"But apparently like half of Japan's population has psychic powers at this point." I've seen enough anime to say that this is probably accurate.

It's nice to see Viga carrying on Alex's tradition of working Thing Tucker into the title cards for each Ashock the 4th Wall episode.

Her sacrificing her father to save her son isn't as bad as tricking a perfect stranger or someone unrelated to her into watching the tape. Additionally he was apparently okay with dying to save his grandson's life, so you could say he made a noble sacrifice for his family.

"fear energy" Sadako of the Planet Earth, you have ability to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps.

I love that title card. Thing-Tucker as Sadako is just plain adorable.

I doubt it was the creator's intention, but I like to think of the "Why are you the only ones saved?" line as meta-commentary. Mai and Yoichi were both unceremoniously killed off-camera in Rasen (both the novel and the movie), but in Ring 2 they're elevated to lead character status and are the only ones who survive the final conflict of the film. I think its fun to interpret Sadako's line as a joke about how she already killed them in a previous continuity but couldn't manage to do it a second time.

So the "Sadako was alive for thirty years" thing. In Buddhism, there are monks who supposedly can live without food, and merely take in the "life force" from the world. Knowing Japanese culture's ties to Shintoism and Buddhism, they were most likely using that idea for Sadako's survival. As for why she died a few years ago? Could just be orbital wobble.

The take away I got is that there needs to be a lot more Versus movies in America.

Thing Tucker as Sadako for the title card art is honestly adorable.

I admit the whole 30 years thing is a stretch, but considering they suggest her true father was some kind of water/ocean based Yokai (a kinda catch-all term in Japan for supernatural entities, Ghosts, Demons, animal spirits, Kami (gods), etc.) then it kinda makes sense she could survive that long in a well full of water as she wouldn't be fully human to begin with. However I guess 30 years is the maximum that a Hanyou (human/Yokai hybrid) like her could survive in those conditions.

I mean, one could argue The Shining is also a story about both ghosts AND psychic powers, and manages to blend them rather well, mostly because it uses both to serve a third focus : the metaphor on alcoholism and whatnot. So it could be possible to have a bunch of espers in the franchise WHILE making it ghostly and thematically consistent.

She’s nostalgic because she knows she’s about to start an isikai adventure.

(looks at title card) Hehe Ring Tucker

It's just occurred to me that in the Marvel 2099 universe, your Halloween show title basically translates to, "Afuck the Fourth Wall." Which could be handy if you ever get into porn.

I was wondering how Thing Tucker was gonna show up this year. Very clever idea Viga~

So we're addressing the little glitches that happen. As long as the cats remain, I'll be okay. Good idea to have Linksano scour Billy's home reality for anything to use against him in the match. And, hey, when its over, you can hand that info to the authorities there. And, yeah, Linkara did experience first hand the pain of getting stabbed in his first match with Scarn.

I remember in high school my economic teacher showed us the 1st Ringu movie. The moment in the movie where Sadako exited the TV, the power throughout the school shut down. Coincidence I’m sure, but it was the closest thing to a supernatural event that happened to me.

"Welcome to ashock the fourth wall where dead comics rise" Now that is a Catchy theme.

Clearly the reason Mai messed up the chalkboard is because Ryuji was studying the Anti-Life Equation, and Mai ruined his work to prevent Sadako from getting it.

And at the end of Juon vs Ringu, the two ghosts MERGE INTO A NEW GHOST. ...Fusion is a cheap tactic to make deadly ghosts deadlier.

Sadako vs Thing Tucker. Now that's a movie I would watch. And Linksano petting Chieri is the serotonin boost I never knew I needed before today.

Got to love that the two Hitler clones science joke is still going after all those years.

1:03:33 yeah Linkara, I think that's something you could mostly blame Koji Suzuki, the author of the original Ringu novel on this than the films, as every sequel to his novel (there are six books in total) mostly dealt with psychic powers.

Ok, Viga turned Thing Tucker into an anime girl. Not what I was expecting, but it's cool.

Thanks Linkara, glad I could help out :)

Mewtwo can't beat Sadako, she's a ghost type and his attacks won't be very effective against her.

11:57- (As Neil Breen) I can't believe you watched the Ring tape. I cannot believe you watched the Ring tape. How could you have done this? How could you have watched the Ring tape? 16:27- Nice touch. 18:21- Yeah, I'm also calling 1-800-BULL-SHIT. 20:11- I've sadly also seen Meet the Spartans, but only because I just watched 300 for my first time, and I thankfully now have 300 in my movie collection, and NOT Meet the Spartans. 23:52- 9 years later, and I still love that moment.

