from pad to stick

Knee: Easy to do once you get the hang of it. Find the G button's side who gets less detected by the Ps2. Imagine your thumb over G and the "fuck" finger (that's how I call it) over K. Press K and G on the less-detected-side as if it was slipping. Once u do it one time, keep imitating the movement. I saved a replay where I did a combo starting with Knee in MC and filled with Knees until the enemy using recovery. Pretty nasty...though not useful. Knee's a very good movement, LEARN HOW TO DO IT. I learned it in 2 hours in free mode. Never use Slow Motion. Messes ur senses.

DLC: No Comments. Easy as pie. practise each movement 10 times. First ++ then + and finnaly ++. Then practise +++ 10 times. And then +++ 20 times until You're able to enter the whole +++ before the movement is done on screen. In other words you have to do it before you see the animation. The right after the 20th time of +++ make the whole dlc. It's freaking easy to get!

Note: Practise in 2P instead of 1P. When you're able to make it in 2P, You'll get it in 1P too. Again, don't use slow-motion.

SPoD: Practise ++ 10 times. Don't forget to practise with both sides. I use +++ and not +.

AS3: You don't need much practise. Do each part once, and then the whole combo without looking at the screen. Look at the Stick instead. Then repeat until you're able to do it and not getting "confused" with the animation.

Akira is a hard character. But IMHO it's easier for me to use than some others. I can't use kage for example. I find it easier to get a knee than a TFT combo. I also find it hard to memorize most of the other characters commands. Vanessa: Argh.. Shun: Double Argh..
If your wrists are very fragile, don't use Akira. You might cut yourself to death =P.

Have fun.