Customer Reviews

The Ring, Vol. 1

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After Koji Suzuki made it big with the Ring, it was a matter of time before it went into one of Japan's best-known mediums-manga. Artist Misao Inagaki and scripter Hiroshi Takahashi made it into a manga in 1999, and only in 2003 did an English language version reach American shores.

The story is so well-told from the American movie version to the Japanese and Korean movie versions, but I'll repeat it anyway. An urban legend tells of a videotape that will kill anyone who watches it within a week. Was this behind the death of Tomoko, the niece of reporter and single mother Reiko Asakawa?

Reiko learns a couple of things, that it wasn't just Reiko who died, but three of her friends who also watched the cursed video and died at the exact same time. Things take a turn when she visits the South Hakone Pacific Land resort where Tomoko and her friends spent vacation and watches a very strange video. Sure enough, a message at the end tells her she'll die within a week.

She enlists the aid of her ex-husband, Ryuji Takamura, a university professor who's having an affair with his student helper, Mai Takano. Confident of his intellect and cool-headedness, she believes he can help her. Sure enough, he sees it as a challenging game, and after analyzing the video bit by bit, discovers clues, such as an obscure dialect, a volcano, and the character Sada reflected in a human eye. "Whoever made this isn't normal. Without a tremendous amount of evil energy, this kind of complex prank can't be done." Note: unlike the movie, Ryuji seems a dashing sort of guy, younger than the actor who portrayed Ryuji in Ringu.

Their investigations lead them to Izu Oshima and to Sadako Yamamura. The rest is history. In the manga, like the films, the main character is a female and not male per the novel. Also, the more unsavory aspects of Ryuji's character has been eliminated, and the reason why Sadako was killed has been altered in the various versions. Here, it's mostly correct except for one aspect. Also, the concept with the blurred photos, never a part of the novel, is made here, as with the film versions.

The art here is definitely not the glittery wide-eyed shoujo style, although Mai, who is drawn kind of cute, is closest to it, but a more serious sort. Some of it is pretty macabre, such as Reiko waking up to the sight of a bloodied Tomoko, which leads to her discovering that her son Yoichi has just watched the video. However, the drawing of Sadako, dressed in a white robe, long black hair flowing down her face, obscuring it, will have entered the annals of horror film legend due to its replication in the three Ring films and variations of it in The Hypnotist and Ju-On. And her emerging from the TV makes for good graphic novel horror.

Followed by Ring 2, Spiral, the proper novel sequel to Ring, and the prequel Birthday, Ring Vol. 1 stands out as a great manga version of Suzuki's novel.

Waiting around at a Borders two days ago, I pulled up a stool near their modest collection of manga. Usually, I thumb through a copy of Sailor Moon manga, but my eyes were drawn away and towards The Ring, which had not been there during my last visit several weeks ago.

I had originally intended for only a quick read, but I ended up spending 40 minutes going on a mental and emotional thrill ride. Awesome must-read, with an exceptionally creepy ending (which I will NOT share here).

Like the book, it has NOTHING to do with the "before you die, you see the ring" theme of the Hollywood movie. The horror is more intangible than obvious, with much of it left to the imagination.

I don't usually like horror-related books or anything else (besides Castlevania), but I LOVED this manga, and I really want to get the book.

This is a story about Reiko, a Japanese journalist. After her neice dies a gruesome death, she starts investigating an urban legend. The legend is that if you see a cursed video tape, you'll die in exactly seven days. Reiko watches the movie, and, enlisting the help of her ex-husband, finds out how to break the curse. During her research, her young son Yoichi accidentally watches the movie, as well. Can't tell ya how it ends, though! ^_~ This is an exellent manga, and I highly reccomend it.

THE RING - do I really need to say more? One of the most successful horror franchises of all time it started with Koji SUZUKI's bestselling novel of the same name. Success spawned several sequels of the book. Then came the TV movie, the theatrical movie (2 sequels, 1 prequel), a South Korean remake (RING VIRUS), a TV series, Playstation games and the US remake and its sequel. And of course there is this manga-isation.
Personally I find RING a bit overrated while undeniably very creepy and athmospheric. This judgement may seem a bit harsh but being a die-hard fan of Asian cinema (I watched THE RING on an English subtitled Malaysian videotape several years prior to the current craze) I know there are lots of similary themed but superior fear flicks from the Far East. Although there is no denying that THE RING is a true modern classic deserving its status.
I do not want to go into too much detail here plotwise as it is safe to assume that anybody who views this item on amazon's product page is already familiar with the storyline. Let me just assure you that it sticks closely to the plot of the movie (keep in mind that this manga details the original Japanese RING, not the Americanized version). One or two unimportant details could differ from the movie, but I am not 100% sure as I have not seen the film in ages. If memory serves me right, the phone rings in the movie after the characters watch the cursed video. Again, I could be wrong. Anyway, there are no major differences between the movie and the manga plotwise.
The manga has a very film-like feel to it. The eerie athmosphere of the movie is convincingly captured.
It is also nicely drawn. Yes, being a manga, it has some of the characteristics of this artform (characters have big eyes, for instance, but it is not too distracting). Be aware that the publishers of this comic have preserved the original Japanese right-to-left reading format - don't be afraid, though, as this sounds more complicated than it actually is and one really gets used to it very quickly. Also the onomatopoeic sounds (slam! thud! whoosh! splash! etc) are represented in their original Japanese characters, but again nothing too irritating.

