November 21, 2025

Can't be a fool, son, what about the long run?

Angel's Egg is something else, for varying definitions of "something" and also "else."

by Rollin Bishop

I'd known roughly three things about Angel's Egg, the 1985 animated OVA directed by Ghost in the Shell's Mamoru Oshii in collaboration with renowned artist Yoshitaka Amano of Final Fantasy fame, ahead of actually seeing it: Oshii and Amano were both involved, the release and restoration itself was notable, and it was popularly considered to be inscrutable.

I'd told the two companions that saw the new 4K restoration in the theater with me earlier this week as much immediately prior to watching. Despite this, I couldn't resist; GKIDS brought Angel's Egg to nationwide theaters in the United States for the first time, and who was I not to take them up on this? As the credits rolled afterward and we sat in collective silence, I turned to my compatriots and said, "Well, right on all counts."

"Even though Angel’s Egg has come to be acclaimed, it was not a financial success and almost tanked Oshii’s career in the '80s," said Brian Ruh, writer of Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii, as part of an interview for a piece from re:frame's Kam at Animation Magazine reflecting on the feature's historical place and significance. Having seen Angel's Egg for myself now, I can see why folks might have struggled with it back when it was first released.

In fact, I still have no idea what happened in Angel's Egg. This is not a complaint exactly, but merely a statement of fact. Angel's Egg intentionally obscures what happened to the world and its people and why prior to the beginning of the feature. It is unclear what happens to the world and its people and why during, and it is unclear what happens to the world and its people and why after.

This is perhaps the point, assuming there is one. Angel's Egg is more interested in strange, beautiful imagery and allegory than in exact narrative cohesion or worldbuilding. A young girl takes care of an egg in a deserted mysterious city and a boy with a cross-like weapon approaches her. They disagree about what might be in the egg. There's barely any dialogue, and a solid chunk recounts a version of the Biblical tale of Noah's ark. The Christian symbolism is not subtle.

Here's GKIDS' official attempt at describing what's going on in Angel's Egg for comparison's sake: "In an underwater city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. A boy with a gun arrives in search of a bird he saw in his dream. At first, it seems as if feelings of sympathy are developing between the two."

A good amount of the movie seems more interested in watching shadows on water, reflections and refractions and distortions. The flow and movement of water in general is maybe the most consistent theme throughout. The girl collects it in giant jugs, and drinks it. The city floods, as does the place she sleeps. The oddly primordial woods have shallow lakes. The designs of metal objects like grates are in waves, and there's an extremely prevalent fish motif throughout from the stained glass to the odd, ghostly fishermen that inhabit the empty city.

If all of this sounds like a particularly trippy experience, let me assure you: it is. The colors and distinctly Amano-flavored art are visually arresting from start to finish, the lack of dialogue leaving the mind to wander and fill in the spaces between what's known and unknown. The intricate design of the sun-like mechanical object that falls and rises and the dozens and dozens of figures attached to it as well as the shrill, high-pitched scream of its descent and ascent fascinates.

I look forward to the upcoming physical home video release from GKIDS in part because I, personally, am on the record as being a big supporter of physical media in general. But I also look forward to it because there's a chunk somewhere in the middle of Angel's Egg that I struggle to recall. I can't tell if the wavy animation and lack of dialogue put me to sleep — it was a 9:15pm showing, and I am becoming an old man — or if I simply briefly disassociated while watching an experimental movie for which I'd been wholly unprepared.

I don't know if I like Angel's Egg, or if "liking" it even matters, but I do know I like that it exists.