I think artists generally avoid answering the big questions about their art because they want it and it's message to stand on its own. Not because they don't "know" what it means, because of course they do. They put it all there for a reason. But if they tell you what it means or why the made it, the artist can feel as if their art failed by having to explain it. Like a good joke, if you have to explain it, you don't feel like it was a successful joke.

I always figured when Oshi says "i dont know what it means" what he's really saying is "i dont know if im ready to acknowledge what it means"

Dude holy shit, this might be the best original analysis I've seen you come up with, your religious background and familiarity with psychoanalysis played perfectly into it.

The fishes' shadows, are those of an actual fish called "Coelacanths", thought to be extinct a long time ago and only in recent years found to be still living today! Cheers!

This film was like a stab of anguish, it reminded me of my childhood when after questioning my own imagination i began to lose faith in everything supernatural and that led me to disheartening disappointment in everything i was constantly being told.

This is one of those films that I strongly believe everybody who watches it has a different interpretation of. For me, the central theme is one of knowledge and faith. An egg is an answer to the question "is it better to know or not to know". Instinctively, humans are driven to want to know as much as possible, but with the egg, the only way to know whether there is anything in it is to break it, thus killing whatever is inside. An egg, therefore, is an object that necessitates faith. Whether there is anything in the egg is deliberately unanswered, we feel in ourselves the same desperate need to know, even while watching the consequences of that unfold in our two main characters, the man too ashamed by what he has done to even face the girl, the girl driven to suicide by despair. Having seen the man left in a bleak, desolate world devoid of faith and hope, we are left with only one question: was it worth it?

You should read Susan Sontag's essay Against Interpretation - she argues we don't necessarily need to "interpret" confusing works of art, even though that seems like the most natural way to respond to confusing movies. When we interpret, we end up caring solely about transforming our experience of art into digestible "contents" ("X really means Y") and this ends up disregarding art's sensory basis, which she thinks we should focus on instead. I'm not in total agreement, but I thought it was refreshing to hear a perspective like this, especially since there's a sort of obsession with treating works of art as codes to be cracked (think of all the "X explained" vids).

As an artist myself, I can give this bit of insight: The moment all the questions of a work are answered is the moment people stop thinking about it altogether. A lot of artists like to put forth this willful ignorance because it serves the intention of the work more to leave things unanswered than to wrap everything up in a tidy bow. If your goal is to inspire deep thought, you let people think for themselves. And, of course, it's not unusual for people to make stream of consciousness art as a manner of dealing with hardship. It's perfectly possible this movie was intended as something of a vent work, in which case, not having a specific meaning would be appropriate.

The opening scene with the giant egg felt like it went on for hours in my head

What I especially love about the film is the music accompanying it, just eerie and beautiful, calming yet unsetting. I bought a rare copy of the OST and I have no regrets, everyone should check out the music!

Despite the director's loss of faith he clearly has placed self-sacrifice which is rewarded by spiritual ascendance at the core of Angel's Egg & Ghost in the Shell, both protagonist sacrificed their own individuality as a solution to an existential quandry that was rewarded with spiritual gain.

