Reviews for 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 usto 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 to give shows the benefit of the doubt, so I thought that the line might have just been a part of the story. Maybe the anime is self-aware of how incorrect it is and is only using it to build bigger themes. I tried to think of it as a means for Rika’s characterization to maybe emphasize her troubled background. But I recently rewatched that episode and saw no indication of that line having a deeper connection to Rika’s family life. In fact, that line was part of the last episode of the series that fully focused on Rika, so the anime never clears up the way it poorly handled self-harm. Though I’ve tried to think positively, I cannot find anything to justify that piece of scriptwriting. It blatantly views self-harm in a positive light to the point that I can no longer call this an anime about self-acceptance.

The creators also began flooding the show with too many ideas and cheap plot twists, most of which were crammed towards the end of the anime where the writers didn’t have enough time to cover them all. New antagonists and backstories were introduced in the last few episodes of the series, unnecessary changes to the storyline happened at every corner, and random events were inserted just for the sake of shock value rather than actual relevance to the overarching plot.

Wonder Egg even introduces inter-relational conflicts that never get fully explored. One example of this is with Neiru, one of Ai’s friends. Neiru has a tense relationship with her sister, and when she tells Ai about this, we learn about the sequence of events that led to their complex sisterhood. But the details were incomplete. The anime set it up as a mystery to unfold as the story went along. What really happened? Why did her sister act the way that she did? Even after watching all twelve episodes of the anime, I still don’t know. The show just brings up the issue but never resolves it.

When I expressed these concerns, fans argued that there would be more episodes or at least more content to close things up properly. Though a special broadcast in June has been announced, I highly doubt that the franchise will be able to tackle all of the issues found in the anime and tie all the loose strings together in a twenty-minute episode. The storyline is already a mess and there would be too many relationships to cover. This is a clear production, time management, and story building mistake on the studio’s part. And the need for a special broadcast only emphasizes their shortcomings.

Amidst all of these flaws, I admit that there are still some things Wonder Egg does well. For example, the directing really stands out in some of the quieter scenes of the anime. From the moment we’re introduced to Ai and the world of Wonder Egg Priority, there’s this calming aura of quiet eeriness that pulls you in. The atmosphere is immersive and will keep you hooked to find out what happens next in the series.

Wonder Egg also has stunning visuals. The animation looks like it came straight out of KyoAni with consistent and fluid drawings. The color palette is unique with bold colors that grab your attention, and the artists use this with a good understanding of contrast and tone. Flexible and eye-catching, Wonder Egg’s art is one of the few parts of the anime that remained consistent throughout its twelve-episode-run. Paired with the messy plotline, some may call Wonder Egg an anime that chooses style over substance. And they aren’t wrong.

Looking at it as a whole, Wonder Egg was an imperfect but cool idea that ended up being too ambitious for its own good. It introduced too many plot points without properly bringing them together which affected the messaging and made the show feel less cohesive. While watching this anime, I often found myself wondering whether the creators even knew what they were doing. It seemed like they couldn’t decide the direction that they wanted to go, so they just let the story jump around until they found something that evoked some sort of emotion from the audience. It’s messy writing that falls short in multiple aspects of story building and fails to connect to the initial topic of self-acceptance. Putting aside the solid beginning and fun visuals, I can’t find much to recommend about this show. And though I’m frustrated that we’ll never see how this anime could’ve gone with proper execution, I’ll probably just remember it as another one of CloverWorks’ cringeworthy letdowns this season.

4/10

IN SUMMARY: gorgeous visuals, incredible animation, good OST, spot-on voice acting, a compelling interesting story, no senseless fan service - so far, this show has been really good 9/10 -Gorgeous visuals which are almost on the same level as anime movies (my only complain is the 3d knife-wielding leprechauns, which, to be honest, still look good) -Incredible super fluid sakuga (that episode 2 fight animation was simply godlike; even outside of fights, the animation is so freaking beautiful and fluid). Probably the best thing about this anime -Good fitting OST and sound usage -The voice acting is spot on - it's not your usual super high pitched animesque girlvoice. When the MC screams you can hear the coarseness in her voice, it's just really satisfying

-The story is captivating and there's this whole mystery behind it, which always keeps you wondering what the hell is happening. *Episode 1 and 2 slight spoilers* The plot delves into dark topics and the overall theme of the story revolves around the MC trying to redeem herself by helping others, in order to save her friend whom she once "betrayed". The story setting alternates between 2 places: the real world and the alternate world, something similar to a silent hill like world where there are bizarre and dangerous creatures

