First off, I want to say that English is not my mother-tongue. I try my best to avoid mistakes, but I’m sure that here and there I will make some smaller or bigger errors.Trigger warning: Rape.Now to the review.I’ve read The Ring for a Seminar on Japanese contemporary literature and literary discourse. I read parts of the original Japanese novel and the German translation, which is a translation from the English translation… Yes, this happens more often than we academics wished for. Translations are already tricky, but to be so lazy as to translate a translation? I have no words for this incredibly stupid practice of German publishing companies. They did this with Mishima Yukio’s Confessions of a Mask, also translated from English to German. No, they did not bother to make a new translation from Japanese, yet. We only have the translation from 1964. Good job, publishers!Back to the topic.Like many others I have seen the movies: the whole Japanese Ringu series, and the American version The Ring. I was excited to read the novel, since I expected something intriguing, uncanny, a well-developed plot, and a deeper insight into the characters. Unfortunately, I am rather disappointed.It’s not a terrible book, but while reading it I had the feeling I was holding the first draft instead of a published novel. There are several points I want to mention to illustrate what exactly irked me.1. The writing styleI have read worse, but I have read better. Suzuki writes very simplistic, and while I think that a simple writing style per se is not bad, it seemed that he just couldn’t write better. In many instances he focuses on the wrong details. For example, the first chapter is a very long, very boring description of building, neighborhood, and so forth, that do not add to the setting. It is a dull description with no connection or payoff with the mystery that is going on inside the house. I didn’t matter how the neighborhood looked like at all, since the main part of the story was inside the character: her thoughts, fears, anxiety, etc., and the horror that took her life.Another problem was the lack of sensory descriptions. It was a lot of telling, and almost no showing. If Suzuki described something it was almost entirely visual, and in second place what the character felt like. No smell, no taste, no touch, no audio. This makes it very difficult to fully emerge into the story. It’s even worse, because the plot doesn’t really affect the characters. Asakawa is understandably disturbed and concerned, but he’s such a whiny, arrogant prick that I don’t care what happens to him. And when he says “This here is very disturbing to me!” I, as a reader, don’t care, because it’s not only too much telling (instead of showing), there is seldom any real consequence from what is happening. Sure, more whiny panicking, but does Asakawa actually DO more than that? Nope. He prefers to angst about his misunderstood intellect, that poor righteous soul.Also, the plotting doesn’t always work.Asakawa decides to take a taxi. The driver reports from a mysterious sudden death of a young man on his motor bike. The young man falls to the ground, while clutching his throat, and then he dies. Just like that. Asakawa is immediately intrigued although he shouldn’t. In reality, it’s just a random death and as a journalist Asakawa has surely heard hundreds and thousands of stories about people dying. But no, because the author knows the story is relevant, Asakawa “feels” it’s relevant. Instincts, he calls it. I call it bullshit.The driver then says, after Asakawa asks, that the young man died from a heart attack on day XY. HERE is when Asakawa should have been interested, because the boy died the same day, same hour, and because of the same reason as his niece died. THIS should have caught his attention. Not some random dude dying.Suzuki, this is not how it works.This “instinct” or deus ex machine plot driving machine happens quite often.2. PlotholesThere are minor and bigger plotholes.Some of the smaller ones are inconsistencies from one page to the other. The first chapter the girls describes how a moth flies through a window into her room, flutters a little bit around, and out it goes again. Just two or three pages later she sees a fly and wonders how it got into the room, since everything was closed. What? She JUST described how a moth flew in and out of her open window but the fly is oh so mysterious?Another scene: Asakawa drives during the night to the holiday park inn. It’s heavily raining. He clearly says that he stops the windshield wipers when the rain stops. Just a few pages later he says that he hadn’t noticed how the rain had stopped. What again?I can get that he was so caught up in thoughts and fear/anticipation he might have not noticed the rain stop, but AFTER he consciously stopped the wipers, clearly thinking “Oh, it’s not raining anymore, better stop using these!” and