Angel's Egg

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Expand language Template:Infobox animanga/Header Template:Infobox animanga/Video Template:Infobox animanga/Footer Template:Nihongo is a Japanese art film original video animation (OVA) written and directed by Mamoru Oshii.<ref name=":1" /> Released by Tokuma Shoten on 15 December 1985,<ref name="allcinema">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the film was a collaboration between artist Yoshitaka Amano and Oshii. The film stars two nameless characters, a young girl who protects an egg, who bonds with a boy who has a dream about a bird.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was the first original project by Oshii and carries themes found in his other works.<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It features very little spoken dialogue and a story that is strongly allegorical which has led to many viewers being confused about the film's supposed meaning.<ref name=":1" /> The film uses Biblical allusions and has been described as a cult classic.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Plot

The setting of the film takes place in a primordial land, filled with trees, a seashore, a mysterious mechanical sun, various ruins of buildings and two nameless characters.<ref name=":3" /> One of these is a young girl who scavenges a desolate city while protecting a large egg, which she believes will hatch into an angel.<ref name=":5" /> The other is a boy who disembarks from a tank.<ref name=":5" />

The girl encounters the boy, who questions her about what the egg contains and suggests breaking it. At first horrified by his suggestion, the girl tries to run away. She eventually lets him follow her, leading to their brief bonding.<ref name=":2" /> The boy still wishes to break the egg to see what is inside.<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He recounts the story of Noah's Ark, but a version in which the raven was never released, the dove was only released once, and after that did not return, leading the ark to continue sailing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He ponders the world and existence, and theorizes that the bird never existed. The girl tells the boy that the bird did exist, and brings him to a fossil of an angel.

Later, the boy smashes the girl's egg while she sleeps.<ref name=":2" /> This prompts her to chase after him and ultimately fall into a body of water, where her final breath is transformed at the surface of the water into a large number of eggs. The boy observes the girl, now a stone statue, sitting on a throne among the other stone statues of people on the mechanical sun. Afterwards, the world shown in the film is revealed to be on top of a shape that looks like the hull of an overturned ship.

Voice actors

• Jinpachi Nezu – Boy
• Mako Hyōdō – Girl

Production

Angel's Egg repurposes ideas that Oshii developed for a cancelled Lupin the Third film. Both concepts feature the theme of questioning existence (Lupin's existence in the cancelled film, and the bird from Noah's ark in Angel's Egg), and involve the fossil of an angel<ref>「インタビュー押井守 幻の押井ルパンは『虚構を盗む』はずだった」『THEルパン三世FILES ルパン三世全記録 〜増補改訂版〜』キネマ旬報社、1998年、p.36</ref> Oshii himself said that Angel's Egg was another attempt at the idea<ref>『『スカイ・クロラ』公開記念押井マニア、知ったかぶり講座！ 』Webアニメスタイル/藤津亮太、2008年 「その後で作った『天使のたまご』（85）に、そういうものが全部流れ込んじゃったということはありますね。“天使の化石”を持ち込んで、成立しなかった僕のルパンの復讐戦だったんです」　http://www.style.fm/as/13_special/oshii008.shtml Template:Webarchive</ref> and anime critic Template:Ill has said that Angel's Egg (and the first Patlabor movie) would not have existed if Oshii had made the Lupin film.<ref>『『スカイ・クロラ』公開記念押井マニア、知ったかぶり講座！ 』Webアニメスタイル/藤津亮太、2008年 「押井のフィルモグラフィーを振り返ってみると、もし押井ルパンが成立していたら、少なくとも『天使のたまご』と『機動警察パトレイバー［劇場版］』は存在しなかったといえる。」　http://www.style.fm/as/13_special/oshii008.shtml Template:Webarchive</ref> Oshii has also stated that the entire angel fossil concept used in Angel's Egg was directly taken from Lupin,<ref>『アニメージュ1985年12月号付録「天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK」徳間書店、1985年　「設定を流用したのは“天使の化石”だけなんです。」</ref> and compares the relationship between the boy and girl to that in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.<ref>『アニメージュ1985年12月号付録「天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK」徳間書店、1985年　「こういう人間関係は、テネシー・ウィリアムズの「ガラスの動物園」に出てくるんです。ずっとなにかを待ちつづける女の子がいて、そこにある男がやってきて、それで去っていく。他者に出会って、世界が新しくなる、という話」</ref>

