Darling in the FranXX

For the better half of my life, I have been looking for an anime series where bunch of kids --who don't know what sexual intercourse is-- fight against tensai super robot power rangers inside settings which has plot for 6 episodes, but still lasts for 24: Filling the remaining air time with b-grade melodramatic past stories, and current time with slice of life soap opera which looks like the anime version of Jersey Shore. For such a specific request to be filled, I had almost lost all hope. Then my boy Trigger arrived to town and not only did this exact thing, but filled the series with epic symbolism. Basically, whenever anything happens, it is a sexual innuendo about relationships, hugging, kissing and dicks. Really, thanks.

The actual story centers around our ten kids who are trying to find their soulmate/significant other/person with whom they share the best body compatibility with. They do this by piloting mecha in the pairs of two and fighting against these things called Klaxowhatever. Klaxosaur, just like everything and anything else, is a reference. If you remove xo from the name, you get the combination of klasa and ur, klasa standing for "class" in polish - and xo obviously meaning hugs and kisses - giving us klaxosaur as: "U R hugs and kisses class." Same thing can be said about the actual title of this series. Darling in the FranXX basically standing for Darling in the Fran hugs hugs. The whole "two parties fight against each others until one collapses" is initially just a debate over should you remain loyal to your significant other and are hugs truly enough. The robots think it is not enough, and the whole series is basically our characters realizing the same little by little. This is, indeed, the plot of this series. Pretty cool, huh.

There are in total of ten main characters here (in case you forgot what you read 17 seconds ago). By 10 main characters, I mean we have 3 actual characters and the remaining 7 are filler people. The characters are just great. Oni girl is basically a whore who is looking for her prince charming. I musn't runway guy does the opposite his name suggests. And the third wheel dude and the most potential prince charming... exists. I call this trio The Cuck Squad, by the way. Rest of the "characters" are so much filler I believe the thought process behind creating them was something like: "Hmmm. we need more people here. Let's see........ One fat guy? Yes, one fat guy coming in.......... girl who wears glasses? ...... Oh yes, f**k yes."

The production is based Trigger. Not exactly as ADHD as Kill la Kill nor a masterpiece from every aspect like Inferno Cop, but at least doesn't ruin the series like they did with Uchuu Patrol Luluko and Ninja Slayer. The OST could use some Tomatodermewhatever they called the band in KlK, and some tedious German language vocals would be great addition to put in the mix, but otherwise I was pleased to get a confirmation that every Trigger anime from now on will be the exact same thing production wise as all the rest have been.

When it comes to enjoyment, my expectations were very mixed. I heard so much praise and flaming, and after watching it, I have to conclude that this series can be liked and disliked for infinite different reasons. In one way, the series is a clusterfuck, the seasonal shitstorm, the trainwreck and sum of all wagons. This obviously makes it an obligatory watch for every critic so they can hit it with 1/10 and call the worst thing ever because once again you can criticize FranXX for thousand and one things. On the other hand, Darling is often so ridiculous that it can offer enormous entertainment value with ironic viewing. All you need is a sense of humor and some chill. The drama, the cute and comfy stuff and the happy moments will serve those are ready to take them for what they are.

As a final verdict: Critics and the likes can write thousand pages long analysis of all the things that are wrong in this one, people with sense of humor laugh their asses off, and people who approach it with more "casual" and open mindset will enjoy this show for what it is. This series has something for each and everyone. If a series like that is not a masterpiece, then I do not know what is. 10/10.

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***Caution:*** This review contains spoilers for this predictable show. I have specifically and very clearly marked the spoiler sections (there aren't as many as you think, only 3 paragraphs’ worth) so you can still easily read my review and do not need to worry. As for the fans of the show, enter at your own volition since you will not find this review to exalt it in any manner, so to those who consider FranXX a 10/10, keep your temper in and let's begin. If you're a regular reader, please carry on :)

FranXX was hyped a lot. And that's just the short of it, it had a huge marketing campaign and had a huge amount of anticipation with people calling it the “Next Evangelion” or a “Spiritual successor to Eva” and so on and so forth. The legendary Yabuki Kentarou was signed on doing the art for the manga adaptation for this unoriginal original and as a matter of fact, that's how I found out about the show in the first place and went in expecting the amazing show the marketing had me believe. Result? Well I can't surprise you since you might have seen the score I gave it. Yes. A mess. A terrible mess.

