After the death of her best and only friend, Ai Ohto became a shut in. One night while on a walk, she is convinced by a mysterious entity to buy an egg. In a world that only materializes in her dreams, she breaks the egg. This summons a person haunted by fears, regrets, or otherwise some trauma. There Ai is tasked with saving them, and by saving them from their trauma, she can perhaps save her friend, too.
This anime is strange in the best way. There are plenty of strange anime, but Wonder Egg Priority is creatively strange and done so in such a way that you can pretty easily grasp the themes and concepts without having to ponder about it. Furthermore, it is a poignant story about trauma and regrets. If you are looking for more anime series like Wonder Egg Priority, then head on down below.
Anime Like Wonder Egg Priority
For Fans of What the Hell is Even Going On?
Serial Experiments Lain
Introverted Lain Iwakura finds herself one of many girls to receive an e-mail from classmate Chisa Yomoda, even though Chisa Yomoda recently committed suicide. Averse to technology, Lain soon finds herself able to enter the Wired, a network system similar to the internet. From there, her life gets turned upside down as she finds herself the target of mysterious men and mixed up in a series of cryptic mysteries.
Did you enjoy being confused the first episode of Wonder Egg Priority? Did you want that confusion to last so much longer? Do you enjoy plots about people who killed themselves and the living people who become tangled up afterwards? Do you wish I’d stop making statements in the form of a question? While Serial Experiments Lain is more technological and the animation is a bit aged at this point, you can’t realize the plot of Wonder Egg Priority without thinking of it.
Mawaru Penguindrum
The Takakura family has always been dealt equal hands of joy and sorrow by fate. For the twin brothers Kanba and Shouma, they have had more than their share of sorrow with their parents dead and their sister critically ill. When their sister Himari is given temporary leave from the hospital, they take her to the aquarium where she collapses. However, Himari is inexplicably revived when a penguin hat from the souvenir shop is put on her head. Her revival comes at a cost, though. There is a new entity in her body that tasks the boys with finding the mysterious penguin drum.
While Wonder Egg Priority becomes increasingly more obvious as it goes on, like an anime should, Mawaru Penguindrum is one of those confusing shows that you may need to watch multiple times. Furthermore, some things you just might not grasp due to the reason, as I understand it, of not being Japanese.
Flip Flappers
Paprika and Cocona hold the keys to open the door where they can meet from their different times in a dimension called Pure Illusion. In this dimension, they search for the Shard of Mimi which is said to grant any wish. However, finding it will not be easy.
If there is one series that is as addictingly beautiful and occasionally hard to grasp like Wonder Egg Priority, it is Flip Flappers. Furthermore, both shows are essentially magical girl shows without needing to be so obvious about it.
For Fans of Trauma Guidance
Haibane Renmei
Rakka is an amnesiac who only remembers emerging from her cocoon. She is born into the world as a Haibane, a group of young people who have small gray wings and halos. While she tries to live a normal life, there is much that the Haibane don’t know and must figure out.
While Haibane Renmei can be as confusing as the best of them, its themes of helping people overcome their traumas are pretty obvious at first. Wonder Egg Priority takes a few episodes before that becomes more obvious. In Haibane Renmei, I think the wings give it away.
Yuri Bear Storm
After a mysterious meteor shower, bears around the world can longer peacefully coexist with humans. Now they hunger for human flesh and humanity, in turn, ravaged their numbers. However, the wall of severance was built to keep these two civilizations separate. That is, until two bears sneak in disguised as two schoolgirls looking to sate their hunger for human flesh.
Perhaps what these two shows have in common most is they can occasionally be quite confusing, but in an interesting and beautiful way. However, at their heart, they are also about dealing with loss and trauma as well. That theme in Yuri Bear Storm does take a bit to unpack though.
Anohana
After the death of childhood friend Meiko “Menma” Honma, Jinta Yadomi and his group of friends grew apart, each trying to deal with grief and guilt in their own way. However, when Jinta starts seeing what he believes to be Menma’s ghost, the group of friends are drawn together to help grant her long-desired wish.
While Wonder Egg Priority takes the weird and wonderful route about it, it is, much like Anohana, a shows about loss and being able to move forward after it. The plots are different, but they are both very much about moving on after losing someone dear.
For Fans of the Psychological Drama of Young Girls
School Live
Yuki Takeya is in love with school life. She loves it so much that she joined the School Living Club with three other girls, their supervising teacher, and the club dog Taroumaru. This club makes the most of living at school. However, Yuki’s blissful school life is all a delusion. The real purpose of the School Living Club is to prevent Yuki’s fragile reality from shattering. In reality, these girls are surviving the zombie apocalypse by barricading themselves within the school.
While School Live has a plot that is easier to grasp initially, as a zombie apocalypse plot, you can expect a lot of mental anguish from the girls like in Wonder Egg Priority. They have lost people, done things, and its effect shows throughout.
A Place Further Than the Universe
Upon discovering an old list she made in the last year of middle school, Mari Tamaki, who is now in her second year of high school realizes she is not making the most of her youth. Whenever she tries to do something new, she is paralyzed with inaction. Then one day she meets Shirase, a girl who’s mother went missing when she was in middle school on an expedition to Antarctica. Knowing full well it is close to impossible, she works hard in order to go to search for her mother and invites Mari along for the ride.
If you enjoyed the emotional struggles in Wonder Egg Priority, then A Place Further Than the Universe is a must for you. It lacks any action at all, but it is an adventure all its own as well as deals with many of the same themes of loss and death.
Gunslinger Girls
In Italy, the Social Welfare Agency rescues girls dying in hospitals and gives them a second shot at life using cybernetics. However, these girls are then brainwashed and turned into assassins that carry out missions for the government. Despite this, they are still children and crave recognition for those they love, even if that love is manufactured.
While obviously small orphan girls becoming assassins seems a bit different from the magical girl-esque missions of Wonder Egg Priority, you’ll find the similarities in the characters. Both series feature traumatized and otherwise wounded young girls put in a difficult and emotional situation. However, while Wonder Egg Priority repairs them a bit through friendship, Gunsligner Girls is overall more melancholic.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Wonder Egg Priority? Let fans know in the comments section below.
