Angel's Egg: Mamoru Oshii's legendary OVA 4K remaster to be released in November

It has been announced that a 4K remaster of "Angel's Egg," the legendary OVA (original video animation) directed by Mamoru Oshii, released in 1985, will be released exclusively in Dolby Cinema from November 14th. It will be released nationwide from November 21st. Under the supervision of director Oshii himself, the original 35mm film was scanned and remastered in 4K, with the sound remixed to Dolby Atmos. In May, it was selected for the Classics section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, and had its world premiere prior to its release in Japan.

A poster visual has also been released ahead of the release. The visual features an illustration drawn by Yoshitaka Amano, the original creator and art director, for the first time in about 40 years.

Previously, the illustrations have mostly focused on girls, but the newly released visuals feature a boy as the main character. The background features eggs, a motif from the story, and a fantastical cityscape, creating an impressive image of a boy wearing a large, flowing cloak and carrying a cross on his shoulder.

Director Oshii commented, "It's a masterpiece. This is Amano's first original drawing in 40 years, and it really does make you feel how much time has passed. Previous posters focused on girls, so it's interesting that this one has a boy as the main character, and I think it clearly gives a new image to 'Angel's Egg.' I can only imagine what Amano was thinking, but I imagine it's about the boy growing up."

An interview video was also released in which Amano talks about the background of the visual production. Amano said, "It was the first time I'd ever drawn a boy in detail," revealing that he proceeded to paint while specifically imagining his age and character. Keeping in mind the lines of the boy played by Nezu Jinpachi, he created an image of the boy who was standing on the other side of the egg in the poster from about 40 years ago, having walked to the front over a long period of time. He also said, "There may be a different timeline flowing in the world of 'Angel's Egg,'"

"Angel's Egg" was Director Oshii's first original work, with Amano in charge of the original concept and art direction. It was produced in an ascetic style, with almost monotone colors, very few lines, unusually long takes, and only about 400 cuts, about one-third the number of cuts in a normal anime. It was released as an OVA in 1985, and was screened in theaters for a limited time to commemorate its release.

*Original staff (titles omitted)

Original concept, script and director: Mamoru Oshii ▽ Original concept and art direction: Yoshitaka Amano ▽ Producer: Yasuyoshi Tokuma ▽ Planning: Tatsumi Yamashita, Hideo Ogata ▽ Original concept: Mamoru Oshii, Yoshitaka Amano (from Animage Bunko's "Angel's Egg") ▽ Producers: Mitsunori Miura, Yutaka Wada, Masao Kobayashi, Hiroshi Hasegawa ▽ Director and script: Mamoru Oshii ▽ Art direction: Yoshitaka Amano ▽ Art director and layout supervision: Shichiro Kobayashi ▽ Animation director: Yasuhiro Nagura ▽ Music composer: Yoshihiro Kanno ▽ Music director: Yoshihiro Kanno ▽ Sound director: Shiba Shigeharu ▽ Director of photography: Juro Sugimura ▽ Editing: Seiji Morita ▽ Animation production: Studio Deen

*Cast (titles omitted)

Boy: Jinpachi Nezu ▽ Girl: Mako Hyodo