It goes without saying that the manga is a must-have for RING buffs but I'm sure that also more casual viewers of the film will enjoy the comic. Personally I had a great time with it.
Enjoy!

I walked into the library and noticed that a book called The Ring was on display. My eyes brightened because, not only was it a manga, but it was also a book version of the one horror movie I'd always wanted to see but never had the guts to. So I borrowed it.

Scared the living daylights out of me.

I loved the Ring (which I realized only until after it was actually Ringu, not the Ring), and I'd love to read the second manga one if the first didn't seriously freak me out. Probably my favorite manga that I've read, and it let me see the movie without seeing the movie. I don't know how much to the movie it was, but from what I've heard, it was pretty accurate. Also, it was draw really well, without those annoying chibis popping up everywhere.

P.S. I wanna be Sadako for Halloween.

Wow. I was unbelievably dissapointed when I read this. I love the Japanese film and the book and it doesn't do it justice.

CONS:
-Incredibly flat drawings.
-Doesn't follow the story correctly. It was cool when they added elements from the novel (like Sadako's grandmother), but in this, they have Sadako die a different way. This would be okay, but this is supposed to be based solely on the movie. This is eventually led to the wonderfully made "Ring 0" manga, where Sadako dies correctly (within the movies). Also, because of the artist shift between The Ring and the rest of the mangas, Sadako's well changes from a Samara-like well, to a smoother well. The one in this book, is actually a little more frightening.
-Dialogue. Lines like "Sadako's scary!" just don't cut it. I much prefer the movie's quote "She's a devil child (spawn)."
-Pacing. The way that they transition Asakawa taking to Yoichi, and then driving to the Inn was in a word, odd.

PROS:
-The final scene where Ryuji dies. This is the one place the drawings shine. It seems that the artist was so anxious to get to draw this scene, that they rushed everything else.
-Length. It's very long, which makes any reader happy.

FINAL: 4 MAJOR PROBLEMS, 2 HIGHLIGHTS = 2 STARS
RECOMMENDED? Yes and No. Yes because Ring 2 won't make sense. And no because Ring 0 won't make sense.

I read the book, saw the movie and so I just HAD read the manga!!!! In this chilling manga of horror and suspense, A newspaper Reporter Asakawa Reika investigates a mysterious videotape with disturbing ans shocking images. The video sperads out the message: "If you watch this tape, you will die in a week.". She then shows it to her friend Ryuji, who dosen't beleive her at first. But when her son watches the tape, She then is terrified and has only a week to unveil the mystery of THE RING!!!

I read the manga before I'd read the novel, and I still haven't seen the films (I have a thing about reading the books first). Anyway....

I thought the manga wasn't that great as I was reading it, but when I got to the end I was like WOW. On reflection, I really enjoyed it, although horror mangas aren't really my thing. So I went out and bought the novel. Obviously the novel was much more detailed, it filled in all the gaps, all the little things that weren't fully explained in the manga. The novel has actually helped me to appreciate the manga more, and, even though I know the ending now, I still believe if I read it again I would not be able to put it down.

To the point: If you're torn between manga and novel, buy the novel, it's better (the depth of the storyline proves how much of a genius Suzuki is) but the manga is still a good read. Not to mention I love the drawing style, some parts are very creepy indeed when you're reading at 3am!

Very Scary!!! This manga tells the story of a cursed video, in which after you watch it you die in seven days. It is similar to the american movie, but keeps with the japanese movie series more. It can be very scary if your reading it at night! Definately worth getting!!

The Ring is definately worth getting. Some of the drawings can be a little better, but that is basically the only bad part. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop. It is very creepy and mysterious, especially if your reading it late at night. It is similar to the movie, but keeps to the Japanese series.