MovieChat Forums > Ringu 2 (1999) Discussion > Why poor Reiko? *SPOILER*

Why poor Reiko? SPOILER

posted 19 years ago by angelicme_
19 replies | jump to latest

Why? WHY? Why did they kill off poor Reiko Asakawa. I know I'm not the first to say that Reiko makes a damn better leading lady then Mai. How could they dump down Reiko in favour of Mai? Worst of all, why did they kill her off????
Reiko could have proven to be very useful in ring2. but they killed her off half way threw!
Reiko and Ryuji were very strong together in 'ring', they have personalities that run into each other and they are interesting. just trying to guess why they got divorced excited me, let alone the hot tention between then as they go in for the well act!
Mai in contrast, i found her a little boring. the whole thing about her being in love with ryuji is very unbelieveable and she seems to be more of a friend to him then a lover (mind you, i don't think ryuji loves anyone but hismelf). the only good things about mai were when she were on with reiko, as reiko fills in for and makes it clear that they don't like each other.
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if i had a choice for 'ring2', it would have been the plot 'on air'. i'd make andou the hero and have reiko be his supporting character. the tape will have leaked out and they try to fight it. (i stole that from sophie_lou21's plot lines site. sorry!)
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am i the only who found that mai was boring? i mean, i fell asleep first time i watched ring2 after reiko died (reiko's death is the only good scene I can point out).
it's not only mai, the whole movie is rather boring. mainly because the only two good actors were cut down to small scenes. ring2 would have been way better if reiko had been allowed to outlive the movie.
it's just how i feel, and i'm surei'm not the only one.

I'm Delilah... what do you think when you hear my name?

[–] sophie_lou21 19 years ago

No, you're not... As it is known to every Ring fan in a thousand mile radios knows that I wanted to tear my hair out cause of Mai.

I agree with the fact that Reiko is the most powerful character in each of the movies and she's the one who (along with Sadako) brings the true grace and horror into 'Ring'.

I cried when Reiko died.

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Miyazaki Forum - http://sophielou.pr oboards28.com/index. cgi

[–] nick3young 19 years ago

Whos died? I went through the whole movie and everyone looked the same and all the names were the same.

Cheers

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] JohnnyMoo 19 years ago

I was a bit confused with the traffic accident. Why didn't the driver or any possible passengers get out? Was the vehicle possessed?

[–] hary4 19 years ago

"Was the vehicle possessed?"

I believe Sadako was controlling it.

At the end of the movie, they tell Yoichi that Sadako killed his mother and he should take his revenge...

I admit her death was very sudden and no one really reacted to it. Since her character doesnt have a big role, I only realized she had died at the end of the movie when they mentioned it.

[–] brokenjukebox 19 years ago

Yeah, I agree it was a surprise that they killed of Reiko, the heroine of the first film, halfway through, not to mention making the protagonist a character who had a very minor part in the first film. I posted a similar comment on the Ring/Ringu board and a reply I got said that it's to do with the second book- apparently Mai is very important in the second book, so they expanded her character.

I thought Mai was OK, but I totally agree that Reiko was better- she was a much more interesting character, more of a tough cookie, and the actress who played her was gorgeous. Mai was a little less well-rounded, and she was a bit wimpy in places.

I think the subplot of Ring 2 was more interesting, with Okizaki. I'd rather that Reiko was still the protagonist and they made more of Okizaki's subplot.

[–] asakawa_k 19 years ago

(teehee! that was me!)

i found mai pretty dull, she didn't exactly light up the screen did she, but i did find myself caring about the character.

I will s**t down scorpions of pain upon thee!

[–] brokenjukebox 19 years ago

Yeah, I did care about her as she seemed a nice girl, and she constantly showed herself as someone who cared deeply for others, especially Yoichi, constantly putting herself at risk to help save him. But I just like Reiko better.

[–] sophie_lou21 19 years ago

"Ring 2" would have been a much stronger film if Reiko had been the lead still, or if that were not possible, she should have had the parter-in-crime role. Mai Takano wasn't a very strong character, alone one may find her tolerable but when you can't forget Reiko, you can't help but find Mai a very weak person. Compaired to Reiko, Mai was weak, wimpy and boring, and just a little girl. The great thing about Reiko is that she was a woman, despite the fact she's barely three or four years older then Mai, she's been married, been divorced and mothered the child of Ryuji, the man she was married to.

Mai is a nice enough person, despite the fact I hated her in Ring and Rasen (She barely appeared in Ring, another reason why Mai was so weak. She wasn't developed enough), it's clear that she is a nice girl. She's caring, maybe a bit dull and a mature girl. She cared about Yoichi very much and looked after him like a sister at times, but the relationship between Mai and Yoichi is still weak compaired to automatic relationship there is between Reiko and Yoichi. Reiko is the nicest and sweetest person you'll ever know. Let's face it, it's that fact about her that makes her so perfect in such a terrifying horror film. She kind, loving, lovable and selfless, I'm surprised she doesn't have a boyfriend!

I did like Reiko better as she was such a wonderful character and the way she was "disposed-of" was disgusting and showed what little care went into this film. Nakata said when he made "The Ring Two" that he couldn't get rid of Rachel as she was a strong, maternal woman who had to be there... If he thought that, why can Reiko in favour of a brand new character whom we know barely of? I think Nakata must have realised his mistake and didn't plan on doing it again.

