Over-ambition is Wonder Egg's undoing. 12 episodes (really 11) is not enough to fully explore the extent of what Wonder Egg wants to be, and callous mismanagement of its writing and themes does turn the show into a farce.
Now, the statement above does not appear to correlate with my final score for this show. I should really say that in spite of all its flaws, I thoroughly had a fun time with Wonder Egg. It's not the thinkpiece it wants to be, nor is it a particularly impactful or meaningful social commentary on suicides and social issues, nor is it the shallow piece some people make it out to be. It's not overly flawed, nowhere near perfect, but it is really fun.
[Spoilers start here]
And my what a ride it is. I'll be honest, I stopped taking the show seriously in Neiru's episode where a bunch of sci-fi mumbo jumbo suddenly intrudes upon what is otherwise a seemingly thoughtful piece on suicidal teens and the world that judges them. I know from that point on whatever the show intends to offer in terms of meaningful commentary will be overshadowed by either callousness or oversimplification of actual complex issues, which turned out to be the case when an evil robot is governing the suicides. And there's something in the background with Eros and Thanatos? Huh?
Anyway, I want to give you the reason my my score for this show is so high. Have you even looked at the show? It's seriously gorgeous. It's like Cloverworks turned up the raytracing on everything. The backgrounds, the characters, the animation, cinematography, lighting, direction, everything- is just a sight to behold. And for what its worth, Wonder Egg is nowhere near as shallow as a Shinkai film, its style is supplemented by substance. Admittedly substance that doesn't know what to do with itself come the halfway mark, but substance nonetheless. The music too, just excellently complements each scene its in without missing a beat. Really catchy beats that are both ethereal and easy to listen to. Reminds me a lot about the Monogatari's series' use of music in that show's more thoughtful moments. It makes the SoL scenes with the girls all the more enjoyable to follow, and their characters shine more in the easy-going rhythm to it all.
I've critiqued the overall writing, but honestly it's not all terrible. I've seen detractors call Nojima the male equivalent to Okada Mari, and his writing is nowhere near that bad. Nowhere in Wonder Egg did I feel the urge to just turn it off and do something else in the background. It's very flawed, but that's if you're going into the show expecting anything serious. The girls' talk and SoL scenes are all excellent, with a real brimming camaraderie underneath it all. At the end of the day, it's just 4 dorks hanging out with each other, and that is incredibly charming.
Now, to address the elephant in the room. I really think having the show themed around suicides is very much its undoing. Especially considering how dire the topic is in reality and how the writing fails to address it with the gravitas it deserves, or to make any insightful commentary on it and how the world around us leads to unfortunate events such as these. Having suicides caused by an evil robot is so dumb, it robs all the drama and thoughtfulness the series has had going for it in the past 9 episodes or so. The idea that you can pin the blame on such a serious issue to one entity is callous at best, and horribly offensive at worst. It's also why I could never take shows like Higurashi seriously beyond pure schlock value.
12 episodes is nowhere near enough to properly convey the story I think Nojima wants to convey. The one with Eros and Thanatos, not the one where 4 dorks have adventures in Wonderland. Even when the 13th episode comes out later in June, I highly doubt it would be anything even remotely satisfying to the overall narrative with Eros and Thanatos, unless it would pull a complete EoE and have a totally weird trainwreck ending for the sake of it. Which would also be a net positive in my case.
Wonder Egg is a fun but flawed ride. While not at all a trainwreck, it stumbles hard towards the end and never can quite recover from its fall. Enjoy it for its fun adventures and adorable character interactions, but maybe skip ahead when it starts talking about parallel worlds or evil robots.
7/10
