[P4A] Yukiko vs. Kanji

[MikelAL93]

Discuss the matchup between Yukiko and Kanji here.

Matchup Summary

Yukiko's Tools

Her 5B/2B/JB Fans: Yukiko's fans can easily be used to punish Kanji's air throw and his Persona attacks. Even Gotcha! in its final rising position.

Dia: Yukiko can use Dia to heal and protect her from all of Kanji's projectile attacks, such as his 5B, his standard D Persona attacks, his command throws (All but Bet Ya Can't Take This! and Gotcha!), and even his instant kill. Even his chair from his non-Persona super cannot break Dia.

Agi and Maragi: If Kanji uses Gotcha!, place your air Agi's at the exact location where Take-Mikazuchi will stop in the air to break it. You can even use Maragi to counter his C and D Persona attacks, even gotcha if the fireball detonates below Take's final landing spot. Air Agi can even punish Kanji's air grab, so place it accordingly.

Kanji's response to them

Her 5B/2B/JB Fans: Kanji can easily eat Yukiko's fans with his 2D Persona attack when they reach mid-range.

Dia: Kanji's physical attacks, even his C Persona attacks, can break Dia. Bet Ya Can't Take This! can also break it since it has Kanji jumping down towards his opponent to grab them.

Agi and Maragi: Like Yukiko's fans, Kanji can eat her Maragi fireballs whole if 2D reaches the fireballs from mid-range, this will mostly happen in the case of C Maragi because of its slow movement.

Kanji's Tools

Standard D Persona attacks: Kanji can summon thunderbolts that attack mid-range or full-screen up to three times depending on what version of D is pressed. If Yukiko makes contact with them, she will be paralyzed until she attacks Kanji head on. 2D attacks mid-range, 5D attacks full-screen zoomed in, and JD attacks full-screen zoomed out.

Bet Ya Can't Take This!: One of the most irritating, if not, annoying moves in the game. If Yukiko comes near his grab while he is landing, she is doomed. This can also be followed up by an additional Cruel Attack, so watch out for Kanji when he lands on you. The SB version is much more annoying, as it will home directly into Yukiko, causing Kanji to grab her quickly, but not only is that the case, it also deals more damage than its regular counterparts. Please note that this move is completely unsafe and will whiff if the opponent is crouching.

What A Pain!: Kanji's DP is a serious pain in the ass to deal with. If Yukiko gets near Kanji or attacks him with her standard attacks or her Persona, she will be shocked and unable to move unless she attacks Kanji head on to remove that status effect.

This'll Hurt!: Another one of the few irritating moves in the game. This will cause some good damage if Kanji grabs Yukiko before he throws her and his Persona electrocutes her. The SB version of this move is like all hell breaking loose; not only has the damage output increased, but it can cause paralysis after his Persona electrocutes her. All version of this move can follow up with an additional Cruel Attack.

Burn To A Crisp! and The Man Series: Brofist: Deals the most damage of all of Kanji's moves. If he grabs you, you are screwed.

Yukiko's response to them

Standard D Persona attacks: Thanks to Dia's invulnerability against projectiles, Yukiko can use it against the thunderbolts to protect her from them. If you are lucky, you can throw a fan or summon C or D Maragi before Kanji summons his Persona to take a card away from him.

Bet Ya Can't Take This!: If you can crouch while Kanji has this move in its active frames, he will land near you so you can easily dodge it, then punish him by creating mixups and crossups against him. Remember not to jump or just stand still before he lands on you. You can also use her 2B fans to counter against this throw, but it all depends on their trajectory. 2A is a great poke to use against this attack.

What A Pain!: The best way to prevent yourself from being shocked by Kanji's DP attack is to stand far away from Kanji as far as possible and bait him with your fans, summon a slow and fast fan at the same time to get the best resuilts. You can also bait him with Dia to take a Persona card away from him at all costs.

This'll Hurt!: Use Dia to protect yourself from Kanji's annoying command throw, doing so will allow Kanji to whiff, giving Yukiko a greater advantage to punish Kanji and give him hell. The same can be done for Burn To A Crisp!

Burn To A Crisp! and The Man Series: Brofist : See This'll Hurt! for an explanation on this move.