To begin with, the main part that is the reason fans gloss over this show, the characters. They are given little to no backstories and their roles to play are very less. Squad 13 mainly served as a bumbling group of teenagers (hmm… why teenagers in particular?) who don't know jackshit except for the so called “fact” that they must pilot the mechs known as FranXX and defeat these blue magma lover monsters called Klaxosaurs. Let that seep in. Why children? Most likely because they wanna appeal to the target audience of the show, teenagers. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be as fruitful as A-1 and Trigger thought it would because when you've got an idiotic group of teenagers who contribute nothing to character development, I don't think you end up with teenage viewers going crazy over a show. I mean, yes, teens in real life aren't always smart, but if given the chance, I'm sure they'd do something sensible when they need to, but we don't see such a thing at all. Why? All we see is random blushes and such stuff. I mean, these teens are acting like everyday teens, yes, that's fine but is this the premise to do so? A place where people are bombarded by the constant threat of Klaxosaurs? Kids are supposed to have fun yes, but not when you're literally guarding human lives from danger.

To move away from the characters for a moment, we move to another problem with the show, its connection. And don't you dare justify it by telling me it's an episodic anime, because it sure as hell is not. In reality, it's just mixed up completely and had too many ideas to implement together and instead of choosing one idea to go with, they probably chose all and excellently failed at all of them. Why? Poor connection. To hold up a plot you need connection, FranXX didn't offer any of that at all. It just dragged on and didn't leave any mention of what happened before and most importantly WHY the situation happened before. What could possibly be the reason behind this? Simple. Bad direction. All it takes to destroy the whole hard work of a show is bad direction. In fact, about 90% of the issues with the anime can be traced back to bad direction. If the show had a good director I suppose the show would have a direction to follow, but this being FranXX, it had to follow all the directions it could and then ended up nowhere. In the first episode I had the show at a shocking 9 and if you look at it now it's fallen pretty spectacularly. This is because of the show's bad direction; events were unconnected and an irritated yours truly almost smashed his screen onto the floor . Random stuff happening here with no explanation, and then random stuff happening there without explanation, was this anime devoid of sense or something? Because I did not find any of it anywhere. And then we've got the problem that follows that the story was unexplained. Why did this happen? Why did that happen? How did this occur? Where did this issue first occur? There were many questions asked by fans, and the answer is that it was clear both studios didn't want quality, they wanted the $$$ And that's me trying to be positive, we got zilch as in reality but eh, gotta act positive.

Needless to say, apart from a cliched mess of a story, it's disappointing in almost every other regard (read on for further explanation), serving as a reminder that it only takes one big mistake to spoil the whole effort put into an anime, or anything for that matter. Speaking of mistakes, we come to another part that had the cosplayers, fan artists and others crazy, the romance— particularly the romance between Zero Two and Hiro. First off, our two MCs. Zero Two was introduced as a waifu like character which immediately took the undeserving “deconstruction” tag which was ripped off from Eva (surprise surprise, FranXX ripped off a show) while giving us another useless MC who went by the self appointed name Hiro. Their romance was unexplained until way later into the series, an episode which even I liked, episode 13. They were largely unexplained for most of the anime’s run and it was only in the first episode of the second cour (episode 13) that tried to remedy this. Result? Thankfully good. Episode 13 was regarded as an excellent episode by even the harshest of critics since it explained a lot of the stuff between Hiro and Zero Two and obviously it was a flashback episode, yet despite being a flashback episode it was done well— surprising since this is FranXX. But the problem came afterwards; after that episode was done, we saw a lot of crap follow it in the form of the team getting “mad” at Zero Two for “hurting” Hiro for over dramatic effect and to make me sympathise with the characters. Why would you drag through 12 episodes just to see the one episode that seemed half decent and it goes back to its shitty formula? I loathed it even more.The episodes were cliched, unconnected messes with absolutely no relevance to the plot, just serving to pass time either to focus on Hiro or to make the fanboys go crazy over the fight scenes, which were nothing more than one hit kills and random dashes.

