History Literature / TheRing

* NotHisSled: Coming hot on the heels of the extremely successful film adaptation whose literary basis was already successful in its own right, the writers of ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' were likely aware a significant portion of the viewers were already very familiar with the story and its twist and turns, so the series features many unique twists and outright defies some from the original work. The cursed video is not a series of disturbing imagery but an innocuous-looking music video (albeint with subliminal messaging), the deadline for the curse is 13 days instead of 7, the "solution" is figured out pretty early and is treated as a dilemma rather than a twist, Ryuji Takayama is a more shifty character and Mai is his sister rather than his lover, [[spoiler:Shizuko Yamamura is still alive, Sadako is not intersex and Ryuji is her biological son, Ryuji isn't killed by Sadako's curse but has a HeelRealization and commits suicide, and Asakawa doesn't climb down the well to retrieve Sadako's remains, but Ryuji's]].

%%* NothingIsScarier

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Ryuji Takayama in the novels is described as a short, stocky, pudgy man with abnormally strong arms and an angular, unpleasant face. In the 1998 film, he's portrayed by the handsome Creator/HiroyukiSanada. ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' takes it even further by making the character younger and casting famous heartthrob Tomoya Nagase in the role. Ditto with the US version, who has Martin Henderson as Noah, the American counterpart.

* ''Ring: Kanzenban'' (1995) - A MadeForTV movie and the first adaptation of the ''Ring'' novel. Sticks very closely to the source material.

* ''Kadokawa Drama Renaissance: Ring'' (1996) - A 12 episode radio drama that aired on TBS. Adapts the first novel but takes a lot of liberties to fit the aural medium.

* ShesAManInJapan: Sadako is intersex in the novels; this is completely dropped in most adaptations, save for ''Ring: Kanzenban'', the ''Rasen'' film, the 1999 Korean film and the video game ''Ring: Terror's Realm''.

** Shizuka, Asakawa's wife, is removed from all adaptations except ''Ring: Kanzenban''. ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' has Asakawa being a widower, and his counterparts in the film adaptations are all single mothers.

* AgeLift: Sadako is an adult at the time of her death in the novels and Japanese films, as is her South Korean counterpart Park Eun-Suh. But Samara, her counterpart in the American films is only a child.

** While Ryuji Takayama [[spoiler:is killed by Sadako's curse]] in ''Ring'' and its adaptations, [[spoiler:he is resurrected]] in the follow-up ''Spiral''. This is kept in the ''Rasen'' film, but in the film sequel ''Ring 2'' and the ''Rasen'' TV series, [[spoiler:he stays dead]]. Likewise, his American counterpart Noah Clay [[spoiler:stays dead in ''The Ring Two'']].

** Kazuyuki Asakawa, the protagonist in the novel, is a man. While ''Ring: Kanzenban'' and ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' kept him male, his counterparts in the Japanese film and its South Korean and American remakes are all female.

** Ryuji Takayama and Mai Takano are in a relationship (apparently platonic in the novel, romantic in most adaptations). In ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' they are siblings instead.

* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the novels, Sadako's biological father is Dr. Ikuma. In the films, Ikuma is her stepfather, while her biological father is [[EldritchAbomination an unknown supernatural entity]].

* {{Hunk}}: Many characters describe Ryuji as this. Ando, in particular, thinks that Ryuji's appearance brings to mind an athlete rather than a professor (of philosophy, no less).

* AdaptationalJobChange: Ryuji Takayama is a university lecturer in the novel and Japanese film. Choi Yeol, his counterpart in the South Korean film is instead a coroner while his American counterpart Noah Clay is a photographer. Downplayed in ''Ring: Kanzenban''; Ryuji is still a university lecturer but his field is research into the paranormal, while the original version is a strict man of science that teaches quantificational logic.

* AdaptationalJobChange: Ryuji Takayama is a university lecturer in the novel and Japanese film. Choi Yeol, his counterpart in the South Korean film is instead a coroner while his American counterpart Noah Clay is a photographer.

* SequelHook: ''Ring: Kanzenban'' contains a small one not in the novel: [[spoiler:When Sadako shows up to claim Ryuji Takayama's life, her ghost is carrying a baby and she walks right through Mai Takano (who can't see her). When Sadako passes through Mai, the baby in her hands disappears and Mai looks down on her belly]], foreshadowing the events of the then-recently released sequel novel ''Spiral'' in case a sequel to the TV move was ever made (there wasn't).

** Taken even further in the US version with Noah, who is far nicer, is clearly on (somewhat) good terms with Rachel, eventually believes Rachel after a point, and is also very knowledgeable about video and happily provides explanations to her about it.

** Subverted with Ringu 0, where Sadako is a very beautiful girl (and is even referred to in universe as such), and only becomes scary looking in any way when she takes on her more evil persona.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Ryuji Takayama in the novels is described as a short, stocky, pudgy man with abnormally strong arms and an angular, unpleasant face. In the 1998 film, he's portrayed by the handsome Creator/HiroyukiSanada. ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' takes it even further by making the character younger and casting famous heartthrob Tomoya Nagase in the role.

* ''VideoGame/TheRingTerrorsRealm'' - A SurvivalHorror game for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast.
* ''Ring Infinity'' - A VisualNovel PointAndClickGame for the UsefulNotes/WonderSwan.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The ring virus itself, after the revelation in ''Loop'' that the events of the first two book are set in a virtual reality. The virus was not programmed into the LOOP and developed independently, hence why nobody knew that it could escape back into the real world and became a new strain of cancer. Some characters speculate that someone had unknowingly introduced it from the real world, but in the new environment of the VR it mutated unpredictably.

