Mamoru Oshii’s Angel’s Egg 4K Remaster U.S. Release Announced

The 4K remaster for Mamoru Oshii’s classic Angel’s Egg film will be getting an official release in North America thanks to GKIDS! Angel’s Egg remains one of the most legendary anime releases of all time as the original OVA special was a collaboration between famed creators Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii and Final Fantasy illustrator Yoshitaka Amano. But while the film has made waves with fans in the decades since its original release, it wasn’t a hit with critics at the time. It’s meant that it’s been hard to actually legally revisit the special ever since. 

But that’s going to change very soon as Angel’s Egg is making a massive return as part of the celebration of its 40th Anniversary. It was announced that Angel’s Egg would be getting an official 4K remastered release, overseen by director Mamoru Oshii himself, for a scheduled launch some time in 2025 in Japan. Now GKIDS has officially announced that they have licensed the Angel’s Egg 4K remaster for a release in North America, so fans outside of Japan will get their chance to check it out too! 

What Is Angel’s Egg? 

Originally released in Japan back in 1985, Mamoru Oshii directed Angel’s Egg for Studio DEEN. Oshii collaborated with Yoshitaka Amano on the OVA’s original story, with Oshii also writing the screenplay and Amano handling the art direction. Yoshihiro Kanno composed the music for the film with Hiroshi Hasegawa, Masao Kobayashi, Mitsunori Miura, and Yutaka Wada serving as producers. The new remaster is based off a new scan of the original 35mm film print, with Oshii overseeing its development. 

GKIDS has noted that they also plan to release the remaster some time in theaters next year, but a release date or narrower window has yet to be announced as of the time of this publication. While Angel’s Egg was not received well on its original release, it’s become huge with fans in the decades since. As for what to expect, GKIDS teases its story as such:

“In an underwater city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms – a treasure that she believes is an angel’s egg. A boy with a gun arrives in search of a bird he saw in his dream. At first it seems as if feelings of sympathy are developing between the two. Then, one night, the boy crushes her precious egg.”