A school frozen in time vol 4 by naoshi arakawa

Takano has precious little time to finish solving the mystery, as the clock has started again, and there are only a few classmates left. Suddenly, he realizes what he's been missing the whole time. We get a few scenes of flashback to fill in some details between Takano and some of the other students, including the one who took their own life and set this all in motion. There are a couple of other reveals that make the timeline of events make more sense, and there are a few characters who have been illustrated similarly that Arakawa makes sense of as well. 

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This is a decently satisfying ending to a pretty crazy mystery story. As with many manga mysteries I've read, there are pretty big clues throughout the story, so most readers will probably have most of the ending worked out by the time it gets here. There is one pretty big reveal that isn't as telegraphed, so readers might have that to be a little surprised about. It is nicer that this is a short series that doesn't feel very drawn out or full of fluff. As readers get more of the backstory throughout the series, there is some potential for re-readability so they can read from the beginning knowing who everyone is at the onset. 

​Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3

Publisher: Vertical Comics (Kodansha)
Publication Date: August 10, 2021​
ISBN: 9781647290511 (Paperback)

Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, School Life, Mystery, ​Horror, ​Paranormal, Kodansha