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The Ring (Manga) #4
バースデイ (カドカワデジタルコミックス)
「空に浮かぶ棺」、「レモンハート」、「ＳＡＤＡＫＯ」、リングシリーズの外伝短編をコミカライズ収録！
1 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 20, 2022
The first of these Ring manga I've read that's based solely on Suzuki's writings. The art's still not great but at least it's more like the original stories.
December 1, 2025
This is three short stories, just like the novel— the first one, about Mai, was really good but short, and I was pretty sad they didn’t include my favorite part (where Sadako gets birthed). The second story was very accurate to the novel and very good. The last story, originally about Reiko, wasn’t in this because they didn’t adapt Loop into a manga, so the last story was about Sadako. Not complaining here! Love to see that girl and hear from her perspective (surprisingly the first time in the WHOLE series)
October 30, 2022
It's nice to have gotten more content from this particular world, and it's also nice that this is based solely on Koji Suzuki's novels rather than being a hybrid of the novels and the films. Anyway I love Sadako and I want to cry, she deserves happiness and good things with the one she loved.
December 22, 2012
Review: So...this is a collection of three short manga stories with the intention of furthering the understanding of the world of Ring (review here). The first one, Coffin in the Sky, follows Mei, after unknowingly allowing the next Sadako to take over her body. I never understood this whole concept in Ring, Spiral or Loop, so I didn’t understand it here either. Therefore, in relativity to the novel trilogy, I’m going to ignore it. On its own, it’s a story about a young girl who knows she’s going to die soon, and thinking about it for a long time. it’s done nicely, with a literal coffin coming from the sky.
Next up is Lemon Heart, following Toyama, the boy who Sadako fell in love with. This story, and Sadako, make a bit more sense to me, because they follow Sadako, her young love, and what made her so upset that when she died she did what she did so she could carry on in the world.
I really liked the first Ring story. So I always find it interesting when you get spin offs. Yay for extended universes! This does help you understand the reasoning and motives behind many characters, new and minor and major. This spin off collection of manga is good for building character, and it’s very interesting to anyone who has read or seen the originals.
Plotwise, not that much happened. Actually, it wasn’t really tense or really epic. As standalones, they work quite well. If you didn’t know what happens in Ring, and the mythology, then you might not get some of the things in Birthday, specifically one man’s horror when he sees Sadako naked,
I liked Toyama for some reason. Maybe because we see him most of all in the three of these stories. Or maybe because he treats Sadako so well. You feel so bad for Sadako!
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a good book extending the back stories of the major characters from Ring.
Next up is Lemon Heart, following Toyama, the boy who Sadako fell in love with. This story, and Sadako, make a bit more sense to me, because they follow Sadako, her young love, and what made her so upset that when she died she did what she did so she could carry on in the world.
I really liked the first Ring story. So I always find it interesting when you get spin offs. Yay for extended universes! This does help you understand the reasoning and motives behind many characters, new and minor and major. This spin off collection of manga is good for building character, and it’s very interesting to anyone who has read or seen the originals.
Plotwise, not that much happened. Actually, it wasn’t really tense or really epic. As standalones, they work quite well. If you didn’t know what happens in Ring, and the mythology, then you might not get some of the things in Birthday, specifically one man’s horror when he sees Sadako naked,
I liked Toyama for some reason. Maybe because we see him most of all in the three of these stories. Or maybe because he treats Sadako so well. You feel so bad for Sadako!
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a good book extending the back stories of the major characters from Ring.
April 1, 2019
This is split up into 3 stories The Casket Floating in the Sky, Lemon Heart and Sadako. This first 2 are adaptions of short stories in Birthday whereas Sadako is an original story.
The Casket Floating in the Sky is told from Mai’s prospective, mirroring the events from Spiral which take place after the ring. She is infected with the ring virus but it has a different effect on her.
Lemon Heart Follows a young Sadako pursue of an acting career, it’s very similar to ring 0 but is more faithful to the source material. Gone is the machete to the head and the recording of her mother. It follows Toyama talking about his experiences with Sadako 21 years ago when they attended art school. It gives you a fresh look at Sadako, as she isn’t the vulnerable, bullied person that she is usually portrayed as.
Sadako the story, just thought I’d clarify that. Is about Sada’s life story, it even tells you a little more about her parents which is a nice change of pace. It even goes into what lead to the test, unfortunately we get the well story again. This is the 5th time it's told in the 5th volume it's a bit ridiculously now, there are minor differences but it doesn't change the final results.
Apart from retelling the well story again, it was quite enjoyable. I wouldn’t recommend reading these consecutively as the continuity is all over the place, it’s release order is Ring, Ring 2, Spiral, Ring 0 & Birthday. But you should read them in the order below as they’re 2 different timelines.
