WONDER EGG PRIORITY

DESCRIPTION

CAST

SPECIAL ActionWonder Egg Priority: Tokubetsu-hen

REVIEWS

• 

  gabrielz8

  100/100
  How to talk about Suicide with maturity and mastery

  [ENG] (TL;DR at the end)

  “You're a crybaby” "Everyone has days like this, this is normal" "You just want to get attention" "You don't know what a real problem is" "Why don't you do it and stop bothering us?" Yes, these are difficult words to hear, especially if we're going through a more delicate phase in our lives. I hope you never suffered from any of them, but if that's the case...let's talk about it?

  First of all, let's present the Anime in question. Wonder Egg Priority is a Anime produced in 2021 by CloverWorks Studios, Shinji Nojima's original work, and all of these themes are covered in its history, from its premise to its main characters:

  Initially we have Ai Ohto, a girl with blue hair who has heterochromia, meaning that her eyes have a different color from each other, being yellow and blue respectively. In addition, she always wears a yellow hoodie with a large sunflower printed on the front, which in a way represents her cheerful and innocent personality

  Soon after there's Neiru Aonuma, a girl with brown skin, dark hair and beautiful green eyes. Her seriousness is not only represented in how she dresses, in this case a gray dress with long sleeves, but in her own expression, rarely showing emotions or even a brief smile

  Rika Kawai is almost the total opposite of Neiru and, although her surname actually means "cute", perhaps "eccentric" would be a more accurate description. With a more relaxed and even at times intrusive personality, it is possible to see these traits in her appearance in general, especially in the small pink streak in her blond hair

  And last but not least, we have Momoe Sawaki, who despite being a girl, it is difficult for people to identify that at first, either because of her quiet and protective personality, or because she dresses in a more masculine way, almost everyone ends up confusing her gender, especially the girls around her

  Even though they are somewhat different from each other, they all met and got together for the same reason, which is precisely the premise of the Anime. In a brief way, they were invited by two mannequins, Acca and Ura-Acca, to buy some unique and different eggs, when they sleep with these eggs, they are transported to their dreams with them, and if they break the egg within that dream, a girl ends up coming out of it, and from that moment, their mission is to save this girl from the monsters that will chase her, which may vary from Seeno Evils, Haters or even Wonder Killers...

  A different premise, isn't it? But it all ends up making more sense when we closely observe the messages that the Anime conveys with its story, and when we bring them into our reality, we can understand that it is a delicate and even complicated subject to talk about. Wonder Egg is not just a regular and light story, it is not heavy because it contains things like death, blood or the like, but because talks about the century's greatest evil, called Suicide

  It is nothing new that countless works try to explore this theme in their stories, but considering that it is a very unique feeling, rarely is approached in the best way, but the great idea of Wonder Egg was exactly how to incorporate that in its narrative, because instead of focusing only on one side, it ends up showing how this illness affects the world as a whole, whether in the despair and "mental hell" of the person who commits such a terrible thing, and even in the pain and resentment of those who saw it a loved one passing away too soon

  TL;DR

  Wonder Egg is an incredible Anime, and that is exactly how it manages to approach this topic with maturity and mastery, having the courage to talk about this issue in its entirety, showing that it is a more complex problem than imagined, and showing that, instead of closing our eyes and pretending that this illness does not exist, we need to stand up, get together and face it head on

  Bellow there is a video link, entitled “The Message Behind Wonder Egg Priority”, which better analyzes the Anime and its premise as a whole, making this review even more accurate (Please turn on the English Sub for it).

  [PT-BR] (TL;DR no final)

  “Isso é frescura”, “Todo mundo tem dias assim, isso é normal”, “Você só quer chamar atenção”, “Você não sabe o que é problema de verdade”, “Por que você não faz logo, e para de encher o saco?” Sim, essas são frases difíceis de ouvir, especialmente se estamos passando por um momento mais delicado em nossas vidas. Espero que você nunca tenha sofrido com alguma delas, mas se esse for o caso...vamos conversar sobre isso?

  Antes de mais nada vamos apresentar a obra em questão. Wonder Egg Priority é um Anime de 2021 produzido pelos estúdios CloverWorks, obra original de Shinji Nojima, e todos esses temas são abordados em sua história, desde sua premissa até com seus personagens principais:

  Inicialmente temos a Ai Ohto, uma menina de cabelos azuis que possui heterocromia, ou seja, seus olhos têm uma cor diferente um do outro, sendo amarelo e azul respectivamente. Além disso, sempre veste uma blusa amarela com um grande girassol estampado na frente, que de certa forma representa a sua personalidade alegre e inocente.

  Logo depois temos a Neiru Aonuma, menina de pele morena, cabelos castanhos e belos olhos verdes. Sua seriedade não é apenas representada em sua vestimenta, no caso um vestido cinza com mangas longas, mas em sua própria expressão, raramente demonstrando emoções ou até mesmo um breve sorriso.

  Rika Kawai é quase um contraste da Neiru e, apesar que seu sobrenome significa “fofa” de fato, talvez “excêntrica” seria uma descrição mais assertiva. Com uma personalidade mais relaxada e até em alguns momentos intrusiva, é possível ver esses traços em sua aparência no geral, em especial na pequena mecha rosa em seu cabelo loiro.

