Liz and the Blue Bird - If You Love Something...

Liz and the Blue Bird is more than just a side story to Sound! Euphonium: it's a quiet and delicate study of the human spirit, it's an achingly beautiful tale of loving something too tightly, and it's a standout in a stunning library of works. Today I explore Kyoto Animation and director Naoko Yamada through the lens of Liz, and how it embodies their career-long love... of love.

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[TheBoomamatic]

I've come to trust your judgement in anime so completely that often times simply being featured on this channel is enough for me to give something an honest go. This is now on the top of my watchlist

[BoughtByTheBlood]

I just now finished watching Liz & the Blue Bird based on your excellent review. And I am blown away!
I've always been the overly shy, introverted one, so I can TOTALLY relate to Mizore. I'd find that one person I could talk to & then feel terrible that I'd want them all to myself & get jealous when I wasn't the center of their attention. I'd cling to them like a lifeline to the outside world. Which I now know was terribly unfair to them & I don't have any hard feelings anymore that those relationships didn't work out.
But this movie showed me just how jaded I still am in my thinking. See, I came in to this film thinking that MIZORE was LIZ, holding back the bright, cheerful, people-loving NOZOMI from being free to live a "normal", happy life free from her clinging neediness & about her struggle to let her friend go free when she so selfishly needed her so badly to feel "human" - to feel "connected" to anyone. I expected the film to end with Mizore having to face her antisocial personality & then letting her friend go free of any feelings of responsibility to take care of her out of a sense of obligation & guilt.
I was SO VERY WRONG!! Turns NOZOMI was Liz & MIZORE was the BLUE BIRD! The mistake I made was being unable to accept that the out-going, carefree Nozomi could ever really LOVE her quiet, introverted, socially-stunted friend Mizore & that SHE, Nozomi, would be the one having to fight herself to let HER, Mizore, go free & not hold HER, Mizore, back from achieving success!
I guess my problem is that I still have a difficult time accepting that anybody I would want to love could ever possibly love ME, in return. I see myself as high maintenance, clingy, & maybe even a little desperate, & I hate this about myself, so I expect other people - people who genuinely LOVE & CHERISH me - to see me that same way & to only grudging tolerate me out of some warped sense of false pity.
This film has forced me to really face how completely unfair & frustrating that kind of selfish thinking really is! Mizore clearly feels about her friend exactly the same way I would in her place, & she only gets free when she is forced to face that her friend, Nozomi, really does love her, despite how overwhelmed & even frightened she is of Mizore's feelings for her! Nozomi may not understand Mizore's intensity, & her feelings may not be as intense for Mizore, but that DOES NOT MEAN SHE DOES NOT TRULY LOVE HER FRIEND OR WANT TO LET HER GO!
I am forced to face the fact that I need to be kinder to my own loved ones & allow them to love me the way the love me, without questioning their sincerity or the genuineness of their love for me. They do not see me the way I see me, as needy & dependent, & even if they DO, don't I owe it to them to change my thinking & start loving them in a healthier, more balanced way, instead of living in fear that that my same wrong thinking will eventually drive them away? And if I'm lazy enough to use my wrong thinking & its potential to drive away my loved ones as an excuse to keep isolating myself, then do I have any right to complain that I am alone? And I have NO RIGHT to hurt my loved ones by driving them away because I'm to selfish & lazy to receive their love & be their friend. I have no right to lock them out of my own cage & force them to be without ME.
Anyway, thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed it & got a lot out of it! Peace out!

[dwirandypradhika]

I just watched the Violet Evergarden movie yesterday, that movie made me realize that KyoAni is one of the reasons I still wanna be alive. To watch more of their works.

[DongHuaReviews]

I genuinely forgot that KyoAni made nichijou and Clannad. They really had a huge effect on my development as an anime fan too.

[CTRLVCatMemes]

"If you love something, let it go"

Not what I *want* to hear right now... Probably what I *need* to hear right now. Siighh. Aight fate, you've made your point.

[Dracossaint]

"Can a broken person hold onto their happily ever after?" I believe the only way that can be sone is they hold on feverently and their willing to fight. Possibly, but as ya said "afraid to let it breath or let go of it entirely" thats where the balance is struck...
*Crying time again intensifies*

[THeKallOfCtulu]

"But isn't it sad they split up? I think every story needs a happy ending."

This film really spoke to me in ways that not many others have. I have a hard time putting to words how Liz spoke to me, which is fitting considering how much this movie conveys without saying anything at all. I really implore anybody who hasn't seen it to give it a shot. Even if just to witness, and celebrate the work of so many talented artists, at the top of their craft. So that the strength and beauty of their work can persist in the face of tragedy.

[JoelBurger]

The practice scene where Mizore just completely overtakes Nozomi's playing, set to the image of the blue bird, is equally as stunning now as it was when I first saw it. Just a masterpiece of animation on multiple levels.


This movie, and so many of KyoAni's other works, just make me think "Damn, imagine having even more of this if more studios treated their staff like human beings instead of cheap disposable labor".

[chancelorsheehy]

If I could have a custom AI voice in my house, like Jarvis, it would be yours

[Ollemanden]

Liz and the Blue Bird: a tale of two halves—one, a fairytale about a girl in love, struggling to let go; the other, a fairytale about a girl in love... struggling to let go.

Well said, *Clap* *Clap*

[SchmitzCinemaStudies]

I teared up watching this video. I love this film but I don't know if I can watch it again without thinking about Futoshi Nishiya's elegant redesigns of the characters or the gorgeous color design helmed by Naomi Ishida. It's impossible to not think about their amazing contributions as artists and how they were so cruelly taken away from us, along with so many other young talented people who helped on this film in one way or another.

I know KyoAni will bounce back and I'm looking forward to their new works, but it's hard to look back and be constantly reminded of the tremendous loss.

[Lilyanna]

2:50 I loved the fact that you didn't finish the quote but gave us a visual que - 10/10

[Kusanagikaiser]

Never clicked a video so fast in my life....also never cry so early in a video....you monster STOP MAKE ME CRY!! Can we sue a You tuber for make you emotional watching an Essay....I need to look on that XD. Joking aside, I freaking adore this film, I watched last year and its simple yet stunningly beautiful in more than 1 way, God bless Kyoto Animation, I hope to see them back in action after the awful thing that happen to them, as always amazing video.

[jdii]

What else can be said about Naoko Yamada that hasn't already been said. She is just amazing.

[kiku-rin]

I believe that Nozomi helped the lone girl as a blue bird and let her off on her journey as Liz.
I feel maternal love in her.

[tryomama]

Man you should really do an entire documentary. Your voice and your interpretation is just. How do I put this.

Just too good.

[kirbymarchbarcena]

You did well on that ending with the smartphone

[Noah-Lach]

I watched this movie without ever having heard of the show it’s based in. Can confirm it absolutely holds up as a standalone story. And in fact touched me so much that it’s inspired me to go watch Sound Euphonium.

[dr.shinkai]

Wow! I expected this video two weeks later from today. Suddenly the notification comes and my heart begin to fly in the deep blue sky. As always great video. And at last ...LET IT GO

[HayateAzekura]

Man these guys voice gives everything an emotional impact.