+Murdoc Niccals Evil Ryu's distancing between moves are what make him top tier I think. I mean, Akuma also has low forward, tatsu, shoryuken, but evil ryu can do much more like double dp or fadc metsu hadoken while it's a lot harder to execute with Akuma, not to mention, Daigo's favourite low forward, ex hadoken fadc ultra 2
I main the Evil Hado cast and I just think the combo branching and overall ease and damage with a simple 8 hit combo, is what bumps them up a bit. Also I do agree that E. Ryu's Umeshoryu is one of the best its not what makes him top tier. Even though E. Ryu is more played, I still think Akuma is S Tier beyond belief because hes got the tech, he might not have the easiest Ultras or Super or maybe not even the explosive power like E. Ryu but he's got spunk liiike the rest if the Evil Hado cast. +He has a double dp aswell, and far hp into Ultra 2 is waaaay better.