Sadako-san and Sadako-chan is something I happened across at the BARNES AND NOBLE MANGA SECTION; that ever-growing corner of the bookstore where only those with the biggest of brains go to shop -- so of course I had to pick it up. Recently, it seems English publishers have started acquiring more and more niche titles, so seeing strange one-offs in the wild is getting way more common than it used to be. However, I had yet to see a comedy manga about Sadako, the famous horror character from The Ring. Is it any good? All I can say to that is that it certainly isn't"bad." It has a cute little premise: Sadako meets a little girl who was raised to be like her, and the two become YouTubers. You really don't need to know too much about the source material to appreciate this. Everyone knows Freddy Krueger is the guy with the burned face and the claws who kills you in your dreams. Everybody knows Jason is the freak from the lake with a hockey mask. Therefore, you don't really need to see their respective films to watch Freddy vs. Jason. Horror icons have become ingrained in pop culture enough -- and quite frankly, their stories are also SIMPLE enough -- to where all you really need to know to appreciate off-shoots like this is that Sadako is the spooky ghost girl that climbs out of TVs. Which you certainly already do.

That being said, the manga doesn't exactly explore its fullest potential. It has a very typical "setup --> punchline" structure, but never rearranges it or offers much of substance... even when it comes to comedy. For what it's worth, it's entertaining to see Sadako trying to do normal things and becoming an internet celebrity. It's also charming, as always, to see a horror character act so benevolent. But ultimately, this is all that ever happens.

That certainly isn't a bad thing. If you really like the source material, and have a soft spot for wholesome little comedy stories that don't take too much of your time, then you may enjoy this quite a lot. I did, ultimately. But don't come here looking for much else, because even in the way of laughs this manga is somewhat sparse.