Otaku Central

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Episode one thoughts

Just wow. The first episode was absolutely crazy. There’s a lot for me to unravel here and I do not know where to start. Episode one for sure isn’t for the faint of heart as it mentions suicide and bullying. However, from what I can tell Wonder Egg Priority, will definitely be an anime about our inner demons and trying to overcome them.

Ai Ooto is an interesting character because she’s the one experiencing all this. I do not know if following the instructions given to her by an insect (instructions of saving others from their inner demons) will mean that her friend who had committed suicide will come back. To me, it seems like Ai is still grieving the loss of her friend and this alternate reality that she’s in, is a creation of her own doing in order to help her overcome the loss she’s experienced.

Episode one felt like something she had experienced prior to her friend, Koito’s suicide. Seeing Saijo Kurumi (presumably a side character) running away from her inner demons, shaped as little minions with axes trying to kill her led by a pixelated female student who was leading the charge. Was meant to symbolize what Koito had experienced and Ai being there but not being attacked by them, I assume is what also happened to her. So she was faced with a choice, continue to pretend and not see anything, or to stop pretending and do something about it. Ai chooses the latter and helps Saijo eliminate her inner demons by protecting her.

Episode one covers a very sensitive topic, it also presents the character Ai Ooto with a choice, either pretend to not see or to do something about it. These are real choices that everyone everywhere is faced with. The message that was sent through episode one was clear. Do not let one person suffer alone, do not pretend like you didn’t see anything. Do not let these bullies win, have the courage and strength to do something about it; protect the victim from their bullies.

What shook me to the core was when Saijo Kurumi says “This is a dream to you, but me, it’s reality” and “Anyway, we’ll keep running until the bell rings”. Seeing Ai Ooto‘s friend facedown on the concrete after committing suicide also shook me. I got emotional just watching this episode, it was very powerful.

Episode two thoughts

I don’t know if my heart can take this level of emotional strain. If each episode is going to cover an emotional and traumatic experience that a person experiences that causes for them to committee suicide, then I for sure am going to be emotionally drained.

This episode was about Minami Suzuhara, who is abused both physically and emotionally by her coach. Minami and Ai try running away from the coach, but when the coach finds them, Minami immediately goes back to the coach. Why? Because she’s too scared of her coach to stand up for herself. She’s too scared to speak up, so she takes the emotional and physical abuse. That part was extremely hard for me to watch, watching someone get emotionally abused during the episode was both extremely emotional is probably one of the more uncomfortable scenes I’ve had to watch. Especially at the end when you see Minami talking to Ai about all the things they could have done together, like playing games, chatting over food etc, like normal friends, had she met her sooner.

Neiru Aonuma does an excellent job at foreshadowing the episode by saying “You don’t like who you are now so you go. Even if you’re scared. You want to change the self you hate”.

Neiru saying that led right into Minami (this episode’s focus), who says that she’s ugly, timid doesn’t have guts or spirit, after being abused by the coach in the gym. Minami didn’t like who she was, so she kept going back to the coach even if she was scared. This was because the coach had promised her that she could change her through ‘tough love’, which was abuse. However, Minami lived in fear and lacked strength. Alone, she wasn’t able able to speak up. That’s when Ai steps in and saves Minami.

Ai Ooto must be an extremely tough and strong girl to be able to deal with this sort of stuff. I sincerely hope that all this, the emotional and physical trauma that Ai and all the other main characters experience do not end in vein. If it does, then I’m going to be one emotional wreck.