The Human Vapor belongs to a niche category under the tokusatsu umbrella—Toho’s “Transforming Human Series”, three films where scientifically altered humans, made amoral or downright villainous through their transformation, use their new supernatural powers to steal and kill, forging a new ethical code and escaping the authorities. In The Human Vapor, Mizuno (Yoshio Tsuchiya) is a librarian who, after being discharged from the air force for health concerns, takes part in a scientist’s astronautical experiment that goes awry. (Think The Invisible Man for Japan’s nuclear age.) The doctor becomes Mizano’s first victim; let loose with no father figure to guide his powerful new existence, the gaseous man pulls off a series of bank robberies to fund performances for his beloved Fujichiyo (Kaoru Yachigusa), a Noh and Kabuki-trained dancer in dire need of a comeback.
What made The Human Vapor unique?
Honda and Tsuburaya delay the first sight of a man turning into vapor, but they come thick and fast in the film’s second half, using several different techniques like dry ice, optical compositing, and wire workin a single sequence to sell the Human Vapor effect. The mystery plot is basic, but effective at immersing us in the key relationships – primarily between gruff, disciplined detective Okamoto (Tatsuya Mihashi) and his sparky reporter girlfriend Kyoko Kono (Keiko Sata), who try to solve the bank robbery independently and act act as a mirror to the doomed devotion shared by Mizuno and Fujichiyo.