Many of the themes and elements in Angel's Egg were originally from Oshii's cancelled Lupin the 3rd film.<ref>『『スカイ・クロラ』公開記念押井マニア、知ったかぶり講座！ 』Webアニメスタイル/藤津亮太、2008年 「その後で作った『天使のたまご』（85）に、そういうものが全部流れ込んじゃったということはありますね。“天使の化石”を持ち込んで、成立しなかった僕のルパンの復讐戦だったんです」　http://www.style.fm/as/13_special/oshii008.shtml Template:Webarchive</ref> However, only the angel fossil remains unchanged from its planned appearance.<ref>『アニメージュ1985年12月号付録「天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK」徳間書店、1985年　「設定を流用したのは“天使の化石”だけなんです。」</ref>

The film is a collaboration between Amano and Oshii.<ref name=":3" /> Oshii originally intended on making a comedy film, with film starting with the girl with the egg first getting off a flying ark in front of a Japanese convenience store, but changed his mind and decided to make it a pure fantasy film after seeing Amano's art.<ref>天野由衣子、ヴァーンフリート（奥津英敏、平野奈津美、山本友美） 編「押井守クロニクル 天使のたまご」『押井守ワークス+スカイ・クロラ』宝島社、79頁。ISBN 978-4-7966-6393-9</ref><ref>アアニメージュ編集部「付録『天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK』」『アニメージュ』1985年12月号、徳間書店、1985年12月, pg 38.</ref> Oshii said that he wanted to remove a narrative as much as possible, and keep the film simple, using animation as an expression to draw out a story,<ref>押井守『すべての映画はアニメになる』徳間書店、2004年。ISBN 978-4198618285 pg 103-104 「物語性は極力排除して、シンプルにする。アニメーションの面白くて、豊かな表現力を積み重ねて、その上で物語性を出す様にする」</ref> and fill it with symbolic expressions and metaphors "like Jung's archetypes and collective unconscious".<ref>大日本絵画刊「押井守・映像機械論[メカフィリア]」押井守/竹内敦志 pg 74-75 「カール・グスタフ・ユングの分析心理学の『元型』『集合的無意識』の要領であらゆるモチーフを象徴的表現・暗喩で埋め尽くす」</ref>

Angel's Egg touches on themes that are common in Oshii's films, including references to the Christian Bible, the symbolism of dreams, as well as the intersection of dreams and reality. Some of these themes appear in his other works, such as 1984's Beautiful Dreamer.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> The New York Japan Society says the film is "An allegorical fantasy enriched by symbolism and biblical allusion."<ref name=":3" />

Although some publications have indicated that the film is built on director Oshii's supposed loss of faith in Christianity,<ref name="soc-oshii" /> Oshii himself has stated otherwise in saying that he was not a Christian, but that he thought quotes from the Bible were cool and had a friend who was Christian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The misconception that Oshii was a man of faith has its origins in an interview that was likely mistranslated, in which Oshii is reported to say, "I planned to enter a seminary at one point, but didn't." Which is then followed up by the interviewer asking, "Are you a Christian, or do you just like the Bible for its philosophy?" To which Oshii replies, "For its philosophy." In the same Animerica interview Oshii also said, "I'm not a Christian, but I've been reading the Bible since my student days".<ref name=":1" />

In a 1996 interview with the magazine Animerica, Oshii stated that he made the film because it had elements that intrigued him, such as "Ruins; I like ruins; I like museums; I like fish; I like birds; I like water... and I like girls." He also stated that ruins appear to him in his dreams.<ref name=":1" />

