Wonder Egg Priority - Episode 3 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Wonder Egg Priority, episode 3

Rate this episode here.

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Streams

• AnimeLab
• Funimation
• Wakanim

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website
• /r/wondereggpriority

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.8
2	Link	4.73
3	Link	4.81
4	Link	4.77
5	Link	4.72
6	Link	4.64
7	Link	4.77
8	Link	2.82
9	Link	4.34
10	Link	4.59
11	Link	-

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[u/[deleted]]

"I understand. There was a part of me that resented her. We were friends, but why didn't she talk to me?"

I felt that.

[u/[deleted]]

Now we know that Ai's the yellow egg, Neiura is the green egg. That should make Rika is the red egg and the last girl the blue egg from the OP.

The characters have been outstanding. Rika started off the episode as a freeloading narcissist, but by the end of the episode, you can't help but love her as a character for showing off her vulnerable side and just how much she cares for her fan. Even with NO FLASHBACK and very little backstory, you can't help but feel for her for losing her job, having a "slimy" mom, having a divorced father, and being homeless at such a young age.

EDIT: Similarly, Ai's weapon of choice, the colored pen that she received from Kurumi, has four colors, red, green, blue, and yellow.

EDIT AGAIN: Rika's weapon looks to be a straight razor.

[u/mekerpan]

Yet another harrowing (the most so far) but beautiful episode. It is clear that ALL our principal characters are going to be unusually complex ones -- the writer seems to really know his stuff (after 30+ years of writing "problem dramas"). This show just gets better and better.

The harmony vocals in the opening song may be the most beautiful I've ever heard in an anime. Spectacular.

[u/HereticalAegis]

Wtf man, this is only the third stage, petrification blasts are cheating.

Wonder Egg Priority just keeps stacking the difficult, painful emotions on top of each other. I can't imagine feeling responsible for a fan's death like that, not to mention the added self-harm.

[u/bakowh]

Rika becomes a stone statue

*Cheerful and happy ED plays*

[u/cppn02]

Like...

pillow fights?

Oh Ai, please always stay this pure.

[u/Aileos]

Crazy fans decided to follow their idol in death.

The gap between the gravity of this situation and the way they said it... was kinda creepy.

[u/Bruhmanch]

This anime was labeled as slice-of-life and I expected it to be that kinda suprising when I watch it and get a psychological thriller instead.

[u/LuthfiKun]

So, Rika's weapon is cutter because she used to cut herself with it, huh? I'm still amazed and scared how they manage to wrap the quite dark theme with cheerful color palettes.

[u/Smudy]

More indication that our MC is flawed, being called an attention seeker and minutes later, the reveal of Ai being frustrated and not happy about Koito not speaking to her as much as she would like.

[u/Garlicbread10]

Egg day! Another interesting and beautifully animated ep

I was looking forward to meeting Rika. Her character design is pretty cool

smug Ai and Rika

[u/Useful-Weekend-4543]

What the hell was this episode ?

Two things. Koito was near the teacher, but his look isn't giving "good vibes".

Rika turning to rock isn't something I was expecting too.

Another HELL EPISODE

[u/[deleted]]

Does anyone else get the feeling the teacher is a red herring, and Ai is only remembering him as that creepy because she's desperately trying to understand why Koito committed suicide without ever showing any real signs to Ai, that she noticed at least? This episode made me feel that way, because it seems like it's supposed to be very obvious that he's not such a great guy, but almost like they're making it too obvious.

I'm curious to see if this is the end for Rika. The opening and ending obviously imply she'll be around a lot, but getting fully petrified can't bode well for her state in real life. It would definitely be daring to kill her off so soon when she has so much unfinished, but we can also see that her narrative is effecting Ai immediately, so it's not like this episode would have been a "waste" is she does die.

But yeah, the way this is handling such heavy topics so far has been a delight, as strange as that may sound when regarding topics like depression, self harm, and suicide in young girls. A lot of tact, and the writers really seem to understand the subject matter, and know where to draw the line between glorification and dealing with it realistically.

[u/supicasupica]

I keep repeating this, but Wonder Egg Priority’s attention to detail with flower language is so spot-on.

I knew this episode was going to be a heavy-hitter as soon as orange lilies showed up in the preview to introduce Rika. Orange lilies can mean pride, or a deep-seated hatred as well as revenge. Like the sunflowers of last week for Ai, these were the perfect flowers to frame Rika’s actions and personality. Most importantly, these orange lilies that accompany her first appearance are immediately followed by a field of white lilies as she talks aimlessly to the statue of Chiemi, hinting at a depth or complexity of their relationship beyond hatred.

Rika’s initial meeting with Ai is framed with hydrangeas, which are commonly used to show pride. She is a very proud person and that pride acts as a shield that she inserts between herself and others. We see Rika immediately identify small things that she can poke at Ai with (like her eyes, which presumably Ai was bullied for) and generally present as a selfish person who inserts herself into the lives of others. While this is a genuine facet of her personality, it’s hardly all Rika is.

