The story even starts off somewhat like Angel Beats, which, as flawed and unfortunately unfinished as it is, is probably one of my favorite anime of all time. A mysterious high school where no one in our group of characters can get out of and be reminded of their tragic backstories over time? I'm in... yet I don't feel invested at all, not even after some quick re-reading of all 4 volumes! I don't feel like I experienced anything or truly understood the characters, who aren't memorable or interesting enough despite their dedicated backstories which can get so over the top that it feels unbelievable, and not in a good way. Sure, in real life, most people are not going to (or even willing to) have convenient moments for others to see all sides of themselves, and there can be such thing as too much foreshadowing. But most of these characters feel so disconnected from their backstories that you could remove them and hardly anything would change. It doesn't help that much of these characters feel one-note and don't really have that much chemistry with each other either. Takano and Mizuki's friendship might be convincing, but I mean, if some of these characters have crushes on each other, shouldn't there be some more hinting on that than just the little of it there is? If some characters have some deeper history with each other, shouldn't that be shown more with more specific character moments? It just feels like these characters are only friends with each other just because... well, because. The plot demands it to happen, so... just accept it, I guess.
Speaking of which, the plot is just... okay. Once the first backstory is unveiled, you can kinda figure out how the rest of the story will choose to present and unfold itself—through tragic past events in an attempt to get the reader to quickly sympathize with the characters. These characters' developments are mainly just these sudden reveals and that's about it. Oh, and about these reveals... if you're the type to get queasy about blood and topics like suicide and self-harm, you probably will want to stay away from this series now... unless you're into self-help/motivational books, because a good amount of this series kinda read like one. Not exactly a negative for me, as that kind of thing can be written well in heavy dramas that want the reader to learn something from the content through things like emotional scenes, but I know a good amount of people aren't into that so I'll just put that out there. There are a few plot twists scattered about that are some admittedly cool ideas however, particularly in the last volume; but again, because of the execution, they don't feel as satisfying as they should in my opinion. They give me more like a "huh...? what?" feeling rather than a "oh what?! ohhhh... now that's clever!" kind of surprised feeling. The answers to all the mysteries similarly don't feel as satisfying.
This manga's art is done by the manga-ka famous for the beloved drama Your Lie in April. I haven't read it or watched it yet aside from the anime adaptation's famous opening, so I'm not too sure what that manga's art is like. But it's clear that A School Frozen In Time was made before it, because I doubt people would praise that manga for its beauty if it looked more like this. That's not to say it's terrible, as much of it from the backgrounds and drifting snow to the kind of atmosphere in some panels are serviceable; but neither the art nor the panel composition are anything particularly special, especially early on. One thing you'll immediately notice are that the characters' faces can look really wonky at times, especially when they are turned at 3/4 angles; though I suppose it works for the moments when their faces get really distorted, like when they are horrified beyond belief or intentionally get out of character. Also, I had found this series through physical copies of Vertical Comic's English translation, which has a main font choice I might've otherwise seen for tiny speech notes or something that unintentionally adds to the somewhat amateurish feeling of the art. The art does kinda improve a bit after the second volume or so though.
I don't hate A School Frozen In Time. I really don't. But it really could've been much more than it is. Give it a read if you're curious regardless of my own thoughts, I can see a lot of other people caring about this more than I did.
