"My name is Akuma! The supreme master of the fist!"
- Akuma.
A (mis) interpretation:
Name: Unknown.
Alias: Gouki (豪鬼) / Akuma (悪魔) / The Great Demon / The Supreme Master of the Fist (拳を極めし者).
Age: Unknown.
Affiliation: Goutetsu Dojo (former); Independent (current).
Martial arts style:
Ansatsuken (暗殺拳) - The Assassination Fist; Satsujinken (殺人拳) - The Murderous Fist; Satsui no Hado (殺意の波動) - Surge of Murderous Intent.
Martial arts techniques:
Shun Goku Satsu (瞬獄殺) - The Murderous Imprisonment/The Raging Demon; Shin Shun Goku Satsu (真・瞬獄殺) - The Hellish Murderous Imprisonment/Wrath of the Raging Demon; Kongou Kokuretsuzan (金剛國裂斬) - Province Rending Slash/The Vajra; Tenshou Kaireki Jin ( 天衝海轢刃) - The Heaven Piercing, Sea Crashing Blade/Armageddon Demon; Misogi (禊) - The Purifier; Gohadoken (豪波動拳) - The Great Surging Fist; Zanku Hadoken (斬空波動拳)- The Slashing Air Surging Fist; Shakunetsu Hadoken (灼熱波動拳) - The Scorching Heat Surging Fist; Goshoryuken (豪昇龍拳) - The Great Rising Dragon Fist; Tatsumaki Zankukyaku (竜巻斬空脚) - The Slashing Tornado Air Kick; Hyakkishu (百鬼襲) - The Hundred Demons Assault; Ashura Senku (阿修羅閃空) - The Air Flash Fighting Demon/The Ashura; Tenma Shurettou (天魔朱裂刀) - The Sky Demon Vermillion Rending Blade; Tenma Gou Zankuu (天魔豪斬空) - The Sky Demon Great Air Slash; Messatsu Gou Hadou (滅殺豪波動) - The Annihilating Great Surge; Messatsu-Goshoryu (滅殺豪昇龍) -The Annihilating Great Rising Dragon; Messatsu Gou Rasen (滅殺豪螺旋) - The Annihilating Great Spiral; Messatsu Gou Senpuu (滅殺豪旋風) - The Annihilating Great Whirlwind.
Gouki is one of the most formidable martial art fighters of his time and in existence. He gains infamy through his rampage across the world with the sole purpose to seek out, defeat and kill martial art practitioners whom he considers stronger than him. Gouki defeats and take the lives of many champions. He refers to himself as "The Supreme Master of the Fist" and more infamously refer to by others as "The Great Demon". His murderous trail of destruction ends after Ryu fights and defeats him in an epic battle on an isolated island off the coast of Japan.
Gouki's birth name is not known nor reveal. As a child, he is taken in and trained by Grandmaster Goutetsu the Strong Iron in the styles and techniques of the ancient martial art, the Ansatsuken, which has its dark origin rooted in the arts of assassination incorporate with karate, judo and kempo. Unknown to him until much later, Gouki's father is a fellow practitioner of the Ansatsuken, training under the same dojo and a contemporary of Goutetsu. His father attempts to master the "true" Ansatsuken but succumbs to its dark path, the Satsui no Hado. Gouki's father goes insane and murders his wife and possibly Gouki himself if not for Goutetsu's intervention. Gouki's father is subdued, defeated and given a mercy death by Goutetsu.