** The ending of the ''Spiral'' has Asakawa's journal. Reading the script infects the reader with the broken ring virus (dubbed in the fifth book as the "S-type virus", because it resembles the letter S), which itself isn't fatal unless the reader happens to be an ovulating female. In that case, [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong they would be impregnated with and give birth to a Sadako clone within a week]].

** Sadako Yamamura is the recurring antagonist of the series, be in the novels or the film adaptations.

** In ''Ring'', [[spoiler: despite thinking that they have freed Sadako from the well, Ryuji is still killed by the curse, since the only way to stop the curse is to copy it and show it to someone else. To save his wife and daughter, Kazuyuki proceeds to make them copy the tape.]] This ending is followed by the both the Japanese and American film adaptations.

* BlessedWithSuck: Shizuko Yamamura's gift. It brought her both fame and scorn, because she could not control it, and eventually led to her suicide. Her daughter, Sadako, inherited a much more powerful version of the gift, but she led an lonely and unhappy life before meeting her end in a brutal and tragic way.

* ClonesArePeopleToo: In ''S'', [[spoiler:Ryuji contemplated killing off the last of the Sadako clones, but eventually figured out that the world isn't in much of a hurt by just four clones. Takanori ponders if he should leave Akane after deducing that she is a Sadako clone, but then realizes that her predicament isn't much different from him being a resurrected person, and [[ThePowerOfLove he is also too much in love with her]] to heartlessly abandon her like that (this is before Akane is revealed to be fathered by Ryuji, of course).]]

** After he lost his son, Ando contemplates suicide several times, though he ultimately decides to live on.
** In ''S'', [[spoiler:the serial killer Niimura commits suicide by jumping into a railway just as a train is about to arrive. However, upon watching the security recording, Takanori suspects either a PsychicAssistedSuicide or MakeItLookLikeAnAccident, courtesy of Akane.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Kazuyuki is badly injured and eventually dies due to a car accident in ''Spiral'', which is completely without warning and is not in itself involved in the curse. His wife and daughter at least have an explanation of being dead by the curse before it happened, but not Kazuyuki. It becomes rather jarring when the protagonist that you followed in the previous book suddenly goes away like that, while you switch to a completely unrelated individual in the next.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The outcome of ''Spiral'' has [[spoiler:Sadako using the ring virus on pregnant women to duplicate herself. In several years time, the world has been infested by clones of Sadako.]] ''Loop'' reveals that [[spoiler:the LOOP was frozen pending a definite solution to contain Sadako's clones. After Kaoru manages to find a virus that can speed up the aging process of clones, the scientists restart the LOOP and begin killing off the clones.]]

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The ending of ''Spiral'' and ''Loop'' are set within the same time, but have wildly different interpretation. In the former, it paints Ryuji as a nihilistic ass who basically rejects his humanity in favor of becoming a superior species. In the latter, it paints him as a savior who will ''save'' humanity from said superior species.

* TheOneThatGotAway: After he lost track of Sadako, Hiroshi Toyama eventually married two times and divorced once, but his heart will always be for his beloved Sadako.

** In ''Sadako 3D 2'', [[spoiler: Kakiuchi commits suicide after killing Akane. Sure, it might be because he is an AxCrazy by this point, but it is not hard to think that he just want to die on his own terms, rather than have Nagi and/or Sadako do the job.]]

* DoomedByCanon: Anyone watching ''Ring 0'' with prior knowledge to Sadako's fate (which, of course, is the idea) knows she'll end up down the well by the ending.
* DownerEnding: ''Ring 0: Birthday''. Yes, [[ForegoneConclusion we all knew it was coming]], what with it being a prequel and all, but it doesn't make it any less [[{{Tearjerker}} heartbreaking]].

** While Ryuji Takayama [[spoiler:is killed by Sadako's curse]] in ''Ring'' and it's adaptations, [[spoiler:he is resurrected]] in the follow-up ''Spiral''. This is kept in the ''Rasen'' film, but in the film sequel ''Ring 2'' and the ''Rasen'' TV series, [[spoiler:he stays dead]]. Likewise, his American counterpart Noah Clay [[spoiler:stays dead in ''The Ring Two'']].

* ''The Ring: Terror's Realm'' - A SurvivalHorror game for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast.

** In the Japanese films, Yoichi could also count — especially in ''Ring 2''.

* DaylightHorror: Many of the scarier scenes in the Japanese films happen during the daytime. Also, in the US remake, only the first scene was set at night.

* DoesNotLikeShoes:
** Sadako/Eun-Suh/Samara, usually, in the StringyHairedGhostGirl manner.
** Katie Embry spends the entirety of her screentime in her bare feet. Granted, said screentime is approximately [[RedShirt five minutes.]]

* ''Sadako 3D'' (2012) - A ContinuityReboot to the Japanese series. Very loosely based on ''S''.

* ''Sadako at the End of the World'' (2019) - A series about two girls who befriend Sadako after finding the tape in post-apocalypse ruins.

* AmbiguousDisorder: In the first US remake, doctors believe Samara has a psychiatric and neurological condition, but they can't conclude what exactly.