"The Journal"
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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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"The Journal" (日誌 Nisshi) is the third episode of Human Vapor. It was released with the rest of the series on Netflix on July 2, 2026.
Plot
The TMPD investigates the scene of Obata's murder. Inspector Okamoto calls to break the news to Kono, who is still at the parking garage. He declines to answer whether they recovered Obata's journal and tells her to stay at a safe house arranged by the police so she can keep out of the investigation. She tries to ask Sergeant Abe, still at the scene with her, for information on the gang they were pursuing, and is similarly refused. Abe offers to take her to the safe house, but she says she still has work to do and leaves with Nishiyama. While relaying his findings to Detective Kawada, Okamoto is approached by another detective, Motoyama, who tells him the suspect's vehicle has been traced to Shinzo Yamazaki of the Fujishiro Syndicate.
Yamazaki dumps his cell phone in a river and stashes Obata's journal in his jacket before finding a payphone to ring his superior, Riki Otomo. The man instructs him to take pictures of the journal's contents and to destroy the original if he gets caught. Meanwhile, Fujishiro holds a lavish gambling event involving live turtles being used as roulette balls. Riki goes upstairs to visit his father, Fujishiro boss Saburo Otomo, whose paranoia about the Human Vapor has led him to seal up his office's windows with duct tape. After startling him with cigarette smoke, Riki reports Yamazaki's success in securing the journal and suggests they use it as a bargaining chip to extort money out of their client. Saburo makes a call to someone and convinces them to pay 300 million yen. On his way out, Riki asks if when they catch the Human Vapor, they can do a "Parfinee" on him; Saburo remarks it's been three years since the last and laughs maniacally.
The TMPD finds Yamazaki's car, which contains a bag of bloodied clothes. A short distance away, they witness him punch a girl unconscious and steal her phone, and they take off after him. While driving with Nishiyama, Kono wonders how the gangsters knew about her meeting with Obata. Nishiyama suggests she could have been bugged and they make a stop for him to examine her phone. He runs code on his laptop to find and delete malware that had been monitoring her calls. She wracks her brain for who could've installed it and remembers that Chief Inspector Yoshida had seized her phone when she was brought in for questioning. The police lose Yamazaki in a dilapidated building complex and split up to find him. He frantically uses the stolen phone to take a video of the journal pages and sends it off to Fujishiro before destroying the journal in a fire. He reads the word "Mufu" on one of the final pages when he hears the sound of Yoshida approaching. The detective shows his true colors, reprimanding Yamazaki for running away with the journal instead of disposing of it as he instructed him. When he notices the pages burning, he concludes Yamazaki read the contents and shoots him dead. He pockets the stolen phone and pretends to be shaken as the other detectives arrive, telling them the killing was in self-defense. Just then, Okamoto receives a call from Kono, who tells him about the virus, but he doesn't believe her that the TMPD was involved.
At JNT, Fujii hands Kono a report from the TMPD on Obata's and Yamazaki's deaths. Nishiyama and Tanaka piece together Yamazaki's motive for stealing the phone, prompting Kono to ask Fujii for the location of the Fujishiro Syndicate's headquarters. Kono is distracted by faint chanting coming from outside, which Yamaguchi tells her are protestors supporting gubernatorial candidate Kazumi Kirishima. Suddenly, Kirishima storms into the office and begins demanding that JNT stop reporting on the Human Vapor, as it is instilling anxiety in the populace and bringing more supporters to the incumbent, Governor Miura. At the police station, Okamoto and Abe interrogate the gang leader who attacked Kono. When Okamoto presents photos of him and his subordinates entering Fujishiro, he admits the syndicate paid him to shake down Kono for Obata's journal. A meeting about Fujishiro is called at JNT; the staff rule out an undercover operation or placing a hidden camera, but agree they could eavesdrop with a directional microphone from a nearby building. Putting the plan into action, they overhear Saburo on the phone with Yoshida and learn that he is in possession of the journal and that Yoshida is in his employ.
Abe announces to the police station they have secured a warrant to search Fujishiro. At the same time, the Human Vapor arrives at Fujishiro and fights his way inside. He sneaks around in gaseous form, witnessing a man being auctioned off for his lungs, before reforming to take on a group of yakuza. With JNT still watching from the next building, the Vapor easily dispatches Saburo's forces and proceeds upstairs toward his office. The crime boss tries to slip away down a different staircase and through an alley, but the Vapor jumps off a balcony and lands nearly on top of him. Riki slices harmlessly through the Vapor with a sword, allowing his father a moment to be loaded onto an armored van, but the kaijin flies after them. With Kono and the TMPD both in pursuit, the Vapor clings to the back of the van and climbs across the roof onto the windshield, which he tries unsuccessfully to bash open. When he moves to a side window, he loses his grip and is flung back to the rear, then detaches from the car completely. The yakuza celebrate their escape as the Vapor disappears down a manhole, Saburo declaring he will retire to open a Hawaiian pancake shop. Just then, the Human Vapor shoots out from a manhole directly under their car, flipping it into the air. Kono is the first on the scene, witnessing Saburo's dying breath. She uses his corpse to unlock his phone's face ID and leaves with the journal video before the TMPD can arrive. Outside Fujishiro, a police badge lay among the Vapor's suit as an escaped turtle crawls across it.
At home, Fujita and Kaho examine a music video. They pause on a frame of an abandoned building with what appears to be the Human Vapor peering out a window.
Cast
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Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
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References
This is a list of references for The Journal. 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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