Unboxing [UK]: The Case of Hana & Alice - Collector's Edition (BD/DVD)

I'm back in Uni and this film had just arrived from All the Anime.

The Case of Hana & Alice (Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken) is a 2015 film directed by Shunji Iwai, and is a rotoscoped live-action CG anime movie. This type of animation is not often used in the anime business and the last notable one many fans had witnessed was with Aku no Hana (The Flowers of Evil) back in 2013. The Case of Hana & Alice is a special case because this is actually a prequel to the live-action 2004 film Hana & Alice, which was also directed by Shunji Iwai. Anime Limited are currently the only English distributor to release this film outside of Japan.

This Collector's Edition set includes the film on both Blu-ray and DVD housed inside a special chipboard box with digipacks and physical extras. The booklet in particular covers how the film was made which is in pretty good detail. The on-disc extra also features a 26 minute interview with Makoto Shinkai (not involved with the film whatsoever). The discs are region locked to B & 2 while the subtitles are locked.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: Japanese, French

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 [Japanese, French], DTS-HD MA 2.0 [Japanese, French]

Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9

Region: B

Subtitles: English, French

Subtitles Locked: Yes (but you can change subs via pop-up menu)

Discs: 1

DVD Specs:

Languages: Japanese, French

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 [Japanese, French], Dolby Digital 2.0 [Japanese, French]

Video: SD NTSC 16:9

Region: 2

Subtitles: English, French

Subtitles Locked: Yes

Discs: 1

Plot Synopsis (via All the Anime):

Alice, a transfer student to Ishinomori Middle School, hears a strange rumour that one year ago, "Judas was killed by four other Judas" in Class 1. While investigating, Alice discovers that the only people who may know the truth, Alice's classmate Hana, lives next door to her in the "Flower House" that everyone is scared of...

Eager to know more about the "Judas" murder, Alice sneaks into the Flower House and to ask the reclusive Hana for more information about if Judas really murdered and why is Hana still a recluse. The chance meeting of Hana and Alice sets them off on an adventure to solve the mystery of the "smallest murder in the world".

On-Disc Extra Content:

Makoto Shinkai Interview (26 minutes runtime)

Collector's Edition Extras:

Chipboard Artbox with Clean Art (no logos, title on spine, no info), Slipcover Sleeve and Digipack for the discs

20-page Booklet

3 Artcards

The Case of Hana & Alice is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Anime Limited.