WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Egg Priority, Episode 13, “My Priority,” now streaming on Funimation, as well as discussion of suicide and sexual assault.
Wonder Egg Priority's "special" episode has not been well-received, to put it lightly. If it's not as bad as the final episode of The Promised Neverland (another Aniplex/Cloverworks production), it might still be even more disappointing, both due to the three-month wait and due to Wonder Egg Priority being great up until this point. If "My Priority" is meant as an ending, it's a complete failure of a conclusion. If it's meant as a cliffhanger for another season or movie, it could be redeemed, but all the bad press surrounding the first season's production difficulties makes a continuation seem less likely.
If this is truly the last of Wonder Egg Priority, how should the series as a whole be viewed in light of this ending? There's still a ton of great material in the anime that is still worth praising, but other plot threads are bungled so badly in the finale that major chunks of the series become worse in retrospect. The best way to watch Wonder Egg Priority might be to ignore the ending entirely, but having already seen it, some storylines hold up a lot better than others.
Rika and Momoe's Stories Are Still Great
It's a minor blessing that Rika Kawai and Momoe Sawaki, arguably Wonder Egg Priority's two most interesting characters, barely show up in the finale at all, and they're in character when they do show up. Rika and Momoe's storylines over the course of the series are so strong that the show is still worth watching for them alone.
Both characters are refreshingly realistic and complex, with character arcs that complement their respective monster-of-the-week storylines. Rika is initially unlikeable yet pitiable and ultimately sympathetic, a bully who hates herself for the harm she's caused others and struggles with the urge to self-harm. Momoe's journey to assert herself in the face of assumptions about her gender and sexuality develops much differently than you might expect, and it's handled intelligently.
Neiru's Ending Is Silly But Ignorable
Neiru Aonuma was always tied to Wonder Egg Priority's more convoluted science-fiction side, an aspect which always seemed somewhat extraneous and underwhelming even before the finale. Neiru turning out to be a robot isn't totally out of nowhere after the explanation of Frill's backstory in Episode 11, but it's still a rushed and silly twist in a storyline that's so incomplete that it doesn't matter.
That said, Neiru's story in the finale is so irrelevant to everything that came before that it's ultimately easy to ignore and doesn't retroactively hurt the quality of the rest of the show. Should Wonder Egg Priority continue, Neiru's story and the other sci-fi aspects do have the potential to be further explained in more satisfying ways.
Ai and Koito's Story Might Be Ruined
Sadly, the story arc that Wonder Egg Priority's special episode does actual retroactive damage to is the driving story of the series. From the first episode, the heart of the series has been Ai Ohto's struggle to understand the suicide of her best (and once only) friend Koito Nagase. Episode 13 finally explains what happened with Koito, and it's problematic, to say the least. According to Mr. Sawaki's narration, Koito died by accident while falsely accusing him of rape for rejecting her advances. Until now, Wonder Egg Priority had been a show about taking the problems of teenage girls seriously -- now it's asking viewers to accept the creepy teacher as completely innocent and Koito as a liar who basically deserved to die.
If Wonder Egg Priority gets a continuation, there are ways this plot could be redeemed. Maybe Mr. Sawaki's lying; after all, if Koito's death wasn't a suicide, why did it follow suicide rules in the Egg World? Alternately, this problematic story could be talking about the meaner alternate universe version of Koito who shows up in the finale and the Koito from Ai's world had a different story.
If this is the ending, however, then it's is the worst possible note to end on. Episode 12 would honestly have made a better ending for Ai's story arc; she might not have had any answers to her biggest questions, but she'd made friends and was ready to keep fighting. Episode 13's answers are terrible, and the direction Ai's character takes after getting these answers might have made sense if the show took its time to develop her feelings. Instead, it ends up feeling both rushed and pointless. Because of this, for people curious about Wonder Egg Priority, it's best to skip the final episode entirely since it makes the show's most important storyline worse in retrospect.
For more information on the warning signs and prevention of suicide, click here. If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). If you live outside the U.S., click here for a list of international hotlines.
If you are a U.S.-based victim of sexual assault or misconduct in need of help, contact RAINN at 800-656-4673 to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. If you are based outside the U.S., click here for a list of international sexual assault resources.