These are some of the ideas I've had and ideas I've collected around the internet about Angel's Egg. I've had this in a google doc for a while now. She is a lost soul of the bird walking through purgatory. She never crossed over to the afterlife because of her obsession with hatching her egg. Her egg was more important then returning to tell Noah if the flood had resided or not. She doesn't know she's dead and her egg wasn't destined to hatch. Those on the ark were also dead and the souls were still awaiting news from the bird. The young man sought to find a resolve and eliminate the egg to set her free, then her soul could return to the ark and the other souls could rest as well. The girl's desire to protect the egg, and the soldier's desire to know the truth of it, form the core of the movie's conflicts. The Egg 1st interpretation: The egg can be seen as symbolizing the young girl's innocence. It is something which she protects and holds on to, but is ultimately stolen. 2nd interpretation: Another interpretation states that the egg is the "spiritual seed" planted in a human soul via the Gospel of Jesus Christ - a special kind of meme which tries to take root in a person's soul. It is something she protects amidst a dark world, but it is eventually "reaped" by the Christ-like character after she had journeyed with and entrusted him. Eventually, she reaches "spiritual maturity" while passionately pursuing the path of Christ, and thus bears fruit "many times what was sown", as the parable goes. This was indicated by the production of many eggs from her mouth (her spiritual "fecundity" or "witness"). The small egg represents a "quanta", if you will, of the Gospel that was planted in her soul when she heard or saw something revelatory concerning God's Salvation. This must have happened before the portrayed story began. The egg was brought to life as a result of being "wooed" by the Christ-man, and then once it was fully released, she charged directly after the Christ on the "narrow path" (Matthew 7:13,14)to spiritual maturity. The metaphor is equivalent to a maturing plant producing heads of grain, but Oshii adapted Yeshua's parable to the production of eggs instead of seeds, possibly in order to merge it with the metaphor of the dove and the ark as expounded below. The Big Eggs on Tree Stalks Near the end of the film, we see organic tree-like structures holding giant eggs with unborn birds inside. These likely represent the spiritual being awaiting the realization of its true form in the afterlife- where each of these saints are "glorified", attaining angelic forms(flying birds being symbolic of Angels), as supported in the very end by: (1)the appearance of the giant eggs after her own small one had been cultivated by the Christ-figure. (2)the girl's angelic appearance as part of the Godhead (the giant eye-like thing). The root-like growths holding the eggs were foreshadowed earlier by the Yeshua character as (paraphrased)"a great tree, sapping the ground to grow and reach up, as if to grasp... something.". The tree/egg combination, along with the Christ character's explanation of the tree of life, portrays it to be a symbol of true Christianity and its spiritual implications. He gives us the sense that the tree/eggs are the final stage of an evolving line of energy, matter, and eventually living things: initially emanating out from pure Spirit(Giant Eye descending), yet over the eons striving to return to the source... to finally "grasp the hand that feeds it", as it were. The eggs, we see, were located at the tops of the tree trunks, holding the unborn chicks. Each of the giant eggs probably represented a human soul which would be preserved through the Last Judgment On the Noah's Ark of Christ (meaning Yeshua is a sort of spiritual ark for souls), and so become glorified as part of the Godhead, as we see in the end. In other words, the giant eggs represent the second to last step of the ultimate aim of life, the universe, and everything: dead(sleeping) saints awaiting their ultimate glorification. The very last step being the actual glorification or realization of the saints and assumption to the Godhead, as we saw in the end where the Godhead(giant floating eye) was populated by the permanent(eternal) presence of the saints, with our little girl among them. The Man The man in Angel's Egg physically portrays a Christ-like figure. In the beginning he is seen standing on a chess board, facing the giant Eye (presumably representing the Godhead, especially God the Father capacity, since it was sending him out). He arrives in the girls life on a bizarre procession of mechanistic/organic(and phallic?!) machines, which most probably represent ancient Judaism, in reference to Matthew 11:12, where the "Kingdom of God" is forcefully advanced by the Law and the prophets. This explains the war-like (battle tanks) and distinctly male appearance of the machines. He carries a cross on his back and wears bandages on his hands, both of which are strongly reminiscent of Christian mythos. 1st interpretation: In this particular movie this figure is shown in a clearly negative light, first telling the girl that he would protect her and eventually stealing away from her the egg which she cherishes so lovingly. Following this line of interpretation, some have taken The Angel's Egg to represent Oshi's own fallout with Christianity. 2nd interpretation: A different interpretation sees the figure in a very positive light: as being her companion and protector in a violent, illusory world, and bringing to fruition what she couldn't have done on her own. He uses the crucifix to do this, in reference to Matthew 16:24 He actually explains his motives for breaking the egg: Without opening it, one may never realize the potential of whats inside. He overcame her selfish tendency to keep the egg(gospel seed) hidden, by wooing her companionship and trust. This is probably an allusion to "walking in Christ" or "living by the Spirit of Christ". 3rd This man represents Jesus. The film starts with him "emerging" from the "Godhead/monolith/heaven" vessel I described earlier, similar to the way, in Christianity, God sent himself out to man in the form of a man, named Jesus. The Fishermen and Fish 1st interpretation: Fishermen and fish are popular, recurring symbols in Christian mythology 2nd interpretation: Another interpretation notes that in this particular case, the shifty fish shadows are those of the lobe-finned or Sarcopterygii genera, which are almost entirely extinct as a group. Thus, the shadows can be interpreted as shades of once-living things, but now dissipating from nature- becoming extinct. To apply the spiritual metaphor, the shadows most likely represent ephemeral and even demonic forms. It fits well with the concept of demonic illusions, because it is believed that demons are "fallen" angels. ("fallen", as in cut off from and thus dissipating from God's creation, yet finding some sustenance and rest in the propagation of idolatry in humanity). see Mathew 12:43-45) Supporting this idea, these mirages are zealously pursued by the spearmen, yet never tangibly grasped or attained, and thus no ultimate fulfillment is found, and no innate hunger is sated. The spears are sharp projections attached to ropes. This most likely symbolizes the human spirit(will and conscience) projecting itself onto its environment, trying to form soul-attachments and identities in ephemeral things- passions, pleasures, fears, vices, addictions, fetishes, idolatry, etc. In contrast, the fish enshrined in the Gothic church was colorful and vibrant, and the girl radiated white in its presence. Where the lobed-finned shadows probably represent the adoption of shifty goals and ephemeral pursuits which are all moving towards extinction, the colorful fish probably represents the Body of Christ- living; thriving; growing; adapting; and steadily surviving. The Water The water is a subtle yet strong underlying Typology (theology) present throughout the film. In the beginning, God descends into an "ocean" and the waters emanate out from the impact in waves, signifying the beginning of creation, where Jesus Christ the Logos (the white-haired man) is sent out to perfect the creation, "glorifying God" by gathering in human souls(in reference to Isaiah 55:11), as we see in the film. The water most likely symbolizes Spirit, specifically the Holy Spirit. Initially the girl collects small amounts of it and stores it away (the best she can do on her own), but in a foreshadowing moment early in the film, while staring into a pond she imagines herself to be fully immersed (after which the man shows up). In the end, the water floods everything, and she herself is drowned in it while pursuing the man- symbolizing Baptism with the Holy Spirit while chasing the path of Yeshua.

