Liz to Aoi Tori (Liz and the Blue Bird)

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Gekijouban Hibike! Euphonium: Mizore to Nozomi no Monogatari, Hibike! Euphonium: The Story of Mizore and Nozomi, Hibike! Euphonium Movie: Mizore to Nozomi no Monogatari

Japanese: リズと青い鳥

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 21, 2018

Producers: Lantis, Shochiku, Pony Canyon, Rakuonsha, Bandai Namco Arts

Licensors: Eleven Arts, Ponycan USA

Studios: Kyoto Animation

Source: Novel

Genres: Award Winning, Drama

Themes: Music, Performing Arts, School

Duration: 1 hr. 30 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.21¹ (scored by 55,535 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #354²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1621

Members: 140,347

Favorites: 2,689

Available At

Official Site

@liz_bluebird

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Streaming Platforms

Netflix

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8.21

Ranked #354Popularity #1621Members 140,347

MovieKyoto Animation

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Episodes: /1

Trailer Eleven Arts 60-second version

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Synopsis

Liz's days of solitude come to an end when she meets a blue bird in the form of a young girl. Although their relationship blossoms, Liz must make a heart-wrenching decision in order to truly realize her love for Blue Bird.

High school seniors and close friends Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki are tasked to play the lead instruments in the third movement of Liz and the Blue Bird, a concert band piece inspired by this fairy tale. The introverted and reserved Mizore plays the oboe, representing the kind and gentle Liz. Meanwhile, the radiant and popular Nozomi plays the flute, portraying the cheerful and energetic Blue Bird.

However, as they rehearse, the distance between Mizore and Nozomi seems to grow. Their disjointed duet disappoints the band, and with graduation on the horizon, uncertainty about the future spurs complicated emotions. With little time to improve as their performance draws near, they desperately attempt to connect with their respective characters. But when Mizore and Nozomi consider the story from a brand-new perspective, will the girls find the strength to face harsh realities?

A spin-off film adaptation of the Hibike Euphonium! series, Liz to Aoi Tori dances between the parallels of a charming fairy tale, a moving musical piece, and a delicate high school friendship.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The film won the Noburou Oofuji award for creative expression at the 73rd Mainichi Film Awards.

Episode Videos

Episode 1

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Related Anime

Parent story:

Hibike! Euphonium 2

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Yoroizuka, Mizore

Main

Tanezaki, Atsumi
Japanese

Kasaki, Nozomi

Main

Touyama, Nao
Japanese

Oumae, Kumiko

Supporting

Kurosawa, Tomoyo
Japanese

Kousaka, Reina

Supporting

Anzai, Chika
Japanese

Nakagawa, Natsuki

Supporting

Fujimura, Konomi
Japanese

Yoshikawa, Yuuko

Supporting

Yamaoka, Yuri
Japanese

Katou, Hazuki

Supporting

Asai, Ayaka
Japanese

Taki, Noboru

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Kawashima, Sapphire

Supporting

Toyota, Moe
Japanese

Kenzaki, Ririka

Supporting

Sugiura, Shiori
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nakamura, Shinichi

Producer

Saitou, Shigeru

Producer

Senami, Riri

Producer

Yarimizu, Yoshifumi

Producer

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Songbirds" by Homecomings

Reviews

Apr 22, 2018

manlyflower

Recommended

"Liz to Aoi Tori" is essentially a side story to the "Hibike Euphonium" series, and from the very start, it fully embraces that role. Fans of the TV anime will likely find themselves despairing over the limited screen-time of their favorite cast members, inching forward in their seats as Kumiko, Reina, and the rest of the now-second-year ensemble teasingly jump in and out of picture for only moments at a time. This minor frustration will only be temporary, however, as we're forced out of that frame of mind, into the soft, melancholic lens of our focal point in this movie: Mizore. Although this story exists ... in the same music room we've all come to know, it takes on a different hue. Owing in large part to the incredible soundtrack and fresh character designs and art direction, the tone of the movie shifts entirely, transitioning from an inspirational story of motivation and hard work into a deeply somber and introspective world.

