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 reads:

• «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 drawn with someone who has never had a partner and still suffers emotionally when watching NTR's content, as if it had happened to them. The author of the post adds: "Phantom limb pain is the pain that feels like you're still missing a limb. 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 they're confusing the source of the pain. It's not from losing a girlfriend, but from 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 a scalpel to a chainsaw.».

The topic became popular because many users identified 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