Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken (The Case of Hana & Alice)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Hana & Alice: The Murder Case

Japanese: 花とアリス殺人事件

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Feb 20, 2015

Producers: Pony Canyon, Nippon Television Network, Shogakukan

Licensors: GKIDS

Studios: Steve N' Steven, Rockwell Eyes

Source: Original

Genres: Award Winning, Drama, Mystery

Duration: 1 hr. 38 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.26¹ (scored by 11,822 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2774²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3204

Members: 39,878

Favorites: 190

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Synopsis

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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Background

Winner of the Excellence Award at the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken

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Characters & Voice Actors

Arisugawa, Tetsuko

Main

Aoi, Yuu
Japanese

Arai, Hana

Main

Suzuki, Anne
Japanese

Mutsu, Mutsumi

Supporting

Suzuki, Ranran
Japanese

Tomonaga

Supporting

Kaku, Tomohiro
Japanese

Arai, Tomomi

Supporting

Kimura, Midoriko
Japanese

Arisugawa, Kayo

Supporting

Aida, Shoko
Japanese

Kuroyanagi, Kenji

Supporting

Hiraizumi, Sei
Japanese

Ogino, Satomi

Supporting

Kuroki, Haru
Japanese

Tsutsumi, Yuki

Supporting

Kimura, Tae
Japanese

Yuda, Koutarou

Supporting

Katsuji, Ryou
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Ishii, Tomohiko

Producer, Planning

Iwai, Shunji

Director, Script, Theme Song Lyrics, Editing, Music, Planning, Original Creator

Shiina, Kotone

Theme Song Performance

Iso, Mitsuo

Key Animation

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Fish in the Pool" by Hec and Pascal (ヘクとパスカル)

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Reviews

Sep 15, 2015

coffeeworld

Recommended

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 highschool ...

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Sep 14, 2015

BlurredVision18

Recommended

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. She ... has "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!)

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May 14, 2016

Fall

Recommended

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 is ...

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anime movie recommendations that has similar tone to this one? Kayzzle - Jul 12, 2021	5 replies	by iiKrina »» Jan 30, 8:09 AM
Poll: Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 13, 2015	55 replies	by MurukoHiiragi »» Nov 3, 2021 4:47 AM
Why does every 14 year old got to be whiny? Angry_Anime_Nerd - Mar 27, 2016	27 replies	by Angry_Anime_Nerd »» Jul 12, 2021 9:48 AM
Preview & Cast Stark700 - Dec 11, 2014	8 replies	by Lemon »» Jun 21, 2015 12:40 PM

Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken

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Arai, Hana

Mutsu, Mutsumi

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Arai, Tomomi

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