Oni

"I shall grind beneath my heel all that exists. (天地の隔たりを見極められぬとは哀れなり)"

- Oni (Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition)

Oni (鬼), also known as Kuruoshiki Oni (狂オシキ鬼), is a character in the Street Fighter series. He makes his debut in the Arcade Edition update of Super Street Fighter IV as a secret boss and a playable character. Oni is in fact Akuma, who has become one with the Satsui no Hado entirely.

Origin
Due to his training and meditation, Akuma may have suppressed some of the darker aspects of the Satsui no Hado, allowing him to control his actions. As Oni, he finally becomes one with the Satsui no Hado, whose power has now managed to completely overtake him.

Concept
Oni are lightning-affiliated demons that are mentioned in Shinto religion, said to be fearsome giants with fangs and horns that once terrorized and pillaged villages and travelers in ancient Japan. Shinto considers impurity and pollution as unholy states of being that demons and malevolent spirits are attracted to or even born.

While the devil (the meaning of Akuma's name) and oni are two distinct creatures in Japanese religion, the idea of Akuma becoming a demon might be considered to be fulfilled in Oni; the developers also refer to Oni as "Akuma beyond Shin Akuma". Oni's full name is also a possible nod to the Raging Demon, since kuru (狂) means "mad" or "violent" and oni (鬼) can mean "demon" or "ogre."

Though the character's motivations draw much more from Shinto oni, his visual aspects still bear significant resemblance to that of Akuma and the Buddhist Kongōrikishi (金剛力士), or Niō (仁王); his design is also evocative of beings such as Fūjin and Raijin, the Shinto gods of wind and thunder respectively, as well as ancient art examples of strong warriors. Characters with similar inspirations include the Black Oni from Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, Demise of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Aku from the Samurai Jack series.

Appearance
Oni appears as a far more muscular and noticeably larger version of Akuma. He has dark blue skin, glowing yellow-red eyes and glowing, spiky shoulder-length hair, akin to the Super Saiyan form of the Dragon Ball Z series. He also gains fangs and short protrusions on his forehead, resembling growing horns. The top half of his gi has been blown off by the amount of dark ki he emanates, showing off his stature; the prayer beads that were once around his neck now float about disconnected around his body. He also has claws on his fingers and toes, and no longer wears sandals; his voice also sounds much more demonic.

When using fierce attacks or powerful physical attacks of any kind, his arms and legs glow a superheated color. While it is difficult to spot, the kanji of "heaven" (天) also appears on his back during the same animations, seemingly having branded itself on his back. In his second alternate costume, his skins shows cracks like old plaster, which progressively falls away as he is hit with Focus Attacks, showing pure, swirling dark energy underneath; he is the only character to possess such a costume.

Most characters do not recognize Oni as a form of Akuma, even Akuma himself (although Oni recognizes Akuma as his former self). In fact, Zangief is the only fighter to notice Oni's increased build mass; however, Zangief fails to notice any other changes (such as the blue skin, aura, etc.).

Personality
Oni has discarded his remaining humanity (saying that it is of no use to "evil incarnate"), his identity as Akuma, and his prominent moral code as a warrior; he will fight anyone to the death, regardless of condition, rather than seeking out worthy opponents to fight in a fair match. His presence is such that certain characters even refer to him as a god in their win quotes.

In addition, he now talks in the third person more than usual, although sometimes he will talk in complete sentences. He also retains some of Akuma's personality traits; despite calling himself "evil incarnate", he still shows strong hostility towards villains such as Seth or M. Bison, who Akuma despises for taking "shortcuts" to attain their power. He is also visibly pleased to see Ryu give in to the Satsui no Hado, based on his pre-boss match dialogue with Evil Ryu.

In Street Fighter X Tekken, during Akuma's ending, he faces a Pandora version of Oni, which he aptly refers to as "nothing but a shadow, raging against that which casts it"; the Oni that came from Pandora's box was Pandora's energy responding to Akuma's desire for a battle that will cost him his life.

Super Street Fighter IV
In his intro, his roar echoes through the night. Instantly after, his presence causes the explosion of a nearby tree and the death of a bird. He then looks up and proclaims that he is "evil incarnate".

In his ending, he stands in the center of a volcano. Then he only jumps up and chops the ground with his hand, resulting in an instant eruption that engulfs him in lava. As the lava explodes out of the volcano, Oni flies out of it unharmed, laughing maniacally and yelling ferociously.

