This is the first feature-length animation from a director widely known for his live-action films. It was conceived immediately after he made the live-action film Hana and Alice (2004), and uses the same cast to tell the prologue to that film: How the characters ARAI Hana and ARISUGAWA Tetsuko (aka Alice) first met. Combining rotoscoping, a technique where the animation is retraced over live-action footage, with a cell shaded 3D computer graphics technique that approaches the texture of traditional animation made from cells, the film is a comical portrayal of the emotions of young girls.