Abstract and Symbolic Anime Part 1 - Angel's Egg

I recently realized that all I've done so far on this blog that nobody visits is rant on and on about the awesome moments of escapism that the Umineko Visual Novels provide. With this in mind, I've decided to introduce yet another aspect of Japanese entertainment that I absolutely adore; anime that tells its story through symbolism and an abstract approach. But before I begin, please hear me out before you shout "pretentious!"

As far as art-house goes, I'm usually not that interested. Whether it be the dangerously pretentious presentation of your average Art College moviemaker or the bizarre nihilism of "Begotten", this type of movies doesn't interest me. Why? Because in 90% of the cases all they do is justify bizarre and pointless (as well as overly sexual) content with fabricated allegorical claims. With this in mind, do note that anime has a tendency to eliminate the borders of pretentiousness and reach those heights of creativity I admire. It was with humble expectations that I decided to give Angel's Egg a chance and it turned out to be quite interesting.

Mamoru Oshii

Any anime fan that hasn't spent the majority of his life under a rock or his mother's basement is at least aware of the existence of Ghost in the Shell. It's a Cyberpunkish anime directed by Mamoru Oshii that is relatively notorious for having inspired the creators of The Matrix profoundly. What many people tend to overlook is one of his previous creations, the 1985 movie Angel's Egg produced by Studio Deen who rarely choose to lend their penmanship to titles of such obscurity. Is the movie a puddled mess of self-suffocating symbolism or a deep journey of personal interpretations? Let's find out! ^_^

In a gloomy and desolate city, a little girl wanders throughout the abandoned streets with a mysterious egg neatly placed underneath her clothes. She runs into a swordsman traveling in solitude and they end up visiting a bizarre and gothic place where the girl seems to live. Many questions are raised, most prominently regarding the contents of the egg, but also what has happened to their flawed memories and conceptions of identity.

The DVD cover of Angel's Egg

Mamoru Oshii has created a story that progresses at an almost alarmingly slow rate. Several frames are present on the screen for more than a minute each without any form of dialogue or change to speak of in a fashion that's far from as annoying as it should be. Where the infinitely abstract story momentarily fails to impress you, these moments are where the true strength lies. Said strength can be defined with the use of one single word: mood setting. The pacing is extremely slow, and the lack of a concrete story may strike some as unappealing, but few will deny that Angel's Egg exhibits a gloomy and ominous tone that few other titles can match.

Whereas the story comes off as interesting based on its ability to set an excellent mood, the animation is notable for its symbolism and sheer creativity alone. Basically, this is the experimental kind of anime that I'd expect from MADHOUSE, but never would I have imagined that Deen would be up for the challenge. But they were, in the year of 1985, and they made the wise decision to craft this little gem with a gothic color palette and a top notch budget. This benevolent creativity as well as the beautiful character designs results in a memorable ride that outshines most modern titles, not objectively but artistically.

The mysterious swordsman
who breaks the egg

For characterization, there is only one word and its synonyms that can be used to sum it up decently: irrelevant. Besides the metaphorical parallels one might draw from the non-existent characterization, the story follows a girl and a swordsman. That's all there is to it, and as such, it might be wise to implement your approach of this title with caution if this type of thing does not appeal to you.

Just like the characters themselves, the voice acting for each role is of complete irrelevance. Angel's Egg relies heavily on facial expressions to express the relatively muted amount of feelings and thoughts the characters may have, and dialogue is rarely put to use. 

As dull as it may sound, this reluctance to rely on verbal communication is actually one of the movies' greatest virtues that acts in accordance with the otherwise melancholic touch of the narrative and visuals. With music of such extravagance, and a plethora of suggestive sounds though, you don't need to worry at all; the soundtrack is haunting and creepily effective. 

After this overly long synopsis and semi-review all that is left is to finally feature my own subjective interpretation of the plot. Two things should be noted; first of all, there are more theories out there than could possibly be counted, and most individuals who choose to see this will interoperate the symbols differently. Secondly, I’m still not too sure about the allegorical function of the ending, but I might get back to it if I ever see this again.

My theory

The swordsman recites the story of Noah's ark for the girl and radiates a curiosity to know what's inside the egg. In the gothic depths of the mysterious building that the girl seems to inhabit, a tree is carved into the wall and strikes him as familiar. He then proceeds to say that he remembers the tree from somewhere but acknowledges that it's been so long that he cannot remember where and how it was. He even states that it might have been in a dream but mentions that the tree grows by consuming the life within the earth. At the top of the tree there is a mysterious bird that is directly linked to it, and in the same building there is a huge skeleton of a bird that the girl presents to him.

Later on, the girl mentions that she found the egg and believes that it contains a bird (that might be the direct reincarnation of the bird from the legend of the tree) and this causes the swordsman to steal and destroy the egg from her, despite having promised not to harm it. Why does he do this? I have two theories:

1: His intentions are merely to find out the contents of the egg. He mentions earlier on that one cannot know what lies inside it if one does not break it.

2: He believes that the bird in the egg is a direct reincarnation of the bird that shared a connection with the life consuming tree. He believes that if it is allowed to hatch, the tree will once again begin to consume the life of earth.

When the girl learns of his betrayal she runs out and ends up falling from a cliff in either a suicide or an accident. It's possible that the egg represented child-bearing, as the girl used to carry it around underneath her clothes which made her look pregnant. As she falls from the cliff she spots another version of herself that resembles a woman more than a girl. This might indicate that the egg represented her childlike innocence which was crushed by the then antagonized swordsman. This allowed her to perform a process of maturity that ends up producing a huge number of new eggs that gives further credit to the thought that the original egg might symbolize the virtue of child-bearing. 

Is it worth watching?

I was skeptical at first since these animated eccentricities usually attract the love of art-house lovers but fail to provide a more broad appeal. I ended up loving it though, thanks to the excellent production values as well as the surprisingly captivating story that opens up possibilities for an endless number of personal interpretations. This is absolutely a movie that gives birth to discussion, and I'd love to see what other theories might exist out there. If you're in the mood for something thought provoking and perplexing, I suggest you go watch it right now! 

I give Angel's Egg a strong 8 out of 10.