitting the 708 meridian points of the human body that accumulate ki. The user then sends small amounts of their own ki into those meridian points in order to create many different effects, often exploding the target from inside. The martial art is heavily based on traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, in which needles are inserted into the meridian points of the human body that hold ki, in order to trigger diverse effects by stimulating that region, altering or stimulating the flow of ki to make, for example, someone heal from a pain in certain region.

The counter to Hokuto Shinken being durability negation lies on claiming that since the user has to transfer energy into someone to explode them from the inside, the target’s durability can’t exceed the maximum amount of energy the user can emit, or else the energy wouldn’t be enough to kill them. This argument, however, doesn’t make much logical sense. By that logic, any killing blow dealt from a Hokuto user to an opponent of equal strength would simply kill the user by proxy as they would be spending lethal doses of energy. It also doesn’t explain the diverse, non-lethal effects of Hokuto Shinken such as memory erasure or making someone blind. If this was true, Kenshiro would have dropped dead after he killed Souther, as they were evenly matched in physicals during their fight. If you were to argue that the user transfers an insignificant amount of energy in order to kill someone of the same level… you would fall into fanfiction territory. How much energy do they transfer in comparison to their strength limit? 1%? 0.0005%? You’d have to simply make up a ratio of energy/lethality in order to accommodate that notion. Hell, why even target specific pressure points for that if they can just transfer energy and explode people anyway? In truth, it is just likely that the user doesn’t do that at all. Like in real world acupuncture, Hokuto Shinken should just use ki in order to disrupt or stimulate the flow of ki and trigger effects based on the target’s own energy, which makes no sense to be related to how many tons of TNT they can tank.

 

But what about Heart? The fat guy that negated Hokuto Shinken by being fat? Well, that’s a different argument. Heart’s fat body made it so that Kenshiro couldn’t directly touch his pressure points, so Ken had to use kicks in order to spread his belly and attack his pressure points more directly. This would imply that one needs strength or a perfect surface in order to touch pressure points. Toki’s fight with Raoh supports this, as Toki failed to hit Raoh’s pressure points and kill him because he wasn’t strong enough to reach them at the time. That would be a correct assumption! However there is something one has to consider: Ki and phasing.

Ki techniques such as the Tenha Kassatsu and Toki’s Ujo Hagan Ken are able to ignore this problem because they can phase through enemies and hit their pressure points, no fingering required. The literal first thing Toki does in the manga is send a ki wave that phases through two people and hits their pressure points without touching them directly or causing any external wound that indicates it needed to penetrate their bodies. In these two instances, we can chalk up to PIS that both Ken and Toki simply forgot they could use ki, because, a) Heart was at the beginning of the manga where they hadn’t introduced ki blasts yet and b) Toki needed to lose to Raoh in order to progress the plot. Going back to Toki’s fight, it even supports Hokuto being actual durability negation, as Raoh states that Toki wasn’t strong enough to reach his pressure points, strongly implying Raoh would die if he did.

Ki is not even the only way he has to phase through the enemy’s skin, as Muso Tensei allows him to phase, and even techniques such as the Kento Shadan allow Hokuto users to turn their fists intangible and still hit pressure points.

Don’t forget that Hokuto Shinken has abilities that simply can decrease a target’s durability that can be triggered with ki from afar, rendering durability concerns null. In his fight with Kiba Daioh, Kenshiro struggled to harm him thanks to his powerful steel-like body. Ken then pressed his daikyokin pressure points, which turned his muscles soft again, “as soft as spongy fat” according to Kenshiro. It is completely nonsensical to assume that the effects of this pressure point are dependent on Ken’s AP. While Kenshiro did use his own hands to strike the pressure points, there’s nothing indicating he wouldn’t use ki to press this point against an enemy he can’t harm, as he is a combat adaptive genius, and the same applies to Raoh, who’s just as much of a master as he is.

In all, it is pretty clear from both a narrative and logical perspective that the lethal effects of Hokuto Shinken should be considered a form of durability negation on characters with human anatomy, and that arguments against that notion fall into multiple contradictions and unsubstantiated claims.

Toki, Jagi and Nuke Scaling

You might have read Jagi and Toki’s feats and thought: “hey, wouldn’t Toki getting sick make Jagi’s durability feat an outlier? Why did Ken and Toki even need a nuclear shelter if they’re that strong?”. In truth, these are valid concerns, but context elucidates why these cases don’t necessarily contradict each other or break the setting, this ain’t Fallout.

