Tenshi no Tamago

Story: I am actually editing this! Ok so i have just had a long conversation with someone about this, and my opinion has not changed. however i do feel i need to be a little clearer on my opinion.

I found this movie difficult to understand, mostly for the fact that it seems to be saying something deep, which in itself is not a problem. The problem is that what it's saying is so easy to interpret in so many different ways that the actual meaning is lost. As such i dislike the way it presents itself.

It's painfully obvious to me that it's ... mostly a take on Christianity. However to what degree and what opinion is questionable. Also i have heard opinions that take very little stance of religion into account, and who's to say i am any more correct than them.


Art: I think would describe this movie as something that Salvador Dalli would make if he was an anime designer who lived in a one window apartment across from a church.

Beautiful, creepy, and surreal.

Sound: I don't really have much to say about the sound except for that it works with the rest of the film very well.

Character: Well you see there are only a few min of dialog in the hole film, and probably 75 percent of that is quotes (or slight variations) from the Bible.

what does this mean? it means that you lose the direct access to the minds of the characters, you are left wondering what they are thinking and why are the acting this way.

The hardest part is that the people act really oddly so trying to figure them out is really hard.


Enjoyment: I like artwork in anime so that let me enjoy this to some degree. If that were not the case i would have been rather put out.


I would suggest this anime to anyone who wants to be confused and annoyed, or anyone who likes seeing different styles of anime. Or people who like surrealism

This movie going to make you feel like a moron .. when every pretentious individual talks about how this is a masterpiece .. how everything in it has a meaning .. but it only leaves me confused .. very confused
It was brilliant to look at though.. that's one of the most visually pleasing anime I've watched.. and it's from 1985.. insane .. but sadly not much of actual substance in this "masterpiece"
For the artwork and animation alone i give it 4 , it's just that good .. other than that I can't seem to measure it on any other objective scale.. it has no story ... .. it raises questions and mysteries but never solves anything .. there's just two characters doing things that have or don't have any meaning .. pacing is realll slow (but at least Because of it I could look at the art more lol) .. it has no start and has no conclusion .. you just can't measure it objectively

It just wants the viewer to think and make up their own head canon.. find references and meanings in anything that happens in the film .. find what those two characters represent and like them for it
Basically the rest of the 6 points is the perceived depth .. whoever thought he/she understood it to whatever degree is the score this movie gets .. To me the depth was just 1 .. i just couldn't grasp anything .. so my final score for this movies' review is .. a very generous 5 .. i did and did not enjoy the movie .. do i recommend it? Yes and No .. yes i sound confusing .. so is the film .. you have to make your own decision for watching this film .. and once you watch it you have to make your own story around it.
And that's just me looking at it for what it's trying to be .. if I were to look at it as an actual movie meant to entertain .. I'd give it 0/10 .. because it's got no substantial whatsoever
And no "symbolism" doesn't make a movie worth watching.. symbolism is like paint and decor .. and the plot/Characters/world is the structure of a movie .. if there is no structure to this movie at all , where are you going to put the decor and paint? .. it's good that a movie has symbolism and hidden messages in it's plot , it's like Easter eggs for people who do care about that .. but making a full length movie with no plot to follow .. just some symbolic imagery is weird .. and unappealing .. and if you think you like such movies it then who are you lying to?
Overall I'd say it's quite the overrated film and a pile of hot garbage .. but who knows .. you might like it

This is one of those curious pieces that I can safely say I didn't enjoy very much, but am still glad I watched and would recommend others watch as well. It's just so unique and at only an hour long it's not a huge time commitment (although it will likely feel much longer).

I expected to like this going in. I'm usually very open to "difficult" pieces of media. Gene Wolfe is my favorite author, after all, which is actually how I came to this movie in the first place, as many people on the internet seem to think it was directly inspired by ... The Book of the New Sun in some meaningful way and having watched it I guess I can see where they're coming from but the connection is slight if it's there. A cloaked young man bearing a cross-shaped weapon in a dying world of ancient architecture mixed with strange futuristic technology, a focus on flood imagery and rebirth, etc.

I think the main disconnect for me here is that this is very obviously a piece of visual art rather than a difficult or abstruse story, which is what I was expecting. In reality, there just isn't a story. The director himself has said he doesn't know what the movie is about, and while I don't think there's anything wrong with making a movie that way, I feel like I could absolutely tell the difference. There are plenty of things I've watched/read that I was completely perplexed by, but somehow could tell that at least the creator knew what it was about and thus there was some internal logic there that I could latch onto and perhaps puzzle out if I spent the time on it or looked into what others had found out. With Angel's Egg, that way lies madness and dissatisfaction.

