Early FS local tournament. I recalled him telling me later that he had a fever at the time but decided to show up regardless.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PkTJZ7wKy6s&t=18s&pp=ygUUYWtpcmEgemVybyBqYXhlbGRvbWU=

Dang. R.I.P. Akira Zero.

I remember having a lot of Akira mirror matches online matches with him back in the vanilla VF5 days. We always played to win, but never really cared if we lost from trying to do cool Akira stuff even if it cost us the round from dropping the combo or whatever, lol. Always played for the enjoyment of what VF was and had a good attitude of just simply having fun playing the game. I'll SPoD someone for ya, bro.

I'm sorry to hear about this. Dang that really is awful news. My prayers and thoughts go out to his friends and family. I know he will be missed but not forgotten. You're at peace now my friend.

I'll never forget the time we spent talking shit in the shoutbox, AZ.

You will be missed.

This is pretty much my memories of him too.

We would just have Akira mirror matches for hours and I learned a lot from those matches even if they weren't completely serious at times.

It's a shame they limited Akira's ways to get backturned because I never landed a backturned SPoD on you (AZ) in FS

As Seidon mentioned, the hours talking shit in the shoutbox as well.

Goodbye Rowell, hope they got the latest VF in the afterlife.

I remember meeting Rowell aka AkiraZero at my first time going to New York/NYGathering and of all the nice and welcoming people I got to meet he may have been the chillest. I had a really long play session maybe over 2hrs and in the process learned alot on how to go about fighting against Akira in FS. I went to more NYG's as years went on and he was always the same chill guy and felt like no time had passed inbetween (literally). This is such a big loss to NY and VF community as a whole. I would say there is not many or none at all that are like him and he will be sorely missed. RIP AkiraZero

This is very sad news. We have met in person and were on the same team in a vf tournament. Akira-Zero was always helpful and a very nice guy. Not only did he play Akira but also Jacky and Lei Fei. My condolences and prayers to his family. No VF player should ever be forgotten. Maybe some day we all can play VF in a better place. Rest in peace my friend.

Here is a pic I took of Akira-Zero along with other Akira Players at the NYC Top Gun Tournament held in 2003. What a great smile.

He wished @naflow and I luck in the tournament as we were fellow New Jersians.

He also drove us to Newark train station after the tournament so we could head home. That was super cool of him to help us out.

I'm sad to hear of his passing and wish his family and friends strength at this time.

Akira-Zero you are missed!