Liz and the Blue Bird

Liz and the Blue Bird (2018) is a Japanese animated drama you can watch online on iFILM. Directed by Naoko Yamada at Kyoto Animation, it's a delicate offshoot of the Sound! Euphonium series, set inside a high-school wind ensemble.

It's the final school year. Shy Mizore plays oboe, bright Nozomi plays flute, and they've been close since childhood. The band rehearses a piece based on a fairy tale in which a girl sets a blue bird free — and the closer they get to that ending, the harder it is to ignore that graduation will pull them apart. Mizore's fear of losing her friend bleeds straight into the way her oboe trembles.

Yamada tells most of it without dialogue, in glances, pauses and the hush of empty corridors, over a spare score by Kensuke Ushio. Slow, quiet and aimed at viewers who'd rather feel a thing than be told it. Stream Liz and the Blue Bird (2018) online on iFILM.