The Ningen (1991 Deep Sea Video)

The Ningen (1991 Deep Sea Video) is the second episode in The Ningen (1990-1992) series. Inspired by the Japanese creepypasta, it is about a series of creatures known as 'Ningens' that actually different kinds of humans which are deformed in some way. It picks up where the first video in the series, The Ningen (1990 Sighting), left off.

## Synopsis

The video starts off with a different logo for the Japanese Office for Human Studies. It then shows a diagram of a circular shape, labelled 'cranium', before the camera moves down, revealing that it's a diagram of a human skull, labelled 'orbit', 'nasal cavity', etc. The camera keeps moving down to reveal a spine, before it briefly stops at a part of the spine called a 'spinous reversal', before it moves down, showing what appears to be a flipped spine that ends at a pair of collar bones, revealing a pair of shoulder blades and humeri, along with an abnormally small ribcage and sternum. Text appears on screen, saying;

It is very primitive,

before the camera moves down to show a completely unrecognizable pair of limbs, accompanied by the text;

It is easy to evade.

The camera moves down to reveal 'feet like snowshoes'. The camera zooms out to reveal a 'friendly human' which is actually the skeleton of a creature with a human skull, abnormally small spinal column that flips parallelly on either side, with a small ribcage with only a fair amount pf bones, and a strange appendicular skeleton with strange appendages.

The video than transitions to a series of illustrations of cave paintings in Antarctica, which 'predate the story of Icarus by 11,000 years'. The cave paintings tell a story that starts off with 'mountain humans' finding a mysterious corpse of an undiscernible creature. One of the humans wonders what is beyond the mountain. They climb to the top of a steep cliff face and see a whale swimming in the water. The whale asks the human if they are planning to jump off the cliff, to which the human denies, saying that they envy the freedom of the whales, allowed by their tails, and that their legs trap them on the mountain. Not knowing what to say, the whale leaves.

The human 'bends their form' so that they resemble a whale and purposely jump off the mountain. The human finds the whale from before and the whale is left speechless, but is filled with hope. They tell the human to follow them and shows the human a tall, underwater cliff, saying that they "wish to go beyond too". At the bottom of the cliff is a mysterious, undiscernible creature. The whale and human fuse together and become the species of the mysterious creature, and jump off the underwater cliff. They land on the ground besides the creature, who whispers them to follow it. The creature shows the whale-human hybrid another steep cliff-like formation, saying that they "wish to go beyond too".

The hybrid climbs down the steep cliff and jumps off, landing on the mountain from before, with text saying that the mountain humans will find the mysterious corpse. The story ends and we are then shown a vaguely discernible image taken in 1990 of the human corpse on the mountain, which is nicknamed Icarus I. We are then shown footage of a whale-like creature from 1991 called a 'living human', nicknamed Icarus II.

We are then shown another diagram of a 'human', this time of the aquatic Ningen creature. The tail is actually a spine (with spinous reversal), the body consisting of a ribcage, which is connected to a shoulder blade with flipper-like arms protruding out of it. At the base of the neck is a human skull. It is also labelled as a 'friendly human'. We are then shown the two human skeleton diagrams, accompanied by a question mark, implying a third Ningen creature. The terrestrial Ningen and the question mark move off-screen, and the camera zooms in on the aquatic Ningen, which starts spinning so that the spine is upright.

A screen with the words;

STAGE 3

appear and it suddenly moves on to a panicking Hugo Funatsu shaking about, yelling about how 'it's head and arms sloshed off like uterine lining' and that it 'ascended into the sky'. He tells of how it hung with no clear direction, but it's gaze could be felt on all of the crew of a Soviet ship named Professor Zubov. It was impossible and beautiful, like a glimpse into an ancient process. The Professor Zubov pulled the crew away from it's view, but the memory is a putrid stain on all of their minds. It suddenly starts showing a collection of images of the floating spinal Ningen.

