Upon commencing its broadcast, Wonder Egg Priority received critical acclaim from western audiences, with praise for its high production value, elaborate narrative, characters, themes, and handling of controversial subject matter.

[13] Nojima was attracted to the medium of anime due to his interest in reaching its engaged fandom that would often express their own interpretations in fan works, and his desire to tell a story that would not be feasible in a live-action production.

[13] As Nojima lacked familiarity with the anime industry and did not know who would be best to realize his vision, a producer from Nippon TV connected him with Aniplex, Cloverworks and Shin Wakabayashi, who would come to direct the series.

[21] In planning Wonder Egg Priority's cast of characters, Nojima gave minimal details in the script and outlines to give the animation staff freedom to flesh them out according to their interpretations.

Takahashi enthusiastically joined the project, as doing character designs for an original production had been something to which she had aspired since beginning her career as an animator, and was also intrigued by Nojima's characterizations which she said "highlighted both the darkness in humans as well as their innocence.

Rika's outfit was designed to suggest that she was "tired of caring about her looks" as a former idol, while Neiru's was meant to imply that she wore whatever expensive clothing was selected for her by her assistant.

Takahashi noted that she believed Momoe did not have many feminine-coded clothes in her wardrobe, contributing to her choice to wear only a dress when she is asked out on a date in the tenth episode.

In collaboration with Wakabayashi and storyboard artist Keisuke Shinohara, Kawakami conceived the grounded everyday settings for the action sequences with this interest in mind.

[24] Wakabayashi tried his best to ensure the production "felt like a democratic environment" and that new ideas and communication from the staff were welcome, which Kawakami and assistant director Yuta Yamazaki agreed led to an improved quality of the final work.

[25][26] According to Cirugeda, Wakabayashi's careful sensitivity towards the needs and limits of his team was a strong contributor to the strength of the work's sustained quality despite tight deadlines amidst an unaccommodating production schedule.

[28] Freelance translators Blou and Far were originally contracted for episode 10 of the series, initially helping Croatia-based animator Ani communicate with production assistant Hayato Satō.

[43] The special was scheduled for a 1-hour timeslot,[34] although in reality, half of that time was taken up by a recap of the main series, making its effective runtime constitute a normal length episode.

[2] Numerous other critics have drawn similar comparisons to the magical girl genre, citing such anime as Flip Flappers and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Club, Juan Barquin (reviewing the series' main 12 episodes) called Wonder Egg "spellbinding" and praised it for its perceived interest in catharsis for the abuse victims portrayed within the story, comparing it to rape revenge films.

[60] However, Kevin Cirugeda commented in a later Sakuga Blog post that Nojima, in an interview, had echoed the same sentiment as Acca and Ura-Acca had done in their dialogue, which he criticized as being incongruous with the perceived themes of the story, and said gave the impression that "not everyone is on the same thematic page".

[21] Steve Jones of Anime News Network initially called the series a "slam dunk,"[19] commending the explorations of idol culture and transgender themes,[61][62] but described later episodes as "uneven"[63] and having "rough patches".

[64][37][27] Episode 10, in particular, was praised for its heavy focus on transgender issues through the development of Momoe and introduction of one-off trans male character Kaoru, both by Jones[64] and But Why Tho?

[65] However, some criticism was directed at the choice to follow up Momoe's story, widely read as expressing validation of her gender identity as a trans woman, with the "traumatic" conclusion of her being forced to eat her animal companion.

While he expressed cautious optimism concerning the announcement of the eventual end to the series in its special episode, he said he "would not have minded this being the final word" and that the show had, at the least, remained "interesting" throughout.

[38] Chris Cimi of Otaquest, while praising the show, expressed that despite its quality, they felt that knowing of the production crunch made it difficult to enthusiastically recommend.

[36] Reviewing the contiguous 12 episodes, Siliconera's Dani Maddox was mixed, praising the main characters and the series' illustration of their lack of agency as children, but felt that the anime did not give the same weight to the suicide victims seen in the Egg World segments, calling them "fodder" and opining that they were "treated horribly".

Despite Jones' criticism, he said the special did not ruin the show for him,[33] and in a "Worst Anime of 2021" list said he still felt "a lot of affection" towards it, and hoped its creators would "move onto better things.

[31] In contrast, writing for CBR, Xianwei Wu said the special episode was "good" despite the perceived impossibility of a satisfying resolution to the overall narrative, and expressed hope for a second season.

[73] Reviewing the full series for The Outerhaven, Josh Piedra responded positively, saying it had been worthwhile and overall "fantastic," with the caveat that the special episode did not satisfyingly wrap up the story.

"[68] In a "Best Anime Dubs" feature for Anime News Network, AJ of The Cartoon Cipher praised Wonder Egg Priority's English dub and its "reserved" performances, which they felt suited the tone of the show well, and in particular complimented Mikaela Krantz's "carefully manipulated" vocal performance as Ai Ohto, while criticizing some minor flaws such as the inconsistent sound quality of the recording and "slight linguistic hitches".