冷たい校舎の時は止まる（４）

冷たい校舎の時は止まる [Tsumetai Kousha no Toki wa Todomaru] #4

by Naoshi Arakawa, 新川直司, Mizuki Tsujimura

雪の降る登校日、校舎に閉じ込められた8人の高校生。その半分が姿を消し、残った鷹野、菅原、景子、深月。彼らの中に学園祭の日“自殺した生徒”はいるのか？　凍りついた真実は、陽光の下に――。メフィスト賞受賞の青春ミステリー、遂に完結！ (月刊少年マガジンコミックス)

Genres: Manga, Mystery, Graphic Novels, Horror, Young Adult, Paranormal, Comics

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2009

About the author

See also 新川直司

Reviews

[Mona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a good read. Although intense and at times horrific, the story was very gripping. Mizuki Tsujimura has a special craftsmanship of weaving stories. I picked this up after reading her novel Lonely Castle in the Mirror. I also found it interesting that she named one of the characters after herself.

[maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this series when it had already been released in it's entirety. If I had read these spaced apart, I'm not sure it would have had the impact that it did! Also, I promise you...you won't see the twist coming lol

[roxana ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

the plot twist was actually unexpected. a really good short read

[Danisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series was so good!!!! I totally wanto read more manga from now on!!!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content warning: if you have trouble with suicide in any form, run right the heck away from this series and talk to somebody if you need to.

With the cast slowly dwindling down, Takano is scrambling to solve the mystery of the mysterious eighth friend that none of them can remember and who took their own life at the school festival. Can this mystery have a happy end? Or even a satisfying one?

Well, let’s put aside the happy part and look at the satisfying side of things instead. This climax totally delivers and without breaking the internal logic that it set up for itself at the same time. For a supernatural mystery that’s no small feat.

There are, oh, four different bombshells of varying strengths that tie all this together and they make every single thing in the story fit into tidy little pieces. Two of them are absolute corkers that I didn’t see coming and totally subverted my expectations (how the teacher fits into things is particularly clever).

I don’t think you’ll be well served by any spoilers, honestly, but the story never swerves from its themes of friendship, of loss, of regret, and being unable to forgive yourself. There are some odd flashbacks of various import, but it’s nice to have the cast get a bit more fleshed out.

You could argue that the story pulls its punches at the end, but there’s no getting around some of the death that occurs and I think the redemption that the survivors come to is very well earned. In the end, this is a story about remembering the dead, no matter how painful, but not forgetting to live at the same time.

Yeah, it has some cheese at the end, but it’s not so bad. If you came this far on the journey, you can read this without fearing that you’re in for some nonsense explanation and a reveal that doesn’t play fair (as fair as any story set in somebody’s murderous subconscious can be, at least).

If anything, I think this benefits from a complete read through from volume 1 straight to 4 to get the most emotional impact. And the art’s never been the best. Two small complaints.

4.5 stars - yeah, I am a big sucker for any mystery that gets one past me in a clever way and has a tidy, satisfying ending. No qualms with how this turned out at all. Trust me, it was all there in the previous chapters.

[Nova Syzygy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh.....................

[Dayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I'm giving this final volume all of the stars because it caught me completely by surprise! I hadn't guessed the twists at all and I love that. I love that I was wrong because it means the story successfully hid its reveals from me and honestly, that's not easy to do.

I still am not the biggest fan of the artwork, but this story was so sad at the end. I loved how everything was connected somehow. It was honestly amazing and broke me just a little.

If you want a shorter, spooky, and at times heartbreaking manga, then I highly recommend this one!

Happy reading!

[Aishah Humaira' (Mermaird ♡) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been a very enjoyable series! I love the darkness and eeriness of it, as well as the mystery surrounding it. When the truth of who it was that committed suicide and how they came to be in the empty school, I was honestly left feeling bamboozled. The pace of this volume felt a bit rushed, I would have appreciated if we could get more insights on each character, but I was still satisfied with how things turned out.

[Kat Ice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the last installment of this series. It was great! I do wish it was maybe a couple more volumes because I feel they could have explained more and/or got into the issue more. But all in all this was a great series and something I’ll probably reread!

[hessah · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was so good🥹

[DonutKnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series made me feel like everyone plays a part in another person’s life- that we are all connected and that we are all worth something.

[MargReadsManga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful art. Great message.

[Hadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely my favourite volume after the 1st one. It was interesting to see that the author named one of the characters after herself!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid finish to a very good mystery series. I especially like how it never made light of its subject matter or the traumas its characters experienced, and if the end was a little cheesy, well, I'll take it over the bleak direction it could have taken, which would have ended things on a very different note. In the end it's about move through and past what you've experienced, not wallowing in what might have been.

[Isel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book honestly just confused me.
I mean happy ending but I was confused. Who was who?
Because I was sure that one kid that was accused of shoplifting was Hiro then he said only Hiro could hit the ball then the teacher called glasses Hiroshi but then Hiroshi said he'll save Hiro... ???? What??? What was going on??? Was everyone one named Hiro?? Did I miss something??? Typos??? What????

[Soups P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit confusing. It did not go the way I expected it to. Good read for cold weather.

The ending felt a bit rushed, but I don’t think I would’ve read the series if it was any longer. A bit cheesy too.

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series! At the beginning I was kinda indifferent towards it, but that ending!! That ending really made me want to cry.

As someone who has deep depression and has contemplated suicide, this means a lot to me. I've always wondered how my family and friends would think of me after I'd do the act. Would they be shameful and ashamed of me? Would they look back on me fondly? Or would they just forget about me and move on?

I've rarely come across a type of media that explores how people grieve a person AFTER they've killed themselves. It's always been how the other characters pick them up and help them get better. But whatll happen if they're too late? Or had no idea someone was even struggling at all? I've always wondered that, and this really talked about it in a unique twist.

It also was fascinating to see that all of these characters also carry baggage. They carry stuff on their shoulders that no child should be carrying. But, the reality is, even children experience and go through trauma on a daily basis. And those children are expected to smile and carry through their lives, even when things have hit rock bottom. They are ashamed to tell anyone what their baggage are. They'd assume that, if people find out what skeletons are hiding in their closets, others will look at them differently. So they don't. They keep pushing forward with that trauma on their shoulders weighing them down.

It really shows that no one is safe from trauma. Everyone has their own skeletons. Some are worst than others, but that doesn't mean anything at the end of the day.

What matters is how you overcome your skeletons and how you experience life. You can't dodge trauma, you can't forget trauma, you can't move on and forget that it never existed.

You need to remember in order to forgive yourself and others. You need to remember in order to carry on with your life. Don't have it weigh down on you, don't carry it on your shoulders. Instead, carry it in your heart, forever.

[Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire series deserves to win every single award. In fact, I would venture to say that this should he required reading. These volumes preface that suicide and self-harm, as well as the pressure to perform for tests is a very real thing, and there are many panels that are very difficult to read if those subjects bother you, especially the elements of self-harm.

This four volume manga features a set of classmates who go to school one day and find that their watches have stopped, and there’s no way to get out of the school. The place is set, there’s an element of suspense, and there’s so much to learn from these characters.

Takano, Mizuki, Rika, and Keiko are my favorites, as well as the teacher, Sakaki and Haruko. There’s real people behind these names and very real problems, so much so, I found myself openly crying for all of them.

The twist is, Mizuki and Haruko were best friends until Haruko believed that Mizuki was mocking her over getting a better score on her exams than her, when Mizuki wasn’t going to cram school and dedicating her time to studying. I related so much to Haruko right then and there, as I’ve never been the best test taker, and my friends who wouldn’t study got better grades than I did.

Haruko is the girl who was forgotten, the elusive student who jumped off the school roof during a festival. Mizuki however, is the one who created the world, as she wanted everyone to remember, as well as take her own life.

The conclusion is perfect, and it reminds me a lot of the manga Orange, as it has elements of science-fiction as well as a huge theme of trying to change the past. It’s a very real, very poignant manga, and I’m so glad I started the year with this beautiful series.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't read this series you need to be careful of my review. I may accidentally reveal something that I shouldn't.....But I was blown away by this series! It was intense, heavy, serious. It was so well written and the revealing of the tidbits that tell you more about the story are impressive. I had to go back and look to see about certain things. I read all 4 books today! I loved how each character had their own moment to confront their own struggles and through that we the reader were able to learn more about them. And as each character is called upon to confront their inner demons and also realize their friendships we are able to see more into the story and things become clearer. I loved Takano. He was a great investigator and detective into what was going on.
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
I figured out who the suicide victim was pretty quick. I think it was book 2. I had to keep a note to [their] name. It also became clearer through Takano's process what was going on. I had to go back through the book to look at the characters around in the memories of the others. There is one specific reveal in the second half of the last book that caused me to look back at the memories and see who was shown and the faces...it was like AH!! This story drew me in. I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen. It was really dark and twisting but the story was really well developed. I know I'm repeating myself but I can't stress at the moment how much this series surprised me and bowled me over.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a little ambivalent on the series. On the one hand, it was interesting how they tied in Suga and Hiroshi, and the lost Hiro (geez, what a depressing story) being his inspiration to be a doctor. On the other hand, I thought the whole langolier incident they brought up was stupid and irrelevant. They ended up not leaving anyone behind, so what was even the point?

