Some of my favorite horror stories have come in manga form, specifically from the works of Junji Ito. So a manga version of buzz horror movie The Ring, based on the original novel, certainly intrigued me. What I found with this first volume of the story was that it read less like a horror piece and more like a mystery, nowhere near as creepy and haunting as I expected given all the buzz surrounding the film but certainly intriguing nonetheless.
What struck me most about The Ring was that the heroes of the piece don't come across as all that bright or very likable. Reiko neglects her son and her ex-husband Ryuji comes across as somewhat shallow. However, despite the flaws in these characters, or perhaps because of them, you can't help but be drawn into their plight, as they race against a deadline to try and prevent their deaths. Suzuki and Takahashi add an important accelerant to the tension when Reiko's curious son gets himself involved in the curse as well, as his innocence makes him seem like even more of a victim than the hapless duo who are our protagonists.
Takahashi and Suzuki's story takes these two protagonists through a journey that starts with the death of a relative, quickly becomes personal and then takes them on a journey throughout Japan trying to unwrap a riddle. The story does an excellent job of building up the mystery, and I found myself very curious to learn what the story was behind the videotape. Though The Ring features a creepy premise, that a mysterious videotape causes the death of anyone who watches it, the execution of the story is so straightforward and matter-of-fact that a lot of the creepy atmosphere is lacking. Given how quickly Reiko and Ryuji buy into the notion of their impending deaths, the supernatural aspect of their plight sort of fades away and it becomes more of a story of a race against time, something that could just as easily have been about someone poisoned or facing a fatal disease or something a little more mundane.
Part of that might come from Inagaki's artwork, which tells the story clearly enough but which looks more like the cutesy style I've come to expect from Tokyopop than the more realistic and even visceral appeal of Junji Ito. There's a similarity and androgyny to the various characters that makes them hard to really connect to, as well as a less detailed approach that makes the horror elements less scary. Inagaki's storytelling is fine, and the few creepy moments that are based on timing, such as the ghost of the dead girl rising from the water, give a few genuine chills, but the elements that require the reader to be involved in the world and to see the intrusion of the supernatural don't work, because Inagaki doesn't really sell the real world with enough detail.
Despite generally feeling that The Ring wasn't all that scary, however, I can recommend the manga as a story. Takahashi and Suzuki's story includes elements of psionic power that grounds the creepy video in a pseudoscience way, and the revelations about how the video came to be made and why were certainly interesting. Reading The Ring is like watching a puzzle slowly being solved, and it's interesting on that level. It's probably the ideal way to hear the story of The Ring for those who don't like scary movies but who just want to know what everybody else is talking about.
