REVIEW: ‘Wonder Egg Priority,’ Episode 12 – “An Unvanquished Warrior”

CONTENT WARNING: Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12 contains suicide as well as imagery of suicidality

Last time on Wonder Egg Priority, Wonder Egg Priority shifted gears -and focus- to a young girl named Frill. Only, Frill wasn’t a human girl: she was a teenage AI designed by Acca and Ura-Acca, and the true antagonist of Wonder Egg Priority. I think I speak for us all when I say that her inclusion into the already sprawling series came as a shock, opening up dozens more plot threads as the show nears it end. Where it’s going to go, I don’t know. However, we’ll get a taste of what Wonder Egg Priority is trying to ultimately do in Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12.

Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12, “An Unvanquished Warrior” starts off days after Rika and Momoe have seen Chiemi and Haruka return to life, only to fade. It’s also days after Dot and Hyphen, the two butterfly headed girls, slaughtered their magical animal companions.

What ensues is the first major argument the girls are having. Sure, they’ve disagreed before, and they’ve hurt and lashed out, but they’ve never outright fought. There’s a harsh tension in the opening scene that hasn’t necessarily been here before, and it feels raw. It feels like teenagers genuinely feeling hurt, and I have to laud Wonder Egg Priority for depicting their argument as such. 

Back in the dreamscape, Ai faces off against more Seeno Evils. Yet this time, she’s afraid. She doesn’t want to crack an egg, nor does she want to see him get slaughtered like Mannen and Panic were. Even though she didn’t witness their demise at the hands of Dot and Hyphen, Ai’s still terrified that that same fate could befall Leon.

But Acca and Ura-Acca are no longer the sweet, mysterious father figures we knew before Wonder Egg Priority Episode 11. They force Leon out of Ai’s necklace to fight alongside her, Frill’s mysterious bug-headed girls or not. After that, things seem to go rather rotely: Ai travels through a school setting, and is commanded to crack an egg. Despite her hesitation, she does.

Then the egg cracks, and we get the biggest reveal to date: inside the egg… is Ohto Ai.

Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12 packs a really powerful punch. In many ways, it does something that I’ve wanted since episode 3 and episode 4: it lets Ai save herself. Finally, ai gets to become the hero to her own trauma. She gets to help herself through the pain she’s been suffering all along. It’s a really powerful message for young, teenage girls to see, rough as this series is.

Additionally, we finally return to episode 10, which hinted at a far darker side to Mr. Sawaki, Momoe’s uncle and Ai’s beloved teacher. I think many fans will say that they saw this coming, but honestly, the way Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12 resolves his part in Ai’s story completely blindsided me in the best of ways. Then again, I could say that about a lot of things that happen in Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12.

The animation in Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12 is also a really beautiful episode, animation-wise. There’s gorgeous, sweeping sequences of Ai in action, paired with beautiful scoring. It really adds to the impact that this is a different Ai than we met in episode 1. This Ai believes in herself and loves herself, even though she’s been through so much. But… I’ve got some hesitations and reservations, even though I really, really loved Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12.

My biggest fear for Wonder Egg Priority is coming true. It’s getting way too plotty. There’s a lot here that I seriously love, but the show is getting a bit too dynamic for its britches. There’s lots of plot threads that most likely won’t be resolved, and while that’s just a part of living IRL, it’s not always satisfying in animation. I think there’s a stronger desire to see bookends and completed stories. After all, it’s hard to see something open ended, especially in a story as powerful as Wonder Egg Priority.

Ultimately, Wonder Egg Priority Episode 12 functions as yet another cliffhanger. If this had been the end, I think I’d be strongly dissatisfied with how things ended, but knowing that we’ve got one more episode really makes this a stronger, Ai-centric episode. I can’t wait to see where things go in the final, thirteenth episode. 

That said, the thirteenth episode won’t arrive until June, though it’s not without good reason. In fact, a lot of the staff for Wonder Egg Priority have been suffering under harsh conditions, including overwork, exhaustion, and even hospitalization, in the case of one staff member. This is unfortunately common in the anime industry, though it feels particularly heartbreaking when it comes to Wonder Egg Priority, a show about healing trauma. 

In the meantime, you can check out the dub of Wonder Egg Priority, which will be a good refresh ahead of the June 29th airdate for the final, penultimate episode of the series. I’m looking forward to covering it, though I have to admit: knowing the staff have suffered so much is a blight on this series that didn’t have to exist. 

Wonder Egg Priority is streaming now on Funimation.