Wonder Egg Priority

This review mentions sexual assault, self-harm, and suicide. I have rewatched Wonder Egg Priority multiple times in an effort to organize my conflicting feelings towards it. On one hand, it has beautiful visuals, an intriguing aura, and a great first couple episodes. On the other hand, it has shallow concepts, a messy narrative, a lack in direction, problematic messages, poor character development, exploitation of sensitive themes, and a failed execution of ideas. Yeah, the cons definitely outweigh the pros with this one. Wonder Egg markets itself as an odd yet beautiful dream of self-acceptance full of imagery and symbolism. The first scene of the anime introduces us to our protagonist, Ai, in the middle of the street when a strange voice taking form of a firefly brings her to an underground arcade and gives her an egg. Breaking the egg transports Ai to a surreal world that slowly reveals itself as a danger zone where she is tasked to protect a person called a “Wonder” from a creature called a “Wonder Killer”, a representation of the person’s struggles or trauma. Ai then meets friends who also take part on their own journeys to defeat Wonder Killers. Every character has their own backstory and a set of convictions that affect how they act and fight against trauma. It’s a very original and mysterious Ikuhara-esque concept that aims to tackle how we overcome our issues. But with each episode, the anime gets more and more problematic until it completely falls apart. One of Wonder Egg’s main fallbacks is its use of imagery. Ironically, imagery is the whole appeal of the show and the reason why I admittedly had high hopes for it. But over time, it got repetitive, and I realized that it was due to the constricted nature by which imagery in Wonder Egg is presented. The wonder killers (victim’s trauma) are always actual beings. There’s the abusive teacher, the abusive teacher #2, the abusive coach, and so on. Not only is this the same thing over and over again, but I find this pattern problematic because when we talk about sensitive topics like self-harm and suicide in real life, trauma doesn’t always take form of one specific event or attacker. We can see how this issue affects the story in one of the episodes that focuses on Momoe, a tomboyish girl learning to deal with society’s ideas of gender and appearance. Fitting with the theme, the person Momoe was tasked to save in that episode was a non-conforming girl who identified as a boy. This is great. Having Momoe pair up with someone who is also subjected to society’s standards is a very thematic plot choice that allows the opportunity for Momoe to maybe learn something about herself from their encounter. I thought, “Cool, so this whole dream sequence is going to focus on how they accept themselves despite societal pressures.” Perhaps the wonder killer would be a representation of society that they could beat together. But no. Instead, the Wonder Killer was a rapist… which I found completely random. Yes, rape is an issue. But is it a good issue to poorly tie into the topic of gender norms for no deep reason? Absolutely not. Why suddenly insert a rapist when the topic isn’t about dealing with rape? Doing this just feels like the show is forcibly inserting rapists everywhere. It also feels a lot like the show is just digressing from the initial topic at hand. If Wonder Egg wants to tackle challenging societal norms, then the issue should be society itself. But this anime consistently uses one specific attacker to encompass the whole issue. In doing this, it only focuses on face-value encounters and makes it seem like the entire problem lies within just one superficial enemy or trauma. It is a wasted opportunity that hinders Wonder Egg from using imagery in a broader way. Had they used the dream sequence in order to symbolize society and its issues as a whole, the anime would have better succeeded in connecting to the bigger picture. Instead, Wonder Egg’s imagery is too narrow, relying on a single person to put the blame on. Object symbolism in this anime doesn't come with much meaning either. The firefly from the first episode is seen every once and while but doesn’t represent anything. It could’ve been any other bug or small object, and everything would’ve remained the same. Ai has heterochromia which is supposed to show how different she is and tie into the fact that she was made fun of in school. But then the anime contradicts this symbolism by introducing another character with heterochromia who was considered smart and beautiful rather than someone who was made fun of. All of the main girls have different weapons when they enter the dream world, and the show even draws attention to this when Ai first fights a wonder killer with one of her friends. But the weapons barely catered to their backgrounds OR only referenced one small part about their personality. It would be easy to assume that the creators just randomly gave them something cool that would look good with their character design. For the most part, this isn’t a huge issue. But it’s disappointing because the anime sets itself up to be something deeper and because most of these ideas take place in a dream world that’s supposed to be some representation of reality. I love analyzing and reading between the lines, and I thought that Wonder Egg would make me do that with its unusual concepts. But it’s mostly just pseudo-symbolic repetition without thought. Despite this shallow repetition and narrow imagery, the girls-fighting-against-wonder-killers formula was still a solid one that produced decent results in the beginning of the anime. We got to see girls be badass and overcome their trauma. Everything was running smoothly, and there weren’t any big plot issues. But that’s exactly why when Wonder Egg abandoned this formula, the narrative completely collapsed. For some reason, the creators of the anime couldn’t stick to one idea. So before we even hit halfway through the series, they started playing around with the messages of the anime. One line that shifted the tone of the narrative was “Boys’ and girls’ suicides mean different things. Men are goal-oriented, and women are emotion-oriented. Women are impulsive and easily influenced by others’ voices.” Suddenly, Wonder Egg was no longer a show that focused on girls simply to show their growth and strength. It became a show that focused on girls because apparently ‘they’re emotional and easily manipulated’. Tying those stereotypical ideas into suicide was a horrible choice. The show tries to make sense of it later on in the anime, but it just ends up being rushed. So the lines came off like something that the writers genuinely believed in. A lot of the smaller dialogue started relying on similar gender stereotypes as well. For example, some quotes from the anime are “Men who ask women for money are all fake” and “A beautiful woman never needs a wallet.” Both of these lines come from Rika, one of Ai’s friends who is involved in acts of self-harm and lives in a single-parent-household with an alcoholic mother. Knowing this, I assume that the dialogue was meant to show the mindset of a child from a troubled home with absent parental figures. However, I don’t understand why they had to be so stereotypical. There are multiple other ways to display a person’s mindset without having to rely on problematic dialogue. The fact that these messages are repeated throughout the show makes it feel like the anime is exploiting Rika’s background and using these lines more as shock factor rather than to show her growth. This is even more evident when Rika implies that she hasn’t gained a sense of self-acceptance. After one of her Wonder Killer battles, Rika says “Even if it means hurting myself, I’m going to live.” Anyone who knows how dangerous self-harm can be should understand why this line is a big issue. Not only did the anime actively promote self-harm, but it also marketed it as growth. Now I like…

