Parents' Guide to Angel's Egg

This film is the epitome of anime's ability to transcend genre and tell a story that could never have the same atmosphere if it were live-action. Angel's Egg doesn't spell out its intentions, but its very pointed symbolism regarding Christianity and ecology suggests that the film is commenting on the role that Western influence—including weaponized religion and technological violence—has had in the destruction of the environment and society. The Girl solely wants to take care of something that the Boy views as either weak or a vague threat. While the Girl sees value in the egg, which seems to represent nature, the Boy is haunted by dreams of a bird and wants to destroy the egg. He seems to represent the idea that Western cultures view nature as something to be feared because it can't be controlled. For the Boy, the only way to dominate something like the egg is through violence.

The film's commentary on Western ideology could also hint at America's influence on Japan, especially after World War II. During the Industrial Revolution, Western ideals came to Japan and had an impact on Japanese views on religion and environmentalism. But America's nuclear bombings in Japan greatly changed Japan in many ways, including destroying parts of its ecology for decades. Several scenes in Angel's Egg evoke the sights and sounds of a city after a bombing; people who still exist are chasing shadows of fish, despite fish no longer existing in this world. This could be seen as a world that grieves its prior state of being bountiful and sovereign, similar to how Japan longed for its pre-World War II cultural identity. Overall, Angel's Egg leaves a lot open for interpretation, but that very lack of certainty can lead to lots of potentially deep thought and discussion.