Angel's Egg is such a weird movie a lot of it is just long stretches of a gothic dreamlike atmosphere it's one of the most unique anime I've ever watched and is really impressive for when it was made, it is abstract symbolism but I think the girl becoming a statue represented her becoming a martyr like Jesus and the eggs being an obvious symbol for faith, Angel's Egg is an abstract movie about faith with things like the fossilised arc and how many jars of water there are representing how a lot of religions are thousands of years old, despite the world now being far removed from the world of the past we still have faith in ways that are ancient

I don't know why but I found it somehow so disturbing seeing the fishermen hunting the shadows of the fish. Like they are waisting their breath and time on something that doesn't even exist and that they are all blinded by hunting them that they don't even know what would happen if they caught one. This scene was somehow stuck in head for the whole film and still is ahhh

The fish shadow is of a coelacanth. They are considered "living fossils".

Worth noting that the silhouettes of the fish are coelacanth, a fish long thought to have vanished from the world only to be found again.

I like how the bird has a human skeleton but bird wings. So its an angel? Also the whistleing of the eye is like whale calls that wake her up in the beginning

Interpretations aside, Amano shines beautifully in this movie. Some shots/scenes are exquisitely fine and moving. Angel's Egg is still the supreme form of animated Amano, going on close to forty years now. Nothing else has ever done him justice to this extent. It is likely nothing ever will, unfortunately.

"If you’re frightened of dying (nameless girl, the last living human), and you’re holding on (egg), you’ll see devils tearing your life away (boy breaking egg). If you’ve made your peace (faith (also egg) multiplying into many eggs), then the devils are really angels (still boy, who is Jesus maybe?), freeing you from the Earth (she joined everyone else onboard the statue covered god/spaceship thing)." Love the movie, tragic and beautiful at the end when she died and we see the whole world still flooded and the ark overturned and abandoned.

Having been up a down with religion myself, I really liked your take at the end about how he may have been both presenting the faithful girl as being rewarded while also acknowledging the validity of the man dissatisfied with God. I think often times the faithful and the dissatisfied view each other as "problematic" but I've never agreed with that, I've always felt that the faithful should understand that there's much to question, and those who doubt should understand that it's okay that some don't need answers. In the end I think the truly righteous thing is just to hope that the other find their peace, that those who doubt can confront their ominous God and those who have faith will be accepted by him.

Angel's Egg is my second favorite film of all time. It and The Seventh Seal are the best films about people losing their religion.

