Akane(Sword)

From HiguWiki

Akane is a melee attacker. Her ranged attacks don't go very far. She also can't take a lot of hits, which is why she is a melee attacker.

Her normal walking speed is extremely slow but her running speed is extremely fast. Very useful for surprise zerg rushing your enemy. Just be careful of how much stamina you have left.

Her melee attack also allows her to run a little bit towards the enemy and then slash. Very useful for emergency dodging (if you have no more stamina). However, this mini-run can also backfire when the enemy is really close to you. It causes Akane to run a bit too far past the enemy and miss her slash completely. Another thing to note is Akane's sword has a rather nice melee attack range. What I mean is her melee attacks have a higher chance of hitting someone farther away than most other characters. This is also useful when the enemy tries to melee Akane. Just slash them and don't worry about it because her sword willl reach them first before the enemy's melee attack will.

Akane's ranged attack is a blue slash wave that is rather wide. Normally, the wave is horizontal so the enemy needs to jump or run sideways really fast to dodge it. But if you are holding the forward key, the wave get turned into a vertical wave which is much more easier to dodge for enemies on ground. Either way, the wave knocks down the enemy. Pretty good for stopping melee rushers before they reach you.

Akane's charged shot(yellow bar) fires off two slash waves that are the long distance versions of the normal range attack. These waves hit the enemy multiple times and knocks them down. These waves land the most hits when the enemy is in the air but it's pretty hard to land hits on enemies because of the waves' slow speed. Each of the two waves are fired off to the left and right of Akane. This allows for a little trick to happen. If you want the waves to start off far away from each other and converge on the enemy, dash to the right(double tap the right key) and release the charged shot. I find this pattern better for enemies that are far away. If you want the waves to travel close together in a X-shaped pattern, dash to the left and release the charged shot. I find this pattern better for enemies that are closer. You can also deal with both enemies by letting each wave go after one of the enemies. To do this, just lock on to the other enemy after the first wave has been fired but before the second wave is fired. Keep in mind that you can't launch the waves in opposite directions so the two enemies still need to be in the same general direction in order for the waves to reach them.

Akane's fully charged shot(red bar) fires off about 10 or so slash waves really fast. The only problem with this is the waves don't go very far. I usually use this as a combo finisher or as a sneak attack from behind the enemy. The good thing to this attack is that you have a high chance of hitting your enemy as long as they are within range. This means that even if the first couple of waves miss, at least one of the other waves will hit the enemy. Also, this attack knocks down the enemy.

Akane's special attack in oyashiro/friendship/kakera mode is a short but fast lunge towards the enemy. This gives Akane an even better melee range than her normal slash. Also knocks down enemy.

Basically, zerg rush is the key word for Akane. Akane is fast, hits hard, doesn't have a lot of health, doesn't have far ranged attacks.