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| >go to search for the OST because it was dope >top google suggestion is "angel's egg meaning" nice I learned more about this movie by browsing Rate Your Music dot com than I did by watching the movie. I wonder why the anime industry so often flails between the two extremes of 10-minute exposition scenes and literally not explaining anything. File this under "Items I'm certain I'd enjoy tremendously more under a rewatch but have no visceral desire to rewatch." Not that that will stop me |
 ☩ Discord: the.path.to.pathos ☩ RateYourMusic ☩ last.fm |
This video helped me tremendously in understanding what the movie was going for, indeed, although unfortunately it doesn't redact my incredibly dull viewing experience. I almost wish I'd watched this before the film. |
☩ Discord: the.path.to.pathos ☩ RateYourMusic ☩ last.fm |
| Lots of symbolisms related to religion here and there yet I couldn't help but also associate most of them with topics such as sexuality and femininity. You know, the way in how the girl carried the egg as if she was pregnant and most importantly, the scene with her becoming a woman after the man "broke" her egg (virtue/treasure -> virginity?). That said, truly atmospheric and immersive while also being rather overwhelming and eerie for moments. All in all, it was a pretty interesting movie but unfortunately, the high level of ambiguity regarding everything this project presented ended up affecting my overall enjoyment. I mean, I like works that let viewers make their own interpretations but I also think there should be a limit in terms of how secretive you want to be. 6/10 - And so, another show to add to my "re-watch needed" list. PrOxAnto said: Actually, reading about an interpretation of this movie already kinda did change my view on it. Wow, truly fascinating interpretation indeed. |
| I usually don't find overt Christian symbolism in anime or media in general that interesting. I've seen it all hundreds of times. But the pairing of heavy symbolism with the stunning visuals and the music just... I don't know, struck a cord with me? I get that not everyone will enjoy this, but for me, as someone who's been heavily indoctrinated into Catholicism and has since gotten out, I couldn't help but absolutely love it. It was also one of the rare times where I managed to catch a lot of the hidden messages and made a pretty good interpretation of the events. |
| Well that was a frickin trip. I literally fell asleep in between. My two cents: the movie is the titular egg. You can choose to believe it has tons of mystic meaning. Or you can actually try to see what is inside it by dissecting it & realise none of your presumptions are certain & it's all empty nothingness. Some things in this world are meant simply to be experiences, not subjected to rigorous analysis. Because the closer you look, the emptier they get. Like cracking open an egg to see whether it "really" has any potential defeats the purpose of the egg existing. So just enjoy the things you enjoy. Not everything has to be deeply meaningful, get over yourself & accept the chaos & be free. |
 旭 Living more lively than me who is alive The tears of this morning sun, are soaking through my heart |
| hmm, lots of thoughts to consider here... first off, really liked the art and animation, it was really beautiful overall and the style and tone + colours fit the contents very nicely; it was animated very smoothly too. as for the soundtrack, it wasn't anything spectacular from my experience, that was probably because it wasn't really to my tastes. although i do think it was used well and really fit the scenes, i also liked how the timings were employed very impact-fully. moving on, i don't want to get too much into the characters or story since they seemed to be mostly ambiguous and looked like they were there for the watcher to interpret. regardless, i think that the characters were introduced well and their personalities were quite sufficiently shown and fleshed out given the relatively short time frame. as for the story, it was very slow paced, not saying that's a bad thing though since despite that i still found this movie really interesting. additionally, the world building was another one of the strong points in this movie, the design of the city was brilliant and really set the tone for this story. furthermore, i also found that there were many noteworthy scenes that played a big part in showing us this peculiar world, but i don't want to write them all down so i'll just give some examples of my favourites. the first scene that caught my eye was the opening one with the big eye thing and all those statues, looking back i realize that it could have been some type of epilogue. next, i really liked the scene where the girl went to the pond, when she started sinking into the water it was animated wonderfully. moreover, another scene i liked was the one where our main characters meet for the second time with those tank-looking things in the city, i found the scene very unusual but it expanded the plot a lot as well. next, the scene with all the