In a Jungian viewpoint, it makes sense that the man symbolises the conscious side of Oshii, or at least the part who became aware of the bleak and despairing life of reality, and the girl is his inner, unconscious conscience, the little voice from deep within that whispers 'Have faith and let it be'. The girl's maturation point, whereby she seems to die, could be interpreted as Oshii's unconscious maturation from the unconscious young and inexperienced anima (since the unconscious part seems to age much slower than the conscious self) to the awakened Sophia, the spirit of wisdom that was there with God from time immemorial whose strength and influence are of equal measure. That she sits on the God-eye may hint at the Sophia-God relation, for Sophia is the spirit that became embodied as Virgin/Mother Mary, likewise when God became embodied through the birth of Christ. About the fishermen and their relentless hunt for the shadow fish, well, if everyone in that island became faithful followers then what is there to do other than wanting to become that which they follow? If they have no means to measure on if they became like the one they followed, then the next best thing to do is to hunt down the symbolical image of it even when it doesn't give tangible results. Humans are like that. Leave them for long and even when a saviour comes by and fulfill the requirements of a messiah, they won't notice him due to the natural course of faith becoming blind zealoutry amongst common followers of the old religion. They are left to deal with their own unconsciousness of which they were not properly equipped to deal with, unlike the two main characters. What is there to do when everyone becomes part of it anyway? Perhaps that is what Oshii went through, perhaps that was the reason why he turned from Christianity, at some point the faith might end not due to persecution but due to zealoutry borne out completely by followers. Then it is better to leave it be and make a new one, one that was inspired by Christianity but which aspiration leads further than the fisherman and into the deep through the waterbearer. Leave the stone men be and let them decide on their own.

“Our willingness to endure this silence, to maintain our morality, and to push forward as imperfect beings”.

This movie was beautiful. The animation in it was astonishing, the music, the scenery, all of it, amazing. I wish more movies would look like this.

This by far is the most satisfying interpretation I have heard. I absolutely love this video

This is a topic about the existence of "absolute truth" to me. What art and life offers us, are possebilities. Whether the Artist has it's own answer to a question of his creation or Not, if you look at it as art, it's No longer only his. Everything that is able to leave the mind, will be interpretated, judged, observed. There are different layers of truth. The intentional answer, that only can come from the artist. The Origin. But maybe He has different answers for the same question as well? Can one have that absolute answer, as long as he or she lives? Most of our answers will evolve, If they would Not, we would Stop to evolve as well, or Not? But what does or can change mean? Change can affect and produce different outcomes. An answer can become more clear by adding more detailed information, or it can completley change until it's the opposite or shaoing to anything in between or outside of that pattern. Even if the artist is the origin His truth can be "surpassed" in a way. "What was / is in the Egg?" Why do we ASK? This question leads to many more.

I was under the impression that Oshii's statement he didn't know what Angel's Egg meant was implying he couldn't fully determine if it "sided" more with the faithful or the faithless. I certainly assumed the broken egg was empty in my first viewing, at least until we saw the populated eggs later on.

This is one of favourite movies of all time!!! As someone on the Spectrum I really appreciate the neurodiverse angle brought to it. I would highly recommend anyone who liked this movie watch the massively (criminally) underrated TV series RAISED BY WOLVES from creator Aaron Guzikowski and producer Ridley Scott. It explores some similar themes concerning the breakdown and dangers of faith and the deeper allegorical roots of mythology with a similarly batshit surreal, mind-bending, ominous tone steeped in extremely heavy symbolism and its own convoluted lore hidden in so many little details that will make you want to analyze every frame. Unlike shows like LOST or FRINGE, however, where all of these fascinating mysteries just go nowhere cause they think up stupid shit at the last minute, this show was pre-planned from the start as being 5 seasons, and the show even reveals this underlying structure when it reveals its crazy twists (some of which are not dissimilar to some of the fantastical elements in Angel's Egg and make me wonder whether Guzikowski was influenced by it at all). The show was unfortunately cancelled by HBO Max despite strong ratings and critical reception because of the stupid Warner-Discovery merger, but I can say as someone who is part of the campaign to bring it back that it has been shopped around to several different networks/streamers (and as far as I know still is, with some of the scripts being updated to write in a larger time gap between seasons 1 and 2 to make up fro the lost time), and a graphic novel/comics deal has been made to finish the story as well. #RenewRaisedbyWolves

I think the high-tech styling of the cross the man carries represents how both science and christianity work against the experience of the unconscious represented by the girl and her egg. Also I think that Orphism deserves a mention, where the egg is an important symbol of the creative impulse in the universe, and which encouraged a form of gnosis that science and christianity tries to destroy or at least discredit.

