One of the final stragglers from the starting line this season is (a very busy) Cloverworks’ Wonder Egg Priority, certainly one of the bigger enigmas coming in. There wasn’t much out there in terms of description, just a few cryptic previews. And it’s easy now to see why they were cryptic, because the whole show is, at least so far. There were a lot of fairly obvious influences in this premiere, but in the end it still felt at least marginally original.
While the buzz on this episode was very good, I heart a lot of “it’s super SHAFT-y!” and “Flip-Flappers” in that buzz. And to be honest that did give me pause, because SHAFT – especially over the last 7-8 years – is like fingernails on a blackboard to me. Just a mismatch of galactic proportions – we don’t mesh. And as for Flip-Flappers – well, hey, a lot of people really liked that series and I can see why. It didn’t click with me and I could go deeper into why, but that’s not really going to serve to anyone’s benefit.
So what about Wonder Egg Priority, which certainly deserves to have every viewer judge it on its own merits and not on preconceptions? I will say this – I get the SHAFT thing. Wakabayashi Shin did work there but not as a director (as far as I can tell this is only his second series in that role), but he’s worked at many other studios besides – and on some very good shows. WEP shares a lot of SHAFT visual tics. But it’s more on the level of say, an Oonuma Shin show at Silver Link – restrained enough to be tolerable. And importantly, it doesn’t look cheaply made like most SHAFT series do. As for Flip-Flappers I get that vibe too, but I think it’s more in general terms that both are trippy series about girls’ psyches than anything really concrete.
The SHAFT series – and series generally – this most reminds me of is Madoka Magica (the original, the good one), which would certainly be on my short list for best SHAFT work. We have a middle-school aged female protagonist (Ooto Ai) caught up in some weird mojo by a Kyubey-like (though not visually) type. And there’s a strong sense that this could get really dark, even darker than the already pretty violent premiere. I mean, we’re building a story around bullying and suicide to begin with, and then adding a probably sociopathic supernatural creature who no doubt is using Ai (and many other girls, apparently) for some nefariously selfish purposes of his own.
Madoka was a very good series, but it did spawn an anime genre (in addition to a literal religion), an altar to the obsessive martyring of young girls – make them suffer terribly, fetishize them. I’m not saying Wonder Egg Priority is necessarily going down that road but that’s the vibe so far, which makes me cautious. Also making me cautious is that there are no obviously exceptional members of the key staff, especially writer Nojima Shinji (with originals writers are everything), whose resume mostly consists of manga which as far as I know aren’t especially considered exceptional.
Still, as I said, own merits and all that. And no question this was a very interesting premiere, especially in visual terms. It’s not a mass-produced model even if it has some familiar-seeming echoes, and there’s certainly the potential at least for this premise to be an interesting one. All the things that intrigue me about Wonder Egg Priority are double-edged swords which also give me pause, but that in itself is sort of interesting, and makes me curious to see where this experience takes us.
Haraga
January 13, 2021 at 9:47 pmI believe the writer is mostly known for his work on doramas, and it’s his first anime apparently. It gives me some hope, because anime writers are often, well… you know.
Guardian Enzo
January 13, 2021 at 10:07 pmMy experience with doramas has not been super positive TBH, but who knows. I will say Nobelu is a title whose covers always looked interesting in the bookshop at least.
FxREEE
January 14, 2021 at 12:38 amRegarding doramas in general, Nojima Shinji is actually one of the best scriptwriters IMO and according to others as well. In fact, Nojima Shinji’s doramas are devoid of the usual cringeworthy dorama tropes. Also, some folks who understand Japanese also said that his use of dialogues are really appealing and quite different from other dorama writers. Some of Nojima Shinji’s doramas I really enjoyed include 101st Marriage Proposal (1991), Hitotsu Yane no Shita (1993), Kou Kou Kyoushi (1993), Kono yo no Hate (1994), Seija no Koushin (1998), Pride (2004), Aikurushii (2005), Love Shuffle (2009) and Papa Katsu (2017).
FxREEE
January 14, 2021 at 12:56 amMoreover, it can be different to to others, but to me some of Nojima Shinji’s previous works (e.g. Miseinen, Seija no Koushin, etc.) reminds me of Kazuki Akane’s works.
Panino Manino
January 19, 2021 at 8:32 amI didn’t like because I can’t support these types of anime anymore, but hearing about the writer… oh, only reinforced my antipathy.
I watched a bunch of his stories without paying attention that all where from the same person and had problems with all of them.
I can only expect the worst, but of course, there are people who likes these things.
Litho
January 14, 2021 at 12:42 amUnsure if I even want to try this. I don’t follow anime studios as closely as I once did so have no idea what constitutes the modern day SHAFT vibe, but if it’s anything like that BlahBlahGatari thing or the new butchered FLCL, it’s safe to say I’m not a fan. Never seen Flip Flappers (or even heard of it till now), and didn’t really like Magical Madoka either. Dunno, maybe I’ll give this a go later in the week when I less bogged down.
For now, I think I’m pretty much locked in with this season’s anime – that Tatoeba Last Dungeon Something Something (because it’s simple, like me), Horimiya (which I may end up dropping it they focus on the teen drama parts too much like the OP foreshadows), and Non Non Biyori (because Non Non Biyori). Not sure if I have space for this one.
Litho
January 14, 2021 at 12:46 amOh, forgot to ask. There’s egg in the title, so does it contain mayo? Might give it a chance if it does.
Guardian Enzo
January 14, 2021 at 6:29 amNot yet. But my alerts are set.
Panino Manino
January 19, 2021 at 8:34 amMaybe a little bit considering how “mayou” the girls are.
Raikou
January 15, 2021 at 4:03 amI don’t really get where they are going with this, but it’s pretty solid episode. I will be following this and expecting good stuff.
original anime with dorama writer is still better than those LN adaptations.