Ring > Ring 2 > Ring 0
Ring > Spiral > Birthday
The Casket Floating in the Sky is told from Mai’s prospective, mirroring the events from Spiral which take place after the ring. She is infected with the ring virus but it has a different effect on her.
Lemon Heart Follows a young Sadako pursue of an acting career, it’s very similar to ring 0 but is more faithful to the source material. Gone is the machete to the head and the recording of her mother. It follows Toyama talking about his experiences with Sadako 21 years ago when they attended art school. It gives you a fresh look at Sadako, as she isn’t the vulnerable, bullied person that she is usually portrayed as.
Sadako the story, just thought I’d clarify that. Is about Sada’s life story, it even tells you a little more about her parents which is a nice change of pace. It even goes into what lead to the test, unfortunately we get the well story again. This is the 5th time it's told in the 5th volume it's a bit ridiculously now, there are minor differences but it doesn't change the final results.
Apart from retelling the well story again, it was quite enjoyable. I wouldn’t recommend reading these consecutively as the continuity is all over the place, it’s release order is Ring, Ring 2, Spiral, Ring 0 & Birthday. But you should read them in the order below as they’re 2 different timelines.
Ring > Ring 2 > Ring 0
Ring > Spiral > Birthday
July 11, 2017
This three story anthology is my favourite of the Ring manga series because it at last expands the mythos.
The first story looks at Mai and its not bad - we have some nice floating coffins and a very nice scene of her pixelating.
The second story is the root of the movie Ring 0 - looking at Sadako's time at the theatre troupe. One of the members is in love with Sadako and plants the ideas of video immortality and reproduction we see come into fruition through the curse. There is also one gorgeous piece of horror art - where we get an almost autopsy style pic with the skin being peeled away to reveal the heart.
The last story is a sort of overview - we gets Sadko's POV of events - her mother finding the statue, her romance with the guy in the theatre troupe her rape/death and redemption.
The art in this one is a lot stronger than the three previous books - the plot is much more easy to follow and it adds to what's in the films and novels. Quite liked this one.
The first story looks at Mai and its not bad - we have some nice floating coffins and a very nice scene of her pixelating.
The second story is the root of the movie Ring 0 - looking at Sadako's time at the theatre troupe. One of the members is in love with Sadako and plants the ideas of video immortality and reproduction we see come into fruition through the curse. There is also one gorgeous piece of horror art - where we get an almost autopsy style pic with the skin being peeled away to reveal the heart.
The last story is a sort of overview - we gets Sadko's POV of events - her mother finding the statue, her romance with the guy in the theatre troupe her rape/death and redemption.
The art in this one is a lot stronger than the three previous books - the plot is much more easy to follow and it adds to what's in the films and novels. Quite liked this one.
February 11, 2018
2.2/5
Comprised of three stories, one of which details the final days of Mai Takano, a female colleague of Ryuji's whose relationship is as consistent as the ever-changing art styles the first three volumes underwent. In the first, they were just friends, but then I guess it was much more than that in the third, and the second one barely touched on it. Doesn't really matter because this one follows the continuity established in Spiral, and it wasn't all that interesting.
The other two stories just tell of Sadako's time in the theatre group Hisho from two separate perspectives, and although those are a bit more interesting, they aren't very consistent with each other either. Meimu is back as the artist, but even he ignores his own earlier designs for some of the characters. A bit bothersome.
Not much more to say about this one.
Comprised of three stories, one of which details the final days of Mai Takano, a female colleague of Ryuji's whose relationship is as consistent as the ever-changing art styles the first three volumes underwent. In the first, they were just friends, but then I guess it was much more than that in the third, and the second one barely touched on it. Doesn't really matter because this one follows the continuity established in Spiral, and it wasn't all that interesting.
The other two stories just tell of Sadako's time in the theatre group Hisho from two separate perspectives, and although those are a bit more interesting, they aren't very consistent with each other either. Meimu is back as the artist, but even he ignores his own earlier designs for some of the characters. A bit bothersome.
Not much more to say about this one.
May 22, 2022
Really disliked how little it showed. As a visual adaptation to a horror story, it really lacked the omph. Sadako is supposed to be supernaturally beautiful, but the art didn't land there either. Where was Mai's gruesome birth and death? Four stars because it tied up well in the end, it depicted the cursed video pretty good, and pulled the stories together; it just really needed better art.
December 1, 2014
These are three manga stories about Sadako from The Ring, revealing details about her background, her childhood years and the tragedy of her past. Engaging and beautifully drawn, fast paced and achingly sad.
June 14, 2012
While I am a big fan of 'The Ring' series and I did enjoy reading another 'take' on Sadako... I wasn't really all that impressed or enthused by this one. It wasn't bad, but it failed to interest me very much in the long run. Bummer.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews