I’ve always wanted to do an anime review of Wonder Egg Priority and now that this anime is celebrating its one-year anniversary, this is the perfect time! Wonder Egg Priority is a thirteen episode series defined as a psychological horror / drama. And there’s some real emphasis on the psychological aspect of that.
It follows four girls coaxed into purchasing “Wonder Eggs” from a capsule machine, at the behest of two mannequin-esque men. This egg will grant you whatever you wish. And the first one’s free! … But nothing costs more than a free gift.
“Nothing costs more than a free gift.”
These eggs hatch while the girls are dreaming, turning into the the spirits of young girls who’ve committed suicide. And these ghost girls don’t come alone. The trauma that caused them to commit suicide follows them, manifesting as something monstrous. Our protagonists are tasked with protecting these dead girls by defeating their traumas, using ridiculously oversized magical girl weapons.
The premise is utterly surreal. But it works. It’s the mash up of Persona 5 and Madoka Magica that you didn’t know you wanted.
But Wonder Egg Priority paves new ground by dissecting the unique, and often isolating, suffering that comes from being an adolescent girl. The cause of that suffering is often shown to be the adults around the egg-born victims. Adults who either were the outright perpetrator or silent enablers, and how that power dynamic lead so many girls to suicide.
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While you don’t need to be a girl to understand, or have experienced, the things that these girls go through… it is spoken through a very gendered lens. But after watching some utterly garbage female representation, Wonder Egg Priority was deeply refreshing.
Cinematic
Wonder Egg Priority provides gorgeous visuals and action sequences, blended together with bright colors and dazzling music, despite the bleak subject matter. The animation is at moments dream-like and sometimes hyper-realistic. This back and forth between dream and reality is intentional and often seamless, sometimes leaving you questioning which is which.
There’s so much symbolism!
Characters
The characters are where Wonder Egg Priority truly shines. We follow four girls, each of which have endured deep trauma that have lead them to their own flirtations with self-destruction. They each have someone in their life that has committed suicide, who they’re desperate to have back.
Each character is unique and likely relatable to someone. Ai, a shut-in who was relentlessly bullied. Rika, a girl suffering through deep negligence at home. Momoe, who struggles with her gender identity. And Neiru, an emotionally detached girl who wants to feel human.
Each of them deal with their trauma in their own ways. From hiding away from the world to lashing out at those who love them.
Over the course of the series, their friendships with each other help heal some of the trauma they’ve been carrying and they develop healthier methods of coping with their own (ongoing) struggles. They also meet the Four Temperament Ensemble trope, which is neat.
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Story
So, here’s where Wonder Egg Priority becomes a little… infamous. The first half of the series is impeccable! It’s so easy to devour the first half of the series in one sitting. Which I did.
Wonder Egg Priority is more character-driven than plot-driven… for at least the first six episodes. And it works perfectly, melding character and action. And then it hits its (SPOILER) sci-fi moment (/SPOILER). By episode 7/8, Wonder Egg Priority starts its suicide spiral. Tasteless pun intended.
Until the last quarter of the anime, Wonder Egg Priority has laid so many interesting moments of world-building, so many mysteries. I was invested, despite the sudden-left turn, believing fully that the development team would make it work.
But it’s clear that this is a series that was meant for two seasons but was hastily reduced to one. An issue they attempted to solve with an extra-long episode tacked onto the end, which wasted half its time with a 20 minute long run down of previous events.
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The ending is all over the place. It’s universally regarded as terrible. There wasn’t enough buildup for it to make sense, and it fizzles into what can only be described as a lackluster pile of strings. Some of them are tied up, sure. But most aren’t.
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that Wonder Egg Priority will get a second season, though it’s left us with so many questions.
But what’s far, far worse is that the strong message of the first few episodes (learning to deal with trauma and loss) was completely abandoned. (SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER) Wonder Egg Priority spends so much time contemplating the pain young girls go through because of the failure (or sadism) of adults in their life… only to end with two adult men trying to kill a young girl. And then manipulating the four protagonists through deeply traumatizing trials as a last-ditch attempt to kill this girl, when their own efforts fail. Way to kill your own socially relevant message with some random, vaguely incestuous nonsense. (/SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER)
You started out so good. ):
Final Thoughts
Despite the extremely questionable last few episodes, Wonder Egg Priority is still worth the 320 minutes~ it takes to finish. It’s a great ride with a rough conclusion, but that doesn’t mean the journey wasn’t worth it.
