What just happened? With almost 100% uncertainty on what to expect, I just offered my blank state to this episode. Well, it simply blew me away.
Ai Ohto - our main character
Slice of life just went out the door after this episode. This is basically a fantasy series just from the first episode with psychological elements in it. As what a pilot episode should be, the basic premise of the series was set well from the start to finish. It started with Ai, our main character, who found a seemingly lifeless firefly on the road. She wanted to give it a proper farewell by digging a grave but instead, the firefly resurrected (or just playing dead from the start) and suddenly began talking. And that is how she realized, it was a dream up until that point. Ai simply followed this firefly, talking about an offer that involves her wallet. Then, they ended up in a place where she could get what she wanted. Ai denied she had something to wish for yet this firefly surely knows what she wanted deep inside - a friend. Then, she woke up with an egg with some sort of code beside her.
This starting scene is already a mystery. First of all, how did that egg managed to be with Ai? As what she said, it was not a dream as she first pointed earlier because of the egg's presence. That could mean, all she saw was the reality and perhaps, there could be something in between the last scene with the firefly and before she ended up in bed. Or another assumption would be, she was indeed dreaming and another entity or some sort of event managed to sneak in that egg. Well, let us follow Ai's perspective for now that it was not a dream. Another thing to point out is the lines of the firefly. Quite striking I must say for some reason.
"Do you not like dreams? Would you prefer reality?"
After that intriguing introduction comes the daily life of Ai. She seems to be normal except
there is something off as implied by her teacher personally sending her school printouts to her home. With so much curiosity about the egg, she decided to meet the firefly again probably. I would say, this is already a habit of hers to stroll somewhere at night as this what happened in the first scene. What happened next onward totally caught me off-guard.
Once she opened the door, an alternate world unveiled specifically her school. I guess this time, it is safe to assume that this is another dream.
After that intriguing introduction comes the daily life of Ai. She seems to be normal except
there is something off as implied by her teacher personally sending her school printouts to her home. With so much curiosity about the egg, she decided to meet the firefly again probably. I would say, this is already a habit of hers to stroll somewhere at night as this what happened in the first scene. What happened next onward totally caught me off-guard.
Once she opened the door, an alternate world unveiled before her specifically her school I assume and I guess, it is safe to say that it is another dream. Walking through the hallway, she passed by two mosaic-faced school girls that seems to be bullies vandalizing a locker, and when she noticed this, the school bell announcement suddenly spoke up about being passive on this bullying issue. I found this scenario interesting. If Ai is dreaming this, this could probably her issue in the past that could explain, why she was not in school. She might be a bully victim or probably, a bystander just happened to see bullying in front of her yet, decided to be passive about it in reference to the school announcement. Well, dreams tend to be vague so this could be just one of the interpretations or this series has just a different rules when it comes to dreaming. There is more to explore I guess.
Moving on, Ai got scared, ran away, and hid in a toilet. Then, she encountered again the firefly but only in voice in a form of a tissue paper. Well, we are in a dream after all. After being told to, Ai broke the egg and another girl came out from it. For some reason, the girl was disappointed that, she came out from the egg in toilet room of all the places. Judging from this, it seems to me that she knew before, this will happen but just did not expect to came out in such place. Just who is this girl? Does she have similar previous experiences before this one?
Sulking, Ai also felt bad how the girl reacted to her as if she got scolded. Then, the school megaphone played a music which sounds quite similar to graduation theme? I am not quite sure but it definitely means something. Quite worried, the "egg-girl" (the one who came out from the egg) saw another mosaic-faced girl carrying an axe and some red minions or mobs called Seeno evils that are holding knives as well in the hallway. Waving the axe first as if saying "Hi!", the mosaic-faced girl then threw her axe and injured the egg-girl's arm. That signifies, this episode could be bloody gory.
Running together with Ai away from the mobs, it seems the egg-girl again knew what to do.
Ai sustained injuries while on their way to escape, only to find out she was an immortal according to the egg-girl except if the eyes and heart are injured, which is quite suspicious if that is true. Though her injuries disappeared but on the other hand, the egg-girl is susceptible to injuries.
"Unnamed Egg-Girl"
The egg-girl explained their current situation so probably she is saying the truth. She even knew about how the egg ended up with Ai which is still in question if it happened in a dream or reality. She further explained, that everything that has happened is a dream to Ai but a reality to the egg-girl. So this could mean, there are beings existing in the dream world and could be another reality itself? That is quite confusing but interesting enough to keep me glued to the episode.
Later on, the minions are back to hunt them but instead only the egg-girl is being chased, proving Ai is not a target and probably, the minions will not attack the immortal beings in this dream world. Good thing for her since she is already scared of what is happening in this "bad" dream.
