Millenium Snow Vol 1

Title: Millenium Snow/Thousand Years of Snow/Sennen No Yuki

Author: Bisco Hatori

Artist: Bisco Hatori

Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy, Shoujo, School Life, Supernatural, Fantasy

Status: On Hiatus

Summary: 17-year-old Chiyuki Matsuoka was born with heart problems, and her doctors say she won’t live to see the next snow. Toya is an 18-year-old vampire who hates blood and refuses to make the traditional partnership with a human whose life-giving blood would keep them both alive for a thousand years. Can Chiyuki teach Toya to feel a passion for life, even as her own is ending?

-Shojo Beat

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Winter = snow (usually), so I thought about reviewing a snow-themed manga and, well, what could be more appropriate than talking about Millenium Snow? It’s a manga that portrays snow in a positive light, considering that it’s more common to say you’re looking forward to spring or summer since they’re more vibrant. I’ve read this many years ago before the whole Twilight obsession came into being; and nowadays when I hear/read discussions about Millenium Snow, there is always a comparison. Personally, I find it quite irritating, but that would lead us into a different discussion.

Millenium Snow will make you chuckle with it’s very good light-hearted touch and humour. The humour in the story is the type of humour you get when you laugh with friends, making the humour to a certain degree very relatable – one of the reasons I enjoy this work. The transitions between serious and comic scenes are also wonderful. There is a ‘love triangle’ between a wolf and a vampire, both with conflicting personalities. Twilight complex? Nope, just for comic-relief.

I love the heroine; some of her speech in serious events may be quite cliched as she says things that might make you cringe, but I love the way she thinks and acts. Touya, the vampire hero, is a very talkative tsundere – the type I enjoy reading and can’t help but feel that they are the perfect pair! What I like about this manga is that romance is not the starring theme – it’s the type of relationship where you do not need to say words ‘I love you.’

The only little problem/issue (I won’t even call it a problem/issue actually, but I don’t have a word to describe it at the moment) I have, is that the beginning of the volume feels rather rushed, as if things needed to be settled quickly. However, execution gradually becomes a lot more fluid. I love how all the background information and personality of the characters are established clearly.

The art is more unique compared to many; Bisco Hatori establishes her style of drawing and I can’t help but compare it with Ouran. Millenium Snow feels a little messier and the body proportions aren’t as consistent – it has this inexperienced quality to it. The artwork in Ouran gradually becomes more refined and may I say, more in line with the mainstream shoujo art-style.

It’s a lovely read, and I can’t stop wondering when the heroine will end up with the hero; it’s more about which direction their relationship will head since it is clear that they already depend on one and another . There’s this ambiguity about their relationship since there are important decisions involved, much more interesting may I say, than worrying about whether you’re on a vampire or wolf’s side. It’s just one of the reasons I love a super-natural shoujo – the plot is not as predictable and there are more obstacles! The official summary feels rather depressing but the story itself is not. Reading this manga has in fact made me more optimistic about the snow since I absolutely detest it.

Rating

Plot: 4/5

Art: 3.8/5

Characters: 3.6 /5

Execution: 3.7/5

Overall rating & any comments: 3.8/5