  E por último, e não menos importante, temos a Momoe Sawaki, que apesar de ser uma menina, dificilmente as pessoas conseguem identificar isso de primeira, seja por causa de sua personalidade tranquila e protetora, ou pelo fato de se vestir e se arrumar de uma maneira mais masculinizada, quase todo mundo acaba confundindo o seu gênero, em especial as meninas ao seu redor.

  Mesmo sendo diferentes de certa forma umas das outras, todas elas se conheceram e se uniram pelo mesmo motivo, que é justamente a premissa da obra. De maneira reduzida, elas foram convidadas por dois manequins, o Acca e o Ura-Acca, a comprarem alguns ovos únicos e diferentes, quando elas dormem com esses ovos, são transportadas para seus sonhos com eles, e se quebrarem o ovo dentro desse sonho, uma menina acaba saindo do mesmo, e a partir desse momento, a missão delas é salvar essa tal menina dos monstros que vão persegui-la, podendo variar de Seeno Evils, Haters ou até mesmo Wonder Killers...

  Premissa diferente, não é mesmo? Mas tudo acaba fazendo mais sentido quando observamos de perto as mensagens que a obra passa com sua história, e quando trazemos elas para nossa realidade, entendemos que é um assunto delicado e até mesmo complicado de se falar. Wonder Egg não é uma obra leve de ser consumida, ela não é pesada por conter coisas com morte, sangue ou algo parecido, mas sim por falar do mal do século, chamado Suicídio.

  Não é de hoje que inúmeras obras tentam explorar esse tema em suas histórias, mas como se trata de um sentimento muito único, raramente ele é abordado da melhor maneira, mas a grande sacada de Wonder Egg foi justamente como incorporou isso em sua narrativa, pois ao invés de focar apenas em um lado, acaba mostrando como esse mal afeta o mundo como um todo, seja no desespero e “inferno mental” da pessoa que chega a cometer tal ato terrível, até mesmo na dor e ressentimento das pessoas próximas que viram um ente querido ir embora tão cedo assim.

  TL;DR

  Wonder Egg é uma obra incrível, e é justamente assim que consegue abordar esse tema com maturidade e maestria, tendo a coragem de falar sobre essa questão em sua totalidade, mostrando que é um problema mais complexo do que se imagina, e mostrando que, ao invés de fecharmos os olhos e fingir que esse mal não existe, precisamos levantar, nos unir e enfrentá-lo de frente.

  Segue o link do vídeo, intitulado de “A Mensagem por trás de Wonder Egg Priority”, que analisa melhor a obra e sua premissa como um todo, tornando essa review ainda mais precisa.

  Link of the Video

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• 

  pointydelta

  67/100
  Despite great eggspectations and cracking animation, it's a bit of an empty shell.

  "Despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, I have not been able to answer the great question that has never been answered: what does a woman want?" _- Sigmund Freud_

  No spoilers.

  

  A bit of a quick and dirty one here for me. Wonder Egg Priority was, by far, the most excited I've been to follow a show this season. It was like Rice Krispies - it snapped, crackled and popped. Every episode brought something really interesting to the table, whether it was a cool idea, or a great fight scene, or even some fascinating revelation. But at the end of it all, WEP somehow felt a little bit empty. Episode after episode, I'd wait for something to really tie the show together and cement it as great. But without that - and, no, I don't think that the last few episodes quite got there - it couldn't have ever been much more than just awfully good.

  I want to caveat that this is not a finished show, technically. Production hitches mean that we'll have to wait until June for a real conclusion to Ai, Rika, Momoe, and Neiru's stories. But there's enough here to render a judgment. So render judgment I shall.

  Story

  

  WEP has a fascinating premise and a great hook. Magical girls (and let's be clear, that's what these girls are) have to save girls from supernatural enemies - but if they die in the dream world...they die in real life! Dun dun dun. Throughout the front half of the show, there's a sense of crystal-clear mission and storytelling. In the back half, though, things get a little bit fuzzier. It's less clear what the writers are after. There are still good ideas scattered here and there, but they're buried. And the episodes devoted to each egg feel more like a way of exploring those ideas rather than a way of exploring the characters who they represent. Rika is best-served, and Momoe and Neiru (especially Neiru) get the short end of the stick.

  There's a great framework here, it just seems to be lacking that something more that the contemporaries of this show (dare I mention a certain magical girl anime that starts with M, ends with a, and has "adok" in the middle? perhaps a show about a character that starts with U?) have. WEP says a lot - it tries to tackle some awful big issues. Suicide, gender identity, the perils of obsession, sexual assault, et cetera, et cetera. It's pretty goddamn grown-up. But at the same time, it never really has anything to say about those things other than that they exist. And that's valuable, sure, but never really feels that impressive. It's all just a bit...sophomoric. It kind of feels like the author is trying to get away with a fairly surface level read on social issues by depicting them graphically. That's why the best moments are where things like Rika's self harm are treated, because it's done quietly and carefully.

