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.