then he forgets? How is that possible?These mistakes are small but show how much care was put into writing the story. And I haven’t even started with the bigger plotholes, yet.3. Media and science is bad, y’all!I love good stories and non-fiction books/discussion/whatever about the “good and bad” of media and science. Both things are incredibly important for our society. They are great tools for information, advancement, and education which, in a ‘perfect’ world, would lead to progress.Of course there are the darker sides. Just off the top of my head: propaganda, misinformation, falsification of data, instrumentalization for war machinery, the question of whether we should make experiment A or B and the moral stands, the dangers of ‘robotizing’ society, and much more. As with many things in life, it depends on how you use it and what for.Suzuki on the other hand knows better. He has found the hidden and ugly face of media and science: THEY ARE EVIL!If I had known that it was this simple…Asakawa is a journalist himself and while Suzuki shoves in some “media is not all bad!” and “well, science and technology are useful!”, he always follows it with his big, glaring, billboard sized “BUT!”. What follows is the same one-sided BS you hear when someone starts with “I’m not a racist, but…!”.The book is set in 1991 (if I’m not mistaken…maybe 1989?). Asawaka and his boss think of his catastrophic failure from two years ago where he wrote an article with occultist elements. Apparently two years before the story about Asakawa and Sadako happened, Japan had a huge wave of occultist hysteria with “commoners” sending stories to newspaper publishers. First, they make fun of the stupid Japanese, non-journalistic population, because Haha, look at those idiots! All of Japan’s media ignored the happening, destroyed the texts, and congratulated themselves for their elitist club. Then, when it is clear that spooky shit is happening, Asakawa goes full idiot mode: “Media didn’t believe them, but supernatural things are real! They do happen! Those ignorant journalists and scientists!”Excuse me, but what exactly are you getting all worked up for?If there is something supernatural going on, prove it. Show it to scientists and then see what happens. Don’t blame media for being skeptical if they don’t believe in the boogeyman although there never was any proof for his existence.It gets worse. Warning, this part contains spoilers on Sadako’s backstory!Shizuko, Sadako’s mother, had supernatural powers, commonly called as ESP. She could see into the future, read minds, and other stuff. Her husband, a doctor, wanted to proof that she had those powers. In the beginning the media was all excited, but soon skepticism grew, since there were only written texts and no tangible proofs of her abilities. Society and media scrutinized them. That of course is awful, but at the same time understandable. Would you believe anyone on the internet who says “Hey, I can totally read people’s minds! Make a video and proof it? Call scientists? Nah, just believe me, it’s real!”? Didn’t think so.Shizuka’s husband then wants to proof her abilities in front of media and calls for a press conference. All is ready, cameras rolling, people waiting, but Shizuko fails – the pressure and stress, as well as the peoples thoughts (they don’t believe her and she hears that), as well as the fact that she didn’t want to do the test but her husband forced her too (oh, the sexism is another topic…) – and all media attacks them. Of course they think it’s a sham.While I do think that media can go too far when antagonizing certain people, we shouldn’t forget the fact that they were rightfully criticizing them, since there was NO proof for Shizuko’s ability. WE as the reader know about her powers but why should the rest of the world just believe her?Exactly, there is no reason to.Shizuko’s later throws herself into a volcano. Her husband gets very sick and dies also. Sadako is an orphan.What do Asakawa and Ryuji (his “BFF”) think?Well, of course Sadako is angry with the press and the WHOLE Japanese society! The dared criticize them for “magic abilities” they couldn’t prove! Those evil bastards! Yes, the WHOLE Japanese society is responsible for Shizuko’s death.How about this: Sadako’s father is responsible.Boom, mind blown! He forced her to prove her powers and Shizuko failed because of the pressure and antagonizing energy towards her. Instead of blaming the person responsible for her failure – her husband – Suzuki blames the press, because how fucking dare they not believe in something clearly never witnessed before! I mean they are after all being hunted by a magical killing video tape energy virus!As I said, media might have gone overboard, but come the fuck on.It’s even worse, because Suzuki says through Asawaka and Ryuji: Yeah, science/technology is neat and all, but scientists can’t explain