The verdict of this matchup

The matchup between Yukiko and Kanji is your one way ticket to hell. If your Persona is broken, you are out of luck. His Persona plays a huge role in this matchup, so break it before he goes all-out and paralyzes you with his lightning attacks, they even give out great damage if they attack Yukiko. If you break Take-Mikazuchi, Yukiko can punish Kanji easily and deal great damage on him with her fire attacks. So remember to avoid his DP attack and command throws, use your Persona wisely, burn him to a crisp with your fire attacks, and give him hell.

[megamonk4]

This matchup gives me trouble for sure. neutral game feels bad due to his big normals from just using his fold-up chair and persona, whether its mid-range or close up. Our wake up is complete crap up close from his normals again, 50/50 mixup of throw or get hit. He can even troll and flat out beat our DP with his own(our recovery is worse). I'm still trying to figure out how I can keep him out without getting blown up...

[gli]

Do not jump if you don't have to. Stay far away and just zone. If he goes for the air leaping grab you can just stay crouching and zone with fans. If you miss it doesn't matter because the leaping grab will not connect on crouching opponents. Once you get him to block fans start throwing out your persona and mount your pressure.

The only way he can challenge your zoning from full-screen is with the chair super where he throws a chair at you at a high speed. Otherwise he should challenge with his lightning bolts that paralyze you from full-screen.

If you are paralyzed you can still short-hop or dodge. This is a 3-way mix-up since he has a throw which can beat your dodge or the anti-air grab if you choose to short-hop. If you choose to Dia he can use his R-action which beats yours and resets the situation.

[megamonk4]

I wasn't aware of his leaping grab missing against crouching opponents. I would always try to anti-air it or just dodge passed it; most of the time missing my opportunity to punish it afterwards.

[blakmaphia]

1B/2B/3B, 5B and Dia. Its funny but thats all you need in this matchup. Kanji NEEDS to be close to you.

If he does full screen lightning just Dia through it. When he tries to close the gap on the ground, 5BB. And when he jumps 1B/2B/3B depending on his trajectory.

[Justice7541]

1B/2B/3B, 5B and Dia. Its funny but thats all you need in this matchup. Kanji NEEDS to be close to you.

If he does full screen lightning just Dia through it. When he tries to close the gap on the ground, 5BB. And when he jumps 1B/2B/3B depending on his trajectory.

He can do SB Dive to punish Dia after lightning I believe. Regardless it's a shitty matchup for him and an easy one for us.

[Warhound]

Any good follow-ups to hitting him with any of the 2B variants?

[Ryd']

Maragi into massive pain if it was CH.

[IllogicalDreamr]

How to avoid his command grab super? I keep getting caught by it because of the freezing animation.

[ewic]

How to avoid his command grab super? I keep getting caught by it because of the freezing animation.

Just like any grab, jump. If you are paralyzed, then the 2ab short hop to avoid getting grabbed. i like to hit A or C in the air. The good thing about C is that it'll fatal counter and you can setup a 2d afterwards.

[susano]

Advice for this matchup: PLAY RIDICULOUSLY LAME.

I'm treating this like a Lambda vs Tager. Don't get grabbed and keep him out.

[IllogicalDreamr]

Advice for this matchup: PLAY RIDICULOUSLY LAME.

I'm treating this like a Lambda vs Tager. Don't get grabbed and keep him out.

I agree. I was playing a few Kanji's last night and playing super lame so they couldn't get close to me. I won, but it's the only way I could. Afterwards I sent one of them a message saying "Sorry, but I can't let you get close to me!" They probably understand.

Stomping Kanji's now! Yes! Beat one twice in a row.

[Toushinu]

If you are paralyzed you can still short-hop or dodge. This is a 3-way mix-up since he has a throw which can beat your dodge or the anti-air grab if you choose to short-hop. If you choose to Dia he can use his R-action which beats yours and resets the situation.

If you can keep him far away for the duration of the match it's all fun and good, but once he gets close, what options do you have? There has to b a relatively safe way to regain distance from a kanji. Right now it seems like its just a gamble. Of course no two kanjis play quite the same so their mix ups will be different. But it still feels like a match of rock paper scissors when you wake up to kanjis shining face.

[Ciddypoo]

If you can keep him far away for the duration of the match it's all fun and good, but once he gets close, what options do you have? There has to b a relatively safe way to regain distance from a kanji. Right now it seems like its just a gamble. Of course no two kanjis play quite the same so their mix ups will be different. But it still feels like a match of rock paper scissors when you wake up to kanjis shining face.

