Great drama about friendship, loyalty, love and courage! The first Antarctica expedition was considered to be the biggest achievement of Japan in the post war era and contributed in reviving their pride as a nation. This drama portraits the spirit of Japanese people and their history of endeavors in Japan’s present accomplishment. It introduces many historically famous persons who contributed in building the modern Japan. The first couple of episodes may seem a bit slow and too idealistic (Now I didn’t mind it at all but it’s for the sake of my endeavor to make this review objective). However, remember that it’s based on a true story and don’t give up on it. This drama is one which gets better with each episode. It had a huge budget and they tried to make it as realistic as possible. I don’t possess much knowledge ‘bout Antarctica but I think they did a fair job. The life of the drama was, of course, as one can guess from the synopsis, the relationship (or the comradeship as they called it) between the members and the dogs. The nice cinematography was able to capture the expression of the dogs and present it beautifully. The hardship of the expedition, the uncertainty of Antarctica, the struggle of survival and the loyalty of the dogs…everything was enjoyable and inspiring. As expected, once again, I was mesmerized by the touching performance of Kimura Takuya. Undoubtedly this is one the best works of Kimura I’ve seen so far. Despite that the fact that my favorite character in this drama is not played by Kimura rather by Sakai Masato shows how amazing the rest of the cast was. This drama assembled some of the best TV actors of Japan and each one of them gave their best ….including the dogs. Watch this drama. Watch it if you love animals. Watch it even if you don’t.