Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Renan_
Liz and the Blue Bird is a film that builds its narrative much more through aesthetics than conventional dialogue. The fragmentation of the body, with shots highlighting hands, feet, and small gestures, allows us to perceive the melancholy, loneliness, and difficulty of connection between the characters without them having to express these feelings in words. The use of space is also very interesting, especially in the school scenes, where the background appears blurrier and less detailed than the characters themselves. This keeps our attention focused on them, as if what really matters in those moments is what they are feeling. In contrast, the story of Liz is much more colorful and vibrant, and this visual difference reinforces the characters' emotional states and the way they understand…
Read at the sourcepruebalastunas
Liz and the Blue Bird (Liz to Aoi Tori) is a great side story for Hibike! Euphonium. I understand why many people consider this movie the jewel of the franchise. In only one hour and thirty minutes, the story talks about emotional dependence and the importance of letting go of the people you love. There will be a moment in your life when the people you love will no longer be with you — not because of death, but simply because they must live their own lives. We must appreciate the moments that we share with them (not only romantic couples, I mean friends or family as well). In addition, the movie made me feel a bit weird; I felt that my tears were stuck and my heart had a void.
As a KyoAni movie, the animation is perfect. I love the risky decision to change the art style compared to the fi…
Read at the sourcesoroist
"Happy Ice Cream!"
For someone who spends a lot of time around music, silence can be interesting, even refreshing, to hear. It is prevalent throughout Liz and the Blue Bird ; the first eight minutes genuinely contain no dialogue. Instead, the storytelling is done nonverbally, where every turn and glance matters, and every footstep seems to lead somewhere. Events are almost never explained outright. As soundtrack composer Kensuke Ushio put it, "I feel like I'm spying on these girls. I've got to hold my breath."
The film rarely feels like it is documenting events as they objectively happened. Rather, it feels as though everything has been filtered through emotional perception. Empty hallways carry as much weight as dialogue. Everything is just a little too luminous to be ordinary, as thou…
Read at the sourcemarvinarviin
Liz and the Blue Bird is a beautifully directed film, with its use of music almost perfectly conveying the characters' emotions. There is always a sense of something deeper beneath the surface, leaving you wondering whether it's a love story, a breakup, or a story about finding oneself. I loved the symbolism between Mizore and Nozomi and the story of Liz and the Blue Bird, while the watercolor art gives the film a beautiful identity of its own. However, I never felt much depth to Mizore and Nozomi's relationship beyond their quiet companionship, with most of the emotional weight seemingly coming from Mizore's side. It feels like a beautiful fairy tale with a simple moral, but also one that is fairly linear and surface-level. It's a lovely supplement to Sound! Euphonium, but neither the cha…
Read at the sourceMarco_Yooo
THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
“Liz and the Blue Bird” is a special movie. Truly special. Set between season two and three of “Sound! Euphonium”, Kyoto Animation put out 3 projects over the course of these 5 years. Two of them, (“Sound! Euphonium Movie – Brand New Day” and “Sound! Euphonium Ensemble Contest”) are direct continuations of the show, following Kumiko and the class throughout their now second year of high school. But the third movie, the one they released first is this one. And they completely changed up the formula, took a high risk and even succeeded where the other two movies failed.
Story – 8/10
They did something really interesting here with the story. Firstly, we don´t follow Kumiko like in all the other projects. Instead, Yoroizuka Mizore and Nozomi Kazaki lead this m…
Read at the sourcejssanderson747
This is a movie that will always be special in my heart. It's not the most well written or produced film you'll see, it will never win any awards or see high praise, but still I love it. Mizore is a character I relate to very strongly, and her relationship with Nozomi reminds me so much of one I used to have and will never have again. I was content with what little of them we had in season 2 of Hibike Euphonium, but when Liz was announced I was so happy. I watched it so many times once I was able to. I doubt anyone working on the film will ever know how much this movie means to me, but I'm thankful that something so deeply resonant to me could exist.
Read at the sourceTinnFoil
I hate to rate a move that was clearly made with such care and love so low, but alas I must.
This movie was beautiful. Beautiful to watch and listen to and to absorb. But wow, the plot did not feel substantial at all. Liz and the Blue Bird is a coming-of-age film that explores friendship, dependency, and growth. I think it manages to get its message across, but while I, again, think it is a beautiful watch, I cannot overstate how boring it is.
