#koji suzuki

[spiraphobia]

Sadako at the End of the World | Koji Suzuki & Koma Natsumi

[metalichotchoco]

She’s just a girl🖤

It’s funny that one of the few horror collaborations Sanrio did, it was sadako. It makes sense from a shareholders perspective but to me it’s still fun and cute nonetheless

[brand-upon-the-brain]

Spiral (Jôji Iida, 1998)

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[incorrectclassicbookquotes]

So, in Ringu, they make it seem like the doctor killed Sadako because she was intersex. However, in the book, Sadako makes the doctor kill her telepathically due to really having nothing left to live for in life. Since her mother was dead, her father would soon be dead, and her dream of being an actress was crushed. Also, she has supernatural powers that she couldn't share with anyone because she saw what happened to her mother. The doctor does find out she is intersex and says something along the lines of he would have been shocked if he wasn't a doctor, but since he was a doctor, he knew she was intersex. Also, her family loves her dearly, and all know that she is intersex. When Asakawa brought back Sadako's dead body to her relatives, Asakawa noted that Sadako's family clearly loved her deeply. The doctor even said that the type of intersex Sadako had, which back then was called testicular feminization syndrome, made Sadako have the genitals of a male, but those with the syndrome are always very beautiful. In fact, the only thing Sadako hates about her intersex is her inability to have children. They don't discuss it as bad, just that it's rare but exists.

[gokaiju]

リング (Ring) (Hideo Nakata, 1998) New alternative poster by Gokaiju

[creepynostalgy]

Rasen aka Spiral (1998)

[anamon-book]

言語学のたのしみ　千野栄一 大修館書店 装幀・挿画＝鈴木康司（スズキコージ）

[judgeitbyitscover]

Ring (1991) by Koji Suzuki

Cover art by Chip Kidd

Vertical Inc, March 2003

A mysterious videotape warns that the viewer will die in one week unless a certain, unspecified act is performed. Exactly one week after watching the tape, four teenagers die one after another of heart failure.

Asakawa, a hardworking journalist, is intrigued by his niece's inexplicable death. His investigation leads him from a metropolitan tokyo teeming with modern society's fears to a rural Japan—a mountain resort, a volcanic island, and a countryside clinic—haunted by the past. His attempt to solve the tape's mystery before it's too late—for everyone—assumes an increasingly deadly urgency. Ring is a chillingly told horror story, a masterfully suspenseful mystery, and post-modern trip.

[goryhorroor]

I think we need to give credit to koji suzuki for creating not only ring but dark waters. he is another horror writer that is great at creating a suspenseful and frightening scene

[spiraphobia]

Sadako at the End of the World

Authors: Koji Suzuki (Story), Koma Natsumi (Art)

Genre: Horror, Comedy, Shoujo, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Synopsis:

The world has ended. Humanity isn't completely destroyed but it is a shadow of its former glory. A pair of sisters are surviving together in the ruins when they discover an ancient relic: a video. The tape is none other than Sadako's video that will curse anyone who watches it and kill them one week later. The girls are unfazed when Sadako appears since meeting another human is rare anyway. Instead, the little girls call her "Sada-chan." Sadako, meanwhile, thinks if there are more people left, she'd like to curse them. So Sadako and the two girls begin traveling together to find more people.

Spoiler below the cut.

I really thought this was gonna be a full-on light-hearted Sadako parody. Can’t believe she stuck to her curse though. Oh well, I’m just gonna pretend it ended on a cute note!

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

*Originally published in Japanese under the title "Honogurai mizu no soko kara" which translates to "From the Depths of the Dark Waters"

[brand-upon-the-brain]

Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998)

[cemeterylanes]

sadako from the ring is intersex btw. if you even care

[incorrectclassicbookquotes]

Ok, so in the book Ring by Koji Suzuki. Asakawa and Ryuji learn that the well Sadako was buried alive in is buried under the cabin where Asakawa first saw the ring videotape. So they rent it out again and then start digging it up. I would love to see the owner's face, who would have no context for the events, when he saw that they dug up the cabin. That would just be hilarious. Imagine walking in after they left and just seeing a giant hole dug up in your cabin, and the only explanation you could be given is that they were digging up a dead body to break a curse.

[a-bass-ist]

WE'RE BACK! BOOK REVIEW TIME BABY!

Today's book is ring by Koji Suzuki. Just as a heads up there will be discussion of rape in this post as well as minor mentions of transphobia so if those things are touchy for you I'd steer clear of this book and review

Ok so Ring. You may not be familiar with this book but the odds are you've encountered what it has spawned. The Ring (2002) and Ringu (1998) were both based on this book

As for the writing, stories and narrative: This book was actually quite captivating, the characters feel like real people and are mostly likable (one character is an exception to those rules and we'll get there). The main mystery and the drive to solve it was very very enticing and I really enjoyed watching the pieces fall in place especially towards the end with the frantic strides to save everyone.

Now, to address the elephant in the room, this book definitely shows it's age, and the social climate at time. I won't pretend to know about the cultural landscape of Japan in the 90s but it definitely contrasts with today. This book takes rape very lightly and like it's an every day thing. It puts no weight upon the fact that one of the characters apparently raped 4 women, even Sadako is assaulted before she dies. On the topic of Sadako, she's intersex in the book and this is handled pretty poorly, they kinda treat it as a freakish rarity, something to be studied. A major plot point is that she can't have children and that's why she made the tape. This to me feels like a way of further smearing her as they constantly hammers home the fact that she can't have kids.

In conclusion, It was ok, it would have been much better if it was a little more mindful of the topics it discussed and how they would affect people. But due to where and when it was written I can see why it is like how it is.

Would I recommend it? I don't really know honestly, it's very unique to the movies and merits reading but with the weight of the topics it completely drops the ball on it is a conflicting experience.