Wonder Egg Priority is one of those shows I want to like better than I do. It feels like the show the cool kids should be watching, and I totally get why a lot of folks are raving about it. From a visual standpoint it’s undeniably really interesting, and it’s thematically ambitious in theory. But somehow the connection isn’t firing for me, and the short is with the writing. And if there’s anything I’ve learned about original series over the years, it’s that writing really matters.
I don’t know anything about Nojima Shinji, apart from that he’s rather famous for writing dramas (and I didn’t even know that two weeks ago). So I have absolutely no biases one way or the other with him. I simply don’t think the writing works with this show, for whatever reason. It rings false, pretentious rather than provocative. I’ve never had much patience for shows that try to be provocative for its own sake, and while I’ve certainly seen far worse than WEP I do get that sense here. There’s not a lot of subtlety or depth – just a checklist of characters and situations designed to provoke a Pavlovian response from the audience.
It seems very unlikely that’s going to change, because in writing terms Wonder Egg Priority is a one-man operation. But boy, I sure would love to be surprised because each episode (though the second was the weakest) has produced visual sequences that really stand out. There’s some wonderful old-timey anime stuff going on with director Wakabayashi Shin and his team – look past the Shaft veneer and you see influences of Bones and Gainax at work.
The question is whether the one is enough to balance out the other, and keep me invested. I don’t know, but historically visuals have rarely been enough to close the sale for me if the writing isn’t cutting it. I also found Rika to be particularly annoying, and I believe she’s the next-to-last of the major characters to be introduced so we’re running out of bullets in the chamber. I’m certainly not going away yet, because the things that stand out about Wonder Egg Priority are notable enough to buy it a fairly long leash. At this point though it’s hope more than expectation keeping me coming back – and not all that much hope at that.
Derrick
January 28, 2021 at 1:53 amYeah some writers might just want to make an empty story full of calculated checkpoints.
They will try to have this factor, that plot points but the whole generally feels empty
Anchen
January 28, 2021 at 5:54 amI’m liking this show currently quite a bit, but I am a bit of a sucker for animation quality and production values, so part of it is just me quite enjoying the visuals this show has. I think the story is interesting enough personally. Considering we are getting our third girl in episode 3, I imagine we might have the full four (if the opening is any indication) fully introduced by the midpoint in the show or earlier. And then I guess I am waiting to see where it goes from there. I get the Rika being annoying, and think she was purposefully written as such. But I think there’s enough that she is more playing the Kyoko Sakura role here mostly. If anything from the writing I’m a little surprised and maybe put off at how fast they seem to be showing the “other side” of her. So in that way I do think that is a bit hokey and checkpointy like they are trying to cross that off and get onto something else.
Guardian Enzo
January 28, 2021 at 6:52 amThat’s the gist of the problem for me. It all feels very calculated and sterile to me.
Yann
February 2, 2021 at 11:15 amI feel pretty much the same way… Loving and enjoying the visuals, even though the storytelling feels like a sterile, by the number, checklist.
james
January 28, 2021 at 4:06 pmWhen the girls had magical weapons without explanation, I knew what to expect afterwards. Everything feels rushed and shoe horned in. It’s just an alright show. Good art, good concept, pretty mediocre execution.
Proto
January 31, 2021 at 4:48 pmEven though its very different somehow this reminds me of Gainax’s Melody of Oblivion in being a lot of flair with a very convoluted substance. Usually I would agree with Enzou in that I prefer shows to have substance over flair, but somehow I see it working here. We’ll see if they manage to tie it together, or whether it would be a train wreck that is worth watching regardless. Who does not like explosions anyway.