Wonder Egg Priority is baby’s first anti-suicide propaganda. It’s just the next, trendiest puberty anime on the block, and the egg symbolizes bad writing. It’s a teen drama filled to the brim with metaphorical imagery and action which screams their exact meaning so loudly and with so little nuance, they’re nearly literal, and as a result of this, anyone with even the slightest modicum of emotional maturity or life experience will find themselves knowing everything this show is going to say as soon as its subject matter is made so clumsily clear. Minor spoilers ahead. I once said about Nijigahara Holograph, a great thing about crushing your story under the weight of its own symbolism is that it becomes so interpretive, critics can’t even parse through enough to say it made no sense. However, unless you, the author, actually dare to explain yourself and your imagery, you yourself can’t say it did in fact make any sense either. This is why abstract art isn’t typically respected by critics, and that’s a problem for Wonder Egg Priority, because ultimately, it’s just an artsy student film. It’s abstract art which portrays teenagers fighting personifications of suicidal tendencies in an effort to overcome them in this weird egg limbo to empower the audience who presumably finds their problems relatable, but the degree to which the show actually grasps what it seeks to comment on wavers greatly throughout the show to the point it almost makes these very legitimate adolescent anxiety issues seem laughable as a consequence of how over-the-top the imagery is. Ugly little CG goblin bullies called “Seeno Evils,” other ugly CG abominations called “Haters,” a heterochromic main heroine named “Ohto Ai” who’s name is enunciated “Odd Eye.” I mean, come on people! Explaining this kind of shit to an eleven year old would be patronizing, yet when these kinds of symbols appear in the same show as a very realistic portrayal of someone cutting themselves and a very poignant analysis of why people generally do so, it really begs the question how serious the authors were about tackling either issue. One episode it’s dangerously suggesting all chūnibyōs are medically schizophrenic, another episode it’s outrageously claiming boys never commit suicide for emotional reasons, and another episode it places a transgender boy, a biological girl, in the egg limbo after having established no boys are allowed in the egg limbo…so I guess it’s based and redpilled? My point is it’s extremely hit or miss, but when a show is hit or miss while touching on delicate topics, especially a show like this which is always soapboxing and using its cast as a moral mouthpiece, it just comes across as ignorant and disingenuous. For a show about dissecting people’s problems and helping them fight their mental hangups, the characters are, ironically, by far the weakest link. In the first episode, Ai completely rejects to the point of physically running away from the cordial and friendly advances of the most calm, collected, and kind girl on the planet, but then immediately afterwards in episode two, she’s suddenly trying her hardest to shamelessly insert herself into the life of the most stuck-up and thoroughly unapproachable character in the show, Neiru, as if we didn’t just watch an entire episode of her being portrayed as unmanageably shy. Momoe is a masculine looking girl who's self-conscious about her appearance and wants to look more feminine. Her problem is even though she's straight, she only attracts girls she has to constantly turn down who thinks she looks handsome and dashing. Men don't approach her because she looks too boyish, and she doesn't approach men because she lacks the self-esteem. One day, a man approaches her and asks her to go on a date, but when she shows up for the date, this time wearing a dress that accentuates her femininity, the man reveals he was gay and mistook her for a guy, and dumps her. The problem is this established Momoe—a character with short, straight hair who for some reason wears a collared shirt under a slim-fit sweater and khaki slacks—can, indeed, look like a girl if she puts even the slightest bit of effort into doing so, therefore invalidating her entire internal crisis. Ai’s school counselor who the show insistently implies is a creep who grooms his students, and who Ai saw after school being intimate with her friend who committed suicide soon thereafter, is suddenly turned into a contrived love interest/father figure when he hooks up with Ai's mom. Even character development that sticks the landing like that of Rika, the final of the four main characters, feels fruitless because it doesn’t change the group dynamic at all, and unfortunately, the plot turns out to be way more important than you thought, and the plot is nothing short of boring. The writers seem to be under this weird impression that by introducing supernatural elements into their story, you’re not allowed to criticize its internal consistency in any way. The whole egg limbo with all the crazy egg fights and bizarre monster designs never have any thematic weight, and despite the fact what little emotional weight is there usually misses the mark entirely, the big autistic shounen battle speeches they give usually leaves you feeling as if their emotions are all that really matters in this world and not to really mind the details of the allegory since it’s probably shallow anyway. However, given everything I discussed in the last paragraph, trying to dissect the characters typically falls apart, so all that’s eventually left to chew on is those visuals, which the show seems to want to sell you on without actually offering you any understanding of, kind of like how a magician will let you watch their trick a thousand times but never let you touch any of their mechanisms. Now, don’t get me wrong. I'm all for interpretive media, but said media has to actually suggest interesting interpretations. The egg monster representing a rapist has a big dick nose on his face with an unruly mustache around its base, the egg monster representing a coach who body shames their students has giant rolls of fat and absurdly large and saggy tits...okay, cool, so is that it? The issues the show wants to portray are always deeper than the symbolism—let alone its thin characterization—gives them credit for, and when the plot finally rears its ugly head, it tries to lazily wrap everything up by explaining away all the supernatural nonsense with a ridiculous pseudo science fiction plot which takes the time to imply all women who take their own lives only do so impulsively, and if it wasn’t for that fleeting moment of weakness, our villain who we just introduced five seconds ago who can poison people’s minds never would’ve been able to lead them to suicide. Meanwhile, I still can’t decide which is more offensive. That shit, or the aforementioned suggestion that boys don’t kill themselves for emotional reasons. Unfortunately for the ideologues in charge of writing Wonder Egg Priority, their little snowflake here isn’t special, and the same rules of storytelling which apply to everything else also apply to it. The show always comes down to pacing, but since everything gets shoved towards the tail-end of the story, elements of the narrative which probably wouldn't have been as egregiously melodramatic with proper set-up end up piling up at the end and making the whole thing a total slog, because the empty-headed artsy student film it was at the beginning ultimately didn’t have any legs, and the misguided Flip Flappers/Magical Girl Madoka★Magica/last two episodes of Evangelion/Kara no Kyoukai: Fuukan Fukei rip-off it was at the end did little but make an internal mess of its already externally messy symbols and expose this show for exactly what it is: a largely incongruous anime inspired by those far more genuine and artful than itself. I have an inherent respect for a commentary on how modern Japanese society handles m…