-The characters all have their respective backgrounds and inner demons, and aren't one dimensional nor stereotypical

-No senseless fan service, thank god they didn't give into temptation. I'm not against ecchi, but damn, the number of shows with great potential that are ruined by out of context panty shots, gravity defying boob physics, huge disgustingly perverted MCs (looking at you, Mushoku Tensei with your 35 year old MC fawning over and grooming pre-teen girls)

Wonder Egg has been amazing so far. Hope it can keep up the great quality

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 crushingyour 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 mental illness and suicide, but as entertainment, it’s mediocre far longer than it is interesting. One may argue the show concerned itself more with visualizing its themes than it actually did with being mysterious about what they were, but that would imply any of these images were deeply meaningful, and more to the point, part of a plot which explored them appropriately at all. I’m only now realizing I haven’t said a single positive thing about this show yet, so I guess, if only in keeping with how back-heavy the show itself is, I’ll flip the script and admit this isn’t actually a horribly bad show as much as it is a confused one. Despite a hellish production crunch which resulted in a recap episode and some inconsistent quality throughout the latter half of the show, Wonder Egg Priority is gorgeous, and this obvious passion behind the animation proves the show isn't as much of a grifter as I made it out to be. It’s just an amateur therapist who needs to work though their own problems before trying to help others overcome theirs.

Thank you for reading.

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 winterseason. 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 antagonists are not really solidly fleshed out, the final antagonist was thrown in without any significant foreshadowing. It can be argued that the system itself and the girls inner problems can substitute as an antagonist, but its always nice to have a well characterized antagonist with their own motivations and goals that are clearly explained, while a true antagonist is sort of provided near the end of the series it felt a bit too rushed in to be counted. Despite missing a properly built up antagonist character, the main cast does grow together and complement each other well, they have their disagreements, conflicting opinions on whether or not they really have to undertake the egg gacha, and their moments of coming together after a major event. Overall, the main cast do feel like real characters with a lot of substance and depth, with multiple motivations for their actions and solid foundation behind the friendship they form with each other. The characters are a solid 8, it would have been better if there were solid antagonists and if the secondary cast such as family or the girls being saved had some more interesting moments, but the strength and development of the main cast was still quite well done.

Enjoyment: 9

Between the exceptional visuals, the original plot, interesting cast, and initial great direction, Wonder Egg Priority was easily among the 3 best shows this season. This is despite the fact that some of the most well awaited and popular sequels came out in the same season. Every episode was a fun ride, and it was entertaining to come up with theories on where the show was going to go and ending up being right or wrong. It ranks very high on the enjoyment scale overall, definitely one of the most fun anime in recent history, probably the most fun original anime in years.

Overall: 9

The production values, direction, story, cast all being excellent lead to this show being given a 9 overall. This was one of the best recent anime that made, definitely one of the best original anime in years, it had an excellent approach a lot of hard issues without making the story edgy and outside of the last leg of the story it was executed with perfect direction. If you enjoy visually impressive abstract shows with a psychological thriller plot, Wonder Egg Priority is right for you.

Wonder Egg has come, and it's hit so many marks and boundaries, it's unreal. No matter where I go, no matter who I talk to when it comes to WE, it's always in a positive tone. Even I recommended it to a friend, and they enjoyed it too. That's the quality of Wonder Egg. Really top notch stuff, but let me explain why this is the case within this review. Story and characters It's story mainly concerns our lead in Ooto Ai. Whom doesn't have the best life, from being awkward around others, shy, but always self conscious when it comes to her looks. As she's suddenlydrawn into this really weird place through breaking a Wonder Egg after being told such, and being drawn to this world where they deal with someone's past trauma in order to escape it. Said past trauma, turns into quite a terrifying monster, each being different then the next one, which is very creative and the level of mystery, just adds so much interest. WE is also not afraid of diving into very deep and concerning topics too, and they handle them well.

Ai isn't the only character we meet and get to know more of however. We get to meet her only friend, and best friend at the time, and the reason behind her wanting to partaking in these events in general, as we learn the tragic fate that befell her, and a more reason to why Ai is mainly home most of the time. As the series goes on, we're learning more on other WE users, in likes of Neiru who seems more of a calculated type with her own goals in mind, but has befriended Ai, as Ai seems like a positive influence she surely needs. Along with a girl/idol named Rika Kawai, whom just seems like a range of emotions, which her past shows why the way she is, and how it's effected her. She seems a bit of a arrogant bitch type, but there is more layers then what is shown, which is always good stuff, and good details. Along with many more characters that we'll meet over time.