Gameplay and fighting style
Having reached the full extent of the Satsui no Hado to the point of turning into a demon, Oni's style is considered "without"; instead of a concrete martial art style, he relies on unrestrained yet graceful movements filled with abandon, embodying that of a terrible destructive force beyond control. The Satsui no Hado also enables him to perform powerful energy attacks as well.

Strategy-wise, Oni is a character who retains the basic characteristics of Akuma, and has many more moves at his disposal which he can use to control the fight. Many of his special moves' EX versions can confuse foes with their surprising speed, and his projectiles can be used to control space, while his midair moves can be used to keep an opponent off-balance.

His high-damage combos and reversal potential, combined with his above-average walk speed, allow players to create massive-pressure situations while remaining mobile and flexible via buffering moves into other attacks. Unfortunately, Oni's below-average stamina and stun and his short-range Focus Attack means that he relies on getting up-close to the opponent to really excel, although he does has more than a few options for traveling across the screen quickly and closing in on his opponent.

Techniques
Oni's moves are naturally partially borrowed from Akuma (e.g. his heavy punch seems to resemble Akuma's Focus Attack, although Oni performs a spear hand instead of a punch); he still uses the Tatsumaki Zankukyaku, Goshoryuken and Gohadoken, each with heavily altered properties. Other moves have been altered into or replaced by another move entirely; the Shakunetsu Hadoken is replaced with the electric equivalent, Gorai Hadoken. Oni also loses the ability to teleport, which seems to be replaced by the Rakan Dantojin, a vaguely similar slide that follows with a pair of slashing palm swipes. He also possesses a midair palm thrust in lieu of the Zanku Hadoken; the move grants him major midair maneuverability. He also uses the Sekisei Jiraiken, an overhead smash attack similar to the Tenma Shurettou.

Super/Ultra Combos
Oni's Raging Demon is fairly unique within the main series, being the only variant that is also usable in midair; the only other character with such a move is Cyber-Akuma. Several moves give players opportunities to Super Cancel into the Raging Demon and create potentially unavoidable setups.

His first Ultra Combo, the Meido Gohado, is a projectile that can be used on the ground and in the air, and also has an anti-air variant; if the ground variant hits at close range, it will yield an extra cinematic in which Oni throws another fireball at the opponent for extra damage. His second Ultra Combo, the Tenchi Sokaigen, is a Misogi-like move that follows up a clean hit with a Goshoryuken to the airborne opponent's exposed back; though it has fewer setups, it deals far more damage.

As a boss
Oni can also be fought in the arcade mode as a secret boss. The player must not lose a round, get two Perfects, five Super or Ultra Combo finishes, ten first attacks and defeat Seth with a Super or Ultra Combo to fight Oni at his true limits. Like the other secret bosses in the game, the player has only one chance to defeat the boss form of Oni, and if the player wins or loses to the boss Oni, the game ends. The ending of the current player character will then play from there.

He can be considered the true final boss, since the requirements to fight him are the highest of all secret boss characters in the game, appropriate of a character specifically conceived as "beyond Shin Akuma". The difference between the playable version of Oni and "Shin-Oni" is stated by Capcom to be due to the survival of a small part of Akuma's will that is attempting to weaken Oni.

Gameplay-wise, the 'boss' Oni is analogous to the relationship between Akuma and Shin Akuma. While the two version operate similarly on the surface, Shin Oni's frame data is completely different. He has lesser recovery time between attacks, and his special and command attacks have more invincible frames than the playable version. In addition, he floats with his ki rather than walking, allowing him to move around faster, and he also has more stun and stamina.

His Gohadoken is a two-hit projectile that neither needs to be charged nor fizzles out after a certain distance; the EX variant of the Gohadoken lands three hits and inflicts even more damage. Shin Oni's Gorai Hadoken also inflicts slightly more stun than the normal version, making it hard to win a projectile war against him. His Goshoryuken, Rakan Dantojin, and Sekisei Jiraiken have more invincibility at startup (against projectiles and lower body hits respectively), than the regular versions. He also possesses an EX version of the Zanku Hadosho which is unavailable to the playable version.