I hate calling art boring. I think even "boring" art has its place in the art world, and I don't think it's necessarily bad to be boring. Sousou no Frieren is wildly successful despite being quite slow compared to other shounen shows, I thoroughly enjoyed Super Cub even though nothing really happens, and reading Ponkotsu Ponko was just a joy - I e…
Read at the sourceSSJ-SUP3RM4N
All it often takes for a large difference in perception is a small change in perspective. In anime, a change in perspective of the same setting can commonly be noticed when an anime changes hands, particularly either in directors or in studios. Liz and the Blue Bird, a spin-off of the Sound Euphonium series (Eupho), falls under the first. Naoko Yamada, known mainly as director of A Silent Voice and K-ON, two other KyoAni staple titles, was also given the reins for a spin-off entry in Eupho and took an approach that starkly contrasted from that of the main series director, KyoAni mainstay Tatsuya Yoshihara. Though Yamada did work on the main series as well, the result of her directing is a product that maintains the series’ roots of music and emotional drama but otherwise could not be more…
Read at the sourceThePie4dawin
This review comes fresh off of a recent read-through of the Sound! Euphonium novels and attendance to the Violet Evergarden USA concerts, following up on a rewatch inspired by those two prior events.
Liz and the Blue Bird centers on a portion of Sound! Euphonium's Year 2 wherein Kitauji High School's concert band conducts the free piece "Liz and the Blue Bird". Similar to another one of director Naoka Yamada's works during her tenure at Kyoto Animation, A Silent Voice, the film's team opted to perform a dissection of the source material that honed in on general aspects present they wished to reconstitute into a short, concise story. Though fair to call a nonfaithful adaptation of the books, the visual retelling generally retains the spirit of the text, and personally felt respectful towar…
Read at the sourceTrainter
There is a fairy tale about Liz, a girl who lives alone in a peaceful forest all year round. One day, a blue bird flies by and breaks its wing and is helped by her, helping Liz's loneliness to be somewhat relieved, but she knows that one day when this blue bird recovers, she will be lonely again.
Liz and the Blue Bird is the name of that story, which is also the name of this anime. In the summer of their senior year, Mizore and Nozomi - 2 close friends since childhood - go to school to practice for their last concert, after this concert, the two will say goodbye to each other and go their separate ways. The plot is relatively basic, but the beauty of the anime is the way it tells the story through images and sounds.
The anime uses many light color blocks, creating a slow, deep atmosphere…
Read at the sourcespandy
"If I were Liz...I'd keep the blue bird trapped forever."
Yet another Naoko Yamada film about opening yourself up to others and letting go of personal baggage. Look, I get it, but how can I work on myself when I have so much anime to watch??
While "A Silent Voice" felt a little overpacked, this is a very breezy and comfortable watch. The vibrant pastels of the picture book contrasts with the softer watercolours of Mizore's life; for her, the clear cut and simple emotions of the storybook world is an escape from the blurry, uncertain reality of adolescence. Beyond the visual contrasts, there is also the narrative metaphor of an out-of-synch school choir mirroring the tensions and misunderstandings of the girls.
I'll just go ahead and say it: this is a masterpiece of storytelling and anim…
Read at the sourcegrapefruit2926
Liz and the Blue Bird is a nice spin off of the Sound Euphonium series
Story:
The story in this movie focuses on Mizore and Nozomi instead of Kumiko and Reina from Sound Euphonium. It starts off slow, but then does get moving. There are aspects of the book "Liz and the Blue Bird" and how it relates to the characters when it comes to growing up and parting ways which is well written overall. Music is an important aspect as well.
Animation:
It's notable to mention that the animation is not as well as Sound Euphonium, but still look stunning in it's own way because of its simplicity.
Characters:
We know from Sound Euphonium that even though both are friends, Nozomi is an extrovert while Mizroe is an introvert which appears in Liz and the Blue Bird. Both of their characteristics are intere…
Read at the sourceMidniteAndBeyond
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
This is one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my whole entire life. Its a visual and audible masterpiece, with a beautiful story and starring characters I barely even remember from the show that they originate from! I'm legit devastated that these two don't lead the main show and am now wondering if I'll be able to cope without them, going forward. This was just so unbelievably beautiful and encapsulated every single solitary thing I love about Kyoto Animation and about the anime medium as a whole.
I REALLY don't wanna start rewatching shows right now since I have so many new ones I still need to get to, but MAN. I REALLY wonder if I'll think of this show differently, now. I wonder if I was just in a R…
Read at the sourcegriddyweeb
It's so much different from what I expected, but not in a bad way. Yamada Naoko had a lot of freedom with this movie and it turned out well. Also really nice visual/sound as expected from KyoAni.