silhouetted soldiers running around and throwing spears at the shadows of fish, this one showed us that there was more then just those two in the world but it was also kinda eerie since they looked pretty creepy and mysterious. for my last (but definitely not least) pick, the scene where they are both in that room and are sitting by the campfire, i loved the look of that scene a lot - especially from an aesthetic point of view, probably my favourite frame from this whole movie. lastly, not really sure about the christian(?) symbolism and stuff here, since im not really religious or anything but i think i understood at least some of it. PrOxAnto said: however after reading your interpretation it's all a lot more clear to me and i think what you said is very plausible. i was wondering what we were looking at when it zoomed out at the end, makes sense that it was the ark.Her actual self was replaced by the idealized saint version, from which even more eggs, even more faith, emerged. So the unfaithful guy watched as she become integral part of the floating eye that is religion itself. And we can assume all the other saints were once like her. before i wrote this, i was thinking about what to score this movie and i was going to give it a 6. i usually don't really like abstract stuff like this (probably because i usually miss the point and dont really know how to interpret it) but after writing this i've reconsidered... in conclusion, i found tenshi no tamago very strange but also quite intriguing and it managed to tell a very compelling story with such a small amount of words. overall, i would give this movie an 8/10. |
| I didn't understand shit but it wasn't boring to me somehow |
| "he has it big as a cactus but he won't let go of my head and I puke on his cock bitch" - Boy by Fishball |
| I felt pity when the girl realized that the man broke the egg. |
 |
 Reading all these replies, it seems that a rewatch is needed to fully appreciate this OVA but I'm not going to do that, so this was pretty boring for me. |
| I realized the boy's weapon was a cross when he smashed the egg, and I gasped. There is ton of religious symbolism in this movie. The flood is the most apparent from the longest point of dialogue. Very impressive for the year it was made in, quite detailed and mysterious, the music is great too. It's a good movie to ponder over in terms of struggles with faith. I think the ending is supposed to be a positive interpretation, despite the drab imagery. The girl was rewarded by the boy (Christ) and reincarnated for her unshakable faith (protecting the egg) and revered in a statue like a saint. I personally prefer alternative explorations like the The End of Evangelion, but it's worth to watch for the sake of uniqueness and a work of art. 7/10 |
 |
| Really loved the first half. The atmosphere was near perfect, the sound effects were great, the art and setting looked amazing, and it all really put me in the right mood. It could have reused less animation, but it is an 80s anime, so can't really complain much about that. The movie did get a lot slower than I would have liked in the second half, and scenes were drawn out longer than necessary, which kinda put me out of it even until the end. Good movie overall. 7/10 |
| Oh boy, where to start? Having recently watched and loved Ghost in the Shell, I decided to watch another one of Mamoru Oshii's works and went to this one. Needless to say, it's a lot to take in. Much like David Lynch's Eraserhead, it's an abstract and unconventional work of art that relies mostly on symbolism and atmosphere to get its "story" across. It's also similarly unsettling, having an oppressive and otherworldly atmosphere with gorgeous, twisted environments and a haunting soundscape. This may be the most "alien" film I've ever seen, feeling like something not from human hands and having a world that makes you feel like you stepped into a nightmare completely devoid of normal logic and safety. Along with the atmosphere, the aspect this film excels at most is its openness to interpretation. The story, if you can call it that, is very simple. A young girl carries an egg around a desolate wasteland, meeting a mysterious man who can't remember where he came from. That's about it as far as concrete story information goes, with the rest being completely left up to the viewer. Of course, there a lot of interesting theories and ideas as to what this film is truly about. The pros and cons of blind faith, the fear of the unknown, being an allegory of miscarriage/pregnancy, etc. While the faith one has the most evidence behind it considering Oshii's background and possible mindset when creating this film, any and all other interpretations are equally valid. That's just the kind of film it is. I was mostly absorbed in the world and atmosphere, but what I took from it was the idea of the importance of taking action. The little girl has seemingly been living in this existence for a while, judging by the jugs of water, which I do think she lied about due to her not wanting to admit how long she has carried this egg around waiting. She refuses, or is too