EVERYTHING, therefore they are useless! Lying, fascistic pigs with no moral fiber!Science is not here to dismiss magic and sit on a horse, mightily judging the plebs. If there is “magic” (or EPS or whatever), science will take a look at it and try to find out WHAT it is and HOW it works!If someone can read minds and you have proof (videos and lots of tests, etc.), scientists will do everything to find out how it works because science is all about understanding what is there by proving and disproving.Can you imagine how it would change the world if there was a huge, quantifiable source of ESP activity?Well, it would not only change the world as we know it, it would become “science”, since the difference between “magic” and “science” is: I can quantify it and prove its existence, now I have to understand how it works.Suzuki mentions several times how arrogant scientists are since they can’t understand everything and they would discard prove of the supernatural, because scientists are just arrogant, elitist assholes and of course you should believe in magically killing video tapes, y’all! I SAW it!Since Suzuki has exactly two people talking about science and both are self-congratulatory assholes about their incredibly “philosophical” dispute and just say: “Yep, science is stupid, because they don’t believe”, the discourse ends with that ignorant statement and a glaring warning sign of Suzuki’s inability to understand what the fuck science is all about.4. Sexism and rapeBefore I start, let me first say that I do not condone the topic of rape or sexism in literature. Both things are prevalent in our society and should have their space in literature as well. Disgusting figures in literature have their right to exist, because there are disgusting people in reality. A book is not bad because rape or sexism happen, it is bad when it uses rape for shock value (with a side-dish of apologist discourse) and blatant, internalized, and never questioned sexism (by no one).Let’s begin with something light.Every time a woman talks or is about to talk, Asakawa gets pissed as hell.His wife is concerned about his weird behavior?“OMG, shut up! I’m busy investigating, woman, don’t you see?!” that’s what the thinks. Internally nagging about his wife Shizuko (similar name to Sadako’s mother, yes, but different kanji). He even says that shizu comes from quiet, so she should follow her name and shut the fuck up.How about you tell your wife something important is bugging you, but you can’t tell her right now, but you will, as soon as you are ready? Talk to her like a fucking adult instead of dismissing her as the typical “talkative” wife, which she clearly isn’t? You patronizing prick.When Asakawa calls his in laws he is happy when Shizuko’s father picks up, because the mother-in-law would “talk too much, omg so annoying!!! Geez, women! Ugh!”. In a short scene on the video (not part of Sadako’s nightmare ride) you see a program on literature, with the male host, male poet, and the pretty looking bimbo girl. This is how the book describes it, I shit you not.“Look at that useless, pretty girl!” Choke on that, girls.The receptionist working for Nagao (appears below)? Stupid, talkative bitch!The maybe-gf of Ryuji? Well, she is pure and okay, but mainly because she is oh so fucking pretty and skinny! OMG soooo pretty! Look at how pretty she is! She is smart? Who the fuck cares, pretty! Breasts! Legs! Innocence! Skinny!Sadako? OMG SOOOO PRETTY! LIKE EVEN PRETTIER THAN RYUJI’S GF! OMG INSTABONER!Women: talkative, nagging, ugly bitches or decorative elements for male sexual satisfaction.This is sexist, for both men and women.And this shit is completely normal in the book. Nobody thinks twice. Of course women talk too much and annoy the poor hero! Of course pretty women need to be fucked and/or raped! Of course women don’t have any important position ever! There are only there to look pretty!One girl in the course was all like “Well, what did you expect, it was THOSE times, and it’s Japan”. Thank you, I know Japan has major issues with sexism. This does not mean that I should accept it without any criticism and join the club. Just no.Yes, there are very talkative women and women who use their looks, but a) none of these two things are represented in the books, it’s all male gaze and stereotyping things who aren’t like that, b) all the women in the novel is just too fucking much, and c) it’s not a women’s thing to be like that, because men can be like that, too.And even if, there is no reason to behave like a douchebag.This part will contain major spoilers and a HUGE plot twist.Reader’s discretion advised!Asakawa is a journalist, and since Suzuki is clearly a better writer than I am, Asakawa is almost completely unable to think logically, find and understand clues, and interpret obvious messages. That is why he needs help from his “BFF” Ryuji, a professor of philosophy and rapist.Asakawa