The Tragic Beauty Of...ANGEL'S EGG

[@scottgimple8107]

The background artist who drew the backgrounds for this also did berserk 1997

[@luvwad]

Angel egg taught me, sometime you have to be a bad guy, to be any good. Rather heartbreaking

[@bas9348]

I found the final part of your interpretation very interesting! I never looked at it as her being the last human and the world finally starting over when she joins the statues. To me the egg always was a symbol of something (empty/meaningless) she should let go but could not for some reason. And the man crushing the false egg finally set her free. But man this film is confusing as hell and there are so many ways to interpet things. I remember reading somewhere that even the director himself doesn’t really understand everything, it was mostly made on intuition.

[@felixludford1811]

Honestly my favourite manga channel, your so good at analysing and explaining media. Thanks for the video Ryan.

[@ONE_hooman]

I think Hidetaka Miyazaki taken a inspiration from this movie for Dark Souls 3 DLC "The Ringed City" also lore is very similar.

[@cubivores]

The inspiration for Ringed City is the most explicit but basically every Hidetaka Miyazaki game has some level of inspiration from this movie. In the worldbuilding alone you can see the similarities between the movie and Dark Souls where a mysterious, perilous world is punctuated by lonely individuals with their own goals. Bloodborne's world is highly inspired by the movie the fish are just swapped out for werewolves (maybe not even swapped out because the great ones are from the ocean).

[@ciscornBIG]

Imagine watching this before the internet had a word to say about it. I miss the 90s

[@vmoz9492]

It's like Blame! Where Blame is a hard Scifi and very open to interpretation Angel's egg is a hard Speculative fiction.

[@giuseppeagresta1425]

Damn I discovered this pearl only a month ago via YT edit The beauty of the animation and the weird and ominous imagery got me so curious in the story that I ended up watching the entire film the same day

[@jonathanmcculley3728]

I remember watching this movie years ago because it was an inspiration for the last Dark Souls 3 DLC. Nice to see it getting more attention.

[@TheKnightDrag0n]

"When the world rots, we set it afire. For the sake of the next world. It's the one thing we do right, unlike those fools on the outside."

[@daytimelantern6570]

This movie reminded me of Texhnolyze. Pondering the visuals and the limited dilouge in a grim world with more questions then answers.

[@jasonwaller6803]

My father was a theology major and I myself studied for few years. Some of the Bible itself can bring about nihilistic emotions...im saying straight up mental breakdown..from what get Oshii was going to seminary and had a crisis of faith, this is actually very common. His faith seems to be still part of his life and incorporates some of what he studied into his work.

[@bryanc7094]

Glad you finally covered this

[@dancreary3340]

Mad God is a good companion piece to Angel's Egg, but make sure to leave some time for a comedy afterwards because, damn.

[@norus7871]

dark souls 3's ringed city dlc has a major angel's egg reference

[@mikelevels1]

I've been trying to get around to watching this one for a while now. Can't wait to check it out soon. Thanks Ryan!

[@theoutlawtornfixxer]

Really been appreciating the classic anime reviews especially deeps cuts like this. Good work man.

[@Player-re9mo]

As a Christian I think your interpretation of the movie was interesting. This kind of movie is so abstract with it's symbolism that I believe it can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I am still not sure how to interpret the story as a whole. I think the boy was the angel/the pigeon and that he was sent to gather all people on the space ark. That's why he spent time with the girl, to know her better. But he has been doing this for such a long time that he forgot why he started? I think he destroyed the egg because it was the only thing keeping the girl from leaving or because he didn't want someone else like him to be born. He didn't want another angel to have to suffer like he did. I enjoy this type of movie, that let's you create your own story. It's quite fresh in spite of its age.

[@BratJalowiec]

So maybe pray to jesus to help you understanding this movie. He said if u have faith you can ask for literally anything and that would happen. So what are you waiting for? by the way u can also pray god for malaria to be removed, and that women from the Congo will stop having their breasts cut off.

[@Player-re9mo]

@@BratJalowiec I pray you'll become a less cringe person

[@BratJalowiec]

@@Player-re9moit is guaranteed it will not happen because JC is lier

[@Gabriel_Andrade]

@@BratJalowiec how old are you? you look like a nervous teenager who thinks he is cool and better than the others because he is different and doesn't believe what the others believe. you remind me of a boy I knew who was going through a rebellious phase and was constantly fighting with his parents, and who started to hate religion simply because he didn't want to be like his parents.

