Abhiroop Das
With Yeon Sang-ho as the showrunner, Netflix’s ‘Human Vapor’ is a modern spin on the cult classic Japanese film of the same name, which details the mysteries surrounding a man who can turn into vapor. Where the show takes on an original direction, however, is in crafting an elaborate backstory for this character whose real name is Ren Tsutsumida. However, how he goes from being a free-spirited young man to the entity that coldly kills people remains a mystery for most of the sci-fi thriller show. By the end, we learn that the Human Vapor’s origins trace back to a certain event that took place two decades ago, which fed off Ren’s unique predicament around the same time. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Ren Died And Turned Into the Human Vapor After Coming in Contact With a Meteorite
Ren’s tragic backstory in ‘Human Vapor’ reveals that, in his vaporous form, he is not actually a person or a living being. Instead, he can be described as something closer to a spirit or wish-granting entity that is born due to extraterrestrial phenomena. The story begins 27 years ago, when a mysterious meteorite lands in Japan, creating a buzz among the higher-ups. While the nation quickly moves on from the meteorite, researchers determine that it may be something akin to a radioactive effect that can destroy anything it makes contact with. In a desperate attempt to stop it from becoming a global catastrophe, a team of high-profile executives, Yakuza, and a police officer, makes the grim and inhuman decision of exploiting unassuming people in a sacrificial mission, with Ren being one of them.
Eventually, the researchers come up with a plan to blow up the ground around the meteorite, creating a hole that can hopefully bury it for good and contain its effects. However, to get sufficient amounts of explosives under the meteorite requires humans to travel into the crater and the cave system around it. Instead of hiring trained professionals with a safety protocol, the elites turn towards a group of underprivileged people brought together in the corrupt welfare facility known as White Center. Kyoko, one of the residents at that time, watches many of her friends and guardian figures volunteer for the project, not knowing that they are walking towards their death. However, it isn’t until Ren joins the fray that we get a look into what secrets the meteorite holds within.
After Kyoko escapes the White Center and comes under the care of Ren, the authorities come in and present him with an offer. He can continue being her guardian, but only if he volunteers to participate in the mission to bury the meteorite. While Ren doesn’t know how dangerous this endeavor can be, he says yes without hesitation, all to protect Kyoko. It is perhaps that same drive that leads him farther into the caverns than anyone else, to the point that he makes contact with the glowing meteorite wedged into the earth. However, moments after he places the explosive, his own skin begins to peel away, as the rest of his body slowly turns into powder, and then vapor. Ren’s death is slow and painful, as he rushes out of the cave while actively disintegrating, before turning into a dust cloud in front of the researchers’ eyes.
The Human Vapor Doesn’t Possess Any of Ren’s Personality
While Ren is believed to be dead beyond question after he turns into vapor and dissipates, the official records claim that he has gone missing, so as to cover up the supernatural occurrences related to the meteorite. Over the next two decades, the world moves on, and Kyoko begins a new life as a journalist. However, it isn’t until she returns to Ren’s old, dilapidated home and coincidentally plays his favorite song that the mystery of ‘Human Vapor’ truly sets in. As the song plays, a trickle of vapor sneaks into the house before fluttering its way underground. There, Kyoko comes across the sculpture form of Ren, which has seemingly formed due to years of the vapor accumulating and taking a solid shape.
Kyoko soon discovers that a single drop of water, along with the playing of Ren’s favorite song, can basically “turn on” Ren’s sculpture, bringing it to a form that looks and moves like a real human, but is still supernatural in nature. This form does not seem to have any human emotions, but is designed to fulfill the wishes of anyone who activates it, without any other conditions. After the wish is fulfilled, the Human Vapor returns to base and takes on its sculpture form, resetting the whole process. While it doesn’t appear to be wholly sentient, the Human Vapor still has some sort of will of its own, which mainly comes into use when it’s moving or deciding how to attack someone. Aside from this, though, the vaporous entity is closer to a genie than to any ghost spirit.
The Human Vapor May be a Twisted Manifestation of Ren’s Final Wish
Despite being manifested out of a living being’s body, the Human Vapor is decidedly non-human, and this is reflected in how it doesn’t stop attacking when Kyoko is the target. Its body is likely made of extraterrestrial material rather than just dust or sand, which explains why it is practically invulnerable and can morph at will. That said, the fact that the Human Vapor takes on Ren’s looks and responds to his favorite song is likely a hint of there being some element of consciousness embedded into its construction. It doesn’t make a lot of intuitive sense for an extraterrestrial being to exist solely to fulfill human wishes, but when we take Ren’s past into account, things begin to click.
Before dying, the only thing going on in Ren’s mind was likely that he would never be able to return to Kyoko. The duo had a routine where he would ask Kyoko to make any wish, but it wasn’t until the end that she actually revealed her real desire: for Ren to become her guardian. Without fulfilling this wish, Ren likely died in regret, and the meteorite may have incorporated those feelings into its design of the Human Vapor. However, because the entity functions more like a robot, it doesn’t exactly know what it is meant to fulfill, or for whom. Thus, we are left with a tragic figure that almost defies explanation, but is most certainly a result of humanity’s cruelty.
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