Melty Blood/MBTL/Akiha Tohno

Story

After the death of her father, she inherits the role of leader of the Tohno family, a distinguished house in Souya. One year younger than her brother Shiki, she arranged for his return from the Arima family. Her flawless etiquette and bearing perfectly epitomize the daughter of a noble house. She is strict even on herself, rejecting such things as modern-day amusements and frivolity. Because of her prideful and strong-willed nature, many find her difficult to approach. Sensing a mysterious presence in her town, and determined to uphold the Tohno family name, she sets off into the night to investigate...

Gameplay

Akiha is a character who thrives on locking the opponent down and punishing them with extended combos and setplay.

She navigates neutral with her fast but short-ranged normals and situational special attacks that cover specific areas of the screen. She can't reliably out-poke most characters and must rely on good movement to land punishes on the opponent. This fact is compounded by her short airdash, limited coverage on most of her long-range specials like Painting The Moon (623X) and Crushing Beasts (22X), and low damage.

Once Akiha lands a knockdown however, she can easily start her strong okizeme game with her Brilliant Wheel (236X), a multi-purpose tool for okizeme, area-denial, combo extension, and most importantly giving her time to go into mix-ups and/or continue pressure. She can be technical, but a well-played Akiha can make opponent's life hell once she gets them pinned down.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Powerful Okizeme: Akiha landing a single confirm can easily lead to a looping setplay vortex that heavily favors her and significantly restricts the options of opponents trying to escape. Strong Space Control: While not as powerful as more dedicated zoners like Vlov or Roa, Akiha's specials enforce a tremendous amount of space control and allow her to safely approach or fend off approaches. Fast Normals: Keeping in line with her focus on setplay and mixups, Akiha's normals are exceptionally fast to come out and allow her to easily win a scramble situation with the right button choices.	Limited Mobility: Akiha's aerial movement is noticeably much shorter than average, and is far more suited to her mixup game than it is to navigating the screen in neutral. She also has some of the slowest grounded movement in the game. Low Damage: Because she thrives in vortex situations, Akiha is often forced to make a tradeoff between oki and damage, and learning longer combos and extensions is necessary to get her damage output on par with some of the rest of the roster. Meter Hungry: All of Akiha's best oki situations and guaranteed pressure extensions require meter, so when you're low on resources you're much less threatening. Narrow Hitboxes: Many of Akiha's normals and specials cover extremely specific and relatively small areas of the screen, forcing her to pay attention to her positioning and being mindful of her attacks.

HP Value: -

Backdash: -

Movement Speed: -

Character Summary

Move list

Moon Skills: 6B+C - Brilliant Wheel (Air OK); 3B+C - Painting the Moon; 4B+C - Brilliant Phantasm; 2B+C - Crushing Beasts
Special Attacks: 236A/B/C (EX OK) - Brilliant Wheel (Air OK): Long-lasting stationary projectile; 623A/B/C (EX OK) - Painting the Moon: Anti-air, reversal (EX ver. only); 214A/B/C (EX OK) - Brilliant Phantasm: Leaping attack, overhead (B ver. only); 22A/B/C (EX OK) - Crushing Beasts; 632146C (EX-Only) - Brilliant Cherry Maple: Side-switching command throw
Arc Drive: 236B+C - Scarlet Mistress - Cage Hair
Last Arc: A+B+C+D / D in Blood Heat - Scarlet Mistress - Crimson Hammer
Unique Attacks: 6C, 3C
Blowback Edge Moves: 5[B], j.[C]

Stats & vitals

Dash startup: 6

Dash actionable: 9

Jump startup: 4

Jump airtime: 38

Quick combo reference

Basic Midscreen BNB (Meterless): 2A(AA) 2B 2C 5C 5[B] 214B j.[C] delay j.B 5BXX (j.AB) AT

Basic Midscreen BNB (Metered): 2A(AA) 2B 2C 5C 5[B] 214B j.[C] delay j.B 5C 236C

Basic Corner BNB (Meterless): 2A(AA) 2B 2C 5C 22B delay 5B 6C 214B j8.[C] delay j.B 5CXX AT

Basic Corner BNB (Meterless IAD starter): IAD j.B or IAD j.C > 2B 2C 5C 22B 5B 6C 214B (input jump after 214B ends, but before landing) land j.BC AT

Basic Corner BNB (Metered): 2A(AA) 5B 2B 2C 5C 22B 6C 214B j8.[C] j.236C

Move Analysis

Normal Moves

Standing Normals

5A

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/Data#5A

5A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
180	L	-	-	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
5	2	11	17	-1	-

Standard 5f jab.
Whiff cancels available from frame 10 onwards (frame 10 is the first frame of the whiff cancelled move).

