Netflix's 'Gas Human': Yeon Sang-ho reboots Toho's 1960s tokusatsu classic in 8-episode Korean-Japanese co-production

Netflix's Gas Human reboots Toho's 1960s tokusatsu film Gas Human No. 1, directed by Honda Ishiro. The new version is a Korea-Japan co-production.

Yeon Sang-ho, fresh off the Korean-Japanese Parasyte: The Grey, co-wrote the script with Ryu Yong-jae and produces overall. Katayama Shinzo directs on the Japanese side—he made the mystery thriller Missing and the Disney+ drama Hannibal. Woo Point (behind Parasyte: The Grey and Collective) and Toho handled production together.

Eight episodes. Oguri Shun leads. UTA, a newcomer, plays the Gas Human itself. Aoi Yu delivers what reviewers call the ensemble's standout performance. Takenouichi Yutaka—recognizable in Korea from the melodrama Cold Mountain—is nearly unrecognizable under heavy makeup as a yakuza. (That casting choice alone is worth the watch.)

Episode 4, Fear Zone, features Hirose Suzu and Hayashi Kento as a sibling duo making horror content on YouTube.

The drama departs from the source material. Kyoko shifts from newspaper reporter to broadcast journalist. The Gas Human's origin story moves away from a space-flight experiment toward something the show frames as more tragic. Toho's broader Transformation Human trilogy—Liquid Human, Radio Wave Human, Gas Human—provides the franchise context.

Yeon's 2026 film Collective preceded this project.