His regular and air Raging Demon also travels much faster and farther, are completely immune to any attacks, and have greater priority than most Ultra Combos. The only possible methods to dodge evasions are jumping, Shoryukens and any moves that have startup invincibility; it is impossible to counter boss Oni's Raging Demon. As an added difficulty spike, the frames needed to activate boss Oni's Tenchi Sokaigen are half that of the regular playable version.

Asura's Wrath


Oni appears in the second half of the second DLC Lost Episode The Strongest vs. The Angriest, given the epithet of "Destroyer of Heaven". After being slammed into a wall, Akuma immediately allows the Satsui no Hado to take over his body and transform (showing that he has some semblance of control), which prompts Asura to go into his strongest form possible (and the second strongest form), Mantra Asura. Oni goes toe-to-toe with the wrath-embodied god and starts the battle off with a Misogi.

Much like the Evil Ryu battle, the fight with Oni uses the traditional battle system featured in the game and allows a seemingly more accurate portrayal of his powers, which include: gigantic Gorai Hadokens, a spread version of Gohadoken that fires off five shots, a much larger Tatsumaki Zankukyaku, and the ability to warp when using Focus Attacks. He retains his Ultra Combos, but it is possible to avoid them; Asura also has the ability to redirect the Meido Gohado, and counter the Raging Demon in a manner similar to his earlier defeat of Evil Ryu, but if Asura does not counter it in time, Oni will be shown attacking Asura with a swinging punch to the side of the head, a punch below the chin, a punch to the face, a punch to the chest, and finally sends Asura flying with the final blow, which deals a lot of damage. Finally, Asura can counter the Tenchi Sokaigen with a similar-looking move before countering the final punch, forming the familiar kanji.

The battle continues until Oni thrusts towards Asura and punches him into the Moon so hard it splits apart, despite Asura blocking the attack. The battle is then taken inside its core and in space. The battle ends when both combatants wrestle each other while blasting through the Earth's atmosphere and crash-land, still struggling; the struggle lasts 500 years, still not ending as they are reduced to their normal forms, and they are now almost statues covered in moss. Both suddenly start to move, as then both fighters throw a punch to each other's faces, ending the episode in a cliffhanger.

Quotes
See: Oni/Quotes.

Trivia

 * Oni marks the second time Akuma has discarded his morals to gain more power beyond his Shin or true form, the first being Cyber-Akuma in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.
 * A form of Shin Akuma similar to Oni was possibly planned for Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike before the character being dropped entirely. Dummied content found in the game's files, including an alternate colored sprite similar to Oni's color palette and a Kousyu Street stage background with an ominous eclipse strongly hints at this.
 * Oni's fighting stance resembles the artwork of Shin Akuma from SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, and his 6th color also resembles Shin Akuma from Capcom vs. SNK 2.
 * Oni is one of the few characters to phsyically interact with defeated opponents, and the only one in the Street Fighter IV series. He picks them up by their heads, then supposedly deals an off-screen fatal blow. Also, if Oni uses an Ultra Combo as a finishing move, no "KO" sign will be shown on the screen, much like Akuma's Super Combo and Ultra Combos; they also share the same Ultra Combo Finish background.
 * Oni is the only character besides E. Honda that recognizes that Cody, while still wearing very loose chains, is in fact holding back on all his battles. Unusually, 'boss' Oni actually implies that Cody might survive a battle with him if he doesn't hold back; the playable version calls Cody a coward.
 * If Cody wins against the boss Oni, it is the only time besides fighting Ryu that he admits having fun.
 * According to Rose's winquote to Oni, it can be presumed that Oni was meant to show up at a later time, but not during the present day.
 * There is unused data for Oni which is comprised of mostly Akuma's neutral and close punches and kicks, includes a fully complete and functional Ashura Senku, which would only be used during the Raging Demon. He also has a descending dash which is used for his Sekisei Jiraiken, and the Tenmakujinkyaku.
 * The mysterious "shadow" that speaks to Akuma in his ending in Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival could be considered the first foreshadowing to Oni. The observation that Akuma makes about Oni's appearance in Street Fighter X Tekken as a shadow could be a hint that this is the same being that spoke to him in that ending.

Stage Theme
Oni's theme in Super Street Fighter IV is an alternate remix of Akuma's theme from Street Fighter II.

Gallery

 * For more images, see: Oni/Gallery

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Street Fighter IV series
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