Beyond a very surface level symbolic interpretation that it's probably, to some degree, about his loss of faith in Christianity, hence all the religious symbolism and the longest dialogue scene being a recounting of Noah's flood with a dark and nihilistic twist at the end, there's just nothing here beyond the visuals, which are pretty open to be interpreted however somebody wants to interpret them. I am very much a student of storytelling, not a student of visual art. Don't get me wrong, I like and appreciate cool art, but I've just never been one to get super invested in a painting. I prefer when that art is in service of something else, like a fun video game, or a great story, which this was not. It is, instead, a painting that moves for about 67 minutes and then ends. If you've ever been to an art museum and stared at a single painting for 20+ minutes, this is probably the movie for you.

I've been meaning to watch this film for the longest time, and at last I have. I normally would not review an older anime, but I really feel the need to write this one.

Angel's Egg is a 1980s anime with a DVD which is exceptionally hard to track down (I'm even surprised I did. Libraries never cease to amaze.) The story takes place in a rapidly decaying world where a young girl lives her life, always carrying a large egg by her side. As she is gathering water and such, a young swordsman crosses paths with her and they continue to walk through the world ... speaking to one another. Much of their conversations involve their views of the present world.
I found the story itself to be quite good, personally. I've always been somewhat of a sucker for post-apocalyptic atmospheres if done without too much heavy depression. This movie definitely held that depressed feel, but a more haunting and dark element mainly composed the movie. There was also some religious mention weaved into the tale, which interests me sometimes in things I don't expect. By the end, the representation of a story with the film's characters shown was impeccable. The only downfall I found to to it was its pacing: this film had so many long pauses that I actually felt like I was going to fall asleep. I had to rest my eyes a few times because of it. However for a rating, I'll give Story a 9/10.

Artwork and animation is sort of expected to not be entirely top-notch when the anime is an old one. Heck, even older than me! That being said, I actually liked the artwork a lot. You can tell that a lot of work went into the animation as well, especially with the little girl's hair: animating every strand of that must have been a nightmare. But nonetheless, they really did a spectacular job with its art. 9/10.

The soundtrack had a lot of opera as well as haunting sort of pieces. I found that since the movie was silent for a good portion of it, a lot of the music was out of place. The volume they put it at did not help any either. Despite that, the music itself wasn't entirely terrible. I'd give it a 7/10, but it would not be nearly good enough for me to buy.

As I said before, a lot of this movie was silent; meaning very little dialogue for a long time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when you are introduced to a little girl who always has an egg on her person, you're wondering who she is and why she has that item. The girl does not speak for a VERY long time, and I found this difficult to adjust to. As the audience, I wanted to know her character. What I was given was a small (and rather capable) girl running around a dying land for 15 minutes merely gathering water in bottles and hugging the egg close to her. When she met the swordsman, I became a bit more hopeful: maybe another character can get her to talk. With two people, you'd expect dialogue. When they first meet, neither of them say a word. Not one. She merely just runs away and hides from him, only to find him another 15 minutes later. It is THEN that they both decide to take a gander at some dialogue. With this, I didn't like knowing so little about either of them. They also lacked a great deal of emotion for a long time (which was understandable enough because of their situation, but the outlier was the care this little girl was showing for that egg!) Character recieves a poor 5/10 from me.

Overall, I would say that I didn't exactly waste around an hour watching this film, but I didn't love everything during that hour. The pacing of the movie was unbelievably slow. I have not been inclined to quite literally fall asleep due to uninteresting pacing ever since The Sky Crawlers. The story had potential, and it was able to flaunt its potential well at around the midpoint. Still, there were several long pauses and still shots that were just too long. If the structure had not been so snail-like, this movie would have gotten a better rating from me overall. After all, the story combined two of my favorite things in anime: post-apocalyptic setting without a hugely heavy dose of depression, and religious/mythical mention. So if I had to give it a rating for Enjoyment, it would be a 5/10. However my overall rating for this movie is a 6/10. The story is what drove me to put it one point higher than I normally would.