scared, to break the egg herself and instead keeps going day after day in the hopes that it'll hatch on its own. This is similar to the people aboard Noah's Ark, who went on endlessly waiting for the dove to return before they forgot themselves. The man is likely from the Ark or is Noah himself, since he had forgotten his past, and remains this neutral, mysterious figure until he sees a skeleton of a bird. This bird could be the dove that went missing, and it obviously changes something in the man, perhaps making him remember the mistakes of his people as they rotted away on the Ark, which is now an empty relic in a world devoid of life (an establishing shot shows them hanging out in a structure that looks exactly like a giant boat). Wanting to save the girl, the man takes matters into his own hands and breaks the egg, which leads to the girl maturing and giving birth to several bird embryos, seemingly new potential life to inhabit this wasteland. Afterwards, she is added to the pantheon of statues aboard that floating eye, possibly indicating she has been immortalized and rewarded for her maturing. The girl of course was upset and frightened when she finds her egg broken (damn did that scream spook the shit out of me) which could correlate to the fact that change can be scary and uncomfortable. Finally, the main question posed throughout the film, "Who are you?", can pertain to the idea that you can only discover yourself through taking action and experiencing change, rather than sitting idly by waiting for change to come to you. Of course there are some aspects that don't 100% line up with this, like the floating eye ball. It's not as if the girl learns this lesson herself and breaks the egg; it's forced upon her by an outside force, so her being "rewarded" for it would be odd. And it's hard to say what I make of the red tanks or the fishermen, perhaps that some change and actions aren't necessarily for the good? Like how these tanks are advanced technology compared to the rest of the world (change), showing what kind of destructive future this world was heading for before it was wiped out. Then what does that say about the man who was riding aboard them? That in his forgetfulness he allowed himself to partake in something potentially destructive? As for the fishermen, their pursuit of the ghost fish shows that level headiness and a connection with reality is needed to take action that isn't fruitless. Them blindly following the shadows of fish that are long gone is a form of immaturity. Well this went on way longer than I expected, and if anyone finds this and reads the whole thing, thank you for sticking with my rambling lol. For me, this whole film is trying to say that changing and maturing are vital to finding out who you are and deciding your place in the world. This is a film that I suspect I'll be thinking about for a while. As someone else put it, it's both the loudest and most quiet film I've ever seen. It's a hell of an experience and I think everyone should check it out at least once, if only to get another unique standpoint that shows how open a work of art this film is. |
| Are ya winning, diners? |
| When the first showed the boat during the opening credits I immediately thought of Noah's Ark and watched on with that impression to explain the state of the world and such. I felt like such a genius when the boy explicitly details the story of Noah's Ark. Any pretense of me being intelligent went right out the window in the minutes that followed. I'm pretty disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to leave the film with a solid interpretation of what it all meant, but rather just a hodge-podge of possible ideas. When it comes to the egg itself and the girl, I think I was definitely lean more towards a maternal angle than the faith one. The whole pregnant imagery was pretty clear, eggs are classic symbol of like reproduction/birth but the boy felt more theological I guess. Because he carries a Cross shaped weapon, he comments about the tree of life, explicitly talks about Noah's Ark. In the last moments of the film, I couldn't really piece together any meaningful conclusions from either of the angles that I only scratched the surface on, and it took watching other videos or reading the posts in here to get more clarity on each interpretation. Like towards the ending, the only thought I had besides "are they on the bottom of the Ark?" was reincarnation being an element here as the film opening sections seemed like a coming to being and my brain had just assume the statue of the girl & the egg on the floating eye had always been there they just didn't show it in the beginning. And that statue may have been the driving force behind the actions of the boy himself. I got the impression that he served the eye. I did have one more direct interpretation about the statue men and their hunt for the fish during my view of the film that I'll share. Even though Noah's Ark clicked with me pretty instantly, I am by no means a theologist. I'm not religious myself, and even though I recall attending a Catholic school briefly, I don't remember much from