Moving on from there all we got were cheesy half hearted lines like “I wanna be with you forever” and all that teenage fantasy (severely paraphrased for ease of comprehensive analysis) and pointless romantic moments that don't have much to do with the plot. Why am I crushing the romance here even though I'm a romance fan? It's because FranXX deployed this romance at the wrong times, I can't even say I'm surprised anymore at this kind of problem. Then we go to the other cast, Ichigo is a character that served as a reminder about the stupidity of fanboys since her voice actor Kana Ichinose received death threats just because of her work as Ichigo. Anno would be proud. Ichigo’s character though wasn't fleshed out (to say nothing of the rest of the cast, especially Ikuno, Zorome and Miku) and her actions were basically “I'm jealous because I love him but can't reveal it to him because I'm shy” and that time when she DID do it, it was enough to even send non romance fans into a fit because it was done in a (dare I say it?) slutty way cause teenagers? I do not know. Then we come to the signature part which had many people divided as well, Kokoro. To delve into this horrible character we must enter minor spoiler territory so if you can't handle looking at a good character being turned into a whore please skip the marked spoiler section.

***Skip this paragraph if you don't want spoilers about this side character and want the relationship as a surprise. Spoilers begin: Kokoro was paired up with Futoshi who liked Kokoro a lot but suffered from the same problem as Ichigo. However, since he's male the fanboys didn't take or notice much issue, perhaps also because Futoshi wasn't made as a cockblocker character and instead was of the “I'll protect her” than a “I want him to love me instead”, only thing is that Kokoro turned out to “betray” Futoshi and instead go for an unlikely character who was largely ignored throughout the show, Mitsuru. She suddenly developed feelings for him and even kissed him for no concrete reason apart from taking the show into an extremely shitty direction because guess what? She wanted a baby. Why? Freakin’ teenagers… this is the worst way to relate to them. Then Kokoro went from a “I am not in love with Futoshi but he's a kind person” to an “I want Mitsuru’s @#$_ inside me". I'm not even joking. This LITERALLY happened. Why am I rambling on about this? Because that's definitely not how you make a show about teenagers because that's not at all representative of the majority. Anyway, then they suddenly want to get married (!?) and we see other crap follow as well without explanation or reason, they just wanna fill time at this rate. With what? Throwing in the notion that Kokoro is pregnant later on. Teenage pregnancy, a very common thing in teens nowadays amiright? Wrong. And you know what worse? The fact that the folks at FranXX.inc pulled the WORST cliche to go with this. Both of them are caught and are “brainwashed” and their memories are “stored” somewhere. If VIRM didn't want to let them regain their memories then why store them in the first place? Why not “delete” them into oblivion? Plot armour I say. Convenience too… this makes many viewers realise that the episode was just existing to pass time and fool the viewers into thinking their time into the episode was worth it? Spoiler end***

This brings us on to the next point, underused characters. Namely Miku, Zorome and Ikuno. Not to mention Goro but he got a little bit of a focus so I'll give him a brief look later. Miku and Zorome were shown as characters who had a rivalry-love which seemed fresh and interesting but that was pulled down along with the anime because they didn't focus on these two at all. What made them attracted to each other? Why are they paired up together? These questions were never answered and I was left hanging, which was disappointing since Miku apart from sharing the same hairstyle as the superstar with the same name (my profile picture character to those of you non-Vocaloid fans) she was one of the few characters who was believable as a teenager. Many people wouldn't notice that these two weren't given enough focus and that was sad because this fresh idea could be explored a lot more and I wouldn't be surprised if I found their rivalry-love better than the two main characters, and don't forget, I liked Miku as a character as well.

