For Takane and 7 of his friends, it's just another day as they make their way to school. Or is it? When they get to the school, they begin to sense that something is off. The school is empty, their phones don't work and the doors and windows won't open. The most peculiar thing is that all of the clocks have coincidentally paused at the time of death that someone close to them jumped from the school roof a few months earlier. But the strange thing is that no one can remember who it was. Was it one of them? What's even more disconcerting is that they seem to not actually be alone because one of them disappears, leaving a trail of blood but no body to be found.

I somewhat enjoyed reading this first volume of 'A School Frozen in Time', but I found the exposition a little tedious. We get some vague story stuff about our cast of characters and get a little more detail about only 1 out 8 characters. At only four volumes long, I'm highly interested in how this is going to end. Arakawa-sensei's art very beautiful as always. All of the characters are drawn distinctly from each other to highlight their differing personalities.


*Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha/Vertical for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I got the chills with this book. At first, it seemed only strange, but as the volume progressed it started getting scarier and scarier (I gotta say I usually only read shoujo manga). I think the concept is incredible, but it would work better as a one-shot manga or even as a collected volume (like a unique volume of the whole work). I know releasing it slowly is supposed to help with the tension, but I felt that this story would be more effective told and consumed in one sitting, as if it was a movie. It felt like things were escalating too quickly, the pace was fast, and even if there was attention to details, there weren't that many details to explore because of all the action in the plot. For me (as a non-consumer of scary things) it would've helped if things slowed down and the tension kept rising more slowly. Then a cliff-hanger (as in, this is the end of this volume) would've been okay.

I think it has the potential to hook readers of thriller, paranormal and horror manga, but I am not one of those. I got interested in the premise and thought it would be more philosophical than scary.

This got me interested in giving Your Lie in April a shot since it's from the same author.

5/5 stars

I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Eight students arrive at school only to find the building empty. The clocks have all stopped at a certain time and there appears to be no way out. The characters soon realize that the clocks are stopped at the time one of their classmates committed suicide at a few months ago. It appears that their departed classmate is behind the strange events and might even be one of the eight students present. The only problem is that no one can remember who killed themselves. With a handful of clues inside the school, the students need to remember who it was that died--or they might suffer a similar fate.

I really enjoyed this volume! Since it was the first volume, things started off a little slowly, but they quickly picked up. There's not a lot known about the characters, though that might be fixed in upcoming volumes. There are some eerie scenes that really drew me in, and I'm really curious about the mystery itself! Things are just getting started in this volume, and I can't wait to see how this mystery progresses!

TW: suicide and self-harm

After the tragic events of a suicide taking place at a school, months later 8 students come to school on a snowy day only to find themselves trapped in the building and are the only people there, even stranger, time has stopped at the exact time when a former classmate jumped off the school roof to their deaths. The students are now all forced to try and remember what exactly happened but for some strange reason all photos and memories of the student who died has been erased from their minds. Now they must try and figure out the mystery before they are all killed off one by one. This was definitely an interesting read! I was intrigued by the mystery and can’t wait to see where the story ultimately goes.

*Thanks Netgalley and Kodansha for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

The characters are likeable but we don’t go into too much depth. Although this is labelled as horror, it is eerie but not too dark. I liked the twist but knew it was coming. It is emotional as it deals with depression, suicide and self harm but there are lighter moments. Naoshi Arawakawa’s art style is beautiful. I would be interested in reading the rest of the series, hopefully to delve into the characters more.

Thank you to Vertical Comics for this advanced copy.

I was drawn to this title by the interesting premise, but the execution fell a little short. This could be due to slower pacing often associated with serialized works, so I hope that more time will be paid to character development in subsequent volumes. But the stakes were not established well, and it was easy to get lost in conversations between characters. Naoshi Arawakawa's art helped keep me interested in this book, but some of his backgrounds and character expressions were a little stiff at times.

Very early on, we're introduced to the eight main characters, and because this cast was so large, it was difficult to get a sense of any of their personalities, wants, and needs. They were all visually distinct, but I found it difficult to keep track of them throughout the book since none of them received much development and there were so many of them.

Although the students end up in a contained world, it was difficult to feel like this was detrimental since the "normal" world wasn't well established. It felt like they went from one sparsely populated world to another, so there wasn't much of a reason for them to return to the "normal" world. (I couldn't imagine what they had to lose, which is usually a keystone for mysteries like this story. The characters mentioned that their situation resembled that of the characters' in The Drifting Classroom, but because of the lack of world development, that comparison fell short.)

However, I am still a little invested in the main mystery, especially considering what happened to one of the characters about 2/3 of the way through this book, so I hope to give the next volume a chance.

This is a new horror manga and so far it has been incredible eery and emotional. It sort of reminds me of the anime Another in a way what with the classmate that everyone has forgotten about.
In this manga, the classmates are stuck inside their school building, until they remember the identity of their deceased classmate and the events that occurred at the school festival.
But what happens when they do remember?

So far, a LOT of paranormal events keep happening to the group of friends such as writing that wasn't previously there, clocks stopping and even people becoming missing from old photographs. I'm not fully sure why the spirit has taken everyone's memories or what the haunting is about, but I'm really interested in reading on to find out!