I rarely use meter in this matchup so I try to dead angle out of hits. That usually gives you time and space to get out of the way and start zoning again. Absent that, it really is guesswork. That's one of the nuances of playing a grappler.

Delayed techs are always an option as well if they're getting grab happy.

[bbq sauce]

If you can keep him far away for the duration of the match it's all fun and good, but once he gets close, what options do you have? There has to b a relatively safe way to regain distance from a kanji. Right now it seems like its just a gamble. Of course no two kanjis play quite the same so their mix ups will be different. But it still feels like a match of rock paper scissors when you wake up to kanjis shining face.

That's any grappler archetype. If they get where they want to be, you're going to have to guess. You have DP, roll, hop/jump, mash or just blocking as your defensive options. You just have to make the right guess.

Overall, the match is pretty easy for yukiko. the only time I ever lose to Kanijis is when I'm feeling myself too hard and take unnecessary risks, or the Kanji player is just really smart.

[W7ngless]

If you can keep him far away for the duration of the match it's all fun and good, but once he gets close, what options do you have? There has to b a relatively safe way to regain distance from a kanji. Right now it seems like its just a gamble. Of course no two kanjis play quite the same so their mix ups will be different. But it still feels like a match of rock paper scissors when you wake up to kanjis shining face.

It really depends on how he gets in on you, I guess. If you're blocking and all that, I try to find an opening for a 2B then follow that into an Agi-ending combo, and end it with B-Agi.

My personal issue is his Zio at full-screen. I never quite see any telegraphing, and next thing I know, I'm hit by lightning and chairs and then have crazy people punchin' me...

[Ciddypoo]

It really depends on how he gets in on you, I guess. If you're blocking and all that, I try to find an opening for a 2B then follow that into an Agi-ending combo, and end it with B-Agi.

My personal issue is his Zio at full-screen. I never quite see any telegraphing, and next thing I know, I'm hit by lightning and chairs and then have crazy people punchin' me...

Hit the lab with Kanji and learn the ranges, since they're fixed. You can also get a feel for when a Kanji is gonna do it; they usually do it when you're further than midscreen. Absent a good read on a Maragi, lightning isn't too bad. You need to avoid it, though -- even if you block it, it's bad because Kanji gets a free in. Try and stay at the ranges where the lightning can't touch you.

[susano]

Hit the lab with Kanji and learn the ranges, since they're fixed. You can also get a feel for when a Kanji is gonna do it; they usually do it when you're further than midscreen. Absent a good read on a Maragi, lightning isn't too bad. You need to avoid it, though -- even if you block it, it's bad because Kanji gets a free in. Try and stay at the ranges where the lightning can't touch you.

I still lose to Kanjis sometimes (lol, lag) but I find that hugging the far corner of the screen helps you avoid the lightning.

[Warhound]

Man, I always get hit by Zio. But a lot of Kanji's start to get cocky when they hit you, and that's when they forget I can still slide while paralyzed.

[Ciddypoo]

Man, I always get hit by Zio. But a lot of Kanji's start to get cocky when they hit you, and that's when they forget I can still slide while paralyzed.

Careful with that, since one of the aims of being Paralyzed is to get into that throw range. And if they commit to that, your roll gets grabbed anyway.

When paralyzed, don't forget that you can still throw fans to buy you some time or get a hit in. Just cause you can't move doesn't mean they're out of range of your attacks. Same deal goals with a far reaching poke like 2C.

[Thelo]

When getting up in Kanji's face, I coinflip between hop / DP (beats throw, loses to DP) and block (beats DP, loses to throw). There isn't much else that's valid. Rolls and normals just lose to both, don't do them.

My favorite tool when I need to regain some distance is a well-predicted IAD airthrow.

[Warhound]

Why is it that every Kanji I run into has a terrible connection?

Anyway, they keep getting lucky or smart with their aerial tackle grab thing. I think my problem is that I'm using 3B, which that tackle seems to shoot right over. Should I be prioritizing a 2B for grapple-happy Kanjis? I'm watching some pro vids against him, and I hardly ever see Kanji use that tackle, they must be afraid to use it, but I never see the reason why.

[toanenadiz]

Because it is incredibly unsafe and easy to punish. It whiffs if you are crouching and he typically lands right next to you for an easy punish.

[Warhound]

Wait, WHAT?! It wiffs on crouch?!!! How did I not know about this?!

[toanenadiz]

You didn't ask the Kanji players you play against how to avoid it? You could also have looked on the wiki.