Akiha does a low kick. Short range but quick and gatlings into itself with 4A. Doesn't hit low like the animation suggests.

5B

Uncharged version.

Charged version, sporting clash frames and better reach.

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/Data#5B

5B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
480	LH	-	-	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
8	4	17	28	-6	-

Blockstring filler.

Usually you'll want to skip over this and use 5[B] in combos instead. 2B is generally better for blockstrings.

/Data#5[B]

5[B]

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
290*3 (870)	LH	-	L, GB	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
21	4	17	41	-2	Clash 12-20

Slightly larger than 5B with multihit properties.
Gains clash frames.

Excellent combo filler as it leads to 214B, giving good damage and corner carry. The clash frames can make this a comparatively strong meaty to 236X, as the clash frames can eat mashing, reversals, and Moon Drive Moon Skills alike.

5C

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/Data#5C

5C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
610	LH	-	-	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
8	4	24	35	-7	-

Blockstring and combo filler.
Advances Akiha forwards.

Difficult to get to a spacing where 5A whiffs due to the forward movement. The high angle of the kick can be useful to catch attempts to jump out of your pressure.

Crouching Normals

2A

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/Data#2A

2A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
150	L	-	-	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
5	2	11	17	-1	-

Quick, fast low.
Whiff cancels available from frame 10 onwards (frame 10 is the first frame of the whiff cancelled move).

Same framedata and general uses as 5A, but hits low as a little bonus. This will also be your main abare tool.

2B

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/Data#2B

2B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
420	L	-	-	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
8	3	19	29	-7	-

Low-hitting poke
Blockstring filler

Compared to 2C, it offers slightly less recovery and leaves the opponent grounded, but has less range. Does not move you forward.

2C

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/Data#2C

2C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
620	L	-	L, HK	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
9	5	22	35	-10	-

Low
Advances Akiha forward

Combination of range and forward movement make this great for catching landings after crossing under the opponent, and hitting grounded opponents in general. Be careful with it against players who frequently jump out of pressure, or use instant air-dashes to approach.

Jumping Normals

j.A

Aerial

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/Data#jA

jA

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
140	HA	-	-	-	Strike, Air
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
5	4	11	19	-	-

Fast, horizontal air-to-air.

Excellent air poke. Covers an area in front of Akiha that her other air normals can't quite reach.

j.B

Aerial

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/Data#jB

jB

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
400	HA	-	-	-	Strike, Air
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
8	4	X	-	-	-

Hits on both sides.
The neutral.

Hits deep below Akiha and slightly in front of her. Insane jump-in and crossup button.

j.C

Aerial

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/Data#jC

jC

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
560	HA	-	-	-	Strike, Air
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
10	5	X	-	-	-

Highest-blockstun air normal.

Basic combo filler and IAD button.

/Data#j[C]

j[C]

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
900	HA	-	L, GB	-	Strike, Air
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
20	7	X	-	-	Clash 16-19

Ground bounce on hit.
Gains clash frames.

Safer to throw out than you'd think thanks to the clash frames. Useful combo filler thanks to the ground bounce, as reverse beating into j.B can give rejumps after 214B.

Command Normals

3C

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/Data#3C

3C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
700	LH	-	LR	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
10	3	25	37	-11	Air 5-12

Enters a cinematic and automatically jump-cancels on hit.

Akiha's universal anti-air and launcher. Useful to add damage to combos after extending with special moves.

6C

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/Data#6C

6C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
740	LH	-	L, WB	-	Strike
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
12	4	21	36	-8	-

Wall bounces on air hit.

Has enough hitstun to combo into rings in the corner for extended combos. As blockstring filler, limits your options for canceling, and unless you are close to the corner your only noteworthy meterless option to combo is 214A when close enough to the opponent.

