Did you know there is an entire day in the Persona 5 fandom dedicated to smooching Ryuji Sakamoto? I didn’t until I logged onto Twitter this morning, and by that point the celebration had already passed me by. The best boy deserves lots of smooches, so I totally understand.
Persona has always had a passionate community, years before the fifth entry saw it explode into the stratosphere with millions of new fans around the world. While its gameplay systems and excellent stories are a big reason for this following, the majority of us are here for a cast of characters to fall in love with, see ourselves in, or actively despise. And kiss, as is the case with Ryuji, who has been the focus of this tradition for the past five years.
What Is Kiss Ryuji Day?
After bearing witness to some adorable fanart, I decided to jump down the rabbit hole to try to figure out when this excuse to crush on the undisputed best boy first started, and why it has since become an annual thing.
It seems it began in 2018 thanks to Tumblr user noctilin, although the original source has since been lost to time. What I did find was an adorable array of doodles from another creator, where it seems every year the cast also use it as an excuse to ambush Ryuji with an outpouring of smooches.
Whoever started this trend, the fandom immediately took to it as a reason to celebrate Ryuji and how much he is deserving of love, despite his outwardly brattish and masculine attitude. The first art I stumbled across had the entire cast knocking on Ryuji’s door, each of them in matching t-shirts with ‘Kiss Ryuji Day’ emblazoned across them. They’re even yellow, it’s so cute and feels pulled straight out of a social link you’d see in Persona 5, Strikers, Dancing in Starlight, or perhaps even Tactica. Remember that one? It came out and faded into obscurity within mere hours.
There are countless examples of this, alongside comics and fics that expand on the premise to explore platonic friendships alongside a romantic ship between Joker and Ryuji – which should have totally been canon anyway. Ever since the launch of Persona 5, we’ve known that beneath his tough exterior, Ryuji is secretly a big softie with a heart of gold, even if he’s afraid to show it.
Kiss Ryuji Day is an adorable means of breaking down the barriers and giving him the love he deserves, even if it’s with a bunch of kisses from his closest friends, or you simply want him to burst into an embarrassed smile. All of them play a role too, so it feels like the party merely wants to celebrate some person in their life who means a lot to them.
I’ve always loved these games and the characters within them, especially taken with how fans aren’t afraid to give them new life or meaning away from the canon even years later. Kiss Ryuji Day is exactly that, a declaration of love for a single character distilled into a 24-hour period we have a reason to get excited about each and every year.
You could smooch a cute dude like Ryuji every day and nobody would mind, but turning it into an occasion like this makes it shine so much brighter. Now I know not to miss it next year.
Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal adds even more to Atlus' hit RPG, including an extra semester, a new Palace to take on, and two new confidants. Two new endings add to the Phantom Thieves' story, and you'll be able to hang out in the Thieves' Den.