I love the part when the girl throws the egg into the air and then looks directly at the camera and says "it's eggin' time"

Finally! I love max content's, and seeing a movie who inspired my book get analyzed by him is amazing! Salutations from Brazil

One critical point in the movie that's super interesting and raises questions is the skeleton of the bird/angel on the wall of the supposed ark and the character's reactions and knowledge about it. When the skeleton is revealed the music swells in a disturbing pitch and the man has an awestruck expression on his face. The girl had led him to it saying "it's here" as if she was responding to where the dove had gone in the man's previous story, but she never specifically states that. Within the scene she also states "I'm going to hatch it and put it back" when referring to the egg but to which she also never explains what she means by "put it back". She then says "it's the bird I found" to which the man replies "I know that. I thought so." after several seconds of silence that implies he has a deeper sense of understanding of the current situation and/or exactly what the skeleton is. My personal fun theory I have is that the skeleton is actually that of Lucifer and the egg the girl carries is his. If you extrapolate that the little girl could be seen the inverse to Mary in the sense that she is carrying Satan's child that resides within the egg in a cold dead world. Satan may have also stowed away on the ark thus damning it to it's fate. The man would still represent Christ, however he just had been given a mission from God to eliminate Satan but had forgotten that mission until he had seen the revelation of Lucifer's skeleton.

Personally, Im certain artists Always Know what they are doing and they always have an intention at the moment of creating art. However, I also believe the good artists know deep doen that their intention and vision ultimatly doesnt matter. Art is uniquely interpreted by each unique person. Thats why they say they dont know. Because thry dont want to influence our interpritation and understanding.

Damn, I'd never even considered the eggs in the water might've actually contained something 😅 I'd looked at the stream of bubbles from the girl's last breath, and saw them bob up to the surface as eggs - but I kinda took it literally and thought "those were bubbles filled with nothing but air, so the eggs must be empty with just air inside as well". I suppose it'd just look kinda stupid if the breath-eggs sank lol. But I guess in terms of cooking -- ie unfertilized chicken eggs -- you know an egg's gone bad if it floats in water (since the permeable shell gradually lets moisture escape & gasses inside). All in all, I like Angel's Egg for solidly delivering on its mood/tone/atmosphere (idk the right term here lol) that can stand alone from any specific reading one chooses to make about its story. Thanks for the video!

After watching movie you can clearly tell that Hideo Kojima took a lot of inspiration from the movie in making Death Stranding ;) --beach that is in a way passage between living world and afterlife --fisherman being mindless ghost cult, -- Homo demons -- mysterious white hair soldier - Cliff -- girl carrying egg -- Sam carrying BB --overall dark tone and set of ambiguous if this is world of living or dead.

Thank you very much for this video! So glad you finally made a video on Angel's Egg. I've seen so many video essays on it and you've finally added to it!

This movie really shows how far anime has fallen in quality: its super old but visually and from a storytelling perspective it's still mesmerizing.

One of my favorite movies of all time. Thank you Max!

I'm 26 now and I can recall watching this in my teens. I only watched it that one time but I have never forgotten about it. I absolutely adore the score especially the end/credits music!

*I can never escape this movie*. It's good and pretty, but ever since watching it on the night that ended up marking the death of my Great Grandmother, i keep on seeing it everywhere. I don't know what possessed me to watch it, I just remember VaatiVidya mentioning it in a Dark Souls 3 video. Sorry for the heavy anecdote. I do want to bring up a little note that was in an art book my dad had at one point, that said that the nameless man's name is Michael. Idk how accurate this information is, since said book is currently stored away and he and I can't get to it right now, but that's what I was told. Thought anyone might want to know that.

I think there's also some reference to the procession of the equinoxes in the film. The fish and the man represent Pisces, while the girl represents Aquarius (the water bearer). Her ascension could mean the beginning of the Age of Aquarius.

Angel's Egg is such a good movie. Happy that it get's recognition :)

Ok, this was beautiful. I have never seen someone make so much sense of this short-film. Chapeau, dear sir! Chapeau!