First, the reason Toki got sick was because he got exposed to 2 weeks worth of radioactive fallout. It wasn’t just an explosion, it was concentrated, non-stop exposure to gamma radiation for 336 entire hours. It wasn’t just being exposed to radiation that made him sick, but the absurd amount that his body absorbed. And even then, at least a year passed between those events and where he dies in the series, meaning his body is obviously more resistant to it than a normal human’s. It isn’t even contradictory because what happened to Toki is shown in Jagi’s Gaiden itself. Toki and Ken were also with Yuria, who is a normal human and obviously needed a shelter to survive. Bear in mind, Jagi is not a normal human either. He has superhuman stats in both his Gaiden and the original series, so him surviving while normal people died isn’t a contradiction in itself either, so him briefly taking on a single bomb shouldn’t diminish Toki’s endurance. 

As for why is Toki’s OVA footage being used to gauge the power of the nukes? Simple, if you’re gonna soft-composite Hokuto characters, you gotta assume Jagi was there in that depiction of the bomb as well. We are never shown what Jagi was during when the bombs fell except for his Gaiden and Ryuken’s Gaiden, and both depict him being outside a shelter when the nukes go off, and surviving. The original manga also depicts the nukes splitting the clouds in the sky, so there is consistency to the notion that their explosions cause massive air dispersions in the atmosphere. 

In conclusion, Toki contracting radiation sickness and Jagi surviving a nuclear bomb aren’t mutually exclusive feats and don’t necessarily contradict each other, making Jagi’s nuke feat fine to use.

What even are Gaidens? Fist of The North Star canon and expanded media

The Fist of the North Star franchise has many spin offs, titled “Gaiden” (Side-Story in Japanese) of which their canonicity to the original manga is often considered dubious. Let’s address their status as part of the canon of the series and talk about other auxiliary media of the franchise.

What are the Fist of the North Star Gaidens? The Gaiden series is a series of side stories set in the world of Fist of the North Star, featuring stories set before or during the events of the manga, offering different perspectives and focusing on characters that aren’t Kenshiro. They are also illustrated by many different young artists, as you probably noticed by the different art styles in some scans linked in this blog. Some notorious ones include Jagi Gaiden, which focuses on Jagi’s childhood and explores what he did before the apocalypse and how he came to be adopted by Ryuken, and Toki Gaiden, which explains what he was doing after the apocalypse and how he ended up in the prison we find him in Fist of the North Star.

According to an interview published in Comic Zenon and translated for Silent Manga Audition (both the magazine and the website are owned by COAMIX, a manga publishing company co-created by Tetsuo Hara himself), Tetsuo Hara, one of the co-creators of Fist of the North Star and sole author of Fist of the Blue Sky, was revealed to be heavily involved with the creation and supervision of the spin-offs of his work, offering his input and looking over the creation of every story, and stated that they “fill the gaps in the work he couldn’t fill himself”. They are also directly stated to “bring new readers to the existing worlds of his creations”, further supporting that they should be in the same universe.

In the official Hokuto no Ken website, many Gaidens are listed alongside the main series. They notably include Jagi’s Gaiden, in which Buronson and Hara are listed as the authors that pitched the story (attention to the term 原案, or gennan, which can be translated as “draft” or “original project”. This may refer to the story pitch or simply the original manga, but that is not important in this context). The same term and credits can be observed in all the listed Gaidens. DD Hokuto no Ken, a chibi parody spinoff, is the only one explicitly stated to be set in a “What if” scenario, meaning the others aren’t meant to be impossible to fit in the story of the original manga. In Tetsuo Hara’s official website, Rei’s Gaiden is described as an essential work to understand the history of Nanto Seiken. The same site also lists the comedic spinoff Hokuto no Ken: Ichigo Aji as “a gag story of what ifs”, solidifying the idea that mostly parody spinoffs are completely non-canonical, which would also apply to Amiba’s Isekai manga.

