Persona 5 is all about a group of high schoolers confronting corrupt individuals in a paranormal world, parallel to our own, called the Metaverse. When they defeat someone in this metaphysical space, the target’s real-world counterpart has a “change of heart” and repents for their crimes. In the original 2016 game, these teenagers—known as the Phantom Thieves— took down abusive teachers, mob bosses, and eventually a major politician. In spin-off Persona 5: The Phantom X, the new gacha game that finally came to the West in June, the first person in the Phantom Thieves’ sights is…a guy who bodychecks people on the subway, colloquially known as the “Subway Slammer.” I wish I were kidding.
I don’t want to dunk too much. While the original group were facing serious issues of systemic corruption, and here it appears they’re facing a petty criminal with a pro-wrestler name, it’s not quite the downgrade it seems. The Subway Slammer, also known as Takeyuki Kiuchi, is a disgraced baseball player who has since retired from the sport and gone to work at a corporate desk job. His athletic career ended after a sexual harassment scandal, and now all his misogynistic tendencies are manifesting in violent acts in Tokyo subway stations, because his “Shadow” in the metaverse is out of control.
Surely this must be dealt with, and the Phantom Thieves with their ability to enter the Metaverse and face these distorted villains are the ones to do it. But the over-the-top self-seriousness with which The Phantom X treats a guy with such a crass nickname, who so cartoonishly shoulder checks people on the subway, has made it perfect meme fodder for Persona fans. The Phantom X has been out overseas since last year, so some Persona fans were already well aware of this storyline. Now that it’s out worldwide, everyone is in on the joke.
To be fair, the issue The Phantom X is depicting here is an important one. There are plenty of real-world reports of subway station violence in big cities, sometimes ending in casualties as victims are pushed onto the tracks. The problem is that the game is depicting Kiuchi’s crimes in such a way that it lends itself to the kind of unintentional meme-bait that makes it hard to take seriously. X (formerly Twitter) user DeJected_Axe put it best when they said calling him the Subway Slammer feels like giving him a “Scooby-Doo villain” nickname. It feels like the game isn’t treating his crimes with the gravity they deserve. How am I supposed to hear a grown man say “The whole subway’s mine for the slammin’” and not giggle softly to myself?
All that being said, it sounds like The Phantom X’s story probably gets better later. Yusuke Nitta, who worked as a scenario planner on the original Persona 5 and its extended Royal edition, and as a writer on the tactical RPG Tactica, said in a deleted X post that he wasn’t involved in the Subway Slammer story, and was brought on to write for the game in its third chapter. He apparently removed the post after he got “emotional” seeing the reaction to the Subway Slammer storyline, and said, “Rest assured, P5X will get more and more interesting from now on.”
I haven’t had a chance to boot up my copy of Persona 5: The Phantom X, but I did play a chunk of the Subway Slammer section before the game launched. I don’t know if this makes me want to play the full game more or less. Maybe more? I gotta take down the greatest villain in Persona history, right?
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