After transferring to Ishinomori Middle School, Tetsuko "Alice" Arisugawa overhears her classmates discussing a strange rumor. The previous occupant of her seat, a nondescript "Judas," is missing and presumed murdered—poisoned by one of his four wives. Amidst dealing with her mother's undesired meddling in her affairs and warding off her classmates' bullying, the troubled Alice starts to investigate the mystery surrounding Judas' disappearance.
The trail of clues leads her to the house of her next-door neighbor, the quirky and reclusive Hana Arai. After an awkward introduction, Hana agrees to help Alice and formulates a plan that may lead them to the answers they seek. The two girls embark on a journey to uncover what happened to Judas, and perhaps a friendship may start to blossom between the two along the way.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
coffeeworld
How should put this.... The story was just simple but has a very DEEP MEANING. The entire time, I was just smiling and laughing. The story was so ASIAN. You know... not your Disney thing of coming of age. I don't know if Westerners and European viewers would find this as Exagerrated and find this stupid... Just so you know, As an Asian, though am not a Japanese, ..... tales, superstitions, and myths is very common in asian Countries. You know what? I laugh so hard because the film is just pretty realistic, I laugh because I realized how stupid I was during my highschooldays. This film just nailed on how are we before. I love how the story was delivered in a very simple way. What a lovely and heart warming story. It's simple but it's deep.
It started with Alice being a transferee and then she came to a School where her classroom had a story. She became the center of attraction due to the story of her desk, and then I just realized that I was already hooked along with the story. WHAT IS THE REAL STORY OF HER DESK?! Then suddenly, I was already in a friendship story, to discovery, to the truth and to the reality, How fragile human feeling is. You can't move on if you don't know the truth, and you can't move unless you accept the reality. Or else you'll suffer and live with a stagnant life. You must also know when you are suffering, you might don't know, somebody out there is also suffering because of your sufferings. Watch your actions, or you might cause sufferings to others without your realizations. What an EYE OPENER film.
Regarding its animation, I find it more like a Live action than an Anime. It's not weird, but it's really good.
Overall, I enjoyed this film a lot. Very simple but worth watching.
BlurredVision18
Note: I have not viewed the original live-action film Hana & Alice upon watching this film. Not that it really matters, this is a prequel. So watching this as a standalone is fine. Since there is no synopsis, allow me to set up the story. 9th grader Tetsuko Arisugawa (Arisu/Alice) moves to a new town and enrolls in school. Upon entering her new class, everyone seems to act indifferent towards her. She comes to find out that some awful misfortune only speculated by rumor had befallen the student who used to occupy her current desk the year before. As her classmates put it. Shehas "broken the barrier" and may be subject to it's curse. Upon farther prying and a stroke of luck, Alice discovers that she in fact now lives in the house of the student who was supposedly murdered. The desk behind her is also vacant, a girl who turns out to be her neighbor who has been absent from class for over a year. Hana Arai, the only witness to what had happened to the student. Alice tries to confront this neighbor in order to get to the bottom of what happened to the student known as "Judas".
The story is well written. It manages to be compelling yet is very simplistic. There are elements of mystery but I wouldn't go as far as say it's suspenseful or a thriller. Nothing supernatural or unrealistically grand happen. It's pretty light on the melodrama and is rather comedic, but not overly blatant. Rather than corny jokes and routines, they rely on believable character interactions to provide dry humor. This film doesn't feel like an anime at all. It feels as if you are watching real people interact naturally as you would in your daily life. Hana to Alice is a charming coming of age light drama, nothing more, nothing less.
Rating 7 (for keeping a solid well paced narrative from beginning to end)
The art and animation is gonna be a hot hit or miss topic among people. Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live footage frame by frame. This creates very fluent, lifelike movement of on screen characters and proper psychics to inanimate objects. The characters can also lack detail and sometimes feel out of place in contrast to it's backgrounds. I quite enjoy rotoscope when given proper attention. The full effect of rotoscope is seen with the dancing during ballet class. The colors between characters and backgrounds mesh together well. I also enjoyed the fairly detailed backdrops and lighting effects. My only issue with the animation during one particular scene when the background feels CG rendered and creates that unwelcome contrast I mentioned as we follow Alice from a shoulder perspective running through her home, and during a couple scenes were they use slow motion with no added effects. Rotoscoping may look good when moving in real time, but it's kinda unflattering, choppy, and just looks awkward going frame by frame. I feel like they could have done a better job smoothing out some of those scenes. Doing so would have provided the impact they were going for, instead it's just kinda... there.
