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 s American Pop (1981) as an inspiration to move away from the conventions he associated with contemporary Japanese anime.