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| 3 "D"'s to describe this show. DARK, DEEP, DISTURBING |
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| Good movie. Symbolism done right. 7/10 |
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| I just finished the movie, and it certainly was quite something: many interpretations popped in my head, and though I am sure it is but a tiny part of the possible ones, I finished the movie being satistied. I haven't read much of the previous messages, but I thought I would just mention something: "pêcheur" is the french word for fisherman, but change an accent and it becomes "pécheur", which means sinner. This similitude exists in other Romance languages. |
| "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?" |
| I had several ideas of what this could mean until the last 15 minutes or so. After that mark, I honestly didn't have a clue anymore, and the last image of the movie made it even more confusing to me since I could clearly see it's Noah's Ark. And funny thing is, during the earlier shots, we saw this *thing* shrouded in darkness and "Noah's Ark" was the first thing that came into my mind, but I dismissed it, thinking I was only imagining things. BarabiSama said: 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. I'm honestly not sure what to make of it considering this first viewing, but I REALLY loved this poster's interpretation and I think I'm sticking with it. One thing I'll add though, is that I think the man's skin tone comes not from the author's racism, but rather it came from that old and abolished interpretation on how the "mark of Cain" was actually a darker skin tone. I think in this case it was meant to signify that *that Man* was actually a sinner of sorts, or at least carried a legacy of sin. This one was pretty interesting as well. |
BluexMageJan 6, 2017 10:06 AM
| I think this interpretation is legit though for the movie . |
| 4th times getting signature banned wtf |
Man... you beat me too it. I was gonna post that here, or in a new thread. I would love to have this movie on dvd to share with others~<3 |
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| yet another shitty pretentious movie great 4/10. waste of time |
CnonMar 19, 2017 3:26 PM
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| Although I'm familiar with the old testament I still had trouble to make sense out of this movie, many things came to my mind but none of them were really satisfying. After reading some of the interpretations in this thread, I feel a bit better about my thoughts, even though most of them are better elaborated. Aside from the symbolism I liked this movie overall, it had this unique and calming vibe which made it surpsingly easy to stay focussed. Edit: A rewatch didn't change much for me, still great in the artistic department. But I guess I shouldn't have put so much emphasis on overthinking the themes. |
FMmatronFeb 10, 2019 11:13 AM
One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron |
| This was one of the most boring things I have ever seen. It literally took me half a day to finish this because I kept pausing it due to boredom. |
 Three things cannot be long hidden.. ...the s u n, the m oo n, and the tr u th. |
| Very nice sound design and world building, that is (mostly) told entirely through a slow, meandering visual direction that never fails in giving off a sense of dread. The use of symbolism is also consistent with a constant focus on water, rain and fossil-related imagery to create the allegory for Noah's Ark that the setting is meant to be. It's a unique take on a well-known bible story that would only be possible from the outlook of a foreign culture like Japan's. I believe the hatching of the "angel" is meant to represent some sort of salvation like the dove in Noah's Ark, but the man is not a believer in this salvation. I'm not sure entirely because it's like 2:30am here and I should sleep I'm not sure if I really "liked" this movie but it was an interesting lesser-known piece from of my favourite directors and I didn't regret watching it. |
| The art (especially the background) is really beautiful but kinda disappointed with the sad ending. |
| basically humanity retaliating against their existence. Pretty sad. Best part, aside from the egg violation scene, was the mechanical sun/eye symbolism. I'm not sure if it's possible to discern, but are all the statues on the sun/eye women?? It seemed like they had a more feminine curvature to them. Anyway, this movie is definitely about human sexuality as well, even more deeply than religion. |