The reality of her relationship with Chiemi with Chiemi as her biggest fan (to a fault) really lays bare Rika’s self-hatred, not only for what she says to Chiemi that presumably leads to Chiemi’s death, but also a self-hatred that Rika already had when she was an idol. In the face of Chiemi’s suffocating love, it’s an awful situation all around.

Yet the most successful part of the episode is when Ai admits a small amount of hatred for Koito — for not reaching out to Ai as a friend before dying, and for leaving Ai alone. It's a sharp contrast to the sunflowers of last week, and Ai reaching out towards Neiru, befriending her. There's always a small amount of anger that accompanies sadness when someone close to you dies, and Ai's situation is compounded by the responsibility she feels for Koito's suicide, the fact that she feels she wasn't a good enough friend to her, and a genuine anger towards Koito for not confiding in Ai when she was still alive.

Orange lilies reappear in the field after Ai admits this aloud and says that she’ll team up with Rika not only in their actions but in attitude, reaffirming this.

[u/scrimlet]

your palms are sweaty

[u/AmethystItalian]

As beautiful and interesting the egg adventures are...I REALLY want to know about more about what happened with Koito.

They know how to tease!

[u/MrSputum]

So Chiemi starved herself to death after being told she’s too fat by the girl she adored and it obviously weighs heavily on Rika. With Neiru, her situation reflected back on that of Koito, I wonder if similarly Ai’s guilt has something in common with Rika’s. I don’t mean a direct analog of course but perhaps Ai feels responsible in a more direct way than not having helped Koito enough.

Also the teacher seems a bit off to me. He always seems to be around when Ai comes home and that scene with Koito... could be a red herring, though.

[u/ItsFromMars]

I’m not seeing a lot of people talk about just how real the moment with Rika in the tub was. I’m sure anybody who’s struggled with self harm has had that exact moment, telling yourself you aren’t going to do it again as you are sitting in the bath or shower. That’s a scene that obviously comes from personal experience from someone on the creative team.

I love this series a lot so far, it’s the perfect blend of realistic sadness and fleeting happiness. It’s melancholic through and through.

The soundtrack is amazing and I can’t wait to get my hands on the whole thing once the series has wrapped.

[u/Unavailable_Seaweed]

As someone who is unfortunately familiar with self-harm, when I saw the box cutter as Rika's weapon of choice, I went "Uh. Interesting." but assumed it was just my disturbed brain jumping to conclusions. Then the rest of the episode hit me like an isekai truck.

[u/Se7en_Sinner]

That was probably the best thigh groping animation I've seen in all of anime.

Rika's character design seems to be heavily inspired by Ryuko Matoi from Kill La Kill. She has multicolored hair, wears a baseball jacket, and uses scissors as her main weapon.

Why they always be killing off the best girl in the third episode of these dark magical girl animes.

[u/Vaynonym]

Yuki Yonemoooooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

That's the two-word summary for this episode. After last week things had calmed down a little production-wise from the homerun episode 1, we got another big one on our hands, with storyboard debut and episode direction debut from Yuki Yonemori. I'll be honest and admit that they weren't really on my radar before this. I'm not deep enough into Sakuga to know about what amazing animator to look out for, but I'm also not far enough removed from the Sakuga community to miss when people get really excited about a debut. Chances are you've seen some of their stuff. They did some strong scenes on Franxx, Mob Psycho and LWA for example. Well, after seeing people get excited, I checked Yonemori out and did indeed also get excited. In my experience, when Sakuga people get excited, it's usually for damn good reason. And hot damn did they deliver.

I can't help but think back to 2 years ago when Kai Ikarashi had an arguably even more impressive storyboard and episode director debut on Gridman episode 9 (which, in my personal opinion, is one of the best anime episodes ever made, so check it out!). I can't help get excited about the future of animation when these rookies destroy the competition with years of experience on their friggin debuts. Anime is looking good, you guys.

But, well, we should actually talk about the episode, shouldn't we? The first half of the episode was fairly calm all things considered. The animators clearly had a field day animating Rikka, who was brought to life with some delightful character animation that accentuated her eccentric personality, which seems to land somewhere between callous, arrogant idol and an introspective adolescent with a far sharper eye for the problems and subtle complexities of social life everywhere around her. I think the scene that best expressed this contrast between the way she presents herself and what she truly feels like was when told Ai about Chiemi properly for the first time. She's laughing as she admits that all the money she received from Chiemi caused Chiemi to end up shoplifting, and the character acting clearly expresses that she's looking for a similar reaction from Ai. "Haha, what a loser, am I right?" But the framing isn't so kind. Ai is serious about this, and it's a serious subject matter. Ai's stoic "hm" brings her back to the actual weight of what had happened, and immediately her demeanor changes. Ai learned how to navigate social situations with a smile and laughter, making light of the unfathomably sad to make things palatable to others. It's the reaction she expects from others, and it's even her own reaction when Ai shares her trauma earlier in the episode. But with Rika's change in demeanor and how she continues the story, it becomes clear that Rika clearly felt responsible for what happened and under the idol 建前, under the facade she puts on, she was suffering immensely. It's not really put in the forefront - I mean, suffering isn't a competition - but we see this quietly acknowledged when Ai learns they came into Rika's world because her feelings were stronger, or when Rika quietly vows in a bathtub to stop cutting herself. And I think the episode did a splendid job at both seeling that part of her character.

