If i super jump towards him im just going to land into vals sweet spot and allow a low/throw/crossup mixup as im landing. If i try to make space, he can just chase me down via double jump j.mk airdash j.hp or whatever...
Yeah, normal Superjump Forward isn't the best method of approach since val's good air buttons will beat out Para's at that range. Only if you had the early read before they are hanging in the air and you can come in with a predictive air grab, after which you can then play a "air grab or not" game with val, but it won't work if they are already significantly above you. What I like to try instead is neutral/back Superjump float forward. Technically, it could (and should) lose to reaction air bypass or air EKG, but most of the time I see vals either stop in their jumping tracks (which gives you a little more space to get in, and if you know they will jump back again when they land, you can catch them with an airgrab) or they can try to airdash and/or MP/HP/HK in response which you can handle at that full height with a xxjHP. The key is that if they are looking at only the air space for their way to get in, you use the float to occupy a good height to challenge that space and make them think a little more on their air spacing.
If you want an actual crazy experimental option, I've been playing with Superjump forward jHK lately. It's pretty silly since it doesn't actually confirm into anything, but it's surprisingly fast and a good hitbox at that speed and area coverage, Para's own hurtbox is smaller so you can avoid a couple of things, and it's floaty enough so that on block or hit it gives you enough time to think about the next move. On whiff it covers roughly the same distance as Superjump float forward but might be faster? Not getting hit by DP assists is more of a timing/spacing thing so use at own discretion.
As for trying to make space, I do think Superjump Back Float Back is safe enough and I don't feel like I've been caught by any val's by doing that, though I dunno if you are looking for a desperate escape option or for a more neutral one, because my method will lock you out of assist which would be bad for your neutral.
I feel the exact same way and I'm running into the same problems. Even if you try to super jump your usually put in to preblock because of her shurikens or val's air normals just beat yours because of her height.
the one that gives me most trouble is Outlaw_spike's cuz he plays a solo val and for some reason i play solo against him to try to get an understanding of a para val match up.
Months ago when I played Outlaw_spike fairly infrequently (before we started playing a little more), he would definitely do this thing in neutral that I think you are talking about: he'd get into jump/double jump height a little outside of (Para) jHP range, throw air shuriken and then airdash forward jMP, right? It was something that gave me a lot of trouble at first too, since getting into that space is easy enough (too far to jump in air grab or other Para Anti-Airs, too close for MP Shot) and it locks down a lot of what para can do. What I started doing was what I described above, where I would pre-emptively try to occupy a high air space with Superjump Float to make some way in that way. If he wasn't in range for me, then at worst I wouldn't get locked down by that approach, and if at best he approached when I was floating in range then it's prime time for airgrab/jLP/etc. I think you can react to a reaction air bypass by canceling float, though I dunno if that'd work for reaction EKG.
Also, Outlaw_Spike upbacks a lot (or used to), in neutral and out of combos. Hopes this helps :v (<3 you outlaw)
I personally find that the matchup is in Parasoul's favor.
I feel like Parasoul's best tools in this matchup are her versatile tear throws, jump jab, jump back fierce and standing jab.
My opinion is that Parasoul does her best when she's dashing around the screen with her tears up, making in unfavorable for Val to do the things she wants in the air, held Mk tear/j.strong is good for this. When the Val tries to mix it up, carefully spaced back/forward dashes into standing jab starts to make her second guess her angle of approach.
I don't think any of these things you mentioned actually work in the Val MU. Jump Jab doesn't work at a lot of spaces, and won't work at all at an Air-Happy Val since usually they are already in the air and once they are above you they can beat jLP with almost any of their buttons. Jump back fierce isn't great I find either, since any val that's running in can use several of their options (sHK mostly) to react and deal with it, and doing back jump fierce more than once is just an invitation for the val to carefully change their air trajectory (which is easy thanks to her many options) which will give them a way to move in when you whiff, putting you into the corner where Jump Fierce is really poor. Standing jab isn't really consistent I find at all as an anti-air even out of a backdash as you describe; it doesn't cover val's heights at all and has quite the recovery to deal with on whiff that you can't throw it out. Having tears up is okay but largely specific on when you actually set up the tears/where they are/how you detonate them so its hard to comment on that. And I have no idea why you'd ever use Jump Strong in neutral from parasoul even as a way to detonate air tears.
I do think, though, that Val is one of the better MU's to practice superjump floating against. She's not filia fast, no weird things to worry about like against fortune, and you can generally react to what she does.
