I use side stepping, spacing, identifying patterns in their attacks, and using punishing crushes to make them think twice about rushing in. It often works and makes opponents worry about being unsafe and they start calculating their next moves a little more. Then from there it becomes an Akira friendly match.
(high attack with high crush) can help, SS
is very reliable, SS
can track,
is an excellent crush and stuns well on CH, or even a simple
in a la classic VF works.
is quite quick and opens some guaranteed follow ups (like
,
,
) but be mindful of high crush attacks.
can catch some attacks and gives you a decent launch as well for further damage.
is Akira's quickest launcher and curshes lows (also beats many mids and highs). The only problem with this is the risk associated with long recovery, so use this one sparingly.
Set them up to counter as well and punish with a
There are many more other ways really, but I think you see what I mean.
Finally, I'll state this again, spacing is very useful for Akira. Popping back and forth while calculating your next move works very well for your Akira game. I hope this doesn't sound too basic, but this is basically the frame work of what I kinda use. From there it's just practice and time in identifying patterns and reading the opponent.