Hana to Alice Satsujin Jiken

NetzLain

__If you are someone who believes in spoilers, be aware that this review will explore some of the main themes of the anime, and some key elements of the plot may be exposed. __ __Also It does have a spoiler-free commentary on Frieren for comparison on modes of execution using a scene in episode 19th, nothing plot related, I'm just letting you know because it's a very popular anime that some people consider sacred.__ --- It amazes me that a movie with this level of quality does not have any reviews on Anilist – indicative that quality and popularity and adoration for a work are not the same. And since I'm a contrarian, I decided to write this review, because this movie deserves more appreciation, so it's not forgotten and buried. As I believe it to be pure art. The whole story of Hana to Alice is told in two movies: one 2004 live action movie and the anime. This being the first project where Shunji Iwai had total control over, that is to say, directing, writing, composing, editing and producing. The feeling that I get when watching Hana to Alice is that Shunji Iwai managed to express something that he really believes with his own voice, something truly remarkable to find nowadays. But, what is the message? How does he achieve to communicate that? And why is it different? Well, allow me.
##__Finding meaning__ If you read one of my other reviews, you probably noticed that I usually tend to look at stories with a philosophical lens. I've always been a little nerd for that stuff, and when watching, the only thing that comes to my mind is “what does it mean?” From that point forward relations with theories that I'm familiar start to pop up in my mind. And most often than not I end up finding a meaning that it wasn't there to be found rendering the meaning meaningless. But the use of philosophy is just a consequence that happened over time. Before, I would use whatever logic I could find to achieve some form of understanding. Now, I think this is normal; we as humans need some form of understanding of the world around us, especially when we are young and everything is new and strange. And we grasp onto anything that we can find. This is one of the themes of Hana to Alice. It appears to me that the story happens inside the minds of teenagers trying to find meaning using their own ways. From a cult to a murder mystery, they form their story, trying to find this understanding that ultimately is a fiction that tells us more about who Hana and Alice are than about the world that they live in. It makes a tale of friendship through sharing fantasies and anxieties. That is to say, a story about youth. Now, this is my theory: in youth is where the word 'life' has the most meaning. That is to say, the idea or concept that the term carries is most well-represented across a standard life in that phase of existence. Yet, when we are living in that moment, we simply don't understand this. Because the concept of life lacks the harsh reality that we face after youth is gone—according to society, body, mortality, and trying to understand it all. In youth, we don't realize that life is so constrained, and we truly believe that everything is possible. It's only when that moment passes that we realize how alive we were, and that is the beauty of it, losing youth to understand youth. But that is just me. Of course, if you are 30, 40, or 60, you are still young and have the best years of your life left to live… Sure. Youthfulness, the free spirit, the silliness, confusion, lost loves, aspirations for the future, bullying, chuunibyou, adventure, anxiety, and everything that comes with that age. And more importantly, the unexpected friendships you can find, which are potentially the most profound and ephemeral in your life. Everything that represents being young. But this theme is not something new, it has been done before multiple times. And that is where Shunji Iwai's execution comes in.
