ANGEL'S EGG
WARNING
People who tend to fall asleep watching movies with long scenes with virtually no dialogues are advised to bring a pillow.
Ok, with that said and done, let's get on with the review.
Created by Yoshitaka Amano and Mamoru Oshii, this 70 minute long movie was released in 1985. It showcases the excellent art and character design of Amano-san who I've come to admire from the first couple of Final Fantasy games, art in the Vertigo DC book "Sandman: Dream Hunters" and most importantly; VAMPIRE HUNTER D!!!
As for the other guy,... I don't know him.
EDIT: OMG! Mamoru Oshii did the Ghost in The Shell movie! I'm gonna kill myself for not knowing him!
The anime is gloomy, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic and has outstanding animation for a 1985 anime. I can say this because I've seen anime from the late 80's and early 90's that look like crayon doodles compared to this. Yes, even from the bigshot studios.
The story starts off with a kind of Noah's Ark-ish prologue. Then the focus goes to the main character who is a mysterious little girl. She lives alone in a huge abandoned boat... which is on top of a mountain... and you're wondering why/how it got there... TAKE A GUESS!!!
She spends her time by filling weird looking round glass vessels full of water and watching bubbles form and flow to the top. (Wow! I'd die to be in her shoes!) That's why I told you she's a weird little girl! And she takes these funny shaped bottles back to her big boat... actually it's bigger than most big boats,... it's a huge wooden ship.. no more spoilers, I PROMISE! Yeah, anyways, she takes it back there and lines them along the insanely lage amount of steps that the boat has. It gets you thinking,... for a little girl to do that, it should have taken quite some time... so she's not really a "little girl"? Food for thought.
In a world so desolate, she finds solace in... STARING AT A GLASS BOWL FULL OF WATER!
She sometimes goes to the nearby town which is as good as abandoned. And she steals funny shaped glass bottles from abandoned houses when she finds any.
She also has this EGG that she keeps near her always. It's like HER PRECIOUS! Very Smeagol! She always keeps it with her. And she's paranoid about something happening to her egg. Her egg? It's not her egg... or is it?
Well, one day she comes across this lone stranger type guy, who arrives in a caravan of what looks like tank-like war vehicles, when she goes on a routine trip to ransack the town. She's scared and runs away. But the two meet up more than once and an uneasy friendship sprouts from this meeting.
And then even more abstract things happen and if I try to put them into words, I'll have to SLAUGHTER the movie's spoilers for you.
This anime is ABSTRACT! So very abstract that you can call it "MINDFVCK" and still feel as spotless as a lamb.
It has very little dialogue in it and I mean NEXT TO NOTHING!!! The first couple of significant lines the two main characters (little girl and strange man) say are "Who are you?"
And the movie is full of things that you don't really understand. It's got weird symbolism and all and it made me feel as though there's a deeper meaning to everything. And yet, I can't figure it out. Yes, it's super abstract!
One of those things is that the guy carries a CROSS SHAPED thing on his back that looks like Chapel's machine gun from Trigun.
Nikoni-Chan!!!
Looks a bit too heavy for a decorated accessory
But it's not! I mean, I don't know for sure. It clearly looks like a sort of weapon but he never uses it in the entire movie.
This movie, whatever it meant, was a very interesting watch. I understood so very little of it and I've already watched it a few times over just to piece things together... to no avail.
Wiki calls it a "progressive anime" and I guess this is my first from that genre. And I like it. It leaves me thinking and makes me wanna come back for more. That's the sort of thing I want in anime/movies/video games/EVERYTHING!
A very solid
9.4/10
for this anime!
I recommend it for anyone who can stomach the insane ABSTRACTNESS!