Yeon Sang Ho’s Gas Human locks down Tokyo Station for Netflix

Netflix series 'Gas Human,' for which director Yeon Sang Ho serves as screenwriter and executive producer, will be released worldwide on July 2, 2026. It is an 8-part drama based on the 1960 Japanese tokusatsu film 'Gas-Man No. 1.'

This work features a Korean creator rewriting an old Japanese genre asset, which is then completed as a local story by Japanese production staff and actors. While box office success cannot be determined before release, it serves as a case study of how Korean-Japanese genre content combines on the same stage of Netflix.

Original 1960 Toho Film 'Gas-Man No. 1'

The starting point of 'Gas Human' is the film 'Gas-Man No. 1' released by Toho in 1960. The original work featured a setting where humans transform into gas. It was a story about an invisible entity shaking social order, and this series moves that setting to modern Japan.

Director Yeon Sang Ho and writer Ryu Yong-jae focus on a method of pushing surreal events into collective real-world reactions. 'Gas Human' is closer to a social thriller where police, media, power, and criminal organizations become intertwined, rather than a simple chase drama following a single superhuman.

Character Dynamics Revealed in June 8 Trailer

In the official trailer released on June 8, the Gas Human announces its own crimes and even predicts its next moves. Shun Oguri, playing detective Kenji Okamoto, and Yū Aoi, playing reporter Kyoko Kono, chase the case.

The streaming creator siblings played by Suzu Hirose and Kento Hayashi shake the incident in another way. Yutaka Takenouchi joins as a character who is a businessman and former Yakuza. How the terror of the Gas Human, handled by UTA, meshes with these characters is something to be confirmed after the release.

8 Months of Filming and Approximately 120 Locations

'Gas Human' will be released in 8 parts. Filming continued for approximately 8 months from early September 2024 to late April 2025. The production team reviewed over 1,000 candidate sites and filmed at approximately 120 locations.

The full blockade filming in front of Tokyo Station is known to be the first attempt of its kind in a Japanese film. While these figures do not directly state the production budget, it is clear that it was designed as a large-scale genre piece utilizing action, VFX, and urban spaces, rather than a small remake that merely borrows the symbolism of the original.

Shirogumi, which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects for 'Godzilla Minus One,' participated in the VFX. Viewers will see how the story written by a Korean creator was completed within the Japanese local production system after the release on July 2.