Can someone explain the story of this anime to me

Admiral_Carapils said:
There were some good explanations in the episode discussion. The hard truth is actually that the film can have a different meaning for everyone. Probably the director itself doenst know the true meaning

This is a quote I found in the review of Rqt on MAL

“When it comes down to it, I think the director doesn’t know everything about the movie. Everyone always thinks if you want to know something, talk to the director. I don’t think that’s true. I think the answer lies inside every single viewer.” - Mamoru Oshii


Here is some guidance from the user BarabiSama posted in the episode discussion (THIS IS NOT MINE):

I really enjoyed this movie. 10/10 for pure enjoyment's sake, depth of meaning, and artwork. I guess I'll toss my own interpretation up here since everyone else is.

Disclaimer first off that I'm not religious personally; I just study it and think Christianity has a lot of significance in the story.

Before going into the meaning of the characters, I think I'll stick to pointing out the more religious symbols first off. Let's look at the fish shadows. Fish are a symbol in Christianity that directly refer to Jesus Christ. In the movie, we see the shadows of fish moving all along the buildings and roads at certain points in time, at which point men come to try and skewer them. The girl explains that the fish are long since dead, but they still chase after and attack them. This, I believe, is a reference to the crucification of Jesus, his rebirth, and the Second Coming. After he was said to have resurrected, he showed himself before various people for 40 days before rising to Heaven. There is a belief that he will rise again, called the Second Coming, which some branches of Christianity associate with an apocalypse where the sinners and believers are separated and given their final judgments. This story is clearly post-apocalyptic (even without the environment, the references to Noah's Ark should do it), so I believe it took place after the Second Coming and that the fish represent Jesus and God's other children visiting and judging those who are still alive.

All of the people on that world, I believe, have lost their memories like the main characters. Everyone forgot their past lives and were stripped down to their souls for evaluation following the Second Coming, and each of the lead characters has their role in this. The men attacking the fish would be the sinners. The main boy in this, despite being a soldier, would be less of a sinner and more of a virtuous atheist - a representation of those who aren't religious and cannot go to Heaven but, at the same time, are not terrible sinners. (Compare it to the people left in Limbo in Dante's Inferno.) He has accepted that he won't be going to Heaven but isn't so mindless that he'd go attacking anything in rage. He actually helps the girl out... but how? What about that girl and the egg and the people who go to Heaven?

Let's start with the bird (there's some assumption in this part). In many tales of the Second Coming, there is a belief that, prior to Jesus appearing, an impostor borne from the sins of men would attempt to take his role as a false prophet, some saying it may even be the Devil himself or even Satan. Seeing as there's a big monologue given about it, I believe the bird is Moses' dove which drowned and then was possessed. It became a symbol to the people, but it was not the true bird and couldn't deliver Moses' message properly, forcing Jesus to turn his hand. The arrival of the fish lead to the demise of the bird, and the egg was the manifestation of its sins - however, no other bird was within it. The girl is a symbol of the virtuous Christian populace as a whole. Her child form and Aryan design imply purity, and her love for the egg is a show of her devotion and faith. She didn't know that the bird was fake or that the egg was so poisonous. She held on to her belief that everything would be alright when it hatched.

The boy at first thought this display of faith was a sure sign that she would go to Heaven. Let's take a quick look at some other things here, though, such as the fact that they were clearly on a time constraint. This was shown through the frequent hours passing by on the clocks. Many of the still images inbetween the scenes had significance, but none moreso than when they showed the building with the clock up top and two streets diverging on either side of it. This was a literal crossroad of time and symbolized a decision to be made on a time limit. I believe the boy was aware of this. Although he couldn't go to Heaven himself, he was acting as a messenger to help the girl get there and was concerned since the girl was the only believer any of us saw alive in the story. When he saw the fake bird, he knew for sure the egg was bad news and broke it to free her from her misplaced faith.

She was so distraught by the loss of her egg that, despite her faith, she proceeded to try to kill herself... But instead, the water purified her (probably in adoration for that blind but misguided faith), showing her the wrongs she'd done and allowing her to mature into her faith in a new light. All of her sins rose to the surface in the form of new eggs, and the body of her child form turned to stone and was put aboard the airship we see at the end. The people who are turned to stone represent the believers' sinful states (hence why she's young and still has the egg on the ship) with their now purified souls on board safely within the statues, and the ship is the angel (implied by all the feathers around it) delivering them to Heaven to be judged the second time. Her adult body, I believe, was the true body that she would have been the whole time had she not childishly held onto her faith. I think Oshii was making a statement on that note about people in general who blindly believe what they dream up when they can't know if it's good or bad unless they "break" it - look at it from a new point of view that could ruin the faith and good they have going now.

Frankly, I believe the boy may have symbolized Oshii in general, or at least was a way of showing the place he'd be in if all these things did happen. I unfortunately do struggle a bit to back that up since I otherwise think racism had a big part in the boy's design (the pure blonde white girl going up to heaven and the angry black guy stuck on Earth for being atheistic, in a movie made decades ago by a Japanese man... right), which makes it seem like the boy should be seen more negatively than he is.