loves to say how much he despises Ryuji and describes him as disgusting, weird, and unpleasant. Why is he friends with him? Because the plot says so. There is no other fucking reason.While they talk about the dead kids and the tape Ryuji mentions that he “did it again”. Asakawa explains how as a teenager he “befriended” Ryuji, or rather Ryuji him. Asakawa was 16/17 waiting in class, reading, before school started, when a still drunk Ryuji appears. He then tells him how he got drunk, took a stroll in the middle of the night, and got a “feeling” of raping a woman he had seen. So he goes to her apartment, and wonder of wonders, the door is magically open. He gets in and rapes her.Asakawa is disgusted and does absolutely nothing. He doesn’t tell anybody, nor does he call the police. I would have accepted it, since he was still a teenager and probably scared himself. But Ryuji later on continued raping, Asakawa knew that, and did jackshit to stop him. Asakawa is around 33 to 35 years old, is married and has an 18-months-old daughter. One could think that an adult, a journalist, a man with wife and daughter would somehow CARE for something like rape. Nope. Not him.He doesn’t call the police. Ever. He doesn’t even think he could or should. But he is oh so utterly disgusted by Ryuji, guys!Now some who read the novel might say: “But it’s not clear IF Ryuji really raped those women!”Well, not only is the doubt of those rapes rather weak, Asakawa STILL should have called the police numerous times! He has a man confessing his crimes in detail! His fucking job as a human being is to call the police, tell them everything he knows and that’s it. It’s then the police’s job to see what happened and prove Ryuji’s guilt.There is literally no reason at all for Asakawa to shut his trap other than he is too fucking stupid to solve the mystery himself so he befriends a rapist for over 15 years so one day that “friend” can save his stupid ass from a killer video tape virus.But this isn’t enough. Oh, no!Now we get to the grrrrreat bits with Sadako!Here I warn again of major spoilers and plot twists.Sadako goes to Tokyo when she’s 18/19 and joins a theater group. We find out that one of the group’s founder has the hots for her so of course he gets drunk and “visits” her in the middle of the night in her apartment. The guy telling the story makes it clear that the dude wanted to rape her. Everybody knew it, no one cared. Shit happens, I guess, eh, ladies?The next day he comes to practice, but he’s all pale and suddenly he dies. It’s clear that his rape attempt failed and later on we find out that Sadako, who didn’t go to rehearsal that day, had killed him telepathically.Congratulations, Sadako, you didn’t get raped thanks to your excellent ESP skills!Women, now we know how to protect us!This is also a good tip for men.So to everyone reading this: Remember, if you don’t want to get raped, close your doors and get your supernatural skills growing.Is this the end?Of course not!Sadako visits her sick father in a sanatorium for people suffering from tuberculosis. There works a young doctor who contracted smallpox, called Nagao. He sees Sadako, talks to her and gets suddenly a “dark urge”, a “voice” telling him to do things, and all that crap also Ryuji used to excuse his rapes.Nagao lures her away and rapes her, taking her virginity. Sadako fights and bites a huge chunk of flesh out of his shoulder so that the bone is visible. After the rape Nagao marvels at her breasts and the sunrays touching her glistening pubic hairs (just…don’t ask me…seriously), and then he looks again at her vagina and sees two fully grown testicles.Yes, Sadako is intersex.Here comes the voice again, telling him to do dark things, so he throws her into the well, throws down some rocks and kills her that way.Now, the rape part is horrible, but I could have “lived” with it, if not for what happened right after Asakawa and Ryuji knew the truth. Since Sadako has immense powers, more than her mother, they conclude that she should have fought harder – she already killed one dude, so why not kill Nagao? – and that she must have known she was going to get raped.Even better, she FORCED Nagao to rape and kill her, which in their opinion is the “dark voice” in Nagao’s head telling him to do so. Nagao is basically Sadako’s victim. She forced him to rape her because she wanted revenge.How and why?Well, Japanese society and media had killed her mother and since everyone is evil she wanted to take revenge. Now, Sadako is intersex, a fact that has been hinted twice. Once where a friend of Asakawa describes her (he looks at a photo from her time during the theatre group) as unbelievably beautiful (like every other guy in the story) in a very exaggerated creepy way, but she lacks “motherly qualities”. What the hell does that mean, you ask?Review too long. More here: http://www.animexx.de/weblog/413545/7...
