Manga Review | A School Frozen in Time Volume 1

On a day of record-breaking snow, 8 friends arrive to school to find that all the clocks had stop … on the exact time that a classmate had taken their own life three months earlier. On a chalkboard is scrawled, “Do you remember?” However, none of them can distinctly recall that day, and they reach the startlingly conclusion that someone among them is the ghost who of the friend who had committed suicide.

Now they must confront their own memories and each other as they try and unravel the mystery before a terrible fate befalls them.

A School Frozen in Time by Mizuki Tsujimura (writer) and Naoshi Arakawa (illustrator) is an emotionally-driven psychological thriller with a dynamite premise. It’s from the same mangaka who wrote Your Lie in April, and a similar drama aspect does come to play here. The story tackles heavy themes such as loneliness, love, and feeling invisible to the world. While the artwork falls flat to me, the sheer earnest of the dialogue still hits hard and some scenes were utterly heart wrenching.

It's worth nothing that Volume 1 does focus more on establishing the characters’ personal relationships than advancing the plot, which makes the introduction definitely feel more like a slow burn. However, this series is filled with so much potential that curious to see how it pays off in the long run.

Lastly, when I first heard into this manga, the premise reminded me a little of Kazuo Umezu’s horror classic: The Drifting Classroom, and lo and behold, Volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger and a Drifting Classroom reference! I can't wait to see how these two series compare over time.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kodansha, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Read the first chapter of A School Frozen in Time Volume 1 here!

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