J - 30 - cancels into U, I and L, safe due to low endlag but has poor range
J2 - 30 - cancels into WJ, U, WU2 and L
J3 - 60 - cancels into WU, I, WI and SI
J4 - 60 - cancels into jump, I and WI
WJ - 140 (60/80) - forward teleport with distance limit, cancels into dash and WI
SJ - 120 - armored get off me with decent hitbox and damage
KJ - 40 - great approach option and combo starter, halts vertical movement
U1 - 60 - excellent projectile that cancels into U2, WU, I and SI and also combos into WJ
U2 - 80 - knockdown projectile, mixup after U1
WU - 180 (16x5/100) - armored zone breaker
WU2- 100 - anti air and combo finisher
SU - 100 - knockdown counter, okay out of shield and great vs projectiles
KU - 120 - knockdown projectile, aerial mixup and zoning tool with great angle and good damage
I - 280 - very fast projectile, decent zoning mixup
WI - 340 - combo finisher
SI - 550 - giant and fast projectile, decent zoning mixup and coverage tool
KI - 280 - aerial projectile with a lower angle than KU
Safe moves - J1, J2, J4, WJ, KJ, U
Whiff punishes - WJ, U, WU, WU2, I
Dash coverage - J, WJ, KJ, U, WU
Anti airs - WU2
Mixups - U is technically an unsafe move, but it's variety of follow ups make it hard to punish without tools like teleports, creating great zoning scenarios with various tools to combat different approaches; the ability to dash cancel both J1 and J2 and even WJ can make for a very fast safe and paced mixup pressure and coverage; aerial mixups can be really strong as KJ and KU are very different tools and both are very strong
Combo routes - bnb - KJ J1 J2 WJ WU/WI, U WJ WU/WI; resets - after J2, you can try to read a dash to either direction with a dash of your own and coverage options such as J or WJ
Shieldstring finishers - J1 grab; J1 J1; J1 SJ; J1 K; J1 L; J1 grab; J2 WJ; J2 L; J3 SU; J4 SJ; J4 K; WJ L
Zoning - U1 is the core of Ichigo Half Mask's zoning, because of the combination of its low endlag and various cancels; KU has a great angle and does good damage, complementing U1 well, and has mixup synergy with KJ and aerial movement mixups; U2 and WU2 synergyze really well as follow-ups to whiffed U1, as they cover most escape options, and have timing mixups on top of this
Out of shield - SJ, WU and SU are all decent out of shield options, but their real strength is in how well they synergyze with eachother, SJ covering CQC pressure, WU covering spaced pressure and SU being a harder commit that can deal with pressure from any range as long as there's enough time to use it
Zone breaking - WJ punishes projectiles and laggier spaced moves; WU armors through projectile or disjoint spamming, SU fills meter on reactable projectiles or disjoints that can't be punished with other options; KU can be used to zone break, especially by doing KL KU as a burst option
Reversals - WJ can punish attempts to cover dash; SJ can punish okizeme attempts, as long as they don't use shield breakers
Ichigo Half Mask is a very complete character overall, so optimal assists can be very matchup dependent: as he lacks a fullscreen teleport or lock on, whiff punish assists can help him vs heavy zoners; his subpar damage output can be compensated by strength buffs or damage dealing assists; healing can help him in matchups where his focus is mainly going to be zoning, as he can get access to many assist uses throughout longer matches; projectile assists can enhance his already great zoning to get deadly pokes and coverage; setup assists can be used as coverage to complement his zoning and get free combos; get off mes can help reset into zoning against characters with strong pressure and good frame data