Rating 7 (it had flaws, but for what it did right, it looked good)
The music was pretty enjoyable, I don't recall any piece that stood out besides the nice song played during the credits. It was all rather relaxing stuff. The voice acting was very good. The voice audio quality seemed to be a bit inconsistent, and at times, specifically in the classroom, I'm not sure if their intention was to create a reverb or not. Rating 7 (for the good acting)
Characters are the films strongest point. It's everything here. Hana and Alice are both very likable. Alice is polite and almost appears naive, but when a classmate attempts to bully her, Alice promptly shows that she isn't feeble in the least bit. She always seems to be speaking in a somewhat playful condescending manner. Alice is rather impulsive and her aloofness creates some very entertaining moments. The animation does wonders here, the sarcastic and sometimes dumbfounded look on her face really brings out the personality of her character. Hana shares Alice's headstrong attitude, which is why watching them banter is so enjoyable. Hana seems a bit more mature and responsible, taking a somewhat rational thought rather than letting her impulses guide her. She puts up a bit of a tough front, but it's apparent that she immediately takes a liking to Alice and feels like she needs to protect Alice from her goofy self.
Rating 9 (the interaction between these two make the film enjoyable, also so nice to get away from cliche archetypes)
To say I enjoyed this is a bit of an understatement. I loved it. I literally had a smile on my face throughout the film. As I mentioned before, this just doesn't feel like an anime. The story is somewhat compelling but more so about a fun enjoyable atmosphere. Just want to emphasize again, this is not a murder mystery thriller per say. The art was pleasant to view, the characters felt like people I know, there were plenty moments to laugh at, and a moment that tugged at those heart strings just a tad bit.
Rating 9 (had a blast watching this)
Overall the acting is what makes this show stand out, the VA's really brought the characters to life. The story was well written but didn't have a lot of depth or anything that makes it stand out among any other normal (non-supernatural, etc.) coming of age story. And with the sound quality a bit lackluster in the first half, and some minor gripes with certain animation sequences.
The final Score for this show is 7.5-8/10.
(subjectively, I can easily look pass these flaws, I'm gonna give it a 9 on my list, cause I absolutely loved it!)
Fall
Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken is a film that passed over many people's heads back in early 2015, but it retains a relatively high rating from its modest following. Hana to Alice is an animated prequel to a live-action film that came out over a decade ago, back in 2004. You require no background from the Hana to Alice universe to enjoy this film; I went into this film without any prior knowledge at all and still immensely enjoyed it. At its core, Hana to Alice is a character-driven narrative with a heavy focus on subtleties, in terms of both characters and atmosphere. It isa slow-paced but captivating experience with an overarching mystery plot that opts not for suspense, but immersion as its primary means of engagement.
And Hana to Alice is also my favourite animated film yet.
Hana to Alice is an entirely character-driven filmーif you don't like the characters, you won't like the film. The good news is that it is difficult to dislike Alice; let alone hate her, though Hana is a bit harder to like. Alice takes the reins for the first half of the film, joined by deuteragonist Hana at around the 40-minute mark. Hana and Alice are a big part of what makes this film so captivating. They are a very quirky and unorthodox duo, but they still manage to be believable characters because of all the attention to their subtleties. Hana and Alice propel the plot forward at the mercy of their whims. The film is peppered with light comedy throughout, with some of the best humour coming from the duo's deadpan banter. Hana and Alice are incredibly endearing, interesting and well-rounded characters with a lot of subtle development; both as characters and in their relationship with each other. I'll save you the character descriptions, as they are something best experienced first-hand, and I don't want to force these characters into too small a box to fit their characterisation. Hana to Alice is a film that heavily relies on subtle, effective storytelling; showing, rather than telling.
Hana and Alice are the heart of this film, but they are certainly not the only characters with personality and substance. There are several side characters that each gets their time to shine, with one of the most notable examples of this being a character that has absolutely no relevance to the plot. The significant amount of attention given to this particular character could be seen as obstructive to the flow of the plot, but in Hana to Alice's case, the plot isn't the pointーthe characters are. The plot is treated more as an accessory than anything else; something for Hana and Alice to guide in any direction they please. Hana to Alice explores its characters through several of these subplots throughout the film with its peculiar, but compelling style.
Hana to Alice has a simplistic plotline which mostly serves as a stage for its charactersーHana, Alice and the less prominent characters too. For most of the film, the plot coasts along, gradually bringing in new elements that are part of the overarching mystery. In hindsight, the mystery itself was incredibly simple, and it was constructed for the sole purpose of serving as a foil to develop and flesh out its characters. The reveal of the mystery was ultimately satisfying and ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Hyouka in how even the mysteries serve the characters' development.
Though not immediately, it wasn't soon after the film started that it had me engaged in its narrative and invested in its characters. I enjoyed how Hana to Alice presented its narrative overall, though it wasn't until about halfway through when Hana is thrown into the narrative that I really started to get immersed in the story. Hana to Alice is very much a slow film, but you're liable to forget this when its titular characters have you so engrossed in their unpredictable banter and mischief. While you may try to wave off its slow start with the word 'suspense', I hold that Hana to Alice is not a suspenseful film. Anticipation is mostly lacking as well because Hana to Alice has you so engrossed with what is happening right now, as opposed to what has yet to happen. The film slowly draws you into its world with light tension, intrigue, and peerless character. That's not suspense or anticipation: that's immersion.
