While last entry Ryu could be considered an improvement to a normally boring character, Akira's transition into anime just made him a complete dumb ass.

In Virtua Fighter, Akira is a dedicated martial artist, proud of his heritage and eternally stoic in his pursuit of mastering his fighting style, his design even helped give some life to other Sega properties Shenmue and Yakuza.
In the anime, he's really, really dumb.
While he can turn up the wick and actually fight when he needs to, it's hard to really take him seriously when he's stuffing food into his system like a squirrel and giving such a dorky smile, it makes for a character that can be infuriating to watch at times especially when Virtua Fighter is considered one of the better fighting game anime.