Enemy Types in Fading Afternoon

A brief breakdown of enemy types and tactics to employ against them.

Know Your Enemy

Fading Afternoon has a decent roster of enemies that will pound you to the ground day after day when you first start up, though everyone has a weakness. This guide will work to explain their strengths and weaknesses so you can have an easier time extending your family's influence and suffering in many new other ways, as Yeo intended.

Not all enemy types exist in all families, and while those who do exist in different families will appear different to each other but it is always easy to tell which enemy belongs to which type.
For example, the Tanaka Bottle Thrower will always have spiky blonde hair and the Harada Bottle Thrower will always have greasy brown hair.

Also I have named these enemy types myself because I do not know what they are named in the game files, so names are open to suggestion.

Combat Basics

Let's start with basics: Controlling Maruyama Seiji.
Skip this section if you have a good grasp of the basics.

Guarding

Holding down PUNCH (Z on the keyboard by default) will keep you in the guarding state, blocking most incoming attacks and dodging bottles. Tapping BACK twice will perform a dashing dodge- a backstep. You will spend most of your time in combat in this state.

Counters

Pressing PUNCH and KICK (X on the keyboard by default) at the same time will perform a counter, instantly killing unarmed enemies and disarming armed ones. Hitting BACK right after performing a counter against an enemy wielding a firearm will acquire their weapon while killing them in the process. Hitting KICK while in guard state will result in consistent countering against most enemies.

Grappling

Walking into an enemy during combat will grapple them, leaving them open for either an easy beatdown or an insta-killing wrestling move. Most of these wrestling moves are accessible through double-tapping a single direction with your arrow keys, landing you in different locations or leaving you to face the opposite direction you started from, granting flexibility. Holding down PUNCH while a wrestling animation is active will keep you on your guard once the move is finished. Note that not every enemy can be grappled and while some can, it is not always a good idea.

Weapons

Weapons are temporary, fists are forever. Still, the weapons have their uses. Acquiring weapons will change your moveset until you lose said weapons.

Swords will change your PUNCH into a swing that will insta-kill and your KICK into a teep that will interrupt your enemies. Holding down PUNCH and hitting KICK afterwards will execute a stab, taking out several enemies in a swift motion, and it is directional, so you can cut down a flanker easily. The main downside of the sword is that it leaves you open for most attacks.

Guns will change your PUNCH into aiming and your KICK into firing while aiming. The pawnshop backroom can be accessed by walking to the rightmost corner of the pawnshop and raising your aiming skill to max here will make sure you kill with every shot.
Unlike other weapons, you can bring your own gun to a fight. When attacking enemy territory, hold your ITEM button (C on the keyboard by default) and hit PUNCH. This will pull out your gun but you cannot put it down until you fired all of whats in your magazine if you've initiated combat. 7 bullets max.
Note that you can still KICK with a firearm when you are not aiming it.
Also note that in combat, when you aim at an enemy in range, you will automatically fire the first round.

Knives are single-use weapons that can be acquired from knife wielding enemies. Simple yet effective, they can be used to stab someone in the throat by hitting PUNCH at close range, or thrown at long range, instantly killing an enemy.

Kato

After finishing Azuma's construction mission, going to the office and talking to Kato will allow you to take him along. While simply hanging out with him is rewarding in its own way, Kato's main use is fighting in your stead. While he is following you, entering combat and hitting your ITEM button will switch to Kato, him starting with a massive 750 HP bar and having the ability to sprint in combat. He cannot counter though, which is Maruyama's greatest weapon, so use Kato responsibly.
He can also level up and it increases the damage he deals.

Bottle Thrower

Here he is, the most annoying of them all.
He has a single bottle in his hand, which he either throws, dealing a decent amount of damage (only 10 less than a bullet), or gets beaten and loses it.
Bottles can be dodged in guard mode if you are facing the bottle thrower and not being interrupted by melee attacks, or simply by moving vertically in areas that have vertical space. If you are guarding while facing the other way, the bottle will get you in the back of the head, unless you quickly double-tap BACK, which will consistently dodge the bottles. You can also cut the bottles mid-air with a sword, if you time it right. When engaged in melee, they are mostly helpless, freely grappled and beaten, though it is unwise to let your guard down.




Also, is it just me or does the Harada Family Bottle Thrower kinda look like Quentin Tarantino?

Goon

The Goon is a simple enemy with one neat little trick:

He cannot be grappled.