Anime Review of Wonder Egg Priority Rating:
4/5
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(trigger warning: sexual assault, references to self-harm, images of healed self-harm scars, multiple references to suicide, references to grooming and underaged relationships.)
Great review. I shall definitely add this to my watch list. This is why I wanted to watch the film Hatching. It also touches on some of the difficulties of being an adolescent girl, growing up, and the expectations that come with it. I am sorry the ending was rushed and didn’t continue on the same trajectory as it started after it seemed the show wouldn’t make it to a second season, that is truly unfortunate and a step backwards from where they started.
Youtube is a great place for those of us who like a spooky story. There we can find a mixture of true tales and cutting-edge fiction. These range everywhere from amateur footage to professionally crafted videos.
The channel launched in December 2014. Since its birth, there has been just one topic of discussion. The fey is not to be trusted, and in fact, is something to be feared.
Some of the stories on this channel are fiction. But some are claimed as first-hand accounts of dangerous interactions with fairies.
Now, whether or not we believe in fairies isn’t the point of this review. I am only here to talk about the level of entertainment to be found on this YouTube channel.
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A recent video titled Melsh Dick (don’t laugh) was a common fairy tale. A girl is lured away from her friends by a boy who claims to be her cousin. He doesn’t give her a name, they never do. Fortunately, the girl escapes. Others haven’t been so lucky.
A favorite video of mine, being a city dweller, was Urban Fairies. This video consisted of eight encounters with fairies in an urban setting. Many of these encounters are nice. There’s a beautiful swirl of lights seen out of an apartment window. A person is lured into a city park by a lovely young woman who might or might not have been human. And another person receives some personal and sage advice from what looks to be a homeless man while she’s out walking her dog. All of these stories were delightful, reminding us that magic can be found in any setting.
For creepier encounters, we turn to the video House Fairy Horrors. Warning, you might not be as thrilled about the Elf on a Shelf after this one.
In this video we hear the tale of a goblin that took over one room of a person’s house, chasing out anyone who tried to go in. A young child sings to scare sprites out of their home, only to have them hold a grudge and return years later. There’s even a shadow man who seems to encourage a vegan lifestyle.
Some of the videos have themes, like frost fairies or encounters with fairy royalty. Some are eerie tales plucked from Reddit, real life or imagined.
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Of course, the creepiest tales are those where people are lured into the forest by the fey. You’ll find several of these stories on Scary Fairy Godmother. It always seems to be in good fun, until one finds themselves lost.
These stories might not seem very scary to us. The tellers of these tales come away without a scratch after all. But consider this. The only time we’d hear about a fairy abduction is if it fails. We do not know what happens to the others, only that they’re not around to tell us.
How many people went missing in your town last year?
From what we can gather from these videos, we are never safe from the fey. They can reside in our homes, our cities, and our parks. They can even reach us in our dreams. What they want with us may vary. Perhaps it’s just to give us a scare. Maybe they enjoy playing tricks on us. Or maybe they’re vengeful, angry at the disrespect mankind has shown to the environment, and eager to punish us for our abuses. Whatever the reasons, it’s probably best if we steer clear.
The Scary Fairy Godmother YouTube channel is one with staying power. The fan base is small, but it’s growing. It’s a great one to throw on while your hands are busy, or if you just want a soothing voice to tell you a scary story. So if you’re a fan of the creepier side of life, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Sometimes life gets in the way. Maybe you watched the episodes the nights they came out, but then you got your stomach tattooed so you didn’t have the energy to type on your computer, and then you had to work nonstop for six days straight and housesit 20 miles out of town, and then you got into a hit-and-run car accident with your boyfriend (luckily you’re both okay but really very angry at the asshole that just drove away), etc. etc.. March has been a lot, but I finally rolled up my sleeves, made time for my computer and stopped procrastinating the job of writing my final review onHBO’s The Last of Us.
Here we will cover the final events of Joel and Ellie’s saga. Both episodes were directed by Ali Abassi and written by Craig Mazin and, in episode 9, Neil Druckmann. The adaptation continued to cover the story elements of the game, leaving out and/or changing most of the fighting and action scenes. This change is especially noticeable in episode 9, “Look for the Light,” but we’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s first do a recap of episode 8, “When We Are in Need.”
