"Terror Zone"
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SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion. |
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"Terror Zone" (恐怖地帯 Kyōfu Chitai) is the fourth episode of Human Vapor. It was released with the rest of the series on Netflix on July 2, 2026.
Plot
Kaho searches her house for a missing ¥21,500. She confronts Fujita about it on their balcony and he admits he used it on a "business expense": a DVD compilation of music videos by the underground idol group Dream Succubus. Though he tells her it may constitute an "incredible" discovery, she is upset that he spent the money they were going to put toward a camera. Nevertheless, he drags her back into the house to watch one of the videos. Her boredom subsides when he points out something resembling the Human Vapor standing in a window in the background.
That night, the siblings present the footage on their livestream. To Fujita's chagrin, it draws only seven viewers, which he sulks about on the balcony. As Kaho cleans off his makeup, he floats the idea that she move on with her life without him, but she immediately shuts him down. Her phone buzzes with a notification from a user named "dadashow" who expresses interest in buying information. She leaves them her phone number and soon after receives a call with an offer of ¥1 million in exchange for the location the video was filmed; she accepts, and the siblings celebrate.
The next day, they drive to the headquarters of In the Socks, the music video's production company. With an earpiece in and his phone streaming video to Kaho in the car, Fujita enters the building to fish for information. Kaho hides her face and rolls up her window when two schoolgirls pass by the car and comment on her port-wine stain. Inside, a woman catches Fujita peering through a glass wall. He tells her he is there to respond to a job listing and is brought to the office of the company's video director, Goro. The director asks him increasingly strange questions which he answers unflinchingly. When Goro challenges him to speak something in German, he only lets out a prolonged moan. He recovers by professing his love of the director's work, which brings tears to the man's eyes. The woman from before brings Fujita a glass of lemonade that he chugs and identifies as orange juice. Goro steps out from behind his desk—clad in a skirt, knee-high socks, and cowboy boots—and shakes Fujita's hand, giving him the job for his fearless honesty. Fujita finally asks the director about the location in the Dream Succubus video; he responds that it was scouted by the disbanded group's manager, Kenta, whose whereabouts he's uncertain of. Kaho realizes the woman with him is former Succubus member Mimi, who denies having any information about Kenta either.
After Mimi's shift, Fujita and Kaho tail her to a host club, an advertisement outside of which includes a host named Kenta Sumeragi. The siblings argue in the parking lot about who should go inside. Fujita asserts it would be suspicious for him to go and reminds Kaho of the money on the line, while she states she is too ashamed to be seen in public with her birthmark. He questions if this is how she'll spend the rest of her life, not speaking to anyone but her brother. Angered, she shuts the door on him, but ultimately agrees to go inside with a pair of sunglasses. While finding a seat, she passes by Mimi and Kenta in a booth together. Kenta eventually comes over to her booth and takes off her glasses, complimenting her eyes. She downs beers until she's drunk and begins asking him about the warehouse, where she claims she wants to shoot a ghost movie. Kenta is reminded of his own experience there.
Years ago, Dream Succubus, Goro, and his skeleton crew arrive at an old factory in Katsushika, rumored to be haunted. In between shooting, Mimi tells Kenta she is scared and he reluctantly gives her a hug, dodging out of the way when she tries to kiss him. Goro notices and has Succubus' leader, Anna, tell Mimi off, as idols aren't allowed to have relationships. During a take, Mimi freezes in the middle of her choreography and stares off into the distance. When Kenta looks, he sees a ghostly figure in a window, but it disappears before anyone else notices. Back in the present, Kenta says he wrote the event off as his imagination until he saw the figure again in the finished video. Kaho suddenly begins heaving and leaves the club, throwing up in the parking lot. Despite her condition, Fujita insists they drive to the factory immediately to verify the location Kenta gave her. She is stunned when he comments that the first thing they'll spend the million yen on is having her face treated, responding that she would start appearing on their show in that case. The siblings reach the factory and break into the building where the Human Vapor was seen, which suspiciously still has working lights. Kaho finds a hole in the floor and they descend underground on a ladder.
The siblings make their way through a narrow tunnel and are startled by a black cat. They proceed onward and turn down another path which leads them to a dead end with a gap in the ceiling. Climbing up through the ceiling, they emerge in a room with a statue of the Human Vapor. Fujita reasons it must be the Vapor himself and that he is sleeping. Kaho calls dadashow and leaves a voicemail about their deal. Suddenly, a phone rings in the room, setting off a Rube Goldberg machine that drops a record player's needle on a vinyl. While the siblings hide, Fujita recognizes the song as "Ellie My Love" by Southern All Stars. A tear drops from the Vapor's eye and lands at the base of his statue form, triggering it to become gas and then reform into his humanoid body. Standing naked, he mimes holding out a microphone and announces, "Listener, please make a wish." A fax machine next to him replies with an instruction to kill Saburo Otomo, and he puts on his tuxedo before leaving.
Fujita and Kaho return to their car. Fujita proclaims they will set up a camera in the Vapor's lair to capture the mastermind behind his attacks. He continues that the footage could make them millions they could put toward improving their lives. Though Kaho says she doesn't mind their life as it is, he disagrees. Just then, she sees a clip on her phone reporting Otomo's death, followed by the Human Vapor whizzing past their car. They race back inside to plant the camera and witness the Vapor solidify into a statue. Within seconds, they hear someone coming down a ladder and duck into a closet. Kaho frantically tries to silence a call from dadashow when the doors are swung open by the caller themself: Kono.
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Yu Aoi as Kyoko Kono
- Suzu Hirose as Kaho Fujikawa
- Kento Hayashi as Fujita Fujikawa
- Masahiro Takashima as Goro
- Kento Kaku as Kenta Sumeragi
- Aoi Morikawa as Mimi
- Hideo Nakano as Saburo Otomo (photograph)
- Miyu Hanehara as Miho
- Kirari Narushima as Ayaka
- Aiki as Mai
- Nana Mizoguchi as Yuri
- Mizuki Asakura as Anna
- Ayane Minagawa
- Miroku
- Masashi Funakoshi as JNT announcer
- UTA as Human Vapor
Appearances
MonstersCharacters
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Organizations
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Trivia
- Kaho threatens to kill Fujita "like in Dancer in the Dark" and says she'll "end up like Björk," the film's star.
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