A recent Twitter post has sparked a lot of discussion on comment forums in Japan, quickly becoming a trend among netizens. The post addresses a humorous, yet painfully relatable concept for some: “phantom pain” in relation to the NTR (Netorare) genre.in which a character suffers from their partner's infidelity or outburst. The original sentence that sparked the debate says:

• «I love it when otakus who have never had a girlfriend call the pain in NTR's stories 'phantom pain'».

The concept refers to the phenomenon known as phantom limb pain, pain felt by people who have lost a limb, as if it were still there. In this case, an analogy is made with someone who has never had a partner and yet suffers emotionally when watching NTR's content, as if this had happened to him. The author of the publication adds: «Phantom limb pain is the pain that feels like you still have a limb missing. If you never lost one, you wouldn't feel this pain. Saying that, I feel like I want to die.».

This witty comment, which mixes humor with deep self-criticism, triggered a wave of responses and discussions that quickly went viral. Users began commenting with their own interpretations of the emotional “phantom pain” described by those who have never had a partner but feel the agony of NTR.

• «It's not just a phantom pain, it's a phantom pain of something that never existed. Pain from an illusion that you convinced yourself was real.».
• «Maybe it's better this way. Because if you had it by mistake and then lost it, the pain would be even worse.».
• «I don't know if the author of the tweet lost a limb or simply never had a girlfriend.».
• «Even illusion is a fantasy, haha».
• «I think you're confusing the source of the pain. It's not the pain of losing a girlfriend, but the pain of being defeated as a man by an alpha. Even true virgins feel this because, even if they've never had a girlfriend, they've felt defeated by other men.».
• «Personally… as the term for something that doesn’t exist but can be seen is ghost visionIt makes sense to call it “phantom vision pain” rather than “phantom limb pain”».
• «This cut was so precise that it went from scalpel to chainsaw».

The topic became popular because many users identify with the irony of the “phantom pain” that the post describes. Although they have never been in a romantic relationship, the NTR genre awakens intense emotions in them, similar to the pain they would feel if they had lost something precious.

Source: Hachima Kikou