I am with rolling elbow, I would not tell my worst enemy to take Aikido for self defense, well maybe my worst enemy, and I would never tell a total beginner looking for quick self defense to check out Aikido.
If you are going to look into joint locking arts, look at the one that Aikido came from, Daito-Ryu Aiki JuJitsu.
Krav Maga has a few different branches in the US but the WWII stuff that comes down from Imi Lichtenfeld is simple, brutal and quick to the point, the exact critera you wanted in your opening question.
From what I have seen of Krav Maga is excellent, though make SURE the material is the one taught and used by Imi Lichtenfeld, the one which is taught to the IDF, Israeli Police and Security Services. Imi Lichtenfeld had a amazing background, he was born in Czechoslovakia, his father was a circus acrobat and wrestler, and later a chief detective inspector of the police.
Imi inherited his fathers passion for combative sports and he took up wrestling and boxing with competitive success, when fascism preceding WWII came around he found himself engaged in the realities of street survival, often in defense of Jews against gangs.
From those experiances he came to understand the nature of actual combat as opposed to competitive combat sport and it was this knowledge that he took with him to Israel when he emigrated there.
Once in Israel, Lichtenfeld joined the Hahanah, the precursor to the IDF, and was put to task instructing new recruits in unarmed close combat, his job was to transfer totally serious fighting skills to a mixed bag of soliders of various ages and fitness levels, the result Krav Maga.
Krav Maga like other good war-time combat based systems, had nothing extraneous in its training program, there was no time nor need, in its training programme it quickly gave an individual a practical body of unarmed combat skills through a realistic period of instruction.
Lichtenfeld went on to become the cheif instructor for the Military School for Physical Training and Krav Maga of the IDF, a position he held for over 20 years. Which means from the humblest infantryman to Israel’s battle tested special forces, all IDF soliders benefit from Krav Maga training.
Just make sure its the direct Lichtenfeld sylabus.
Movement is key to taijutsu..i know how to move. But i also know how to hit, throw, break, stomp, etc…that is the point, in western aikido they DO NOT. They dance…practice dancing and you are a good dancer. that’s the bottom line. you can walk into an aikido dojo here where the teacher has only taken aikido and throw a jab- cross to lay him out. Don’t get started on i should understand this or that.. We practice aikido type flow (with variation obviously)and know that its nice to talk concept but entirely different to face a knuckle sandwhich without anything but a defense against a downward attack or a light sleave grab. Aikido locks and movement are nice IF pulled off…most people don’t hang on, allot of people will smother or ground you. I’ve really tried to find good tough aikido in what is taught around these parts…unfortunately, i see allot of people mislead.