At first viewing, Ice World (Koori no Sekai) might appear to be only a suspense drama. But if you watch on, you'll realize that it's more than that.

Despite the title, Ice World is actually a story of love, which tragically is the root of all evil in this drama. There are different manifestations of love in the story: conditional love, unconditional love, free love, obsessive love, protective love, doubtful love, demanding love, betrayed love and spurned love. And love becomes a struggle when two people try to possess each other in terms of body and mind.

 

In the drama, Nanako Matsushima acts as Egi Toko teaching Earth Science in a high school. When one of the teachers in her school was killed one night, police received an anonymous letter stating that the murderer is from the school. This led to investigations involving the police plus an investigator Hirokawa Eiki (Yukata Takenouchi) from Rose Life Insurance Company and Toko became their prime suspect because of her mysterious past. In the last five years, three of her fiancés have died in mysterious circumstances. Before their deaths, all her fiancés bought her large insurance premiums but only to cancel the premiums later. The police believes Toko killed her fiancés, but cannot gather any evidence to prosecute her. Neither are they able to establish her motives for killing. Eiki also believes Toko to be the killer, but later struggles between loving her and doubting her. As the mystery unfolds, more people are killed and Eiki's life is endangered. Will he become the next victim? Is Toko the killer or is she cursed? What's the killer's motives? As the tension builds up, these are questions racing in the audiences' mind.

 

Some viewers thought the pace of Inanimate World was too slow for their liking. But many were enthralled by the story and found it well scripted as evident in the good ratings it received when it was telecasted in Japan. Acting by the cast was also excellent, especially the lead actor and actress. Nanako and Yukata looked very compatible in the series but it was rumored that they did not get along on the set. In any case, for those who like suspense with a good plot, you won't regret watching this drama.

--->> Recommended for those who like suspense~!!!