Oshii said in a 1985 interview with Animage that the contents of the egg are supposed to represent dreams and hopes, something that may or may not exist, and that while the girl believed in what was in it, by breaking the egg, the boy showed that what she believed in did not exist.<ref>『アニメージュ1985年12月号付録「天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK」徳間書店、1985年　「少女はたまごの中身を信じているわけだけど、その中身は、いまここにはないものである。つまり、“たまごは割ってみなければ、なかになにが入っているかわからない”。それで、少年がたまごを割ったときに、なかにはなにもなかった。少女は“ないもの”を信じて生きていたわけです。たまごは、ことばを変えていえば、夢とか希望だと思う。それは、いまここにはないもので、可能性として存在しているだけである。しかし、夢とか希望を信じているうちは、人は、ほんとの現実には出あっていないのだ、と思う。」</ref> Regarding the bird the boy talks about, though the girl shows the boy an angel fossil in order to convince him that the bird does exist, Oshii has stated that the angel is not the bird.<ref>『アニメージュ1985年12月号付録「天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK」徳間書店、1985年　「もう鳥はいないんだ、天使の化石は鳥ではなかった。」</ref> Oshii also said that the ending was one with salvation for the girl, but he did not want it to be shown in a straightforward way, and made it hard to understand.<ref>『アニメージュ1985年12月号付録「天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK」徳間書店、1985年　「ラストでは、少女のほうには救いを託したつもりなんです。でも、いかにも予定調和に出てくるんじゃなくて、ある種のわかりにくさを持たせてますけど。」</ref>

The angel fossil was later reused alongside other elements from Oshii's cancelled Lupin film in 009 RE:CYBORG, which Oshii was initially supposed to direct and participated in the script for, and was eventually directed by Kenji Kamiyama, a student of Oshii.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kamiyama describes this version of the angel fossil as indication of a god, but not of any particular religion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The angel fossil was also used in the tenth episode of Lupin the 3rd Part 6 which Oshii wrote the script for<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Darwin's Bird"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In this episode Fujiko Mine is hired by the archangel Michael to steal the angel fossil, which is actually that of the fallen angel Lucifer, on behalf of his master.<ref>ルパン三世 part6 第10話『ダーウィンの鳥』 「あしたの子明星よ。いかにして天より隕ちしや」「私の主人が望んだのは、彼の不興を買って天界から墜ちた者の回収だ」</ref>

Nezu worked with Oshii once again in Patlabor 2: The Movie<ref name="allcinema-patlabor2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Mako Hyōdō played a supporting role in The Sky Crawlers.<ref name="allcinema-skycrawlers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Style

The film has elements that are not typical for anime film productions of that era. It uses a limited color palette making it almost monochrome.<ref name=":5" /> The film has very little dialogue.<ref name=":1" /> The film is unusual because it contains only 400 cuts when the typical animation has three times that amount.<ref name=":5" />

Production and release

The documentation for the project was written in one night by Toshio Suzuki (producer) but Oshii was displeased with it and did not use it. However, the title of the film, Template:Nihongo, was from Suzuki, where Oshii's original title was Template:Nihongo.<ref>押井守『勝つために戦え！〈監督ゼッキョー篇〉』徳間書店、2010年。ISBN 978-4198630072 pg 341</ref><ref>大日本絵画刊「押井守・映像機械論[メカフィリア]」押井守/竹内敦志 pg 74-75</ref>

Oshii began writing the script with the main theme of a dream seen by a girl, continuing from Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, but thinking that a script alone would not be enough to get the project approved, invited Amano to make image boards for the proposal. He also showed the image boards to the animators to get ideas from them.<ref>アニメック編集部「「新春対談 押井守 VS 天野喜孝 『天たまについて』」、「解説 天使のたまご －押井守監督に聞く－」」『アニメック』1986年3月号、ラポート、 March 1986</ref> There was no definitive script, but rather a collection of ideas noted down like "annunciation" "ark" "setting sun" "a boy holding a cross riding a tank" which were immediately turned into storyboards, and then fitted together, which Oshii says had the intention of making a film without clear drama, made out of visual expressions, like one by Andrei Tarkovsky.<ref>ビー・エヌ・エヌ刊「アニメーションの脚本術」野崎透著 pg 96</ref>

Amano had initially been slated to work on Oshii's cancelled Lupin film, which anime critic Ryota Fujitsu says makes it obvious that Angel's Egg was inherited from Lupin.<ref>まず代表的なものは、『天使のたまご』。アートディレクションとして天野嘉孝（現・喜孝）が引き続き参加していることからも、ルパンからの継続は明確だ。 http://www.style.fm/as/13_special/oshii008.shtml Template:Webarchive</ref> While Amano was originally invited to work on character designs, Oshii liked his art enough that he ended up in the role of art direction, also designing image boards, and other things such as posters.<ref>徳間書店刊「アニメージュ」1985年7月号「押井守監督作品 天使のたまご その不可思議な物語世界への誘い 作品世界とキャラクター」 pg 27-30</ref>

