The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

Snow & Ink

What's It About? 

Sentenced to death for the crime of sadistically killing his entire village, Neneo is all but ready to accept his unfortunate fate when he is mysteriously bought and saved by the wealthy heiress Freya. Emotionless and numb to the world, Freya is also an outcast, hiding deep wounds of her own. Unfazed by the tales of Neneo's crimes, she enlists him to accompany her in her exile to the far north. As this unlikely pair, both shunned by a cold world, venture together into the deep snow, they begin to find warmth in each other. But the past won't let itself be so easily forgotten...

Snow & Ink has a story and art by Miyuki Unohana, with English translation by Jan Mitsuo Cash. This volume was lettered by Jamil Stewart. Published by Kodansha Comics (November 5, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Romantic suspense exists in the liminal space between romance and mystery. Or maybe between romance and action; either way, it doesn't change the fact that it's a genre with a lot of leeway to be insane in very good ways. This isn't even the first book I've read that's invested in setting up a romance between a murderer and a lady, something I've come to call “The Karen Robards Special” because she's done it so often. In manga terms, the closest equivalent I can think of is Angels of Death. It's important to mention that unlike some of the other murderous romantic heroes, Neneo's crimes are all about context, as are Freya's financial mistakes.

That's the true base of the story, even beyond the inciting incident, which is Freya purchasing Neneo before he can be executed. His supposed crime is murdering everyone in his remote mountain village before burning the bodies, while hers is running the family business into the ground. Freya has been disowned and banished, and some impulse she doesn't seem to be entirely clear on makes her buy Neneo to accompany her on her journey north. It feels fair to suggest that she saw something in him that made her doubt his guilt, or at least the way the deaths are being framed. Neneo is quick to agree that he killed everyone in the village, but as the book goes on, it becomes clear that that wasn't the sort of “murder” that the government assumed. He's wracked with guilt over what happened, not just the deaths, but what led up to them and how he lived his life before that point. The government almost didn't need to bother tattooing his hands to show he's a killer; he's tattooed his soul more than enough.

Freya doesn't necessarily offer absolution, but she does find him much less culpable than he finds himself. It's evident that the two of them need each other, even without their make-out sessions (and possibly more off the page) – they're both people who have been beaten down by what the outside world thinks of them. We don't fully understand how Freya's situation got so out of hand, but given that her illegitimate half-sister Anna is now running the family company, it doesn't feel like a stretch to suspect that she may have been set up to fail. We don't see Anna in this volume, but we do meet Freya's former fiancé Halvard, and Anna's maid Curie, and both encounters are just odd enough that it's noticeable. Halvard, at least, is very clear about how intelligent Freya is, which suggests that he doubts what happened.

Snow & Ink is more dark than light, and its setting seems to be the early twentieth century. If this is pre-1918, which technology would support, Neneo's story could be much more grounded than it seems right now, especially when we consider the history of Brevig Mission, Alaska, where seventy-two of the eighty villagers died, and their preserved bodies helped to develop a vaccine. The fact that the Donner Party is directly mentioned in the text supports the idea that perhaps Neneo's village was (based on) a similar place. The romance may feel like it moves a bit too fast, but the story is interesting, and the art has all sorts of good historical details. I'm looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

In the Victorian era, was it possible for a wealthy woman to simply buy a convicted felon for her own amusement? Because this is not the first time I've seen this storyline come up. Snow and Ink reminded me strongly of last Manga Guide's Victoria's Electric Coffin, which was also the story of a young woman of the gentry purchasing a murderer with a heart of gold. But while that one delved into science fiction, this one got steamy. Despite its historical fiction setting and extraordinary circumstances, Snow and Ink is a love story before anything else. Its naive, lovestruck leads are sure to charm with their fumbling moves and undeniable chemistry, but their story didn't quite grab me.

Be kind to everyone you meet, because each person is fighting a hard battle you know nothing about. Except for Freya and Neneo; everyone can tell these two are struggling. They are, for completely different reasons, the two most hated people on the planet. Freya is a pedigreed princess type who has made an enormous and public mess of her family's company, leading to massive layoffs all around. Meanwhile, Neneo is convicted of murdering fifty people, and he does not deny the charge. The title is an expression that means “complete opposites,” and it also refers to the tattooed ink that marks Neneo as a felon, and the frigid weather that defines the northern locale where Freya wants to escape, with Neneo in tow, to begin a new life. You've probably guessed that neither Freya or Neneo is as guilty as public opinion would have you believe. But as it stands, they have nobody to turn to but one another, and they're on each other day and night like the horny teens they are. They're kind of on a mission to clear both their names, but also kind of on a mission to make out a lot.

There's a lot going on here: historical fiction, romance, murder, and a B-plot involving Freya's ex-fiancee who unexpectedly wants to help. That said, I couldn't get into it. The love story? Resolved. Their reputations? Still in the toilet, but I can tell it's all a big misunderstanding. And while it's no slavery isekai, the whole concept of Freya buying a person to hang out with her (and eventually, have sex with her) feels wrong, even if he became instantly and conveniently devoted to her. Good for them, but their love story wasn't for me.

Right before the story even begins, mangaka Miyuki Unohana explains that the title “Snow and Ink” is a phrase used to describe two different people. And Snow and Ink delivers upon that: a romance between a disgraced, disowned heiress and a man accused of murdering 50 of his fellow villagers. It's sweet to see the two of them grow close and bring out the best in each other, finding the truth behind each others' guilt... but it also feels a little rushed. Neneo's story is much more complicated than at first blush, but the truth of the matter gets revealed almost too quickly—so much so that a lot of his characterization feels backward. He still hears the voices of the people he killed, but once it's revealed that it was all a mercy killing on his behalf his whole character essentially changes. Meanwhile, Anna is very sympathetic given her circumstances... but also everything involving her and her ex-fiance Halvard feels rather brushed over. I appreciate that the story is taking steps to delve deeper into the circumstances behind Neneo's past but Anna ends up feeling like an accessory to the story.

Still, they make a cute couple. While I would have likely enjoyed the story if it was more of a sedate slow-burn about this mismatched couple living in a cold cottage in the hinterlands, I'm still intrigued by where the story will go from here. I hope that Anna gets some more skin in the game, however. Mildly recommended.