Since no-one ever bothered to write a review here, I thought I could give my share.
First of all, it is implied that this is a sequel to "Ring: Final Chapter" (also by Fuji TV), but can be viewed as a stand-alone work. The only references to the other series is the cursed tape whose viewer will die after watching it in 13 days (instead of the canonic 7), and the fact that Akiko Yada and Tae Kimura reprise their roles as Mai Takano and Sadako Yamamura, respectively. They are the only characters to show up again, however - apart from an unnamed voice-over in the first chapter warning Mai that Sadako is willing to be reborn (presumably from the late Ryuji Takayama).
Actually, the adaptation loosely departs from the novel in several instances. Mitsuo Ando is a high-school teacher, instead of the coroner/Professor of Pathology and Legal Medicine of the novel, and he's not at the verge of divorce - his wife Miwako had a nervous breakdown after Takanori's death and is at a mental facility, still believing their son is alive.
The series start with a mysterious incident in an office building in which all employées die of heart attacks at the same time - except for a former student of Ando's, Misaki Nishijima, who has no memory of the event. As thus, she's prime suspect by the police. Her sister Kumiko is still Ando's student and asks for his help. He is also aided by another former student and friend of Misaki's, Natsumi Aihara, who now works at the Scientific Police. However, her investigations are being blotched by her mysterious boss Miruka. She is also aided by a young coroner, Kyosuke Oda, who seems to have a love interest in her.
Mai also seems to have psychic powers (though they are never explained or referred to as such) and feels Sadako's presence, aiding the main characters.
Meanwhile, a student of Nostradamus's predictions, Toru Kawai, gains TV celebrity posing as a fortune teller himself, and predicting the return of a so-called King of Terror (who gives him mysterious prank calls).
Ando and Aihara discover in the office a CD-Rom that appears to contain Sadako's cursed video in digital form (thus explaining the deaths of the employées). Misaki didn't die because she was impregnated by it - and as series's fans might guess, the fetus grows impossibly fast and Sadako is reborn as the new-infant - becoming, however, a kind of a clone of the impregnated host. She keeps dying, however, until she finds a suitable body in Mai Katano and becoming her clone, after careful disposal of the "original".
I had a hard time trying to figure out what the murderer Akita Gozo and the King of Terror had to do with Sadako, until it was neatly wrapped up in the last episode.
This is TV drama, so you can expect a lot of walking around the bush and over-the-top acting, but in the end I've found it entertaining, and, although inferior to "Ring: Final Chapter", it had scarier elements. I could relate enough to the characters and there was enough suspense to keep me interested.
I was dissatisfied with the ending, though. I liked the display of a certain sympathy towards Sadako in the last episode (the novels really made me question if she was really evil, unfortunate or just trying to survive in a cruel world), but after all she went through to be reborn, her suicide by mere jumping from the high top of a building felt unreal, vain and utterly unbelievable. Ando's choice to die - after sacrificing himself to destroy the cursed tape AND being reborn almost as a prize for his selflessness - left a bitter taste in my mouth, it felt stupid and unnecessary, almost as if his own trajectory as a character had been worthless by his own choice.
I missed Myashita - who was Ando's sidekick in the novel and actually appeared in "Ring: Final Chapter" as a female doctor helping Asakawa, so I actually expected the character to show up again in this incarnation, who was sweet, charming and likable, but the telewriters missed a great opportunity (or maybe the actress didn't agree to return).
There's no "ring virus" in this instance - only a minor reference in the last episodes when the villain Higashi/Oda develops a synthesized virus that accelerates cellular growth and causes people to instantly age and die.
I also missed Ando's "Sofia's choice" in the end (featured both in the novel and the theatrical adaptation). Takanori is indeed ressurected by Sadako halfway through, but the fact that she can't prevent his death (again) by controlling cellular growth - and that this poker move is easily realized by Ando - diminishes its dramatic impact. It did provide for an interesting conflict for Sadako to put Miwako temporarily against Ando. Even "Ring: Final Chapter" reproduced Asakawa's final conflict satisfyingly, though in a different way.
I also enjoyed the fact that - almost spookily - the series presented the evolution of the cursed video tape to digital form, an idea Suzuki himself would reproduce in the sequel "S" almost ten years later.
All in all, it was an interesting entry in the Ring universe, although I'd only recommend it for diehard fans.
