「オーダー!目覚めろ、悪の力! BIG destruction」 (OoDaa! Mesameru, Warunori! BIG destruction)
“Order! Awaken, Evil Powers! Big Destruction”

From the mangaka of Mirai Nikki, comes a new anime called Big Order. And it’s exactly what you’d expect from Esuno Sakae. It’s over-the-top, incredibly crazy with a rather unique protagonist and keeps you interested throughout. The story itself is completely separate from Mirai Nikki and centers around a post-apocalyptic event 10 years ago triggered by Hoshimiya Eiji (Morita Masakazu). 10 years ago, a wish-granting fairy by the name of Daisy (Misaki Mari) appears before Eiji and asks him for a wish. This wish turns him into an “Order” which means he’s granted special powers based on what he wished for. Throughout the episode, the audience is left in suspense about Eiji’s wish but it’s known early on that he made a wish which destroyed the planet and now he never chooses to use his powers (and has even forgotten what it is exactly that he asked for!). One day, an student gets transferred to Eiji’s class, Kurenai Rin (Mikami Shiori) and not even within five minutes of her appearance, she attempts to murder Eiji in his house. She explains that the “Great Destruction” killed her parents 10 years ago and now she’s looking for revenge (backed by an unknown employer right now). Her first attempt to kill Eiji fails and instead, she holds his sister hostage to try and lure him out. Eiji’s sister, Hoshimiya Sena (Kuno Misaki) gets stabbed as a result and Eiji activates his powers in order to save her and himself. The episode ends just as we’re seeing the full extent of Eiji’s powers on Rin.

Big Order‘s premiere gave me exactly what I was expecting from a followup to Mirai Nikki. This series is in no way related, but it’s hard not to make comparisons when there’s so many similarities in character types. The plot might be completely different but come on – you can’t see Rin and not think about Yuno. Those yandares be cray cray! I’m not expecting any romance here though because their motivations for their obsessions with the main characters are completely 180. Eiji and Yuki are a bit more differentiated too Eiji seems to have more of a backbone even if he’s scared of his powers initially but I imagine him doing very well himself. Given that Rin’s the heroine and she pretty much hates him, I’d be interested to see their dynamics and if they’re really a duo or frienemies. Not to mention that ending… what was that? It sounded like an anime turned into a few innuendos at that last moment; especially when no OP or ED was played.

As for the story itself – it’s quite interesting how it takes place after the destruction of the world already. The world fears these people known as “Orders” and Daisy seems to be the one appointing them. There’s another organization that’s after Eiji though and everyone on this “Board” looks to be Orders themselves sending Rin out to capture Eiji. Now that Eiji’s powers have awakened (to 1/1000th of their ability), he’s going to find himself with more enemies. His sister, Sena seems to be his only weakness and I predict that Rin is only the first of many that will try and hold her hostage. As long as she continues to be hospitalized (and doesn’t become an Order herself), Eiji will have his hands tied. His relationship with Sena is a good one luckily – sometimes bordering “too close” in my opinion, but then again I might just be fabricating things after watching SUPER LOVERS and Sailor Moon Crystal recently.

I definitely see a lot of potential in Big Order to be an entertaining and exciting watch this season. It’s not scared of being bloody, potentially killing off characters and even plays with the heartstrings a bit. I like how the story is quick and to the point without dragging out Eiji’s inner conflict with destroying the world but still portraying his regret in his wish. I’m often not that keen on characters that have such strong and over-aggerated personalities, but I found that in Mirai Nikki, they grow on you. I’m hoping that this will be the same case with Rin and the other Orders. I’m sticking around to see what happens and hopefully it’ll be adapted well with enough manga material to go from. As the manga is still ongoing, I don’t see the anime creating its own original ending so perhaps it’ll be a one-cour run with a follow-up soon.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: #BigOrder’s premiere was quite exciting but not too unpredictable. MC is OP but hey! That’s what makes it fun. Has all the crazies and gore that I was expecting from #BigOrder so it fits the bill for an exciting Friday watch. A #MiraiNikki replica? I don’t think so. Maybe Esuno Sakae just has a distinct style with characters =X

 

Preview

16 Comments

  1. This really does feel like a natural sequel for Mirai Nikki.

    The nice thing is that I do like the lead more here. He started out pretty quiet, but not without reason. His actions devastated the world, there is plenty of guilt that would be weighing him down and also fear. If found out it would bring the world down on him like hammer and risk losing his sister in the process. Not like he could think of defending himself with his powers either when he thought they were on the level of “world annihilation.”