Leaving us with the last two, Ikuno and Goro. Ikuno was mainly used as fodder for Mitsuru to frown upon so that he could get hooked to the resident slut Kokoro (I don't think I should call her that because she didn't like Futoshi but considered him kind but then I'm disappointed because like Miku, I liked Kokoro, only that love turned to hate since FranXX ruined her) and Ikuno was ignored for the rest of the anime, she wasn't given lines and that one “I want a baby” episode scene where she DID say something, it wasn't explained WHY she stepped forward and did her act. My guess is because since she didn't have any lines, the show didn't want to make her look like a dumbass so they forcefully gave her lines and that was all. Then we enter spoiler territory yet again because Ikuno was given that small 5 minute focus in a later episode.

***Minor Spoiler Begin: Since Ikuno wasn't given a love interest the folks at FranXX.inc thought it's a good idea to introduce some Yuri at the worst possible time and in the worst possible way, as such, the result was never spoken of again, which pretty much explains how the “affair” went. Needless to say, this was a last ditch effort to save her character and it served as the final nail in the coffin for Ikuno. Minor Spoiler End***

We then come to the last character, Goro. Apart from being mildly explored, he served as the third wheel-ish character who was later shown as being in love with Ichigo unsurprisingly, unfortunately he as mentioned wasn't explored much and so was thrown into the sidelines to focus on our main characters, yet another character thrown aside who had a lot of potential to do great things in this mess of an anime. I haven't spoken of any “villains” yet, as this important role was destroyed by the Iotas, who were, like every other thing in the anime, unexplained, unwanted and irrelevant. They served as somewhat of a “backstory” to Zero Two despite not going into detail at all.

As mentioned above there was no proper backstory to Squad 13. Some people said it's because sci-fi shows “don't need backstories”. This is plain wrong because if you don't have backstories of your character, there won't be any depth to them (see the word depth again and imagine, if there's no backstory, there's no depth, which means the characters are shallow) and when the characters simply don't develop at all during the course of the anime, you end up with flat characters who fall on their face to the plot. Why am I saying this? Hiro and the others didn't change at all mentally from the first episode to the last. Some might say Hiro’s infatuation with 02 makes him a “developed character” but his rejection of his other members in Squad 13 proves that wrong. Others say that “characterisation is excused in a sci-fi anime”. At first it seemed as a joke to me but when people seriously started talking about this as a defense I got concerned and felt I needed to clarify this. Take arguably the best sci-fi show as an example to that statement: Steins;Gate. It definitely has development throughout the series. How? Okabe starts to realise he can't do anything, and tries even harder, Makise realises she can't do things alone, Mayuri does more tuturus because people around her are sad, or to move from the joke, Mayuri realises that she needs Okabe and he needs her, this is what development in a sci-fi is. FranXX, on the other hand, didn't have any development to the show, its characters, or anything. It felt more like characters felt less real each time they appeared, and I'm not talking about them being realistic and human-like since that's not what an anime’s main target is everytime, I'm talking about them being acceptable as a character which wasn't at all seen. No characterisation is only excused in slice of life anime since we're understandably looking at the lives of the characters and so there's no plot and therefore no development. FranXX isn't a slice of life, it's (terribly weak) progression proved that.

Moving back to the MC of our wonderful series, Hiro. I hadn't given him enough attention and will do so now. From the start he was unexplained. Why was he a prodigy? What was he doing before meeting Zero Two? What made him so special? To stand out from the rest of the cast, you need distinctive qualities that set you apart from other characters, Hiro had none of that. He was plain and boring. Many may point out that him being in love with 02 would mean that it makes him different from other MCs but that's wrong because apart from his “love” for 02, nothing else was brought into his character. Although towards the end it was shown that he had become selfish and cared about 02 more than his squad who cared about him, it still isn't the kind of development that makes you go “Oh, that changed my view of him positively” and if you read that line again you'll probably understand why too. Then we come to the point that he named everyone else, which was revealed early on. This surprisingly is a good thing I saw. He named Ichigo and named other parasites as well which gave it a child-like feeling (perhaps the only successful child-like/teenage feeling that was executed properly throughout the anime, bear in mind this flashback was 2 minutes long) although it wasn't explained at all I still felt an iota of warmth. And nothing else I suppose.