But are there any contradictions? Sure, they do exist. In Yuria’s Gaiden OVA for example, they show her meeting the Hokuto Brothers in a different way than the manga depicts, with her dog also being an original creation that is inserted in the story.  Ten no Haoh introduces two characters (that are also present in the Raoh den OVAs) that don’t exist in the original manga, as does Toki’s OVA (which differs in story from the Toki Gaiden manga as well). Ryuken’s special chapter is filled with contradictions and completely mischaracterizes the cast, although it is the most extreme case out of all the Gaidens. Jagi’s Gaiden presente some inconsistencies to established scenes such as Raoh and Ryuken having their last confrontation in a different place than the original as well. There isn’t an instance where a Gaiden kills off a major character from the original manga in a way that makes their appearance impossible in the original story, for example. A curious thing to note is that the OVAs in particular are frequently referred to as works expanding the original manga and exploring things that were left underdeveloped, which would fall under Hara’s statement of using the Gaidens to fill the gaps in the story he couldn’t at the time. From that point of view, it’s possible that the contradictions are simply Tetsuo Hara not really minding creative liberties, as he stated in an interview that he wants artists to deviate from his manga on purpose. In spite of that, Gaidens such as Rei’s are stated to not break the “worldview” or essence of fist of the North Star, and are considered essential as previously mentioned. Not to mention the original manga does contradict itself and retcons new story elements all the time. The post-timeskip part of Fist of the North Star manages to introduce two Hokuto brothers whose existence had never even been established and completely changes Raoh’s motivation for conquest, along with giving him a son out of nowhere.

Another important piece of this puzzle would be the Fist of the North Star: Legends ReVive game. It is a gacha game for mobile that features dozens of characters from the Fist of the North Star franchise. According to Tetsuo Hara himself, the game is supposed to faithfully represent and recreate characters and events from the original story. According to his website, the characters are drawn under his supervision, and, again, the game is supposed to faithfully recreate the original work. An interesting thing to note is that the game features characters from the Gaidens, such as Rinrei and Rofu from Rei’s Gaiden, and Garuda, who has his own Gaiden and was designed by Tetsuo Hara himself for a Pachinko machine.

In conclusion, while the Fist of The North Star Gaidens do present quite some inconsistencies and contradictions with the original manga and each other, the fact that Tetsuo Hara’s involvement, supervision, and overall motivation have allowed them to exist in the first place presents a strong argument for them to be used in versus. Or at least, that FOTNS characters should be soft composited with them similarly to how the Toei anime filler is included for Dragon Ball, for example. Legends ReVive has been stated multiple times to be intended to be faithful to the series and is supervised by Hara, having its accuracy praised by him, so it being used as supporting evidence should be fine. Gaidens such as Rei’s and Garuda’s fall under side-stories with no real contradictions to the original story, merely expanding it under Tetsuo Hara’s supervision. For the sake of fairness, the Fist of the North Star Gaidens that have contradictions to the original manga and extra material such as videogames and OVAs will be equated to the Non-Canon Street Fighter material in usability for this blog, as they do present some inconsistencies with the original material. Gaidens that do not contradict the original manga will be considered canon.

Is Hokuto’s Fate Hax a thing?

Flip: This blog was delayed so much that I ended up making the same joke for a section on G1’s Simon the Digger vs Kyle Rayner later on and somehow it was released before this one.

Here's the gist, the most capable Hokuto and Nanto users in the verse actually do have fate powers, and fairly strong ones too. The only problem is that said powers are usually way too conditional and limited in what they can do to be reliably used. 

Overall, Ken is consistently described as a “man controlling fate” in how he is sort of destined to bring peace to the world. Besides this pretty vague statement, there were far more blatant instances of this happening, mostly being the various shenanigans involving the Death Star. It's been shown that whoever witnesses the Death Star is doomed to die. In their battle, Toki and Raoh essentially summon the Star, and Toki would appear to be doomed to die, but Raoh spares his life instead (Toki dies shortly after though, so the Star still played its part). The most notable case of this power is how the Nanto user Rei made the Death Star disappear for Mamiya by defeating Yuda, more or less changing fate with the power of love. 

What's the problem then? Well… This is not combat applicable in any shape or form. First of all, changing fate in Hokuto is not just doing a Thanos Snap. In Rei's case, it was a complicated sequence of events proving his love to Mamiya that allowed him to save her from her doom, and Ken affects fate more by what he is than by what he does, and not as an instant win button like fate hax is usually treated in the power-scaling community. Also imagine how fucking uncharacteristic it would be for Ken to be losing a fight and then go - "you know, fuck you and your superior skill, fate magic time". This just never happens at all, as arguing this is blatant fanfiction territory.

Is Musou Tensei a form?

Many people debate on whether Musou Tensei should be considered a “transformation” in the same sense as Goku turning Super Saiyan or Sonic turning Super Sonic. The main counter seems to be that it is called a “technique” in-universe and as such shouldn’t count. Let’s delve into this a bit deeper.