Wait, I thought the "seven days" thing represented how long Sadako was alive in the well. If she survived in there for 30 years, doesn't that make the week that it takes for her to kill someone really arbitrary?

God damn it Linkara, did you just refence *my* favorite Atop the Fourth Wall joke? I never in a million years expected a "Spike Lee is the Kingpin" joke. Well played. Well played, indeed.

I feel like with the whole "Yoichi being a young boy with psychic power levels off the charts that scientists run tests on to measure and is also consumed by fear and anger over his mother dying" there was a missed opportunity to make a whole bunch of Star Wars Prequel jokes.

Awesome, in depth, well done over hour long review of this.... and all anyone can talk about is how utterly awesomely adorable Sadako-Thing-Tucker is in the art work.

43:24 TRUCK-KUN NO! WHEN WILL HIS REIGN OF TERROR BE BROUGHT TO AN END?!?!?

Ryuji in the movie is played by Hiroyuki Sanada, one of the biggest stars in Japan, but best known to this audience (probably) for his roles in The Wolverine and as Scorpion in the newest Mortal Kombat.

On the fear/anger thing, well... "Fear leads to anger."

Yoichi: "IS THIS THE HEIGHT OF MAGICAL ACHIEVEMENT!?"

You have NO Idea How Long I've been Eagerly awaiting the next Video for Ashock the Fourth Wall!

Linksano, if you’re trying to scan a cat’s cuteness, your scanner would already short circuit because even computers can’t calculate a cat’s cuteness. Joking aside, nice review, Lewis, can’t wait to see Linkara take on the next slasher killer.

If only the cave Shizuko gave birth in had a box of scraps. Then Sadako would be a superhero!

Fun Fact: You can hear Biollante's roar during the afterlife in the pool scene. Now imagine the ghosts coming out of the pool being all the kaiju Godzilla has killed.

