Snow Means Love

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
A Crowning Moment of Heartwarming if ever there was one.

Come with me, dance, my dear
Winter's so cold this year
And you are so warm

My wintertime love to be
—The Doors, "Wintertime Love"

A classic clichéd romantic setting is two lovers alone in a gentle snowfall. Bonus Points if it's on Christmas.

A person alone is cause for sympathy, however. Especially a sad girl in snow.

See also Snowed In and Together Umbrella. A subtrope of Empathic Environment.

For a different interpretation of snow, see Snow Means Death.

Western cousin to Cherry Blossoms.

Examples of Snow Means Love include:

Anime and Manga

  • Combined with Snow Means Death in Berserk, twice. Once when Caska tries to dissuade Guts from leaving his pre-Eclipse True Companions, right before the showdown with Griffith (this also marked the moment when she had her Love Epiphany). The other one post-Eclipse when Guts fights off snow-demons to protect Caska. They also share a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming in the snow when Guts and Casca depart from Godo's place when Guts wraps his cape around her and says that he would never leave her behind again.
  • The original Kujibiki Unbalance OAV series uses the trope in its "penultimate" episode.
  • Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl manages to have a Snow Means Love scene in the middle of the summer.
  • Love Hina's Christmas special, in which Naru and Keitaro spend a good deal of time wandering around feeling lonely. As well, it is snowing when Naru finds Keitaro after he ran off in an early episode of the series.
  • The heartwarming ending of the 1999 To Heart Anime series.
  • On Sara and Lottie's home planet in Soukou no Strain, snow means brother-sister love.
  • The ending credits of Trinity Blood show a snowy romance between Abel Nightroad and Esther Blanchett. That never happens in the actual show, though.
  • Subverted for Ho Yay value in The Prince of Tennis. Tezuka finds Fuji once waiting for him outside an hospital, and so as they speak about the upcoming tournaments, snow starts falling down on them, so Fuji covers both of them with his red umbrella as they go home. Needless to say, the Tezuka/Fuji fans had a field day.
  • It starts snowing in Kurau Phantom Memory when Kurau returns to Christmas, in the same manner as Christmas appeared to the former Kurau years before.
  • In the first episode of Mahōtsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora, Michiru asks Sora to use her magic to conjure up a gentle snowfall over her as she confesses her love to her crush. This actually happens indoors.
  • In the OVA of Uta Kata, the loving but temporary reunion of Ichika and Sei with their reflections, Manatsu and Kai, takes place during a white Christmas.
  • There's a boatload of snow in the School Play romance the characters of D.N.Angel put on and the arc it was based in. Notable in that the romantic leads were played by Daisuke and Satoshi.
  • Yuki Nagato in Suzumiya Haruhi. Yuki means Snow. There is this picture. She's The Woobie. Notice anything?
    • Isn't it kinda subverted? Snow is the first sensation Yuki feels when put on Earth for the first time, so it's not actually related to love, save for the related poem that she hands to Kyon. More than love it's trust what she feels towards him, kinda a True Companions bond.
      • Wait, what? Since when was snow the first sensation she'd felt? Besides, her name doesn't use the kanji for "snow."
      • It was in the short story that Yuki made for the Literary Club's circulation paper in the novels. Although whether it was an accurate event or not is left open for debate.
      • When literally read, the Kanji for her name literally means "Theres-Hope", a hint to her warm and lovely personality.
    • Do not forget the scene in the movie, with Kyon and Yuki on the rooftop. Total shipper's delight.
  • The diamond dust in Diamond Daydreams pretty much fulfills this role.
  • The last episode of Welcome to The NHK combined this trope with Snow Means Death - Misaki returns to the town she grew up in to commit suicide, and is saved by Sato, at which point they realise they love each other. Then Sato goes nuts and tries to kill God in a kamikaze attack...
  • An example happens in Ayashi no Ceres. When Suzumi sends Tooya out to do a dangerous mission, Aya runs after him in worry. He reassures her that everything will be fine by giving her a lovebite and then kissing her, at which point it starts snowing. But since this is Aya-slash-Ceres we're talking about, it's a subversion: The snow turns out to be flower petals.
  • Midori Days parodies this when Seiji and Ayase are stuck in a snow storm looking for safety. Ayase thinks it's romantic at first, but after her body starts to freeze, she starts to focus.
  • Code Geass has an enigmatic conversation between C.C. and Lelouch over why snow is white. The beginning of the conversation takes place on a mountain top where it is (of course) snowing. While their relationship is not strictly romantic, this was a 'getting to know you' moment between them.
  • Subverted on Naruto: Sakura spending half of chapter 469 declaring to Naruto that she loves him and that she loves Sasuke no more, all in a snowfield with the snow falling softly, then on the final panel (and to Sakura's surprise) Naruto rejects her, the text on that panel even lampshades it: "In the falling snow..."
    • Entirely justified, since he could tell she was lying.
  • Spoofed a few times in Keroro Gunsou; according to the narration, snow makes girls three times more beautiful.
  • In the Aoi Bungaku segment adapting Osamu Dazai's Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human), the protagonist Yozo Ooba meets his future wife when she shelters him as he lies collapsed on a snowy street.
  • Ranma ½: After Akane has a long day of trying to find Ranma for Christmas Eve, she eventually gives up and starts to go back to her house. As it turns out, Ranma had actually been waiting for her at some spot on the way there because it would, as he puts it, "be embarrasin' at home." He then proceeds to give her presents that she had earlier told him she wanted, which, of course, makes her smile and it immediately starts snowing for some reason...