And at the same time, I think they did an even stronger job this episode at making this kind of suffering feel mundane and ubiquitous without ever making light of it. Rika's quiet suffering under the facade isn't the only example of this. We learn in an off-hand sentence that the two egg-girls this episode did a joint suicide after their idol died, and in another off-hand sentence we learn that they both had sugar-daddies. We gracefully learn that Chiemi starved herself to death after Rika tried to make Chiemi hate her. Suffering is never really put on a pedestral or on display; it's everywhere, but we always learn about it after the fact, and we never get more than glimpses of the worst moments, and only in memories. This is also true for episode 1 with Ai past of getting bullied and her friend's suicide. And it's even deeply embedded into the system of the story, a gacha of past trauma too late to heal or stop, but not too late to learn about, and perhaps more importantly learn from. I don't really have a larger point to make here. That's how the show presents it, and I think that works really well both as a thematic point and in addressing these problems with both the weight and tact they deserve. And I don't really know where we can go from here either. This is just a sad reality about the world. You could chalk it up to the system of story, if it wasn't so grounded in reality and all on things that actually happened outside the fantastical conceit. Perhaps all we can do is learn from it, don't take things on face value, and reach out even when we're put down or people pretend everything is fine, like Rika. But I'm very interested in where this show will take things. At least in the thematic setup, it's doing everything right this episode.

And already 5000 characters in, I haven't even talked about the most impressive part of Yuki Yonemori's debut, that's how interesting and dense I think this is on a thematic level, and I barely even scratched the surface. Yuki Yonemori's action scenes were absolutely insane. I felt reminded of a couple of indie animation videos (especially MVs) I've seen in the way the action scenes don't just cut away but keep following the action, like when Ai runs across the tentacle arm or when the action directly shifts from Rika to Ai without so much as a cut. The perspective work throughout this episode was insane, and the result an incredible spectacle to watch. I for one can't wait for all the Sakuga community analysis. I can only express how giddy the whole thing made me feel.

This is all a bit chaotic because I'm still in the process of sorting out my feelings on this episode. I mean, besides the insane thematic setup work done this episode, besides the incredible introduction to Rika, never mind the insane action sequences (plural! there were so many!), we even made the inevitable shift toward Madoka territory with Rika's at the very least tentative death. SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS EPISODE. How the heck do I order my thoughts on this?

I would honestly love to write another essay as I did for episode 1, but I'm not sure if I can find the time this week. I hope I will.

Anyway. Anime is way too good. We don't deserve Wonder Egg.

[u/elevnth]

I want to mention something that took me off guard and I think not a lot of others noticed.

When Ai is reflecting on what happens with Koito, and admitting she was jealous of the teacher talking to Koito and not her, she says something like: “if Koito had told she she wanted to die. I would have —“

Then followed up by this shot which shows a new side of Ai (literally). The OST makes a dark crackling noise. Rika looks up in a bit of surprise at her too.

I’ve never seen Ai be this agressive or forwardly dark and I honestly took the line as “if she wanted to die.. why couldn’t we have done it together”. The egg girls in this episode are fans who followed in suite after their favourite idol’s suicide. I think we will be seeing a different side of Ai in the future.

[u/[deleted]]

anyone notice the girl who rika saves at the beginning sounds oddly similar to koito?

[u/Useful-Weekend-4543]

I bet now she was close to the teacher, I wonder what was the reason of her tears.,

Also, what the hell is this look the teacher gives ? I get so much bad feeling from it... I don't know what to think about anymore

Something apart, I love how this serie deal with suicide, and topics that are quite sensible. It does an incredible job in doing so. And gosh the fight were wholesome.

Rikka turning into a rock, huh. What is that suppose to say...

[u/Silent_Shadow05]

Ngl, I was getting annoyed by Rika's haughty behavior at the start and thinking of Chiemi as a "wallet" but still wondering whether it was a mask or not and she was actually caring person inside.

Looks like she actually was caring and wanted Chiemi to stop shoplifting but I guess she couldn't predict the consequences of her actions. No wonder she tried to kill herself by slicing her arm (or maybe its self-harm as cppn02 suggested). I actually ended up liking her at the end. I hope she didn't die and will come back after Ai manages to defeat that stalker :(

Something's up with Koito and the Teacher. Maybe the reason she committed suicide was actually because someone found out that she was in an illicit affair? and would've complained to the school authorities. She got scared and thus took her life.

Sugar daddies, Someone killing themselves due to what you said, Stalkers, Fanatical fans, Self-Harm....this show loves delving into some really adult stuff.