It has been a long time since an original anime truly pushed the bounds of the medium and really diverged from standard cookie cutter series. Wonder Egg Priority is not only original in that it has no source material, its original in that its concept has rarely been done before in any other anime series. If you have long been awaiting an anime with a dark magical girl atmosphere similar to that of Madoka or Flip Flappers, along with Mawaru Penguindrum style character designs and color pallets, with all the symbolism included of course, then this is a must check anime from the 2021 winter season. This review will delve into why Wonder Egg Priority stands out among anime originals and why it is a contender for anime of the season even among one of the most stacked anime seasons in years. Story: 7 Initially the premise seems like the backstory for a high school set drama, however this quickly shifts during the first episode. At the start the protagonist, Ai Ooto, goes full hikkikomori due to personal issues, some of the issues include a close friend committing suicide and Ooto generally being ostracized while at school. She lives her days full of regret and dreaming about her friend, Ooto knows she should have stood up her for her friend who was being bullied, especially since it was because her friend protected her that she became a target. All of this is just the prologue to the actual story which begins when Ooto picks up an egg which asks her if she wants to change her future. The story really launches at this point, the audience is introduced to a dreamworld full of the regrets and the personification of inner problems that suicidal girls face, Ooto is given the task to save the girls who are in the eggs. She obtains eggs from a gacha machine and cracks them open, afterwards she needs to find a way to solve their regrets or help them overcome their inner problems. More is revealed about this later on, the plot twists involving the gacha eggs and the system are really well done and the messages the show deliver are executed in a completely satisfactory way. Every important scene is full of symbolism, this is definitely the type of show to watch with your full attention, it is also highly recommended that you pause and reflect between each episode. There are also a lot of heavier themes in place mixed with the lighthearted atmosphere, the themes are handled well and do not conflict with the more easy-going atmosphere outside of the dreamworld events. The director very effectively balanced the show so that it was never oppressively dark or painfully edgy but still carried the serious tone that should be expected given the themes and subject matter. Overall, the story is, until its ending, fairly well executed and one of the most original ones in recent anime, it tells a wonderfully crafted story of self redemption and overcoming inner turmoil, it gets a 7 out of 10 for its creativity and originality but it loses points for failed execution near the end. Art: 10 The artwork is movie quality, it does not feel like a TV anime at all, every single scene looks like something out of an anime movie. From the background art which looks lifelike at times due do some absolutely amazing tracing work, to the food which looks like it belongs in a Ghibli film with its detail and rich colors, everything in the show has a lot of love and care put into it to an extent that is shocking for a TV anime. Most of the transition scene backgrounds, such as Ooto walking in the rain or the flowers in the fields can very well work as wallpaper for a 4k computer background, it cannot be understated exactly how detailed all the art is for this series. The symbolism is reminiscent of Mawaru Penguindrum and Madoka, while the action is about as fluid as Mob Psycho despite the massively more detailed character design. With a combination of rather unique looking enemies, excellent fight Choreography and cuts during major attacks, Wonder Egg Priority might have some of the best action scenes among recent anime even though action is not even the main focus given the nature of the story. Character designs for all the girls were quite well done as well, the studio used a very saturated vivid color pallet for each character which can conflict with lighter backgrounds, however the characters actually contrasted in quite a beautiful way with the scenery present. The girls had unique traits such as a variety of skin tones, eyes colors, hair highlights and subtle differences in body type that set them apart from each other in a bold way, the studio did not use cheap tricks like recycling the character model with different hair colors or overdoing the body type differences between the girls to differentiate them. Every girl also has a unique outfit, texting style and accessories that convey their personality, an interesting weapon in the dream world which reflects their trauma, and they all have some of the most detailed reaction facial animations for when the girls are tense, excited, smug, frustrated, upset. Its worth adding that very few shortcuts were used like blank faces during distant convos, characters speaking without being seen, and there was next to no CGI at used at all for character movements despite the intense detail in their character design. Now the combat animation wasn’t perfect in that characters did have a lot of transition cuts during fights, however it was done in a tasteful way that actually added a lot of impact to the hard hits, blood splatter, knock back effects present. Wonder Egg Priority also managed to achieve something only a handful of anime have ever achieved, true horror during a fight scene, anime by design is pretty terrible at conveying a sense of horror due to how difficult it is to make a scene looks revolting, but that crocodile and butterfly scene really does it. Overall, the presentation of Wonder Egg Priority is spectacular, the show essentially has no notable flaws and exceeds expectations in every way, there is nothing present or lacking that lowers its score and due to this it receives a very rare perfect score for its art production values. The sound: 8 Interesting OP, an ED that closed each episode perfectly, sometimes in a hilarious tonal shift, but I maintain that it was perfect, the show also highly effective sound effects for fights. The OP itself including both the sound and the visuals really fill the audience with a strong sense of familiarity, it genuinely feels like the richness of daily life and all those small moments we take for granted being highlighted in the form of a warm and slow song. The background music soundtrack by itself was not that impressive, unlike other shows this series is compared to, for example Madoka Magica. However, on its own, it still complements the show well enough, and its memorable, therefore an 8 feels like a fair appraisal of the music. Characters: 8 The cast is all female, and they are all focused on saving someone they knew that committed suicide, this binds them together and gives them a common background. Outside of the common tie, these girls come from entirely different socio economic and familial backgrounds and they all have entirely different, but complementary personalities. Every girl is well fleshed out and this anime feels like an inverse Bechdel test in ways, there are next to no men present, if they are present, they are either a source of trouble or irrelevant to the cast. In short, the cast is very similar to most magical girl shows; however it goes a step above and beyond in both their characterization and their distinct designs, all of the girls have an important story to tell and they are all in this important journey together. As noted, before, men in the show are usually portrayed as bystanders or active antagonists, there is not much character development for them except one man who was very relevant for the protagonist. This is a notable weakness for the show, the ant…

When I first heard about this original anime of the season. I decide to watch it and discover the wonders of the anime. And I really love how gorgeous the visualisation in the anime. But expect some things you'll see behind this awesome animation. The story starts with Ai Ohto carrying a mysterious egg. And then, this is where the supernatural begins. She now found herself in a very eerie school and was convinced to break the egg by a mysterious person. The egg hatches and a person appears from the egg. Now this is where the thrill begins. Yes! A group of small minions with knifes known as "Seeno Evils" emerge and chase down to kill any person that comes out from this egg. And not just that, there's also a huge creepy looking monster known as "Wonder Killer". So yeah, expect some more scary looking monsters that will cringe you out in many episodes. But that's what makes this anime fun to watch. The anime also has great things like the past of the main characters and many mysterious things happening around our main characters such as the suicide death of Koito Nagase. The anime actually holds 11 episodes instead due to episode 8 being a recap episode. And more things that ruins my enjoyment of the anime such as that weird pedophilia one I saw in one episode. But still, it is good enough for me. If this is the type of thrilling anime you want to see, then this anime will be good for you.

So, Wonder Egg Priority. Interesting show to say the least, it's up to interpretation either this show is good or a complete garbage. Well I will explain to you why this is an outstanding show, the best of winter season 2021. Story: Story is pretty simple and you could get it from the premise, but basically it's a bunch of teens fighting against depression and suicidal thoughts in human form. Every episode is a one week adventures, roughly connected with one another. An evil force is mostly metaphorical, rather than being a real thing, but as show goes on we uncover some stuff in reality also. As a standalone episodes are really good with giving you an important message. Art is movielike, fight scenes in this show are the best, very colourful and well drawn. Each character has unique design which in a way represents their personalities. Everything is fluid, backgrounds are well drawn. Not much to say about it, other than that being an excellent piece of work from the artists. Sound design are very good, some scenes are silent than it is necessary, OST as a whole is alright. Opening is unique, cause of how quite it is, that actually works perfectly with the saddest episodes, ending is sung by main cast voice actors, song is upbeat and catchy, idk if it fits, but I was ok with it. Characters. Well, characters is something why I enjoy this type of shows, and this one doesn't let me down. Each character has a distinct personality and goal, all of the have their own stuff to deal with. Trauma is real in this show and it making me feel what the characters feel at the moment of time. Characters progress, and have more development as the show goes on. Slice of life moments are so good, and these heartwarming moments just making me feel even more sad than something traumatic happens to them. Enjoyment: You definitely will enjoy this anime if you enjoying weird psychological dramas like Eva, or Madoka Magica. If you are not fan of these shows than you might enjoy it, idk, but I liked that either way. Overall: So that just ended on an... ... interesting point, there has to be another season overwise idk what to make of this. I will give it a ten for now and wait for the some announcement from the studio if there is gonna be an additional episodes or not. *Update so additional special, was comedically bad, but I won't change this review, cause some people seem to like it. Thanks for reading my first review! Enjoy the show.

Wonder Egg Priority is a self-defacing, indecisive, insensitive, and genuinely insulting car wreck of a story seemingly only able to commit to the author’s insistence that young women definitely always kill themselves because they want to fuck older men. While often stated to be an example of a “strong start, weak ending,” this always feels highly disingenuous. While the opening act is carried by the mesmerizing forward momentum of the flash-and-fire a talented director and hardworking animation team brought to it, their devotion could only carry a horrific script so far. Beneath the facade of a sophisticated art anime lies a blatant continuation of Nojima’s trauma-porn fueled daytime tv drama roots. The portrayal of young women’s suffering is at best blunt, on average voyeuristic, and at its worst actively abhorrent. The finale’s reveal of the story of Koito’s death is a thematic poison pill that retroactively rots away every inch of the story as Nojima’s true lack of empathy for the subject matter of his traumatically indulgent shitshow is revealed in full. Even ignoring thematic elements, the final act utterly fails to weave together anything resembling a compelling narrative, throwing new plot points at the wall like a drunken game of darts before it jumps out the window and baits a second season so it doesn't have to pay its tab. I originally planned to make this a much longer review, but it rapidly became clear to me that Wonder Egg didn’t deserve this level of thought - not when the sum total of it’s cultural legacy has already been reduced to “top ten darkest moments in anime” listicle fodder, and not when Nojima clearly didn’t put anything resembling that level of thought into his own work.

