Akira ties me in knots.......help.

smb_is_me, "for whatever reason" unfortunately isn't enough for people to be giving you specific advice.

One thing you should do is save a replay of a match you lose against Akira and watch it back a couple of times. Try to analyse it to see why you lose to him. Try to find that "reason" or reasons why you lose! Once you discover the reason(s), then you're on your way to overcoming the problem. If you're unable to find the solution, then by all means ask for advice here.

As a general rule, OM and DM is never the way to go against any character. Careless OM and DM use will get you beat, fast, against a good player. Akira is quite a linear character which means DM'ing (Evading) against him during disadvantage can be effective, but if you can't Evade and throw escape, then he can take advantage of that. As Froschi said, Akira's best throws end with the /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/f.gif direction, so even if you only do one throw escape vs Akira, make sure it's that one.

As Lei-Fei, you might find that going into Doku stance (/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/u.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/k.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/g.gif) can be effective to stop his high and mid punches, and elbow barrages, since the stance can automatically reverse them. It also reverses low punches!

When you're disadvantaged, you might find that /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/d.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/df.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/f.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/k.gif will be useful too. It will Sabaki Akira's high/mid punches, and elbows too, giving you a crumple as reward with the followup of your choice.