Pondering about the things happening on her dream while carrying a pink pen from the previous scene, Ai walked through the hallway until she ended up in the rooftop. She noticed a certain statue hanging on the edge of the rooftop, then realized it was her first friend, Koito, leading to a flashback in school where she committed suicide and further narrated how Ai met her in school. Different from Ai, Koito was a direct person and is somehow trying to break that wall around Ai. It may not seem to work on the first attempt but in the end, managed to earn Ai's trust. Also, I may not have mentioned it, Ai has heterochromia eye condition and was bullied for it. This could be related to the bullying scene earlier. But after saying, Ai was at fault and she betrayed her, it could be that, it was Koito, who was bullied and took a tragic end, while Ai was probably passive about it, pretending not to see anything, maybe because she is scared, then realized, she betrayed her from her inaction. That is yet to be confirmed but that kind of made sense to me.
Later, the chase continued on the other rooftop as the egg-girl showed up still with the minions. Her, stating the she only has to wait the bell ring, makes me think that this could be a game in this dream world as well if such rule exists. Ai, after realizing the consequences of being passive, decided to help the egg-girl. Apparently, she utilized the idea that she is in her own dream, and managed to control what she can do by jumping so high and magically turned her pink pen to a weapon to take down the axe-girl in a badass way and still continue to be gory, thus saving the egg-girl with the school megaphone finally played the congratulatory music. Well, this game-like situation could be source of action scenes later on.
The egg-girl (apologies if I kept calling her egg-girl until now) then introduced herself as Kurumi Saijo. She bid farewell to Ai because she already knows what will happen next. She disappeared to dust and the firefly voice spoke again further details about her current situation. With Koito's statue seemed to show a life on its own, Ai concluded, she could probably save her if she kept on saving other persons just like what she did with Kurumi.
Waking up, she then realized the injuries in her dream have effects on her real-life body. This is a big trigger that may lead to tragic events in the future. Regardless, she will now pursue on bringing back Koito. Considering, she went back to the place where there is an escalator leading underground as guided by the firefly, I could say this could be happening now in reality. So the first encounter with the firefly could be reality as well and thus explains the presence of Kurumi's egg earlier.
At the end of the escalator, then slide tube lies some sort of chamber where eggs are stored in a liquid-filled containers and this is where, the whole point of the series was revealed by Acca - the voice of the firefly who is actually characterized as a white mannequin of some sort. According to him, Kurumi is a statue in another dream world just like Koito and would remain so until her friends would go and save her. Though he did not confirm if rescuing more Wonder Eggs would definitely save her bestfriend, but it seems to be the only way that might bring her back. For some reason, he refused to answer if Kurumi had the same cause of death with Koito. Intriguing because there might be a reason for saying "No comment."
Despite playing which seems to be the ending theme credits, this episode still keep on revealing more and another surprise is that, Acca is not alone as he introduced Ura-Acca which is similar to him but different in outfit. I am not sure if this information will matter though but to be honest, they are full of mysteries that remains to be unraveled later on. Requiring Ai to bring a wallet sounds suspicious for this kind of set-up. I just find it odd if it really does involve real money. So is this business all along?
Not only that, Ai found another character who might have the same situation or goal with her in the last seconds of the episode, and is also one of the girls in the poster art.
And yes, acquiring Wonder Eggs are just like that candy machine.
Apologies if this was too long. I did not plan to almost retell everything what happened in this episode. It just left me pondering that I have to rewatch the episode after few days from the first watch. I just picked up a lot the second time and was definitely helpful to form my thoughts. Story-wise alone, I am already on-board. Considering my preview for the series (link here), the series writer did stir up my usual anime viewing with this episode alone. Incorporating sensitive topics like bullying and suicide, could be his way of shedding light to these issues which are still very relevant these days.
Apart from that, using the dream world as plot setting opens a lot of possibilities as always. For some reason, I always keep guessing the events, persons, objects, and places shown in Ai's dream could be some sort of metaphor or symbolism in real life. In that way, I find it very engaging as a viewer. This is the same case why I enjoyed some similar titles like Paprika and Mind Game. Confusing and wide open to different interpretations. As to predictions, I do not want to think about it too hard and let the series flow in its current pace for the meantime.
Production-wise, CloverWorks keeps on increasing my fan level to the studio. Character designs, visuals, animation, sound, and music, everything has been great so far.
I mean, look at that tasty meal.
Overall, a solid episode. It has been a while watching a series that is so refreshing and enjoyable yet a head-scratcher in a good way at the same time. I guess 12 episodes should be a good series length to carry on the story and hopefully, will not be rushed and crash in the end. Potential is high but at the same time, has its risks. Well, let us be optimistic and see it through the end.
What do you guys think? Could Wonder Egg Priority be a potential masterpiece?
Or more simply one of those hit-or-miss series?
Did you enjoy the pilot episode too?
Please share your thoughts as well.
Thanks for the visit and keep safe!