The Ring 2 is a manga based on the novel written by Koji Suzuki and was adapted by Meimu in terms of artwork and Hiroshi Takashi took the job in creating the script.
The manga takes place after the events that happened on The Ring in which Ryuji and Reiko found the body of Sadako. They thought everything will be over until Ryuji died. After these turn of events, Reiko asked his father to watch the tape so that his son, Yoichi will be saved by the curse of the videotape. Well, the first 45 pages of the manga is a brief flashback on the events that happened on The Ring!
Now for the main thing, the manga opens with that old man back in Sadako’s hometown was called to identify the body in which we learned the shocking truth, Sadako was alive inside that well for 30 years and she just died a couple of years ago.
Meanwhile, Mai Takano, Ryuji’s student is looking for some answers about the death of her professor, so she went to Reiko’s office to discover that she is missing. She also went in her house in which Mai slowly discovers her psychic powers and still, Reiko is nowhere to be found.
Later on, Mai visited the hospital in which Masami, a witness when Sadako killed her victim was confined. Because of that event, she does not want to get near beside a TV set. But an event caused her to accidentally saw a TV. Thus, Mai saw the Sadako’s well and her psychic power went into full development, and learned that Yoichi needs her help.
As the story progressed, she met Yoichi, the son of Ryuji and Reiko. Unable to speak and was running away from a figure later identified by Yoichi as the Long Haired Woman. Because of strange turn of events, Yoichi is slowly consumed by fear and due to the fact of his father’s genes, he inherited his psychic powers. Put those two elements aside, along with anger, he slowly developed into another “Sadako.”
Will Mai’s newfound abilities save Yoichi? Will Yoichi be totally consumed by fear? That is for you to find out.
On to the review, I haven’t read the original review due to obvious reasons but I watched ¾’s of the original Japanese film before my mother forced me to turn off the TV because it is getting late. To be honest, back then, I didn’t know what the hell is going on in the whole film until now.
The Ring 2, contrary to popular belief is a scary piece of work in which a Long Haired Woman is crawling out from the well and kill you, but it is more of a title that revolves around mixing science with the psychic forces quite unknown to man. Kinda like Death Note except it is more realistic and quite believable is some angle.
On the plot, I love the Science meets the Supernatural thing going on! I mean, it’s really rare that Science did a major role in a work that is related to the supernatural. One of the things that I liked about this is that it is more of an indirect sequel and not a direct sequel of the first Ring making new readers easy to “get in” the story without much exploring the back story of Reiko, the only adult character from the previous Ring that survived.
I liked two things about this manga adaptation. First, is Meimu’s artwork. Second, is how it grips me to continue on reading it. Since I don’t know Meimu’s gender, I’ll just address the guy via his/her name.
A graphic novel will not work without these two elements, the writing if it is an adaptation, the adapted script based on the source in which it was based and the artwork by the artist. Heck, why is it called a graphic novel if it doesn’t have pictures?
The translation of Takahashi’s script was good but the script really worked thanks to Meimu’s artwork. Meimu’s artwork has this feel as if you are not reading it but watching it. It grips you in continuing to read it. I love the facial expressions are well animated in the character’s faces. In addition, I love the detail on Sadako’s decaying arms and the semi-gore factor on some panels.
The weakness in reading a manga that is not the first volume especially if you don’t have the knowledge about it is that you don’t get what is going on unless the publishers decide to place a page or pages dedicated to the events that happened prior to the volume. That is what it did for the new readers who haven’t read no.1.
Overall, even at first, I was skeptical on reading this since I have this fear of adaptation decay thanks to the American The Ring film. However, after finishing reading it, I loved how the original work was adapted. In case you haven’t watched the films nor read the novel, this is a must read for those who are curious on the story of that girl who crawls out from the well.