Netflix’s Japanese sci‑fi thriller “Human Vapor” follows a vapor‑forming killer

Netflix has released the eight‑episode Japanese series Human Vapor, a sci‑fi crime thriller that follows detective Kenji Okamoto and journalist Kyoko Kono as they investigate a mysterious entity capable of turning into toxic smoke. The series opens with a professor’s live‑on‑air murder, where a cloud of vapor invades his lungs, explodes, and showers the studio with blood. Okamoto, a suspended Metro Police detective, is quickly reinstated to lead the case, while Kono, whose past ties to Okamoto surface, becomes the primary witness.

The killings are linked to a shady organization called the White Center, which conducted a meteorite cleanup that created the vapor‑forming killer. As the duo uncovers the organization’s corruption and the killer’s motives for revenge, they confront the challenge of stopping a murderer who can literally disappear into thin air.