"I don't care if I'm deluding myself. I just want to lose myself in this happiness."

Over a decade after his rom-com masterpiece, Hana and Alice, Shunji Iwai returns to the characters of Hana Arai and Tetsuko Arisugawa with a rotoscoped prequel film that paints beautiful animated images over live-action footage. Like the first film, The Case of Hana & Alice is a whimsical and cute tale of self-discovery and new beginnings in a middle-school setting. It doesn't deal with its predecessor's more mature themes, as the girls are only 14 and don't have much to worry about here. But it still addresses change, with a new school for Alice, and the rumored death of a lover for Hana. This is simply a lighthearted film about being young, with a plot that sounds even sillier on paper than that of the original. It's the story of how Hana and Alice met and became inseparable best friends, and it all started with a school myth about an older kid named Yuda (Hana's crush), who was apparently poisoned and murdered by his 4 wives.

After her parents' divorce, Alice moves into Yuda's old house and is transferred to the same school, same class, and same seat that once belonged to him. Her classmates are also convinced that Yuda's ghost has come back from Hell to haunt Alice, so she visits Hana to know more about the mystery, as she is the only person left from Yuda's class. Hana hasn't left her home ever since Yuda disappeared, but agrees to search for him if Alice helps her. Because deep down, Hana has been dying to know if he's alive, as she believes she is the one who killed him by putting a bee down his shirt. So, the two girls go around screwing up their amateurish detective plan and coming up with new solutions on the spot, without realizing that they're bonding and getting closer to one another —the birth of a friendship. As the saying goes, our best friends are the ones that just walk into our lives without us even realizing how they got there.

Performing supernatural rituals based on school legends; Spending time with an elderly man who sees his daughter in you, and in turn, you see your absent father in him; Lying to a taxi driver so that he doesn't charge you for the ride; Missing the last train of the day and resorting to homelessness for a night; Sleeping under cars where it's warm so you don't freeze to death; Convincing a group of cyclists that a girl is being dragged under a moving truck; Finally finding the guy you were looking for, only to run away and hide in a delusional fantasy of an impossible, eternal love—These small things are as big as the world when you're a kid. We all lived from one little adventure to the next, and Shunji Iwai captures that with his unique and charming style, as well as his deep understanding of what it's like to be a teenage schoolgirl in Japan.

Hana and Alice are such likeable characters, brought to life by the extremely talented Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki, who shine just as bright using only their voices this time around. The animation is simple yet beautiful, with soft pastel colors evoking a strong sense of nostalgia for childhood. And as usual with Shunji Iwai, the classical music pieces are outstanding, perfectly complementing each and every scene. This is not one of those cheap animated prequels that some studios make solely for money. No, every aspect of The Case of Hana and Alice is evidently crafted with love, care, passion and dedication. Even the closing credits' song and artwork are mesmerizing! As warm and humane as they come, this little gem showcases that, no matter if the story is in live-action or animation, Shunji Iwai will always succeed at capturing magic within the ordinary.

2015 | Shunji Iwai | East Asian | Japanese | Anime
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Posted this review on the Asian Movie Pulse!