This text was written by an unknown author who wrote for the symbolism section of Tenshi No Tamago article on Wikipedia. Later the entire section was erased because of wikipedia NOR standards no original research. I thank him for the enlightenment and for developing a truly thoughtprovoking thesis. Introduction: Because of the minimal dialog in Angels Egg much of the films intended meaning is portrayed through visuals and symbols. Because of the surreal nature of the film and no official explanation by its creators it is open to multiple or even conflicting interpretations as one can see below. Many or all of the symbols in Angels Egg can be related to religion specifically Christianity. Mamoru Oshii also directed Patlabor Ghost in the Shell and myriads of other works that contain Christian themes and references. He claimed to be a Christian himself and trained in seminary for priesthood in his youth but is rumored to have renounced the religion before working on Angels Egg. In Japan Angel Egg tenshi no tamago refers to a typical tachiguishi dinner a standandeat practice Oshii is fond of and he has explored in his 1987 debut liveaction feature Akai Megane before developing it as the central theme of his 2006 animation movie TachiguishiRetsuden. However for this film Oshii apparently adapted the idea of an egg to fit the parable of the sower and the seed and other teachings of YeshuaJesus. 220http://1.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76Zud8LfXI/AAAAAAAABtc/nVOl3hQ34/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h05m28s57.png The egg 11st interpretation: The egg can be seen as symbolizing the young girls innocence. It is something which she protects and holds on to but is ultimately stolen. 22nd interpretation: Another interpretation states that the egg is the spiritual seed planted in a human soul via the Gospel of Jesus Christ a special kind of meme which tries to take root in a persons soul. It is something she protects amidst a dark world but it is eventually reaped by the Christlike character after she had journeyed with and entrusted him. Eventually she reaches spiritual maturity while passionately pursuing the path of Christ and thus bears fruit many times what was sown as the parable goes. This was indicated by the production of many eggs from her mouth her spiritual fecundity or witness. The small egg represents a quanta if you will of the Gospel that was planted in her soul when she heard or saw something revelatory concerning Gods Salvation. This must have happened before the portrayed story began. The egg was brought to life as a result of being wooed by the Christman and then once it was fully released she charged directly after the Christ on the narrow path Matthew 7:1314to spiritual maturity. The metaphor is equivalent to a maturing plant producing heads of grain but Oshii adapted Yeshuas parable to the production of eggs instead of seeds possibly in order to merge it with the metaphor of the dove and the ark as expounded below. 220http://1.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76aGmumU7I/AAAAAAAABtk/Pl9YSk4mWT0/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h07m36s49.png The Big Eggs on Tree Stalks Near the end of the film we see organic treelike structures holding giant eggs with unborn birds inside. These likely represent the spiritual being awaiting the realization of its true form in the afterlife where each of these saints are glorified attaining angelic formsflying birds being symbolic of Angels as supported in the very end by: 1the appearance of the giant eggs after her own small one had been cultivated by the Christfigure. 2the girls angelic appearance as part of the Godhead the giant eyelike thing. The rootlike growths holding the eggs were foreshadowed earlier by the Yeshua character as paraphraseda great tree sapping the ground to grow and reach up as if to grasp... something.. The tree/egg combination along with the Christ characters explanation of the tree of life portrays it to be a symbol of true Christianity and its spiritual implications. He gives us the sense that the tree/eggs are the final stage of an evolving line of energy matter and eventually living things: initially emanating out from pure SpiritGiant Eye descending yet over the eons striving to return to the source... to finally grasp the hand that feeds it as it were. The eggs we see were located at the tops of the tree trunks holding the unborn chicks. Each of the giant eggs probably represented a human soul which would be preserved through the Last Judgmenton the Noahs Ark of Christ meaning Yeshua is a sort of spiritual ark for souls and so become glorified as part of the Godhead as we see in the end. In other words the giant eggs represent the second to last step of the ultimate aim of life the universe and everything: deadsleeping saints awaiting their ultimate glorification. The very last step being the actual glorification or realization of the saints and assumption to the Godhead as we saw in the end where the Godheadgiant floating eye was populated by the permanenteternal presence of the saints with our little girl among them. 220http://1.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76hP9apQkI/AAAAAAAABuM/kMALtMCHYU/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h32m21s3.png The man The man in Angels Egg physically portrays a Christlike figure. In the beginning he is seen standing on a chess board facing the giant Eye presumably representing the Godhead especially God the Father capacity since it was sending him out. He arrives in the girls life on a bizarre procession of mechanistic/organicand phallic? machines which most probably represent ancient Judaism in reference to Matthew 11:12 where the Kingdom of God is forcefully advanced by the Law and the prophets. This explains the warlike battle tanks and distinctly male appearance of the machines. He carries a cross on his back and wears bandages on his hands both of which are strongly reminiscent of Christian mythos. 11st interpretation: In this particular movie this figure is shown in a clearly negative light first telling the girl that he would protect her and eventually stealing away from her the egg which she cherishes so lovingly. Following this line of interpretation some have taken The Angels Egg to represent Oshis own fallout with Christianity. 22nd interpretation: A different interpretation sees the figure in a very positive light: as being her companion and protector in a violent illusory world and bringing to fruition what she couldnt have done on her own. He uses the crucifix to do this in reference to Matthew 16:24 He actually explains his motives for breaking the egg: Without opening it one may never realize the potential of whats inside. He overcame her selfish tendency to keep the egggospel seed hidden by wooing her companionship and trust. This is probably an allusion to walking in Christ or living by the Spirit of Christ. 220http://4.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76cBYOO5SI/AAAAAAAABt0/oaNnO6FBaTI/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h15m53s155.png The Fishermen and Fish 11st interpretation: Fishermen and fish are popular reoccurring symbols in Christian mythology. 