Art and sound

The art is where it goes into deep places. As backgrounds and characters look great, they always look create. But the creative ideals when it comes to the monsters is just very great indeed. They really go all out and leave nothing behind at all. They make it look great, but also make it seem terrifying and intense too. Also adds to that with the sound design, it's all good stuff and I can't complain there.

Wonder Egg is a highlight on a Tuesday for sure, it'll be one of the anime's of the season, maybe even the year at this rate. Watch it now honestly. Watch it now!

This review might be what I understood and what I believe it would be or could be about this anime. Before anything I want to say that don't get scammed by just the slice of life tag... it more than that, I can assure. First I will say about the overall concept of WEP (Wonder Egg Priority). Its a show which deals with some of the not so normal circumstances that one might face when we are brought up. Some of us were blessed with good friends right from the start but some had some problems in making good friends or I should say some moreinto themselves and not participated in other activities (like sports, active in class and more open to others and young age like 10-18) . Just by this one can predict that the ones which are lonely are bullied, harassed or ignored at a very a early stage of their lives. (here in this case, school days)

This anime goes into this aspect as the characters here faces those problem and because of this, some unfortunate events happens to their lives (like something happens to their loved ones or the ones who stayed with them in their bad times) . Its all about coping up with those feelings and living on.

Coming to anime, its animation is very good . The setting at first looks very neat as some cute little girl going through her life. The CGI of somethings (supposed to be monsters) is quite disturbing as you would also feel once you see it yourself. But at the end you will understand as to why it had to be like that. xD

PS- This is my first review :3 and this one is on the basis of watching just 4 episodes so at the end I might make changes in the score that I gave.

Would appreciate if you would find my review helpful.

Have a good day all of you! Cheers!!

Wonder Egg Priority is a pretentious mess that tries to sell itself as a deep and complicated story, but remains in the end another waifubait show. It brings to the table a lot of "hot topics" such as school bullying, teen suicide, sexism and sexual harassment, but never explores them in depth, it just throws more and more OMG SO DARK twists without any attempt to give them a meaningful context or resolution. Worse than that, this show tries to deal with heavy themes while pandering to horny male audiences. I just find it ridiculous when a series with such a massive focus on asexual abuse and molestation simply oozes yuribait fuel. Sure, grouping of underage girls is horrible, but look at those two cute totally not lesbians touching each others feet or massaging thicc thighs, tee-hee ;)) Female characters is exactly what you can expect from any waifu show, they are cute, pushy, unnatutally sweet and empty headed. It is very hard to convince me that their feelings are real because their behavior doesn't resemble the behaviour of irl teenage girls, they all act and talk like popular moe tropes. It feels fake and uncanny.

I can't say a lot of about the story because 6 episodes later there is barely any story. All you have is a monster of the week concept spiced up by DARK, FORBIDDEN, TWISTED THEMES and a mystery behind suicide of main character's friend that can be solved by a sleepy toddler. In one of the episodes characters quesntioned why there are no boys, and let me give you my answer: this show has girls only cast because no one would care about it otherwise. We have a countless amount of shows with male cast where boys are dealing with their inner struggles by punching creepy monsters or evil humans. I don't want to say that the same thing can't be done with girls; I have seen many people compare Wonder Egg Priority to Mahou Shoujo Madoka since the episode one which is a great disservice to the latter. Where Madoka uses cute girl suffering as a plot point, Wonder Egg Priority uses it as a selling point, an excuse to pretend that it's something more than it is.

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’strauma-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.

*TRIGGER WARNING* (very slight spoilers too) Started watching this show blind and WOW. Was hooked since episode 1. Not sure as to why exactly but it's just my gut telling me that "this shit's gonna be good." Writing this review 4 eps in and so far nothing's changed on how I feel about this show. Story and Characters: Really unique and very intriguing. The main theme tackled is suicide, a very difficult and serious topic, yet the show doesn't make it extremely hard nor heavy to watch. The characters' emotions are conveyed really well. The development of the central character is also satisfying to see. Her personalityand attitude towards others slowly change as the weight of the burdens she carries are no longer hers alone.

Art and Sound:

Absolutely wonderful. The animation is just simply amazing. The colors and creativity make it lighter to watch but not to the point where it takes away the seriousness of the show. The different BGM just fits perfectly and boosts the general enjoyment of watching the show. The voice acting is spot-on and that's that.

Overall:

Must watch this season! Just 4 eps in so far and I am cheering on for this show to win the anime of the season. Depending on how the rest of the episodes go, I dare say that this could be a contender for anime of the year.

RIP THIS REVIEW AGED WELL

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 standaloneepisodes 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.

