Seeing a classic like Mamoru Oshii‘s 1985 OVA Angel’s Egg on the 2025 Scotland Loves Anime roster felt like a significant event. It’s an anime with a weighty reputation, known as a philosophical, adult piece of animation.
However, the reputation and the reality of the screening were two very different things. This is less a thoughtful anime and more an endurance test, a dark poem that rambles on far longer than its ideas merit.
A Philosophical Void
On paper, the premise is haunting. Set in a dark, subterranean city, a young girl with stark white hair protects a large, mysterious egg. She is seemingly the only splash of colour in this desolate world. A soldier-like boy, carrying a large cross-shaped weapon, arrives searching for a bird he saw in a dream.
What follows is not so much a story as a series of abstract sequences. The film intends to be profound, but with almost no dialogue, its philosophical ambitions feel hollow. The two characters drift past one another in a near-silent performance for an age, before a sudden, inevitable betrayal involving the egg. It’s a narrative that goes nowhere in particular, and it takes its time doing so.
Arresting but Repetitive Art
I will concede that Angel’s Egg is, at times, visually stunning. The gothic, decaying world is rendered with incredible detail, and the character designs are striking. The artistry is undeniable.
The problem is that this artistry is used as a crutch, recycling the same beautiful, desolate images again and again to pad out the runtime. What could have been a powerful, concise, and impactful five-minute short is stretched to its breaking point.
A Jarring Soundtrack
The first half of the film is almost entirely silent, which only adds to the challenge of staying engaged. When the audio does make itself known, it is less of an atmospheric score and more of a series of audio jump scares.
Repeated screeches and screams seem designed for one purpose: to jolt the audience awake. It’s a remarkable audio choice, but perhaps not for the right reasons. When the credits finally rolled at the screening, an ironic cheer from the crowd said it all.
Angel’s Egg is clearly a foundational work for director Mamoru Oshii and has its place in academic study. We understand a restored version is on the way. Yet, unless you are writing a treatise on the evolution of art in anime, this is one to miss. It is, unfortunately, a classic that feels more like a chore.
You can record what you thought of Angel’s Egg in our Edinburgh fan poll.