23:18 Well, I guess it depends on the continuity. In the American Continuity, clearly suicide IS an option because Samara's adopted father was able to kill himself. So in theory, you SHOULD be able to die a natural death and Samara wouldn't be able to do anything about it. As for the Japanese Continuity, Ringu 2 implies that Reiko's father committed suicide, but Sadako vs Kayako implies that she claims "ownership" of you and wouldn't allow anyone to kill her "target" before her, which INCLUDES the target themselves. That's why Natsumi died before the time limit. So if you were to take Sadako's logic that dying a natural death is the target's body's fault, then she just arrives earlier and kills you before you have a natural death. Sadako vs Kayako technically is a separate continuity, but they DID seem to stick to this ruleset for Sadako (2019) due to Sadako arriving to kill Masami due to her being a danger to Sadako's current "target", that being Mayu. And Sadako (2019) IS canon to Ringu 2, due to Masami herself being a returning character with even the same actress reprising her role. With this in mind, I personally like to fanwank that Sadako appeared before Reiko's father just before he was able to successfully kill himself, since we never actually see his corpse, but admittedly that IS fanwanking. 30:13 OOH! I can add a bit more context to the baby thing too! In the novel, Sadako had a younger brother that died during infancy. In the novel, the tape had a scene of Sadako's point of view (because the tape alternates between being from Sadako's point of view, hence the "blinking" revelation, and more abstract stuff like the text and all that) where she was holding her younger brother. This might have tied into her desire to have children because she connects it to the missed opportunity she had in life to see her little brother grow up. Been a while since I've watched Ring Kanzenban, but it may be possible that they simply took the visual and forgot to add the context to it. As for her being naked... well, like you said, the entire thing was pretty exploitative XD 47:41 With how Sadako's corpse was laid to rest in the ocean, it seems to be implied that her soul became part of the ocean and she eventually chose the "riverbed of dice" as her new "home", considering that cave's whole "take a baby, leave a baby tray" (as you called it) pretty much relied on the ocean's tide to enter the cave to sweep up the unwanted babies. This explains how Ringu 2 leads to Sadako (2019). So... yes, I think in a sense she IS happy about it. No idea about the seagulls, though :P 50:18 Honestly? That IS pretty much what I think is so haunting and tragic when it comes to Sadako (2019), as it shows that one of the first things Sadako has ever seen was in fact a round opening in the cave looking at the moon, giving something of a dark bookending to her birth and death. The first and last things she has seen in life is the moon over a round opening and she is stuck with nowhere to go. 53:38 So it's clear that the psychic stuff seems to bother you, and I'm not going to try to change your mind on this. I just want you to know more of the context behind this. You're allowed to find it ridiculous how much focus there is on it in this franchise and I respect that. But the general idea about "psychic powers" in Japanese culture is that EVERYONE has SOME kind of innate psychic powers and it's just that some people are more "attuned" to it. Shizuko, and as a result Sadako, just happen to be some of those more attuned to psychic powers than the rest of the people in the world. Think the concept of "Ki" in for example Dragon Ball, everyone has Ki, it's just that some people either have a natural skill in their Ki or they train to make use of their Ki. That's why you don't see EVERYONE flying around like the heroes, but characters like Videl CAN learn to do it with the proper training from Gohan. It's just that Ki is usually considered a physical power whereas "psychic" or "ESP" is generally considered the power of the mind. MOST people are just too weak in their psychic powers to see stuff like spirits and such, but the moment a powerful psychic like Sadako haunts someone, their innate psychic powers just grow which leads to all the psychic stuff. So, yeah, kind of a culture thing. Being "psychic" is not so much an exception, but rather the rule. The EXCEPTION is the *amount* of attunement one has to their psychic powers. Games like Fatal Frame also implies that women in particular have more innate psychic powers than men, which is why most of the playable characters in that game franchise are women. Either way, what makes Sadako special compared to others with psychic powers isn't so much that she IS psychic (though she is massively more powerful than other people in that regard), but the terrible life she has led BECAUSE of the psychic powers. And all that pain and suffering pretty much got psychically compressed in the images of that video tape. THAT is what's so special about the video tape and what makes Sadako more than a run-of-the-mill spirit. She CAN strike at any time, but CHOOSES not to because she WANTS to spread the experience of her terrible life to everyone else. It's why the video is from her point of view, after all. She wants everyone to see through "her" eyes. But yeah, that's just my argument on the whole psychic stuff. You're of course still allowed to find it ridiculous, different strokes for different folks. 58:00 It's not that anger and fear is interchangable so much as that negative emotions in general are what fuels Yoichi's psychic powers, similar to how those particular emotions (and sadness) are fueling Sadako's psychic powers. Said emotions being the "darkness inside your heart", as they say later. Ryuiji COULD have said something like "give me all your negative emotions" but I guess he just said "fear" so as to give Yoichi something simple to understand and "give". Kinda similar to how Star Wars goes all "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, etc.", which makes sense since George Lucas really loves his Japanese stuff, what with all the Akira Kurosawa stuff. 1:04:27 Now, after my whole ramble about psychic powers and all that... I very much agree with your statement. That WOULD be a good direction for the franchise to give a consistent throughline in future installments. But I personally just don't think that the psychic powers are what are detracting from that direction. Psychic powers are in the franchise's DNA and though you may argue that they don't do anything interesting with the psychic powers, the psychic powers as a concept are very malleable so as to fit with the very thing you're suggesting. Ryuji as a character is interesting (in the films) because of his weaker psychic powers and how it leads to his empathy for Sadako as a character, because he knows from first-hand experience the disapproval of psychic powers in this world. Love or hate Sadako 3D, Akane very much is written to be considered a "light side" Sadako. She got ostracized by people due to her psychic powers and the only comfort she had was the open-minded Takanori, which parallels Sadako's own life with Toyama. But the difference is that Takanori was able to do what Toyama failed at, actually save their loved one. This is why Akane grew up to be a heroic character whereas Sadako became a tragic villain. Could they have done more with the psychic powers? Yes. But to just remove it altogether just doesn't seem like the answer to me. Just tie it better to the concept that you suggested. Anyway, great review. Definitely laid down a lot of the problems but also the saving graces of both this Manga and the Film it is based on. If this is too much, just tell me. I may be able to tone down all these additional context and arguments if you want. I'm just very passionate about this franchise ^^;

So, now they're saying that Sadako died 30 years after falling in the well? But isn't the whole thing about the cursed tape that, you die 7 days after seeing it, specifically because Sadako died 7 days after being thrown in the well? With this new information, shouldn't you now die 30 years after you see the tape?

So, those things being put on people's heads are called electrodes. Measure electrical signals from your brain. Shaving people's heads for it is an option because having direct contact with skin is better. And yes, even though that goofy thing Ray was wearing was for comedy, it *is* what the device would look like. Though not sure how often it gets used in hospitals these days.

I was about to question how thing tucker became a moe anime girl, then I remembered that it’s a shapeshifter and can become whatever it wants.

I can't tell you how much I love your passion for horror. Ashock the Fourth Wall is always a joy every year. Thanks for being awesome, Lewis.

