I have this policy of never watching two different animes on the same day (to gave it time for it to "settle") but I broke this rule after watching Angel's egg. The atmosphere in that movie was so dark I decided I need to watch something colorful and light so I watched Ponyo, but I was still under the influence of the Angel's egg and I came up with alternative explanation of Ponyo where everybody dies (sea fish dies when it is put in a bucket of fresh water, kids dies in flood and go through the "tunnel" to the "other side" where everybody else is already waiting)
Angels egg was extremely overrated. I watched it all and felt like my time was wasted. Was recommended to me cus my favorite anime is serial experiments lain. They aren't even comparable.
Texhnolyze, paranoia agent, mind game, shinsekai yori... I'd recommend many anime to someone who likes lain, but probably not angel's egg. I don't agree that it's bad, but it's far more arthouse and understated than most anime, which is meaningful compared to the era it emerged from.
I can't imagine taking your kids to both of those. But maybe the way the 1980's explains Gen X behavior (read: trauma), that double feature explains something about 1990's Japan.
“The response was different depending on which film was shown first. My Neighbor Totoro would make them happy, then this Grave of the Fireflies… Those who saw Totoro first didn’t want to see Fireflies to the end. Those who saw Fireflies first didn’t have that problem, and stayed to the end. The double featuring was a problem, I’d say.”