22nd interpretation: Another interpretation notes that in this particular case the shifty fish shadows are those of the lobefinned or Sarcopterygii genera which are almost entirely extinct as a group. Thus the shadows can be interpreted as shades of onceliving things but now dissipating from nature becoming extinct. To apply the spiritual metaphor the shadows most likely represent ephemeral and even demonic forms. It fits well with the concept of demonic illusions because it is believed that demons are fallen angels. fallen as in cut off from and thus dissipating from Gods creation yet finding some sustenance and rest in the propagation of idolatry in humanity. see Mathew 12:4345 Supporting this idea these mirages are zealously pursued by the spearmen yet never tangibly grasped or attained and thus no ultimate fulfillment is found and no innate hunger is sated. The spears are sharp projections attached to ropes. This most likely symbolizes the human spiritwill and conscience projecting itself onto its environment trying to form soulattachments and identities in ephemeral things passions pleasures fears vices addictions fetishes idolatry etc. In contrast the fish enshrined in the Gothic church was colorful and vibrant and the girl radiated white in its presence. Where the lobedfinned shadows probably represent the adoption of shifty goals and ephemeral pursuits which are all moving towards extinction the colorful fish probably represents the Body of Christ living thriving growing adapting and steadily surviving. 220http://2.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76dsqUHXDI/AAAAAAAABt8/ajU8opsdA5c/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h21m43s88.png The Water The water is a subtle yet strong underlying Typology theology present throughout the film. In the beginning God descends into an ocean and the waters emanate out from the impact in waves signifying the beginning of creation where Jesus Christ the Logos the whitehaired man is sent out to perfect the creation glorifying God by gathering in human soulsin reference to Isaiah 55:11 as we see in the film. The water most likely symbolizes Spirit specifically the Holy Spirit. Initially the girl collects small amounts of it and stores it away the best she can do on her own but in a foreshadowing moment early in the film while starring into a pond she imagines herself to be fully immersed after which the man shows up. In the end the water floods everything and she herself is drowned in it while pursuing the man symbolizing Baptism with the Holy Spirit while chasing the path of Yeshua. 220http://4.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76huxcJ4I/AAAAAAAABuU/VDywK5icPJ8/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h35m14s28.png The Ark Near the beginning of the film we see the shadow of an ark which presumably the girl frequented. As the very last twist we see the ark again at the end this time slowly panning out. This is yet another example of Typology theology in which the story of the Ark regardless of its historical details is taken as a narrative allegory. Oshii probably borrowed the idea from the epistle of 1 Peter 3:2022 regarding the moment of salvation where the ark represents the preservation of the human spiritwill and conscience amidst a spiritual flood or baptism of the rest of the mind while demonic influences are purged.220http://2.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76ixHtlZRI/AAAAAAAABus/aGbsc1KCE9Y/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h44m39s42.png As the angle pans out in the last scene we see a metaark which also probably represents the salvation work of Christ on a larger scale. The entirety of the remnant of human souls is preserved through the Last Judgment by devoting itself to God through Christ but not just a remnant of humanity but also a reconciliation of the entire universe is implied here. An idea likely inspired by Pauls epistle to the Romans in which he describes the ultimate goal of existence. Chapter 8:1827. 220http://4.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76iGQWCgRI/AAAAAAAABuc/RfD1kFtDvec/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h36m18s156.png The Dove Drawing from the theme of all the 2nd interpretations above while the ark represents Christ as a preservation of the remnant of human souls and the universe reconciled through them in a mysterious fashion Romans 8:1827 the dove must represent all the souls of humanity sent out by God into human bodies but in the process of free will and sinful nature alienate themselves from Him by sin. According to what is implied in this film this severs a persons connection from Eternal Life in Godthe birds forgetting their origins dying and becoming fossilized. In the largest dialog section the Yeshua character presents a variation of Genesis 8 in which the bird forgot where it came from and probably died in the waters somewhere. He then makes an equivalence between the forgetful bird and humanityincluding himself as the son of man. Shortly afterwards they find the bird dead amongst the fossils which symbolizes concepts found in Ephesians 2:13 i.e. spiritual death because of relational estrangement from God. This idea is supported further when the girl declares to have the bird alive and growing in the egg which the Yeshua character treats with some skepticism because as we see later it was only a halftruth that she had the bird since the egg was only the seed of the knowledge of salvation planted in her and it only became a real bird after it was brought to fruition by Christ. Thus the bird represents the human spirit initially created by God dove sent out from ark fallen in sin bird forgets God and fossilizesbut then reconciled again to God through the Son he uses the crucifix to cultivate what was sown and later the giant tree/eggs emerge. 220http://3.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76g1hMsQ1I/AAAAAAAABuE/5ZYRQDhY2iI/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h22m44s189.png The Girl The girl of course represents a spiritually immature person but possibly also an actual child since in the end she appears as part of the Godhead in a childlike form rather than in an adult form as are many of the other statues. She holds the egg in a way which looks like shes pregnant which follows with the analogies above in which the gospel seed grows inside of a person taking root in their soul eventually birthing fruit several times what was sown.Mathew 13:23 220http://2.bp.blogspot.com/hLY9DmXXlH4/S76jM3kOoI/AAAAAAAABu0/m5xHtFSNKg/s1600/vlcsnap2010040904h46m33s119.png In conclusion While there may be a few more allegories to draw from the film we have provided tentative interpretations of the main themes above. It is interesting to note that the deeper nature of the film has eluded the usual anime fanbase since its release. Due to the exceedingly esoteric nature of the spiritual allegories presented having them explained by someone familiar with Christian theology still puts the viewer in a difficult position.