Beautifully animated, a profound story and bubbling friendship. Wonder Egg Priority is one of the bangers of the winter season 2021 and one of my favorites. It’s a story about losing something close, fragile and extremely precious. Its about gaining something precious. It tells a tale while beautifully expressing itself visually and with figurative speech. --- Minor spoilers --- WEP is one of the anime which keeps me thinking about it after I’ve watched an episode. Form the get go it struck me that there was a lot of underlying messages and symbolism weaved through the beautiful animation. It’s main theme which is about suicide is the driving motive behind this trippy tale. Especially about suicide from young girls. It is a not so happy topic brought forth as something to discover a reason behind it. Was it due to depression, pestering, disease, or simply because death looks better than life (for a moment)? You follow the main protagonist Ooto Ai on her endeavors to bring back her friend from the dead. With the help of so called “Eggs”. Crack an egg and save a girl who also committed suicide. With the power of some plot armor and a lot of determination Ohto Ai battles the insecurities or temptations which let to ones early death. And something in it looked beautiful to me. Literally fighting of your inner demons, getting a second change at redemption or peace. The funny thing is that the battle is a two stage set-up. Fight of the standard mobs (representing the many doubts/harmful thoughts) and fighting of the final boss (the trauma which caused it). Some of the battles scenes looked really crisp and satisfying. Next to being the hero of the day (night), Ooto gains new friends. It feels soothing to see her open up like a flower. The darker side of her story where she’s a shut-in is actually muffled away by the sheer cuteness and liveliness of Ooto. And between the meet-ups and giggles different sides of her friends are exposed. Something to think about and touch you as a viewer. Even when on the surface everything looks like its going so well, everyone had or is still fighting very hard to keep their heads above the water. I like it that the friends are there for each other, backing each other up. As they slowly grow closer to each other they become a group which shares their pain and happiness. I love the way how they do things that would seem like they only do to trusted people, to show of close and fond they’ve grown to each other. Each character feels like a typical character yet at the same time they boast some sort of originality. The best part is that their design looks absolutely adorable. Each of them have their distinct color palette which reminds me of the Konosuba cast We got the serious and levelheaded figure Neiru. She acts calm and calculated, heck even her weapon is a compass. Being the most intelligent character we see her struggle and clash with the pathos. The emotional side of things. She has a harder time to loosen up or to sympathize with others. Or is this a façade? Set up to hide her true feelings. We only know that she’s as tough as a diamond and she shines the brightest with her friends around her. There is queen charming. Yes, queen. This beautiful girl is almost as handsome as a knight on his white steed. Momoe is calm but also girly. She shy’s away from typical girls fashion but struggles to be seen as a girl. She’s mostly self-conflicted about her appearance. Her battle is laid out as acceptance. Can she accept who she is? Or does she need people to accept her. I think she would be an ideal tomboy figure. Rika Kawai, an outgoing girl with a sparkly personality. Being an idol is though, and dealing with fans even more. Are you responsible for them because they follow you? What do you do when guilt trips you over. A princes from the outside and a wreck on the inside. She’s one of those happy get-go characters who are wearing “masks” to hide their pain. They can’t be true to themselves, so they cant be truthful to others. It’s almost scary how she mirrors depressed people. And lastly we got our sun shine Oota Ai with an odd eye. A rather normal girl, I think. There is not something I can pinpoint on her except that she’s the mc. She’s the most compassionate of the four and she is also very cute. Her hoodie is simply to adorable. What surprised me was that Ooto had more than just one simple side to her. She can be shy, she can be daring, she can be girly, she can make funny faces. But best of all, she can smile so bright. Her battle and struggle with going to school is done very smoothly so that the topic of going to school didn’t stood out as a sore thumb as seen from a story perspective. Its only a shame we need a second season to see this happen. Then again I really want that second season with Ooto and her flashy battle moves. Don’t anger her! The music and sound effects overall are very good. Its feels natural and fitting of each scene. Music that is either completely blended in the world or really pops out is good. The intro song is also so soothing and does NOT DO justice to the insane cruelty in wonder egg priority. The song is so calming and pleasant it almost makes me forget every week that I watch an anime about battling insecurities and pain. WEP choose blend their music and sound effects in the world. From the crisp sound of transforming weapons to smacking trauma’s to oblivion, it all sounds great. On top of that the voice acting was superb. Every character had their distinct role and effortlessly conveyed emotion. While WEP has many good points, there were some things I liked a little less. The lack of explanation and the typical “MC saves the day” mechanic. It can make anime boring and not rewarding to watch. The typical “MC gets power up whenever it goes wrong” and some elements which are randomly added at some point were either confusing or unexplained. Until the final episodes hit. Where the story suddenly takes a deep dive into the driving power of WEP and the binding red thread of the story. Why the eggs are there in the first place and what the set up was for saving your friend. But most of all, not the temptation of dying, but the brutality behind it. It set itself up very strongly for a second season but only if it can get rid of plot armor. Wonder Egg Priority rewards people with patience as the story slowly grows and evolves and let it explain itself. There are some elements to figure out yourself but overall it’s a very satisfying anime to watch. In a way Wonder Egg Priority strives to be artistic and with this, it is not an anime which everyone will like. You may dislike explained symbolism or the theme about suicide and self-harm but all in all, it’s just preference. If you like CGDCT then it’s your call.

