This opinion piece was co-written by our authors Ash X and Devang Shukla. Do check out their other articles here and here respectively!

There are animes that take two or three episodes to get you in the groove. Then sometimes there come along animes that leave a deep mark on your heart from their first episode. Well, Wonder Egg Priority is an anime that will leave you utterly confused but hooked on it from the first watch itself.

It starts off at a point where you feel it is a generic “an outcast finds friendship, love, and acceptance” but the anime proves you completely wrong.

Your first reaction will definitely be “what the hell just happened? I gotta watch the next episode ASAP!” That is exactly how this beautiful show pulls you in. A promising show must be told about to all, so here we are, discussing our first impressions of this odd but intriguing story! Sit back and enjoy, while you plan to watch this.

Trigger warning: This article just like the anime discusses sensitive topics like bullying, suicide, depression, self-harm, and other such themes. Please continue only at your discretion.

Synopsis

Upon breaking the egg in a world that materializes during her sleep, Ai is tasked with saving people from the adversities that come their way. In doing so, she believes that she has moved one step closer to saving her best friend. With this dangerous yet tempting opportunity in the palms of her hands, Ai enters a place where she must recognize the relationship between other people’s demons and her own. (Source: MyAnimeList)

Wonder Egg Priority mainly revolves around Ohto Ai, who has a distinct case of heterochromia. Due to some reasons, Ai’s life has become meaningless. The story seems to follow a group of young teens from different backgrounds, upbringings, and circumstances. However, they have a similarity: They have face some sort of trauma, mainly the loss of a loved one.

So far, the story seems to focus on their path of living and dealing with the trauma, possibly towards a positive goal.

The anime takes an unconventional approach by creating an interesting and bizarre world, in order to capture the viewer’s minds and subtly show the progress in the characters.

With this in mind, let’s understand the other aspects of the series as well!

What strikes a chord in Wonder Egg Priority?

Themes 

As mentioned above, Wonder Egg Priority majorly addresses the themes of the loss of a loved one and the process of coping with the loss and other circumstances. It actually kicks off on quite an explicit note: Ohto Ai’s losing her best friend to suicide. The series is quite straightforward with showing unhealthy coping mechanisms that are rather common, like self-harm.

The series also focuses on a lot of issues that many teenagers face today. It is truly a surprise how realistic but daunting the portrayal of these issues is. May it be bullying, harassment, schooling system, or even addiction. Remember, we could note this down after watching the first three episodes, and Wonder Egg Priority will explore more themes in the coming episodes.

Animation

A seasonal anime popping up out of nowhere, having an engaging storyline and top-notch animation? It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? Wonder Egg Priority just brought this dream to reality.

Its soothing visuals and smooth movements are the very base of this show, along with its themes. The use of colors to portray emotions is absolutely stunning as well. In the first episode itself, we start off with a dark theme of bullying. Little monsters called “Seeno Evils” hunt the girls, and the whole scene induces panic in you. It is the magic of animation, in my opinion.

While our protagonist herself wears a bright yellow hoodie, the eggs’ world is dark and sinister. It gives the scenery a good contrast and keeps you on your toes. The art is so gorgeous and rich; it is tough to wonder how this is a standalone-series and not from a manga. We can’t even begin to imagine how breathtaking it looks on a blu-ray.

OST

The soundtrack of Wonder Egg Priority helps the series break through its shell. The heavy influence and use of electronic music are especially good for such a series, as the rich-sounding instrumentals go well with the craziness of the series.

The sounds are very crisp and refined; everything from the OSTs during intense scenes to the smallest “tinkle” during a transition scene is well produced.

What’s an anime’s biggest advantage over something like manga or a light novel? The voice acting, yes. While quite a few of the voice actors haven’t enacted many popular characters from other animes, they certainly don’t miss the mark. You can hear emotions in their voice, fear, confusion, anger, whatever it may be; the voice actors manage to pull it off.

The voice actors are also adept at showing subtle changes in the character’s mood, perspective, or behavior. A good example would be the voice actor of Kawai Rika, who instantly reminded me of Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, for some reason.

Symbolism

 Always keep your eyes open!

Well, this is not a threat, but a piece of advice. Wonder Egg Priority is full (when we say full we mean nearly every frame) of symbolisms and metaphors. As curious cats, we are always glad to pick up these tiny hints animators and directors leave for us to interpret.

Right from Ohto Ai’s eyes to the characters’ clothes to colors intertwined in the scenes and even the weapons used by the characters contain deep-rooted meanings. We are just penning down our favorite symbolisms here.

The first metaphor starts from Ohto Ai’s eyes (that rhymes): she can see both the real world and this alternate world like the dual colors of her eyes.

The first flowers we see kept on the desk of a student after Ai travels to her “dream” symbolize death, immediately conveying the underlying themes. It seems like the series will become a goldmine of symbolisms, some easy to notice while some are as hard as a stubborn chicken to catch.

It is possible that you’ve watched an episode three times and yet you’ve missed something! Just imagine that you’re watching the last two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, that might help!

Direction & Studio

Wonder Egg Priority is produced by Cloverworks studios, seem to be laying some quality eggs this season. They’re releasing three animes this season, namely Horimiya, The Promised Neverland season 2, and Wonder Egg Priority. The catch is, all three of them are in the top 10 animes of the season!

It is insane how one studio is pumping out three anime episodes every week and delivering consistently. 

As for the direction, the anime is off to a good start. While the director of Wonder Egg Priority, Wakabayashi Shin has never directed a series as a whole, he has worked on numerous popular animes. It will be interesting to see how the egg called Wonder Egg Priority hatches in the end.

Few concerns

Let’s start from the top: the themes. A lot of series try to convey the messages Wonder Egg Priority is trying to. But most of them either end up brushing the themes superficially or cannot deliver the correct end message. Since these are very heavy topics, it is important to both the audience that has experienced any of these problems.

It is also important to remember that this anime is also educating the other part of the audience about how certain actions might affect other people. It is likely that Wonder Egg Priority ends up as one of the known attempts in anime, which only delivered its symbolic meaning at “surface levels” and never managed to truly stand out and express its themes.

Next, the pacing. In the first two couple of episodes, the anime starts at a slow pace. We hope this is only for the ‘setup’ kind of episodes because it makes the progression seem sluggish and might discourage the viewer from sitting through it.

Another thing about pacing is that this anime might be done and dusted in 12 or so episodes. In that case, it really has to pick up its pace to deliver the story in a well-rounded manner. We have seen other animes like Paranoia Agent that dealt with multiple themes doing the same too, so it is not really impossible.

However, animes like Paranoia Agent have become “hit-or-miss,” so the Wonder Egg Priority makers should keep that in view. 

Final thoughts

As stated before, Wonder Egg Priority deals with sensitive issues that need careful handling to do them justice. We sincerely hope this anime does a good job so far; the world-building and character-writing have been top-quality. Hopefully, the series keeps working on a lot of sensitive issues till the end.

Based on the three episodes we saw, it looks quite promising regardless. Our concerns about Cloverworks still stand. The studio is due to be under the strain of taking on themselves three animes at the same time.

It will be a shame to see a unique story go waste because of management or animation issues. From where we see it, the anime is walking on eggshells and can go downhill any day.

However, if it keeps delivering the way it has in these episodes, it can take the title of a memorable must-watch seasonal home. While the title might throw some people off, that is just how the anime is: weird but to-watch-out-for.

Happy watching! Leave your opinions in the comments section!!