Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for the video game Persona 5: The Phantom X; read at your own caution.

About

The Subway Slammer, also known as Takeyuki Kiuchi, refers to a character in the 2025 Persona game Persona 5: The Phantom X (P5X), who's an antagonist known for slamming into women in the subway station. The Subway Slammer inspired many memes on social media platforms like Twitter / X, Reddit and TikTok, among others, following the game's release in late June 2025. His catchphrases like, "It wasn't on purpose. That's not my fault," and, "The whole subway's mine for the slammin'," were also used in memes. People online humorously hyped up the Subway Slammer as a powerful villain in fiction, including powerscaling memes.

Origin

On June 25th and 26th, 2025, Persona 5: The Phantom X (P5X) was released globally.^[1] One objective in the game's Part 2 centers on the antagonist Takeyuki Kiuchi, who's nicknamed the "Subway Slammer" because in the subway station, "he targets women he thinks won't fight back, and intentionally bodychecks them" (gameplay shown below).^[2][3]

Spread

Memes about the Subway Slammer appeared earlier than June 2025, as the video game was originally released for Asian markets like China and South Korea in April 2024.^[4]

For instance, on May 16th, 2025, Redditor HammerKirby shared a meme to the /r/OkBuddyPersona^[5] subreddit, which compared the Subway Slammer to the first villain of Persona 5, Suguru Kamoshida, gaining over 960 upvotes in a month (shown below).

On June 27th, X^[6] user @DeJected_Axe tweeted, "I loved when the Subway Slammer said, 'It's slammin time,' and subway slammed all over the place," using the phrasal template from the It's Morbin Time meme, gaining over 16,000 likes in three days (shown below).

On June 28th, 2025, X^[7] user @hardcorerizzfan tweeted a mock conversation between characters Joker and Ryuji, in which Joker says, "Ryuji… that was his kid sidekick the Train Toppler…" The tweet received over 16,000 likes in two days (shown below).

That same day, Redditor TheGinger1s shared a meme to the /r/OkBuddyPersona^[8] subreddit, which made a similar joke as the abovementioned tweet, gaining over 1,100 upvotes in two days (shown below).

Also on June 28th, 2025, X^[9] user @frozen_draws shared a redraw of the Wally West Pose, showing the Subway Slammer as the Flash character, earning over 7,100 likes in two days (shown below).

On June 29th, 2025, TikToker^[10] @trinidadian_makoto posted a video of himself dressed up as the Subway Slammer in a video skit titled, "The Subway Slammer for NO reason at all." He's seen slamming into and knocking over the camera he's recording with. The video received over 43,300 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References