[@dieterpressolda1791]

Dark Souls 3 has a nice nod towards this film in a DLC. When's your next live stream? Haven't caught one in long time, hope to make it to the next. Stay safe, you terra chad.

[@SolBadguyZAC]

Oh I loved this video. Nice interpretation you have here.... Though you forget there are types of people who like to watch incredibly boring movies simply because of the surreal experience, like me. It's dreamlike presentation is perfect for a soothing and sometimes even therapeutic session.

[@TKUltra971]

Angels Egg was a incredible film. Totally avant garde but had excellent religious tones and interesting ways on how they incorporated them. Maybe growing up in church really made it resonate with me. But that ending shot whooo boy, if you didnt have goosbumps or your hair standing on end , i just dont know whats wrong with you.

[@greatestguru9635]

Nice take Ryan. You'll have more to tell us the more you watch it!

[@samsonsamson3066]

Loving this series Ryan, your analysis is second to none as always and it’s helping me discover hidden gems. Keep up the great work!

[@baalgar5530]

this film looks gorgeous

[@Kruskfar]

Great to see more of your mangamovies series

[@bryanZ17]

Great analysis. Saw this movie a few years ago and didnt know what to make of it

[@mattthekiller9129]

Excellent review as always 👍You should watch Appleseed from 1988, its the adaptation of another Masamune Shirow work

[@kajtekmccranck9978]

Thank you for your amazing video analysis! You really made good work! Regarding my analysis - I'll try to put it shortly: as we all struggle to understand specific meaning of all the symbols which we abstract from the movie and search for the advocacy in inner coherency of the symbols' meaning (correlation that seems logic: cross -> Christianity; egg -> source/unknown; birds -> angels/divinity; mechanical sun -> technology as modern deity etc.) we find out that all interpretations are more or less suitable and possible. We also agree that openness to different views is inherent to the movie, so to me the general AMBIGUITY of the movie is it's main feature (core) - just like in a dream (the movie is dream like and we know that dreams were Oshii's inspiration). Furthermore: religious symbolism, our own dreams, the reality that surrounds us - all that is AMBIGUOUS, so our reality is no better than reality in the movie. Or is our reality - on its very edge of understanding - surreal in the end? Once again! AMBIGUITY! All our symbols in religions are ambiguous, like our dreams and our understanding of our reality (what's really matter? what's energy? what was before the big bang?). The warrior says once to the girl: "keep your precious things inside you" - so we keep our obscure and intimate/internal dreams that send us back to the obscure (out/under)world of the Unknown and Spiritual. PS. Why does the mechanical sun descend from the sky (like the girl that jumps off the ark down to the town) and in the end rises from the sea (just like the girl's last breath when she fell into the water)? There is a strong relation between the sun god and the girl. It wakes her up, it asks the warrior at the beginning who is he; she also becomes the part of the sun when she dies (like a saint/enlighten). Once again - we are about to solve the symbolic riddle but than once again we end up with no or various answers - ambiguous! To sum up - the movie is to it's very core realistic and brings about a transformation to the viewer: from our basic everyday way of being to the deep and spiritual/meditative mode of consciousness so we can dive into the depths of our own subconsciousness (obscure god is already in us -> that's gnosis and medieval mysticism).

[@cobracmr4]

I love this fucking movie

[@yaboit3ngu763]

I've seen this movie lurking around bet I never was sold on watching It. still enjoyed this vid on it.

[@MEPSIPAX826]

Demolition D is gonna be pissed about this video, lol.

[@finalfrontier001]

Angel Egg needs sequel to reflects today's world.

[@dasuero7489]

Highly concur! Oshii and Shirow make this happen! You know, since Oshii has kind of returned to anime with that vampire or dark romance comedy slice of life

[@guts-0077]

Awesome video Ryan

[@j4nk3n]

To me angels egg always seemed more of an artistic statement rather than a coherent story, it's cool, but it's probably just an artistic excercise

[@jamescranley933]

The DarkSouls 3 dlc “the ringed city” borrowed a fair bit of imagery from this anime

[@mrsticky005]

My interpretation. It's a weird bird egg and the dude was hungry.

[@vindurza]

Given what just happened in America today this video is extremely well timed especially the feelings you interpreted from it

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

I just watched it few days ago. Some experience I should say P.S. I should say I found it many years ago. But only recently I decided to finally watch it.