Universal Mechanics

Rapid beat 2

rapid beat 2

Lua error in Module:MoveDataParser at line 88: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
The return of an old friend

Lua error in Module:MoveDataParser at line 86: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

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No results

Placeholder

Rapid beat 3

rapid beat 3

Lua error in Module:MoveDataParser at line 88: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

Lua error in Module:MoveDataParser at line 86: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

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Same animation as 3C

Ground Throw

throw

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/Data#4/6AD

4/6AD

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
1500	U	-	HK. AB	-	Throw
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4	3	19	25	+55	-

Restores a small amount of recoverable health on connect.

Akiha's throw gives her a ton of advantage on hit, letting her safely set up a ring to establish okizeme.

Air Throw

airthrow

Aerial

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/Data#j4/6AD

j4/6AD

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
800, 400 (1200)	U	-	HK, AB	-	Throw
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
1	3	X [12 on landing]	-	-	-

Restores a small amount of recoverable health on connect.

Save your double jump. Akiha can get a 3-way mixup off her air throw with her double jump midscreen. In the corner, she can do TK air ring for an easy high/low mixup.

Special Moves

Brilliant Wheel

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/Data#236A

236A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
320*4 (1280)	LHA	-	-	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
32	90	6	38	+45	-

Places a wheel immediately in front of Akiha at ground level.
Replaces an existing wheel (e.g. 236B, j.236A/B) if one is active when input. Cannot replace another 236A wheel.
Pushes grounded opponents back, but will not pick them up.
Causes airborne opponents to rise slightly.
Hits four times.

Setplay tool and ground approach denier. Easy to shield. Some setplay setups allow you to throw autopilot wakeup shields, however.

/Data#236B

236B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
320*4 (1280)	LHA	-	-	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
40	90	0	40	+51	-

Places a wheel further forwards and higher up than j.236A.
Replaces an existing wheel (e.g. 236A, j.236A/B) if one is active when input. Cannot replace another 236B wheel.
All characters crouch under the wheel, enabling throw mixups.
Pushes grounded opponents back, but will not pick them up.
Causes airborne opponents to rise slightly.
Hits four times.

Setplay tool and air approach denier. Be careful with this one, as your opponent can dash under the wheel while it's active. Particularly shines as a setplay tool. Opponents who stand shield the ring are vulnerable to lows like 2A or 22B, and opponents who crouch under the ring are vulnerable to throws and overheads.

/Data#236C

236C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
600, 510*4 (2640)	LHA	-	HK, AB	1 Magic Circuit	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4+10	120	15	28	+49	1-4 Throw

Places a slightly larger wheel between where 236A and 236B deploy.
Does NOT replace any active wheels, and cannot be replaced itself. If one is already active, both will be on screen at the same time.
Keeps grounded opponents in the same place and will not pick them up.
Keeps airborne opponents in the same position.
High untech time, making it a strong combo ender with ample time to set up okizeme afterwards.
Hits five times.

Highly plus on hit and block, making it a good combo tool.

Brilliant Wheel (air)

Brilliant Wheel

Aerial

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Changes air trajectory

Changes air trajectory

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/Data#j236A

j236A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
320*4 (1280)	LHA	-	-	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
26	90	14 [12 on landing]	39	+30 (TK)	-

Replaces an existing wheel (e.g. j.236B, 236A/B) if one is active when input. Cannot replace another j.236A wheel.
If you have your double jump available, you can jump cancel the recovery starting on frame 40. Cannot be jump cancelled if the move is TK'd.
Pushes Akiha backwards and slightly upwards when the ring comes out.
Pushes grounded opponents back, but will not pick them up.
Causes airborne opponents to rise slightly.
Hits four times.

Saving your double jump will let Akiha meaty with this after a low corner airthrow. You'll want to use j.236A in the corner as it sets up better spacing for avoiding reversals and Heats.

/Data#j236B

j236B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
320*4 (1280)	LHA	-	-	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
32	90	8 [12 on landing]	39	+36 (TK)	-

Replaces an existing wheel (e.g. j.236A, 236A/B) if one is active when input. Cannot replace another j.236B wheel.
If you have your double jump available, you can jump cancel the recovery starting on frame 40. Cannot be jump cancelled if the move is TK'd.
Pushes Akiha forwards and slightly upwards when the ring comes out.
Pushes grounded opponents back, but will not pick them up.
Causes airborne opponents to rise slightly.
Hits four times.

