MILLENNIUM SNOW, VOL. 1

VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Bisco Hatori
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1202-0; soft cover; Rated "T" for Teen
216 pp., B&W, $8.99

Mangaka Bisco Hatori, the creator of Ouran High School Host Club, delivers Millennium Snow, a shojo manga hybrid about a love triangle in which at least two members of the triangle are supernatural.

Seventeen-year old Chiyuki Matsuoka was born with heart problems, and has spent most of her life in and out of hospitals.  Although her life has been extended beyond early expectations, now, doctors don't think she'll live to see the next snow.  One night fate brings her a close encounter with Toya Kano, an 18-year old vampire destined to live 1000 years.

Toya hates drinking blood and hates humans even more, but unlike vampires of lore, he doesn't have to kill a human to feed his hunger for blood.  His kind can form a symbiotic partnership in which he need only drink a little blood at a time.  Not only does that extend his life, but it also allows his partner to live for a thousand years.  Toya, however, believes that his millennium long existence will only mean that he has to watch countless human acquaintances die.  Choosing not to watch his loved ones die, Toya actually doesn't live.  Instead, he leads a passionless life.

Chiyuki falls hard for Toya and is determined to bring happiness into his life before her own ends.  Will Toya make her his partner, or will Chiyuki fall for the new young man who suddenly comes between the two?  He's the dashing and carefree Satsuki Ariyoshi, who is the exact opposite of Toya and who also has his own dark secret.

Millennium Snow takes many odd twists and turns on the way to being a romance comic for teens.  It's part gothic fantasy and part gothic romance.  It's part horror romance and part teen/youth fantasy (think "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" or "Smallville").  Most of the first half of Vol. 1 dwells on how much Toya is avoiding Chiyuki and how much she is intent on making him love her.  The insertion of Satsuki adds much needed spice to this dynamic and promises interesting supernatural soap opera theatrics in future chapters.

The art is stylistically similar to Kiyo Kyujo's work on the Trinity Blood manga and the work of Goth Loli Queen, Mitsukazu Mihara.  It's lots of swift, windswept lines with an emphasis on silhouettes, cameos, and portraits.  Most of the panels and frames are drawn at angles.  This art is soft and beautiful and perfect for supernatural shojo love.

6/10

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the images.