Rasen (Spiral) is the second book of the best-selling trilogy of Ring, Spiral and Loop by Koji Suzuki, who is often referred to as Japan's Stephen King. It was adapted into the 1998 Japanese horror film by Jōji Iida, the first sequel to the popular film Ring. Both stories have to do with a bizarre videotape which kills its viewer within a week of watching it. A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on a list of top-sellers. ... Kōji Suzuki (born May 13, 1957) is a Japanese writer currently lives in Tokyo. ... Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for his enourmously popular horror novels. ... This is a list of film-related events in 1998. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... Ring (リング, Ringu) is a 1998 Japanese horror mystery film from director Hideo Nakata, adapted from a novel by Koji Suzuki of the same name. ... Bottom view of VHS videotape cassette with magnetic tape exposed Videotape is a means of recording television pictures and accompanying sound onto magnetic tape as opposed to movie film. ...

In an unusual cinematic move, 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 few cast members and had different production teams; 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, having taken a different and original storyline from Suzuki's book. Rings 1 and 2 are rarely used privilege levels in which an x86 processor can operate between the normal Ring 0 (kernel mode) and Ring 3 (user mode). ...

Plot

Ryuji Takayama's body being examined by his friend and arch-rival, pathologist Mitsuo Andou. After he finds a cryptic note in Takayama's stomach, Takayama's wife and son both also turn up dead and Andou does some investigating. He soon learns of a mysterious videotape, haunted by the spirit of a murdered woman. The rumors are 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, Andou decides to see the video for himself. After watching the tape, strange things begin happening around him, and he soon discovers that the tape's restless spirit has different plans in store for him. Reiko Asakawa is the heroine of the 1998 film adaptation of Koji Suzukis novel Ring, published in 1991, portrayed by Nanako Matsushima. ... Yoichi Asakawa is a character of the 1998 film adaptation of Koji Suzukis novel Ring, published in 1991, portrayed by Rikiya Otaka. ... A blank videotape such as this was the carrier for the Ring Virus curse. ...

Extended Plot

With the help of Takayama's distressed student, Mai Takano, Andou finds out more about Takayama’s past as well as the mysterious woman Sadako Yamamura. The searching for the truth of why Takayama’s son also died from the same virus and his wife didn’t, leads him to Takayama’s wife’s boss, Yoshino. He lets Andou in on a secret… He has the wife’s diary, she and Ryuji had been researching the cursed videotape that had cursed them both and their son. While Reiko had managed to break the curse, Takayama died a week after watching the tape. His wife believed that creating a copy would save you from curse, but a week after also watching the tape, their son died the same way as his father had. Yoshino shows Andou both the tape and the diary.

When Andou tells Mai Takano what he’s done, she is shocked and can’t understand why as she felt that it was the video that killed Takayama and his family from the start. As they are talking, Yoshino calls Andou. He admits that he wishes that he’d never been involved in Reiko’s business, while Andou believes that Yoshino had watched the video, he denies it saying that he was too scared to. However, Yoshino still dies.

Andou decides to destroy the videotapes and make sure that the videos last victim will be him. He then confides in Mai about his son’s death and out of her pity for him, they end up sleeping together. Andou asks Mai is she’ll be there with him when he dies, but Mai tells him she’s too scared, he understands and decides to try and find out more about the virus that killed Takayama and his son. It turns out that the virus that killed Yoshino wasn’t the same one that killed the father and son. Andou asks for tests to be run on him.

Meanwhile, Mai Takano goes missing and Andou’s deadline passed and he doesn’t die. He starts to feel that story was just a myth and he's relieved when Mai turns up… However, he is shocked to find out that Mai has been found dead, after giving birth with no sign of a baby. Andou goes back to work and sees “Mai” there. He then finds out that she is none other then Sadako Yamamura in disguises. He then finds out that Takayama wasn’t helping Andou stop Sadako…He and his family were helping her. The virus that killed Yoshino that was killing Miyashita (Andou’s friend) and many others wasn’t the video…

It was Ryuji Takayama’s wife’s diary.

In the end, Andou clones both Takayama and his son back to life. Just as Ryuji leaves, he tells Andou:

“Many years will past before our world will be at peace”

External links

• the ringworld Fansite covering all aspects of the Ring series
• Rasen at The Internet Movie Database