The Ring

An official sequel that came out the same day as the original and then got replaced a year later.

0%
complete

Where to start with The Ring

This is the franchise where release order does the most damage, because the official sequel came out on the same day as the original and was quietly replaced a year later by a different film. There are two Japanese branches, and you want the second one first.

  1. 1
    Ring (1998) Ring

    The film everything descends from, and still the best of them. Nothing before it, and the American remake follows it closely enough that seeing this one first spoils that one.

  2. 2
    Ring 2 (1999) Ring 2

    Not the sequel that came out first. This one was made after audiences rejected the original sequel, by the first film's own director and writer, and it is the branch everything since has followed.

  3. 3
    Ring 0: Birthday (2000) Ring 0: Birthday

    A prequel released third, about Sadako before any of it. It works here because it explains a character you already have a fixed idea about.

Then what? Sadako (2019) finishes that branch. Then go back for Rasen, the sequel that was set aside, and watch it immediately before Sadako 3D and Sadako 3D 2, which continue the novel line it started; on its own after Ringu it reads as a non-sequitur, but as a setup for those two it makes sense. Sadako DX ignores both branches. The American films are a separate continuity, and the sixteen-minute short called Rings, buried on The Ring Two disc, is a real chapter that film refers back to.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.

0titles watched
0episodes checked
0left to watch
up next

The Main Japanese Line

  • Ring 1998
  • Ring 2 1999
  • Ring 0: Birthday 2000
  • Sadako 2019

The Rasen Branch

  • Rasen 1998
  • Sadako 3D 2012
  • Sadako 3D 2 2013

On Its Own

  • Sadako DX 2022

The American Films

  • The Ring 2002
  • Rings 2005
  • The Ring Two 2005
  • Rings 2017

Other Adaptations

  • Ring: Kanzenban 1995
  • The Ring Virus 1999

The Crossover

  • Sadako vs. Kayako 2016

Sync & backup

Your progress is saved on this device automatically. The code below takes a copy out and puts it back. Moving a whole list onto a device that has nothing on it yet is part of the subscription.

The code holds only this franchise. The link opens the tracker with your progress already filled in, good for showing someone where you're at. The image is a picture you can keep anywhere: scan the code on it with a phone, or drag the file back in below.

Every franchise you have touched, in one code.

Scan it with another device's camera, or paste the code in below. It never leaves your browser.

Drag a SagaList image here, or .

This reads the progress stored inside the picture, so nothing has to be retyped. If the image has been through a messaging app it may have been re-encoded and lost that: scan the code on it instead, or copy the code printed along the bottom.

Takes either kind of code. A single franchise code replaces that franchise, on any device. An everything code merges by default, so nothing you have ticked on this device is lost. Putting a whole list onto a device that has nothing on it yet is the part an account pays for.

Read only. This never changes what you have saved, and nothing leaves your browser. The code has to be their code for this same franchise: codes do not carry a name, so one from somewhere else may not be recognised as wrong.