is an anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 by Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 Koji Suzuki

Koji Suzuki

Koji Suzuki is a Japanese writer, who was born in Hamamatsu and currently lives in Tokyo. Suzuki is the author of the Ring cycle of novels, which has been adapted into a manga series. He has written several books on the subject of fatherhood...

 first published on February 5, 1999 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is the fourth and last installment of Suzuki's Ring

Ring (Suzuki novel)

is a Japanese horror novel by Koji Suzuki, first published in 1991, and set in modern day Japan. It was the basis for a film of the same name , and two remakes: a Korean version and an American version ....

  series.

Plot

The book consists of three short stories occurring each in a different timeframe, and are all related to the Ring universe

Fictional universe

A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....

:

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

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 under the title Spiral). The story is told from her perspective.

Lemonheart – The second story of the anthology, and the basis for the screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 of film Ring 0: Birthday

Ring 0: Birthday

Ring 0: Birthday is a 2000 Japanese film. It's the prequel to the film Ring. It was directed by Norio Tsuruta, based on a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi. The film's screenplay is based on the short story Lemonheart from the Birthday anthology by Koji Suzuki. There is also a manga adaptation...

(2000). The majority of it takes place during central character Sadako Yamamura’s time 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

Social alienation

The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...

 from the rest of the members. It also reveals the full story of her death and "rebirth" in the cursed videotape.

Happy Birthday – The final story of the anthology. It further develops the storyline of the last novel, Loop

Loop (novel)

is the third in the series of Ring novels by Koji Suzuki.The story revolves around a simulated reality, exactly the same as our own, known as the Loop: created to simulate the emergence and evolution of life...

, 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.

Book information

Vertical Inc. published the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

translation of Birthday in December 2006.

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 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.