[2] Released by Tokuma Shoten on 15 December 1985,[3] the film was a collaboration between artist Yoshitaka Amano and Oshii.

The film stars two nameless characters, a young girl who protects an egg, who bonds with a boy who has a dream about a bird.

[5] It features very little spoken dialogue and a story that is strongly allegorical which has led to many viewers being confused about the film's supposed meaning.

[6] The setting of the film takes place in a primordial land, filled with trees, a seashore, a mysterious mechanical sun, various ruins of buildings and two nameless characters.

[6] One of these is a young girl who scavenges a desolate city while protecting a large egg, which she believes will hatch into an angel.

[22] Oshii also said that the ending was one with salvation for the girl, but he did not want it to be shown in a straightforward way, and made it hard to understand.

[30] Nezu worked with Oshii once again in Patlabor 2: The Movie[31] and Mako Hyōdō played a supporting role in The Sky Crawlers.

[35] There was no definitive script, but rather a collection of ideas noted down like "annunciation" "ark" "setting sun" "a boy holding a cross riding a tank" which were immediately turned into storyboards, and then fitted together, which Oshii says had the intention of making a film without clear drama, made out of visual expressions, like one by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko said that the reason the film feels like something new is because it is not merely a montage of disjointed scenes, but a complete world depicted within 80 minutes.

[53] Shoji Kokami had high praise for the film, saying that it is a "two-dimensional poem of images given form" that "should be valued as a pinnacle of the media of animation.

"[54] Anime critic and producer Noriaki Ikeda [ja] also had high praise for the film, saying the apocalyptic setting, religious aspects, and lack of life in it both appeals to and bewilders fans of science fiction.

[56] Miyazaki himself said regarding the film that he "appreciates the effort, but it is not something others would understand"[57] and of Oshii "he goes on a one-way journey without thinking of how to get back".

[59] Western critics found the film confusing, citing its allegory, symbolism, and ending, as the reasons.

[62][60] Jason Thompson writing in Viz Media's online magazine J-pop compared the film's style to Night on the Galactic Railroad while noting that the meaning of the film may be elusive, stating "Angel's Egg stands as an evocation of a mood and world which is powerful in spite of -- perhaps because of -- not being consciously understood.

"[60] Kara Dennison of Otaku USA said "Mamoru Oshii's 1985 collaboration with Yoshitaka Amano is one of the most beautiful anime committed to film.

"[7] Anime News Network writer Lynzee Loveridge compared the film's tone and style to Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness and René Laloux's film Fantastic Planet and said "There is little else like in the animation medium and fans of thoughtful, experimental works can only hope that more legitimate exposure may lead to broader availability.

"[63] Helen McCarthy called it "an early masterpiece of symbolic film-making", stating that "its surreal beauty and slow pace created a Zen-like atmosphere, unlike any other anime".

The review noted that "Patlabor 2 is more sophisticated, Ghost in the Shell is more important, and Avalon is more mythically complex but the low-tech, hand-drawn Angel's Egg remains Oshii's most personal film.