We are then shown a close-up of an image of the Professor Zubov. The camera zooms out, showing that the Soviet words for 'help' are written all across it. It then shows an image of an illustration found in the Soviet ship, depicting the giant spine with tentacle-like tendrils coming out of the top of it, attacking a couple men, with another man shown wielding an axe. The drawing then turns into an 1844 artpiece by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, showing a giant human skeleton staring at a group of humans. The video ends with definition of the word 'human' being shown, which apparently means 'you', accompanied by audio explaining that humans are a species built around tool making.

## Description

Another videotape from the Japanese Office for Human Studies.

(Tags: Professor Zubov [Soviet ship])

## Trivia

* During the scenes where text is on screen, the Japanese spelling contradicts the English words.
	+ The Japanese label for the terrestrial Ningen's cranium translates to 'an intelligent hunter'.
	+ The labels for the orbits translate to 'that's a good eye' and 'which hunts prey'.
	+ The label for the nasal cavity translates to 'it smells fear'.
	+ The label for the maxilla translates to 'that tear the flesh apart'.
	+ The label for the mandible translates to 'and the bones'.
	+ The label for the terrestrial Ningen's spine translates to 'that turns into a tail'.
	+ The label for the spinous reversal translates to 'hunts at the bottom of the ocean'.
	+ The Japanese text for 'it is very primitive' translates to 'it is more evolved than any of us'.
	+ The Japanese text for 'it is easy to evade' translates to 'it will always out run you'.
	+ The Japanese text for 'feet like snowshoes' translates to 'it's grasp can kill you instantly'.
	+ The Japanese text for 'friendly human' translates to 'if you want to see your family again, avoid Ningen at all costs'.
	+ The text above 'predates the story of Icarus by 11,000 years' translates to 'our mythologies were their mythologies'.
	+ The text above 'the whale is filled with hope' translates to 'whale is filled with fear'.
	+ The text for Icarus I translates to 'Keizo' (which is once again spelt in Katakana as a reference to the previous episode).
	+ The text for Icarus II translates to 'removed out of respect to the Funatsu family'.
	+ The label for the aquatic Ningen's spinous reversal translates to 'a powerful engine'.
	+ The label for the ribcage translates to 'cannibalist'.
	+ The label for the shoulder blade translates to 'bullet-proof bone'.
	+ The label for the humerus translates to 'a superior instinct'.
	+ The label for the radius/ulna translates to 'always'.
	+ The label for the hand translates to 'tears down the neck'.
	+ The label for the skull translates to 'that remembers everybody'.
	+ The text for 'friendly human' translates to 'ancestor of cannibalism'.
* As the camera zooms into the words '11,000 years' the text above the reads 'illustrations of cave paintings in Antarctica' slowly turns into 'are we their warm children?'. This is a call back to the previous episode, in which that line was also used.
* If you look closely at the screen where it says Stage 3, the skeleton of the Stage 3 Ningen can be seen in the red static.
* Professor Zubov is the ship that evacuated the crew of the 1990 Trans-Antarctica Expedition from the continent (as the Antarctic winter came in).
* The Utagawa Kuniyoshi painting is of a Japanese legend about the execution of real life figure Taira no Masakado. Masakado was a leader and a samurai who betrayed the emperor and lead a failed rebellion. A bounty was put on his head, and he decapitated by his nephew, as revenge for killing his father prior. In revenge Taira no Masakado's daughter, Takiyasha Hime, raised the bones of his deceased army, and fused them into a single entity, a 'gashadokuro', which is essentially a Japanese-style demon. It ravaged the land of Kyoto until her father's head was returned to a small fishing village called Shibasaki. Today, Masakado has been defied a protector of Shibasaki, which is modern day Tokyo.
* The person holding the axe in the illustration is smiling.
* The word human actually refers to human beings, instead of the person that the video is addressing, as in you, the reader.
	+ But then again, everyone that saw the video and understood what the message said was human.