I know this isn't the right episode, but happy anniversary Linkara!

37:20 Look, I have come to grips with the idea that half of Japan either has psychic powers, is a rider, Sentai, Ultra, Metal hero, or has some ability that makes them super human or really good at sports/children's card games. It's just easier to admit that,

Calling it here; the cats are a gift from the Entity, a kind of belated 'Sorry that fragment of me and my loser little brother gave you so much grief'. But being the Entity, and also being dead currently (assuming that has any impact on things) they're essentially adorable kitty cosmic horrors that retroactively inserted themselves into the timeline, and force it to accept them whenever folks notice.

"I'm sure the cold hand of science can defeat Sadako's magical powers..."

Now I kind of want a crossover between X-Men and Ringu.

I haven't seen this episode yet, but I'm just gonna like and comment to influence the algorithm. Edit: 23:21 my guess it's like the Final Destination franchise. Sadako won't let you die until it's your time to die.

The Vegeta insert made me lose it. Bravo

Was honestly not expecting Thing Tucker as Sadako. And hey, Linkara managed to release the second part before the end of October. Early Halloween treat for us!

YOOO Ryuuna shoutout! I've been behind on catching up on the Halloween vids and when I saw you covering The Ring franchise I did think some of the VS films he covered. I will say I'm pretty excited that this year we're getting like a dual version of reviews-with Late Night Double Feature covering the next one.

Well, this video is being added to the list of Good Linkara videos.

Oh man, I missed the Linksano banter, glad to see him bringing the focus for a bit.

for the case of sadako being in a well alive for almost 30 years, maybe they pulled an X-men 3 and had her psychic abilities cocoon her and put her into a sorta stasis, like hibernation.

"All that time in the well, what did she live on?" "Treacle! It was a treacle well!"

I think Ghosts are scary in part because you can’t just point a shotgun at their face and pull the trigger like a vampire or zombie. There’s not much you can do against a ghost but there’s a LOT they can do to you.

When I first saw this, I thought Linkara was back on schedule, but then I realized that this video was suppose to come out last week.

The Reason Reiko was so happy when she saw the truck is because she knew she was getting Isekaied.

1:07:14: Linksano petting Linkara’s cat. Nice.

Ring Tucker is friggin adorable. Good work, Viga! Surviving 30 years in the well could be explained as her psychic powers and sheer anger sustaining her body until she finally exhausted it. It makes little sense, but so does a lot of things in this series. The new coat looks awesome, BTW.

All this talk about the darkness in Yoichi's heart makes me expect Sora from Kingdom Hearts to show up to help stop Sadako, who turns out to be a Heartless born from her despair.

I love the title card it looks so cute and adorable 🥰

I can see the mask in the manga being creepy if you upped the uncanny factor with Sadako’s body; particularly an unnaturally long torso or gangly limbs. Some real Junji Ito stuff.

Had no idea there were so many sequels/remakes/spinoffs

"my god...how many pez dispensers can fit in one nostril"-best line of the year

Ah, so THAT'S how Thing Tucker was gonna sneak in. Amazing! ^^

Re that thesis you made around the 1:04:30 mark: That's actually pretty close as to why I love RINGU so much. At its core it's about the very natural fear of death; of knowing one has only so much time on earth & sometimes survival means having to make horrifying sacrifices in the same way that hunters have to kill other animals. It made Sadako a faceless force of nature, like one of the better Silent Hill demons. One of the reasons I didn't care for THE RING as much was because it felt like it was trying its damnedest to humanize Samara & make it all about her tragic backstory, only for the bait-&-switch at the end with the ex-husband dying anyway. It kind of took away from that core theme for me.

As strange as "Spiral" gets its sequel "Loop"... Well I was gonna say 'Jumps The Shark' but honestly it's more like 'Orbits The Whale' with the bizzare twist it goes with. Spoiler: Everything is revealed to be in a Virtual Reality called "The LOOP". And her virus leaps into the Real World via cloning someone from said VR-Universe.

How could a human survive in a well for 30 years? They couldn't but with the implications that her father was a water demon/spirit...possibly the well water kept her alive longer then she would have been in a dry environment.

He has to give up his fears because fear leads to hate, hate leads to anger, and anger leads to the dark side

15:24 So she had sexual relations with Cthulhu. That explains the physic powers and other-weirdness.

