Before Hana and Alice become friends, Alice is convinced by rumors that a mysterious student "Judas" has been killed. Her investigation leads her to Hana, a girl who rarely leaves her house and may know more about the supposed murder than she lets on. Shunji Iwai revisited his 2004 live-action characters through animation, making The Case of Hana & Alice his only animated feature. Iwai combined rotoscoping with 3D techniques, citing Ralph Bakshi's American Pop (1981) as an inspiration to move away from the conventions he associated with contemporary Japanese anime.