it and I don't think I paid attention. Basically, I had no idea that fish where associated with Jesus at all until Struckman brought it up since I watched his video first. But what I kind of associated fish with in the moment was possibility. Because "there's many fish in the sea" as they say, and I know in Japan fishing is a huge part of their commerce, so to me it represented the pursuit of that possibility in a world so desolate. And in terms of the destruction their efforts caused, I read that as the property having so little value to any of the statue men in the face of possibility, like I don't think any of them even lived in any of those buildings, they're first seen stationary at the fountain. And it's interesting that they never move without the presence of the fish, it's only with the possibility for something else in front of them due they spring to action. And thinking about it now, that parallels the girl's own relationship with the egg. At least with her line, about how even though there aren't any fish they still chase after them. In reality, the were nothing in the Egg either, yet the girl still cherished it as if there was salvation in there. But that realization aside, that was my own clear interpretation I had throughout the movie. I do think having read more people's perspective that faith is probably where I land for a being stronger interpretation, though there's an incredibly amount of merit to almost all the ones I've read, which is definitely the power of the film. I think for somebody like me, who couldn't land on a solid thematic through-line, and got a bit confused at the end, it lessens the personal impact. Though my actual affection for the movie has only grown with reading different interpretations and reflecting on the experience myself. And there's already a part of me that's interested in re-visiting the movie. But would that experience actually be good? The actual experience watching this movie was interesting because of it's reputation of know for almost as long as I've been on MAL I feel, I knew it was a piece that inspired varied interpretations (& it definitely wants you to, there's a reason 90% of the question asked by the characters go unanswered), and I watched it under the lens of trying to piece out the allegory. Like, I never came to a strong conclusion on my own but a good portion of the beginning I was trying to decipher exactly what meaning the movie was giving to water. Angel's Egg has a very deliberate, slow pacing and outside of the two plus minutes spent on that shot before the Egg break, the movie never bored me. It remained fascinating but that might've been because I always trying to piece together the puzzle, and I wonder if I would still manage to remain engaged with the earlier parts of the film now that I've read more informed takes on the film. Maybe it'll make the experience stronger, I don't know. I also still don't know what I'm rating it. During the experience of watching it, I assumed it was going to land with a 7 or an 8, but the more I read about it and the more I reflect on it, it could wind up as an 8 or 9. As I wrap up, regardless of what I end up giving the anime as a whole, just know that just from artwork standpoint, it's a perfect 10. No surprise with Amano but it's worth noting the aesthetic of this series is fantastic. I also think the movie just had some pretty interesting layouts, the shot composition was quite interesting. And the music matched it perfectly. The voice acting, which is so sparse is makes Texhnolyze look like The Tatami Gaxaxly, is quite good the few times it comes up. In particular, I did really feel for the girl with her scream at the broken shell. I'm going to give it a 9/10. There's a lot of movies I've scored lower, an 8, that I'd say I enjoyed more than Angel's Egg, but it just feels wrong to give it an 8. You know? I've tried to and it makes me feel sad so even though I'm not 100% on board with a 9, it doesn't make me sad so I'm going that. A rewatch might change my mind or it might change in a couple days but this is were I've landed. |
| Even with the soldier(?) character explaining the key to the symbolism of this whole movie -- according to others, at least -- as someone who's not Christian nor has ever had any interest in it, this movie just seemed like a waste of time to me. Perhaps I would've enjoyed it more if I actually gave a shit, but with all the theories explaining the show either a) uninteresting or b) making the show seem more pretentious than it already is, I can't see myself actually caring about this show as a whole. 4/10; at least the art, atmosphere, and soundtrack were adequately utilized. |
 |
| Coming back to this, I don't think I really appreciated the true beauty and originality of this anime enough. It's rare to find any animated movie that focuses so much on developing background art, and the lack of dialogue only helps me become more enthralled in the incredible setting. Forget whatever symbolism I can make out of it honestly, just admire the cool gothic architecture. Mamoru Oshii's style is exactly my type, seeing how he does this in a lot of his other productions like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor |
