My husband sleeps in the freezer – Review

You can never be sure that you totally know your significant other and, from some relationships, dramatic episodes of violence can arise which lead toat worst, to tragic conclusions. The story told in the manga My husband sleeps in the freezer takes us inside the couple's life Nana And Ryowhose relationship will suddenly take a violent turn when the boy begins systematic abuse of her.

My husband sleeps in the freezer is Misaki Yazuki's first work (to the screenplay) and of Hyaku Takara (to the drawings). Published in Italy by J-POP Mangathe manga will involve us in an intriguing thriller, contained in a single volume to be read in one sitting.

“…On a festive evening, I killed my husband”

The story tells us the events of Nanawho suffers constant violence from her husband Ryo for years. On a summer evening, Nana decides to take revenge by killing him, and then hides his body in the freezer located in their garden. Instead of enjoying the freedom he hoped he had achieved, Nana will see her husband return home the next day, as if nothing had happened. Ryo's body, however, is still present in the same freezer he was placed in, which throws Nana even more into confusion. The girl will therefore decide to devise a second plan, to definitively eliminate her husband.

While her daily routine with Ryo resumes almost normally, Nana soon notices how the boy's behavior has changed: Ryo is suddenly kind, calm, and cooperative, as if he's becoming the husband she's always wanted. At that point, other questions arise in Nana's mind: kill Ryo again, for fear that he will go back to being as violent as before? Or wait and see how this seemingly ideal version of Ryo fares? But above all, is what is happening really reality or is it the fruit of Nana's mind?

Although the story takes place almost exclusively inside the house, other characters will also enter the scene, who may doubt Nana or decide to help her. Each chapter adds an extra element that complicates the whole story, but never in such a way as to make everything too confusing.. The manga manages to keep the reader attentive thanks to a pleasant narrative rhythm, alternating the unfolding of the distressing current events with flashbacks that allow us to discover what Nana and Ryo's relationship was like previously, as well as how it progressively went get worse.

The story is engaging at the right point in its simplicityand whose only weak points lie in the resolution of some of the mysteries, which could sometimes be predictable if you are a fan of detective stories or thrillers. Some of these clichésactually, they make the reading less original, but they don't ruin the overall quality, while still managing to create moments of noteworthy emotional impact. Although it is not the first time that a manga addresses issues related to domestic violence, the work in question still does a decent job in representing this type of toxic relationships with the right realism. However, since the manga focuses more on the “investigative” side of the story, it ends up not fully dealing with deeper and more intimate elements, which tend to be the main focus of an abuse story. The in-depth analysis of the characters is therefore left, in some ways, on a more superficial level, a choice probably also dictated by the short length of the comic, which forces everything to end in a single volume.

“Now I'm free.”

Since it is a thriller that gives importance to the more emotional side of the story, there are no gore or graphically explicit scenes, preferring instead to focus on conveying the sense of confusion and anguish felt by the protagonistthus creating a great tense and dark atmosphere.

We can easily identify with Nana, as the contexts of domestic violence, nowadays, are not so far from us, whether through indirect knowledge or news about it. The emotional condition of the protagonist is transposed in a clear and understandable way, despite being in a decidedly complicated situation: if on the one hand we have moments of resoluteness and determination in her desire to kill Ryo, there are moments in which her desire for revenge is clearly held back by fear, caused by the presence of her husband who has brought her continuous suffering for several years.

As we reconstruct the past between the two through flashbacks, it is clearly visible how Ryo managed to manipulate Nanaalternating explosions of anger with moments of extreme kindness, and thus throwing the girl into a sense of total bewilderment, in which her husband's actions are increasingly incomprehensible.

From a design point of viewwhich Hyaku Takara dealt with, we have a fairly simple and clean style, which however does not fully convey the rawness of particularly important scenes. The expressiveness of the characters is also affected, as they appear a little too rigid in moments of strong anger or terror. Although this clean and precise style may clash with the dark tone of the story, it remains pleasant in its actual good quality, but does not offer particular creative flashes that make it stand out.

The J-POP edition it shows us on the outside a removable dust jacket with illustration, and on the inside an excellent binding that allows the volume to be completely opened; the printing does not present any problems, while the paper, lighter than usual, can barely reveal some transparency, but fortunately not too evident.

Who do we recommend My husband sleeps in the freezer to?

As already mentioned, if you are a lover of detective stories/thrillers, you might actually get to the “solution” entirely after a few chapters, also thanks to a couple of clichés typical of these stories; it must be said, however, that However, overall reading is intriguing and enjoyable, at least enough to give it a look, especially if the incipit already manages to capture your curiosity. On the contrary, those who tend to read fewer stories of this type may find the reading much more interesting, which flows pleasantly in just over an hour.