Definitely a very enigmatic film, seems like it's very unique and explorable setting

Have you looked into Andrei Tarkovsky's "The Mirror"? It's heavily characterized by intuitive creation on behalf of Tarkovsky. It may perfectly fit the criteria laid out in this video

What if the nameless girl was a reprsentationof the Virgin Mary? The eggs come from her. The eggs are like her holy children, and it's similar to the immaculate concept of Jesus. And don't forget the statues praying to her. Mary wasn't a saint, but became one after she became pregnant and birthed Jesus. And a fun fact is that Mary is often associated with water. To me, it makes sense that she is a version of Mary.

Angel's Egg is one of greatest animation films ever to be created up to date!

I believe the lynch doesn’t know what’s in the box. He’s a student of Tarkovsky and Tarkovskys process was to get lost in the process of exploring what meaning could be derived. Like the pinwheel in Inception.

I noticed the fish shadows were Coelacanths. Perhaps they were chosen because the scientific community thought Coelacanths were extinct (dead) but they were wrong.

Excellent analysis of this movie. I had never heard anyone talk about the unconscious mind symbolism before and I think you did a very good job explaining it

The first time I watched this movie I felt such sadness by the end of the girl. Never heard that Mamorou Ishi was a Christian. Very interesting.

Hey, Christian here. First of all, let me say that I'm new to your channel and I'm absolutely loving what you do. I just watched the MGS2 video, the Termina video and now this one. I really like the way you touch on concepts such as "union" and transcendence, especially because I rejected the sea of LCL as a desirable future the first time I watched The End of Evangelion. That being said, I almost want to tell you that we should watch the movie together. Because as Christian who has had a lot of deep existential crisis, I'd like to give my own insights about this movie that I watched probably 8 years ago, if not more. For now, I'll just say that what I remember the most about the movie is how heartbreaking it was when the man destroyed the egg. See, for me, it is clear that the egg represents faith, since she doesn't see what's inside the egg, but trusts there is the birth that will save the world. Now, I do need to rewatch the movie, but IIRC, the birth itself wasn't presented as a good thing and the man as well, I saw him as a villain. Also, the ending where the girl is part of the giant eye-ship, for me that wasn't comforting, nor desirable. And I also remember wanting to talk with the Director and hopefully even answer his questions regarding the religion. But anyway, thank you so much for the content. :)

I watched this movie when I was 16 at 4AM during summer vacation on a CRT TV, so I can safely say that I have no idea what it means but it is a vibe lmao

I fucking love your content mate. Top notch. I haven't seen this movie since...around 2005-ish. I was fresh out of highscool, incredibly stoned. The kinda stoned where your terrified of life. I went into this movie, already highly anxious and maaaaaan...it was a trip. Somehow, by the end, I think I kinda got it. I don't know how but I.. kinda felt it? This video has prompted me to go back and rewatch it. A little clearer this time.

I remember asking you to review this movie a few months ago. Thank you so much.

What about those weird, kind of organic tanks? Seriously, i can't find anything about those tanks, they seem to just be there and that they were somewhat friendly towards the unnamed man and they're looking a bit organic but that's kind of all we know.

I got introduced to Angles Egg by Dark Souls 3 dlc, final area, due to some similar things, both are incredible, but bizarre.

This might be the best take in this wierd movie I've ever seen. I liked it but if you asked me what it was about I'd pretty much say "uhh....Symbolism!" Because I had no clue

You have a beautiful mind, and you give me some of the best recommendations (and observations!). Love your channel Max, and the questions you ask. Great job on this.

It really is refreshing to hear genuine insight and intelligence on youtube. Took the algorithm long enough to recommend, but subscribed! And as to Angel's Egg I'll just say that I definitely thought the final shot depicted an extremely large, overturned Ark. Congrats on a fantastic breakdown. Three manga I would love to hear this level of thinking applied to are Made in Abyss, Girls' Last Tour and Land of the Lustrous (as a note, MiA is ongoing as a manga and has two sublime seasons and a film, GLT is a complete manga but only a partial, though perfect, anime adaptation, and LotL is very near completion as a manga and only has one season so far - though that too is a great season to watch in spite of the little it adapts). There is a wealth of depth in many areas to all three of these and would certainly keep you busy :)

I love the use of the Kingsvfield 4 music

I've waited a long time to find a good analysis of this film, and it even aligned with my interpretation quite a bit.

I'm a huge fan of Oshii's work, especially Angel's Egg and I've got to admit that this is one of the best analysis of the movie yet. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

Hey thanks for this. I watched this awhile back and only had a partial understanding of it. Thanks for making this much clearer.