He will execute an unblockable punch to counter a grapple attempt, though this can be avoided with a backstep. They are weak against a good old bashing and can be easily countered.

You will encounter them quite often, especially in the early game, so get to know them well.

Boxer

Bane of the Azuma Family goons, the boxer is an excellent defender.
You will watch him mow through your friends during territory defence sequences. He can block expertly and will deal significant damage. Attempting to grapple him is a bad idea because while he can be grappled, he can break out by retalliating, dealing damage in the process.













He can be dealt with consistently by hitting his block once or twice, forcing him to attack, then countering him. If you grappled him by mistake, quickly tap BACK twice, kicking him into a coma.

Karate Kid

He's going places.
This guy will run at you and throw a flying kick, then he's out of tricks.
A simple fellow, his main attack can be easily blocked, turning him into a default, weak enemy.













One thing to watch out about this one trick pony is that he can make you drop your sword half a second after entering the fray, dealing mental damage.
If you're fast enough, you can cut him down mid-air with your sword and feel really, really cool.

Taekwondoer

The Taekwondo Guy is a stout defender and master of retalliation.
Attacking his guard repeatedly will force him into a backstep, followed by an unblockable high kick, which can be, in return, backstepped out of. Be wary.
Though, unlike the Boxer or the Goon, he is totally helpless against grappling, so if you see this guy, keep your block up, do not attack, get close to grapple and he's as good as dead.

Charger

This cocaine-fueled absolute maniac will relentlessly rush you like a pitbull dashing at a toddler.
One of the more whimsical enemies, once he throws a lot of attacks, he will get tired, put his hands on his knees and catch a breather. Also, he cannot be grappled in his active state.

Just keep your guard up and counter him the moment he reaches you, done deal. He's not as strong as he looks, though his sunglasses are a lot firmer than yours. Always.

Knife Wielder

No matter what family they belong to, Knife Wielders will always have some sort of 2000's emo haircut, making them easy to spot. They will attack fast, dealing low damage in rapid succession.

Direct engagement with them is a bad idea, the usual tactics rarely work on them.
Either PUNCH them once, then quickly counter to acquire their knives, or if you do not want to risk the damage, go into guard mode, hold DOWN and KICK from a good distance, knocking them on the ground. Do this twice and the man is neutralized.

Grappler

This touchy, greasy man will try to get as close to you as possible. Like the Goon, he cannot be grappled, but the attempt will leave you feeling weird in a bad way as he can keep grabbing you, slamming you on the ground, grab you again right after you get up and repeating this violent cycle indefinitely.

Treat him with the long kick: Guarding, holding DOWN and pressing KICK, keeping him at bay.
As he has significantly more health than the other enemies, it will take 3 kicks to make sure he keeps his hands to himself.

Another useful trick is the flying knee: Guard, FORWARD, FORWARD, KICK, when you catch him alone. Talk about chin.

Swordsman

While you wasted your precious time and yen at the hostess club, he studied the blade.

Being one of the enemies that require special training to effectively fight against, the Swordsman with his decent range will deal high damage and frustrate you at the worst possible times.
The long kick will keep them at bay, as with the Grappler and the Knife wielder, but if you want to acquire his cool sword, give him the Knife Wielder treatment:
PUNCH him once, then quickly counter and get the sword.

Be careful when fighting the Swordsman with a sword of your own as they can deflect your slashes and deal significant damage by executing a very cool animation. If you are deflected, quickly press KICK and turn the tables.

Another easy way to deal with him while holding a sword is to simply KICK him and follow up with a slash, done deal.

Or just approach him from a safe, vertical angle and grapple him. Also works just fine.

Gunman

He will walk into the area, aim and fire, with a low chance to miss.

Vertical spacing can throw him off as he will try to align to you horizontally before firing his shots, allowing you to move in for the kill.
Like other weapon users, you can counter him, then press BACK and take his gun, making these fellers a steady supply of firearms.

The pawnshop firing range training will make you very thankful for them as every Gunman disarmed means you will have about 7 free kills right after.

Harada

Oof, this one's tricky. I love this guy.

A real fight we have here, not just another stack to sweep the floor with. Harada cannot be countered, he will punish you for attacking aggressively and he will stay on his feet for a long time. Truth is, I still need to fight him a few more times to crack the nut, but here's what I've gathered so far:

PUNCH, backstep, PUNCH combo works on him and the backstep will save your life in this fight, for his punish is an unblockable. Try to keep him at a distance and take your time. Do NOT rush him. Patience is the key here.