For the film to succeed as well as it does, the first half needed to set the foundations appropriately for the rest of the film to build on. If you come into Hana to Alice expecting a well-crafted and well-paced mystery film, you're going in with the wrong mindset and will likely end up feeling like not enough is happening in the beginning. What the first half manages to accomplish quite well is how it sets up Alice as a character on her own, rather than defining her by her interactions with Hana. There is a lack of meaningful drama in the first half, but I did like how they spent that time fleshing out Alice's personality and how she functions as an individual character. It has plenty of character and are lined with an abundance of the deadpan humour characteristic of Hana to Alice. It isn't only Alice, eitherーthe film manages to flesh out other compelling characters on its way through. The first half is mostly lacking in significant plot developments, but this is because Hana to Alice isn't about the plot; it's about the characters, and the film makes sure you know that by gradually drawing you into its world and getting you to care about its characters. As a mystery drama, Hana to Alice is lacking in suspense and hooks in its narrative; its pacing is terrible for a mystery drama. But Hana to Alice wasn't meant to be a mystery dramaーthat's why it fails at it. The mystery elements that this film has are meant to build a sense of intrigue and nothing more. It's important that you go into Hana to Alice expecting a character drama, not a mystery drama.
Hana to Alice pays a lot of homage to 'everyday life' throughout its durationーit makes every effort to capture all the subtleties and nuances of everyday life in Japan, which is a big part of what lends it a genuine sense of realism. This carefully-crafted atmosphere exists for the titular characters Hana and Alice; Hana to Alice is a story about the adolescent lives of two middle school girls. While it may be apparent at first, Hana to Alice has heavy coming-of-age undertones. It isn't overbearing about it and it isn't overly preachyーit is told in a subtle, unobtrusive way, wholly grounded in reality. Hana to Alice accomplishes this seamlessly in part because of how fantastic the atmosphere is, but also because of how carefully it handles its characters. That said, the characters don't actually grow that much by the end of the film. This is to be expected, however, as Hana to Alice is a prequel film, largely intended to set plot and character elements up for the 2004 sequel film. Hana to Alice is inherently focused more on setup than execution; what happens here is a comparatively smaller event in their lives to the one in the 2004 live-action film. Hana to Alice: Satusjin Jiken is merely an account of Hana and Alice's meeting, not how their relationship survives against waves of adversity. Satsujin Jiken is nothing more than the beginning.
In spite of its prequel status, this doesn't mean that Hana and Alice don't grow at all by the end of the film. On the contrary, Hana hits something of a turning point in her life. However, despite it being a significant event, she only changes in small, subtle ways. Because of this, she remains a believable, realistic character. Real people don't change overnightーthey change gradually and in small ways, and rarely substantially. Whatever happens, we end up as the same person at the end of the day. Adolescence is a time of finding yourself, rather than changing yourself. This is a time for youths to discover who they really are and work on refining themselves. Hana to Alice explores this concept throughout the film primarily in the background but with remarkable precision and believability. 'Believability' is the key word with Hana to Aliceーeverything feels believable and authentic in this film: when Alice transfers to her new school, the sense of awkwardness is rendered perfectly, immediately making it both believable and relatable. It's this authentic atmosphere that slowly drew me into the world and the endearing characters that gradually got me to care about them and their troubles. It has been quite a long time since I've felt so attached to any fictional character, but Hana to Alice manages to accomplish double the feat in a mere hour and a half.
Hana and Alice carry the film effortlessly with lots of personality and plenty of playful banter. These are characters with a strong sense of identity; characters that feel real and relatable. Hana and Alice are fleshed out and gradually develop over the course of the film as we get to know more about and see more of them. At no point are they boring; Hana and Alice are organic characters with a lot of depth (and a lot of quirkiness). It would be easy to gloss over Hana's development, what her friendship with Alice means to her and how it has changed her because of a thankful lack of melodrama or narration telling us what these characters are feeling. Subtlety is a big part of what I love about Hana to Alice, and it is most prominent in the way it characterises and develops its characters (not only the leads) with believable dialogue and a distinct lack of narration. Hana to Alice doesn't tell you what a character is feeling; it shows you through body language, facial expressions and tone of voice. The film makes full use of the medium and doesn't force its audience to listen to meandering monologues. While it isn't always true that showing is better than telling, Hana to Alice makes a very good case for it.
Hana to Alice adopts the rotoscoping animation style in pursuit of capturing an authentic atmosphere that, while reminiscent of the unintentionally hilarious Aku no Hana adaptation, is countless leagues better and never looks anywhere near as bad (i.e. it was animated by a competent team). The art style and animation is one of this film's strongest pointsーit looks phenomenal. While it may take a while to adjust to the quirks of its rotoscoping, the backgrounds are consistently beautiful throughout the entirety of its runtime. To top it all off, the animation is incredibly smooth with a high framerate. If nothing else, Hana to Alice serves as fantastic eye candy because of its tall production values and the great care the animation team has taken with how the rotoscoping animation was done, as Aku no Hana has masterfully proven how easy it is to get it completely wrong.
