Rasen

Rasen (らせん, lit. Spiral) is a sequel to the movie Ring. It is directed by Jōji Iida and is based on the novel Spiral by Kōji Suzuki.

Ring and its sequel Rasen were released in Japan at the same time. The studio hoped this would increase revenues, because the Ring story was already a successful novel and television series. The two films shared a few cast members and had the same production team, but different directors and screenwriters; Rasen was written and directed by Jōji Iida whereas Ring was written by Hiroshi Takahashi and directed by Hideo Nakata. After their release, Ring became an enormous success while Rasen floundered, quickly becoming the "forgotten sequel".

Takahashi and Nakata were later recruited to produce another sequel, Ring 2, which replaced Rasen as the sequel to Ring, not based on Suzuki's works, and thus ultimately ignores the story of Rasen.

Sadako 3D and Sadako 3D 2 are sequels to Rasen, based on Kōji Suzuki's 2012 follow-up novel S.

Plot

Following the events of Ring, the body of Ryūji Takayama, former husband of Reiko Asakawa and father of Yōichi Asakawa, is examined by his friend and rival, pathologist Mitsuo Andō. After he finds a cryptic note in Takayama's stomach, Reiko and Yōichi also turn up dead. Andō soon learns of a mysterious cursed videotape, haunted by the spirit of a murdered young woman. Rumor has it that anyone who watches the video will die exactly one week later. Despondent over the death of his own child, and believing that he is being guided by his rival's ghost, Andō decides to see the video for himself. After watching the tape, strange things begin to happen around him, and he soon discovers that the tape's restless spirit has different plans in store for him.

Rasen (TV series)

Rasen (らせん, lit. Spiral) is the sequel to the TV drama Ring: The Final Chapter, based on the novel Spiral by Koji Suzuki. Much like Ring: The Final Chapter, it does not include much of the original source material. There are a total of 13 episodes in the entire series.

Episode list

References

External links

Spiral (Suzuki novel)

Spiral (らせん, Rasen) is a 1995 Japanese novel, a part of author Koji Suzuki's Ring Cycle series. It is the second in the Ring Trilogy, and a film based on the book, Rasen was released in 1998. The English translation of the book was published by Vertical Press in the United States and by Harper Collins in Britain.

Plot

The events in the story occur a day after the events of the first book. It introduces Ando Mitsuo, a coroner still struggling with his son's death, being assigned to do the autopsy of his old classmate, Ryūji Takayama. He and his colleague, Miyashita, find a tumor in Ryūji's heart, which is believed to be his cause of death. Puzzled as the tumor appears similar to smallpox (which was eradicated 30 years ago), Ando completes the autopsy and, upon finding newspaper poking through a suture, is reminded of Ryūji's cryptography hobby. Finding the newspaper numbers interesting, he decodes them and finds they spell "RING", perplexing Ando.

In search for the message's meaning, Ando soon meets Ryūji's assistant and lover, Mai Takano. Mentioning a videotape Ryūji watched before dying, Mai believes it is connected to his death through a curse. Learning of Kazuyuki Asakawa, Ryūji's friend and the protagonist of Ring, Ando considers speaking to him, only to learn Asakawa and his family were involved in a car accident. Finding Asakawa is the sole survivor and catatonic, Ando investigates relevant evidence and learns Asakawa's wife and child were dead well before the car crashed, and that a tape recorder and word processor were in the vehicle.