I would recommend this film if you like more... lets say 'abstract' kind of anime. This movie is definitely different from anything I've seen. Also, if you're interested in piecing together an animated story and a mythical/religious story to try and figure out what character represents who and all that fun stuff, you would probably like this a lot.

This movie is definitely not for everyone. It's slow, abstract in plot and theme, and nothing really happens. However, I did enjoy it as a late-night watch. The landscapes are like moving paintings with the ambient sound and soft music providing the post-apocalyptic setting with a very melancholic tone. There is a lot of Christian symbolism laden throughout. And, the lingering shots allow one to appreciate the drawings of each frame. However, this movie is definitely not without fault.

The pacing is abysmally slow with nothing really happening save for some action in the city with fish and statues. The dialogue is strange at times and ... the film is somehow boring and interesting all at once. If you like slower paced movies and picking apart visual storytelling though, it's definitely for you.

Angel’s Egg is an experimental film created by Yoshitaka Amano and directed by Mamoru Oshii. The film takes place in a strange abandoned world, where the skeletal remains of animals and murky rivers meet Neo-Gothic structures. The film centers on only two characters – they are, supposedly, the only two alive in this film. One is a pale-skinned, white haired girl, who is fascinated by filling up round flasks with water and who protects an egg with unknown contents. The other is a brown-skinned, white haired boy, who accompanies the girl midway through the film. Not much is known about him, other than that he ... carries a cross-shaped object with him.

The movie doesn’t really have a linear story and is presented more as a series of scenes. We see the boy and girl, whether individually or together, encounter and react to their world around them. Despite being labeled as a fantasy, these locations themselves aren’t anything beyond fantastic – they range from parks to a small town. What’s featured inside of these places is where things get bizarre. In the town, for example, statues of fishermen hunt shadows of giant fish despite there being no more fish in this world. These small oddities make it so no matter the “scene” being viewed, something strange will occur to let the viewer know this isn’t the world they know.

Angel’s Egg is a hard movie to give a review, largely due to it being more of an experimental piece than a conventional anime movie or series. It has a mysterious atmosphere about it and isn’t very explicit about its premise or characters. Character dialogue is sparse and symbolic images are used often. Because of this, a majority of a viewer’s enjoyment will be tied to how they interpret each scene and how much they wish to invest themselves into the movie. There is a hint as to what the creator’s intentions were. Director Mamoru Oshii had lost his faith in Christianity shortly before film production and that alone can be the key to connecting a lot of the film together. On the flip-side, Oshii has reportedly been quoted as saying that even he does not know what the film is about. If this is true, then this film is more of an expression of feeling than of actual thought. It is certainly a product of its time. Humorously enough, it was brought to the U.S. and interspersed with live-action footage with the goal of making it a post-apocalyptic thriller. How anybody saw commercial prospects from this movie, I’ll never know. Besides, to tie in with the themes of the movie, I’d argue the film is more post-rapture than post-apocalyptic.

The film makes reference to religious (mostly Christian) beliefs, which tie in to Oshii’s loss of faith. Stained glass windows featuring fish and the boy’s cross shaped object are a few of the smaller references to these beliefs. Most notable is the boy’s corrupted version of Chapters 7-8 of Genesis. He claims that when the dove never came back, Noah and everyone on the ark remained there, soon forgetting about the dove and even themselves. Between these symbols and long stretches of silence are short scenes of dialogue that help shape who these characters are. For instance, the girl expresses her desire to see whatever is inside the egg, promising a place of warmness and comfort despite the cold rainy weather outside. The boy comes off as more cynical while the girl is hopeful and optimistic. Because of the lack of characters, having these two contrast each other is a smart decision. This isn’t found in just their attitude. The girl seems more familiar with her surroundings while the boy clearly is new to the area. Even if the events of the anime aren’t fully explained, moments where the girl shows or warns the boy of something help bring me closer to the world of Angel’s Egg, wanting to know more about the peculiarity that permeates this world.