Likewise, Hana to Alice boasts a fantastic soundtrack that manages never to obstruct the atmosphereーa feat that few films/shows can claim--instead only adding to it. There is a seamless synergy between the OST and the film, to the point where listening to the soundtrack on its own (which is very possible because it is superbly competent) or watching the movie with different music would greatly take away from the experience. In particular, a very memorable song is played right as the film reaches its climax and could be considered the theme of Hana to Alice. It also utilises a plethora of atmospheric sound effectsーclattering plates, soft footsteps, voices in the background trailing off and the hustle and bustle of the cityーliberally throughout the film, and it does well to craft an authentic atmosphere.
The voice actors for the main cast are the same as those who were in the live-action sequel, so it should come as no surprise that they perfectly portray Hana and Alice's boundless energy and all of their eccentricities. While the rest of the cast may be overshadowed by the eponymous duo's expert performance, they are almost as, if not just as skillful in portraying all of their own character's quirks and subtleties.
Hana to Alice is slow-paced but well-paced, gradually drawing you into its world, its characters, and its drama. The film has impressive production values, with art that is easy on the eyes and a soundtrack that is pleasantly immersive. It is my humble opinion that Hana to Alice is everything that Slice Of Life anime should aspire to be, with thorough consideration given to both the atmosphere and the characters, the things I most appreciate in all forms of entertainment. Hana to Alice has renewed my interest in the SOL genre in spades. By the end of the film, I felt immensely satisfied in spite of its prequel statusーit didn't even really feel like a prequel, as Satsujin Jiken has its own standalone story that it wants to tell. However, it doesn't forget that it's connected to the Hana to Alice universe and does well to set the groundwork for the live-action sequel film.
The Bottom Line: If you enjoy carefully-written and eloquent character-driven narratives and appreciate an authentic atmosphere, I implore you to pick up Hana to Alice as soon as you can, but go in expecting a character drama, rather than a mystery drama.
Ready_Player_1
First off the art style is really weird and off-putting. It seems like it is poorly drawn foregrounds and characters with really beautiful backgrounds which I've seen before, but the movement of the characters feels more like watching a live action movie than an anime. If you give it a chance you will love the characters as they begin to be developed and reveal so much personality. I really feel like this was how silly and childish I was in school and I just thought the acting was brilliant. Then you actually get involved in the story and the mystery. I can see that somepeople might not find this movie appealing, but those people have bad taste. This movie rocked.
buunny
The story is disjointed. The first half of the story barely has any relation to the second half. Many characters are introduced in the first half that are not mentioned again later on. Any character development is abandoned by the middle and is a plot devise to move the "story" along. Alice's involvement in track and ballet are used to make her more interested in "Judas". However, she reveals to Hana that she has no interest in finding out about him. Both leads are static. There is a forced scene in the middle that leads to an hour of filler. The original story was a one volumemanga that could have fit into a 30 minute OVA. They stretched it so they could attract film distributors, but sacrificed the quality of the movie for earnings potential.
The animation was cheap. The backgrounds were photos put through a photoshop filter. The characters were traced. The expressions were off and the reactions were delayed. The most effort was put into the poster, projecting a false image of what the movie looks like.
The music was not bad, but it was plagiarized. When Alice is in a park, Moonlight Sonata is playing, but at the melancholy drop, it changes to a different piece.
Overall, the original story was stretched out. The art was cheap to the point that it was detrimental to the story telling. The music was plagiarized. There was no character development.
mozos
I was a little surprised by the art style at first, but it very quickly grew on me. The animation was beautifully smooth, and the highly detailed backgrounds added depth. I was kind of confused by the point of the movie's storyline at first, but soon enough I didn't really care and figured that the point would be wrapped up in the end, which it was. The movie actually was surprisingly deep, but I don't suppose anyone would realize it all unless they watch until the very end. I feel like the main character could have been more developed, but she was still very likeable.The movie had tons of cute and meaningful moments, and the soundtrack matched up with the scenes well and was overall pleasant to listen to. I loved the main theme, and how it was reflected in the credits.
Flawfinder
The animated prequel to the 2004 Japanese film, Hana and Alice, never got much buzz around the anime community to the point that I'm surprised it ever got subbed at all. And even then, the subs flew past my attention given how it came out around the ending weeks of the last summer season and I spent nearly four months ignorant of its existence. I checked my MAL friends' stats and neither of them have seen it either (well one guy did, but you don't know him). Since I enjoy dabbling in the obscure from time to time, especially given this film's pedigree, I figuredI'd give this thing some attention, so Noragami Aragoto can wait another week to get reviewed.
So The Case of Hana & Alice reunites the director and the two actresses who play our leads, now diving into the rotoscoped animation field in order to tell the story of how our title characters first met each other and grew into bitchy high school students that nearly split apart over a guy thanks to, well, a guy funnily enough. Investment in the first film isn't necessary, as I barely remember anything about it apart from the fact that Alice likes to do ballet and I could still easily follow what was going on. Now I haven't seen much of Shunji Iwai's stuff, but if his Hana & Alice films are anything to go by, he loves to focus on everyday life quite a bit. Whilst that's not always a bad thing, the good everyday life stories use the mundane setting as a template for all sorts of complex issues whilst the bad ones wallow in nostalgia like a crappy fanmade sequel. What side does The Case of Hana & Alice lay on? Well let's look at the plot, shall we?