Gouki is a keen and fast learner. He masters the Ansatsuken within the shortest span of time. The Strong Iron trains him and another student, Gouken, in ways which embrace the more peaceful and spiritual aspect of the martial art by removing the Satsui no Hado, turning fatal techniques into skills for self-defence, thus removing the killing potential. Goutetsu could sense that Gouki possesses the same aura as his late father, and intends to prevent the same fate that could leads him to the dark path. However, whether it is fated or destined, Gouki chances upon ancient texts which reveal that one could attains greater height of power and achieves the true potential of the Ansatsuken by embracing the dark aspect of the martial art. Gouki also learnt of his late father's fate and becomes scornful of his master. He begins to practice and train secretly, obsess with completely mastering the fighting styles not taught and forbidden by Goutetsu. Gouki believes this is the truest style of the Ansatsuken, which involves merciless killing of opponents. It wouldn't be long before the Strong Iron becomes aware of Gouki's secret training for the latter has become more and more unstable, mentally and emotionally, the first true sign of treading the dark path leading to the Satsui no Hado. He eventually confronts Gouki and banishes him from the dojo after Gouki reacts violently. Gouki retreats to the mountains where he continues to train and practice, eventually fully embraces the dark aspect of the Ansatsuken. Years later, he emerges and shows up at Goutetsu's dojo to challenge his former master in order to prove his skills have surpassed Goutetsu. The Strong Iron accepts Gouki's challenge and fight, with the Grandmaster gaining upper hands until Gouki surprises Goutetsu by unleashing the fullest extent of his power, the Shun Goku Satsu or the Raging Demon which overwhelms Goutetsu, leading to his death. Gouki, himself severely injured, takes Goutetsu's prayer beads as trophy. Gouken attempts to stop him but is soundly defeated. Gouki refuses to kill the injured Gouken, saying that he is not a worthy opponent. He self-justifies his act by accusing Goutetsu as being selfish for withholding the true styles which could elevate their martial art prowess before leaving. Unknown to Gouki, Goutetsu has earlier left an instruction to Gouken relating to a form of fighting style which could negate the Satsui no Hado principle and its deadly methods through the "emptying of one's mind and emotions", of which Gouken would eventually developed into the Mu no Ken, the Power of Nothingness based on the principle of the Chikara no Hado. Goutetsu last words to Gouken is not to harbour any intentions or thoughts of vengeance against Gouki.
Gouki travels to a secluded and desolate volcanic island, of which the locals call the Onigami Isle or the Goukuentou. Residing within the Kiga Cave, he continues to train and practice on his own, becoming ever more powerful. He becomes totally devoid of any emotions or compassion. Cold and merciless, Gouki hones himself to peak physical potential, with extremely wrathful and brutal facial expression. He is mentally unbalanced by then, full of hatred and anger, his erratic personality and behaviour completely consumed by the Satsui no Hado. His sole reason for existence is to hone further his already extremely powerful skills by seeking out and killing stronger foes. Gouki would continuously roams the world to seek challenges from powerful opponents, brutally defeating and killing them. Gouki takes great pleasure from indulging in acts of violence and aims for a never ending conflict, or at the very least until a true and worthy opponent could defeat and kill him. He has a twisted form of honour, that is he would not take the lives of those whom he considers unworthy or weaker, yet leaving them severely maim and paralyse. Gouki would by then refers to as Akuma the Great Demon.
Years later, Gouki learns of Ryu and Ken. This is after Ryu and Ken have completed their trainings under Gouten and become undisputed champions of the World Mixed Martial Art Tournament. Gouki goes to Gouten's dojo and challenges him. Gouten the Strong Fist initially refuses but realise there is no longer any trace of humanity left within Gouki, accepts the challenge. By then Gouten himself has become a mighty grandmaster of the Ansatsuken in his own right with principle grounded in ways of the Chikara no Hado. Gouten eventually gains an upper hand over the Great Demon. However he could not bring himself to deliver the finishing strike which would incapacitate Gouki. That moment of hesitation allows Gouki to counter-attack, manifesting into Shin Gouki the True Great Demon form, relentlessly unleash the devastating Shin Shun Goku Satsu combines with Kongou Kokuretsuzan, mortally injures Gouten. Gouki gloats in his madness, proclaiming himself the Supreme Master of the Fist. As Shin Gouki, his hairs turn white, eyes bright red like burning hot coals. Gouki then destroys Gouten dojo and carved the word "天", "Heaven", onto the door of the entrance. He leaves a cryptic note for Ryu and Ken with the purpose to lure them out and challenge them.
The news of Gouken's death reach Ryu and Ken. While Ryu contemplates on avenging the death of their master, Ken takes a decisive action and seeks the Great Demon out, tracking him to the island. Ken is severely injured by Gouki and nearing death before Ryu arrives to save him from Gouki's finishing blows. After a short vicious fight, the Great Demon senses Ryu's powerful aura and potential for embracing the Satsui no Hado. Gouki refuses to continue the battle. He reveals to Ryu that apart from killing Goutetsu and Gouten, he has never uses more than thirty percent of his total power against any opponents he faced thus far. Gouki allows Ryu to take Ken away under the condition that Ryu must face him within a year from that day. Gouki shares that only through the Satsu no Hado would a Ansatsuken practitioner be able to tap into its great power and unleash ones true potential. Ryu, however, proves indomitable and finds out about the Chikara no Hado principle through the notes of his deceased master. He begins to train himself intensely according to the concept of Mu no Ken.
