"The Interview"
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"The Interview" (インタビュー Intabyū) is the first episode of Human Vapor. It was released with the rest of the series on Netflix on July 2, 2026.
Plot
2026: Japan Network Television (JNT) reporter Kyoko Kono runs late to a TV interview at headquarters. She takes a moment to calm herself by placing her hand over her heart before stepping into the studio, making it to her spot with seconds to spare. She introduces her guest, Teito University Professor Emeritus Kyugo Sano, and asks him about recent advancements in biomass energy production. The professor explains that biological material, such as food waste and sewage, could be used as a cost-effective fuel with the proper support of the government. As he speaks, a blue smoke quietly enters the room and climbs up his body before forcing itself violently down his throat. He soon rises into the air, inflates, and explodes, painting the studio in his blood and organs.
Elsewhere, Kenji Okamoto eats at a tonkatsu restaurant while the owner threatens not to pay his employee, Palm. Okamoto refuses to pay for his food in solidarity, and a fight breaks out between him and the owner. Okamoto's phone begins buzzing as he pins the man to a table, and Palm holds the phone up for him to answer. On the other end is Detective Minoru Kawada, Okamoto's former superior at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD), who tells him he is taking him off suspension and needs him at JNT. Palm catches Okamoto outside to thank him; Okamoto advises he find a better job. At JNT, Okamoto meets with Kawada and Sergeant Michiko Abe, who show him the gruesome crime scene and the footage of Sano's death. Recognizing Kono in the recording, he ignores Kawada's recommendation against getting "more involved with" her and sets off to speak with her in the cafeteria. The two have an uncomfortable reunion which is cut short when Kono is summoned for a meeting. Abe observes Kono's title is "chief reporter," teasing Okamoto that she was promoted in the same span he was suspended.
Kono finds her coworkers and boss, JNT director Junichiro Ibana, sitting around a suspicious package that was delivered around the time of Sano's death. She tears the box open with reckless abandon and finds it is empty save for a QR code on the lid. Scanning it brings up a video which she plays on a nearby TV. With a strange, monotone voice, a man in a blue tuxedo announces he was responsible for the murder of Professor Sano, whom he first met 27 years ago, and alludes to the possibility of further victims. He explains that the video they're watching has been sent to all the major news stations in Tokyo and invites only those that run it as their top story to interview him at a press conference tomorrow at Bunko Ramen. Kono points out the man is likely telling the truth, as the video is timestamped to before the killing occurred. With some apprehension, Ibana agrees to meet his demands. At the same time that mainstream reports begin flooding the airwaves, internet creators also take to reporting on the incident, including eccentric livestreamer Fujita Fujikawa of Fujita and Kaho's Terror Zone. He complains to his two viewers that other channels go viral just for talking about the murder, yet his is getting no subscribers. From behind the camera, his sister Kaho responds that he simply isn't entertaining, prompting him to shout and throw himself against the wall dramatically.
The TMPD reports minimal findings to Superintendent General Mamoru Sakamoto: no fingerprints could be found on the packages sent by the killer, interviews with Sano's associates turned up no leads on the man's identity, the explosion in Sano's body originated in his lungs and left inexplicable thermal injuries akin to chemical burns, the source of the killer's confession video could not be traced, and Bunko Ramen is an unsuspecting restaurant. Sakamoto adjourns the meeting and invites Okamoto on the roof for a chat. As they smoke together, Sakamoto mentions his wife Chieko wants to set Okamoto up with a woman. Okamoto playfully retorts that Sakamoto was the one who introduced his parents to each other and his mother hated him for it. Sakamoto agrees it's hard to be a good cop and family man at the same time. Just before Sakamoto leaves, Okamoto asks why he had him reinstated; he responds it is because of Okamoto's past with Kono, and urges he use the opportunity to prove he no longer has anything to do with her.
2021: Kono and Okamoto meet for the first time at the police station. Kawada tells him the PR office is cooperating with JNT to have Kono accompany him on a stakeout. The pair set off together toward the door.
2026: Okamoto texts Kono not to come to Bunko Ramen tomorrow, as it is too dangerous. She begins typing a response, but stops. The governor of Tokyo, Takeshi Miura, delivers a similar message in a speech to the populace, but Okamoto and Abe discover it ineffective as they pull up to a crowd gathered around the restaurant. The detectives sweep the inside but find no one there. While looking out the window, Okamoto spots Kono among the sea of faces.
2021: Kono and Okamoto sit in the stakeout car as midnight approaches. Okamoto insists they're probably wasting their time and that she should get some sleep; she responds she has insomnia and finds it difficult to sleep in dark, cramped places. He tells her that placing her hand on her chest and listening to her heartbeat might soothe her enough to sleep, but she is unconvinced when she tries. Okamoto turns up the radio and hums along to a song, which he explains was something his father listened to. Kono responds her father liked it too. Later, Okamoto runs to the car in the rain with coffees for them. Upon reaching the window, he sees her asleep and chuckles.
2026: With only 10 minutes before the press conference is supposed to begin, Abe questions whether the killer will really show up. After another five minutes, Okamoto concludes he must be planning something else. Just then, the owner of Bunko Ramen arrives in disbelief at the commotion. Kono finds him angrily smoking on the sidewalk and asks whether he was always the restaurant's owner. She soon informs Okamoto by text that Bunko Ramen was located at a different address 27 years ago. Kono and her crew arrive there first and find the killer waiting for them in the abandoned building. He agrees to an interview as promised, and explains on the air that he killed Professor Sano as revenge for his crimes, which he specifies only as "White Center". He vows to hunt down and kill everyone associated, who he says control society and use their power to hide their past. The interview is brought to an end by the sound of police sirens. Just before the man steps outside, he obliges Kono with a name: the Human Vapor.
The Vapor puts his hands up as riot police close in around him. Suddenly, layers of his face begin melting away and he launches out of his clothes as a cloud of gas. He swirls around and creates an explosion that blows everyone back before viciously attacking the officers one by one. Filming on her phone, Kono captures the Vapor reform into a humanoid on the building's roof. Okamoto shoots him in the forehead, but the bullet passes straight through. Returning to gas, he escapes down a grate.
In a seaside community, an elderly man watches the Human Vapor's threat against White Center with horror on his face.
Cast
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Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
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Trivia
- The Japanese captions for the episode erroneously introduce Kono as "Kyoko Koda" (甲田 Kōda). It is spelled correctly thereafter.
- Kono placing her hand over her heart references the original The Human Vapor, in which Mizuno performed the gesture when transforming into gas.
References
This is a list of references for The Interview. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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