CloverWorks' psychological drama is a mature deconstruction of the magical girl genre, not unlike renowned anime screenwriter Gen Urobuchi's critically acclaimed Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011). Wonder Egg Priority's approach to schoolgirl fantasy action, however, is far more concerned with societal perceptions of femininity and womanhood, framed through a fantastical- and sometimes terrifying- lens of otherworldly creatures and hallucinatory dreamscapes.
At its heart, Wonder Egg Priority tells the story of Ai Ohto, a introverted junior high student struggling with poor mental health as she remains homebound following the death of her only friend, Koito. Koito's suicide, and more broadly, the disproportionate rate of suicide amongst young women in Japan, (an epidemic on the rise since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic) is where Wonder Egg Priority is able to expertly blend painful subject matters with the fantastical, all while remaining incredibly sensitive to the topics it covers during each episode.
Wonder Egg Priority captures audiences with its stunning animation from the offset; its attention to detail, memorable character designs, and diverse range of set pieces. For the most part, this is a strength which remains a constant throughout Wonder Egg's 12-episode run.
The events of the narrative become otherworldly when Ai stumbles upon a magical gachapon machine which releases a so-called "Wonder Egg". Activated her sleep, Ai is whisked away to a dreamscape in which she must battle disturbing creatures in order to protect the inhabitance of the egg, always a young victim of suicide. Alongside three new young girl friends in similar positions- all with their own complex personal struggles- Ai continues to purchase eggs and face intense, life-threatening battles in the hope that her efforts will bring her friend Koito back to life. If that description sounds like a lot to chew on, that's because it is. Wonder Egg Priority's narrative is not one easily compressed into any elevator pitch. However, while Wonder Egg may indeed be complex, the execution of this short series is simultaneously hard-hitting and also a much-needed breath of fresh air for the female-led anime action genre.
Wonder Egg Priority is in some ways a love-letter to the sci-fi genre, and its references to popular Japanese and Western IPs and recurring science fiction (and horror) tropes are plentiful. Most obvious is Wonder Egg Priority's heavy use of the Mental World trope seen in the likes of Satoshi Kon's Paprika (2006) or Inception (Nolan, 2010). The more sinister themes of Wonder Egg's dreamscapes and the nightmarish and violent creatures that inhabit them are also somewhat reminiscent of the rules surrounding the slasher horror franchise, Nightmare on Elm Street.
Further reference can be found through the character closest to Wonder Egg Priority's core antagonistic figure, Frill, an advanced AI child who was created by the Accas, two inventors who developed Frill as a form of escapism form stress from their intense work life. Frill is the physical embodiment of Acca and Ura-Acca's perception of the "perfect" young girl, a child for them to dote on as fathers together. However, when Acca marries and has a real child of his own, Frill grows intensely jealous that her family dynamic has been destroyed, resultantly murdering Acca's wife, and later forcing his teenage daughter into suicide. Frill's character narrative (at least what we know of her so far in her mere one episode appearance) is similar to that of sci-fi thrillers Splice (Natali, 2010) and Ex-Machina (Garland, 2014), which both see scientist's selfish creations grow violent, corrupted by their own unnatural existence.
The Accas invent the Wonder Egg gachapon scenario to hopefully put an end to Frill's (yet rather unexplored) plans. They use young girls such as Ai in order to appeal to their own youthful female nature, which they believe to be similar to that of Frill and the growing number of suicide victims she is producing. Wonder Egg Priority was indeed surprising in this regard, in that one of its core narrative threads surrounds damaging male perceptions of young women. The Acca's claim women to be too "emotional" and easily driven into harmful scenarios. They would blame womens' supposed natural disposition, rather than the abusers who inflict harm upon them: their bullies, their rapists, their persecutors.Wonder Egg's violence is the result of a male scophophlic lens, and is indeed this is a lengthy topic worthy of its own critical assessment.