| Just finished watching it. From what I understood of it the film was about the end of humanity and the world. The world was on it's last legs and the egg the girl carried represented the last bit of hope. The stone men and women were all those who'd already lost it, and the girl eventually became like them once the boy had broken the egg. The one thing she had belief in. Hope gives us purpose, and without it we are nothing, and there is no point to the world. And it takes more than one for hope to succeed in anything; hence it ending when the egg was broke and the boy was alone. The world became void. Empty. Maybe also the boy represented the dominant force that led to the end; selfish destruction for the sake knowledge. The girl was the submissive force; hope, trust and preservation. All things that were lost in the end. Anyway, regardless of the validity/accuracy/whatever of my interpretation, I found the film eerie and beautiful, but rather boring and dull (although the world being dull was intentional). I don't think there was enough there to really carry it as good entertainment. but as just art; I think it succeeded. It was beautiful. |
ZaugrApr 9, 2018 8:45 AM
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| Interesting film. Great at adding a sense of mystery to the proceedings. |
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davinci12 said: i love anime like serial experiments lain and ergo proxy, but this anime is the most pretentious thing i've seen in a very long time. Pretty much this. It's got nice art, but that's about it. |
| why the watterbottle collection?? |
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| I loved it and the symbolism it contained, but the only thing I didn't get is the shape of their world in the end. Was it oval shape or an ark shape and what did it represent? I liked it and the girl, 7/10 and I wish for anime like these in 2019. |
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb --- Dr Strangelove  |
| alright here's my hot take on angels egg I know everyone's been clamoring for. just watched it and here's what I think it was about. I think the egg represented blind delusional hope, and the fish were only visible to her as shadows because she was too caught up in her own delusions to perceive them. The boy falls for her because to him her and her egg represent the hope and innocence he has lost in his many years of fighting. they both lack their memories because they have become disconnected from their past. The boy has spent his life clinging to a hope for a sign that things would get better only to live a life with nothing but coldness. But the girl starts to trust him and they begin to grow close. Then his ability to believe is shattered when he learns that the bird they had sent out to find land (hope) is fossilized like all the other animals. Everything he used to live for is dead and gone. This is the point in the movie where his attitude towards the girls egg changes from positive to negative. He starts to try to convince her even the egg is meaningless. She does not listen though, and he ends up lashing out and betraying her. She for the first time in her life experiences true heartbreak and betrayal. From this her old self "dies" as the egg was what she centered her entire world and hopes and identity around. But it's through this heartbreak she is able to grow up and learn to define herself in a more complex way. She learns that even if you're vulnerable and it hurts you you can grow from your mistakes and become a more complete and complex person. Yet the person the boy knew and bonded with has been destroyed by his actions, and in the end he is left all alone with nothing but his memories to keep him company. Then that last shot of course, I guess that's supposed to be an arc? sorry I don't know why an arc looks like from a bird's eye view but I guess that's the final twist. I like it a lot though. So it turns out he had never left or changed his original circumstances. Well interesting ova that's for sure, really cool how everyone has such a different interpretation. |
| Dozed off 10 minutes in and had an intense and trippy dream, quite entertaining, 8/10. Probably a good thing I slept through most of the movie. |
| Liked it, it was a good Anime, but unnecessarily slow at times. |
| Heavy Lain vibes, but unfortunately not the same quality. |
| Overall I gave the movie a 7/10. Good movie, but suffers from pacing problems and the convoluted plot and biblical metaphors may turn some off, not that I have a problem with that. I just had a problem with the pacing. |
| good movie. i just love the idea that the place they are living is actually the Noah's Ark, not Earth. one thing that still confuse me is who or what is that Fleeting Eye (Golem)? i mean, all humans were on the Ark hunting shadow fishes, right? :o |
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| Beautiful art but had no idea what was happening with the symbolism. Thank you to the people here who have posted their theories, it's been interesting to read. Unfortunately I give it a 6/10 based solely on enjoyment. |