"Accept your mistakes, overcome the past and live the present" Wonder Egg Priority is about a girl with heterochromia named Ai Ooto who buys an egg to be cracked in the dream world. When the egg (or "Wonder Egg") breaks, a girl appears whom she must protect from creatures called "Seeno Evils" and from a monster called "Wonder Killer" that represents the trauma of the wonder egg character. However, Ai will not be the only girl with this task. She will also accompany other girls throughout the world of dreams. Among them is Neiru Aonuma, a taciturn girl; Rika Kawaii, a somewhat bully girl and quite sincere with what she thinks; and Momoe Sawaki, a girl with the appearance of a boy very popular among the girls of the school. Now, let me extend my review to understand the concept of Wonder Egg Priority a bit: As I said above, the girls buy a wonder egg (hence the name of the anime) and it breaks into the dream world. Upon hatching, a girl appears who must be protected from the Seeno Evils and the trauma depicted in the Wonder Killer. Apparently every girl on the Wonder Egg is a real person who passed away in real life. To all this I add that there are also some statues, which appear in each girl's dream, which represent a loved one or friend who once passed away. For these two reasons, Ai, the main protagonist, decides to try harder in this task because she believes that by this means she can bring back to life her only friend, who committed suicide long before the beginning of the anime. But the premise does not end here. Although the girl with the wonder egg (that is, the person who hatches the Wonder Egg) seems to be far from the problems of the protagonists, in reality this is related to some hidden characteristic in the personality and past of the protagonist. This can be understood when our characters (Ai, Neiru, Rika or Momoe) strike up a conversation with the wonder egg girl or face the Wonder Killer. Which means that what our protagonists face is their past (Family Relations, Friendships, Harassment, Violence, Sexuality, etc.) This also makes sense when we note that the statues - that is, the deceased loved ones of the protagonists - have a point in common with the girls from the Wonder Egg: Suicide… We see throughout the series that the plot alternates between the world of dreams and real life. Within the world of dreams, each girl's dream is different from the other in terms of two things: Stage and the Wonder Egg. The scene is related to the death of the girl's acquaintance (For example, Ai's is in a high school) so the statue is also positioned somewhere. Although it is called a statue for some reason, it has human characteristics such as why the protagonists manage to feel their temperature, for example. The Wonder Eggs meanwhile have already been explained in the previous paragraphs. Additionally there is a garden that is the center where the protagonists meet and buy the Wonder Eggs. There will be two living mannequins called Acca - who looks like an office worker - and Ura-Acca - who looks like a young university adult - who advise and guide the girls throughout the journey in the world of dreams. The real world, on the other hand, is practically as we know it. Although we do not see it as often as the world of dreams, we can highlight Ai's house, where current events around the protagonist are constantly shown. Obviously it also works to showcase events from the girls' past. The first part of the anime has an easy-to-understand running script, all of this handled excellently. I can assure you that although you may predict some elements behind the anime, there will be things that will leave you with more questions and wanting to know more about Wonder Egg. However, the second part of the anime becomes a bit confusing when adding several elements in one fell swoop and the simplicity that was characteristic at first began to be forgotten in this second part trying to place more concepts without satisfying the viewer preferring to explain everything to the final which is not very pleasant to say. Production problems also had an influence, such as the sacrifice of one of the episodes to become a recap, which probably caused more pressure on the script. However, this does not make the anime necessarily bad and with many things from the plot to be considered. In fact there are things about this anime that deserve merit: We have a very dynamic cast, with characters that have different backgrounds from each other. Each one has a story and personality that manages to attract the viewer and feel an interest in why they decided to be part of the Wonder Egg. The friendship they form throughout the anime is a crucial point in Wonder Egg; The four girls spend a moment in real life meeting, talking and having fun times. For a psychological series, the relationship between our girls does not hinder the main focus of the plot. But this friendship is also conditioned because the girls help each other to overcome their problems and traumas, something that we will see when they speak or when they face the creatures within the world of dreams. Summarizing the previous paragraphs, Wonder Egg seeks to explore other deeper issues within each protagonist, we can see this with some episodes dedicated exclusively to the biography of each one of them. Let's take for example a person like Rika who has a totally different story and personality than what is presented at the beginning. This is good because we better understand the characters and the reasons behind why they decided to do the job within the dream world. The bad thing is that the worldbuilding is so slow that understanding the system and rules that make the whole Wonder Egg theme work generates some confusion for the conventional viewer who usually would not need to think much to understand it. Finishing my review of the story and characters, let's move on to the technical section: The first thing that we must highlight obviously is its high quality of animation and soundtrack. There is a very vivid color palette in each fragment of the anime. CloverWorks did an excellent job, perhaps one of the best I've ever done, in animation and design. The characters are aesthetically pleasing and the background environment is, let's say, much more "happy and colorful" if we compare other similar works such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It is true that said anime made by Shaft has a much cuter design than CloverWorks, but Wonder Egg Priority mostly maintains the same aesthetic and does not progressively become something darker as Madoka Magica was. Perhaps many hope that this anime is much darker like Serial Experiments Lain, Neon Geneis Evangelion or Puella Magi Madoka Magica herself, especially since Wonder Egg Priority takes suicide as its main focus, a consequence of different social problems that the series shows. However, the colorful design stands in stark contrast to the subject matter in depth, giving the viewer a lively and eye-catching look with a deep and complex plot. However, the animation is not limited to presenting us with a pleasant and fresh atmosphere throughout the anime, we can also see an alternation with a more explosive style when the girls fight with the traumas. The fight scenes and the weapons used by the girls are a striking thing in those scenes. The viewer is going to be impressed even with the design of the traumas - The representations of the girls from the Wonder Egg - which get a spooky, but at the same time childish appearance. Even when animation falls into its worst production problems, such a problem does not necessarily spoil the enjoyment of each episode. We have an Opening that perhaps fits like the ring to the finger to the anime and, perhaps, one of the best events so far this decade: A very relaxing ballad with the group Anemoneria - a group formed by the four main seiyuu for this anime - singing in unison, while our protagonist Ai Ohto walks around t…

Wanted to give this anime an 9 but they included an highly unnecessary modern trope that ruins everything it touches. Yes, exactly as you thought. I can't mention it here bc the review will get banned probably, but it rhimes with 'bans' or 'cans' and has a t as the fort letter. Yes only in one episode but enough pushed to feel unnatural and does not belong in the anime at all. There is also an episode (8th) that is purely recap, and in am 12 (13 with the recap) episode anime this is unforgivable. Then the 13th episode that's supposed to finish the anime and should be 46in long, has a +/- 20min recap as well... That that, the story, art and general feel of this anime is very interesting and the premise just makes you want to watch more. Sometimes beautiful and brutal at the same time, Wonder Egg Priority makes you think about a life never lived, or one in where you made a different turn or a random choice. Give this a go if you love weird, sad, brutal anime, that makes you want to do over parts of your life. Don't be fooled by the bright colours and cure 'slice of life' vibe. There are underlying subjects that o will not tough on here bc you'll have to see it and find out for yourself.

I have never been so disappointed to an anime until after I finished this one. First few episodes were great. Succeeding ones until episode 10 was okay. Episode 11 is peak, episode 12 is just utter trash. I hate to say it and leave a review like this but I felt so bad that I can't take back those 4 hours spent watching this anime. At first, Ai has a goal, which is to find out why Koito died. Great, we have something to look forward to. She stopped going to school but still got new friends. Great, it was a fun ride with all of them. Episode 11 dropped, holy molly it was peak. Then I expected episode 12 to explain everything that's been unanswered so far but what did I get? I got smacked by anything the authors want even though it doesn't make sense. It felt like hundreds of dots in the sky which don't connect to create a constellation at the very least. It's just whatever, plot holes everywhere, ALMOST EVERYTHING was left hanging. It's just a bad experience for me as I have had very high expectations from this show. Sorry for the rant but there's a 50% chance that you'd feel the same as I after you watch this show. Ep 1-4: 7/10 Ep 5-10: 5/10 Ep 11: 9/10 Ep 12: 1/10 Overall: 3/10

An exemplary lesson of why brainstorming sessions shouldn't be translated 1:1 to a too metaphorical text. What if Madoka Magica met Steins;Gate met Lain met Flip Flappers met Eve no Jikan met Ikuhara met Freudian psychology met Jungian psychology met ghost stories met Japanese insect symbolism met social issues met... met. The above summary sounds promising, right? Unfortunately, it's indeed possible to have too many an idea and too short a time. Even yet, it's indeed possible to have too many an idea, too short a time, and too late a presentation. Still, it's indeed possible to have too many an idea, too short a time, too late a presentation, and too ambitious a writing. Ultimately, it's indeed possible to have Wonder Egg Priority be the product of overachieving painfully obvious metaphors. This show is what happens when the writers want to have a mostly symbolic plot but don't want to commit to it, because they still want condescendingly to appeal to those that don't like such works. "What if the audience is too oblivious to what I'm trying to say? Let me spell it out for them right after showing them the symbol, then." What it ends up being after cutting the baby in two is neither a satisfactory abstract work nor a fully-fledged concrete one. No matter how much one throws threads that somehow give the impression of sounding more complex than they are onto the paper, any prolonged look at the metaphors proves itself not only a highly unrewarding endeavor but a meaningless exercise that leads to a disappointing conclusion: the show itself doesn't know what to do with or how to conclude any of the fancy symbols and seemingly thought-provoking questions it provided us with, therefore it's relying on the audience to piece together what it meant, because, after all, that's what makes a show great, right? Right? Sadly, most of WEP's shortcomings are in the writing department, coincidentally the most important one in any storytelling medium. The art, great. The animation, decent. The directing, serviceable. The character design, memorable. The sound direction, fine. All of these, instead of becoming the redeemable qualities of the show, end up making the directionless, pedantic and non-committing writing even more jarring. Plus, at what cost do these well-done parts come? I don't usually say "production hell", but, after so many delays in delivering the episodes and news of staff burning the midnight oil, it does seem more and more fitting. Some episodes by themselves, as isolated short stories, were great, coupling all the by now clear good aspects of the production with effective writing. My personal favorite would be the 7th episode, the one immediately before the unplanned recap. The ones after it, however, didn't measure up to the ones that came before. It wasn't great, but it was fine until then. The issues are mostly concentrated towards the end, starting probably when the writers saw themselves pressed for a conclusion when they weren't even sure what they wanted to do with what they had. So far, most stories were one-off, enclosed to their respective episodes, with some overarching questions set up by the show itself lingering over most of its run, being lampshaded or referenced occasionally throughout, either in text or subtext. However, the direction it took post-recap added more questions, superfluous questions that had nothing to do with the ones that came before, but seemingly superfluous questions the writers' brainstorming came up with that weren't cut, trimmed down, or set aside for another work. This not only blindsights the viewers, but also leads to tonal dissonance between the two halves: the one that sets up a psychological exploration for dealing with trauma and growing up, and the other that wants to be a dark sci-fi thriller. I've read some people call the "plot twists" good; others, bad. I'd be more inclined to agree with the latter, although this isn't a hill I'd be willing to die on. After all, plot twists aren't just about merely doing a 180 for the hell of it. They're about subverting the audience's expectations in a way that services both the themes and the plot. Pulling a - couple of - deus ex machina doesn't expand the premise most of the time. Rather, it showcases the writers' cluelessness on how to tie up or explain what they set up until that point, especially when it's, quite literally, a deus that's also a machina. The shortest lived, most pointless to the ending deus ex machina, it's worth noting. Simple changes would've made the meaningless machina less grating, for example, incorporating its signature move at some points of the earlier episodes, but alas, we don't do setup and payoff properly here... All for the sake of not giving the viewer any chance of predicting what's coming next, because that's what makes a show great, right? Right? It's a shame to me what became of this show, this ill-defined, objectless metaphorical, overambitious blob of a show. Though it might not sound so by my opening statements, I liked this immensely until about the halfway point of its run. The themes and premise, despite not being novel, were interesting and captivating, engaging the viewer with its universe and characters. Rough around the edges when dealing with some social issues, too condescending with its metaphors or with overly idealistic character writing? Sure, but charming nonetheless. Post-recap, however, not only did it lose what set it apart from other works in the same category, it tried too hard to check the highest number of boxes it could, boxes that contradict each other, lead nowhere and detract from the initial boxes it so passionately catered to and so earnestly built. This is one of the most unrewarding experiences with the best starting promises I've ever seen in this medium, not because it completely botches the unintelligible landing - plenty of less genuine shows did that - but because it dared fly too high while making us believe it would know better than getting too close to the sun.