Going back to the other “villains”, the Iotas. Since they came in at random times and with random half baked reasons, unsurprisingly they served as yet another thing that was meant to be loathed in the anime. Another irritating thing is how they suddenly became buddy-buddy with Hiro and team in the final arc. I suppose now that FranXX has exhausted whatever little “creativity” they had, they wanted to end with a shounen-esque “everyone bands together to fight the enemy”? I mean, not complaining about the trope but was there any sensible stuff going on beforehand? Speaking of insane stuff going on beforehand, FranXX was said to have been in a post apocalyptic world all of a sudden which we were given hints of in the beach episode for about 20 seconds and then later shown in “detail” (I don't even know why I'm so generously awarding that word when it's meaning wasn't followed at all) in episode 19, which to FranXX’s favour, was a decent episode. But until then for the first 18 episodes, it remained largely unexplained and I don't think I can award a show a point for revealing something so important when it's finished about 80% of it's run. Not a good practice and it returns more harm than good which by now is definitely not what I need to calm myself down. Oh youth. But then wait! Youth reminds me that I should yet again cover another important part about the “juvenile” aspect of this show.

Spoiler Paragraph (or Spoiler-graph) for the final arc below. Skip this paragraph if you don't want spoilers for the final arc. If you're okay with them, then please continue :)

***Spoiler for last arc begin: The most frustrating part of FranXX is by far the last arc. After pointless teenage melodrama, the FranXX team thought of what “ideas” can be added to “save” the anime and they did what every laughable show tries to do as a last ditch effort. To take the battle into (wait for it) SPAAAAAACEEEEEE. Yes. FranXX pulled THAT trope. What an insult to Star Wars and Star Trek. Anyway back to this show, the sudden shift in tones (first a teenage melodrama, then a clone war, then a space war? Is this a tutorial on how NOT to make Star Wars ripoffs?) and extremely convenient and unexplained reveals (more on that in a bit) coming out of nowhere? I don't think that makes for a coherent plot at all. Add to that another desperate added shounen trope where the enemy suddenly becomes your friend??? And he sacrifices his life for you just a while after you rescue him??? The Klaxosaur Princess was set as the antagonist at around the third quarter of the show and she suddenly joined Hiro’s side and sacrificed her life for him? What happened to her people, the Klaxosaurs? What happened to saving the world? And then suddenly VIRM puts themselves as the villains despite the show trying to establish the Klaxosaurs as the villains and then the aforementioned Klaxosaur Princess as an antagonist? And then their boss is a Power Rangers ripoff??? What even was that last arc?! The industry can do without more Dadolf Scmitlers you know! We've seen enough of this trope! Like when they're losing Papa and the others suddenly give the order to destroy Earth? Nanja sorya??? And then if you thought all this stupidity wasn't enough, we suddenly see YET ANOTHER problem with the show surface, Plot armour. If I hadn't explained this before, FranXX suffered from yet another plot hole in the form of plot armour. The Iotas lost a few of their members but Hiro and team were left unscathed, the only “injury” being Ikuno’s hair being turned white… Throughout the course of the show Squad 13 was met with life or death situations but I was confused since no one died. It can't be a life or death situation if everyone survives, or at least when you have so many life or death situations and no one dies even once I think that's authentically bullshit. Why fill it to the brim with Deus Ex Machina crap then? In the last 3 episodes we saw Hiro and team suddenly band together and go to space, but then the pathetic dialogue in the previous episodes of the anime became even worse, when they're in space they're going “We're really in space huh?” And Mitsuru’s reason for staying being “I wanna stay because I want to”? Even the dialogues took a huge hit and fell even further… Add to that the pointless Mobile Suit Gundam I ripoff battle except FranXX’s was much worse because everyone survived??? Not to mention Zero Two eating Hiro through her teleport to Hiro fro Earth directly in front of Hiro and she eats him and takes him to the dream world only to play hard to get? If you're not understanding at all then you have common sense, because no sensible person could understand WHAT happened and WHY. Let's not add to that horrible reasons to horrible dialogues such as bringing up love when your Squadmate is suffering? And then Hiro and Zero Two immediately go leave the Solar System and the others can't tag along because “it's not possible”? This is the limit of cliches but the studios broke it long long ago. And I want to skip over that last episode since that was the only (remotely) decent (?) part of this arc, but the means done to achieve it wasn't and I spoke enough on that... Spoiler end***

