CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suicide, bullying, rape, false rape accusations, depression, isolation, etc.
A lot can happen in 3 months. Or perhaps very little at all.
Join Shadon and Doc as they cover the much maligned special finale of Wonder Egg Priority and plunge head first into topics such as the continual blight of poor, exploitative production practices, Sawaki’s revelation about Koito that does to the show what the Hindenburg did to the viability of hydrogen blimps, Neiru apparently being an AI now(?) and other terrible, terrible moments. If you’ve watched the actual episode itself, I’m so, so sorry. Patron questions are also answered and brain cells die en masse trying to figure out the why and how of this twenty car pile up of a bonus episode.
Episodes 1-3 Discussion: Video | Audio
Episodes 4-6 Discussion: Video | Audio
Episodes 7-10 Discussion: Video Part 1 | Video Part 2 | Audio
Episodes 11-12 Discussion: Video | Audio
warui deshou 
A personal gripe, I had been “reading” Neiru as asexual and also on the autism spectrum…I think she’s also supposed to be half-Japanese, half-Indian (her name reminds me of Indian PM Nehru)…so to just turn her into an embodied AI was just WHAAT!? I am also an ASD person and could identify with Neiru’s bluntness and matter-of-factness as common autistic traits….but then for the show to come along and say “nope, y’all are fuckin’ robots….” is like….literally dehumanizing. BARF.
I also choose to disbelieve that anything Sawaki said about Koito is true. The man’s a dirty liar, Ai realizes he’s lying, and that’s why she asks to transfer schools, to get away from the creep…and since I don’t think the show establishes that Ai’s mom and Sawaki continue dating, I’d like to believe Ai musters the courage to tell her mom everything and she breaks things off with him too. I also like that at least the trio sticks together and have each other. Momoe and Ai reconcile and that’s nice (they left on bad terms in Ep.12). The writers get too fascinated by their own Science Fiction story and hoping for a Season 2 they destroy everything worthwhile about the show in the process. If a Season 2 gets made, it will be a vastly different show in tone, focus, everything. You can’t unscramble that egg, sadly. It’s a shame. I also find Frill as “Suicide Fairy” patently ridiculous (though that’s a very funny coinage—well done, Doc!)…my brain just erased that entire plot line. Tragic teen girl suicide has been a thing long before high tech and AI. The Acca’s are just wrong and if they do make a Season 2, I hope it shows just HOW wrong.
I agree with Doc that there were a few nice parts here and there but agree with Shadon this “finale”, like Star Trek V for example, is best forgotten altogether…or just enjoy the trio at Karaoke then switch it off…Ai moves to a new school and a better life, the end.
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Agree on all points, John! The creative team really let us down in the end on this one. At least the good parts of it have stuck with me, while the bad/forgettable is at least starting to be forgotten. I am sorry the show let you down in the specific ways that it did. You deserved better re: Neiru.
Thank you so much for listening to our episodes along with your rewatch! It has been rewarding to think about the show again, through your eyes.
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Yeah, I think Neiru was a positive character that many Autistic people could recognize and identify with…it’s almost as if the writers didn’t quite realize they made her autistic then did a weird bait & switch. They’re trying to drill down into the hard SciFi / Neuroscience but Ghost in the Shell handles that so much better and WEP shouldn’t actually be about all that….it’s on much steadier ground as a magical realism show and dealing in the realm of myth and mystery and emotional journeys….Frill and Kotobuki Awano completely undermine this; the transhumanism of the Accas is strange enough and in isolation is okay, but the AI twist with Neiru is next level and turns everything into a confusing mess….the creators might say you can’t make an omlette without breaking some eggs and that’s true, but they still screwed up the omlette in the end.
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