This argument only exists because Death Battle uses characters at their strongest forms to decide the verdict, therefore a character that beats base Sonic but loses to Starfall Super Sonic for example would be considered the loser of a battle, as they cannot beat Sonic at his strongest. That is the unspoken “no blitzing before the transformation” rule. How does Musou Tensei fit this?

Well, it by all means fits right in and was the inspiration for many transformations. It shares common ground with the Super Saiyan as it needs extreme emotion from the user to be achieved, and has basically the same “blank mind, instinctive action” idea behind it as Goku’s Ultra Instinct and Ryu’s Mu no Ken state. Calling it a technique is merely a case of semantics, as it basically allows Raoh to reach a whole new state of being and grants him a power boost when it is unlocked, same for Kenshiro. It is also naturally and automatically activated by the user, unlike accepted transformations that rely on external factors and are still accepted, such as Super Sonic needing the emeralds to be activated, and the Great Ape needing the absorption of blutz waves. Even some vehicles are considered in the rule, so it doesn’t make sense that Musou Tensei should be ruled out of the transformation rule just because it’s called a “technique” and not a transformation.

However, for the sake of fairness, we will consider Musou Tensei as something that has to be activated after the fight starts in the verdicts, ignoring the rule altogether to make this matchup more debatable.

Fanart!

T0m

Kaiser

Verdicts

For this matchup, there will be two verdicts, each one detailing the winner under specific circumstances regarding what material is being used. 

For the first one, strictly canon material will be used. For Akuma, that means the mainline Street Fighter games and closely related material such as the Street Fighter 4 animated content, the Rival Schools Series, the canon Final Fight games and specific canon UDON comics. For Raoh, that means the Fist of the North Star, Fist of the Blue Sky and Fist of the Blue Sky ReGenesis manga, the faithful animated adaptations of their content, specific Gaiden manga such as Rei and Garuda, and descriptions of the Legends ReVive game for support.

For the second one, the characters will be soft-composited. For Akuma, that means all of the previous content, plus Final Fight Revenge, the Street Fighter EX series, the many manga series, and all of the Street Fighter UDON comics. For Raoh, that means all of the previous content, plus other video games, all OVAs and movies and all of the many Fist of the North Star Gaidens. 

Both of the verdicts will be divided in 4 categories: Strength, Speed, Abilities and Skill. 

Round 1

Strength

In terms of canon, both combatants boast some of the most impressive feats of raw power in their respective verses, and should scale to most of the notable AP showings in their series.  First, let’s cover their direct feats and then what they should scale to.

Starting with Akuma, he out the gate performs the strongest feat in Street Fighter canon, devastating a forest with a single Sekia Kuretsuha, a feat calculated at 6.88 to 16.78 gigatons of TNT in power. It’s important to note that this was a very casual feat performed by a base Akuma, and that transformations such as Shin Akuma and Oni would drastically increase these numbers.

With Raoh, we have the infamous punch that parted the heavens, a Goten Sho. The feat is worth 1.7 gigatons of TNT. Taking into consideration that this was a feat performed by Raoh in a state where he had already released all of his life force, was exhausted, dying, incapable of harming Kenshiro, and both were not relying on their 100% forms at the time, it’s fair to assume Raoh should be as strong as his start of the series state here, meaning he should upscale the feat by 3.333x, giving us 5.66 gigatons of TNT. Suffice to say, Akuma is stronger in terms of direct showings, surpassing Raoh’s direct numbers in base.

When taking scaling into account, the game changes. Akuma does not have anything better than his own feats to scale to, and Raoh has at least two avenues to surpass him consistently. In his base post-Musou Tensei form, Kenshiro performed a feat worth 44 gigatons of TNT with Falco, and Raoh should scale to that pretty solidly, as  Ken did not go through any significant power growth after his fight with Raoh until he unlocked his bloodline’s potential and lifting the seals of Hokuto. In 100% mode, this feat would be worth 146.6 gigatons of TNT. Raoh should also reasonably scale to his uncle Kasumi, via the statement of the three brothers bringing Hokuto to its pinnacle at the time. Raoh is also stated directly to embody the infinite destructive potential of Hokuto in guides, making the scaling solid. Kasumi’s feat of unleashing the Soryu Tenra is worth 2.13 teratons of TNT. Taking into account that the statement about the pinnacle of Hokuto and the infinite destructive potential depict base Raoh, it should be fair to at least apply the 100% multiplier to this feat, making it at least 7 teratons of TNT.