The art for this film is very gloomy, preferring darker colors to give the movie a more melancholy tone. The only exception is found at the beginning, where the boy encounters an eye-like structure with statues on it amidst a scarlet backdrop. The film has decent animation and captures things like the fluidity of water or the facial expressions of the girl well. However, it does have a few flaws. Long stills are usually used to impact an important scene or draw out a feeling of finality. It’s used a few times here but I felt that they went on for a bit too long. It became less of a feeling of impact and more of a way of filling up time. Additionally, animation in the fish hunting scene and the girl’s awakening scene are reused. I’m a bit more forgiving on this since I know it was most likely a low budget film and it’s not as easily apparent. The soundtrack may be the weakest element here. Earlier, I said the movie was a product of its time and I meant it in more ways than one. Tape hiss is heard constantly throughout the film and the higher frequencies found in whistles and screams are harsher than they need be. The music itself is appropriate for the film, with a booming male chorus for the fish hunting scene and a piece for violin and female voice used during the title screen. The only true unconventional piece that comes to mind is the credits piece, which is a sole piano that uses repetition to mask its odd melody line. The voice acting is fine, as sparse as it is – the only negative would be Mako Hyodou’s yelling voice, but this is more a flat reaction than an actual critique.

Overall, I give Angel’s Egg a 6. It’s an odd, almost mythic movie that enshrouds itself in mystery. Despite its gloomy appearance and avant-garde leanings, it doesn’t push a viewer away. Instead, it gives them opportunities to dive into its world and leave it haunting their memory. This film will entice those liked more experimental works such as BLAME! or Serial Experiments Lain. Even if you don’t care for those shows, I’d still ask that you give it a chance. At only a little over an hour long, it’s worth watching at least once.

Do you like or dislike this anime? If you haven't watched it, are you encouraged to watch it or not? Leave a comment on my profile telling me what you think of the anime and/or my review.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

A girl cradles an egg.

She carefully puts her ear on it and is in awe of the themes and symbolism this show carries. "I can understand it" she whispers.

A man looks down on the child with pity.

"That's not real understanding. It's the illusion of it to look smarter."

The girl denies, clutching the egg even tighter.

... I'm breaking the egg and facing the reality of not getting this OVA.

I really wish I could. I absolutely adore the art, the imagery, the creepy setting, the eerie music, the state of mind it leaves you in. All stellar.

But when you are watching a shot of a window for 10 full seconds and nervously moving your mouse to see how much of the film you need to slog through, it's just not enjoyable. My mind wandered off more often than not as shots with no consequence seemed to go on for what seemed forever. The nearly non-existent dialogue wasn't a deal breaker, but with how little was happening on screen, I had very little to grasp to keep myself entertained.

Angel’s egg is a work of art, with clever themes and symbolism in it. After finishing it, I devoured many essays dissecting it all and was impressed by what was being communicating on screen without me even knowing. And that's exactly the problem. I didn't realise many of them.

Maybe this problem relies solely on me. Maybe 3 am wasn't the best time to sit and watch this story, when my mind was already drowsy with sleep and hoping to end the day soon. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for it. Whatever the cause, if you need to look up explanations after a film is over to truly enjoy it, I can't with a good conscience clutch that egg more and put this show a higher score.

I highly recommend this anime OVA to be watched at 1.25x speed. It is a lot more enjoyable from the drawn-out pace.

Pros - Considering it was made in 1985, it is outstanding for the time. A lot of intricate themes and ideas such as adulthood and death that was not normal in anime. This is 2years before Devilman's OVA and watching these dark themes in theatre must've been amazing.

Cons - Today, this movie does not stand out although the animation is still nostalgic and amazing. This OVA is more of a trip than an actual anime. This movie touches upon religion. There ... is about less than 50 lines in the whole movie. A lot of silence and drawn-out scenes, It is why I recommend to speed it up just a bit than normal. There was 1 single scene that took 3 minutes long. speeding in it makes it 1.25x makes it seem more normal than it should and for its 50 lines and giant landscape and simple theme, I think its worth it.

I am so divided

Is this a film that is like those weird experimental shit some self-proclaimed artists sometimes do or is it super religious and that's why I can't really make much sense out of it?

Nothing makes sense.

But then again, it's kinda nice BECAUSE of the nonsensical feeling you get when you are watching it.

Is this supposed to be about how you grow attached to random people that you happened to run into when you're depressed? How easily you rust them because you finally found someone to be together with? Or maybe even how blinded you are from reality?

Or am I reading too ... into it? OR is it supposed to be read too into, and given meaning by the viewers? Who knows.