I don't know if you always use Hollow Knight music at the end of videos, but it was a perfect choice for this one. I was thinking about Hollow Knight the entire time I watched Angel's Egg for the first time.

Thank you for this Video Max. I love your content!!!!

I love your anime analysis top tier especially the way you add philosophical takes on it.

This movies beautiful. Thank you Max.

Love your topics. You always have unique takes on things.

I believe your analysis for Angel's Egg also fits nicely with that of Dark Souls Lore. Strange parallels.

I watched it yesterday and it felt like a fever dream

I remember years ago I saw a video saying princess Filianore from dark souls 3 dlc is a reference to this movie! in dark souls 3 when you break the egg you get transported to the end of time/ the illusion of the ringed city is dispelled.

No way. This is my favorite movie

I like to write in stream of (un)conciousness. It's more fun, though I won't deny there is some planning on my part. I'd never be able to come up with something as beautiful as Angel's Egg. It seems to me as a meditation over how one's faith can change, is necessary to change, and how painful it is to change. Something akin to the book Silence.

brother you just butchered it with analysis , this was so on point .Glad to find this type of work on youtube

Just watched it for the first time. I like how this symbolic form of art invokes some form of deep seemingly universal understanding. I didn’t make the Jesus fish connection during the spearfishing scene but I got an allegory of the cave meaning from it that seems like an obvious way in which shadows would be interpreted in such a scene. Angel’s Egg is like if Tarkovsky made anime. Your analysis is great and helps further my appreciation of it.

My favorite movie by Mamoru Oshii will always be Patlabor 1. But damn is Angel’s Egg a brilliant work of art

You know your interpretation of angel's egg is almost similar to chris stucman's video except there's more (I highly recommend you to watch it). Like for example on his video he mentioned something that no one thought of it so he shared it that the animation there are hints of reincarnation. The two main characters mentioned something about it feels like they have dejavu. The scene where the man looked at the tree in the wall it feels like he seen it before. There's also the soundtrack of angel's egg no#13 it translate to transmigration.

Im a strong theist, yet I can appreciate this work of art. Its not aggressive or arrogant in its message, but subtle and moderate. I find value in this atheist work, for its entertainment and gentle, humble thought provoking.

I remember stumbling across the art book for this film when I was a teenager. Trying to actually FIND the film in Phoenix, Arizona in the 1980s proved to be an insurmountable task. I could never find the right people in the right place at the right time. I finally stumbled across it on the net somehow several years ago. Was glad to have finally seen it. Honestly, it did not disappoint but you need to at least have an understanding that "art films" can be very different than regular narrative.

Hello Mr derrat...I've not too long ago watched this movie which had me curious and puzzled. I myself trying to put the so called "peices or connect the dots " to my first ever anime that had no meaning ( questions asked). Until I listened to your commentary about the meaning...it all makes sense. Carefully explained it is the most obvious reason for this film...was he afraid to dive into the depths of religion or his faith? Great observation and conclusion my friend....I will be following. Very intriguing you are...

Another great video as always

Thanks for making this--I've been curious about Angel's Egg ever since I heard it was a big influence on the style of Hollow Knight, but I've been kind of leery about watching it myself, given the oppressive nature of the thing. (I may still watch it, though, so don't worry about you making it less likely or anything).

Fun Fact! This movie originally was gonna be a Lupin the 3rd film!? This film was planned to come out right after the success of "Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro". The film was being pitched by Mamoru Oshii(creator of Ghost in the Shell and Angel's egg) and Hideaki Anno(creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion) The film pitch was sadly turned down for being um a bit too weird/strange for Lupin, like how in the pitch Lupin was gonna be going though a existential crisis about him already stealing everything in the world and trying to figure out who he is anymore. And then it would wrap up with lupin finding out he's not real(a fictional character) and the world gets destroyed. I know pretty crazy XD (Some of these themes and elements would be reused in Angel's egg and Patlabor) So instead of this strange but interesting movie, we got in 1985 "Lupin the 3rd: Gold of Babylon".