[@josemachina3996]

That’s fucked up that the girl died in order to restart the world again

[@VICVIPER-dp1di]

I have a strong feeling that you'd like Macross Plus

[@Orkillester1]

Ryan, I will give you one more interpretation of the ending here. I grew up religious, went into the wilderness if you will for awhile and faith is becoming a part of my life again. I echo another comment that having a crisis of faith at some point is actually normal if you are seriously engaging scripture and the community around it (community is actually the more important part, something no one ever talks about in the mainstream). What immediately came to my mind as you described the ending was John 12:24. Jesus compares what the life of a faithful person should look like to that of a seed, which here could be represented by the egg. Both things are the beginning of a new life. Anyways, Jesus states that unless a seed is allowed to fall into the ground and then to die, it will never grow into the full life it has the potential to become. However in this process, the original form of the seed is destroyed. Likewise with eggs - they hold the potential of a much more complex form of new life. But if the egg never hatches, it will remain just that - an egg. In the process of birthing new life, of creating something, the original form of the egg is destroyed and lost. Having not seen the film my interpretation is very limited but the girl could be clinging to her life in it's current state - it is not all it could be, but it is comfortable. She understands it. She can know for sure what will happen tomorrow and the next day. Until the egg is destroyed, this is how she will live out her days - predictable, comfortable, and fully contained within her understanding. I'm sure you're realizing how... small of an existence this would turn out to be, so much smaller than the new world that is possible. And we see this once the egg is destroyed, the girl loses her life, and the world is reborn.

[@jasonwaller6803]

What is man but a furious angel with his wings nailed to the ground..

[@rawbert1491]

Looks amazing

[@walmartian422]

You have very similar taste to mine. You should do an overview of Metropolis.

[@ryuusaki7309]

Don’t they have this movie on KZbin in full

[@dandydante7924]

Tenshi No Tamago is my favourite movie of all time ♡

[@Dionaea_floridensis]

Classic!

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

Angels Egg > 2001:Space Odyssey

[@nikolamanojlovic3764]

I like your interpretation, it's similar to what I thought, I just didn't think about how birds might replace humanity, but that makes sense considering God wasn't happy with humans so he might have wanted to try a different species. Although he did wipe out all of the old animals as well so I'm not sure. Skeleton to whom egg belonged to looked quite humanoid, so it might be an angel, and same with all the other "birds". To me it seemed like it had themes of rebirth, like that girl got reborn as angel and thus was able to go to mechanical ship (either God, or some construcion he sent to earth). there were bunch of trails of feathers leading to sea in the end, seems to me they came from angels reborn from eggs. It seems like guy knows much more than he tells, he seems like a guiding figure. Egg seems like somthing that held the girl back. Also since he said sentence at the beginning which we later see said to girl, it seems like all of this keeps happening again and again like a loop, reminds me of devilman a bit. Maybe the girl had a role she didn't fulfill so is now being punished idk

[@kenahjonel7407]

Does anyone know where to watch the full movie?

[@lawrencefrost9063]

I just watched this. I don't even know.

[@IamOutOfNames]

Haven't seen the movie (yet), but I've heard many people talk about it over the years and watching the clips and dialogue I've always got one very strong impression from it, but it wasn't before now that I heard that the director was losing faith in christianity that I feel like I was right all along. First, to call Japanese culture hiarchical, authoritarian and demanding of conformity is not a joke, and remembering all the horror stories of christian fundamentalists in much more liberal and "freedom loving" western societies and imagining them happening in a society that values obedience and shuns questioning... yeah, dark and cold ruin of Noah's arc that is sinking while it's crew is busy in futile hunting of shadows seems like a perfect metafor for just how badly that could go. Blind obedience to rote motions and forgetting what is truly important; cause and purpose. To me the Egg and the Bird strongly come across as a symbols of hope, that their time on that dark and cold world would come to an end, one way or another. If I remember correctly in the bible Noah sent a bird to scout, and when it returned with fresh leaf from a tree he knew it was time to end their trial and find land to start a new life on. But in this world people forgot there was a bird or even land under the waters (mentioned in 7:34), so they are stuck where they are, doing what they do, unable to move on. Too busy hunting shadows to find land, to even remember there is a land... Bird represents an end to that, I can't see it any other way, and the egg is the promise of the Bird, promise of the change to come. Girl would then represent someone who looks beyond the "now", of going through the motions like always, of not remembering why they are even done, someone who is not content to just follow but hopes and believes in change... to better world, deliverance, salvation? A true faith, if you will. So who's the Man then? A mentor and protector, offering guidance for the Girl, I noticed he looks tired and weary in pretty much every scene, like he's seen this all many times before. And after the Girl shares with him what she believes and hopes the Egg would be he takes the cross, the very symbol of the faith itself and crushes the Egg, showing it to be hollow and empty. A violation and desecration of her trust and faith, and not at all subtle about it. And finally, after her tragic death her image is preserved, but not like she was when she died, but in idolised form holding the Egg, still believing in it. One statue among many others that are shown praying. If those statues represent their counterparts as honestly... well, that's a depressing thought now, isn't it? Well, that's how it's always come across to me, anyways. I should probably watch it someday to find out how badly I was wrong. I'll add it to the "list"...