| I dig the dreary aesthetic and the Christian-influenced imagery but this was really hard to watch for me and stay awake at the same time. It's probably because of me deciding to try to watch it when I'm pretty tired already but I ended up pausing and sleeping on it 4 times throughout the 3 days I tried to watch it while doing other things. Even though it's slower than anything else I've ever watched before, that doesn't mean that I found it to be bad though. I have no idea on what this all actually meant and I'm glad that I watched this of my own volition instead of having to analyze this for homework but I guess that I was able to take out a few interpretations. It was pretty sad to see all those crazy fishermen chase after something that's clearly there but isn't at the same time and never stopping despite how futile what they're doing was like with many people. While I was amused at how the girl's curiosity about the guy following her had overtaken her uneasiness towards him, it's tragic that he ended up breaking the egg while she slept because of his own curiosity after finding out what abomination laid the egg in the first place when the girl trusted him enough to show it to him. She could've continued living her daily routine of collecting water and protecting her egg but all of that shattered to pieces once the one thing that she was so invested in finding out herself ended up happening while she was asleep. It was fascinating to see that they were on the ruins of the Ark of old all along and how her efforts was at least recognized by whatever that ball was by adding her to one of the many heavenly statues that probably had something to do with all that. |
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| This was so weird that I ended up liking it more than I expected. |
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| Start was kinda meh, but got pretty nice in the middle and up. No idea wtf I watched but good enough for me. |
| I kinda liked it but goddamn it was pretentious as fuck especially at the end. Visuals and soundtrack were dope tho |
| Floyd Mayweather English Tutor |
BlufaceBaby said: goddamn it was pretentious How so? what made it look so pretentious to you? Did it try to lecture you ? (Text text text text text...) @Kami_sama_ You might want to check the Moral Tales, a collection of films created by Eric Rohmer (a french director and critique). They're said to be way "too philosophical" (the heroes tend to overthink themselves and some more). Gene Hackman's character in Night Moves said: I saw a Rohmer film once, it was kind of like watching paint dry. |
Rei_IIIMay 12, 2020 7:26 AM
| Wow. Just wow. I didn't at all know what to expect when I started this movie aside from the fact that it would be very weird, but I ended up loving it. Don't get me wrong, I definitely didn't get everything, but it doesn't prevent me from giving it a 10, I feel like it really deserves it. That was quite an experience. Now, for what I understood. There is a lot of religious connations, that's for sure. At first I thought the boy was the girl's guardian angel, but I've been pretty quickly proven wrong. What's sure is that the girl and the boy live in a desolated world. They're apparently the only ones left. I'm pretty sure the egg represents hope. The girl was clinging onto it because it was her source of hope, the proof to her that there was still something left, which is why she wanted to protect it at all costs. The boy is someone lost, who forgot where he came from and where he's heading at. He has no hope, he's just... There. Meeting the girl changed his view of the world as he met someone with a reason to live, with hope. At first it looked like he wanted to take care of her, and that probably was the case to some extent, but he mostly was intrigued, intrigued by what she was clinging onto. He wanted her to say what's inside the egg, to break it, because more than simply having hope, he wanted to have something real, a real proof instead of a dream. The girl wanted to cling onto this hope, the boy wanted to have the truth, to know. Ultimately, unable to live with this uncertainty, he broke the egg, even if it meant destroying the girl's hope. It looks like there ultimately was nothing in the egg, and now the boy has the proof of it, he doesn't have to cling onto dreams, and he apparently prefers it that way, he doesn't want to live in delusions. The girl, however, has been left without her hope, since the boy shattered it. He destroyed the egg and by doing so, showed her there was nothing inside it despite what she wanted to believe. (Her reaction to it was seriously heartbreaking... The voice acting was amazing. It gave me chills.) Then it looks like she wanted to run after the boy, but ultimately realised there is no point in doing so because she has nothing that can give her a reason to live now, so she gives up and kills herself by jumping in the water. (One of the scenes at the beginning showed her dreaming about drowning... Aside from being a foreshadowing, I wonder what it exactly meant. Did she deep down know she was lying to herself with that egg ?) Then I really didn't get what's going on. She died by drowning, but why did she turn in an older version of herself ? And the multiple eggs appearing after her last breath was very confusing too. It looks like her death brought hope to the land, but how ? I think I'll have to go back to my analysis, I know I'm on the verge of understanding it but nah. Also, there were a lot of references to Noah's Arch, confirming the story as