The egg contains a MacGuffin

The shadows are a reference to Plato's cave

Thank you for this video, it helped prompt me to finally go watch the film since I've wanted to for ages. I recently found out that the character Aura from the .hack series was inspired by the girl in Angel's Egg. I suspect you would enjoy .hack, especially the first part of the series. One of the people behind the Ghost in the Shell film worked on it. It's also got similar themes to Lain. Anyway, thank you again. *spolier territory ahead* . . . . . Finally watching it was really striking to certain elements or imagery in that series. A girl in a dress with a cape that has tassles, fleeing place to place, her general appearance are similar to how Aura looks in the games. Also the way the man handles the cross when he crushes the egg brought to mind the way Tsukasa, from .hack//SIGN crushes a bug at the end of episode one.

This is one of the most surreal short anime ever made and it brings so much holy symbolisms from beginning to end. Even the Ark itself looks like that they’re inside a dead animal.

important to note too is that the shadow fish are coelacaths wich are survivors of multiple extinctions and were thought to be extint until in the beggining of the 20th century living specimens were discovered, it's a type of fish that has undergone minimal to no changes in millions of years and they can live up to a hundred years or more, having seen this, water could also symbolize sanctity, purity and origin, as if the divine purifies the world through It, water purification rituals and water as a sacred element is also a big thing in east Asia, the mongols would kill anybody that dirtied water and the Japanese still have rituals of cleansing oneself through flowing water that come from old shintoist tradition, in the Daoism water takes an important role as a prominent Yin element and as an ideal of wu wei, non-interference and acceptance. This film has such deep symbolism that any educated interpretation can seem quite plausible, i personally believe is more about the purity of unassuming faith in the divine, an unfounded faith, faith for the sake of It alone, wich is, in truth, pure faith in what one does not know and cannot know rather than any deity with a scripted personality chracterized in old books written by supposedly enlightened people that may or may not contain any truth in them, It is purely discussing the ideas of divinity, the sacred and faith, what there is of them in this world and whether something is or is not without reason, what is a delusion and what is not and if there's a difference between the two. I feel this film answers nothing but there was no question to begin with

Many interpretations have occurred to me, but I like more the one of a complex futuristic tale about a devastated Europe, the oldest Christian land of all, although it is best to enjoy it in all its beauty without thinking much, it is captivating. In truth many interpretations are possible as in classic works like Eleanor Rigby or The Shining but your interpretation is very plausible, congratulations.

Very beautiful video, very poetic.

Actual artist here (I mean I'm not high profile but I've got a bachelor degree in Fine Art/Autonomous Art): Some artists want to be desperately understood, others don't. Some artists will write whole essays and make very little visual (or something easily declarable as) art, some artists follow the hype or get on a bandwagon. Some artists suck, but that's why they're worthwile. Other artists make fun and engaging things but ultimately don't leave a lasting impression (which is also fine). Personally, I make art just because I want to. I do believe that artists have some sort of shamanistic function in society, but that may be (too) anthropological. But I do think (some) artists are capable of showing us a world we hadn't thought of ourselves. Same applies (at least loosely) across all art. I see the same thing in music, but musicians seem to be at least generally more appreciated than (globally) visual artists, with maybe the exceptions of legendary artists. Animation is so very deliberate, though. It is at least meant for an audience to sit down and watch. I know that's kind of a really flat way of looking at it or describing it, but even if it's an audience of one, that's sort of the point of animation. Why poor so much time and work into something that people aren't going to have to sit through to at least absorb it, even if not understand it?

came back here after months and months since watching to say how much I love this analysis, I recommend it all the time. I agree with you on everything but the ending. I think the movie is about faith, both the girl and the man got the outcome they had faith they would receive. I think the message is one of manifestation.

I have been on a huge Tarkovsky kick, and I am starting to see some through-lines between Solaris/Stalker and this anime. Loss of faith and how sense of self and interpretation of the faith-self (much like the room in the zone or Sloaris itself) derives existentialism. Especially in a post war culture that is dwelling on destruction (eg. your Noah analogy)

Superb analysis! I've always loved seeing faith get explored in media in such interesting ways. On a side note, may I recommend a game called Signalis? It's heavily inspired by silent hill and even references ghost in the shell and end of evangelion.

This movie makes me feel uneasy

Its interesting that the man enters the movie in rows of tanks that are very phallic. and that Coelachants represents the elusive faith. A masterpiece!

Did Yoshitaka Amano work on this movie? All of the designs look his style.

Never seen it, but definitely want to after watching this, and still very enjoyable to watch analysis!

I've seen both and never realized it was made by the same director as Ghost. So cool. Just started the video