It's an interesting side story about 2 close friends going through an emotional rollercoaster, but in the already established universe of Hibike Euphonium. However it's nothing like the series, in many ways they're polar opposites, for example the story is hyperfocused on Mizore and Nozomi, nobody else gets any screentime, it's almost exclusively set inside the school too and also the emotions are a lot less spoonfed to the viewers.
It's one of those movies that you might wanna watch more than once to fully understand every aspect of it, there's a lot of symbolism and metaphors throughout the en…
Read at the sourcejus7aguy
Okay this is a different pace to the series it's spinning off from. The pace is slowing and it has a more washed out water pallet like colour. This is not a detraction, just a note. There is a lot of subtle character development and it's a notably slow paced story. Honestly it's a fantastic art piece, with great score and fantastic art, interesting character design, and intellectually I can see it's honestly a great movie.
That aside, I hated it.
Okay hate is probably a bit strong. I was bored out of my skull. It was an adult interpretation of juvenile waffling on a topic. If I was a mid-teen I'd probably think this was deep and resonated well. As a late 40s adult this bored me to tears.
It's one of those shows that I can intellectually see was a good movie, but it just 100% failed to…
Read at the sourceKyoumas
The plot of Liz and the Blue Bird is straightforward, but its narrative approach adds depth and nuance. By avoiding voice-over exposition of the characters' inner thoughts, the film allows the viewer to interpret their emotions independently. This fits seamlessly with the central theme of empathising with the feelings of others.
As for the animation, it's simply stunning.
The use of planes is well thought out, as is the drawing style, colour palette and post-production effects to create a more cinematic and analogue effect.
Having initially underestimated the significance of Liz and the Blue Bird in relation to the Hibike Euphonium series, it was pleasantly surprised by its emotional resonance. While the film may not directly advance the main plot of the series, its profound impact on ch…
Read at the sourcesnowmelt
After watching it, I want to fly to the sky.
The blue feather is locked in the cage, the future is only foggy, the girls' world is divided by differences, and the bound air makes people feel like they are on the edge of the abyss. Why a smile responds to emptiness? Why go and open that? Is the bluebird unlucky? Book and reality merge into one, but the other Liz and Bluebird are smiling beside them. Loneliness and love are solved, and the boundaries are blurred. Listen to each other's most sincere notes, give the initiative to deep touch, turn into two birds soaring next to each other, and the world is wider because of each other. Look at your beautiful posture and see you off, blue bird, fly to freedom, fly past the window of the library and the wind music club. Turning around, we finally…
Read at the sourceKitsuFrost
"To love is to set free". Now this is a quote I have heard a couple of times before, but when does this sentence is well used in the correct moments and situations? Liz to Aoi Tori is one of the best examples of such use, in a sensible and clever way.
Picture a watercolor painting of two characters, Kasaki Nozomi and Yoroizuka Mizore. Two highschool girls that attend Kitauji High, and have been friends for a good time. However, such friendship never was equal, as shown in the second framed segment of this movie. We see a shy and quiet Mizore, with no friends along with her; we see the brightness and melody find her location right when Nozomi shows up wishing her a good morning. Right after, both find their way upstairs to their music classroom: Kasaki in first view and Yoroizuka right af…
Read at the sourceDanahi82
Having watched this without watching the main anime, I must say it was still very refreshing. The concept of binding love or freeing love that is depicted so beautifully was indeed captivating. Also watching it on the heels of kono oto tomare, the music and it's link to visualization of feelings was beautiful in this movie as well.
The female leads are lovely in all their characteristics, although identifying with the introvert girl is far easier. The competition comes in very naturally but the struggle to not let it impact the relationship is so nicely portrayed. It is easier said than done, but the movie really showed from Liz's perspective how it should be done if your love is stronger than other things in life.
Recommended for an easy watch when looking for something sweet but not too…
Read at the sourceTakoyaki1400
Both Girls represents the musical piece of Liz and the Blue bird and i freakin love how they, in certain scenes, switch back n forth with their representation, its basically my favourite part lol. Artsyle is very fitting to the story, and the story itself often happens in real life so its realistic and im sure people would relate to it as much as i did (i did in some part).
Despite having no special musical skills or talent, i love the musical part. I only decided to watch this for the i love you hug part but i thoroughly enjoyed this as a whole.
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