The film starts with Alice moving into a new neighborhood thanks to her mother's divorce and having to adjust to a few things that are standard for transferring schools such as getting a new uniform and having to deal with the City Council for a student ID. Although that stuff is only mentioned briefly, as the real conflict comes from how Alice's class treats her like an outsider thanks to sitting at a desk that belonged to a former student who was said to have died in her very chair, as well as having four wives to boot. Sick of having to deal with everyone's bullshit, Alice confronts her assaulters and discovers that they were just cashing in on a rumor in order to act like big men around the new kids because teens are stupid like that. During her interrogation, Alice realizes that the guy who died lived in her current house before she moved in and in an attempt to dispel the "ghost" rumors, asks next-door neighbor and local shut-in Hana to help her find out if the guy is still alive. Although reluctant to help, Hana eventually concedes and the two go on a modern-day Whisper of the Heart-esque adventure across the city in order to discover the truth whilst forming the friendship that would make up the basis for their first movie along the way.
The Case of Hana & Alice is best summed up as a movie version of those light-hearted slice of life stories that anime fans who wallow in nostalgia tend to bust a nut over, except rotoscoped. But the movie is no Aku no Hana in terms of tone, because whilst it portrays the struggles of a teenage girl more realistically than most slice-of-life stories, said portrayal is hampered by a lack of forward momentum along with the fact that it's very safe execution-wise. Alice and Hana don't even meet, let alone go on that "whimsical" adventure I referenced in my summary, until the halfway point, so you have to put up with Alice going through every day struggles for no other reason than she's a Japanese girl trying to fit in and do ballet as a motivation for wanting to watch her. Some of the scenes in the first half are cute, such as Alice punching a bully when he threw a chicken bone at her and him crying like a baby whilst doing so, but they don't add up to anything resembling an actual story with actually engaging drama, especially considering Alice is too capable a character to let teasing get her down forever.
Things get more interesting when Hana shows up because of her shut-in nature, along with the reveal of the reason for why she's a shut-in in the first place and how it ties in with everything that transpired previously, but it never results in anything as grand as Whisper of the Heart's ultimate message regarding the right way to follow your dreams. In fact, the only time the film truly stands out is when it uses its rotoscoped nature for some dynamic movement like when Alice runs up some stairs or when she and Hana dance in the moonlight (you'll understand once you see it). Ultimately, this movie just wants to be a light-hearted origin story for its main duo, keeping things accessible to a general audience whilst not really giving them any more substance than the Peanuts movie. If you're into that sort of thing, I'd recommend The Case of Hana & Alice for one watch because as I've said before, whilst the film is ultimately good-natured and never really delves into the hilarious ribbing you'd see in a Western sitcom, its non-saccharine approach to what teenage girls go through along with the number of moderately funny jokes did a fair enough job in terms of entertaining me at points, so you should enjoy the movie more than I did.
All in all, not a bad attempt in terms of a live-action director switching to animation for the first time. It's just a shame that unless his other movies are wildly different from the Hana & Alice stuff, he hasn't picked up much storytelling ambition in the decade between films. But then again, we can't all be Martin Scorsese now can we?
prismanna
I actually really enjoyed this movie that I watched it twice. It's a coming-of-age type story, so I thought it was going to be extremely cliche and boring to the point where I could've guessed the ending halfway into the story. I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the whole "rotoscope" thing that are getting popular nowadays, but the characters themselves make up for it and the "strange rumors" talked about in the synopsis are not just little teenage rumors; they're rumors about possession and weird, cult-ish activities. I really liked this movie because Arisugawa Tetsuko (Alice) was a very interesting character. Iguess some might say that there wasn't enough character development for her, or that the movie often strayed away from the main issue (which I assume is the investigation behind the school rumors). But in all honesty, the story deals with something bigger (such as the aftermath of divorce or the relationship between other people based on fundamental trust). I just thought that the whole mysterious rumor thing was to keep the story running at some pace. The people Alice meets along the way, though they might not be necessarily related to the "investigation" that she does, are related to her issues that she had of her moving and living with her mother in a small town that's seemingly boring.
Alice's struggles weren't really boring, in my opinion. It sounds boring, watching a girl just live her everyday life and facing mundane problems, but I think what's important to look at is not the plot, but the people themselves. The way her mother is, what she works as, and what Alice says to her, I felt, told a story itself. How she interacts with her father and Hana (her shut-in neighbor) told separate stories about each character as well. I think this movie follows a linear plot that's a bit weak, but the relationship that Alice makes between others reinforce it.
Overall, I would suggest watching the movie. It is silly at some points and some parts are a bit unrealistic and the rotoscoping is a bit heavy, but the characters themselves are rather well-rounded and I enjoyed watching the story unfold greatly.
_Hanabi_
This is my first time watching an anime with this sort of art style. To be honest, at the start it was weird but when you really get into the story and focus on whats going on, you don't really notice after a while. I must say, the art style makes the story better. if you pay attention to what the story is about and how the characters speak and react to things, you would realize how very realistic it is. Thats why i believe the art style was well made for this, gives the story a nice flow and heartwarming feel about it.