“When We Are in Need”
Ellie is on the hunt for food and comes across a deer, which she shoots down almost effortlessly. It is in this moment that she meets a preacher named David (Scott Shepherd) and his partner, James (Troy Baker, (Joel’s voice actor in the video games)). After a moment of hostility towards the stranger, Ellie agrees to give the deer to David in exchange for penicillin. Shortly after giving Joel the medication, Ellie has to leave again to deter David’s religious crew from hunting her and Joel. It turns out Joel killed a few of David’s men, and the preacher is out for revenge.
The religious group captures Ellie and puts her in a cell, where she discovers David has been feed them human remains. Meanwhile, Joel finally awakes and is stable enough to escape the house and search for Ellie. He tortures two men into disclosing her location, but he is almost too late. David places Ellie on a butcher block and is just about to chop her up when she narrowly escapes. The two fight until she finally has the advantage and takes him down, bludgeoning him to death with an insurmountable fury of vengeance.
“Look for the Light”
Episode 9 begins with a flashback of Ellie’s pregnant mother, Anna (Ashley Johnson, (Ellie’s voice actor in the video games). An infected bit Anna just moments before she gave birth to Ellie. Moments pass, and Marlene finds the two in a pool of blood. She is forced to take the baby and kill her friend. Fast forward 14 years, and Joel and Ellie are almost done with their journey. They finally made it to Utah. Ellie, still processing everything that happened with David, is sad and somber. Joel tries his best to cheer her up, but nothing seems to work.
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Suddenly, the youth sees something and runs off to get a better look. Joel chases her until he stops and stares in awe. The camera pans from him to Ellie inches away from a giraffe. She is her old self again, cracking jokes and asking a myriad of questions. Later on, when Joel reveals that he tried to kill himself after Sarah’s death, Ellie provides him as much comfort as she can. But the fact that Joel can trust her enough to reveal such a secret means is a comfort on its own. He asks Ellie to read some puns to lighten the mood, but his moment is interrupted when a group of Fireflies knock them out.
Joel wakes up in a hospital to see Marleen, who informs him that the doctors are preparing Ellie for surgery to remove the part of her brain that makes her immune. This procedure, however, will result in Ellie’s death. No matter how hard Joel fights, Marlene won’t budge. She instead has two Firefly soldiers escort Joel out of the hospital, but he kills them and everyone else until he finds the surgery room, where he murders the doctor in cold blood. He escapes with an unconscious Ellie and makes it as far as the parking garage until Marlene stops them. The camera cuts to Joel driving a car with Ellie in the backseat.
The End
Ellie wakes up and asks Joel what happens. While he lies to her that there is no cure, the camera flickers back to the parking garage scene with Marlene. He shoots her once. After listening to her begs and pleas, he kills her with a final shot.
The duo have to walk the last few miles to Tommy’s town. At the top of a waterfall, they get a spectacular view of their new home, their new futures. Before making the final trek, Ellie tells Joel about her past and how she saw her best friend die. This lead to watching Tess, Sam and Henry die because of the disease. The fact that they all had to go through such gruesome deaths, only for there not to be a cure, is too much for Ellie to handle. She makes Joel swear that he is telling the truth, and in a beat, he does.
Series Verdict
HBO’s The Last of Us is a remarkable video game adaptation that deserves all the high praise it has received the past few months. From the set design and effects to the filming, screenwriting and acting, the show is a peak example of how to do an adaptation well. It is heart-throbbing and terrifying.
A few issues with HBO’s adaptation is how much they excluded the game play scenes. Despite the world being filled with infected, they were rarely on screen. This is disappointing, especially because it increases the stakes and so much of Joel and Ellie’s relationship builds in these fight scenes. The biggest disappointment was in episode 9, in which the show completely cut out the game’s highway scene. Furthermore, there are numerous creative weapons the show could have included to illustrate Joel and Ellie’s means of survival, from molotov cocktails and nail bombs to the beloved shotgun and its shorty companion.
Despite these small quibbles, the show is arguably one of the best American video game adaptations out there. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were the perfect casting choices for Joel and Ellie, as was the casting for all the other characters.