HOW DO YOU FUMBLE THE BAG SO HARD??? This anime had one of the most captivating first episodes and I honestly felt like they truly caught lightning. After watching that episode I was sure that this would be one of my favorite shows that would explore deep topics and hit you with heart wrenching and human themes. But after that brief moment of hope, it immediately all went downhill. the characters were shallow and the story went all over the place without any true purpose. I'm all for confusing and complicated plots but this isn't it, it's just bad writing. and don't even get me started that Sword Art Online bullshit direction that the story went on. I just can't. Don't bother with this one, it's not worth the time

How would you describe "Wonder Egg Priority" in one word? "UNIQUE" would be my first thought. What is it all about? Let’s be honest, it's really hard to put it into words. Bully, hate, love, friendship etc. all these important aspects of our life play a major role. “Wonder Egg Priority” isn't just an anime, it's a life lesson. Bullying is one of the worst things that can happen to someone. It takes away all your “joie de vivre”, often leading to suicide in the end. The pain is extremely deep when this person was very important to you. How far would you go to save and "relive" such a human being? "Break open an egg to change yourself and your future." Our wonder story begins with Ai Ohto, a kinda special girl compared to her other classmates. Because of her heterochromia (color differences of the iris) she gets bullied a lot in school. Therefore, she hides at home and doesn't want to have anything to do with other people. Initially, she did not think having friends was important and put in little effort to make them. However, she eventually made friends with the transfer student Koito Nagase, who was similarly ostracized by their classmates. After Koito took her own life, Ai feels very guilty and for Koito’s sake she was ready to fight in the world of "Wonder Eggs". As the word "wonder" suggests, these eggs aren’t just ordinary eggs that we buy every day in the supermarket. They include a person who must be protected at all costs from the "wonder killers", those are terrifying creatures who want to kill that person. If you manage this mission successfully, you are one step closer to rescuing your loved one. Ai was the first girl to take on this brave task and fight all sorts of monsters. This was a lifechanging event for her since she met other girls who also had to go through a lot in life and lost an important reference person before. With Neiru Aonuma, Rika Kawai and Momoe Sawaki a quartet emerged that not only support each other in the egg thing, but also as friends in real life. Even if the whole situation was overwhelming and just crazy at first, they were able to keep going through help from each other. Neiru is calm and quiet, often not actively engaging with others until they’ve gained her trust or her friendship. She is a hardworking, motivated, and diligent person. Although she is still young, Neiru is already the president of a large company. Her goal is to save her little sister and her background story is extraordinary… “I'm Rika Kawai. Like "kawaii," 'cause I'm so cute.” Rika was once a junior idol who was part of an underground idol group. She met a fan who did everything to support her there. Her most loyal fan, Chiemi, did steal and other crimes for Rika. But one day Rika did an act that she regrets more than anything else. She called Chiemi "fatty" and never wanted to be seen with her again. Rika felt very guilty about this and understood the cruelty of bullying. She wants to protect her eggs so that she can make up for everything she did. Let's take a look at the last main character: Momoe. She is a kind and polite girl, who is well-liked by many she meets. Momoe is very insecure about herself because of her masculine appearance. She is often mistaken for a boy, which is why many women fall in love with her. The only girl treated Momoe like a female person was her friend Haruka. She also confessed her love to her, but she was attracted by the feminine side of Momoe. Overwhelming of that, Momoe was so shocked that she dumped her and ran away. A short time later the disaster happened… Every single character in Wonder Egg Priority plays an important role. Not only the people from the hatching eggs have a unique story, but also our two companions Acca and Ura-Acca. They are the one who introduced the girls to the "Egg World". In that world they are depicted as mannequins, but there was a time where both had a human form...All in all, the characters and the whole setting are definitely the elements where you want to know more about. The story is already crazy enough and yet "CloverWorks" manages to add even more spice with the animation. Every girl has her own weapon, the form of those are more than just unusual. The fought monsters cannot be surpassed in creativity either. The epic battles with them are also portrayed in a brutal way that is definitely different from other animations. The special creativity is shown again in the OP and ED. “Wonder Egg Priority” is based on many real locations in Tokyo. The transition from a real photo to the animation is the absolute highlight. A story, a moral and decisions with grave consequences develop from a simple egg. The small music group "Anemoneria" consisting of our four main characters has also found the perfect music and song for this. The rest of the sounds, be it the environment or scenes where blood flows, everything fits. What is "Wonder Egg Priority" in the end? To be honest, I can't answer it and I don’t know if there is a clear answer. It's so crazy and messy in a way that you can't get enough of it and 12 episode is certainly not enough to tell the whole story. But I agree that this anime is the seasonal sensation in terms of surprise. I never expected a plot like this. There is much more to it than just a simple anime, it also addresses important topics to us that we all have to take very seriously. It is difficult to say whether this anime is something for you, as opinions are very divided on it. But I can recommend everyone to take a look, you will immediately notice that this is something special. Finally, I would like to emphasize again: “Wonder Egg Priority” is UNIQUE.

Wonder egg is a show that started out as a really good one. It brought as a unique world with unique characters in unique situation..... And then it all goes bad. The show starts going all over the place not solving anything and starts being so inconsistent and bad that it almost made me drop the show. The last episode gives us more questions than it gives answers and to say it was a disappointment is a underestimate. The ending is some of the worst i have ever seen and i cant really write anything about it so i wont spoil it.

