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 is the person who has been absent for a year and 4 months. Later, Alice gain information about her neighbor and trying to approach her house to investigate the Judas who has been murdered last year, during the investigating, Alice met the old man who kindheartedly helping Alice even Alice lied to him. After she send home that old man, Arai Hana ( the neighbor girl) called her to helping investigating. During the time they had through alot of things which later deepen their friendship like dancing ballet , ordering ramen , and sleeping below truck. Arai Hana later told the truth about Judas and his four wives and made Alice cried until both of them slept. At the morning 7.30 Arai Hana woke up and tried to calling Alice but she could not wake her up and gone alone to scouting Yuda's house, Alice realized the truck is moving the she stunned and could not move until the truck passed by, she tried to find Arai Hana which later she thought she was stuck below the truck, Alice tried to catch the truck and telling people around her to catch the truck. From behind, Arai tried to catch Alice which later ended up with Alice made a big fuss and run away from the truck. In the middle way they went home Arai met Yuda and feel relieve after they talk a bit. After that day Alice and Arai started went school together.
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. Actually not even feel like drama it is feel like real life story.
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.
The music was pretty enjoyable. :)
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.
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. Even this is labeled as anime but the story , character and art makes me feel this is not like anime. The simple story yet enjoyable actually pretty good for all age people.
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