##__Execution__ Hana to Alice has an interesting story, but what is stellar for me is the execution of scenes and how they transmit the main themes across the whole story, making it palpable for almost every scene. Mind that these characters are not caricatures like we normally see in anime; every character is very much thought out and has their own desires and aspirations. It does not have the comedy genre in the description here on Anilist, but the humor is spread throughout the story, leaving me laughing more than many comedies. This is because it does not make jokes for the sake of being funny, but uses characters' personalities, identities, and quirks to speak with their own voice. When they interact with each other, their uniqueness becomes amplified in relation. For example, little details like Alice mistaking her name when she is going to write it down or say it to someone create funny moments that display her confusion and struggles with the recent change in her family situation. This leads to the moment where, for the first time, she manages to say her name right in the most wrong situation possible. Many of the funny moments originate from the characters' interactions, which makes me come to the thing that is discerning more than anything about this anime: its dialogue. Just take a look at this scene—the writing, acting, the body posture, intonation. It's saying so much with so little. It reminds me of some of my favorite TV shows and movies like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Big Lebowski. (Sorry, I tried thinking of an anime with a dialogue as good as from these two examples but couldn't think of any. Monogatari, in my opinion, it's not as natural) In these shows and movies, every character is acting like the protagonist, talking over each other about subjects that are not always related, creating authentic conversations. This is the environment where we, as the audience, learn about the characters and their aspirations and desires through their interactions, which is a very efficient and not forced way of exposing this information in a story. This is something that I would like to emphasize because it is not something that we see often, especially in anime. We normally get a character that we usually don't care about to expose this information in a monologue or forced conversation/explanation to a newbie character. Like the one that happened in episode 19th of Frieren between these three characters with german names, which I can't remember. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/SrjbSIb.jpeg)~~~ It's not just Frieren that does this; many top-rated popular anime and manga out there employ this strategy of talking about something solely for the purpose of explaining things for the audience (information dump). The conversation often feels forced and unnatural. In my opinion, it's a lazy strategy. But it's not just in the conversation that the writing shows its cards; in Hana to Alice, every scene fulfills its purpose. I have the feeling that nothing is lost in the 98 minutes of runtime. It flows perfectly, which in itself is an achievement given the theme it covers and the characters it presents and relates. In addition to the scene previously mentioned, highlighting the dialogue and writing, there is also a poetical tone to its imagery, – like when Alice is running, following the taxi, and when she is in a swing. With movement. Alice's movement, we see her vigor and her aliveness, especially when contrasting with the old man in the scene of the swing. The theme of youth is screaming in dialogue and imagery. The execution of this theme couldn't be done better. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/pbBuytz.jpeg)~~~ On top of that it is also a [Ikiru (1952)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044741/) reference: ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/JOMl7IF.png)~~~ ##__Live action movie__ Don't forget that this is a prequel movie to the live-action [Hana to Alice (2004)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407851/). The more than 2-hour-long live-action movie follows the same protagonists, but now they are in high school. The drama starts when they meet a boy. Hana and Alice then start to manipulate him with their romantic aspirations by making him believe that he has amnesia and creating memories for him, all while Hana does rakugo and ballet, and Alice is scouted to become a model. Some elements and scenes of the prequel anime serve as references and foreshadowing for the movie. However, while watching the anime first, I couldn't notice that those elements were there for that single purpose. That is to say, it is not something that feels forced. If I had to compare the two of them, I would say that I liked the anime more. Not that the live-action is bad; on the contrary, it is a well-executed movie with the same elements of dialogue presented in the anime. However, the little details done in animation add to the acting and by adding those elements in animation to already spectacular acting, Iwai manages to elevate and intensify the reactions. After watching both the anime and live-action versions, it is clear to me that Shunji Iwai is a director with many qualities, and his method of execution is something that propels me to watch and study his other works. Similar to Naoko Yamada, who has a singular way of executing elements of the plot within the narrative with her direction, Iwai is a director that I'm going to keep an eye on for his future works while exploring his other films like All About Lily Chou-Chou, considered by many as his best work yet before Hana to Alice. ##__Conclusion__ Hana to Alice stands as a testament to the power of storytelling and the exploration of youth's complexities. Through its brilliant execution and authentic dialogue, the film captivates the audience, offering a poignant reflection on friendship, adolescence, and the search for meaning. Its ability to convey profound themes with sincerity and humor outshine others animes that try to do the same with not so good execution. With its delightful characters and rich narrative, Hana to Alice deserves more recognition and appreciation. For the score, I give 8 Yuda’s wives out of 10. Because one ran away and formed a cult, and another killed him with a bee. I would highly recommend this if you are a Naoko Yamada fan and enjoy her works like K-on, Liz and the Blue Bird, and Koe no Katachi. You know, good themes with stellar execution.