I also believe there are a ton of double meanings to everything (like the egg being broken being compared to a loss of virginity, for a popular example), and though the story is religious in nature, it seems to have a lot of jabs at faith and Christianity. Even with the people turning to stone, it gives the impression that going to Heaven isn't as pleasant as they may have made it out to be. Sure, you won't have to deal with the crazy demon sinners or the lack of food and clean water those who're left on the apocalyptic arc have to, and you may be surrounded by great people, beautiful places, good food, etc., but you have no free will to move your body as you want. You're now just statues for God to gaze upon unless he deems you worthy of living as just your soul. I suppose that could be taken a few different ways.

Definitely a good read. Lots of different ways to interpret it. If you watch it for anything, though, do it for the art and animation. Mmm.



Under a YouTube video I found this (also this is again not my comment):

The man is a disillusioned Noah who forgot who he was and what his purpose was. The entire story is about what happened to the dove sent out from the ark because it never returned, thus Noah and his crew never took action because they spent too long waiting for the dove to return.

As time went on, he stopped believing there even was a dove at all. But, the little girl proves to him the dove was real by showing him its skeletal remains. He's shocked to see it. Now he knows it was all real, but that it went all wrong. He and his crew messed up and didn't repopulate the earth as they were meant to because they misunderstood God and interpreted Him incorrectly.

But, what does this Noah do? He doesn't get on the right track, as he ought to, now knowing how wrong he had been. No. He breaks the egg in order to destroy any future doves/birds from existing so he never has to land the ark and fulfill God's commandment. He chooses to keep going on the wrong path because it's too late for him to turn back now. Just like anyone who may have a crisis of faith and recognize the errors they made in their beliefs will perpetuate a false religion just because it's too well-entrenched to start all over.

But, despite this act of breaking the egg, it does lead to more eggs coming into existence as the girl is able to reproduce more, almost as if his intention to destroy the life of the egg symbolically impregnated the girl with more eggs. He chooses a path without faith and she chooses another path with it, despite both having experiences that can shatter faith. She gets "sainted" for her faith and he remains a wanderer, like Cain, because of his lack of it.



I'll link two vids who can help you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PJePhJY76U&list=WL&index=11&t=0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCQYIxe5V_E&list=WL&index=12&t=70s

Have fun reading and exploring!

Admiral_Carapils said:
There were some good explanations in the episode discussion. The hard truth is actually that the film can have a different meaning for everyone. Probably the director itself doenst know the true meaning

This is a quote I found in the review of Rqt on MAL

“When it comes down to it, I think the director doesn’t know everything about the movie. Everyone always thinks if you want to know something, talk to the director. I don’t think that’s true. I think the answer lies inside every single viewer.” - Mamoru Oshii


Here is some guidance from the user BarabiSama posted in the episode discussion (THIS IS NOT MINE):

I really enjoyed this movie. 10/10 for pure enjoyment's sake, depth of meaning, and artwork. I guess I'll toss my own interpretation up here since everyone else is.

Disclaimer first off that I'm not religious personally; I just study it and think Christianity has a lot of significance in the story.

Before going into the meaning of the characters, I think I'll stick to pointing out the more religious symbols first off. Let's look at the fish shadows. Fish are a symbol in Christianity that directly refer to Jesus Christ. In the movie, we see the shadows of fish moving all along the buildings and roads at certain points in time, at which point men come to try and skewer them. The girl explains that the fish are long since dead, but they still chase after and attack them. This, I believe, is a reference to the crucification of Jesus, his rebirth, and the Second Coming. After he was said to have resurrected, he showed himself before various people for 40 days before rising to Heaven. There is a belief that he will rise again, called the Second Coming, which some branches of Christianity associate with an apocalypse where the sinners and believers are separated and given their final judgments. This story is clearly post-apocalyptic (even without the environment, the references to Noah's Ark should do it), so I believe it took place after the Second Coming and that the fish represent Jesus and God's other children visiting and judging those who are still alive.

All of the people on that world, I believe, have lost their memories like the main characters. Everyone forgot their past lives and were stripped down to their souls for evaluation following the Second Coming, and each of the lead characters has their role in this. The men attacking the fish would be the sinners. The main boy in this, despite being a soldier, would be less of a sinner and more of a virtuous atheist - a representation of those who aren't religious and cannot go to Heaven but, at the same time, are not terrible sinners. (Compare it to the people left in Limbo in Dante's Inferno.) He has accepted that he won't be going to Heaven but isn't so mindless that he'd go attacking anything in rage. He actually helps the girl out... but how? What about that girl and the egg and the people who go to Heaven?

