Behind the Scenes: Snow and Kisses

Of all the projects we've done so far, Snow and Kisses has definitely had the most tumultuous production process.  It seemed like one thing after another would come up and stall us or otherwise cause us no end of grief.  But against all odds, it's finally unleashed on the public, and the problem child has finally grown up and left home.  And like my child, I still love it despite all the trouble.

So, read on for trivia. :)


Notes: 

Page 27 - 1000 yen note
As of October 2012, 1000 yen is about $12.50 USD, a pretty lame apology for copping a feel.  You should totally hold out for more, Shingo-chan. 

Page 37 - GT3

GT3 likely refers to Gran Turismo 3, a racing game for the PlayStation 2. 

Page 51
Yes, that does appear to be 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa!  Not having read that series, I'm curious to know what's going to happen with Kyoko-chan too.

Page 69 - "You can hear the frogs..."
They're singing Kaeru no Uta, a Japanese children's song about frogs.  Be careful googling that, since it's also the title of an adult film.

Page 83 - "I stepped on a cat..." 
Kitty-boy is singing the Japanese lyrics that go along with a jaunty piano tune that is known by many names the world over: Der Flohwalzer, the Flea Waltz, and Neko Funjatta (ねこふんじゃった, "I Stepped on the Cat") are just a few of its names.  Click here to hear it sung.  It's adorable. 

Page 84 - Yuwazaya (on the shopping bag, panel 5)
A parody of Yuzawaya, a Japanese handicrafts store.

Page 86 - Gun Survivor
Likely Resident Evil Survivor, which is called Biohazard Gun Survivor in Japan.

Page 93/94 - A flurry of puns
These two pages are full of Japanese puns that don't quite translate, but Sinister Queien did a bang-up job maneuvering the gags into English.  Here's an explanation of the original jokes, adapted from the translator's notes.

93.6 Nanjo says, "suki nanda" which means "I like (suki) you," but Wada, who always interprets things wrong, imagines that he says "suki" meaning the tool using that kanji.  The side lettering is "shuki" thinking maybe he heard it wrong.

94.1 To date, or be someone's boyfriend is "tsukiau."  Wada interprets this, because they were talking about Kendo, as tsuki (stick with a sword) +  au (together) or in other words, "get into a sword fight."

94.2 Wada is going through various plays on the words "tsukiau".  Tsuki is the moon, and "au" is to meet, so he thinks of two moons meeting each other, etc.  The kendo as I explained before.  I don't know what the top one is.  The one without the "X" is the right one - to date - in this context.

Side note: this book was full of very small and messily handwritten text.  It's not unusual that we had some trouble figuring certain things out, and often had to seek a second opinion or help from DMG.  XD

Page 107 - On shirt: "I'm #1 so why try harder"
May I just say, that while rereading the manga in order to make this post, I only just now noticed that his shirt said that.  Talk about selective attention, huh?  I guess I was just so focused on finding typos and cleaning errors.  Yeah, that's gotta be it. :)

Page 111 - Gamera and Ghidorah
These big guys are giant monsters from Japanese kaiju films.  Gamera is the turtle-looking guy on the left, and King Ghidorah is the flying dragon on the right.

About the mangaka

I've not been able to find an official website for Fukuko Matsuo, and Snow and Kisses appears to be her first and only collected volume.  Pretty much all I can find about her is what's printed in the book itself.

Snow and Kisses can be found on the following platforms:
eManga | Kindle | Nook | PDF 

We also have a main info page for Previews.

Snow and Kisses - yuki to kisu © Fukuko Matsuo. All rights reserved. Original Japanese edition published in 2005 by Tokyo Mangasha.