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 withknifes 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.

"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 sincerewith 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 the city, fusing animation with some real images. At some point in the video, Neiru, Rika and Momoe appear respectively, although they have a more secondary role. The important aspect here is the emotional part of the song alluding to a farewell to something or someone from the past and opening up to tomorrow. The sentiment in this song is so strong that many could surely cry even though Wonder Egg Priority is not explicitly a melodrama.

On the other hand we have a more conventional ending and with a danceable pop style interpreted by Anemoneria herself while showing some images in photo album format the funny moments that the main protagonists spend giving a happier and more fun aesthetic, compared to the appearance calm and emotional of the Opening.

With all the technical stuff that was generally excellent, Wonder Egg Priority should be one of the best-crafted animes, and perhaps the best work CloverWorks has yet. Unfortunately, the production problems, a product of having made 3 anime in the same season and, probably, due to the pandemic, led the plot to begin to loosen and age not in a good way, placing the last episodes with a series of holes of plot and unanswered questions.

As a fan of an anime like Serial Experiments Lain I can say that the latest episodes were what I least expected from an anime like Wonder Egg Priority and unfortunately it also left me with questions.

But despite everything, I like this anime and it is not precisely because of its animation quality. I liked various things about the anime in general, like the first part of the anime which for me was handled quite well and a nice cast. No matter what type of viewer you are, you are likely to identify with one of the girls, especially since their personality and history are independent. I would go back to see the anime without problems to relive the good and bad moments that our protagonists lived. But I'd like Wonder Egg Priority to add a little more explanation to the plot, be it with more episodes, OVAS, or movies.

Wonder Egg Priority has a lot of potential and could easily be one of the best anime of this decade. Unfortunately 12 episodes were not enough to explain a world much bigger than previously thought.

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 thedriving 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.

TL;DR Wonder egg priority is basically a coming-of-age story about a gamer chick by the name of Ai Ooto- wordplay for heterochromia meaning odd eye in hirigana who finds a random egg in a random arcade she visits that tells her to break it. This egg is essentially Pandora's box. The entire anime from what I’ve seen is basically an allegorical story about mental health when it comes to being a misunderstood teen- from depression to anxiety. The art is brilliant, the soundscape is entrancing and the wacky cgi genocide is great when you consider that most of this may actually be in her head. Fora character driven plot, this tickled my brain in ways I could not even imagine.

Story 9/10

Be warned, this anime does cover very serious dark topics with a lighthearted undertone but has a lot of disturbing scenes depending on your interpretation. All the main characters are linked as they have had someone close to them commit suicide for various reason and each main character is undergoing some sort of psychological illness because of their regrets. They essentially play a game where if they are asleep and have crack a special egg that they have bought from a mysterious man, they have the opportunity to 'save' their dead acquaintance. The egg also contains someone who has committed suicide and its the main casts responsibility to protect these girls from their demise from some weird cgi murderers. Each of these egg girls is an allegory as the main cast use saving them to essentially save themselves. Each episode so far has ridiculous weight behind it as they attempt to save the person they knew, not knowing how this game works. The world is not explained well enough but that's a selling point since we see it develop alongside Ai.

Art 9/10

One of the most visually pleasing anime of the winter 2021 season, this anime is really striking. Bold colours are used for the pretend world which contrasts with the dull monotony of the real world, in a world without that certain someone. The character designs are gorgeous and the animation feels smooth from the way they talk to the way that they walk. The CGI is probably the most tasteful use of it I've seen which a certain anime could take hints from.

Sound 9/10

Op is a short affair that perfectly sets the theme of reminiscing on painful memories. The animation of the op combines real world images with animated movements which is a pleasure to see. The soundscape is incredibly well developed and is pleasing to the ears and all around I love it. The op is sombre and regretful mirroring the overall message of the anime so far,

Characters 10/10

So far the characters are probably the most developed and this fleshed out I've seen for any anime 4 episodes in, with their intentions obvious yet hazy, their mannerisms consistent and the emotions they feel are conveyed to us and we feel those with them. I can't really say much since its that perfect. It reminds me of Okabe near the middle of steins;gate.

Enjoyment 9/10

Honestly, if you don't mind dark and depressing topics and want to learn something from an anime, this shouldn't be slept on. This anime is a perfect allegory of our lives and the strife we may encounter with a lot of psychedelic elements added that are pleasing to the eye. I need to see the rest of the anime for a full on review but so far I am enjoying myself and watching myself grow with the main cast.

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.