To recap, taking reasonable scaling into account, Akuma gets from 6.88 to 16.78 gigatons of TNT, and two layers of unquantifiable upscaling with Shin Akuma and Oni. Raoh should get 146.6 gigatons as a maximum lowball, and at least 7 teratons reasonably. This makes Raoh at least 8.73x to 21.3x stronger while restricting his scaling massively, and 417.16x to 1017.4x stronger while granting him scaling to Kasumi Kenshiro, which we do consider valid. 

Raoh solidly takes the strength advantage. 

Speed

Funnily enough, their best canon feats also grant them decent speed, well into the massively hypersonic range.

Akuma’s ki pillar gets Mach 339, and Raoh’s gets Mach 250. Applying the 3.333x multiplier to Raoh given he was in an extremely weakened state and in base, he should get Mach 833. While the number is higher, Akuma’s upscaling should be enough to at least make him not get blitzed, right? Well…

Taking scaling into account, we know that Akuma is vastly superior to M. Bison, who could move in tandem with a beam that could be as fast as Mach 967. Akuma also has two forms that are even faster, so he should upscale this feat by a lot. In comparison, Raoh upscales base BoS Kenshiro, who was included in Koryu’s pinnacle of Hokuto statement, and should scale to a base casual Kasumi Kenchiro who could perform a feat worth Mach 222. Given BoS Kenshiro needed his 100% form to be comparable to Raoh, allied with the fact unlocking Musou Tensei made him surpass that power in, and that he could go 100% from there, we found that Raoh should be at least 11.10x superior to Kenshiro at the beginning of the series. Applying that, Raoh’s speed scaling should be over Mach 2464… as a massive lowball.

As we saw in the BTV section about the Gaidens, a few of them do not contradict the original manga and should be considered canonical because of Tetsuo Hara’s involvement, one of them being Garuda’s. Garuda is certainly not on the level of the Successor of Hokuto Shinken, ranking similarly to low level Nanto Seiken fighters thanks to being outsped by Juza, thanks to that, even base Pre-MT Ken should scale to him. Thanks to Garuda’s lightspeed statement, which is reinforced in the Legends ReVive game for consistency, and Tai-Yan’s shadowless statements being fine for support, Raoh can scale to light timing. As Garuda is reasonably on the level of base BoS Ken, Raoh should upscale him by at least 11.10x, making him over 11.10x faster than light.

Top recap, Akuma should scale to Mach 967, with two layers of unquantifiable upscaling with Shin Akuma and Oni. Raoh should scale to Mach 2464 as a massive lowball, and reasonably get 11.10x FTL. This makes Raoh at least 2.54x faster while restricting his scaling massively, and 10032.8x faster while granting him FTL scaling, which we do consider valid.

Raoh solidly takes the speed advantage.

Abilities

By far the most interesting and notorious part of the debate. The way our combatants’ martial arts and spiritual abilities interact makes for arguably the most important factor here.

Starting with Akuma, his ki abilities are definitely above average. Being able to shoot multiple forms of energy blasts is very useful, not only for targeted beams or balls, but also for great aoe coverage, given his ki pillars can create large craters and their length can reach hundreds of kilometers. Not only can Akuma fire ki, but his defensive aura can also reflect other energy projectiles. Of course, being an Ansatsuken practitioner also gives him access to a very generalist array of melee attacks, with multiple punches, chops, kicks, and etc. Being a shoto, of course he can also counter aerial attacks with the many variations of Shoryuken. The Satsui no Hado gives Akuma significantly more than just the average shoto, though, as it also gives him a short teleporting ability that lets him phase through attacks, and the most devastating technique in his arsenal: The Raging Demon. This flurry of blows has the ability to kill the opponent with the weight of their sins, making it some sort of karmic death hax, allowing him to kill the target by inflicting physical pain into their lifeforce based on their sins.