Release

Angel's Egg was released in the direct-to-video format on 15 December 1985 by Tokuma Shoten.<ref name="apdn1999">Template:Cite book</ref> It was additionally given a limited theatrical release that same year.<ref name=":5" /> Although Angel's Egg was highly acclaimed by critics and people in the animation industry in Japan on release, it also resulted in Oshii being labeled as a director who made films hard to understand, which resulted in him being hired far less frequently for years up until he got involved with Patlabor.<ref>宮崎駿「絵コンテを読んで 通俗文化の宿命」『天使のたまご絵コンテ集』徳間書店、1985</ref><ref>『『スカイ・クロラ』公開記念押井マニア、知ったかぶり講座！ 』Webアニメスタイル/藤津亮太、2008 「押井ルパンのような挑発的な映画を作ってしまったとしたら、やはり『天使のたまご』の時のように、仕事が激減したことだけは間違いないことのように思う。」　http://www.style.fm/as/13_special/oshii008.shtml Template:Webarchive</ref> Speaking at an animation film festival in 1997 through a translator, Oshii explained the film did not do well financially upon release and was an obstacle to him getting work again for years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The 71-minute OVA would later be used as the skeleton for the 1987 live-action independent film In the Aftermath directed by Carl Colpaert. Colpaert's movie occasionally intercuts with footage from Oshii's Angel's Egg with dubbed over dialogue, which does not appear in Oshii's film.

The film was released on Blu-ray disc in 2013 in Japan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Angel's Egg was screened at Japan Society on 14 October 2022 and later on 10 September 2023 with Amano in attendance.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 29 May 2024, GKIDS announced that they had acquired the North American distribution rights to the film, with the licensor planning to give the film a 4K restoration which will be supervised by Oshii as well as screening the film nationwide in theaters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception

Japanese reception

The film saw mostly positive reception from critics and industry professionals on and around release.

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko said that the reason the film feels like something new is because it is not merely a montage of disjointed scenes, but a complete world depicted within 80 minutes. He also compared the art in the film to the modernism in Belladonna of Sadness, being beautiful but also dangerous.<ref>徳間書店刊「アニメージュ」1985年11月号「'85冬 原画アップ!6人の原画マンが語る不思議な魅力『天使のたまご』」pp.16-17、「初顔合わせ対談 安彦良和VS押井守 演出家にとって作家性とはなにか?」pg 30-34</ref>

Haruhiko Mikimoto expressed appreciation for the art direction, particularly having characters with color in front of monotone backgrounds, the use of silhouettes in the backgrounds, and the use of barely visible objects in the dark in backgrounds. He also said that Angel's Egg brought out the best merit of an OVA, which is letting the creator make what they want to make, and that he felt the quality of the film meant it would not be out of place in a movie theater.<ref>徳間書店刊「アニメージュ」1986年1月号「新春横断企画 第一線で活躍するアニメ関係者が推薦 '86年のホープを探せ!」p.20「押井守監督作品 天使のたまご」pg 60-61</ref>

Shoji Kokami had high praise for the film, saying that it is a "two-dimensional poem of images given form" that "should be valued as a pinnacle of the media of animation."<ref>徳間書店刊「アニメージュ」1986年2月号「『ルパン』を降りた押井守『天使のたまご』を監督」 pg 21 「これは物語の形を変えたイメージ・詩の集積物です。結晶化されたイメージが二次元の詩として、画面に立ち現れます。アニメの1つの到達点として評価されるべきものでしょう」</ref>

Anime critic and producer Template:Ill also had high praise for the film, saying the apocalyptic setting, religious aspects, and lack of life in it both appeals to and bewilders fans of science fiction. He also contrasted the film with Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer and Dallos, saying that while they were about giving meaning to a fictional world, it makes an abnormal world to give the characters meaning.<ref>徳間書店刊「アニメージュ」1986年3月号「押井守が『美しきフィクション世界』から放った 人間へのレクイエム」pg 106</ref>