Saving your double jump will let Akiha meaty with this after a low midscreen airthrow. Moving forwards is more advantageous here as her airthrow launches outwards.

/Data#j236C

j236C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
600+510*4 (2640)	LHA	-	HK, AB	1 Magic Circuit	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4+8	120	13 [12 on landing]	23	+43 (TK)	1-4 Throw

Places a slightly larger wheel between where 236A and 236B deploy.
Does NOT replace any active wheels, and cannot be replaced itself. If one is already active, both will be on screen at the same time.
If you have your double jump available, you can jump cancel the recovery starting on frame 25. Cannot be jump cancelled if the move is TK'd.
Keeps grounded opponents in the same place and will not pick them up.
Keeps airborne opponents in the same position.
High untech time, making it a strong combo ender with ample time to set up okizeme afterwards.
Hits five times.

Same as ground 236C, landing j.236C gives Akiha plenty of time to set up j.236B in the middle of her jump arc for a potent mixup.

Painting the Moon

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/Data#623A

623A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
1200	LH	-	L	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
7	6, 7	20	39	-6	-

Air unblockable.
Doesn't hit crouching opponents.

/Data#623B

623B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
1200	LH	-	L	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
13	6, 7	12	37	+2	-

Air unblockable.
Doesn't hit crouching opponents.
0 on block, but most opponents will be couching anyway.

/Data#623C

623C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
430*5 (2150)	LH	-	L, HK, AB	1 Magic Circuit	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4+1	13	33	50	-11	1-13 Full

Air unblockable.
The closest thing Akiha has to a reversal.

Brilliant Phantasm

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/Data#214A

214A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
440*3 (1320)	LH	-	L	-	-
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
20	6	19	44	-2	4-28 Low Crush

This version hits mid however is a faster than the B version.

/Data#214B

214B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
440*3 (1320)	H	-	L	-	-
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
29	6	17	51	0	3-34 Low Crush

Slow overhead.

Useful combo tool; it's in almost every BNB.
Jump-cancelable on hit.

/Data#214C

214C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
490*5 (2450)	LH	-	L, HK, AB	1 Magic Circuit	-
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4+4	7(11)3	22	51	-2	1-6 Throw, 4-29 Low Crush

Mostly used in EX confirms.

Crushing Beasts

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/Data#22A

22A

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
640*2 (1320)	L	-	L, SK,	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
11	11	14	35	-4~+3	-

Safe pressure ender.

Hits low.
-1 at close to max range and +3 at absolute max range. Capitalizing on the frame advantage is difficult at that distance, however, and the effective startup is slower.

/Data#22B

22B

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
640*2 (1320)	L	-	L, SK	-	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
18	11	12	40	0~+7	-

Frame trap and safe pressure ender.

Hits low.
+3 at close to max range and +7 at absolute max range. Capitalizing on the frame advantage is difficult at that distance, however, and the effective startup is slower.
Also shines as a meaty, as its range is just a hair longer than Heat activation and it blows up high shield (which people will do to avoid B ring).

/Data#22C

22C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
520*5 (2600)	L	-	L, GB, HK, AB	1 Magic Circuit	Projectile
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4+4	15	10	32	+2~+11	1-4 Throw

Hard knockdown combo ender. Use this in pushed combos where 236C wouldn't knock down.

Hits low.
+2, though EX Wheel is the better pressure reset.

Brilliant Cherry Maple

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/Data#632146C

632146C

Damage	Guard	Cancel	Property	Cost	Attribute
800, 520 (1320)	U	-	AB	1 Magic Circuit	Throw
First Active	Active	Recovery	Overall	Advantage	Invul
4+0	2	34	39	-	1-6 Throw

Command grab super that grants a followup combo.

No longer possible for opponents to jump after the super-flash. This now offers another way to hit players trying to block.
When punishing shield it gives about 1k more damage than a normal throw would, if you don't spend additional resources. This is a pretty fair meter-to-damage conversion, and compares favorably with other options like 236C ender.
Especially likely to to hit when used under 236B, since the wheel will catch attempts to preemptively jump. Beware people preemptively DPing or using moon drive though.

Moon Skills