Genshin Impact

Did Genshin Impact Actually Name A Quest NPC After A JAV Actress?

Did you ever spot a detail from the corner of your eye in a video game and go ‘‘hmm?’’ Every gamer had an enlightenment episode during a playthrough where they came to a life-altering realisation that would even make the Buddha jealous. Several Genshin Impact players have noticed one such detail while doing the main questline in update 2.0.

Genshin Impact: Escape Ritou Island Quest

Stuck on Ritou Island, the Traveler must find a way to escape from the grasp of Hiiragi Shinsuke, leader of the Hiiragi clan. Fortunately, the daughter of the leader needs a letter delivered to her lover. She is willing to give passage out of Ritou to the Traveler in exchange for courier services. The name of this NPC is Hiiragi Chisato.

On forums, several eagle-eyed players eventually pointed out that a certain JAV actress also bears the same name as the Genshin Impact character. In fact, one could have realised this by pure chance. Since Japanese names place the surname before the given one, a person can write Chisato Hiiragi on the search engine and find something they weren’t looking for.

In-game screenshot

Is The Name The Same?

We ran a Kanji match on both names.

柊(木) – Kanji for the Hiiragi clan and it matches with the JAV actress’ surname.

木 – Can be added to the Hiiragi Kanji, but it doesn’t change the nomenclature.

千里 – Kanji for Chisato and it also matches with the JAV actress’ given name.

Coincidence, or not?

Any game developer knows how hard it can be to name NPCs. Some choose to name them after themselves, their coworkers or famous individuals. Perhaps this was truly a coincidence and this is a random Japanese name the miHoYo team generated. On the other hand, maybe there is an avid JAV fan amongst the staff who hoped this little detail would go unnoticed. However, considering the importance and prominence of this NPC, maybe they actually hoped players would notice.

In any case, this is quite the Easter Egg for the ages, intentional or not. What about you? Did this happen by coincidence or is there someone being cheeky at miHoYo?