Kensuke Ushio -- Liz to Aoi Tori（リズと青い鳥）

Last night, I came home to see that The Oscars were still being televised and just caught the traditional "In Memoriam" segment paying tribute to all of those in the movie industry that have left this mortal coil over the past year. It was actually quite touching to see the tribute while the orchestra was playing that John Williams piece from "Superman" (1978) when Clark Kent was leaving home and his Earth mother for the first time to go find himself. I don't think I can still watch that scene without getting a little misty-eyed.

Strangely enough, earlier in the afternoon, during our biweekly anime-and-food session, my anime buddy showed a movie from the ever-growing "Hibike Euphonium!"（響け!ユーフォニアム）franchise. This time, it was "Liz to Aoi Tori" (Liz and The Blue Bird) which had originally been released in theatres early last year. A side story featuring a couple of the minor characters in the show, the supremely cheerful if slightly feckless flutist Nozomi and the extremely introverted oboist Mizore, there is parallelism as the actual children's tale of "Liz and The Blue Bird" gets played out while Nozomi and Mizore try to figure out their relationship out in school and in life.

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Throughout the movie, there is the music by composer Kensuke Ushio（牛尾憲輔）which reflects both the tale and the main story at Kitauji High School. I have to admit that the most affecting part of the entire soundtrack was the Third Movement for "Liz to Aoi Tori", which features a duet by Nozomi and Mizore that ends up becoming the climax for the entire movie. Starting off like the soundtrack "Romeo & Juliet", "Ai Yue no Ketsudan"（愛ゆえの決断...Decision of Love）is something that has stayed with me since last night because of its bittersweet beauty as the two characters in both the tale and the main story realize that they cannot stay tied together by the waist. In a way, that part of the soundtrack reminds me of that part from the "Superman" track which was playing during the "In Memoriam" segment.

Happily, the movie finishes both stories in the movie more on the sweet rather than the bitter side. "Liz to Aoi Tori" indeed, as "TV Tropes" puts it, does well as a separate story although it is part of "Hibike Euphonium!".