SovietWeeb
"Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken" Greatest attraction is also probably one of the greatest distractions. I'm talking about the Animation. I think cause I'm not sure, But the Animation is made in CGI. At first, this would be a massive negative for me and If I had known that before watching then I probably would've not watched it at the time. The animation has an artistic look to it. It looks like it was made with a Paintbrush and at first, I actually thought it was. It's an interesting look. The Camera also tends to be active and we don't get boring still shots. Theworld design is actually interesting as it isn't every generic world we see in Anime. The House actually looks lived in and the School looks more like a place of learning.
I'm not a big fan of the Classmates. It's kind of weird and maybe it's just me or cause of a culture difference. But I would play along with some delusion that the spirit of some boy is trapped in his desk. I especially wouldn't go about trying to grab some new transfer student to play along with these delusions.
The relationship between the MC and Hana is nice. I found myself smiling, to say the least.
Overall this is an interesting and fun show.
saranicegirla
I loved it! Not just because it was an anime, because it was different than most anime. There's a unique childlike humor about Hana and Alice that sets the story mood innocent and carefree. Almost like back in the days, where you whined about the cold to your mother and your eyes grew wide at the aroma of ramen. I don't know, but they were my favorite Asian-American memories as a child and I'll always treasure them like that. This movie brought back that nostalgia and includes the old good classic humor you find in manga nowadays. Everything about this movie was just different. The art style, thecharacters, everything. It's not like most anime. And that is what makes it stand out!
Unlike most anime, the characters seem real, and I mean, REAL real. Most anime portray the characters as certain anime tropes unlike The Case of Hana & Alice, everyone was straight-up unique.
Not saying most animes don't give their characters personalities, but as the characters didn't change as much and there was always a main point to the story.
This anime looks like there's a problem in the story and a main point as well, but the characters are just enjoying life. And we need more anime like this! Characters just enjoying life and not solving problems every 30 seconds. We need characters to reveal and be themselves, not act like they're in a fucking drama.
ALL IN ALL, THIS ANIME IS INCREDIBLE AND A MASTERPIECE!
WATCH IT RN!!
(Also, it's very underrated and deserves to shine *sobs*)
renyrells
I'm not sure how to start this review. I guess I loved this movie a lot. Went in knowing absolutely nothing. The movie felt like it was 4 hours long. But by the end of the credits, I was as sad at the movie being over, as I would have been with a really good season of a show. I recommend watching this. You should go into this with an open mind and let it take you wherever it wants to go. But I can tell this is not a movie for everyone. *The rest will contain some spoilers* The story of this movie is crazy. Itchanges all the time. The only link being the relaxed mood of the ditsy MC. The credits of the movie is an amazing stroll down memory lane, as you go, "holy shit, that's right. That did happen." The fact that the climax is a big, dumb adventure that's really just a couple neighborhoods or districts away is great. Makes you remember that these are just a couple of dumb, immature kids.
The art is really good and not quite like anything I've seen before. It has a very old school feel. Painted, static backgrounds and then animating characters and objects on top. I know your thinking, "yeah, that's how you animate." but what I mean is that the character contrast hard with the background.
The sound and music was good overall. I did notice that, sometimes, voices sounded like people speaking into a can. Also some scenes not having characters lips move correctly, or at all, to dialogue was a bit distracting.
The characters are fantastic, everyone has depth, no matter how short their scene is. This is a fleshed out, real and lived in world. The two MC's are a treat and feel like the kind of fire and ice duo that would go on this kind of stupid adventure.
Again, the movie felt like 4 hours. Not because it was slow or bad. More like, because I wanted to linger on every scene. I wanted to take in the background, the characters and everything that was said.This movie is already going on the yearly rewatch pile with some Miyazaki's, Summer Wars and a couple others.
KasaneD
This movie looked promising at first, that's why i stuck with it and watched it until the end, putting up with the poor, lazy-ass animation. And that got me nothing in return. I have started thinking the protagonist girl might be on the autism spectrum, that would explain her quirkiness which i am just willing to pass off as such as i have no better word i can think of to describe her behaviour. The whole thing had a ring of being half-hassed to it i found most unsettling. The story seemed half-assed, the characters seemed half-assed. Everything down to the animation seemed half-assed. Theprotagonist sounds annoying and is overall annoying, falling off stairs and not being able to follow basic instructions definitely pissed me off.
And all this even amounted to was, lo and behold, and half-assed ending to an half-assed movie. Don't waste your time watching it. Do some embroidery, that might be a bit more rewarding of an experience, at least.
ggultra2764
The Case of Hana and Alice is an oddball film focused on its titular pair of characters finding themselves trying to solve a mystery among their middle school's students who believe in a rumor where one of their classmates were murdered. Apparently, the film is a prequel to a 2004 live-action film focused on the titular pairing. But based off what I seen throughout this film, it's possible for it to stand on its own two feet and can be viewed without prior viewing of the mentioned live-action film. While seemingly a slice-of-life comedy, Hana and Alice gets quite on the bizarre side with exploring theeveryday happenings of its characters as Tetsuko and Hana get caught up in trying to solve the supposed mystery of their classmate's murder, getting ridiculous enough as such where a number of their classmates have formed a religious cult dabbling into the occult and believing they are being haunted by the classmate's spirit. This leads to some rather nutty events that made for some genuinely laugh-out loud moments for this reviewer such as some of the cult members pretending to be possessed during classes and Tetsuko attempting to awkwardly work up the resolve to meet with a relative of the supposedly dead classmate to learn of his status.