Ranma: *laughs* Snow's kinda perfect right now!

  • In the anime adaptation of Aoi Hana, Fumi and Akira share a very important moment in the snow when Fumi finally realizes that Akira was her first love.
  • In Rurouni Kenshin, during the Jinchuu/Memorial arc, Kenshin and Tomoe share an intimate scene with each other in their cabin as it is snowing. However, much like the case in Berserk, it was later mixed with death.
  • How about Junjou Romantica? It's snowing in the scene where Usagi rather abruptly realizes that, oh, he doesn't love Takahiro, but Misaki instead. And then he promptly makes out with him against a streetlight.
  • Kara no Kyoukai: has Shiki Ryougi and Mikiya Kokutou meet for the first time while it was snowing.
    • It also snows in the epilogue OVA, one of the most romantic sections of the whole series.
  • In Wild Fangs, as Mao waits at the train station it begins snowing and Syon shows up to stop him from leaving. While they have their romantic moment it's announced that the trains are cancelled because of the snowfall.
  • Snow is often associated with Jack and Lacie in Pandora Hearts. They met on a snowy day, reunited eight years later on a snowy day, and Jack found out Lacie died on a snowy day.
  • In "School Days", Makoto aplogizes to Kotonoha and says he loves her in a snowfall at episode 11, a redeeming moment in the anime. Comes complete with Kotonoha covered in snow.

Comic Books

  • Scott Pilgrim: Scott and Ramona are caught out in a sudden snowstorm (it is Toronto, after all) in the middle of deciding to date each other. This also has the convenient side effect of forcing Scott to crash at Ramona's place...

Film

Hermione: Do you want to get closer?
Ron: Huh?!
Hermione: To the Shrieking Shack?
Ron: No, I'm good.