  Art/Animation

  

  The art and animation is simply astonishing. The character designs are fantastic and absolutely leap off the screen. They're so full of life, and the character acting by the animators at CloverWorks is just wonderful. The use of colour is beyond brilliant, and the fight scenes are so, for lack of a better word, big. Actions feel like they have a lot of weight, and the fighting has real inertia to it. Absolutely top-notch. Nothing really to criticise here.

  Music

  

  Music is great. The OP, to use a technical term, "frickin slaps", and really fits nicely. Sound design is never knowingly undersold, and even though it would be very, very easy to slip into irrelevance for some of the more high-concept ideas, the sound effects always feel strangely completely appropriate.

  The VAs put in good work with what they have, although I never felt any performance really stood out.

  Final Thoughts

  

  So, here's the problem. WEP, by all standards, should be fantastic. But at the same time, it never really gets beyond just really good. While there's maturity in the writing, enough to treat what are very serious issues with some measure of respect and a lot of seriousness, it never feels like WEP has anything to say about them, preferring instead to slip into high-concept sci-fi in the last few episodes. And that was a cool way to go, but it never felt like it mattered past aesthetics and some interesting ideas.

  Perhaps the production difficulties put the kibosh on the proper expression of the writer's ideas, and I'll have to wait for the special coming in June to put a neat bow on the story. Perhaps. But I really don't think so. We have to judge on what's there, not what might be there. And what's there is something that I never felt got that far beyond being gorgeous and feeling smart.

  Ultimately, I think WEP is a (gorgeous) missed opportunity. It could have been a lot more than what it was. Anime usually doesn't treat serious subject matter well, preferring instead to catastrophise, allegorise, and trivialise. WEP had the potential not to do any of those things, and come up with a much better treatment of some societal dirty laundry that really needs an airing. What it was is still pretty good, and by gosh was it exciting to follow along with Ai, seeing what each week would hold. But would I recommend it to someone else? Eesh. I don't think so. And that's all you need to know.

  Maybe next time.

  “It’s a dream. It’s a bad dream.”

  ---

  - Pointy

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• 

  ayukawas

  80/100
  Wonder Egg Priority: The confusingly egg-tastic anime that will leave you speechless.

  ___“Crosswalks are still scary even when you move with the crowd. I’m done pretending not to see_.”__

  Wonder Egg Priority is a refreshing anime that has took one of the biggest spotlights for this season. With its heavy themes and lovable characters, this anime has piked the interest and touched the hearts of many.

  This story starts with our main character, Ai Ohto. She decides to embark on a personal journey to save her best friend, Koito, and meets many new friends on the way. For me, Ai's development is absolutely phenomenal. The way she started off as a gloomy character who couldn't go to school, to a person who is ready to fight and protect was written quite brilliantly if I do say so myself. Her growth was very realistic and it protrayed a human mindset very well. Aside from Ai, we're also presented with three other main girls: Neiru, Momoe, and Rika. Just like Ai, these girls also received excellent development. Although Momoe is quite lacking in that department, Rika and Neiru developed very well too. A good thing about this series is how it gives attention to each character with their own backstories and why they're fighting. It gives us insight on who they are and gives us a chance to get attached to those characters.

  A good thing about this anime is its attention of details and how they make each character unique. All characters have a distinct personality that compliments each other in some way, and the visual symbols that represent that is very good. WEP has beautiful art and each frame usually has something special to it. The symbolism found in each episode (especially the last episode) is meaningful and could be analyzed for a long time to keep things interesting. The animation doesn't disappoint at all too. WEP exceeded my expectations when it came to the visual and musical aspects of the series.

  The storyline is quite messy. This anime has incredible potential; it could've stood side by side with Madoka Magica in terms of how fresh and unique it was both art-wise and story-wise. However, this anime failed to wrap up nicely and the ending has left us with even more questions instead of answers. This type of ending is usually a big hit or miss, and unfortunately, WEP didn't nail the ending at all. The pacing is all over the place. The characters get good development but the actual story gets nowhere until the last two episodes. Its concept is very interesting, yes, but the fact that the genuine story behind all the events that happened before that really marks the start of WEP was only introduced in the last few episode makes everything go quite quickly. The flashback added context to things, but it just makes us viewers even more confused rather than enlightened. Usually this would've added a factor of mystery and interest, but the fact that it was introduced so late just baffles us to the point where it can't be closed very properly. This series explores mature themes but never really dives into it seriously, and ends up brushing over them to disguise it as more lighthearted. It talks about very serious topics but it never really shows the extent of them like a well written show usually would.

  Overall, Wonder Egg Priority is a very unique show that explores mature themes and makes you think about the value of life. It is the type of anime you would want to see if you want to rethink how important life is and how people would react to the things around them. However, there are many flaws blatantly shown in this anime. This anime is just a missed opportunity to become a masterpiece, but it is still a very enjoyable watch, with intriguing topics, visually impacting scenes, and amazingly developed characters. Wonder Egg Priority will not fail to catch your heart and bring tears into your eyes as it brings you to rediscover how beautiful life is and how it is important to appreciate the things around you, especially your friends.

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