Akuma (Street Fighter) - Character Design

Character Design

Akuma has dark red hair, glowing red eyes with black sclera, wears prayer beads around his neck, a black or blue dogi and a piece of twine around his waist in lieu of an obi. The kanji 'ten' (天) - meaning "sky/heaven" - can be seen on his back when it appears during certain win animations. Shin Akuma's appearance is very similar to Akuma's; for example, in the Street Fighter Alpha series, Shin Akuma had a purple gi instead of a gray one and marginally lighter tone. Akuma's introduction in Super Street Fighter II Turbo stemmed from the development team's desire to introduce a "mysterious and really powerful" character, with his status as a hidden character within the game resulting from later discussions. When asked by Game Informer regarding the presence of Akuma as a secret character in several of Capcom's fighting games, Capcom's Noritaka Funamizu stated that while he did not personally support the concept, he supposed that "Akuma is a character that can fit in any game design nicely".