Millennium Snow (also known as Sennen no Yuki and A Thousand Years of Snow) is a manga originally published in Japan from November 2001 to August 5, 2002 in LaLa. Created by Bisco Hatori before her great success with Ouran High School Host Club, it was an Orphaned Series for a long time before being revived in January 2013 and concluding in December of that year.
Seventeen-year-old Chiyuki was born with a heart condition and has spent most of her life in and out of the hospital. The doctors do not expect her to survive long enough to see the next snow. One night, through her hospital window, she sees a boy (Tōya) jump off the roof. Running outside, she discovers that he is unhurt; he has simply collapsed due to low energy from lack of food. When Yamimaru, his bat companion, shows up with a lunchbox, Chiyuki figures out that the mysterious boy is actually a vampire.
Despite a rocky beginning, Chiyuki and Tōya begin to develop a friendship. When Chiyuki's heart threatens to give out, Tōya gives her some of his blood to heal her. This cure is so effective that she not only survives but is able to return to school. With Yamimaru's help, Chiyuki persuades Tōya to enroll at her school as well. She also draws the attention of Satsuki, a handsome flirt who is actually a werewolf. The three have fun and adventures together, but hanging over it all is the threat that Chiyuki's condition will one day return....
This series provides examples of:
- Art Evolution: Seeing as Hatori Bisco recently continued the series after finishing Ouran High School Host Club, the difference between the chapter she left off compared to the newest ones are striking, to say the least.
- Big Eater: Tōya, due to his vampire metabolism.
- Crazy Enough to Work: In chapter 4, Chiyuki suggests that Satsuki draw on his werewolf strength to carry his ailing grandmother to the hospital. When he says she's "talking crazy," she responds, "Crazy just might work!"
- Darker and Edgier: Than Ouran High School Host Club, addressing issues such as emotional abuse, bullying and murder, and also having a deeper, more often philosophical narrative, though it still maintains a good deal of comedy.
- Delicate and Sickly: Chiyuki is introduced with a heart condition that's put her in and out of the hospital for much of her life. She gets better.
- Derailing Love Interests: Chiyuki's cousin and Childhood Friend Keigo at first seems like he might be a romantic possibility for her, but then he goes a bit nuts and ties her up to keep her from seeing the "monster" Tōya.
- Dual Age Modes: In human form, Yamimaru can appear either as a strong young man or an adorable little boy.
- Fur Against Fang: More of a rivalry than real enmity, but Tōya and Satsuki definitely rub each other the wrong way.
- Handsome Lech: Satsuki, though it appears to be partly a mask (part of his attempt to live as a normal human).
- Haunted House: Encountered on the trip to Switzerland.
- Hollywood Costuming: The house in Switzerland was supposedly shut up in 1780, but flashbacks show the former inhabitants wearing clothes more typical of the mid- to late 19th century.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: The reason that Tōya is so apprehensive to form the bond with anyone, as vampire blood bestows an extremely long lifetime. He does not want his human partner to tire of such a long life and blame him for it.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Satsuki, as part of his emotional baggage from Parental Abandonment.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter is called a "snow" (First Snow, Second Snow, etc.).
- Kissing Cousins: Chiyuki's cousin Keigo is hoping to be this with her.
- Muggle Foster Parents: Both Tōya and Satsuki have them (Satsuki's "grandmother" and the man who took care of Tōya during his childhood).
- My Instincts Are Showing: Satsuki can be very doglike at times, to the point that Tōya even gets him to fetch a stick when they're lost in the Alps.
- Nonhuman Sidekick: Yamimaru, to Tōya.
- Old Retainer: Yamimaru behaves like one toward Tōya, although the details of Tōya's family history had not yet been revealed when the series went on indefinite hiatus.
- Only Works Once: Tōya's ability to heal Chiyuki with his blood. After that, he says, she'll develop a tolerance to it.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In several ways:
- They are not hurt by sunlight ("We got over all that a long time ago"), crosses, or garlic (except in the sense that it offends Tōya's sensitive nose).
- They are not really immortal, living for about a thousand years.
- They do not strictly have to drink blood to survive, although doing without requires them to eat a lot of food to keep up their energy.
- They appear to be a separate species from humans, not undead created from humans. Also, they do not turn humans into vampires. When one of these vampires drinks the blood of a human, it forms a bond between them which extends the human's lifespan to match the vampire's, and that human becomes the vampire's sole source of blood.
- They are able to fly.
- They can stop time.
- Drinking some of their blood can heal a human.
- Parental Abandonment: Satsuki's "grandmother" found him abandoned in the woods as a baby.
- Prophetic Name / Meaningful Name: Chiyuki's name means "a thousand snows." Her parents named her to express their hope that their sickly daughter would live long enough to see the snow fall many times. And then she meets a vampire who can extend her lifespan to a thousand years. Hmmmmm...
- Shirtless Scene: Satsuki gets one when he wolfs out in chapters 3-4.
- Tsundere: Touya is the Type A example.
- Vampire-Werewolf Love Triangle: However it seems that whereas Chiyuki and Tōya both share feelings for each other, Satsuki's feelings for Chiyuki are a bit more one-sided.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Touya claims to be, saying he hates human blood. It's eventually revealed to be a lie however, as he strongly reacts to the scent of it (and any blood in general). The truth is he just refuses to drink blood, genuinely being repulsed by the thought.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Yamimaru can take on human form for a few hours each day. (Apparently, he spends most of his human-form time running errands and making food for Tōya.)
- We Are as Mayflies: Vampires can live up to a thousand years. Also, Tōya says in chapter 4 that Satsuki can expect humans to die before he does, implying that werewolves also have an extended lifespan.
