Summary: Ten years ago, an entity known as Alice asked a young boy what he wished for. He answered, and the world as we know it ended. A calamity, called the Great Disaster, destroyed civilization, and killed millions of people. In the new world, humans with special powers, called Orders, appeared. These Orders work with, or against, governments to gain and hold power. Now, ten years later, that same boy is about to become involved in a plot that could shake the foundation of the world, and not necessarily for the better.

Review

Plot: The boy in question is Eiji, and since the Great Disaster, which claimed the lives of both his parents, he has done everything he can to hide his involvement and care for his sister, Sena, who has an unknown terminal disease. Eiji is captured by the Dazaifu regional government, and forced to participate in their attempted conquest of the world. He agrees for two reasons; to protect his sister (and hopefully find an Order who can cure her), and because of the feelings he might have for Rin, a member of the group who tries to kill him in the first episode. This alone would have made for a great plot, but halfway through the series, everything changes when it is revealed that another organization is trying to cause a second Great Disaster, and Sena might be the key to doing so. The subterfuge and twists in the story are, initially, very good, but it feels like two different shows. Unfortunately, the second half of the series is paced much differently than the first, and not for the better. The enjoyable and well done driving force of the first half of the show, the relationship between Eiji and Rin, is almost nonexistent in the second half. Though the plot becomes larger, it also becomes more haphazard, leading to a messy resolution. The last two episodes create even more problems, and the ending makes very little sense in context of the rest of the show. I don't know if Big Order needed more episodes, or a less ambitious plot, but end result is unfortunately not nearly as good as the initial recipe.

Characters: There are a number of characters in the show, though only a handful are developed past a name and Order power. Eiji blames himself for the destruction of the world and has a single minded focus to protect Sena, and later Rin as well. His ability lets him dominate anything within his sphere of influence, be it people, objects, or even the air itself. Sena is a soft spoken girl, but in the second half it is revealed that she has a cunning mind and can be vicious, especially if Eiji is involved. Rin, an order who can heal and resurrect herself, wants to kill Eiji, but he uses his ability to force her to always be near him, do him no harm, and marry him. She initially hates him with a passion, and is constantly trying to kill him through third parties, but over time she develops romantic feelings toward him. Hiragi is the leader of the Dazaifu government, and is a calculating person who will use anything to achieve his goals, whatever those may be. Iyo, another Dazaifu member, is a clairvoyant who fears that falling in love will cause her to lose her powers, but Eiji inadvertently proves her wrong causing her to fall in love with him. Gennai is the leader of the second organization, and his goals and aims are his singular focus. Towards the end though, he proves to be more human than he initially appears. The rest are not well developed past a single personality trait that somehow fits with their Order ability.

Presentation: The show looks good, and fans of Future Diary (Mirai Nikki) are sure to enjoy the animation and sound (as the show is by the same studio, Asread). The animation is smooth, and the characters and world are brought to life well. Order powers, however, look out of place and some of them can be annoying to look at. The opening theme is properly called 'Disorder', but could also be titled disharmony. It is a train wreck of a song, but is interesting to listen to once or twice due to the very good vocal track that brings the clashing sounds together. The ending theme is supposed to be spooky and mysterious, and though it succeeds, it isn't worth listening to more than once.

Entertainment Value: Big Order is a show that could have been great if it stuck to its initial script. Only, it doesn't. The first part of the show has action, intrigue, and great romantic (and murderous) comedy between Eiji and Rin. It's a similar dynamic to that of Yuki and Yuno from Future Diary. Once it changes to focus on others involved in the events, and turns Eiji into almost a secondary character until the final episode. Though there is a finite, and worthwhile, conclusion, the path to get there is a mess as certain characters act in ways that, though plausible, are never developed. For example, one character (who shall remain nameless to refrain from spoilers) suddenly wants to do anything possible to help Sena, but there is no explanation as to why the character makes that decision. There is still action and intrigue in the plot, but it focuses on far less interesting characters, and becomes far less enjoyable. As such, it's hard to determine the shows value.

Rating: 6/10 - An amazing beginning to a show that could have been great, but is brought to near mediocrity by a far less interesting and disorganized second half.

Big Order - 10 episodes

Note: Big Order is based on an ongoing manga by Sakae Esuno that currently has nine volumes. The manga has been licensed for US publication by Yen Press. There was also an OVA in 2015 produced by Asread. I do not know how the manga differs from the anime, but my guess is that it is better. It is conceivable that this anime could have been better with more episodes to flesh out the plot, but it only had ten.