Raoh’s ability kit is certainly way more robust, however. Starting with the basics, he has access to multiple ki blasts and beams, with the addition that ki in FOTNS can phase through enemies to hit them inside. Raoh also possesses a very strong aura, which can act as both a protective barrier that can passively defend him from physical attacks and deflect energy projectiles, and an offensive tool that can attack enemies from afar with invisible punches and very large omnidirectional shockwaves. This aura is also capable of instilling fear into enemies, stopping them in their tracks paralyzed with fear, or simply making them faint. Given this aura is composed of ki, it also possesses the same phasing properties as ki, and can be used to attack enemies internally and even press their pressure points. Speaking of them… yeah, Raoh can use a LOT of them. Hokuto Shinken gives him the ability to target enemy pressure points to trigger many effects, with a thousand techniques that just make you explode. By pressing pressure points, Raoh can make Akuma explode, bleed to death, get paralyzed, lose all his strength, snap his own spine, lose all his memories, lose his depth perception, get his skeleton blasted out of his body, and etc. Mind you, Raoh doesn’t even have to touch him physically to do that, as his ki attacks and aura can do the work for him. Hokuto also allows him to copy any ki based technique he sees, which means Akuma’s entire fighting style and ki attacks will be seen through at the start of the fight. Raoh’s best technique, however, would be Musou Tensei, which allows him to go intangible and completely undetectable, creating multiple illusions to confuse the enemy.

How do their abilities stack against each other? Well, Raoh’s are pretty much decisively better. Canon Akuma has no defense against Hokuto Shinken’s literal hundreds of instant kill options, gets his ki techniques negated and has no way to even touch Raoh in Musou Tensei. The Raging Demon would likely be able to kill Raoh but it has two weaknesses that can be easily exploited by him. It can be interrupted in its starting dash stage, which can do with his aura by simply projecting a shockwave in Akuma’s direction with his hand or flexing his aura to blast him away. It also needs every single strike to land, something Raoh’s aura can passively protect him from as well, and that can be easily counterable in melee by just blocking or parrying his strikes. Remember, Raoh has techniques that specifically disable the enemy’s fists, which can be used in the unlikely occasion that Akuma even comes to melee range. From there he can use any of his pressure point abilities or just beat Akuma to death with his overwhelmingly superior stats. Mind you, both his aura and Muso Tensei activate automatically and instinctively to protect Raoh, meaning there are two degrees of defense Akuma will have to deal with, and Raoh’s aura can also press his pressure points, ending the fight instantly.

Raoh solidly takes the advantage in abilities.

Skill

As expected of two guys who have claimed to have mastered the fist, you can certainly bet that the two are pretty skilled on some mano a mano. At a surface level, these two do seem to have some similar feats. Having trained in martial arts based around assassination since childhood to the point of mastering them to terrifying degrees, as well as wrecking many martial artists throughout the world as proof of their legend. Though despite that, you’ll be surprised that when we stack the skills of these two together the difference could not be any more clear.

Now, let’s not kid ourselves here. Akuma’s skill is not to be messed with. This guy learned Ansatsuken so well he eventually became the new pinnacle of the style after he defeated his master Goutetsu, the same man who created the style in the first place and also managed to tame the Satsui no Hado to an usable state. Something only very few in the world have done, except Akuma. This devotion to mastering the arts has led Akuma to defeating hundreds of martial artists around the world, building quite a reputation that would bring fear to many who would dare cross him for decades. And he also proved to be quite the analytical fighter, being able to tell if a martial artist was faking being able to tell a fight.

Some of these would include foes like Seth, the latter of whom has analyzed and copied many martial artists around the world to use their skills and even with all they had gathered, they admitted that Akuma had the greatest techniques in the world. Or Gen, a 70 year old Chinese assassin with an assassination success rate of 170% (figure that out) who mastered many martial arts over the course of his life, and did go toe-to-toe with Akuma quite often. Until Akuma eventually kille- I mean beat him. This is all to say that within the boundaries of his series, not many fighters can really boast to have an even fight with Akuma. Even at his old age.

However, it’s only fitting that the King of the Fists would prove to be the Master of the Fist’s match. Similarly to his opponent Raoh had also been trained in the killing arts of Hokuto Shinken since childhood, and had sparred with other styles of martial arts like when he fought Souther of Nanto Ho-oh Ken. Eventually bringing Hokuto Shinken to its highest peak as one of the three most powerful men of Hokuto’s 1.800 year history, with Raoh mastering the style and uncovering many of its secrets. As we previously noted before, what makes this so impressive is that Hokuto Shinken requires the user to have extensive knowledge on human anatomy in order to precisely use and master all 709 pressure points. Making the style capable of wiping entire armies (something that Raoh has shown quite consistently himself) or even copying and adapting to other martial arts with a single exchange. So when we compare the two styles together, mastering Hokuto Shinken is far more impressive than mastering the simple flexibility of Ansatsuken.