The one major thing that could make or break any potential enjoyment of the film is its choice of presentation style in the form of rotoscoping. The last major anime I seen use this style of animation was Aku no Hana and the use of it was a rather controversial one for fans at that time. For its use in Hana and Alice, the results of it are a bit mixed. While the animation style allows for more lifelike character designs and has its moments where the animation rendering looks convincingly fluid with character movements, the rendering is not always perfect and there are occasions where animated sequences can look a bit sloppy with their visual effects and details because of the rotoscoping.
Setting aside its visual style, The Case of Hana and Alice made for engaging entertainment for me thanks to its slice-of-life comedy being quite out there for its genre and avoiding the typical pitfalls that the genre can drag titles of its ilk into. If you have about 100 minutes to kill, the film is certainly worth a look if anime comedies grab your interest.
Kayzzle
this is just the kind of anime that im looking for! i love slice of life genre, and this one nails it. it's so atmospheric and relaxing, though kinda tense at first as i thought it was going to be darker than it is. i love almost everything about this movie. the characters are great, especially alice, she acts like a normal 14 yo girl. and her dynamic with hana? chefs kiss. the plot is decent too. basically about two girls bonding a friendship overnight. but these girls are so likeable, and the way they act is genuine. i dont think the yuda part wasoff putting or anything. yes it was kinda silly, but i can still sympathize with hana after hearing her explanation. i dont find this annoying at all. oh i also love the style of this anime, the background too! it looks pretty. the ed is also good and i cant stop listening to it.
i feel like i wont give this anime justice if i score it with anything below 10, but im not saying that this movie has no flaws at all. i also wish that i can see more of like fu chan (alice's friend who does ballet) and mutsumi (the one who claimed to get possessed by judah) dynamic with alice but oh well.
if you're a fan of slice of life genre and atmospheric anime, this one is totally for you.
(and if you have some anime recommendations with similar tone to this one please leave a comment on my page, i'd love to hear it)
Tomm01p
It seems to me that people are expecting something a bit different coming into this movie than what it really ends up being. If the problem lies in it's confusing synopsis or tag selection lies beyond my area of interest. But please, when deciding to watch Hana to Alice, keep in mind that this movie is seriously not a mystery, or much of a drama. Rather, is it a very well made slice of life. Hana to Alice's story starts off in a very mild manner. Tetsuko, one of the two main protagonists of the movie, had just moved with her mother to a new houseand transffered to a new school. Like almost every new student, she has problems of fitting into the class collective, which seems to her as rather weird. Soon enough, she finds out that a year ago, one of the former students has been murdered. As she tries to understand the situation a bit more, a connection between the victim and Hana, Tetsuko's neighbour that doesn't go to school, leads her in front of the scarry Flower House. And so, Hana and Tetsuko (now nicknamed Alice) meet for the very first time and decide to solve the mystery behind the murder.
The story of Hana to Alice, is where the opinion of people differ the most. Like I already said, despite the mystery tag, there is not much of a mystery really going on. Not only isn't the murder the main point of the show, it's investigation takes a background place for most of the time, in order to let the slice of life parts of the movie shine and lead. Frankly, instead of making the mystery and it's conculsion as much complicated as possible, the movie rather focuses on building up chemistry of the characters, which then enables the revelation to feel satisfying. It also does a remarkable job at making things simple and not over-exaggerated, like many other mystery movies do. Instead, it puts both girls into, maybe random, but certainly believable situations, which make it feel very realistic.
Talking about realism, that is propably the thing I liked about the movie the most. Not only the mystery itself, but also the mindset of Hana and Alice seem incredibly believable. Before deciding, they ask themselves several times if they really want to go solve things out. Frankly, their attempt does really feel like something a teenager would do. From the very beginning, they don't have much of a belief that things will really work out, and every decision they make feels very spontaneous, not like it was all written beforehand.
Hana and Alice themselves feel very realistic too. Especially Alice. That is because the movie focuses a lot of it's time at showing random, daily events from her life. Now, I know that somebody would't find that very appealing, however I thought it was a positive contribution to the movie overall. Some of the scenes, especially at the start, can maybe feel meaningless, but they only add to the fact that Alice is just a normal girl living her own life. There are scenes where she chats with an old friend, meets her father or just practises balet in her own room. They may be a bit dragging, but are essential to the overall atmosphere the movie builds up and to the ending, which only contains a short dialogue reflecting that these two girls are just normal students.