  • The Phantom of the Opera: As Raoul and Christine romance on the Opera House Roof, it conveniently starts to snow.
  • Groundhog Day features several such scenes with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
  • In the movie Patlabor 2, Captain Shinobu Nagumo and Yukihito Tsuge have a secret meeting during a gentle snow fall, with a romantic soundtrack (titled "With Love").
  • In the film version of Rent, snow falls as Mimi and Roger stand outside the cafe after Maureen's protest and finally admit they could have a real relationship together.
    • Possibly suggested by a line from the number Christmas Bells (not included in the film) in which Angel instructs Collins "Kiss me; it's beginning to snow."
  • Variation: in the nameless Quirky Town of Edward Scissorhands, it never snows. But on the night of a Christmas party, Kim finds Edward carving an ice angel and the little bits of ice that fly about as he works create a snowfall of sorts. She's enamored by the sight and, in essence, this is the moment she realizes she loves him as she twirls about. The lovers are forced to part and never see each other again in the Bittersweet Ending, but Edward continues to carve these sculptures up in his castle, and in the process brings snow to the entire neighborhood. Only Kim knows the significance of it, and why he does it. In effect this is a literal take on the trope.
  • Oldboy: Subverted to disturbing effect. Why's it so disturbing? Think "Rosebud".
  • Subverted in the Japanese film Always: Sunset on Third Street. Chagawa proposes to his love interest Hiromi on Christmas Eve, but he can only afford to get a ring case, so he gives an invisible ring to her (she accepts, playing along with the gesture). The following morning, he discovers that Hiromi's bar is closed and that she has sold herself off to work in a dance hall because of her debts. They eventually get back together in the sequel.
  • The film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera used this during the All I Ask Of You song, with a Critical Research Failure: They're in Paris, and it's September. Just... no.
  • The Fantasticks features snow in the final scene when Luisa and Matt get back together.
  • Coincidentally happens in Serendipity at the skating rink.
  • At the end of House of the Flying Daggers he holds the girl in the snow as she bleeds out.
  • The end of You Never Dreamed, as seen here and here.
  • In Far and Away, Joseph and Shannon have an odd but touching scene where they confess their love. Meanwhile, it snows outside the home they're taking shelter in.

Shannon: Pretend you love me.
Joseph: I pretend I love you.
Shannon: I pretend I love you, too.

Literature

  • Let It Snow: This is the entire premise of the collection of short stories. All three short stories take place in the same town, between December 24 and 26, when a massive snow storm hits.


Live Action TV

  • One of South Korea's most successful exports to Japan was the romantic TV miniseries Winter Sonata, which featured snow as a repeated visual theme for exactly the reasons listed above.
  • Another Korean Series, Padam Padam, has the lead character skinny-dipping in a snowstorm with his ladylove, just to see what it feels like.
  • In an episode of CSI New York, a couple arrive in a "winter wonderland" and start kissing. Then an ice castle collapses and they find a corpse.
  • Due South: Near the end of the first season, Fraser and Victoria's relationship is repeatedly symbolized by metaphorical falling snow. Somewhat subversive in that this relationship isn't especially healthy - the snow could as much symbolize Victoria's lies & deception as love.
  • In season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a providential snowfall prevents Angel from committing suicide-by-sun. He and Buffy then go for a walk in the snow.
  • In an episode of The Outer Limits (1995-2002), a scientist believing the sun has gone nova and burned off half the Earth's atmosphere tries to distract his longtime love interest by walking downtown. The erratic weather causes a romantic snowfall.
  • The X-Files: In a season six Christmas episode, Mulder and Scully start unwrapping their presents to one another, just as the snow starts falling. They live in the Washington-Metropolitan area, where snow doesn't usually fall until mid-January, so it's especially meaningful.
  • In Downton Abbey, it is snowing when Matthew proposes to Lady Mary at the end of the Christmas special.

Theater

  • In Rent, one of Angel's lines it "Kiss me, it's beginning to snow!" (Cue happy fangirl sighs)
    • Note Mark's observations, the penultimate lines of ACT I in the stage play: "The riot continues. The Christmas tree goes up in flames. The snow dances. Oblivious, Mimi and Roger share a small, lovely kiss." This occurs after their love song, I Should Tell You.

Music

  • Used in the Flash Back sections of the video for Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work".
  • Barenaked Ladies:
    • The holiday song Footprints is basically all about this trope.
    • As is the Winter Wonderland song.
  • A few traditional Christmas songs invoke this trope: "Let It Snow" and "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland," for example.
  • The lyrics of Nightwish's song "Come Cover Me" are full of this trope.