Honorable Mentions

Enemies come in many shapes and forms. Some within, some without.
Here are some honorable mentions:

Lung Cancer
One of the undefeatable enemies in-game, it is ever-present, looming over you while the clock goes tick-tock and you realize, you cannot go back.
















Depression
One of the more subtle enemy types, its strength fluctuates throughout the story. Seeking help will sometimes do more good than you expect, so maybe try that.













Alcoholism
While it cannot directly introduce new elements to the game such as cirrhosis and new types of carcinoma, alcoholism will make it possible to talk to women at bars. A terrible new condition comes with it, yours to explore.












Debauchery
Spending nearly a million yen once a week in vain, damaging your liver and your self-worth,
risking venereal diseases or even getting your head bashed in with a champagne bottle by your own wife... Debauchery, for the most part, does not pay.











Overconfidence
Maybe not as much as lung cancer, but still, overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. Stay sharp.











Kato
Your younger best friend with severe BPD will watch your back, but for how long, when you're slapping him around in front of the other boys for "not bowing properly"? You should watch your own back, perhaps.

Where It Ends

Thank you for reading through this mess of a guide and I hope you find it useful.
Now we wait for his next release.

[FiVEL]

Depression , yikes! that's pretty brutal if you ask me. thanks for making this thread

[Ringo Ishikawa]

With the bottle guys, you can face their direction and punch right before the bottle hits you, and it'll cancel the punch and do a dodge. takes some time to get used to, but insanely helpful on the purely horizontal areas of the game. Also, hitting an enemy with the suplex (Down-Down while grabbing enemy) makes you go very far in the direction you're facing while also making you invulnerable. Great for closing the distance on gun or bottle enemies.

[Arlieth]

One tip for Harada:

Takedowns aren't a bad way to deal damage (if you're lucky on the punches afterwards), but flying knees are a quick way to deal damage that also causes him to pause his attacks. For both of these moves, be VERY CAREFUL not to go off the edge of the map or you'll end up escaping from the fight for the rest of the game. (You can also get thrown off of Harada's body during a takedown out of the map.)

Honestly, it's easier to shoot him.

[Ton]

Hoi m8ts found solution with little cvnt harada. Before leaving your appartament equip a big iron from you jacket. And shoot the bastard by grabing his neck and fedding him a deadly dose of your smarteness aye?

[Unkle K]

Thank you all for the input. I will add the new information here as soon as I can.

[Joe]

This guide is very good! Thanks for it.

[Joe]

Spoilers for an optional, awesome fight.
Harada is arguably the hardest fight in the game as you have to get very familiar with the move-set. He cannot be grappled. You cannot spam attacks on him as he will do the Heel-Kick Counter from the Taekwondoer if you pressure him too much. He cannot be countered. I could never get a kick to work against him, nor the superman punches.

My best solution to fight him ended up being...

-If he blocks the first punch, do the punch-combo backstep with the follow-up lunging hook (hold back while doing the punch combo, backstep, then punch again.) This will chip damage him.
-If he doesn't block the first punch (such as after a failed reverse-heel kick counter) you can do the Alternate punch combo for massive damage (hold down while punching.)
-If he puts you into a corner or won't stop attacking, you can go for a takedown (double-forward punch to tackle) and figure it out from there, but at least you'll be out of the corner.

[Joe]

- For the Grapplers, the best way I found to deal with them is do the double-forward kick (Flying Knee) and it will immediately KO them with no fuss. This won't do too well if they are stuck inside another person but if they are by themselves they are the second easiest character to kill.

- Knife Wielders can also be bodied by just punching them first and keep the combo going until they fall over. They're very weak on that front if you don't want their knife for whatever reason.

- AFAIK, Boxers can be consistently grappled, but you can also almost guarantee a kill on them if you do the alternative punch combo (hold down punch combo)

- Sword guys can be consistently grappled with ease as well. But you gotta be fast about it.

- If you don't want the gun for whatever reason, you can also moving-forward kick them in the face a KO them immediately.

- You can do almost all kicks (just no combos) with the firearm out! If you don't want to waste a bullet on a enemy for whatever reason.

[BelatedGamer]

Ha! I thought the Tarantino thing as well. As far as I can tell, Kato's level only changes the amount of damage he does - he becomes a beast if you level him up enough, despite not being able to counter.
You might want to mention that while the sword does leave you somewhat vulnerable, it is possible to knock both bottles and Karate Kid's out of the air by slashing.