A co-production by two anime legends given near-complete creative freedom, this languid, abyssal meditation on belief and doubt is their most personal work.

The film takes place in perpetual twilight following a pale young girl who carefully guards a large egg and wanders a decaying, otherworldly landscape. She meets a man who wonders about the egg’s contents. While she believes the egg contains something precious, he points out the egg will have to break for them to find out. The duo become uneasy companions wandering the shadowy city. The man’s curiosity and girls’ conviction about the egg increase, as both ask, and obliquely seek their answer to who are you? 

Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Urusei Yatsura) contemplated seminary school before focusing on writing. Shortly before Angel’s Egg went into production, he lost his faith. Though he claims not to know what the film is about, its mournful tone and heavy use of Christian imagery reflect his personal crisis. Slowly unspooling with long takes and sparse dialogue, the film is carried by, and perfectly suits, the gorgeous imagery of co-writer Yoshitaka Amano (Vampire Hunter D, Final Fantasy series). His rich, florid work was flattened in other productions due to budget constraints, but here, amid blotchy watercolor skies and inked backgrounds, his hand is directly seen. 

The project has never been licensed for release in North America, though it gained cult status through tape trade and other means of underground distribution.