Big Order

The first impression I got of this show was not so great, it seemed so chaotic, and somehow it just did not seem to make any sense to me. The main male protagonist was not very good, and his special powers and abilities were not very impressive. The only thing that caught my attention was that the main male protagonist had his abilities cut down to a hundredth of a percent (or whatever). Despite that, he still seemed incredibly pompous, even though his ability to control anyone who gets near him reminded me a lot of something else. After the second episode, though, I was quite intrigued; I thought the narrative could be very interesting because someone accidentally almost destroys the whole world and subsequently gets to lead a movement to control it, and that sounds quite interesting. I do not know why that reminds me of something else. However, in the following episodes, my interest gradually waned again. The whole thing became very rushed, the plot twists felt increasingly strange, and the moments that should have shocked me did nothing to move me at all. Either there is something wrong with me, or the style in which the narrative unravels and the surprises the anime's creators present us with does not work. The initial excitement of following another political-action storyline with Code Geass-style attempts to take over the world disappears after a while like the “baby” in Iyo's pregnant belly, and the censored fan service in episode five took away from the beauty of it because this is just evil! I am not sure why they have fan service if they have to cover it up for TV in such a stupid way. Oh well, at least a few people will have a reason to buy the DVD. I just shook my head in disbelief as the conclusion tried but failed to be shocking, emotional, and epic. The last episode seemed stupid, ridiculous, over-the-top, and weird. It killed any positive impression of the anime series that I previously had. So, in the end, Big Order is an anime series based on a pretty good idea; however, the execution is completely stupid and rushed. It is obvious that the premise is from the same guy who created Future Diary because it is similarly cheesy, and some of the characters are just as insane. Unfortunately, I could not develop any intense relationship with the characters. That meant that I was not extremely impressed with their fates. The way they handled the relationship between Eiji and Sena was rather outrageous (I guess I am getting older and more of a puritan, however, a thirteen-year-old girl calling someone "onii-chan" and being a love interest does not feel right). In the end, I thought Big Order did not work, even though the potential was there. Also, after the overblown ending, which I thought was terrible, I cannot take this anime series seriously. 3/10. (22/04/2016)