uzumaki is NOT related to the ring series. it's a manga, and it's something totally different. was adapted into a movie as well, which goes by the same name.
the series goes as follows:
ring - the first book, the story of kazuyuki asakawa & ryuji takayama (here asakawa is male, not female); the discovery of the tape etc.; the base of the first movie and the american remake as well
rasen (spiral) - the sequel to ring. it was adapted to the flop movie of the same name; NOT into ring 2. the protagonist is the pathologist mitsuo andou, who has known ryuji takayama and gets involved with all the sadako stuff as well :)
loop - the third book which was not filmed. it's not really a direct sequel to rasen imho, but takes the two books in a different direction. it takes place some 10 (20?) years after the first two books. the protagonist is a medical student named kaoru futami; there's a nasty epidemy of an incurable, cancer-like disease. it gets kind of sci-fi, this one :D
birthday - the last book in the series. consisting of 3 short stories. the first one (floating coffin) is a "missing chapter" from rasen about mai. the second one (lemonheart) is about sadako's past in the dramatic group and the third one (happy birthday) is a continuation of the events in loop. kind of a conclusion to the series, i guess. i've to finish reading it :D
the theatrical movies are not 100% faithful to the books; the books are also way better i think, though less scary. for example, ring 0 - birthday is claimed to be based on the "lemonheart" story; however, they only have the base in common - that sadako was in a theatre troupe and had an affair with the guy toyama. there's nothing like the evil twin though. all in all the story is very different from the movie.
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