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

I have more grounded view. The guy, breaking an egg is a metaphor of intercourse. And after the girl sees the broken egg she matures physically. I understood is that she has lost her virginity, and therefore naiveté. But this anime is so bizzare and doesn't give any answers. So the interpretations are endless.

[@RyanTheMan000]

*How do small woman shidded egg big??*

[@owaves4488]

Shid moment

[@hoodclassic910]

Looks like a acid trip 😂 is there a English dub

[@RealLifeRyan]

Not that I could find but there’s barely any dialogue anyway

[@DeidaraSanji]

I was expecting so much before watching it, but after reading Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou, Angel's Egg left me kinda underwhelmed. I know comparing a mid-length manga with a 1-hour something OVA is not right but, Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou tells the same story, gives the same message and has the same setting but does everything WAY better. Still a good piece of art tho.

[@Jermstuckonpercs]

What

[@nazaren45]

🙂👍

[@nazaren45]

Итрсна итпритций що нжно бло сми пмерит би прзпуски мир

[@indigodande4345]

The girl pursues her faith differently than the fishermen. They run chaotically and greedily all over town destroying things and never catching a fish... The girl carrying the egg is illuminated and glowing in most shots also she collected the water repeatedly almost joyously. I think her introduction to the tree story was like eve waking up. While the man is a priest but not divine. Hes pretty much obsessed with watching her and watching that eyeball in the sky. I still feel like he raped her/violated her. Taking away what was her choice to attempt to hatch the egg versus breaking it open. He did it without her consent. There is no proof that the egg would not have hatched had they been patient. He was impatient after seeing the Angel on the wall aka breaking the egg. There must be some sort of japanese social undertone here I am missing interpretation on but picking up vibe wise. His choice to force the girl/holiness to the crux of rape/egg break. Reminds me of the pressure of Rod Reiss in attack on titan. Rod Reiss obsesses over the titan power and royalty but never wants to become the titan himself. Instead hes some crazy ass follower of the titan power. Another example of this social awkwardness around witnessing divinity but not embodying itself by the person chasing it - is Shinji Ikari's dad. He obsesses over the human instrumentality project... but is willing to watch/obsess over Rei becoming lilith. or Shinji being the vehicle to divinity. Aka like willing sacrifice... but never man enough to do the job himself or to embody the power they obsess over. Its very japanese.... I also feel like the characters are in some sort of time loop. He stares at the eye at the beginning. Which is noted to have the goddess statues in prayer. He reveres that eye god thingy. They are statues...almost like buddist statues you see at temples. I feel an overlay of Buddhism and Christianity here. maybe he stares often enough and does the loop so many times hes forgotten. However the girl offers something different. He chooses to willingly sacrifice her egg because he knows shes different. By the end of the movie.. he doesnt care if he possibly drowns in the water. He is witnessing that a change to the eye has indeed occurred. The man has forced his physical tangible will / faith and has witnessed physically that the girl physically has died and some how reincarnated / transmutated spiritually onto the eyeball with her own differentiated shrine which represents some sort of honor achieved. The eyeball is God. He will never be eternally honored on that eyeball. She returned to "source" with the egg." hes still just standing all alone on that beach. He isnt greedy like the fishermen, he is patient but physically to involved in the tangible world of his faith and forces it. The girl didnt force but just faith the egg would hatch. Because of his force he will never return to source/peace. The girl didnt force it - she returned to source and has peace. He will never experience true enlightenment. He said the bird never returned to noah's ark. Yet the girl believes the bird is within the egg. There is hope still she believes. By sacrificing her... she promulgates hope further in more eggs. Hes a sort of destructive force always stomping out faith aka like churches and clergy. His cross actually weighs him down.