I also was meh about the big reveal. Haruko was sunk too much in her own mind and committed suicide, thinking everyone was laughing at her. Mizuki blamed herself, because she could have gone to meet her. Maybe it would make a difference, maybe not. How did Sakaki take Mizuki’s side, exactly? What kind of fighting was it? I just couldn’t quite understand the situation.

The thing is that it gave us all these rather depressing backgrounds, but none of them really wrapped up. Akihito had his guilt over his friend, Rika was prostituting herself, but…did it stop? What happened with the client she stabbed? How did these memories help any of them get out? If it’s Mizuki’s world, why did Rika’s sister and Kei’s mom appear? The main thing is that for such good friends, they all had some serious shit they were hiding without even a hint of it.

I’m glad everyone survived, but overall it just didn’t feel like a cohesive story.

[Kayt O'Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A decent ending to this short series, and fairly impressive considering I had been wondering how it was going to wrap everything up. If the first book was about the creeping dread, the second about outright horror, and the third about the remaining characters, then this final book is a better character focus, one that drives the overall story, pushes it forward instead of languishing on character introspection.

We get the backstory/character studies of the remaining characters, and which tie directly into the answer to the mystery. It's a satisfying enough ending, maybe little trite and neat, but I appreciated how everyone survives, since no one was a terrible person, and it turned out the person who committed suicide was someone not there--the close friend who fell out with Mizuki--and it was Mizuki herself, wracked with survivor's guilt, who had created the frozen world..

Overall, it was an interesting series, enough that it kept me interested past the ugly art. A bit clumsy, but enjoyable.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little confusing to follow at times but overall it was very satisfying. The mystery and answer were well told. It deals with a lot of heavy topics and themes so keep that in mind when reading this if things like suicide, death, and depression hit too close to home for you. I love Arakawa Sensei's art and it added to the emotional highs in this book. If you are looking for a deeper, more serious little story this one may fit the bill as long as you can stand the subject matter.

[Di · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this series. I did figure out the mystery before it was revealed but this story provided some additional twists and turns which I appreciated. The art style was a little difficult for me though as there were times where I wasn't sure who was who. I am glad that I read the entire series in one sitting as I feel that if I had read them as they were released, I would've missed some of the details.

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know how I feel exactly about the ending but I did like the twist. It was very clever. I thought there had to be a reason why we didn’t see Sakaki’s face….

This was a good short read. Psychologically thrilling… Lots of sad background stories… I might have to reread this as a whole. It might be more fulfilling that way!

[Elaine White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a touching, poignant ending to the series. It was perfectly plotted, evenly split between all members of the group, and came to an incredible conclusion.
It deals with some pretty terrible, tragic events with sensitivity.

In a few weeks, I think I'll re-read the whole series from beginning to end, just to get a feel of what it's like when binge-read, as often it's better that way.

[Nadina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume did wrap everything from the previous voumes up, the story had an end and it was failry satisfactory. I think I just lost interest in the story by the time I got to this volume. It felt like an okay story by the time I was finished, I had mixed feelings about the illustrations. Just average in general.

[Sam W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all the twists at the end! this series was a lot darker than I thought it would be. I feel like there's still loose ends that weren't tied up. some of the kids home life wasn't explained enough. but overall this was a pretty good series


also I love each of the covers! the art work is great

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75/5

This was a good ending to the series. I kind of suspected who the person that died was, but that plot twist near the end was unexpected. I really liked that the key to them leaving was facing and dealing with their own trauma/insecurities.

[Emily Medlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hard one to read. It touches on so many hard topics. The way that they all confronted those hard thoughts and events was so well written. This is really good. I do not regret reading this.
This series is going to stick with me for a long time.

[Nicole Magolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This manga wrapped up well. The mystery neatly unraveled, made some kind of logical sense, and packed a little emotional punch. If I had properly enjoyed the series then I would have loved it, I'm sure.

For anyone looking for a short supernatural-thriller esque manga, I would recommend it.