I will never make anything as effortlessly surreal as Wonder Egg Priority. The script crams so many bizarre and captivating things in at every moment that it's a miracle it makes sense at all. But it not only is it coherent, it flows with a weird intuitive logic. It makes a ton of sense, believe it or not. I feel a lot of people see surrealism and feel like someone is trying to outsmart them. They see surrealism as a challenge, the creators telling the audience "this is deep, and if you disagree you are a stupid person". I don't think adding unreal elements to your story makes it deep, and I absolutely don't think it needs to be justified. Girls who killed themselves hatch from eggs bought with pocket change. Thats stupid? Okay mr writer in his big boy writer pants, where should the suicided dream girls come from? It's a cool premise, the steps to get there are flavor. What matters isn't the consistency of the dream logic, it's the consistency of the characters, it's the emotional truths running through the story. You'd be forgiven for not realizing that the topics covered are even controversial, if you were like a space alien who didn't know anything about human culture. We never indulge in horror, save for a couple ill-conceived moments towards the end. It's the earnestness of wonder egg that allows it a lot more room to explore risky territory than it would otherwise. It nails the tightrope walk between flippant and exploitative, even as it just runs the gambit from self-harm to suicide to depression to gender dysphoria to body dysmorphia to etc to etc. And it does it all with a sort of looseness/honesty because why wouldn't it, what girl hasn't had to fight one or two or all of the above to stay alive? We focus on the after, not the during (Rika's scars are barely mentioned; Koito has already died before the pilot; despite most characters committing suicide the act is rarely shown). I think the lack of weight given to any particular one trauma rings truer than any Very Special Episode could. It's not about lessons, it's about connecting. These aren't events or obstacles, they're just things that every character lives with (even the dead ones)

Overall: 4/10 Oh WEP, what have you become. What started out as a highly promising original anime ended as a jumbled mess as it quickly blew itself up in the last 3-4 ish episodes. It had everything going for it at the start: movie-like animation and sound design, mature and deep themes/messages to explore, and an intriguing cast of 4 young heroines tackling their own set of problems. And all of a sudden, like the girls they save from the Wonder Killers, everything vanished. Poof. It was all smoke and mirrors. Story: 3/10 TLDR: lots of potential, just like a top 100 MLB draft prospect, but just like most MLB prospects, things didn't work out and the story ended up as quite the bust. Initially, I was very happy about WEP's story. The themes they touched were something I, and many others could relate to. We were introduced to this world of magic-realism in a sense, with lots of questions to answer. What are the eggs? Why does this dream world exist? Who are Acca and Ura-Acca? Why did Koito commit suicide? Is Mr. Sawaki a child predator? Unfortunately, as the series progressed, more questions than answers were brought up, and of the answers, we did get, even more were unsatisfactory or haphazardly stitched together, just like the mannequins. A lot of new, random, and uncalled for plot threads are brought up and the attention shifts there, which was a rather big turnoff. Pacing basically fell apart in the latter parts of the series. Ep 8 was an uncalled for recap. I get that the animators needed a break and all, but it also really fucked up any shot they had left at sticking the landing for this series: as evident in the last episode and with the announcement of a special airing in June, there just wasn't enough time to answer everything that needed to be addressed. While some disliked the easily interpretable symbolism, I actually thought it was not that bad. Sure, great art leaves room for interpretation and for you to determine the artists' motif yourself, but that doesn't mean simple and straightforward works can be equally touching or moving: it's all a matter of execution. In fact, I actually thought WEP did a good job of balancing direct and indirect symbolism. There's the obvious stuff like "Seeno evils", "Haters", etc. but there's also nice intricacies you can notice upon further examination. The use of flower language and framing for a variety of scenes including the girls was one that I found particularly interesting, and the Rubin's vase in the background during Momo's episode where she meets the transgender boy was a highlight for me. But for me, the biggest turnoff was the change in direction for the series in the final 2-3 episodes: the true "villain" (if you can even call Frill that) is revealed, and the series shifts away from very real problems faced by real people into a world of sci-fi, with AI-created children, consciousness/brain transplants, and parallel universes. You just cannot throw this shit in during the final 3 episodes of an 11 episode season and expect a meaningful conclusion. Even now, I doubt whether the June special will be able to tie these plot threads together and I seriously question if the series will finish with the same goals it appeared to lay out in the first 4 episodes. Art: 10/10 I don't think anyone is complaining about the art here. Everything, from still shots, exposition scenes, and wonder killer battles are animated beautifully. There's a good balance of color/vibrance and darkness/gloom across all the episodes. For me, at least, I also enjoyed most of the symbolism employed in the background, especially the flower language and framing of a lot of scenes. Sound: 10/10 De De Mouse really killed it with the soundtrack, and I have nothing but praise for it. The OST for all the different scenes is a huge boost, and gives it that extra magical-realist feel that's hard to find. OP and ED are also very good, although the ED can be a bit unsettling when it comes in all happy-go-lucky after a dark and trauamtic episode (see Momo post-Mannen). Character: 3/10 Just like the story/plot, the characters had huge potential that was mostly wasted. While they're all categorized as "main characters", I definitely think we can only consider Ai, Rika, and Momo to be true "main characters." Neiru, more or less, is in the background for the entirety of the series. A lot of the interesting things about here are never explored, and the series never bothers bringing it up either: we see everyone more or less resolve their wonder journey in these 11 episodes except for Neiru. I won't elaborate too much on how the characters went bad, since it's the same problem as everything else in WEP. Great hook, promising potential, but everything was left untapped and half-open when all was said and done. Rika and Momo, were for me, the most interesting characters and to see all the potential problems, messages, themes, etc. that could be discussed through them casually resolved or thrown aside was not very cool. I'd imagine it feels even worse for people who actually physically or mentally relate to either of the two. I will say though, that Momo's arc was at least slightly better than Rika's, but not by much. Enjoyment: 4/10 Even considering the absolute bomb the last few episodes were, I still found WEP to be decently enjoyable. The first 5-6 episodes were amazing. Everything afterwards, not so much. It certainly helps that the animation and sound design were so fucking spot on, and that the characters were quite good up until the final 4 episodes or so. If I had to rate the final few episodes, I'd prbly give it a 2 or 3, with the first few being an easy 9. I despise recency bias, hence the (somewhat) weighted-average of 4. At the end of the day, WEP started out as something with huge potential to be a masterpiece, and I was all for it. But now that I've finished the series, I'm asking myself: what was it really all about? How could things go so wrong, so quickly, for something that a lot of people put so much time and effort into. I guess that just goes to show, simply performing hardwork just isn't enough sometimes.