I don't tend to brag about art all that often, but in case of Hana and Alice, I need to make a bit of an exception. The overall art could be viewed as very messy. The backgrounds look artistic and abstract, but the CGI animation of the characters doesn't bond very well with that. However, even if the art itself isn't the best, the movie doesn't change it's main intention. And that is to animate the characters as much as possible. They are constantly moving, their faces are constantly changing, every step they make is a bit different. Their movement feels like that of a human being, and despite the art lacking quality wise, I just couldn't stop watching the incredibly realistic character animation. All of these things make the whole movie feel very much alive, which is a thing uncharacteristic of anime, and is a welcome change.
The OST is also of a very good quality. It has strong pieces, the one I particualry remember was a violin/piano composition playing somewhere in the middle of the movie, which take some slightly touching scenes to another level. That is not saying that the whole OST is that great, but it certainly had it's high peak moments. The thing that I found lacking was however the voice-acting. The main duo was fine. But some of the side character voices really missed the mark to me. Most of them sounded plain bland and uninteresting, and even way too chill at times. Frankly, it wasn't that much of a problem, but I have to critisize the movie about something ya know.
And saying the word critisism, I think I need to clarify some things right now. As of now, I've pretty much praised the movie for everything, but it needs to be said that it also has some shortages. Like, for example, the art. Sure, like I said, the character movement was excellent and it made me to watch the movie with pleasure, but the overall art quality was just not very high. Also, while the story wasn't bad and I mostly liked the things it bringed, it also wasn't very captivating either. The same could be said about the characters, because Alice was very good, but Hana felt somehow left out. It just feels like even though the movie does most of the things right, it also doesn't do anything more than that. In the end, it's just a movie for warm evenings, when you make yourself a tea, lie on the couch and watch a chill movie, that is good overall, but doesn't blow your mind with anything.
-------
Hana to Alice is a simplistic, yet impactful movie. It tells us a story of two girls becoming friends and going through lifetime experiences. If the mystery stayed behind the curtains for most of the time lies beyond me, the slice of life parts were enought to make it worth my time. And it was a pleasure to watch.
Lpoool
The case of Hana and Alice Story- 7 - The story tells about Tetsuko "Alice" Arisugawa, who is recently transferred to a new school, and meets an case in her group, "The Assassination of Yuda". Alice tries to find out the truth behind the suposted murder, if he is or not dead. suposted Animation - 6 - The art is simple, but the animation isn't bad. Characters - 7 - The characters are personable, don't feel forced or upset, and they make you enjoy the movie. Distrutable - 8 - The movie is enjoyable, the personalities of Alice and Hana are entertaining and fun, generating enjoyable moments throughout the movie.Overall - 8 - A movie, which despite being somewhat simple in art, is entertaining and enjoyable to pass the time.
Ritinal
I had the lucky opportunity to go into this film with only having seen the cover art. If you haven't been spoiled by anything yet, just give this a try, its only 95ish minutes. Now with that being said... Boy was I surprised...In a good way. While this show is experimental in some ways, it is a good litmus test into what a show with a very even blend of live-action and anime elements would look like in a single show. Whether it was the choreography, dialogue, directing, narrative, or comedy, each element had something where I could feel it came from more of a live-actionbackground or anime background. If not because you think the plot is entertaining, I would suggest this to any avid anime watcher to give them a really good perspective on how much room there can be for very different styles of anime.
Story: Story while a little scatterbrained, was still entertaining to watch. A lot of the times it felt like a big gag or skit where it just existed to express comedy, but the style of animation lent itself to also being able to turn on a dime into serious or dramatic moments.
Art: Without a doubt very experimental. I think overall they succeeded on an animation front. With how much was being blended from live-action shots and anime styled shots, I would have liked it if they leaned a little harder into feeling like one or the other more when the narrative or moment presented it. Moments that felt more anime-ish (running usually) tended to feel bogged down by lack of perspective or composition. Moments that felt more live-action tended to feel fine but I think a better distinction could have made for a more unique flow.
Sound: Sound was average, nothing really unique. I didn't hear anything I disliked.
Character: This is another area where there was an interesting blend between live-action and anime tropes at play. While characters weren't as expressive as in standard anime, the drawing from more organic or real acting made for characters that felt a lot more real. Alice and Hana's personality could really be felt from their VA performances alongside how the characters moved in the scene. (When they first meet is a really good example)
Enjoyment: I overall enjoyed this mainly for how unique it was all being presented. I will reiterate that I went into this with the expectation of an anime, and still came out feeling satisfied. Even if it was made in a more standard anime light, I would have watched it, but being able to see the extra unique flavor the blending gave it was a nice treat that will forever change how I view shows that try to cross the bridges of live-action and anime.
nagame_chan
Although it does not seem "fantastic" to me, I liked it and I enjoyed it a lot. It is a beautiful animation, which I think was what I liked the most. A second point is about the relationships between women that are established, overcoming the forceful expression of Alice's mother "I never wanted to have friends, they are useless." It presents strong protagonists who have been superimposed on complex processes, such as the separation of parents, the change of city, among others. The end is beautiful, the strength to leave is given by the bond that the neighbors generate. *Sorry for my english