And if that wasn’t enough on its own, Raoh also knows far more martial arts than Akuma. During his conquest as Ken-Oh after conquering many kingdoms or villages with his army Raoh stole the techniques and secrets of many martial artists after defeating them. To the point that Raoh had mastered almost every martial art in the entire world, and formed a prison called Cassandra dedicated to imprisoning those that opposed him. Some of them even include masters of Nanto Seiken that he defeated with no difficulty. And his bouts with some stronger foes like some of the Nanto Goshasei, Rei or Toki have led Raoh to rely more on analytical and strategic thinking when he feels his life is in danger. Like when he was able to fight back and counter Juza’s unpredictable martial arts, wit his way through every trap that Rihaku had put out for him on the Nanto Capital or counter Rei’s Nanto Self Sacrificing Fist a technique which did almost kill him, but was countered by Raoh throwing his cape just to gain an opening to attack. Making it likely that Raoh would eventually adapt to Akuma’s killing arts, and even be able to counter some of his most powerful finishers like the Raging Demon should Akuma ever pull it off.

Some of the foes Raoh fought have shown more impressive skill feats than a lot of Street Fighter’s cast Akuma has fought like Gen, Ryu or Seth. His brother Kenshiro has shown to negate precognitive abilities through a combination of skill/instincts and consistently adapt to with just a brief study. With some of those same fodder enemies Kenshiro defeated, being able to wipe out 500 guerrillas at the beginning of the series. The same beginner Kenshiro could negate precognition. And Raoh matched Kenshiro enough times, so much so that in their final fight of Musou Tensei the two were fighting near the brink of death after losing tons of blood. 

Another Kenshiro that Raoh should be comparable to is his uncle, Kasumi Kenshiro, who could similarly find openings and counter invincible techniques in a short time. He could also have entire fights playing in his head, always staying two steps ahead of his opponent. Raoh being stated to have brought Hokuto to its pinnacle with his brothers certainly puts him on the same level, adding support to his incredible combat adaptability and strategy.

In summary, while Akuma did fight a lot of opponents and has been doing it for way longer, the sheer impressive quality of martial prowess that Hokuto Shinken masters have is vastly superior to anything Akuma has ever had to deal with. Not only is Kenshiro far more impressive than any opponent Akuma has ever faced, but being a Hokuto master of equal level gives Raoh means to instantly see through Akuma’s moves, predict them and even make them his own. Ansatsuken is a very complete martial art, but it is not on the same level as Hokuto Shinken at all.

With that, Raoh takes every advantage and wins Round 1. Now let’s see how Round 2 plays out!

Round 2

Strength

The best feats in this scenario are performed by relative fodder compared to Akuma and Raoh, which makes the fact they’re so impressively funny, and also means a huge innate upscaling for our combatants.

Akuma should massively upscale Haggar’s pile driving feat, which gets upwards of 216 teratons of TNT. With Shin Akuma and Oni in the play, we get two more layers of upscaling. Raoh would upscale his pathetic little brother, Jagi, who even at the beginning of the series was getting slapped around by base Kenshiro. Jagi’s durability has been calculated at 5.2 petatons of TNT from taking a gigantic nuke from a distance, and that’s not all. Considering that 100% Post-Musou Tensei Raoh is 11.10x stronger than BoS Ken, Raoh should massively upscale 57.72 petatons of TNT. This makes Raoh much more than 267x stronger than Akuma. Shin Akuma and Oni help lower that number, but that’s not considering Raoh’s innate upscaling and the fact the transformations do not have any number attached to them, so Raoh will always be reasonably much stronger.

Raoh takes strength once again.

Speed

This one is very different this time. With Street Fighter EX, things shift against Raoh pretty quickly.

Akuma should scale to Cracker Jack, who gets a feat of beating people to other planets 3400 times faster than light. Raoh, with Garuda upscaling, gets up to 11.10 times faster than light. This makes Akuma over 306x faster than Raoh in reactions. 

In terms of movement, Akuma can reasonably get scaling to his equal, Ryu, in UDON, performing a jump at Mach 3940. If we extrapolate, we can scale Akuma’s movement speed to the speed of Haggar’s piledriver, which can get up to 65% the speed of light. Raoh’s best scaling avenue for movement would be the Keiko technique, which can get up to Mach 2464, making Akuma’s movement over 230.5x faster than Raoh’s.

Akuma safely takes speed this time.

Abilities

There are major differences in this category, mainly pertaining to Akuma, and they all drastically alter the debate. 

First, Akuma’s Raging Demon changes to target the soul instead of one’s sins, meaning it can act as soul hax and have non-physical interaction with souls. Secondly, Akuma gains resistance to some effects of Raoh’s pressure points, specifically the explosive ones. Raoh on the other hand has changes to his Musou Tensei, with auxiliary media adding literal non-existence to its properties. With this in mind, how does the last round change?

