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The 1993 action film Hard Target is notable for three reasons. First, it was Hong Kong action director John Woo’s American debut. Second, it starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as perhaps cinema’s most physically fit and combat-ready homeless man. And third, its story was one of the finest examples of the rich film genre known as “jaded and wealthy individuals hunting men for sport.”

One man from Saitama Prefecture apparently wasn’t quite up to the task of stalking the kickboxing Muscles from Brussels, though, and aimed his sights a little lower: hunting the otaku nerds of Akihabara.

Police recently arrested three individuals in connection with a crime committed on December 31, 2013. The only suspect whose name has been released is 20-year-old Masa Tanaka, a resident of Saitama City. As 20 marks the beginning of legal adulthood in Japan, it’s likely the other two arrested are minors, and thus their names are being withheld.

According to a report by TBS News, Tanaka made his way down to Tokyo on New Year’s Eve, specifically to the anime and electronics mecca of Akihabara. While there, he accosted a 28-year-old man who passed by him on the street, shouting “Wait!” and “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

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Tanaka then began punching and kicking the man, threatening him with the creatively badass yet genuinely disturbing line, “I could probably get a lot of money by selling your organs.” In order to placate his assailant’s rage, the battered and understandably frightened victim agreed to go with Tanaka to a nearby ATM, where he withdrew and handed over 250,000 yen (US$2,450).

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After being taken into custody, Tanaka is said to have admitted to the charges. In explaining his actions, he told police that he chose the areas specifically since he thought the men there would be easy targets, saying: “Since Akihabara is filled with otaku, I didn’t think there’d be anyone who could really handle himself in a fight.”

We’re sure it must feel nice being a big, tough fish in a small, geeky pond. If convicted, Tanaka should be looking at some jail time, though, and somehow we doubt his cellmates will be the same sort of pushovers he went searching for in Akihabara.

Sources: YouTube via Jin
images: YouTube