The story itself is very simple, examining the relationship of Nozomi and Mizore in their final year in high school. It openly compares the feelings of the two characters with the piece they play, the namesake of the film, and the folktale it was based on. I was originally concerned that the comparison would end up overplayed and come off as forced, but I left pleasantly surprised. The film acknowledges the simplicity and straight-forwardness of the story, but instead of allowing itself to be confined to that, it achieves a level of technical mastery that managed to blow me away, even though I was already plenty used to the historically superb Kyoto Animation and the other wonderful works by director Naoko Yamada before watching it.

The film succeeds on such a level because it allows itself to be a single vignette in the "Hibike" storyline. It's not a story of hard work, a story of competition, or even a story of music. It's a simple story of two characters, and it's precisely because this aspect of it was so intimately understood by the production crew at KyoAni that such a story was allowed to flourish. There is no excess. The film brazenly jumps through time, refusing to linger on anything unnecessary while still allowing the events that clearly happen off-screen to create meaningful depth in the story. We don't focus on what practicing is like. We don't see what the characters do on their weekends. We don't listen to the girls ruminating on their feelings in the comfort of their beds. From the moment we as an audience walk with Mizore onto campus at the beginning to when we exit it at the end, all we see is what's limited to the confines of the school, to the band room and to our two leads, and everything else is left to become a sort of wistful ether that exists on the fringes of our minds. Because what was shown was clearly so carefully chosen, we come to viscerally understand the weight behind every lingering shot. It's an incredibly delicate experience, and one that could've only been realized with production quality of this caliber.

Yamada's quirks as a director have often been the subject of conversation in the anime community, but I believe that this film has been one of the best applications of those idiosyncrasies to date. Her approach to the art of unspoken communication paralleled the film's focus on Mizore, a girl unable to truly express, and at moments even understand, her own feelings. Subtle gestures such as Mizore stroking her hair not only serve to silently convey the cast's thoughts, but end up feeling as if they were sewn into the very plot itself due to how integral of a role they play. The consistent focus on the characters' legs—a mainstay in Yamada's works—mirrors Mizore's own downcast eyes, and the other camera shots always seem to look off to the side, as if shyly avoiding the characters around her. Add to this the introduction of a softer pastel art style, and we see the world brilliantly through the lens of our main characters, creating something amazingly intimate.

The soundtrack and sound direction are, hands down, the shining star of the film. It combines composer Kensuke Ushio's fragmented, minimal approach also found on his work in Yamada's previous film, "Koe no Katachi," with the expertly realized orchestral arrangements that the series is known for. However, gone are the sweeping brass-heavy pieces that complimented Kumiko's role as a main character in the original series. The introduction of the new piece instead turns the focus to the woodwinds. Brass now supports from the background, and the airy voices of woodwind instruments paint the entirety of the film with a wonderful warmth that sets it apart from the main franchise. The parallel stories of Mizore and Nozomi and the girls from the folktale blend masterfully into each other because of this—from the gorgeous bass clarinet adding a sense of comforting security to the cold isolation of a "Koe no Katachi"-styled piano piece casting an ominous tone over the characters—yet the well-timed use of other instruments such as the bassoon add the perfect amount of levity when necessary (the bassoon in particular being used wonderfully to comedic effect when the bassoonists themselves are relevant to the scene), while still staying in line with the overarching thematic style.

That's why this film works. Every aspect of it is fine-tuned to near-uncanny perfection. The psyches of each character are silently brought to the surface through each deliberate animation choice, from Nozomi's eyes darting around the room to Mizore's subconscious trembling. The soundtrack compliments each and every emotional swell—synchronized musical flourishes match footsteps and impeccably timed silences pull us devastatingly close to the most minute of actions. Each background track cuts to the core, yet never accidentally overpowers the gentle art and soft color scheme. Because of this masterful balance, all of the reactions are almost unnaturally natural, seemingly larger than life because of how lifelike they are. This kind of exaggerated humanity is an achievement only possible through the medium of animation, and even then, I have never seen it done quite like this. Although giving a full score seems like it could be a provocative statement for a film focused simply on the minutia of a measly two characters, if this movie isn't considered among the best for the sheer level of craftsmanship that it exhibits, then I really don't know what other film deserves to be.

