Ten years before his seminal work Ghost in The Shell (1995 was released, Mamoru Oshii created Angel’s Egg, a surrealist art film that is now seemingly forgotten and by the artist’s own admission, prevented him from getting work for years. It was a time of trial and transition for Oshii: not only he had recently left Japanese animation giant Studio Pierot but had also confessed to have been questioning his Christian faith. The result was the director’s most experimental work and one of the most beautiful anime films to date.
Anime, as a genre, is characteristically rigid both formally and conceptually. There is a set list of formal ingredients and strict conceptual recipes for each sub-genre. Angel’s Egg radically rejects this formula, opting instead for a circular narrative and a near-complete absence of dialogue. The rich symbolism sticks out of the ambient and eerie environment and inviting the viewer to derive meaning from the experience or simply enjoy its aestheticism.