Wonder Egg Priority attracted attention during its airing by having three things that always create traction: beautiful animation, mysterybait and queerbait. Those are enough to hook a lot of people early on, but keeping them invested by the time a show finishes is a whole different story. The pretty colors don’t mean anything if there is nothing going on, the mysterybait becomes hollow if it’s just there for speculating stuff without ever getting rewarding answers, and the queerbaiting ends up being virtue signaling if it’s just representation for representation’s sake. Well, guess what went wrong. There is nothing going on in this show. The initial hook is the characters that are defined by some tragic thing that happened to them and their friends. It’s enough to get you invested in them, but then the show doesn’t do anything with them and keeps jumping from one thing to another without actually going anywhere with them. They mention a lot of problems teenage girls are having, they fight a monstrous representation of the person they fear the most in some dreamland, and then we jump to something else. The dreamland portion is the most intriguing aspect of the show, since it’s full of gorgeous looking fight scenes and a lot of flower symbolism. At the same time it’s also the most bullshit aspect. Nothing is explained right away and you have to figure it out on your own as you watch. The more you watch the more you realize there is nothing going on, which makes theorycrafting to be a waste of time. If you wonder about stuff such as the reason the dreamland exists, who created it and why he gathers the girls and hands them the eggs, the last episodes provide an answer to all that and it’s as lame as it gets. Like, what’s the point of doing all that supernatural bullshit when the solution can be something very simple? Even if you ignore the supernatural aspect of the show and you stick to the slice of life aspect, you are not going to get anything more than cute girls doing cute things, but with a lot of touch subjects, ranging from social anxiety, to bullying, suicide, sexual molestation, and being transgender. But all these issues come down to punching an imaginary bad monster really hard, and then forgetting all about it. There is no consequence in the actual world, since the girls are immortal, they can’t lose, the victims they are saving are never seen again, and on top of that they are not even real. They are possible versions of suicide victims, meaning they are already dead versions of existing people. So basically they are not helping themselves or saving someone’s life. They don’t even bring back to life someone, which was supposed to be the objective. Because the show is left incomplete and nothing is resolved. There is supposed to be an OVA sequel in the future that wraps up the story, but it’s already too late. The show didn’t do anything with its themes and one extra episode after months when most will have forgotten all about the show is not going to save face. So yeah, it’s just another one of those progressive shows that think they are smart because they stuff their plots with first world problems, and as it usually happens they treat the whole thing very superficially by making it all taking place in some fairyland where nothing of substance comes out of it. They do nothing with the subject matter besides teasing the viewer to think about bland characters with zero development. There is no theme exploration, they don’t offer possible solutions to these problems, and therefore the show is not deep. It’s vapid miseryporn for people who take pleasure in the suffering of others. Oh, and the queerbaiting part is pure indulgence. Every girl has the hots for the one who identifies as a boy, as if the creators are telling you everyone will want to have sex with you if you are transgender. The gay aspect of the show comes off as fan fiction for fujoshis. For the rest of us normal people, the show is just pretty colors and bait for seeking lesbian doujins.

Feels weird to mark this as "Mixed Feelings" when I gave this an 7.5/10, but I think people who have watched this can understand why I did this. Watching an anime original is kinda like eating one of those jelly beans that is either chocolate flavor or poop flavor. In Wonder Egg Priority's case, it kinda felt like eating chocolate flavor poop. I genuinely do think this show was overall really good, tackling some of the darkest themes like sexual assault, bullying, suicide, gender insecurity, etc., all in a very unique and terrifying way. The 4 main characters bounced off of each other really well, I enjoyed their personality a lot, and I think they all go through their own unique character arcs. Also the colors, the animation, and even the OST were all really good at setting the atmosphere and the vibe, which is a huge plus for this series. The biggest thing that holds this show back is that it is clearly meant to be a show that needed 25 episodes, but was condensed into 13 episodes due to production issues, corporate greed, or whatever reason behind the scenes (can't really comment on this). This meant that a lot of plot points just felt unfinished, like it kinda ended in a weird spot where it does not feel like the ending. I personally still really liked this show though, and I think it still does so many unique things where it is worth a watch. Here's hoping for a miraculous season 2 or remake to save this show (very unlikely but I stay coping)

I'm tired man, I'm tired of using 14 year old girls as an excuse to make light of serious topics such as depression, sexual assault and suicide. You just want your edgy anime to be as deep as can be without actually putting any of the work and sensitivity needed to handle these themes. Delving into the psychology of middle school girls isn't a bad topic in of itself. We have seen it time and time again, it's a place where a lot of mental stability can unleash, how innocence can be broken, coming of age and whatnot, I completely understand its appeal. But when three of these 14 year old girls want to have sex with men much older than them, it just falls flat. We went from a story told from the perspective of young women, to wish fullfilment fantasies narrated by a guy who really wants a devoted daughter that sucks his dick. I can't be the only one seeing the irony of this, how women are scared of coming of age, the rape stories, how adult love is seen as "dirty" while including the aftermentioned plot points. I'm not even surprised. I even gave it a whole whoppping 5 because of the pretty art and character designs. But I'm tired.

So it took me a few days to get my thoughts in order but I think I'm finally ready to write a review about this anime. This review will however be a bit different. I felt that I wouldn’t be able to properly convey my thoughts if I was to split everything up into neat categories so I’m just going to discuss the things I liked and disliked about this anime starting with the things I liked. SPOILERS Things I liked: The art was pretty good all around and the sound design wasn’t terrible. The concept was interesting at first and the main themes the show deals with are important ones (in theory). That’s all. Things I did not like: So where to begin? This anime is kind of a mess and I don’t quite understand the hype it is getting. Just because it covers a darker, more mature concept than other anime does not automatically make it better. First off, the genre is a huge question mark for me. You can go ahead and say it is a fantasy anime but that’s not very descriptive. Is it a sci-fi anime? Is it a magical girl anime? Is it a slice-of-life? Horror? It feels like it’s trying to shove a million ideas into a single 12-episode anime and it just doesn’t work. At first you think “oh so this is supposed to be like a psychological thing?” and then “wait this is kind of a bit like a magical girl thing” and then it turns into a science fiction drama with slice-of-life elements and melodramatic moments. The melodrama is to be expected but can anyone clearly state what year this is supposed to take place in? It looks to be incredibly similar to our everyday but then they have A.I. and dream scanning/screening, and girls popping out of eggs (LITERALLY). Every episode feels like they are just trying to see what more crazy shit they include, and I did not enjoy it at all. Speaking of the science fiction aspect… So Frill is like this perfect little girl that these two grown ass men didn’t think to give the proper personality to not be a killer? They made her sweet, funny, intelligent, stubborn… but they did not program her personality to be not insane? She was supposedly raised perfectly fine (in seclusion but that’s neither here nor there) and as soon as she learns that one of her “fathers” got his wife pregnant she kills her. Okay, that seems very logical. She shows no remorse or guilt or anything. These “geniuses” programed an A.I. that turned into a killer even though they had full control over what her personality would be. Okay. I didn’t find anything scary except for the one scene in episode 12 where the big head was peeping out of the pool. Very underwhelming even in terms of horror anime, which are never very scary to begin with. Also are we really sitting here and saying an anime that implies an evil A.I. is where girls commit suicide? That's what the anime claims. Hopefully in the final special they explain that's not actually the case, but as of right now that is literally what the anime is saying. I didn’t really like any of the characters. Ai was pretty annoying and her crush on her mother’s boyfriend kind of feels like it comes out of nowhere. It doesn’t seem implied or hinted to at all until someone tells the audience that Ai has a crush on him. The other three were pretty meh. Neiru started out okay but when it turned out she was the head of this big company I laughed out loud. That’s so ridiculous and so stupid. Rika was annoying. I understand her mother drinks and she wants to know her father but jesus is she really dramatic. Momoe was fine I guess, though not really sure how anyone would think she’s a guy. The way they drew her she looks like a girl with short hair and masculine clothes, yet everyone (expect Ai of course) think she’s a boy. Wonder Egg Priority seems like it’s trying to be this deep anime but it’s really not. Making episode 12 somewhat of a mind fuck near the end doesn’t help either. Yes I get that you are supposed to watch for which hairpin Ai is wearing to determine which Ai it is, but why did main-Ai’s clothes change? Ooto Ai is a dumb name. I have a question, if anyone is able to answer. Why was the red-haired girl in the first episode so knowledgeable about what was going on with her and the Seenoevils yet every single other girl that comes from an egg afterwards has no idea what is happening? Was it to explain it to Ai, thus also explaining it to the audience? Because that’s lazy. Very, very lazy. Why does this one girl know everything yet no other girl does? It doesn’t make sense. I was not a fan of this anime from the start and it quickly went downhill. As soon at it started to delve into the science fiction stuff out of no where I knew this anime wasn’t for me. I like sci-fi, don’t get me wrong (some of my favourite anime are sci-fi), but this anime had no indication that it was a sci-fi at all until the group visits Neiru’s business. So dumb. It comes out of no where and the world building in Wonder Egg Priority is atrocious. 4/10 I don’t understand the hype at all