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Dec 6, 2018

llimdaert_hpue

Mixed Feelings

It's nearly impossible for someone interested in the anime industry not to have heard of Yamada Naoko. Her personality-focused direction on K-On! is arguably what turned it into a hit and raised it above its contemporaries. More recently, she directed Koe no Katachi, a film that seemed to signal a move into a more art-house style with unusual shot compositions, a minimal soundtrack and a meandering pace. While the film had many flaws, its personal message resonated with a lot of people, further shining a light on Yamada's talent.
With this in mind, it was clear that Liz to Aoi Tori would be well received, even ... from the conceptual level - a down-to-earth, character-driven drama tied to an existing franchise, directed by the person who does that best, with a heaping helping of symbolism. However, in my opinion, the final product can be described as nothing other than a waste of talent.

First of all, the visuals. If KyoAni is known for anything, it's their high quality artwork and animation. However, in this case they're oddly mediocre while acting more flashy than ever. Characters have their hair flap around wildly to show off fluid key animation that everyone knew they were capable of anyway and doesn't add anything to the scene other than a distraction, while the background art consists of uncharacteristically low detail surfaces which seem to have been made completely separate from the foreground objects (and not in a superflat way, there was clearly an effort to portray depth within the frame). The transitions don't guide the viewer's eyes so much as throw them all over the screen, and there's a lot of random cutaways to objects lying around the room or to the side of a character's limb without any real purpose or meaning, not to mention it rarely goes more than two cuts without an obnoxious depth-of-field effect that puts winter's Violet Evergarden to shame.

The plot moves at the slowest of paces, and while that isn't a problem in and of itself, it makes the narrative progress (which is almost exclusively located in the last 20-30 minutes) feel jarring and unearned when it comes. There's a heavy focus on a story which our two main characters are obsessed with and constantly relate themselves to, even though thematically it turns out that the story doesn't fit either of their situations very well, making it feel like wasted time which is especially egregious when coupled with the aforementioned pacing.

On the other hand, the sound design is pretty exceptional (it was directed by Youta Tsuruoka and Kensuke Ushio after all), and I have no complaints regarding it. It really helped sell the reaction to Mizore's performance around the climax and the evocative dreamlike melodies may have been what kept me from completely disliking the film.

All in all, I don't regret watching it but I can't see myself rewatching it or recommending it to anyone. 5/10

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Nov 25, 2020

Libido_Kamen

Not Recommended

Animation-wise and directing, absolutely phenomenal. Unfortunately, the writing was just straight up bad in most aspects. The core romance was really powerful, definitely a good character dynamic there on the compositional level, and some strong emotions are brought out, but the actual characterization, the dialogue, the structure, etc. was just really subpar. The picture book scenes also didn't really do anything worthwhile and could have been abbreviated to dialogueless 20 to 30 second chunks if they really needed to be there.
Regardless, it's easy to do this kind of character animation-driven storytelling wrong, especially since it often feels gimmicky, but KyoAni has always done it impeccably

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Poll: Liz to Aoi Tori Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Ame_Sama - Apr 21, 2018	133 replies	by Sorachin »» Apr 23, 1:20 PM
It is girls love? DarKViVi66 - May 21, 2023	15 replies	by Radnitzky1890 »» Feb 16, 12:16 AM
This is a masterpiece of arthouse cinema. Greyleaf - Apr 27, 2020	23 replies	by TsutanaiFuun »» May 18, 2023 6:50 AM
Can I skip this? shiro-seishun - Jul 8, 2022	19 replies	by billybub »» Sep 8, 2022 5:58 AM
Talk to me Kuraya - Dec 31, 2018	16 replies	by thehornedrat »» Jun 11, 2022 11:21 AM

Liz to Aoi Tori

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Yoroizuka, Mizore

Kasaki, Nozomi

Oumae, Kumiko

Kousaka, Reina

Nakagawa, Natsuki

Yoshikawa, Yuuko

Katou, Hazuki

Taki, Noboru

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Liz to Aoi Tori

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