I feel that Reiko's presence made you want to keep watching, and I feel that her presence was needed in the final scene. I think Reiko should have been the one to save her own son, not Mai. Even if Mai had to have been there, it still should have been Reiko. I think Reiko should have been in the well also, as I still believe that she died because of the inflences of Sadako and would be with Ryuji. Because the relationship between Ryuji and Mai is so much less developed and no where near as strong as the one between Ryuji and Reiko or the connection between Ryuji, Reiko and Yoichi, I often forget Mai's presence at the end in the well where Ryuji takes Yoichi's fear away.

It's horrible of me, I know, but I just found Mai's character so weak at some points that I even forgot she was even there. The scenes she had with Reiko, I'm too busy hearing what she has to say to bother with Mai and at the end when Ryuji appears to Yoichi, I'm far to busy caring about them to to care what Mai's doing (which was nothing except look scared for no real reason).

The bottom line is, yes, Reiko was a better character.

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Shooting Stars - http://sophie-lou.tripod.com/

[–] Kawada_Kira 11 years ago

I know you made this post 8 years ago (right down to the day, in fact), so you'll probably never see this reply, but I just wanted to say excellent post, you really put it just absolutely perfectly.

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
- Goethe

[–] ffordegroupie 19 years ago

Yeah, I felt that was an unneeded twist, just because it didn't serve any purpose and didn't really accomplish anything. They could have at least made her be the one to save Yoichi at the end, or at least appear with Ryuji.

I did like Mai, though, and it's not surprising that she is not as interesting as Reiko. Reiko is not just a passionate woman, but also one that has been married, divorced, and is a mother. Mai is a little girl next to her, and her life isn't shaped yet. Too bad they didn't take the "Ring 2" route and have Reiko being the one to battle Sadako.

[–] sadako_phen-1 19 years ago

Yeah..it was the worst part of the film for me. Asakawa was a more interesting character than Takano, and they should've kept her alive. After all, she discovered the copy-the-tape-and-pass-it-on theory in the first film!! Doesn't that deserve some credit?

[–] smiling_guy 19 years ago

Indeed. She's the only one who managed to sucessfully do that, and held off death for a little while. I was bitterly disappointed by Nakata's choice to kill of Reiko Asakawa, and I seriously think he should be ashamed of himself for doing so, it was the worst thing he could have possibly done... She should have at least played a huge part at the end. I just didn't like watching Mai Takano kill herself over saving Yoichi for no real good reason. It didn't look natural.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] slaxxasd 18 years ago

I haven't yet seen this movie. So i wanna ask. Did Reiko die in film or in the real life?

[–] Flowtac 18 years ago

She died in the film if you haven't gathered by now.

I like the fact that the film followed Mai this time around. Afterall, it does give us an opportunity to get to know her a little more. I also think they chose was because she was a scared little girl inside. This was something she hadn't dealt with yet.

If we had followed Reiko throughout the entire film, we would have gotten similar to The Ring 2. It would have just been a complete retread of the original which would have been quite boring. I love Reiko myself but to put her in the front and center again wouldn't have made the stakes that high. She's survived it once and has already been the protagonist. If she was the protagonist again, we know she probably would have lived. But to not only make her a side character but also kill her off really makes you feel like all stakes are off. Even Mai as the main character makes you think all stakes are off because she's not very strong in personality at all. The idea was to make the situation seem much more hopeless which I feel it did well.

I definitely cried when Reiko died, but it really works for the film to give it this hopeless feeling and catch the audience off guard.

[–] sophie_lou21 18 years ago

They down graded Reiko too far and then killed her. When such a well-made and overall better character is rubbed off and the personality vacuum lives, it's sure to be annoying for some. It sure was for me. I cried, literally, when Reiko died. It was like loosing a classmate or something.

If Reiko had made it to then end and THEN died, it may have been better... But the film got worse after Reiko died. It certainly wasn't a Psycho job where it got better and better. But to run her down with a truck... It just felt so terrible. There was so much they could have done with her.

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Shooting Stars [HMC Site] - http://sophie-lou.tripod.com/

[–] TexasBEAST 11 years ago

Yes, the Reiko character was the best protagonist of the series, so that's part of why it sucked to see her get killed off.

But it also sucked because, for me, she was the most beautiful of all the ladies in the series (even moreso than Ringu 0 Sadako, and that's saying a lot!).

Perhaps the director killed off Reiko here in order to try to bring some closeness to the books? Perhaps he agreed with the author that the character had run her course?

Maybe, as was said above, he thought that killing her off would really be unexpected by the audience, and that would be a valuable thing?

Had the actress grown tired of the subject? Did she want more money for the second film? Did she have a scheduling conflict--perhaps another movie to run off to perform for?

One of the few things that the American Ring films did right was pick a single lead protagonist (Rachel) and stick with her, all the way through. You can complain that American films dumb things down, and you'd probably be right. But at least they got that aspect of filmmaking down, correctly. It makes things easier to understand, and it feels more fulfilling to viewers who get invested in a film franchise.

Switching the leads is a tricky business. It only works if you can find a way to get the audience equally emotionally invested in the new lead. But they never did that, here. Sadly, Mai just doesn't hold a candle to Reiko, here.