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*** The supposed hidden gem of 2021 turned out to be a total garbage It's embarrassingly bad, i've got drawn into this anime after i watched a GIF, it was that GIF where the red hair girl is reaching her hands towards the audience and her hand is bloody and she is smiling when i saw that GIF i though maybe this is a deep anime, i mean it has 8.33 score, it should be good right? one of the major theme of this anime is bullying, and we know this because of a background sound that literally says:"if you see bullying pretend to not seeit", there are so many issues with just this sentence,

if you are smart you would immediately know this anime is nothing but pseudo-intellectual trash.

here are the reasons:

1) there are no schools in developed countries that say this, if you report bullying there are always consequences for the bully. (it's not relatable, it's like saying if you see rape pretend nothing happened!), there isn't a single explanation why they say :"Pretend you don't see it", there is no benefit in pretending that we know of

2) a good anime NEVER gives the message of it's story by saying it to us directly, that destroys any symbolism the anime is trying to give

the bullies are displayed in the form of cringy and creepy dolls who are jumping slowly towards the protagonists with an axe (don't misunderstand it, it's not exciting, noting scary happens, heroes always get to run away) and the dolls never use their axe but only once and that's in the first episode

and as for the characters we have it all!

we have that super silent and lonely character who speaks only one word in response to MC because she doesn't want her friendship at first

we have the Tomboy who maybe gay and the anime gets super preachy about why gender is a hoax or it doesn't exist or it's irrelevant... TLDW i don't care!

didn't like the opening song as well, soundtracks were good though

so yeah fuck this garbage, don't watch it

Meh. Overrated lol Well, to be frank the Anime really isn't that bad. The Art-style looks great with some great animation to it. It has a unique enough concept to it that might just be able to hook the viewers till the end but that's where the problem begins. The reason why I used the word "might" instead of "will be" are the characters of the show. Well, basically the show is centered around High-School girls only and I don't normally have an issue but thing is that the girls are barely likable like at all. Our MC is your generic having trouble going toschool because bullying issue.

A typical edgy girl who's perfect at everything and don't show emotions only till our protagonists starts being annoying towards them.

A girl with a gutter trash attitude and having the kind of personality which guarantees a slut in the making

A girl who looks like a guy thus girls are all gay for her but she doesn't like it.

That's it. This bunch is enough to turn me off, Story is something that's keep me going. The idea of jumping in a virtual world to do stuff to shake things up in the real world with nice animation (Gotta give it to CloverWorks cause they're animating three shows this season and Horimiya looks really good as well. I am not sure about TPM since I haven't bothered with the second season yet)

A technically competent and visually pleasing show marred by a facile interpretation of the inner lives of young people. What started as a (probably) well-intentioned story has, over the course of the season, morphed from subtextually Freudian to blatantly so. The overarching plot could have been a good analysis of the challenges faced by teens, especially girls, in society, but the lead writer's total lack of comprehension regarding said challenges (especially the difficulties of being an outlier in gender identity or sexual orientation) leave a bad impression. Will likely be completely irredeemable by the final episode, regardless of how "pretty" it is. When the writingtries to be progressive and speak on social and cultural issues, it falls flat and derails its own message. If you watch, prepare yourself for:

- binary biological gender essentialism

- weird romanticizing of little girls when it seemed like the show was trying to critique that

- unnecessary edginess to make the point that bad people are bad

- [POTENTIAL SPOILERS] the sexual assault of a trans character shown onscreen

- [SPOILERS] suddenly introduced larger villain whose supposed influence on the big plot makes no sense

- and more nonsense!

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 saveand "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.

Having directly consume some of Nojima's previous drama, especially Yuri Dano Kan Dano, I know that he has some weird perception of women. WEP seems like it could have been a meaningful anime about teenage girl and the societal forces that pushes them to commit suicide. However, the way the anime explore said trauma is very surface level(introduce a monster every week have the protagonist beat up said monster without meaningfully exploring said trauma and how society should address it). The writer's perception of what teenage girls are is very problematic to say the least. First, confirming that girl's suicide are emotionally driven, then onthe latest episode, solidifying that being uncontrollable is the essence of femininity. Blaming the suicide of the victims on them having unstable female hormone is one thing, introducing a supernatural villain secretly exploiting their insecurity really do undermine all the societal forces that pushed these girls to commit suicide. I do not know how WEP can engage in a meaningful exploration of all the problem plaguing young girls if it is so willing to throw their trauma under the bus for some vague notion of "this is what femininity is like".

Like... I get it, in anime, showing female suffering is very deep and meaningful and everyone start crying. But can we like treat said real life issue with proper nuanced and analysis instead of just concluding that "girls are too emotional for their own good".