A Dog of Flanders
The film was inspired by the 1872 English novel "A Dog of Flanders", written by Marie Louise de la Ramée, and by the film "Small Love Melody", both of which were popular with Japanese audiences and well known in Japan. In the movie, an Akita dog was used instead of the Flemish breed used in the novel, and the setting was moved to Yamagata Prefecture in Japan instead of Flanders, Belgium. When asked about these changes, director Joji Matsuoka said that "this film is not specifically shot at any location" and that he used an Akita because it is "representative of Japan". Asahi Shinbun reported that "Snow Prince's" script was also partly inspired by the script of an anime version of "A Dog of Flanders" that was released previously.