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It will be exciting to see where Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin take The Last of Us 2. I hope they will include more gameplay (aka a little more violence), more screen time for infected, and some creative liberties with the original story while also sticking to the heart of it. We will just have to wait and see what they come up with. Until we meet again, don’t forgot to read about the other shows and games we’re loving here at HauntedMTL.
Let the Wrong One In is a 2021 horror comedy directed and written by Conor McMahon, starring Karl Rice, Eoin Duffy, and Anthony Head. This film is currently available per subscription to Amazon Prime (through Shudder) or Shudder directly.
Matt (Karl Rice) and Deco (Eoin Duffy) are estranged brothers, but when Deco finds himself strangely ill, he seeks his brother out. Through obvious signs and tropable behaviors, the brothers realize Deco is a vampire. What follows spirals into a plot of brotherly guilt, passive aggression, and bloody retribution.
Anthony Header as Henry
What I Like
With the titular reference to Let the Right One In, the idea interested me. After the trailer, I realized this film doesn’t relate to or parody the novel or film aside from being about vampires. As a fan of the franchise, it would have been interesting to find a subversion. However, the film can charm a viewer at certain points, receiving a few laughs from me.
Either Let the Wrong One In is a micro budget film or imitates such films. The special effects ensure you know this as intended, if perhaps out of necessity. If you can accept these points, the film might be an entertaining viewing experience.
The chemistry between the two leads is where the film shines. Both Karl Rice and Eoin Duffy feel like bickering brothers. With Deco’s performance as an addict, the film even ties into elements that family members of addicts know all too well.
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Anthony Head (of Buffy fame) also plays his campy and ridiculous vampire hunter role to perfection, even seeming competent in the profession despite the character being more of a joke. Anthony Head can chew a scene, becoming an easy highlight of the film.
I like how vampires are named vampires without the cliche attempt to figure out what they are. It seems to be a rare thing to see on film. When this standard of logic does appear, it helps me believe the characters a little more. Though Let the Wrong One In doesn’t care if you believe in its characters.
Eoin Duffy as Deco
Potential Trigger Warnings or Tired Tropes
The film is a collection of tropes wrapped around a campy and zany direction. I wouldn’t particularly say they are tired or are different enough to have a pass, but one goes into a film like this with these expectations. Don’t expect unique and refreshing subversions.
Addiction plays a role in the film, including the emotional manipulation addicts deploy to control others. The film doesn’t depict these elements effectively or abhorrently, existing as a plot point first and foremost. If this plotline upsets you, perhaps give this film a skip.
There is a point where implied violence occurs on an animal, but it certainly doesn’t take this idea too seriously. In fact, the creature gets a few shining moments. Still, I understand some get squirmy at this.
Karl Rice as Matt and Eoin Duffy as Deco
What I Dislike
Let the Wrong One In falls under the “so bad it’s good” category, though purposely done to be so. It’s a campy and dumb movie for those interested in passing the time. There is nothing wrong with satisfying this niche, but it’s not an enjoyable time for all.
The brotherly relationship should be the center of the film, which might have focused the film more. However, the film has a big bad that feels somewhat out of place and unnecessary. It also adds to the runtime, which isn’t long at 1 hour and 40 minutes. But it feels too long for this plot.
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Again, I wonder why Let the Right One In exists as the film’s namesake as it has no notable connection to the franchise, even in parody.
While I must admit that more jokes landed with me than I expected, most of the zany humor falls flops. This film seems to be a Shaun of the Dead clone but falls far from the other’s success, lacking the focus of its predecessor.
Zeth M. Martinez
Final Thoughts
As mentioned, if you want a horror comedy to turn your brain off to, Let the Wrong One In can certainly be that film. However, there are better examples to pull from. The lack of direction and comparisons to greater options makes this fall even further on the recommendation list. One additional point in the film’s favor is that you will likely know if the film is for you within the first few minutes of viewing. (1.5 / 5)
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Jennifer Weigel
June 28, 2022 at 10:22 am
Great review. I shall definitely add this to my watch list. This is why I wanted to watch the film Hatching. It also touches on some of the difficulties of being an adolescent girl, growing up, and the expectations that come with it. I am sorry the ending was rushed and didn’t continue on the same trajectory as it started after it seemed the show wouldn’t make it to a second season, that is truly unfortunate and a step backwards from where they started.