Millennium Snow, Volumes 1-2

September 5, 2010

Chiyuki is a seventeen-year-old girl on the cusp of death by heart attack, whose is hoping to make it long enough to see one more first snow.  One night she meets Toya, a vampire who is constantly in a weakened state because he refuses to drink human blood. His familiar Yashimaru explains that Toya eats food to maintain himself, but it never lasts long, but Toya refuses to follow vampire tradition of finding a human partner to stay with him for the rest of his 1000 year life. The vampire drinks from the human as needed, and in exchange the human will live as long as the vampire. For someone about to die, Chiyuki thinks this sounds like a great idea and asks to become his partner, but he refuses though continues to meet and talk with her. Despite is seeming lack of interest in her, when she is about to die from another heart attack, he freezes time and gives her some of his blood which will heal her for awhile.  As their odd friendship grows, Chiyuki continues trying to convince him that he should make her his life partner, while Toya continues refusing while enduring her tricking him into attending high school with her.

Written by Bisco Hatori, of Ouran High School Host Club fame, the first two volumes of Millennium Snow show plenty of promise.  Toya is something of an anti-hero with his rather rude and snappy attitude towards Chiyuki, though it quickly becomes clear that it is more of a defense mechanism. He seems more to be afraid of letting mortals close because they die so quickly. Yashimaru is a fun sidekick, who clearly cares for his master despite the occasional abuse he suffers. Our heroine Chiyuki is enjoying her new found ability to live and be herself, much to the surprise of her schoolmates who thought she was demur and maybe a bit stiff. Halfway through the first volume, a rival for Chiyuki's affections appear in the form of Satsuki, a popular student who is soon revealed to actually be a werewolf who was raised by a kindly old woman and who is desperately trying to pretend he is "normal."  In the second volume, we start learning more about Chiyuki's family and past, which threatens to separate her from Toya for good.

Hatori does an excellent job of having her characters from Millennium Snow look distinctive. Though one can see her artistic skill in her character designs and background scenes, keep in mind it is her earliest series so it is not nearly as well done as Ouran, which is her latest series. As I'd expect from reading Ouran, it does get a little heavy on the comedy, but on the whole the story seems interesting and I'm curious to see how Chiyuki will finally convince Toya to do what he probably wants to, at least on some level. In that regard, I'd certainly recommend this series. Alas, I also must caution that, as of now, this is all there is of the story. Hatori put the series on "hiatus" after the success of Ouran to focus on that series, and as of now, there is no word as to whether she will really continue this series now that Ouran is about to wrap up.  Still, I'd give it a whirl, even if you just check it out from your local library. The first volume, in particular, has Hatori's first story, a touching and well done single chapter piece called A Romance of One Moment in which a girl finds herself growing attracted to the boy who has taken over her best friend's body, while her friend sleeps after a suicide attempt. It is a great love story well told in such a small package.

Rating: B+

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