The Birthday (anthology)
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Birthday (バースデイ Bāsudei?) is an anthology by Japanese writer Koji Suzuki first published in February 5th, 1999 in Japan. It is the fourth and last installment of the Ring series of books. The book consists of three short stories occurring each in a different timeframe, and are all related to the Ring universe of events:
Floating Coffin – This covers the last moments of character Mai Takano’s life, which were omitted in the second novel of the series, Rasen (published in the United States of America and United Kingdom under the title Spiral). The story is told from the perspective of Mai Takano.
Lemonheart – The second story of the anthology, and the basis for the screenplay of film Ring 0: Birthday(2000). The majority of it takes place during character Sadako Yamamura’s time while studying acting with the Hishio acting troupe at the age of 19. The focus of this story is Sadako's intimate relationship with fellow acting troupe member, Hiroshi Toyama, and her social alienation from the rest of the members.
Happy Birthday – The final story of the anthology. It further develops the storyline of the last novel, Loop, while incorporating new information disclosed in the previous two short stories. It depicts the last events taking place in the Ring universe chronologically, and is also the conclusion of the series.
[edit] Book information
Vertical Inc. published the English translation of Birthday in December 2006.
[edit] Sources and external links
- Loopkai Project - (Japanese)
- Birthday review at SaruDama.com
- the ringworld - Contains detailed information on the Ring cycle.
- the Ring AREA - Contains of the cursed videos of the Ring cycle and their scene-by-scene analyses, as well as lots of other useful information.
- Vertical Inc. - Publisher of English translations of the Ring novels.
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