Creation based on reality! "Persona: Phantom of Night" villain became popular

　　Persona 5: The Phantom X recently landed on the international server, and the villain in the game "Subway Slammer" became popular overnight. This seemingly ordinary office worker has the habit of "slamming innocent passengers" and quickly became a hot online meme manufacturing machine.

　　However, although this setting seems exaggerated and funny, it is actually based on the "slamming man" phenomenon (ぶつかりり man) in real Japanese society.

In the game, "Subway Crashing Man" is real name Takeyuki Kiuchi. He is a degenerate former baseball player who vents his resentment in public because of his unsatisfactory life. He specifically chose to hit a female passenger on a station platform with dense crowds, and then used the excuse of "inadvertent crowding" to evade responsibility. This behavior makes players think of the classic villain "Yasashida" in "Persona 5", who also enjoys bullying the weak who cannot resist.

　However, "The Phantom of the Night" does not fabricate this setting out of thin air. It is reported that the prototype of "subway hitting men" is the "butsukari otoko" in Japanese reality - a type of men who deliberately hit women in a crowd, whose behavior is hidden but bad, which has attracted widespread attention from the society.

As early as May 25, 2018, a middle-aged man was photographed repeatedly and deliberately colliding with multiple female passengers at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. The related videos quickly became popular on the Internet, causing a large number of victims to speak out and report. Only then did all sectors of society realize the seriousness of the phenomenon of "slamming into men".

　　According to the 2024 survey data of Tokyo Weekender, among the 20,000 respondents:

　　14% said they had been hit,

　　6% said they had witnessed such incidents, and

　　5% said they were both victims and witnesses.

Although some Japanese railway companies have strengthened patrol security at major stations, the behavior of "slamming men" still occurs from time to time. Because behaviors are often concealed as "many people have no intention of contact", the law enforcement is difficult and the evidence collection is difficult, which makes most victims choose to remain silent.

　　In "Phantom of Night", the image of "slamming the man from the subway" resonates strongly with many Japanese local players, and the discussion about the character on social platforms has soared. Many people said that through the exaggerated settings in the game, they have a deeper understanding of the hidden unsafe factors in real society.

Some netizens also believe that the use of fiction to expose real problems is an effective way of expression and is worth learning from more works.