Overview
Amane?Pick Amane if you like:
- Strong runaway and zoning in neutral with versatile, floaty mobility, huge buttons and great anti airs.
- Strong okizeme and a unique pressure game with tons of options, possibilities and room for creativity.
- Highly rewarding win condition that can lead to huge combos and/or checkmate situations.
Avoid Amane if you dislike:
- Having little traditional mixup. Amane punishes turtling and impatience, but can rarely force an opening before reaching level 3.
- Getting whiff punished or ODR'd because of the lengthy recovery, deadzones, or both, on a majority of your attacks.
- Relying on having 50 Heat to get out of many defensive situations due to lackluster abare and slow movement speed.
Neutral
5B
Tall, fast, versatile attack.
2C
Long-range low with decent reward behind it.
5C
Low commitment, higher hitting 2C.
236D
Spiral gain in neutral and harrass tool.
6A
Massive and easy-to-use anti-air.
Amane's groundgame mainly revolves around harrassing the opponent with your superior reach and passively increasing your Spiral gauge with Hariken stance, while preventing their approaches at close range, before you are made to block. At a longer range, your C normals are your best friends; they are very quick harrass tools for their range, and both 5C and 2C can lead to combos or pressure with Zettou. Their main glaring flaw is their massvive deadzones, which can be greatly abused by quick-moving characters with good jumps, or fast, low-profile runs.
Thankfully, Amane is well-equipped to prevent approaches at closer ranges, and doing so is vital, as his ability to escape strong offense is significantly worse. Putting up a wall with 236D~A can temporarily prevent ground approaches and give you a moment to breathe, but it does inhibit your ability to raise your Spiral Gauge for the time being. Some more immediate responses are 5B, a very versatile poke that can stuff IAD, as well as runs, and 6A, an absolutely massive anti-air with good invulnerability and strong reward on most hits.
The main problem Amane can and will face is the commitment of his groundgame. All of the above moves have significant startup, recovery, or both, and are prone to getting whiff punished if used carelessly. You must be careful to always adapt to your opponent while on the ground, and rotate you options well, which also includes leaving the ground and playing around your powerful air game.
j.B
Massive, multihit jumpin.
j.C
Aerial C poke.
j.2B
Anti-anti air and movement tool.
j.A
Close range air-to-air.
Amane is without a doubt at his most powerful midair. Here, he can use both versions of Zettou to reposition very freely, since they do not consume an air option. Between the hops, you have j.C as your most versatile airborne C normal, while j.B can be used as a very powerful landing attack due to its enormous range and easy conversion into pressure due to a reverse beat to j.A. Use this, and its higher hitbox, to air to air opponents that are closer to you and convert into a knockdown from any height.
However, with j.B's surprisingly large hurtbox, you must often cover your landings with other options. j.2B is easily your most powerful air normal due to its ability to alter your movement, and beat or clash with dedicated anti air options very consistently. Use it against anti airs to delay your attack and whiff punish the opponent on the anti air, and to quickly get back to the ground to restore your air actions.
Amane's airgame is very potent, however still slow, so a skilled opponent will make you have to rotate your options well; they might try to airthrow your j.2B, anti air your j.B, run past your j.C. Other, less obviously powerful options in your toolkit must also be represented and switched up to keep the opponent guessing.