Rasen (TV) - 1999. Thirteen episodes.

DIRECTOR: Kinoshita Takao & Nishitani Hiroshi. SCREENPLAY: Tanaka Kazuhiko & Takata Koji.

This second Fuji TV series continues where Ring: The Final Chapter left off. Like its predecessor, Rasen the series strays liberally from the original novel, introducing new situations (the Sadako curse is now on disc!) and new characters galore. Note again the odd change of careers: Ando Mitsuo, a brooding pathologist in both novel and movie adaptation, is now a wise crackin' teacher of high-school Japanese.

These differences aside, the first two episodes of Rasen are rocking good stuff. A roomful of people, their faces twisted in fear, suddenly keeling over dead in an office building... the disc containing the Ring Virus being sent to a TV station to be broadcast live on the air... scenes such as these permeate the earlier episodes, setting the stage for a sweeping, cataclysmic showdown of Stand-like proportions.

Frustratingly Rasen fails to deliver the goods, worming its way out of these earlier events to become a kind of poor man's X-Files, jumping from one paranormal storyline to the next with no explanation as to the thread of logic holding them together. By the penultimate episode, when the whole ridiculous conspiracy is finally revealed, viewers are left scratching their heads and, ultimately, disappointed.

Equally annoying is the series' treatment of the Sadako character. Because in this version she frequently changes her appearance, the "real" Sadako (played well, I thought, by Kimura Tae), is glimpsed only briefly, and most of the time we're forced to sit though the painfully wooden acting of Yada Akiko. Also, for all the supernatural power that Sadako is meant to possess, she sure spends a lot of time ineffectually trying to strangle her victims. And I won't even touch the rooftop scene where a misty-eyed Sadako repents, seeing the error of her ways...

There are a few good scenes in this series, and the final episode puts an interesting spin on the source material, but all said and done Rasen is a big jumbled mess that could have been handled a lot better. It's a shame that Fuji didn't use this chance to create a faithful, detailed adaptation of the books for its Ring and Rasen television series. If the goal was to cash in on the success of the theatrical Ring while still giving fans a look at something new, a straight adaptation of the novels -- which has yet to be made -- would have done nicely.

2 1/2 stars.

Cast - ANDO MITSUO: Kishitani Goro. AIHARA NATSUMI: Yoshimoto Takami. NISHIJIMA KUMIKO: Nomura Yuka. TAKANO MAI: Yada Akiko. YAMAMURA SADAKO: Kimura Tae.

Story - It is three months after the events of the Ring TV series. Takano Mai has just settled into a routine of normalcy when she receives a mysterious letter warning of Sadako's return. Meanwhile, Ando Mitsuo, a teacher of the Japanese language at an all-girls' high school, hears rumors of a cursed videotape. He decides to investigate, and is aided by Natsumi (one of his former students) and by the ever-enigmatic Takano Mai.

Trivia - Rasen sports an excellent soundtrack courtesy of Dennis Martin, an American composer who gained notoriety for his work on the videogame Legend of Dragoon.

Special thanks to Chris Watkins, who generously sent me this series in its entirety.