Eight students show up to school shortly after a student of their school committed suicide, only to find out they cannot leave. They are stuck in an empty school without any memory of the student who jumped to their death. Clocks are stopped. Windows and doors are sealed. Together they decide… it must be one of them… one of them is actually dead. Things get really suspenseful when one of the characters disappears after remembering…

Well… that was a little dark. I saw the disclaimer at the beginning that the book dealt with suicide, but it turned rather dark, rather quick. This novel is rather graphic – bloody. I would probably look at sharing it more with my high school students. I am curious to see what is in store for the next volume and finding out more about what is really going on.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha for this ARC. I will consider getting it for my library… mangas just aren’t as popular with my students.

The art was impressive but the story did show some lack of depth in character development and some pacing issues which stopped it from being a perfect state to a mystery series. That being said it was definitely intriguing and at points very unnerving.

Forget locked-room mystery, try locked-time (!) mystery. Ok, so the story goes like this: a group of students get stuck in time on a very snowy day and need to solve the mystery of a fellow student's suicide.

The main characters are:
• Mizuki, who reads her textbook as she walks to school.
• Takano, who's worried about Mizuki's wellbeing after their classmate's suicide.
• Rika, who spend a lot of time with Sugawara, a perv & gambler.
• Shimizu, a top student.
• Mizuru, a guy who denies being upset.
• and Akihko and Keiko, who arrive late.

So, our characters get to school one morning and discover it's completely empty. Now, locked inside, they have to figure out why they are here, why the time has stopped, and how to get out. The only clue is a question written on the blackboard.

There is a twist to all this and it's a big one. A good one. Trust me, it made my jaw drop.

Apart from the fact that suicide is mentioned quite often, the story isn't very dark. There is occasional humor, but the general tone is somber and one of mystery. The manga was classified as horror, and there were definitely parts of it that put it in that category. It's not very gruesome, though, especially that it's black and white, so, you know, blood isn't red.

The characters are lovable and even though there is quite a lot of them, it's easy to remember who is who.

It mixes some school life elements and tropes with heavier topics. If you kind of remember enjoying Stephen King's The Langoliers (or the dreadful CGI in the miniseries by the same name), but want to try something less gory, this manga is definitely for you.

A School Frozen in Time centers around 8 students that, on a snowy day, find that time has stopped and they are the only ones within their school. All the exits are locked and the glass is unbreakable. What's their main objective? Find out which one of them killed themselves.

The premise is interesting and had me intrigued immediately, but the writing and art style felt a little weak to me at times, disconnecting me from the flow of the manga.

TW: suicide/self-harm

this is a book about suicide. it’s about a group of 8 people who arrive at school one day, with their watches suddenly stopped at a certain time. this time is when their fellow student committed suicide two months prior. but none of these students remember his/her death, even tho it was recent. the students soon realize that the person who killer themselves is in the room with them, and they are reliving the months leading up to their death

this was very confusing to me and i soon found that you had to read this right to left, since it’s a japanese comic. storyline has potential but extremely confusing

Review to come April 20th on blog/goodreads/etc..

I received this book from the publisher/netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

8 friends, a time frozen (multiple times even that all have to do with what happened), a mystery. When I spotted this one up on Netgalley I was intrigued. A bit hesitant as well due to the suicide theme and the fact that NONE of these people could remember who killed themselves that faithful day (HOW? I mean if a friend of mine died or even a classmate I would fucking remember). But I decided to give it a shot.

I love how things seemed normal at first, just 4 friends meeting up and then heading to school, but when they arrive at school... things are weird. The campus is empty. It is just them, and so it starts. I loved seeing the kids try to figure out why the school was empty, walk around and check the campus out, and then the mysterious thing mentioned in the blurb starts. The kids find out they are stuck. LORD, I would have panicked so much if that had happened to me. And yes, I would have also thrown furniture at things to see if I can break a window, or a door, or something to the outside.

OK, so the part that they forgot, I thought that meant they just had forgotten it from the start... but it seems something is messing them inside the building. That definitely changes things for me and makes things more suspenseful/mysterious. What is causing them to forget. Who did die? Will they find out... but also what happens when they remember? That is quite a scary thought.

The story continues and boy I was just sucked in. We see confessions happen, we see them ponder and question what is going on, worry, cry, get angry, and there are other creepy things happening.... and then Mitsuru... he remembers and so we come into his memories. Not just of that day or the day near to it, but also his youth when he had found a cat. I was frankly pretty disgusted by how the author/mangaka showed that Mitsuru remembered to his friends/classmates. I don't want to delve to far into it, but boy I was practically puking. Bah. Couldn't there have been a better way? One not so traumatising and disgusting?

I loved the reference to Drifting Classroom! I was indeed thinking of that one when I saw the blurb/title! I am glad I am not alone, the characters also thought of that.

All in all, I want more. This is one manga that has me very curious. I want to solve the puzzle. There are so many hints and puzzle pieces, but I need more if I want to get everything together. Hopefully we get more hints and memories in the next one.

The art? Fantastic, but I already knew that would happen given the mangaka who work on this one. I love their style.

I would highly recommend this one if you like mystery along with spooky/creepy things.