| It was surreal modern times needs pieces like this |
| Life sucks |
| All I will say is that's art direction and OST were absolutely phenomenal, especially considering it's time. Some of those wide shots were some of the best looking shit I've seen in anime. 7/10, inane story and allegories that can usually only be understood after reading essays or film reviews about it, that's not a positive in my books and something I will never do. I didn't get much out of it. Edit: I just found out that Oshii grew up with Christianity thumped into him, finally coming to the realization that's all a facade, this fact is food for thought after watching the film. Still won't change my score though. |
GakutoDeathGlareJul 15, 2022 3:31 AM
| That was the first time (and only time) I had to use the x2 speed to not fall asleep, and even then it had some too slow boring parts. Don't get me wrong, I like symbolic shows (Utena, Pinguindrum for example), and the art+atmosphere here were top notch, but everything else was too vague, slow and boring to watch. |
serg90Oct 9, 2022 3:06 AM
| The rainy, Victorian-style scenery was incredible to look at, and it kept my attention despite mostly being composed of a girl (and a guy later on) walking leisurely through a host of different areas. I'm not really sure what happened in the ending, all that said. The girl fell into a ravine and got absorbed into her mother/older self (?), who proceeded to birth a bunch of eggs from air bubbles. Then the girl became a statue attached to the spherical floating ship, then the camera slowly pans away to reveal something, but I don't even know what it's supposed to be. If it's more religious symbolism, then it's lost on me. The soundtrack was good, if a bit too dramatic at times, often reaching a loud crescendo when absolutely nothing is happening. Characters didn't say much, but they convey more than enough through their expressions, gestures and actions to make up for that. Decent watch, even if the ending was too abstract for my tastes. |
  ｲ乇刀乇乃尺ﾑ乇 ㊎   ㊰☽ Shaded Horizon ☾ |
| Even though I love this film and consider it a visual masterpiece, it bothers me a little that it's not very subtle in its treatment of questions concerning God. I'm not sure, if it's really as vague as people say. Heavy symbolism and lack of dialogue often lead to such conclusions. However in my view it's clearly an atheistic movie. I mean, the whole world is revealed to resemble a sunken ship and even the place where the faithful ones go after death is gloomy and cold; nothing that we would associate with paradise, nirvana and whatsoever. If it didn't show us these "external" views on the fictional world, it would be more subtle and open to interpretation. But even the ending, necessarily tragical for the girl emphasizes the fragility of faith. Just compare The Angel's Egg with Bergman's The Seventh Seal. The latter gives no external views of the seemingly godless fictional world. It just shows us the different perspectives of the characters leaving the questions about God ultimately without a final answer. If you seek hope (in God), you find it in Bergman's movie, but here hope is a vacant concept, just like the empty egg. This film is a work resulting from disappointment and loss of faith. It is something I wouldn't expect from a Japanese creator coming from culture that has so many and diverse notions of God and holiness. I guess Mamoru Oshii has been very influenced by western thought. |
| I previously watched Serial Experiment and it was more on the composition to analyse but had enough narratives that remains subjective for some. For this series, It delves into deep questions about faith, the role of organized religion, and our inner thirst for understanding at its core and it's leaving a lot of room for interpretation. It's symbolic imagery including eggs, crosses and ghostly landscapes add depth to its brooding and atmospheric narrative. Very captivating in the naked eye. |
"......If I told you that I was a real witch, would you believe it?"  |
| oh I get it, eggs absolutely incredible |
| I have a third testicle that gives me psychic powers |
| Found this from a yt video and had to watch it when I saw how hard the visuals go Maybe it was the music from the video idk Boy is crazy menacing lol |
Karva1Mar 9, 8:29 AM
| Inhales oxygen |
| Oshii is such an underrated genius. |
| There is also a small book of the same name, released in 1985 too, and credited to Oshii and Amano. It's a book with illustrations by Amano and an accompanying story, written, I suppose, by Oshii. It follows the story of the movie pretty closely, but with some small differences, so it's an interesting perspective on how to interpret the movie (it doesn't bring any definitive answer though). |
| "Even now, I travel on my journey, Believing in the world, Aiming for something far away – an endless journey. Having a dream like someone else’s, Or being in someone else’s dream – Which would you prefer?" |
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