being a kind of post-apocalyptic one. I think the Arch is that weird alien-like ship ? Actually, it's almost certain, since there were all those people who turned into stone, like in the boy's story. I don't get why the girl was among them though. However I don't have a single clue about what were those big red things that appeared before the girl met the boy. Neither do I when it comes to those fishes. I know there are a lot of references to fishes in the Bible but here I really don't see what it's supposed to represent. Guess I'll have to read analysis, I'm not smart enough to understand everything. I can't say I'll rewatch this movie anytime soon because it is very particular (though I'll probably do in the future anyway), but like I said, I loved it. It's the kind of shows that need to be seen once in a lifetime. Edit : After rewatching some scenes, I am pretty sure the boy is actually Noah himself. That would explain many things, like why he is carrying a cross. |
FafetteMay 16, 2020 7:30 AM
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| “The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.” - Herman Hesse, Demian "The world is our egg. If we don't crack the world's shell, we will die without ever truly being born. Smash the world's shell. FOR THE REVOLUTION OF THE WORLD!" - Revolutionary Girl Utena elevator scene. There're many symbols in the movie, and I bet it's not that hard to get a subconcious idea about what some of these things represent - there're obvious connections to innocence, faith, loss of faith (the egg was empty) and innocence (obvious allusions to pregnancy), maturity, etc etc. The task is to connect all that in a coherent manner, alongside with the whole tweaked Biblical tale, and that's the interesting part. I think the key to understanding it is to realize that the panning shot at the end represents not an island, but Noah's Ark - upside down. That's where the understanding starts. The world looks like a place abandoned by God, very mechanistic and lifeless. Even the big one-eyed ball which certainly looks like some divine figure within the movie's universe, is mechanical - that is, man-made. With all the Christian metaphors, Angel's Egg is pretty atheistic, I think. Or maybe it's the opposite, after all? There're hints at reincarnation, saints and all that. There's hardy one true interpretation. On an artistic level the movie was such a spectacle to watch, I loved everything from start to end - character designs, backgrounds, statues, shadows, choruses and orchestral music. It's so cool. I wonder how did I not start getting familiar with Yoshitaka Amano and Mamoru Oshii earlier, with the exception of some collaborative work of the latter with Satoshi Kon on Seraphim manga and a short film in Ani*Kuri15 compilation. Angel's Egg is certainly my type of movie, not providing any answers and letting the viewer interpret it. The almost nonexisting dialogue also contributes to the whole atmosphere, though I wonder what would the film look like without any spoken words whatsoever. It'd certainly be interesting and more haunting, I think. |
St0rmbladeMay 11, 2020 7:55 AM
| it was cool i guess, i just remember it not really being for me, to be completely honest. religious stuff has never been my cup of tea, anyways. so 4/10, just in terms of enjoyment. plus, i almost fell asleep on multiple occasions while watching it. call me dumb or whatever, but it's not my thing. might rewatch |
| shit was weird, atleast stuff like midori-ko and nekojiru-sou were understandable after some thinking as the symbolism in them can be understood regardless of your background but this shit really require some knowledge about christianity to fully appreciate which is something i certainly lack, and while it's not wholly uninderstandable i was still left confused af, tho i really liked the directing choices of using long awkward poses to make you feel uncomfortable, the heavy focus on visual story telling and the style and feel of the show in general. 8/10, probably will appreciate it more on a rewatch. |
AlphaN00bAug 7, 2020 10:42 PM
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| All I understood is that they are on a large arc, and the egg she was carrying was empty all along |
| Interesting final shot, guessing that was Noah's ark as it was mentioned before. Can't say I really enjoyed this movie though, maybe it just wasn't the right time for me to fully understand it's symbolism or it just doesn't speak to me. I don't have a lot of knowledge on Christianity and I'm not religious myself and maybe that was required to understand it better. Visuals were fantastic though, especially for a movie that came out in 1985. Maybe it's like NGE where reading into some of it's symbolism and eventually rewatching it later is when I actually appreciate what it's trying to do. Actually, reading about an interpretation of this movie already kinda did change my view on it. Going into the movie with knowledge like this completely changes the viewing. |
PrOxAntoNov 4, 2020 9:54 AM
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