Kalau saja malam itu, Asakawa, wartawan surat kabar Daily News, Tokyo, tidak pulang dengan taksi, mungkin hidupnya akan tenang-tenang saja sampai hari ini. Atau andai saja supir taksi yang dinaikinya itu tidak bercerita ihwal peristiwa kematian seorang remaja pria pada malam 5 September 1990, tentu Asakawa tak akan pernah terlibat pada urusan pelik yang kemudian mengancam nyawanya itu.Ya, semua bermula dari kisah supir taksi mengenai tewasnya Shuichi Iwata yang lalu mengingatkan Asakawa kepada keponakan istrinya, Tomoko Oishi, yang juga tewas pada malam yang sama dan dengan penyebab yang sama : serangan jantung mendadak.Naluri jurnalisnya segera mencium ada sesuatu yang tidak wajar dan misterius di balik kematian kedua remaja tersebut. Kecurigaan Asakawa makin kuat ketika kemudian ia mendapatkan berita dua orang remaja lainnya juga tewas pada malam yang sama. Ia pun lantas berniat menyelidiki kasus itu.Hasil penelusurannya membawa wartawan itu ke sebuah resort di Hakone. Ternyata seminggu sebelum kematian keempat remaja malang itu, mereka sempat menginap di resort tersebut dan menonton sebuah video yang mengandung kutukan mematikan bagi penontonnya, termasuk Askawa sendiri. Kutukan itu sebenarnya mempunyai penangkal. Hanya celakanya, bagian yang mengatakan tentang penangkal itu, justru rusak terhapus. Maka, Asakawa harus berlomba dengan waktu memecahkan misteri penangkal atau ia dan keluarganya harus mati seperti keempat remaja tadi.Dengan dibantu oleh sahabatnya, Ryuji, seorang dosen filsafat, sedikit demi sedikit terkuaklah tabir gelap yang melingkupi kutukan itu. Si pembuat kutukan adalah Sadako, seorang gadis jelita yang meninggal dua puluh lima tahun lalu. Ia merekam video maut tersebut melalui lensa matanya dengan kekuatan supranatural yang dimilikinya, mencoba menyampaikan pesan kepada dunia luar (penonton) perihal kematiannya.Memang agak sukar dipercaya rasanya bahwa ada orang yang bisa mempunyai kekuatan mistik serupa itu. Apalagi jika fakta tersebut hadir di tengah-tengah dunia modern saat ini dan di negeri berteknologi maju seperti Jepang atau Amerika. Ring adalah novel yang memadukan mistik dengan ilmu pengetahuan modern. Penulisnya, Koji Suzuki, berpendapat bahwa saat ini justru telah terjadi perkembangan baru dalam ilmu pengetahuan, psikologi paranormal khususnya, yang menyatakan cabang ilmu psikologi tersebut adalah salah satu kunci untuk menyingkap struktur alam semesta (hal 143). Hal inilah yang diangkatnya dalam novel horor yang di Jepang, konon, telah terjual sebanyak 2,8 juta kopi. Seperti lazimnya cerita horor, Ring pun dijejali adegan-adegan yang (diharapkan dapat) menghadirkan ketegangan ke tengah-tengah publik pembacanya, Ketegangan itu agak berbeda dengan saat kita membaca Da Vinci Code, misalnya. Pada Da Vinci Code, thriller yang tercipta disebabkan oleh bayangan kengerian peristiwa pembunuhan sadis, sedangkan dalam Ring, jikapun kita sedikit merasa tegang, itu karena unsur hantu dan mistisnya, walaupun keduanya sama-sama menyuguhkan kisah misteri pembunuhan.Belakangan ini kita saksikan layar televisi dan bioskop diramaikan oleh acara serta film-film bertema hantu dan mistik. Tampaknya, tema ini sedang digandrungi. Sebenarnya, lakon horor hantu-hantuan ataupun dunia mistik supranatural bisa sangat menarik jika digarap dengan baik, misalnya, What Lies Beneath (Robert Zemekcis). Tidak seperti yang terjadi pada televisi dan bioskop kita, yang justru terjerumus jadi cerita klenik tak masuk akal.Novel laris ini juga telah difilmkan, di Jepang dengan judul Ringu dan The Ring ( Gore Verbinski) di Hollywood. Ring adalah buku pertama dari triloginya. Judul buku lanjutannya adalah Spiral dan Loop. Bagi mereka yang gemar kisah horor dengan menyertakan hantu di dalamnya, Ring bisa jadi sangat menarik.
What do You think about Ring (2004)?
Creo que actualmente existen muy pocas personas que no hayan visto la adaptación japonesa o el remake estadounidense de este libro, yo las vi cuando tenia 13 años más o menos y me gustaron muchísimo, Sadako realmente da miedo, así que esperaba encontrar algo mas o menos parecido en el libro, al final no lo encontré, en cambio leí una historia mucho mas argumental y enfocada en la vida de un periodista después de haber visto una misteriosa y aparente, maldita cinta de vídeo, que predecía la muerte de quien la viera siete días después. Este libro, es el primer que leo de un escritor Japones y no me decepcionó, pero tampoco hizo que se convirtiera en uno de mis escritores favoritos. Realmente pensé que el libro iba a ser terrorífico, tiene partes con toques de suspenso y otras un tanto absurdas, perversas o simplemente que no hacían falta mencionar ya que no cambiaron en nada el rumbo de la historia, pero en general, creo que el libro esta bien, es sencillo, por lo que seguir la historia no es nada complicado y se lee con bastante facilidad.En cuanto a los personajes, no son nada del otro mundo, aunque me gustó mucho ver reflejada la cultura japonesa en cada uno de ellos. No puedo decir que tengo un favorito porque no sentí un conexión fuerte con ninguno, especialmente con Ryuji porque aunque creí conocerlo, al final el escritor me cambio todo y no pude saber como era el en realidad. Creo que de toda la historia el capitulo del 18 de Octubre, fue el mas tensionante y desesperante de leer, me sentía como Asakawa, pensando en todo momento que se le acaba el tiempo, creo que de todo el libro, ese, el primero que se enfoca en Tomoko, y el de Ryuji, son los mejores capítulos de este libro, sin duda alguna. En resumen, creo que la historia pudo ser mucho mejor, The Ring tiene contenido muy interesante que el escritor en ciertas partes no supo aprovechar; no la incluiría en el género del terror, si no mas bien en el de suspenso paranormal, en si, una lectura diferente que al igual que la película, te hace pasar un rato entretenido tratando de averiguar junto a Asakawa, ¿cuál es el misterio que envuelve esa cinta de vídeo? y saber si al final, ¿sobrevivirá a la maldición?
