Angel’s Egg

Two souls wander a desolate landscape with no destination and only the vaguest notion of purpose.  For a girl, it is to guard an egg that is the most precious thing in the world to her.  For a boy, he only wants to know what’s sleeping inside of the egg.  Together these two ponder the meaning of their existence and how the world came to be.  All the while, the contents of the egg remain a tempting mystery to be solved…but should it be?

So this is a bit of a weird one to look at.  When it comes to Mamoru Oshii’s filmography, I’m mostly just familiar with his work on Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor and Panzer Kerberos.  Granted all of those titles share a lot of his artistic styles, especially when it comes to letting the animation and music do all the talking while we watch and ponder.  Angel’s Egg is that approach on full display: a visual journey into a very dark and confusing unknown with only two near silent protagonists for guides.  It’s ridiculously beautiful, it’s super heavy with it’s content.  And really, I’m still wonder how I should grade it.  Guess we’ll figure it out along the way.
 
Like several other Oshii works like Patlabor: The Movie and Ghost in the Shell, there’s religious imagery and symbolism built into the very heart of nearly every frame of Angel’s Egg.  The most important biblical reference is the story of Noah’s Ark, or rather a pretty grim alternative take that is implied to have led to the creation of this beautifully dark clash of time periods and settings.  It’s constantly raining in an old timey looking European City where Fisherman throw spears at shadows of fish they’ll never catch.  Futuristic bio tanks roam the streets and a giant mechanical eye monument thingy ascends to the sky like it came straight out of 1981’s Heavy Metal.  Heck, if you really want the proverbial nail on the subject matter, the Boy carries a pretty cool looking cross shaped weapon that never gets used outside of one time and exactly in the way you’d expect.  How this world came to be is never explained in great detail and arguably is one of Angel’s Egg’s greatest strengths, letting the visuals allow you to draw your own conclusions.
 
Actually, it’s when the Girl and Boy actually talk about anything that the movie doesn’t work for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Oshii’s scripts and how heady and philosophical they can get.  Heck I’m probably one of the few who gives Ghost in the Shell 2 a pass for its over excess in that department.  But Angel’s Egg is a different kind of beast, one where I think the film works a lot less without any spoken dialogue.  Anytime the Boy and Girl share a conversation about the Egg itself or how they came to be in this world, I kind of wanted to say “Um…can you guys just not talk and let me enjoy the pretty pictures?”  It’s one of those rare cases where the movie works as a feature length, dialogue free experience, like the SDF in Tokyo scene from Patlabor 2 or any number of similar scenes from Ghost in the Shell.  Just let the vacant expressions of the Boy and Girl do the heavy lifting.  It adds more to the mystery of what’s going on and what’s inevitably about to happen.
 
So yeah Angel’s Egg is easily one of the most beautiful Anime I have ever seen EVER!!!  This is the kind of work of art that belongs in an Anime Museum along with the likes of Akira and the constantly mentioned Ghost in the Shell.  So much hard work went into crafting this dark and beautiful world filled to the brim with Gothic ambience.  Whether its still frames that last for minutes on end (one scene definitely gave off Rei and Asuka in the elevator vibes from Evangelion, even started humming Tequilla from the Evangelion Re:Death parody haha), or something more elaborate like the fisherman sequence, this was not an easy piece to work on to make it look so good as it does.  I mean look at the Girls hair, it’s a character in and of itself with how well its animated, like every strand has its own individual existence or something along those lines.  We also shouldn’t forget the animation true partner in crime, not the writing but the score, that freaking score.  Yoshihiro Kanno (no not related to that other infamous Kanno) gives us an unforgettable operatic masterpiece that chills, borderline scares but always feels enchanting and inviting.  This is why spoken dialogue isnt necessary for Angel’s Egg.  The music and animation compliment each other that well to provide a kind of experience few Anime of past or present have every yielded.
 
So how should I grade Angel’s Egg?  I’ve gushed about its production value and very strong use of visuals and sounds.  The story is there but does feel a little impenetrable and as I’ve said a lot in this review, keeping the characters mute would go a long way to giving this one a near perfect 10/10.  Taking all of that into account, I’d still highly recommend Angel’s Egg as a must see piece of experimental Anime filmmaking by one of the greatest masters of the genre.  Tthe haunting visuals and equally haunting musical tones are everything you need to get the most out of your journey through this bizarre world where nothing makes sense…unless you’re really into breaking down every single religious and existential factoid and image in which case you’re gonna have a blast.
 
9/10