After looking more into the Ringu series after the last episode.....this series is uh going to get interesting

46:37 "So all the teenagers were *wishing* there was a haunted video tape that killed them?!" Um, YEAH? First of all, when faced with the chaos of emotions associated with puberty, plus the stress of high school (especially Japanese high school, which is crazy-stressful), self-injurious and self-destructive tendencies are bound to be exacerbated. Second, the escape clause fits well with the teenage tendency to expect a way out from any situation. Thirdly, it represents a life-threatening risk, the ultimate adrenaline rush; and adolescence is a point in life where people particularly crave adrenaline. All in all... the answer is "yes, they wished it."

The Kane (spelling) video loop in the video for me was genuinely one of if not the scariest thing I have seen in a movie.

One Ring to haunt them all.

15:17: Mewtwo VS. Sadako, Wiz and Boomstick need to get on that, ASAP.

42:38 well, Yoichi did attack him with psychic powers and cut his face. He was probably really terrified and shocked after this. Also, Ryuji's beard looks weird.

I dunno, the psychic angle does open the door to a potential Psychonauts crossover.

So, basically, Sadako is a member of the Sinestro Corp.

I think we need to remember that human emotions can at times be illogical, as people can be blinded by rage, hate, love, lust, etc, thus Sadako could have just chosen to die & create the curse entirely on a mere whim or simply accepted that being dead was better than her torturous existence (if she was using her ESP to keep tabs on the world outside the well, she may have come to realize no one was coming and/or the realization she had sent 30 years keeping herself alive for nothing other than watching others live their lives while she clinged to life)! Who knows, maybe she created the cursed tape while still clinging to life & trapped part of herself in it (creating the Ring curse)! Maybe she realized what she had done & added the survival instructions part of the tape as a way to break the curse she made possibly by accident or subconsciously! Heck, she may have elected to die in the hopes of putting an end to the curse or out of guilt as I like the idea that she is more a victim of human cruelty that turns them into a vengeful entity, kinda like Jason Voorhees!

Also happy to see linksano involved in the plot. It would be nice to see spoony as insano in a regularly reoccurring role, but that's obviously impractical.

Spike Lee is the Kingpin.....Good call back.

The slit mouth woman is also known as Kuchisake Onna for those who got confused, and Teke teke is a girl who got cut in half by a train cuz her bullies hurt her legs in the version I heard

If anyone is interested in Rasen, it is on blu ray in the west, at least in the UK. It is included as an extra on the Ring 2 disc of the Arrow Films Ring boxset

Man, Mai shoulda just taken Yoichi and gone full Mob Psycho 100 and used their powers to fight ghosts for cash until they're strong enough to get their revenge on Sadako.

Linksano: "My readings indicate this cat is an adorable fluff-ball!"

Excellent use of your mad scientist there, Linkara!

When Samara rose from the tub shouting "MOMMY!" in The Ring 2, my wife and I burst out laughing. It wasn't scary at all. It was hilarious.

Kid's mom got hit by Truck-kun right in front of him. Harsh, especially because she didn't get isekai'd so as to indicate that Truck-kun is of the clock.

I love the title card it’s very cool also yay the thing plushie is sadoko In disguise.

Always like how in many horror franchises that you cover in comics that you give your quick opinions on how you feel about every movie in those series.

8:14 That’s one of the things that the remake that better, the girl die for seven days which connects to the week that you will die by watching the video tape.

So fun fact: Kanzenban (完全版) can mean "Complete and/or Perfect Edition/version" with the Kanzen kanji (完全) generally meaning Complete or Perfect and the ban kanji (版) generally meaning a different version. For video games it can generally mean a version that has unused content from a previous version of the game restored or version differences from the original release and now included in that one version instead. Demos for games (Digital or Physical) are called Taikenban (体験版), as another example of how the ban kanji can be used. Now why the TV movie is called Kanzenban...hell if I know.

I do hope that once this contest story line is concluded (I'm still pretty far behind in videos, so I don't know if it's done or not yet right now), but anyway, when it is done I hope you put out an all-in-one compilation video of it. It's gone on for so long, with so many (understandable) delays that I'm having trouble remembering certain parts of it. And I think I've missed a few somewhere. Did I miss the race one, or did that just not happen? I really don't want to go back through the YEARS of videos just to look for the few that have the story bits at the end.

The big swimming pool is considered full of purified water because it's been chlorinated and nobody has peed in it yet.

I've really enjoy you covering these manga's, specially how you tell us what is different in them from the movies. Can't wait to see more! 😁😁😁

I miss Daveigh Chase so much!!!! Samara is the role she was born to play!!!

I was not expecting anime Thing-Tucker, but it's imaginative. Well played, Viga.