I just finished watching the final new Winter 2021 anime first episode that I intend to view this season, “Wonder Egg Priority”. This is an original fantasy/psychological drama story about Ai, a bullied 14 year old girl who escapes from her fears by
staying at home in bed all day and sneaking out at night to wander the empty streets. One night Ai finds a dead lightning bug, buries it, and then is haunted by a spectral version of the bug that speaks with her and offers her a chance to get her most
important wish granted for free.

The wish is contained in an egg. As Ai travels restlessly between reality and dreams she is pressured to break the egg to release the wish. She finally does break the egg, the broken egg grows huge, and out from it comes a school girl. The egg girl is
then chased by dream demons and Ai has to decide if she wants to become involved or not. But becoming involved brings dangers both in the dream world and in reality.

The first episode had spectacularly good and detailed background animations.

I’m at a loss for something else nice to say about it. The problem for me started right from the beginning when the spectral bug told Ai that her dearest wish was for a Friend. That immediately started to push all the wrong buttons for me. We are in
Contemporary Lit territory here: a story about an unhappy protagonist who makes poor decisions. The Development here is that the protagonist is offered a magical pathway to achieve Retribution and eventually Redemption. The mystery is whether or not this
is really a Deal with the Devil.

I don’t care for characters or story lines that these. I can’t relate and I don’t find them entertaining to watch. This series will probably be Loved to Death by a gawdzillon fans, but I don’t want to spend my time forcing myself to watch it.
Therefore I am dropping the series and giving it a final rating of C.

Dave Baranyi

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