Liz et l'oiseau bleu

An extremely special film that displays Naoko Yamada's perfection of her craft. In concept and in setting, it is a remarkably small film. The film takes place almost entirely within a few rooms of a school (outside of the fantasy B plot) and is about a singular thing: the strained friendship between two people. Despite how seemingly bare-bones that is, it's a dense and carefully crafted film that never disappoints.

The soundtrack is phenomenal. Kensuke Ushio is a true gem in the medium and I hope he continues to collaborate with Yamada. The gentleness of the songs fits perfectly with the tone of the film and the addition of diagetic sounds of a school into the songs themselves is brilliant.

Credit of course must also be given to veteran and long-time collaborator to Yamada, Yoshida Reiko, who wrote the film. The two are an unmatched pair.

Liz and the blue bird is so impressionistic, with a sense of adjourning, but fully indicate everything that is needed to be understand - intimately - without a need to say anything.

That's all i gotta say it was a beautiful masterpiece, so simple. the art style, everything was so comforting and pleasing to the eye. the characters i loved everything

Liz and the blue bird let's you explore the world of "Sound! Euphonium" from the perspective of 2 supporting characters, Mizore the oboe player and Nozomi the flute player. The movie emphasizes on the 2 main protagonist, who became friends during middle school were afraid of losing each other after high school graduation. The piece that they were playing for the upcoming nationals resonated with their current situation which was derived from a fairy tale made up for the movie. The slow pacing of the movie allows audience to focus on every single action and expression that the 2 main protagonist which led up to the upcoming conflict, carrying audiences throughout the whole process while enjoying the animation masterpiece. The music, plot and character development were all top class, which should be expected from the franchise. Everything was all in sync, making it one of the most underrated "slice of life" animated movie in 2018.

If you want a film that gives you tons of action, an incredibly complex story, or a dark tale, this isn't the movie for you. However, if you're in the mood for a stunning character piece that tells a simple but superb story than this is a movie for you. It tells it's story partially through the stunning body language displayed by the characters as while you might not hear what the characters are thinking all of the time, you can certainly gauge it from how they have their arms and legs positioned, expressions that briefly flash across their face, or how they are postured. Liz and The Blue Bird requires you to pay attention and it rewards you for doing so. It also uses music (It is a music anime) to give the most emotional moment of the movie that is soon followed by it's most enthralling part. The voice acting also carries the move to the next level as each actress gives an outstanding performance that gives further depth to their characters. You also don't really need to watch the series to get the characters as they were only side companions to the main story. But here, they take center stage and honestly surpass their predecessor in every regard. So yeah...go watch this movie.