Well, not much actually changes. Soul targeting is nice and all, but Musou Tensei was untouchable even to characters that could touch and harm souls… in canon. The fact that soft compositing makes Musou Tensei literally make the user disappear from existence makes Raging Demon unable to tag the target at all. However, Raoh has to activate it, and he is vulnerable to getting his soul removed. Can he do it before Akuma pulls off the raging demon with his speed advantage? The answer is yes. 

First let's look at their actual speed gaps. While it’s true Akuma vastly outspeeds Raoh in reactions and movement, the actual interaction for the Raging Demon here would be Akuma’s movement vs Raoh’s reactions, as the technique has Akuma slide in a straight line for a distance before reaching the target, and of course they’re not starting in melee range. From that, it's reasonable to say Raoh would be able to react to Akuma reaching him in time, as his 11.10c reactions are far superior to Akuma’s 0.65c movement. From there, he has two options. First, Raoh can and would instinctively activate Musou Tensei, becoming untouchable to Akuma. Second, he can use his own aura to stop Akuma in his tracks and blast him back, and even press his pressure points to many, many effects. Speaking of pressure points, given Akuma’s resistances, what can Raoh still do? Unsurprisingly, a lot.

While Akuma can resist or divert the effects of explosive pressure points, he still has no counter to pressure points that trigger many, many lethal or nonlethal effects. The lethal options would result in Gouki bleeding to death, snapping his own spine, wither and contract into dust or just be completely disintegrated. The non-lethal effects that could be useful include just sapping him of his strength and withering his muscles, paralyzing his legs or entire body, making him forget how to even walk or lose his depth perception, and the list goes on. Raoh has a vast array of pressure point effects that Akuma does not resist at all and, and all of them can basically end the fight by incapping or killing him outright.

In short, Akuma has a powerful tool that can end Raoh if it lands, but Ken-Oh's defenses are simply too good for him to get the opportunity.

Raoh takes abilities once again.

Skill

Not much changes here, Raoh still takes the skill advantage for the same reasons as Round 1.

With that, Raoh takes most categories and wins the second round as well.

Summary

Akuma

"The ultimate technique. 'Kongou-kokuretsuzan'. The might of the heavens resides in my fist... Humans... All walks of life! It begins with the power of my savage attack!”

Advantages:

• Far faster in the soft-composite round…

• Has access to the Raging Demon, which could instantly kill Raoh if it hit…

• Has answers to some of Raoh’s pressure points in the soft-composite round

• Overall more experienced thanks to being much older
  
  

Disadvantages:

• Far weaker in both rounds

• …but far slower in the strictly canonical round

• …but Raoh’s defenses make it unlikely he’d ever land it

• Far less versatile, and vulnerable to almost all of Raoh’s haxes

• No answer to Musou Tensei

• Overall far less skilled

Raoh

“Raoh needs no one’s help to return to the heavens! I have no regrets for the life i’ve led!!”

Advantages:

• Far stronger in both rounds

• Far faster with strictly canon material…

• Overall way more skilled in combat

• Far more versatile, with many techniques that can end the fight instantly and don’t even require direct contact

• Aura and Muso Tensei’s automatic activation make it unlikely Akuma would ever land the Raging Demon in any way

Disadvantages:

• ….but far slower in the soft-compositing round

• Raging Demon can instantly end him if it lands 

• Akuma has answers to some of his pressure point techniques in the soft-composite round

Conclusion

While extremely similar, this matchup has many differences from Ryu vs Kenshiro, although still ends with the victory going to the same series.

In canon, Raoh holds every single advantage, with his overwhelming physical stats, versatility, wincons and raw skill being way too much for the Demon of Satsui no Hado to handle. In a soft-composite, Ken-Oh’s might, abilities, defenses and skill are extremely valuable tools that can turn the battle against Akuma’s blinding speed. 

Akuma proved to be a worthy opponent that gave Raoh an extremely hard fight that could shake heaven and hell, but the power of this demon was not enough to stop Ken-Oh’s journey of conquest. The winner is Raoh.

Final Tally

Akuma - (1) (T0m - pity)

Raoh - (8) (Kaiser, Flip, door-kun, Why am I here, Br3ndan5, Lunge, IbukiFanboy, Tony)

Yujiro Hanma - (1) (Kaiser - REAL vote)

Next Time