Archive of Our Own

Welcome to this weeks episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved. Today we’ll be covering a more recent hot topic, the recent large number of extreme personality changes in people (focused mainly in Tokyo, Japan) commonly referred to as ‘changes of heart’.

These changes of heart have all been allegedly caused by a group calling themselves the Phantom Thieves. Who these individuals are, if they’re even human, is the topic of many online discussions. They even have a site dedicated to their fans and discussion of the changes of heart.

While it’s impossible to figure out when exactly the Phantom Thieves began their work, most investigators and online discussion groups assume that they began around April of this year, 2017. To explain why, it’s important to discuss the key factors deciding a victim of the Phantom Thieves.

First the Phantom Thieves’s victims all received a calling card accusing the victim of immoral behavior. Some have included abuse, grooming, plagiarism, financial exploitation, as well as unethical potentially deadly business practices. Then, later the victim will seclude themselves away from any sort of contact. And, finally each victim has come forward publically to confess to the crimes listed on the calling card and apologized for what they’ve done.

Their first victim was a japanese gold medalist who later went back to his alma mater, Shujin Academy in Aoyama, Tokyo. He first received his calling card in April, accusing him of using his position of authority, physically and sexually abusing students. 

Later that month a calling card was posted on the notice board of the school. This has been translated from the original Japanese on the card; “Sir Suguru Kamoshida, the utter bastard of lust. We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can’t fight back. That’s why we have decided to steal away those desires and make you confess your sins. This will be done tomorrow, so we hope you will be ready. From, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.”

The next day as intended by the Thieves, Kamoshida called out of work until returning on May 2nd. When he returned, students from the school reported that he confessed to the crimes. 

Afterwards, a full fledged investigation into the events was conducted and the claims were found true. For sensitivity we’ll avoid going into detail, however, many students had been abused or assaulted, with the threat of being sidelined in games or kicked off the team as punishment should they mention anything. Reportedly, parents and some staff at the school were aware of the abuse and were complicit in it.

The next major victim of the Phantom Thieves was a famous artist named Ichiryusai Madarame, who had a press conference a month later on June 5th where he also confessed to the Phantom Thieves accusations. Among his crimes were plagiarism and defamation of the art students he’d mentored through the year. Another notable victim was a gang leader named Junya Kaneshiro located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo who extorted local high school students into smuggling illegal substances.

After these cases, the Phantom Thieves gained enough notoriety in Japan to attract the eyes of Medjed. Medjed is an anonymous elite hacktivist group, who made a post on their website on July 18th, stating “To the Phantom Thieves causing an uproar in Japan: Do not speak of your false justice. We do not need the spread of such falsehood. We are the true executors of justice. However, we are magnanimous. We will give you an opportunity to repent your ways. If you agree to a change of heart, we will accept you as our own. If you reject our offer, the hammer of justice will find you. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.” 

Two days later, July 20th, with no response from the Phantom Thieves they continued the threat, “The Phantom Thieves remain silent at our question. This proves that we are just. People of Japan, wake up. You must not worship the Phantom Thieves. We will discipline any who worship them. The punishment is the confiscation of possessions. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.” Suggesting some sort of purge, should the Phantom Thieves not give into the group’s demands.

Later the next month on August 22nd it was discovered that their site had been hacked and their logo replaced by that of the Phantom Thieves, signaling to some that the Phantom Thieves had hacked them in return and publicly released the identity of one of Medjed’s members. The threat against the country of Japan was never carried out.

While this may seem like a positive story about morally dubious heroes who are bringing justice to those who were avoiding the law, this story took a very dark turn the following month. Two victims, including the principal of Shujin Academy, turned up dead not long after receiving a calling card from the Phantom Thieves.

The final and most infamous target as well as the most recent is one Kunikazu Okumura, the deceased CEO of Big Bang Burger. As per the other victims, Okumura received a calling card in September. This calling card seemed just like all the others, saying that the Phantom Thieves would ‘steal his heart’ for his crimes. This included deaths he overlooked in his factories and the unsafe working conditions Big Bang Burger employees had publicly complained about. Okumura was well known to be the Phantom Thieves’ next target even before then however, especially because a poll had been run on the Phansite earlier that month asking who their next target would be and Okumura placed first.

Later, on October 11th, once again as per the other victims Okumura hosted a press conference and confessed to the crime. Moments later, on live television, he suffered cardiac failure and began bleeding a black ooze out of his eyes. This was reminiscent of another set of seemingly out of the blue eventTs which had caused numerous accidents and deaths, referred to as the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns also being investigated by Japanese police. Soon after, a victim of one of the mental shutdowns, the principal of Shujin Academy, was found to also have received a Phantom Thief calling card.

What this seems to suggest is that the Phantom Thieves’ original targets were for the sake of building up trust with the people. Then, they showed what their true goal was.

Whether the Phantom Thieves caused the death is unclear. However, the events do line up. Whatever the case is, it still doesn’t answer the question of what exactly these justice seeking killers are? Let’s get into some theories.

The Phantom Thieves are a group of high school students, most of whom attend Shujin Academy, who are blackmailing their victims. While not outright stated, this seems to be the main theory of famous junior detective, Goro Akechi, who has visited the school.

Many of their bigger targets, Kamoshida, Kaneshiro, the principal, and even Okumura had connections to the school. For the first three, their main victims were also Shujin Students or other high schools nearby. The calling cards writing also seemed to resemble that of high school students rather than seasoned criminals.

The main issue is that, so far, there’s no evidence of blackmail. The Phantom Thieves’ only contact with their targets seems to be the calling card. The other issue is that Madarame seems to be the only target not related to Shujin.

The phantom thieves hypnotized their targets to get them to confess. This theory states that the Phantom Thieves used some sort of hypnotic method the day their victims confessed. This would explain the quick changes of hearts.

This next theory includes a very new science, called cognitive pscience. Spelled with a psi, cognitive science doesn’t have much credibility in true scientific circles at the moment, but it is a conversation of the deep web especially in connection to the Phantom Thieves. It includes theories about another space, where the hearts and minds of people can be accessed and changed.

We contacted a researcher who worked on developing a theory for cognitive science who now works at Shujin as a counselor, his name is Takuto Maruki. While he also wouldn’t disclose his research, or why he had changed to therapy rather than lab research, he did confirm it was a legitimate field of science that had been gaining traction for a time. It’s not the most conclusive theory, but it’s the one that line up with the Phantom Thieves’ methods the best.

To this very day, the truth about the Phantom Thieves remains unknown. Who, or what they are, as well as their methods can’t be confirmed by normal means, leaving this case