The authorities are also tracking down Gouki for his murderous atrocities but he remains elusive. Agents send to hunt him down never returns. However, Vega, the powerful megalomaniac leader of the global terrorist organisation, Shadaloo, manages to track Gouki down to the Onigami Isle, where he personally offers Gouki the opportunity to kill Ryu with great rewards. Gouki accepts but with one condition that Vega would have to fight and defeat him first. Vega gladly accepts but the fight ends with Gouki negating all of Vega's mighty Psycho Power techniques, brutally mutilates and obliterates him, before annihilating the retinue of fighters whom accompany their leader. Separately, the authorities decides and successfully engage Ryu to stop Gouki's murderous rampage once and for all.
A year later, Gouki kidnaps a group of children, including Ken's daughter, as hostages in order to force Ryu to confront him at the island as promise. As the island's volcano begins to become active once more, spewing deadly ashes and molten lava, Ryu arrives with the rescue operation lead by Guile and Cammy. He leaves an instruction to Ken to carry on the Ansatsuken if he does not succeed. Gouki holds the children within the Kiga Cave but releases them once Ryu arrives. As the authorities rescue and evacuate the children amidst the unstable and dangerous landscape, Gouki fights a cataclysmic battle of skills as well as a contest of spirituality against Ryu. Both are forced to unleash all their powers with Gouki manifesting into Shin Gouki once again, brutally overwhelming Ryu. He tries to force Ryu to give into the Satsu no Hado by taunting him and mocking Gouten in order for Ryu to emotionally gives in into hatred and vengeance. However, when almost beaten, the Mu no Ken awakens within Ryu. Ryu begins to counter each of Gouki's killing moves and fights back Gouki based on the Power of Nothingness. Shock, Gouki charges at Ryu with unbridle fury, seemingly inhuman. Ryu defeats the Great Demon through a combination of the Chikara no Hado with the Mu no Ken. In his defeat, Gouki laughs and asks Ryu to finish him off but he refuses, gives a final look of pity at Gouki and leaves. Gouki, his body completely battered, goes into muscle spams from the injuries and over-extending his threshold of powers. After it subsides, he lays completely helpless. He thought he sees Goutetsu and Gouten. Without any further expression, Gouki's mind finally free itself from all malicious intents as rivers of molten lava and hot ashes engulf him.
......................................................................................
From the world of the incredibly popular and by now classic Capcom's Street Fighter series, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (that's a mouthful) to be precise, Kids Logic, popular for their super-deformed line of Transformers, officially release the first (and hopefully not the last) of the characters from the hit arcade/home console one-on-one fighting game in 1/6th scale, Gouki or Akuma as he is more popularly known. It brings back those old memories of after-tutorial class, sneaking into a dingy arcade centre to burn coins to play Street Fighter II. I never did make it to the final boss, M. Bison (or Vega in Japan). Never have, due to my lacking of mind and hands co-ordination with those crazy combinations of buttons and joystick to push and punch in order to un-leash those special moves. As such I never play Akuma or against him in the first place, only watching in envy at friends or other players who upon winning, key in those three alphabets initial into the screen. It doesn't help that these guys are, wait, were equally popular with girls. Those were the days of pre-cyber café and massive online games. Arcade centres aplenty, smoky and noisy as heck. So I am glad to see Akuma being released as an action figure. The figure is decent, capturing the silhouette as he appears in the game, muscular like heck, with lighted up eyes, fabric gi, line with wires, removable rope for belt, Goutetsu's prayer beads and a pair of sandals. Like HT's PERS, the upper portion of the head sculpt is removable to switch on the light on the eyes. Articulation is there, but with "clack clack" sounds, which is abit disconcerting but no big deal. I am not brave enough to do "insane" pose though. Unfortunately, there are no pivoting leg pegs. Also the right arm elbow connector is quite visible. There is a free mini-torch light for the "天" kanji which I could use to shine it on Akuma's back or at some dudes' eyes at night. Majority of the infos are taken from Street Fighter Wikia, with generally 70s Shaw Brothers Kung Pow movies storyline, you know, family members get killed by the bad dude, good dude trains under a wise master, whom in turn gets killed by the bad dude, good dude seeks to revenge, got his ass beaten, trains some more and beat the heck out of the bad dude, credit rolls. Now here's looking forward, hopefully. Ryu and Ken, seen as prototypes preview on the Net, as well as additional iconic characters from Street Fighter.
No comments:
Post a Comment