Too many questions. Probably super religious. And the only religion I have basic knowledge about is Buddhism, so I guess that's that.
//Why the fuck is there a slight jumpscare with the crumbling sound 18 seconds in

One would say that if the novelist is more intelligent than the novel, he should change job. That might be a true and wise statement. I've seen that Mamoru Oshii, the director, also doesn't know what this movie really is about. This is misleading. It is not that the movie is too deep or mysterious, but it is rather stupid. Disappointing? Depends on your expectations. A lazy movie? Yes, for sure. But why? Hold your sorry ass. Just because you got nothing out of this movie it doesn't mean it's deep. But because people like what is positive, I shall start with the positive ... things, those being of course, and as a matter of fact, the art direction and sound direction. Yes, very well made drawings indeed, and quite fine animations, with landscapes and scenes that touch what I would define as "art", as "metaphisic". Yes, a trascendental world, the dream as a mean to escape reality, a parallel world that is not tangible but that derives from the tangible world. Trying to reach a true essence, the platonic idea of "art", as far as a japanese animation goes. About the sounds . . . good sounds. And good background noises, good music, at least, fitting. This said. I will make 2 examples that might seem misleading and out of context, and then I shall reconnect myself to the movie itself. Now, take a painting. This movie looks like an animated painting, after all. Such painting is made by John Constable, he was english. Let's say he painted this in 1821, why did he paint this? To make you feel something. Some feeling. That feeling being nostalgia, or serenity, perhaps boredom - but in a good way, that kind of sweet boring sensation you feel when you lay on the grass, gazing upon the sky, some clouds here and there, and the singing of birds lighting a path to your thougths. Ah, what a swell sensation. But no. Such painting will work only on plebeians that are too busy scratching their asses. This because the painting FORCES you to feel nostalgia, it's not natural, it's mindbloggingly obvious and, as said, forced. It wants you to lead there, to those feelings. But how can one feel such sensations when being forced to? Not a good painting in my humble opinion. Not to shield my ass, but it really is subjective here. I only feel anger when looking at it, knowing this. At least in that, feeling anger, Constable did it. Well done. Now, a second example. Take another painting. Well this painting was made by Giorgio de Chirico, say, it was made in 1916, and Le Muse Inquietanti's the name. This is much more related to the movie itself, but after this second example, I'll put all the things together. So, looking at it, you can see the atmosphere is a blocked one. The time is suspended, no one moves, nothing moves, no one makes a noise, and there are no noises. It's a square - one you would expect in a city -, and it's located in Ferrara. That castle is the Estense family's one. Behind it, a factory. The floor's perspective is comparable to the one's of a stage, a theatre's one. There's a quick contrast between modernity (the factory) and the castle, which, one would say, stands for long gone times. Weird figures - mannequins -, decapitated, testimony an ironic rite. It's an absurd lithurgy, and magical too, that translates to a feeling of anxiety, of uncertain decision, that remains suspended on a thin rope of intellectual irony. An unexploded drama. Instead of this gay banter, I feel like the artist put all sort of weird and out of context things to cover up the futile nature of the painting. "I'll put all sorta nonsense here, to fake its depth and mystery. You don't get it? Too bad, you're too stupid. . . or the work too deep". That's what I feel. It's a lazy way of creating a work. A lack of depth coped on weird and nonsense things, that in reality, have nothing to do - with anything. And the viewer is confused, I hope. These two examples apply to the movie. This movie wants to have free interpretation, but forces you to interpret it in a free way because it lacks plot and content overall - it wants to be subjective, but it has to be. Forcing this, it becomes objective. Talking about its interpretation. Come on, even the director doesn't know what this is about. In my opinion a project to be considered complete has to have no superficial elements, and somewhere it wants to go. This movie goes NOWHERE. There is no point for which this movie strives: it is a mess. The sequence of scenes remotely makes sense, but it is filled with fake symbolism. It is comparable to saying that everything in the world is subjective, but then you give a logic explanation to this. That's an objective thing you're saying, a fact. Your fact. Which is ironic. Of course, contradicting yourself in the most pitiful way possible. So, to put some order to things, this movie, lacking content, forces the viewer to interpret it freely, contradicting itself. Then, again, a lot of things make no sense. And not because I or you are too stupid to get it. "Yeah man you don't get it, these infinite fishermen are throwing their stuff to these imaginary fish because the author is protesting against modern society because . . . " No. Again, it's a lazy thing to do: throwing some random bullshit into the movie to make it not deeper, but more confusing, nonsense. NOT EVEN THE AUTHOR knows what the movie is about. This movie TRULY is just an art showcase. That's I think it's BAD, as in a 3 out of 10.