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Motorcycle Book Store > Motorcycle books beginning with R
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The Ring: Volume 1 |
Author: Hiroshi Takahashi
Published: 2003-11-25 |
List price: $14.95
Our price: $11.66
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As of: August 19th, 2008 10:10:37 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 My way to see the movie without seeing the movie.
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.
 Am I cursed after reading this graphic novel?
I believe that I had two strikes against me when I read this book. First, I have seen both the American film version as well as Ringu dozens of times, so I am very familiar with the screenplay story, second (and probably more troublesome), this was my first manga that I have ever read. Don't get me wrong, it was entertaining to sit down and read a familiar story from the back of the book and from right to left (instead of the traditional left to right), but it just wasn't enjoyable. I am slowly submerging myself into graphic novels. I was first introduced to them via Neil Gaiman in his Sandman series and have been trying to research them further and further. The Ring was a gift for my birthday, a very thoughtful gift, that I was very excited to jump into (again, being the first manga that I have ever "done"), but alas, what failed in this book (unlike in the films) was the obvious lack of either the translation or tone of the story.
Koji Suzuki has found cult fame with his novels surrounding a videotape that has the ultimate power to kill if viewed. It is a frightening premise that was powerfully translated well in the film Ringu and brought to America even better with Watts' version. To me, these were scary stories. They combined two terrifying concepts, technology and ghosts. Also, they had a terrifying violin score that would spook the pants off anyone within an ear length away. They were bold, innovative, and superbly done. Yet, somehow, no matter how well I justify it in my mind, this small graphic novel did not live up to the hype. When you read a film, you expect two things, either the opportunity to witness something that the film could not capture, or a stronger development into the minds of the characters (a downfall of film). In this graphic novel, neither of these two events occurred.
From the flat, bland artwork of Misao Inagaki to a horrid translation by Takahashi, we are left reading a 154-page novel that feels more like a B-rated horror than the terror that the actual films were able to produce. To begin, the artwork, at least in my eyes, is horrible. There are moments that feel like Inagaki never finished a frame, but instead rushed to the next one. The artwork feels rushed from the beginning to the end. Add to this his inability to capture any attention to details and actual "spooky" moments, and one could wonder how Inagaki was able to secure this project. His work decreased the reading pleasure by at least 50%. The second issue was the translation. From the cheap dialogue (like near the end when Reiko announces "I wanted to see you") to the random frames of hysteria (when Reiko and ex-hubby are going through the files as well as the laughable well scene), the translation looses quite a bit of the actual horror surrounding the tape. There was even that final page in the book that infuriated me. It felt so unemotional, so unhuman, that I felt bitter after reading the final frame. Overall, I felt cheated reading this story. I was expecting to feel the same nail-biting terror as I did when I watched the films, even though I new the story, I was expecting a great deal of amazing drawings and character pushed stories. Again, none of this occurred.
I was unable to create the same excitement for this book as I was the films, and that is not good. Books are in place to paint a better picture of a world than any film could ever do. I read books associated with films (graphic novels or novels) so that I can go deeper than I could with any visual stimuli. I want my mind to know a character better than anyone that just watched the film. I would like the two to be somehow connected. I see certain things in the film that I wouldn't catch in the book. I kinda saw that here with the missing horse scene from the American version of the film, and the push in this book to make Sadako's mother a "superhuman". I did like in this book the scene at the Tokyo press conference to demonstrate Sadako's mother's power, but it did nothing but leave you wanting more (which never happened).
Overall, this was a tough read with both a new style of reading as well as what felt like a "rushed" product. The story was in place, but the cheap drawings and undedicated storyline soured the experience. I do not suggest this book to those that loved the two films. I especially do not recommend this book to those that loved Suzuko's original novels. This was a stain on the cult stories known as The Ring.
Grade: ** out of *****
The Ring Volume One
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.
Essential reading for the RING enthusiast!
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!
One HELL of an addictive manga!!!
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!!!
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