Further sci-fi homage can be found in a subplot of Wonder Egg Priority which explores the relationship between one of Ai's fellow Wonder Egg warriors, Neiru Aonuma, and her friend Kotobuki, who is only just surviving on life support. Much like the psychological thriller Flatliners (Schumacher, 1990), young scientist Kotobuki experimented with near-death experiences by purposefully attempting suicide and resuscitating herself upon flatlining.
Overall however, beyond its vibrant visuals and references to popular IPs, Wonder Egg Priority excels in particular due to its smart dialogue. The series never treats its audience as dumb, or regurgitates information in lengthy expositional monologues. A lot of information is drip fed, implied, or simply left to the interpretation of its audience. In such a short space of time, the series manages to touch upon a multitude of incredibly serious and difficult subject matters, all with the grace and care they deserve. The queer representation it offers is refreshing to see in mainstream fantasy-drama anime, given one of Wonder Egg's core characters is a transgender girl, Momoe Sawaki. Momoe's own character arc is indeed one of the series' strongest, and her personal episode (Episode 10: Confession) boasts an incredible narrative surrounding navigating transness and the violent and harsh reality of transphobia that many face when coming out.
However, in spite of its many highs, what cannot go overlooked is the vocally addressed production issues which plagued Wonder Egg over the course of its original run. As is a common dilemma within the anime industry, Wonder Egg Priority was bound by an intense production schedule, short and strict deadlines, and an overworked, underpaid staff of animators. In particular, the wider 2021 anime season saw CloverWorks as a studio take on a significant number of large and highly anticipated projects, some of which have suffered, most likely due to the understandable restrictions and scheduling constraints imposed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Of note, season 2 of the anime adaptation of Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu's award-winning manga, The Promised Neverland, suffered largely due to changes to the source material imposed by CloverWorks, much to the disappointment of many fans. Production of The Promised Neverland, alongside the adaptation of popular shōjo series, Horimiya, are bound to have placed a tense grip around a creatively risky anime original such as Wonder Egg Priority. In this respect, the magical girl series should be praised for the great strengths of its animation and screenplay, in spite of its few unfortunate set backs.
As Xianwei Wu for CBR acknowledges, Wonder Egg Priority's behind-the-scenes struggles were made particularly prevalent during the show's 8th episode, a somewhat out-of-place recap episode of the series' prior episodes. This detached from the established fast-paced nature of the show in order to offer the animation team more time to finish their work on following episodes under their tight schedules. Yet, while the recap episode was beneficial in terms of contextualising some of Wonder Egg Priority's at times hard-to-digest lore; given the originally unplanned nature of this episode, the scheduling of the series within the 2021 winter anime series was put in jeopardy.
What resulted was a largely disappointing and open-ended 11th episode (An Unwanquished Warrior), which is bound to have left many-a-fan scratching their heads. All hope is not lost however, as CloverWorks have announced that a special concluding 12th episode is to be released in June in order to properly realise the anime's originally planned ending. It is therefore yet to be seen whether or not Wonder Egg Priority's conclusion will live up to the high standards of its pervious episodes. It is a shame Wonder Egg's creative team were hindered by these various constraints, and while it is great news they are able to take their time with the final episode in order to tell the story they hoped to, ideally this delay wouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
Given the disappointingly rushed and open-ended nature of episode 11, any lasting success of Wonder Egg Priority as a magical girl series worthy of the same acclaim as the likes of Madoka Magica still very much lays in the hands of CloverWorks. While one can only hope that the upcoming June finale maintains the strong quality of Wonder Egg's storytelling, it is doubtful that the four girls, the Accas, and the still very much enigmatic AI Frill will all receive well-rounded and much needed conclusions to their own personal narratives. Regardless however, the majority of Wonder Egg Priority remains an impeccably animated and mature deconstruction of the magical girl genre, and one very much worth a binge-sitting watch before June 29th approaches.
Wonder Egg Priority is available to stream for free on Funimation, with its final episode slated to air on the 29th of June 2021.
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