First of all, it is implied that this is a sequel to "Ring: Final Chapter" (also by Fuji TV), but can be viewed as a stand-alone work. The only references to the other series is the cursed tape whose viewer will die after watching it in 13 days (instead of the canonic 7), and the fact that Akiko Yada and Tae Kimura reprise their roles as Mai Takano and Sadako Yamamura, respectively. They are the only characters to show up again, however - apart from an unnamed voice-over in the first chapter warning Mai that Sadako is willing to be reborn (presumably from the late Ryuji Takayama).
Actually, the adaptation loosely departs from the novel in several instances. Mitsuo Ando is a high-school teacher, instead of the coroner/Professor of Pathology and Legal Medicine of the novel, and he's not at the verge of divorce - his wife Miwako had a nervous breakdown after Takanori's death and is at a mental facility, still believing their son is alive.
The series start with a mysterious incident in an office building in which all employées die of heart attacks at the same time - except for a former student of Ando's, Misaki Nishijima, who has no memory of the event. As thus, she's prime suspect by the police. Her sister Kumiko is still Ando's student and asks for his help. He is also aided by another former student and friend of Misaki's, Natsumi Aihara, who now works at the Scientific Police. However, her investigations are being blotched by her mysterious boss Miruka. She is also aided by a young coroner, Kyosuke Oda, who seems to have a love interest in her.
Mai also seems to have psychic powers (though they are never explained or referred to as such) and feels Sadako's presence, aiding the main characters.
Meanwhile, a student of Nostradamus's predictions, Toru Kawai, gains TV celebrity posing as a fortune teller himself, and predicting the return of a so-called King of Terror (who gives him mysterious prank calls).
Ando and Aihara discover in the office a CD-Rom that appears to contain Sadako's cursed video in digital form (thus explaining the deaths of the employées). Misaki didn't die because she was impregnated by it - and as series's fans might guess, the fetus grows impossibly fast and Sadako is reborn as the new-infant - becoming, however, a kind of a clone of the impregnated host. She keeps dying, however, until she finds a suitable body in Mai Katano and becoming her clone, after careful disposal of the "original".
I had a hard time trying to figure out what the murderer Akita Gozo and the King of Terror had to do with Sadako, until it was neatly wrapped up in the last episode.
This is TV drama, so you can expect a lot of walking around the bush and over-the-top acting, but in the end I've found it entertaining, and, although inferior to "Ring: Final Chapter", it had scarier elements. I could relate enough to the characters and there was enough suspense to keep me interested.
I was dissatisfied with the ending, though. I liked the display of a certain sympathy towards Sadako in the last episode (the novels really made me question if she was really evil, unfortunate or just trying to survive in a cruel world), but after all she went through to be reborn, her suicide by mere jumping from the high top of a building felt unreal, vain and utterly unbelievable. Ando's choice to die - after sacrificing himself to destroy the cursed tape AND being reborn almost as a prize for his selflessness - left a bitter taste in my mouth, it felt stupid and unnecessary, almost as if his own trajectory as a character had been worthless by his own choice.
I missed Myashita - who was Ando's sidekick in the novel and actually appeared in "Ring: Final Chapter" as a female doctor helping Asakawa, so I actually expected the character to show up again in this incarnation, who was sweet, charming and likable, but the telewriters missed a great opportunity (or maybe the actress didn't agree to return).
There's no "ring virus" in this instance - only a minor reference in the last episodes when the villain Higashi/Oda develops a synthesized virus that accelerates cellular growth and causes people to instantly age and die.
I also missed Ando's "Sofia's choice" in the end (featured both in the novel and the theatrical adaptation). Takanori is indeed ressurected by Sadako halfway through, but the fact that she can't prevent his death (again) by controlling cellular growth - and that this poker move is easily realized by Ando - diminishes its dramatic impact. It did provide for an interesting conflict for Sadako to put Miwako temporarily against Ando. Even "Ring: Final Chapter" reproduced Asakawa's final conflict satisfyingly, though in a different way.
I also enjoyed the fact that - almost spookily - the series presented the evolution of the cursed video tape to digital form, an idea Suzuki himself would reproduce in the sequel "S" almost ten years later.
All in all, it was an interesting entry in the Ring universe, although I'd only recommend it for diehard fans.