The film has gained more critical acclaim from critics and industry professionals in later years, with people such as Shoji Kawamori,<ref>押井守『すべての映画はアニメになる』徳間書店、2004年。ISBN 978-4198618285 pg 106-107</ref> Ryu Mitsuse,<ref>押井守『すべての映画はアニメになる』徳間書店、2004年。ISBN 978-4198618285 pg 118-119</ref> Hideo Osabe,<ref>押井守『すべての映画はアニメになる』徳間書店、2004年。ISBN 978-4198618285 pg 177-179</ref> Takashi Murakami,<ref> キネマ旬報社刊「キネマ旬報」1995年11月上旬号「JAPANIMATION SPLASH!」pg 24-25</ref> and director Template:Ill<ref>押井守『すべての映画はアニメになる』徳間書店、2004年。ISBN 978-4198618285 pg 161</ref> heaping praise on it.

Hayao Miyazaki was more critical of the film, and recounts that Toru Horikoshi, who was a producer for Nippon TV at the time, fell asleep watching the film, and that while Michihiko Suwa of Yomiuri TV approved it for a TV broadcast, he said that he did not understand the film.<ref>宮崎駿「絵コンテを読んで 通俗文化の宿命」『天使のたまご絵コンテ集』徳間書店、1985</ref> Miyazaki himself said regarding the film that he "appreciates the effort, but it is not something others would understand"<ref>宮崎駿「絵コンテを読んで 通俗文化の宿命」『天使のたまご絵コンテ集』徳間書店、1985 「努力は評価するが、他人には通じない」</ref> and of Oshii "he goes on a one-way journey without thinking of how to get back".<ref>「宮崎駿の功罪」（押井と上野俊哉との対談）『クリエイターズファイル 宮崎駿の世界』竹書房<バンブームック>、2004</ref>

Oshii recounts that his mother said upon watching the film that nobody would watch his films anymore.<ref>押井守『すべての映画はアニメになる』徳間書店、2004年。ISBN 978-4198618285 pg 104</ref>

Western reception

Western critics found the film confusing, citing its allegory, symbolism, and ending, as the reasons.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Brian Ruh stated that it was "one of the most beautiful and lyric films in the animated medium."Template:Sfn Some western critics say that the film is difficult to understand, with visuals and narrative that is both cryptic, convoluted, and allegorical.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":0" /> Jason Thompson writing in Viz Media's online magazine J-pop compared the film's style to Night on the Galactic Railroad while noting that the meaning of the film may be elusive, stating "Angel's Egg stands as an evocation of a mood and world which is powerful in spite of -- perhaps because of -- not being consciously understood."<ref name=":0" /> Kara Dennison of Otaku USA said "Mamoru Oshii's 1985 collaboration with Yoshitaka Amano is one of the most beautiful anime committed to film."<ref name=":4" />

Anime News Network writer Lynzee Loveridge compared the film's tone and style to Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness and René Laloux's film Fantastic Planet and said "There is little else like in the animation medium and fans of thoughtful, experimental works can only hope that more legitimate exposure may lead to broader availability."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Helen McCarthy called it "an early masterpiece of symbolic film-making", stating that "its surreal beauty and slow pace created a Zen-like atmosphere, unlike any other anime".Template:Sfn In his book Horror and Science Fiction Film IV, Donald C Willis described the film as "a haunting, poetic melancholic science-fantasy film, and–for non-Japanese-speaking viewers at least–a very cryptic one."Template:Sfn Willis also included the film in his list of most memorable films from 1987 to 1997.Template:Sfn In an article in Senses of Cinema on Oshii, Richard Suchenski stated that the film was Oshii's "purest distillation of both Oshii's visual mythology and his formal style". The review noted that "Patlabor 2 is more sophisticated, Ghost in the Shell is more important, and Avalon is more mythically complex but the low-tech, hand-drawn Angel's Egg remains Oshii's most personal film."<ref name="soc-oshii">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

See also

• Seraphim 266613336Wings

Footnotes

References

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Mamoru Oshii's Angel's Egg
• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0208502

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