English Dub Review: Wonder Egg Priority “After School at 14”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Rika may appear to be a happy go lucky girl when she’s with the rest of the egg warriors, but on the inside she’s going through some serious stuff. She meets up with her friends on her birthday, but a quarrel causes her to go off on her own.

Later, when she’s fighting to protect an egg girl, she’s taken in by the words of a convincing cult leader and prepares to give herself over to death. She’s almost gone when her turtle comes in to save the day and Rika realizes that she has to keep fighting not only for others, but for herself.

Our Take:

Wonder Egg Priority has explored plenty of complicated issues in the first half of its season, but After School at 14 is definitely one of the darkest episodes so far. It gives us our first deep dive into Rika’s world, and it isn’t always a pretty sight. She has a lot going on, both internally and externally, and it’s a lot for a 14 year old to handle after school.

Rika has complicated relationships with both her parents. Her father is a man she can hardly remember, a guy who told her things like how “a beautiful woman never needs a wallet.” Meanwhile, her mother has been there for her in terms of giving her a place to live, but she’s never there when it comes to emotional support. She’s always drunk or flirting with her latest fling, which means Rika is navigating her life all alone — at least until she met her newfound egg friends.

The four girls may be friends, but that doesn’t mean conflicts don’t arise. Just because it’s her birthday doesn’t mean that she magically gets along with Neiru and Momoe, who try to downplay her concerns and give her advice when she starts complaining about her family issues. It’s only Ai who goes after her, and the two of them form a self-proclaimed ‘Single Mom crew.’ It’s really interesting to watch the dynamic play out, as Ai and Rika are seemingly very different in most aspects, but they really get each other in ways the other two can’t.

But even Ai’s friendly gestures don’t help. Rika’s next egg battle finds her giving up on fighting, as a killer cult leader tells us all the ways dying is better than living. Sensing trouble, Ai, Neiru, and Momoe try to reach out to her to encourage her to keep going, but in the end their words don’t seem to be enough to convince her to resume trying.

The only thing that brings her back from the brink turns out to be the intervening of her turtle sidekick, who steps in in the nick of time to avoid his master/imprinted mother being killed. This is somewhat troubling, and I think it indicates that Rika’s pain isn’t something that can erased this quickly… but the show is already running short on time and it has so much more to do that I think this is pretty much all we’re going to get in Rika’s arc.

After School at 14 is definitely one of the darkest episodes so far. Seeing the girls hanging out and getting to know more about Rika and her daily life is fun, but watching her nearly deciding to end her life was really tough. Rika might be the most outgoing of the crew, but she’s also perhaps the most hurt. At least we know by the end of this week’s episode that although Rika may be weak, but she’s going to keep on fighting to live another day.