Manga: Big Order Vol 1

Big Order Volume 1 
Rating: 4/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Official Synopsis: 

When Eiji Hoshimiya was asked his heart's desire, the young boy could never have predicted the catastrophic consequences. Ten years after the "Great Destruction," the world has been reshaped with gifted individuals called "Orders" emerging, people capable of reshaping reality to their whims.

When some of these Orders start hunting Eiji, though will he have to summon the power that nearly destroyed the world? 

So, in this volume, we meet Eiji. Eiji made a wish ten years ago that resulted in the great destruction. He wanted to be a hero....but the world was nearly destroyed and ever since he's refused to his power again because of his fear of the destruction it caused the first time round. He doesn't want a repeat performance. But unfortunately for him, a female assassin and Order comes after him seeking revenge for the pain he caused 10 years ago. Eiji finds himself not only using his powers once again to save his sister...but he finds himself embroiled in a coup d'etat of sorts with an organisation of Orders who have big plans. 

Okaaaaayyy so, of course this grabbed my interest because, hello, it sounds like a superhero type thing! But this is a little bit different. The powers the Orders have, have been granted because of a wish they made. Seriously...make a wish and BOOM the mysterious Daisy will give you a power. I'm kind of jealous because it's way easier than you know....exploding a particle accelerator Flash style! I loved the angle, I thought Eiji's power was interesting, and I enjoyed seeing each characters power and trying to work out what they wished for, because some of them are a little bit twisted. They aren't exact wishes per se. 

There's romance of a sort, but it's a smidgen messed up.....in an entertaining way! Rin, said previously mentioned assassin, wants to kill Eiji. But thanks to his Order, she's unable to kill him...and because he was careless with his Order....she's his partner/girlfriend too. Awkward. Like I said, it's messed up but it's also hugely entertaining because Rin doesn't give up and she just keeps on trying to kill him or luring him in to situations that'll kill him. The character dynamic between the two of them ended up being really interesting because of this, and I'm intrigued to see where it's going to go! 

I was pulled in to the story by the plot and immediately intrigued as to what exactly Eiji did, and the ending left me wanting more. There's plenty of action to keep you turning the pages as Rin tries to kill Eiji, and all the Orders with their different powers clash in various different situations, I think we all love a good battle scene! I also found there to be an intriguing look at morality towards the end of the volume as one of the Orders came to a realisation. 

However...there is a however, sorry guys. There where a few moments when I was sitting there looking at a battle scene or whatever, and I was poking holes a little bit, because I didn't understand why a character didn't do this, or that and save everyone some trouble. I think this was largely due to the fact that the powers and their limitations where never really laid out for us. We don't get a full detailed explanation so it's kind of left up in the air. We had no defined parameters for them. So you'd think you'd worked out what one power could do but then it'd do something you didn't think it could or it wouldn't do something you'd thought it could, and with characters stepping in here and there it was hard to try to work it out for yourself. 

Tl;dr: There are a lot of unexplained things that are likely to bug some readers. I mean if you don't care then cool, carry on, but if unexplained things are going to annoy you then maybe give this one a miss.

Big Order has super powers and plenty of action and adventure. The plot is its main driving force, but the relationships and interactions between characters provide intrigue and entertainment throughout. Especially in the case of Eiji and Rin! I liked the art, the characters, and I'm intrigued to see what the overall plan is and what Eiji is going to do about his situation because I'm like 99% sure that the dude in charge is up to something and completely untrustworthy...but we'll see! There are a few problems with the powers and their parameters, and there was a really weird turn at one point that had me like...um...okaaaay...what just happened!? Is this really happening?! But for a first volume, I think it was pretty good and I'm definitely intrigued to see how things play out and to learn more about the Orders!