(My first post on thus sub, yay! I added the spoiler flair, but I'll try not to spoil much.)
Before reading the series, like most people, I'd had cursory knowledge of Ring, the kind that pretty much everyone familiar with popular culture has. I knew there was a movie about a cursed video tape, a phone call with a voice telling you "You'll die in 7 days", and a creepy girl crawling out of TVs. I'd also seen one of the American versions many years prior, but had almost no memory left of it.
But then I was suggested the book series (I'd been reading a number of other Japanese authors, so it felt fitting), and boy, there were a lot of revelations!
- First, I was surprised it was a 3-book series: Ring, Spiral and Loop. Fun fact, most movies are either based on Ring, or use their own unique stories. Some are partially inspired by Spiral. Out of all 14 something movies, not a single one is based on the final book, Loop.
- The Japanese name for the first book is actually in English (or rather, it's a transliteration of the word "ring", so it's Ringu in Japanese). And it was a purposeful choice because of its double meaning (a ringing sound, and the shape of a ring). Another fun fact about that: the name of the book and the movies based on it is translated into many languages, and in many of them the name doesn't carry the same double meaning and instead focuses on one. It seems that people commonly associate the name "Ring" with a ringing sound (because of the ringing of the phone), but I'd argue that meaning is actually secondary, and it's about the shape first. The name "Ring" is directly brought up and discussed in-world.
- The names of the sequels, Spiral and Loop, focus on circular shapes even more obviously. Interestingly, Loop also uses a transliteration of the English word "loop" in Japanese (Rupu), but Spiral uses a Japanese name (らせん, Rasen).
- The ringing of a phone is a lot less present in the book than it is in the movies. In fact, only specific characters get a phone call, and it happens for very specific reasons that become apparent closer to the end of Ring.
- The girl NEVER crawls out of a TV! Imagine my surprise that this iconic image did not come from the book (and honestly probably wouldn't make much sense in the context of the book's narrative). That image was designed for and popularized by the first Japanese movie based on the book, the 1998 Ring by Hideo Nakata.
- While books begin as a horror story with detective elements, and contain a lot of musings about curses, facing one's fate and fighting against it, the genre gradually shifts and expands. Spiral combines what seems to be supernatural with scientific elements like biology and DNA research, and develops into an almost apocalyptic story. And Loop is in many ways a techno-thriller and a full-blown deconstruction of the earlier story.
- Deconstruction in general is kind of a theme, starting with Spiral. What is presented as curses and superstition in one part of the story is examined with rational and almost scientific methods in another; one character's experiences turn into a story for another character to read or otherwise observe is a fairly regular motif. There are layers to the narrative and layers to the series' reality. This gets pretty mind-bendy; a lot of times, mostly when reading Loop, I thought "Wow, I can't believe this is where the author took the story!"
In short, I was engrossed, and constantly surprised by this series. I wonder if anyone else is familair with it and what their impressions are.
by Agent_ash