Let's start with the bird (there's some assumption in this part). In many tales of the Second Coming, there is a belief that, prior to Jesus appearing, an impostor borne from the sins of men would attempt to take his role as a false prophet, some saying it may even be the Devil himself or even Satan. Seeing as there's a big monologue given about it, I believe the bird is Moses' dove which drowned and then was possessed. It became a symbol to the people, but it was not the true bird and couldn't deliver Moses' message properly, forcing Jesus to turn his hand. The arrival of the fish lead to the demise of the bird, and the egg was the manifestation of its sins - however, no other bird was within it. The girl is a symbol of the virtuous Christian populace as a whole. Her child form and Aryan design imply purity, and her love for the egg is a show of her devotion and faith. She didn't know that the bird was fake or that the egg was so poisonous. She held on to her belief that everything would be alright when it hatched.

The boy at first thought this display of faith was a sure sign that she would go to Heaven. Let's take a quick look at some other things here, though, such as the fact that they were clearly on a time constraint. This was shown through the frequent hours passing by on the clocks. Many of the still images inbetween the scenes had significance, but none moreso than when they showed the building with the clock up top and two streets diverging on either side of it. This was a literal crossroad of time and symbolized a decision to be made on a time limit. I believe the boy was aware of this. Although he couldn't go to Heaven himself, he was acting as a messenger to help the girl get there and was concerned since the girl was the only believer any of us saw alive in the story. When he saw the fake bird, he knew for sure the egg was bad news and broke it to free her from her misplaced faith.

She was so distraught by the loss of her egg that, despite her faith, she proceeded to try to kill herself... But instead, the water purified her (probably in adoration for that blind but misguided faith), showing her the wrongs she'd done and allowing her to mature into her faith in a new light. All of her sins rose to the surface in the form of new eggs, and the body of her child form turned to stone and was put aboard the airship we see at the end. The people who are turned to stone represent the believers' sinful states (hence why she's young and still has the egg on the ship) with their now purified souls on board safely within the statues, and the ship is the angel (implied by all the feathers around it) delivering them to Heaven to be judged the second time. Her adult body, I believe, was the true body that she would have been the whole time had she not childishly held onto her faith. I think Oshii was making a statement on that note about people in general who blindly believe what they dream up when they can't know if it's good or bad unless they "break" it - look at it from a new point of view that could ruin the faith and good they have going now.

Frankly, I believe the boy may have symbolized Oshii in general, or at least was a way of showing the place he'd be in if all these things did happen. I unfortunately do struggle a bit to back that up since I otherwise think racism had a big part in the boy's design (the pure blonde white girl going up to heaven and the angry black guy stuck on Earth for being atheistic, in a movie made decades ago by a Japanese man... right), which makes it seem like the boy should be seen more negatively than he is.

I also believe there are a ton of double meanings to everything (like the egg being broken being compared to a loss of virginity, for a popular example), and though the story is religious in nature, it seems to have a lot of jabs at faith and Christianity. Even with the people turning to stone, it gives the impression that going to Heaven isn't as pleasant as they may have made it out to be. Sure, you won't have to deal with the crazy demon sinners or the lack of food and clean water those who're left on the apocalyptic arc have to, and you may be surrounded by great people, beautiful places, good food, etc., but you have no free will to move your body as you want. You're now just statues for God to gaze upon unless he deems you worthy of living as just your soul. I suppose that could be taken a few different ways.

Definitely a good read. Lots of different ways to interpret it. If you watch it for anything, though, do it for the art and animation. Mmm.



Under a YouTube video I found this (also this is again not my comment):

The man is a disillusioned Noah who forgot who he was and what his purpose was. The entire story is about what happened to the dove sent out from the ark because it never returned, thus Noah and his crew never took action because they spent too long waiting for the dove to return.

As time went on, he stopped believing there even was a dove at all. But, the little girl proves to him the dove was real by showing him its skeletal remains. He's shocked to see it. Now he knows it was all real, but that it went all wrong. He and his crew messed up and didn't repopulate the earth as they were meant to because they misunderstood God and interpreted Him incorrectly.

But, what does this Noah do? He doesn't get on the right track, as he ought to, now knowing how wrong he had been. No. He breaks the egg in order to destroy any future doves/birds from existing so he never has to land the ark and fulfill God's commandment. He chooses to keep going on the wrong path because it's too late for him to turn back now. Just like anyone who may have a crisis of faith and recognize the errors they made in their beliefs will perpetuate a false religion just because it's too well-entrenched to start all over.

But, despite this act of breaking the egg, it does lead to more eggs coming into existence as the girl is able to reproduce more, almost as if his intention to destroy the life of the egg symbolically impregnated the girl with more eggs. He chooses a path without faith and she chooses another path with it, despite both having experiences that can shatter faith. She gets "sainted" for her faith and he remains a wanderer, like Cain, because of his lack of it.



I'll link two vids who can help you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PJePhJY76U&list=WL&index=11&t=0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCQYIxe5V_E&list=WL&index=12&t=70s

Have fun reading and exploring!

GakutoDeathGlare said:
“When it comes down to it, I think the director doesn’t know everything about the movie. Everyone always thinks if you want to know something, talk to the director. I don’t think that’s true. I think the answer lies inside every single viewer.” - Mamoru Oshii

Oshii got his fans on a hook here, what a bunch of pseudo nonsense. One of the most stupid quotes I've ever heard.