    But once he gets going the guy is pretty solid. Having an understanding of his powers, he can at least take action to defend himself and his sister. Rin came there to kill him and while he could probably sympathize (lost his parents too because of his order) she was willing and probably would have murdered his sister. Pity probably goes out the window at that point for him.

    I can’t wait to see how the heck this pair works together. With her hating his guts and all. But presumably he’ll have a good leash on her with his order. And wow….what a cut to black moment. Totally playing up that scene when in reality….he’s probably just poking her like the rest of the soldiers in that room in order to get control over her.

  2. So we heard you guys like Code Geass. So we took Lelouch, removed the genius, inserted a timid male MC persona, kept the OP-as-f*ck power, pumped up the incest, and got rid of the mecha. 10/10 gib cash plz :D:D

    On a more serious note, I wasn’t expecting the degree of crazy seen, but it makes a lot of sense considering the author wrote Mirai Nikki. I’m not surprised Rin is full on yandere too, but I am intrigued how Eiji quickly usurped control and got her under his command (at least that is what the ending indicates); total reversal from Yuno’s domination of Yuki. It will be interesting to see where the story goes, because it looks to be Eiji battling a bunch of successively stronger enemies in pursuit of his goal of global rule. Although I enjoyed Mirai Nikki, I can’t help but feel we are looking at glorious train wreck material right here 😛

    Only question up in the air IMO is whether Big Order winds up with one cour or two.

    Pancakes
    1. As someone who saw Mirai Nikki, read that manga and also read this one (don’t judge me, guilty pleasures and all that), let me tell you this: don’t be fooled by that serious introduction, Mirai Nikki is the sane and serious brother of these two.

      Unless huge changes were made to the script, this thing will derraill harder than a bullet train on candy rails.

      Takito
  3. This episode was a mess. It was like the got the scripit for the 3 first episodes and said: “err f*** this, let’s put all this in one episode”.

    Still, it was a fun mess.

    André
  4. I think the old praise “Be careful for what you wish for” is implied in this show. Also, never trust a wish granting “troll”; because that’s what really happened to the world of this show and this Eiji gets the full blame for a childish wish. If were that fool, I would have use that power to subdue that stupid fairy and wished for a reset.

    GP1301
    1. Lol, yeah … The fairy clearly digs up the worst aspect of a person’s wish and rubs it into their faces, if you wish for fame you could end up with a power based on narcissism that messes up you life, she is such a troll, and frankly Eiji made her job so much easier with his bizarre wish (who the heck makes a cartoon about a villain who uses magical powers to dominate people and wants to take over the world … Oh wait! … This is quite meta, lols).

      Hunter-Wolf
    1. I can definitely see the anime being open-ended or you know…cliffhanger ending.
      I’ve seen more of a trend of anime being 1-cour and then hoping that it gets a large enough audience to warrant a sequel. Rather than producing a 2-cour anime upfront that may not stick. It’s like they’re throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall and hoping that something will get further interest =X I don’t think anime original endings are that popular anymore.

  5. I really can’t relate to the feelings of any of the characters. It’s not the voice acting or animation. It’s the direction.
    The feelings in anime are often exaggerated and I don’t always think it’s necessary, but it really bothers me with this anime. The characters’ reactions just don’t touch me at all. Despite the exaggerated nature of their reactions, the characters seem bland. Is it just me?

    Nick
    1. The characters are all stupid and cliche. The good part of this anime is the crazy plot.

      But this is one of those animes you should watch as a comedy and not take it too seriously.

      André

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