Video Games

  • Tales of Phantasia puts the game's only romantic scene between Cless and Mint (and one between Arche and Chester) in a town that's perpetually bathed in snowfall. The scene also has a poignant C-arc where Klarth uses his single Origin-powered time-scrying to check in on his love Mirald.
    • Similarly, Tales of Symphonia has the scene between Lloyd and his future 'soulmate' (mind you, only two of them are romantic in nature) placed in a similar location. The same town, actually (Actually, Flanoir is Freizkeil, Meltokio is Arlee); 4000 years and a continental shift earlier.
    • Lampshaded and subverted in Tales of the Abyss. All of the girls (and Ion) discuss how romantic the snowy city of Keterburg is and how lovely it would be to walk with a gentleman through the snow. Unfortunately, Jade is, off visiting his sister, Guy is terrified of being close to women and the fact that all of the women in town like to keep close is driving him crazy, and Luke's outfit has a bare stomach which is now freezing. Needless to say, the women are disappointed, except Tear who thought it was cute that Luke was worried about his belly freezing.

"I-I was talking about Mieu...!"

  • The storyline of Snow Sakura is all about romances in a snowy town of Yukito.
  • The reconciliation scene with Misaki is designed around this Canvas 2.
    • Mami's birthday party
  • Happens in Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, but also Snow Means Death. Layton's lover, Claire, who was revealed to be slung into the future has to go back to the past to when the time machine exploded. Layton pleads with her to stay, but leaves anyway. It snows once she's confirmed to be gone.

Visual Novels

  • Kanon is entirely based around sad girls in the snow. Small wonder that Yuuichi hates the stuff.
  • In Tomoyo's route in the Clannad visual novel, Tomoya breaks up with her so that she can focus on her responsibilities and become successful. After eight months, he walks out of the school one day and sees her standing in the snow in front of him. She tells him that her responsibilities are concluded, that she loves him, and that she has been waiting for him for those whole eight months. They hug.
    • Done exactly the same way in the bonus episode of Clannad called "Another World: Tomoyo".
  • In Fate Stay Night, Ilya makes it snow when parting with Shirou at one point. It's actually a mix of the two types listed in that Ilya is his adopted sister, so not quite romantic love, plus she's a little strange sometimes and sad girl in the snow, because it's one of the big clues to Shirou that her cheerful act is mostly a facade against being hurt anymore. Apparently, every Holy Grail War in Fuyuki has taken place in winter. You know some people love that grail.
  • Brutally subverted in Katawa Shoujo. The game opens with a Love Confession to the main character, Hisao, by his crush in the falling snow. Unfortunately, the stress of the situation triggers Hisao's cardiac arrythmia - which he didn't even know he had before then - and things veer dangerously close to Snow Means Death as he has a heart attack. He spends the next six months in the hospital... and the relationship doesn't last more than six weeks.
  • Chizuru watches the snow fall with Saito in his good ending in Hakuouki.


Webcomics


Western Animation

  • Danny Phantom and Sam have their first (proper) kiss in the snow.
  • The Season one finale of American Dragon: Jake Long used this trope with a twist. The opening scene shows Jake and Rose together in Central Park on a snowy day, with Jake wondering if she should reveal his Secret Identity to her in order to proceed with their relationship. (However, in a textbook case of Dramatic Irony, it turns out Rose is actually the Huntsgirl, and has unknowingly tried to kill Jake multiple times. In the climactic scene of the episode, where Huntsgirl removes her glove to reveal Rose's dragon-shaped birthmark, takes place during a blizzard. It's almost Snow Means Death, except instead of the death of a person, we see the death of a relationship. Of course, they get back together. Guess it was a Disney Death.
  • Beauty and the Beast: The song "Something There" shows the titular pair playing in the snow and realizing their feelings for each other.
  • In the final scene of A Nightmare Before Christmas Jack and Sally confess their feelings for each other while being on a snowy field (since Santa Claus had brought the snow to Halloween town).
  • Batman: The Animated Series: Mr Freeze's most iconic scene is him talking to the snowglobe that contains a statue of his late wife, begging for forgiveness. Sad version of this trope. The comics reveal that in college the two spent much of their courtship outside in the snow.
    • There's also an episode in which Batman meets Catwoman in the snow, and she has to ask, "Are you getting soft on criminals, or just on me?"
  • WITCH: Will and Matt had their first kiss under a tree in a light snowfall.
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