—Melissa A.
I didn't find this book to be scary either as I am very rarely frightened by books. I did have high hopes for it, as the American film version is one of the few movies that really creeped me out. (I'm a big horror film fan but none have stayed with me as long as The Ring. I can freak myself out just thinking about it.) I found the book interesting, but not scary. As mentioned by others, it is sufficiently different enough from the films to be engaging and I liked the differences very much. I'm curious about the Japanese version; would like to see it to compare it to this book and the American film.I will say, though, that I found the writing in this book to be very simplistic. Maybe that is why I didn't find it eerie -- there just wasn't enough description for me. Not a vivid enough picture was painted. I didn't find myself very sympathetic to the characters either, though their plight was one that should definitely evoke sympathy.All in all, I did enjoy reading it, but primarily for comparative purposes. If I wasn't such a fan of the film, I don't think I'd care for the book very much. I suppose this is one of the VERY rare times I liked the movie better.
—Laura
This is one of those titles had been meaning to get to for a while.Finally got around to this recently thanks to the fact that, come summer, I invariably feel the itch for horror.I can't rightly say this one scared me, but damned if it didn't keep my interest.To anyone familiar with the film (either version) - it's worth giving this a read. The adaptation isn't bad, but it definitely isn't the same story in several aspects. Things like the protagonist, Sadako's backstory, and the character of Ryuji are all considerably different from their original designs in this.Like I said above, this wasn't one that scared me, but it more than made up for it by sucking me into the overall premise. There's a couple of decent suspense moments, such as the book's opening chapters, but it never really gets into outright scares at any point. Instead, the story is more of a puzzle/mystery in its approach. Like its protagonist, we follow Asakawa in his attempts to uncover the mystery behind the mysterious video cassette that causes death to all who view it. While it's hard to really feel like Asakawa won't make the deadline, the story makes up for that by propelling us along with the trail of clues winding their way to the secret of Sadako.The element of this that I actually wound up liking the most was how Suzuki originally envisioned Sadako's curse. In the film versions, it's always treated as a fairly insular and direct system. Here, Suzuki envisions something with a far darker potential. Without giving too much away, I'll just say the final chapters of this book leave you with a lingering sense of apocalyptic doom to come in how they reframe the nature of the tape and what it could instill.There are parts of the book that can be hit or miss - while there's a lot of fascinating elements to the curse's backstory, parts of it may feel silly to some people. Likewise, the characterization of Ryuji - particularly with regards to later revelations about him, may feel a bit awkward. He makes an interesting counterbalance to Asakawa in many cases, and his nihilistic actions help keep the story on track as Asakawa loses his head at points, but there are also points where his behavior feels almost too outlandish (yes, this is even with regard to what we learn about him near the end - which I won't go into for anyone who's not read it yet.)Overall, it's not a bad read. Some parts of it are a bit awkward nowadays, mostly due to the time period it was written in (one aspect of Sadako and what happened to her here - a story the film versions omit - could get some very mixed responses from some readers.) Those minor problems aside, it's a pretty interesting concept - mixing paranormal with the technology of the era (remember, this was written in the late 80s/early 90s, hence the prevalence of VHS) it creates an interesting variation of the old 'ghost in the machine' concept. May not scare you, but it will at least weave an interesting enough plot together to be worth your time.Also, points to the staff working at Vertical for their translation on this. Reads very smoothly without any overly stiff bits of dialogue. There's the occasional odd bits (things like Ryuji jokingly referring to Asakawa's daughter as 'babykins') but it's still a very smooth translation.
—Todd Bubier