FranXX tries to show us that adults are somewhat tyrants and displays the children’s “struggle” to gaining “independence” even though they're perfectly fine with their lives with no issues. But you know what they say, if you've got no issues, you make them, and that's EXACTLY what FranXX stayed true to. Trying to show us that our teenage cast is “growing” by acting “mature” with examples as “ wanting to have babies” and “doing the kitty” (don't search up on that last one) both of which are related and were attempted by Kokoro and Mitsuru. Yet again you ask. Why? I do not know why the show did it. You can't even tell anymore who they're trying to make the show relatable for. Then we have to look at the teenage drama as well that follows (that I covered above).

Spoiler Paragraph (or Spoiler-graph) about a range of questions on things that were unanswered throughout the course of the anime below. Skip this paragraph if you don't want spoilers on these questions. If you're okay with them, then as expected, read on.

***Spoiler questions begin: FranXX as mentioned tried very very hard to be edgy by leaving out some so-called “mystery” feel by not answering the most crucial questions many had throughout the course of the anime. Although episode 13 answered the questions many people had in the first half, there was no such plausible explanation for the second half’s stupidity. What makes me say that? We got weak explanations or no explanations. For example why was the enemy VIRM all along? What was their purpose? Why does Hiro not care about the rest of Squad 13 who he's lived with all his life and why is he so attached to Zero Two despite the above problem? Why are the problems for the characters happening? Who is to blame and why? Despite this being answered (VIRM) there was no proper explanation as to WHY the villains did it? What was their purpose? Why is Ichigo the leader of the group? Why is 02 not explained properly? How does she looks human and how did it happen (also why does she have pink hair when she was a clone of one with white or blue hair)? How are the rejected people treated? What happens to them? What about their memories? Although their memories as mentioned were stored in some place there's no explanation as to why they're stored. Why am I asking that question? When VIRM doesn't want their puppets to regain their memory, why store their memory? And how is the memory stored anyway? Why are teens chosen to pilot the FranXX? Don't tell me it's because their sex organs are most prominent because the teenage years is not the age when this is so. Why are pregnant girls not able to pilot the FranXX? How did the Iotas suddenly be able to join Hiro in the last arc? Weren't they broken or something? Why do Hiro’s group care and still chase Hiro despite him having rejected them for his “one true love” Zero Two? What was the bullcrap about them going to space and space being the important stuff? Like, what was that cop out explanation about VIRM and the enemies being the aliens? Who and what was the Klaxosaur Princess? Who were the Klaxosaurs? No detailed explanations were given. To cover the villains one last time, VIRM. We look again at the Dadolf Scmitler trope that FranXX.inc deployed. To viewers of Grancrest Senki who aren't familiar with the Dadolf Scmitler trope, VIRM is basically the Mage Academy, for the first 20 Episodes we were focused on only one villain but suddenly that villain changes in around the 20th episode and they tell us the real villains were someone else all along? (Surprising how both shows deploy the same cliche in the same episode number. Coincidence? I think not), Why is this bad? This is bad because it makes the viewer question if the time they spent on the first 20 episodes even worth it. I mean, if you really HAD to do this, why do it so late? And instead, why not just make an OVA of the last 6-8 episodes and treat it as the same thing? I'm sure it would get a higher score from me and other disgruntled people if they did this instead because our time was wasted… Spoiler questions end***

With all that's said, eagle eyed readers might have noticed that I haven't trashed the art or the music. That's because it isn't shit. And continue to find out. Since it was a collaboration project with A-1 and Trigger (and later Cloverworks because budget issues?) many expected the art to look amazing and it did actually. They tried to make a world that looked beautiful and mostly succeeded in doing that but you can't award points to a show for “looking good” as with what the “mainstream” gaming critics like IGN often do (“CoD a 9/10 because it looks good?” Have you even seen what they're doing now ripping off Fortnite?) so though the art looked good thanks to the colourful backgrounds and eye-catching scenery from time to time, it was in vain as the show couldn't manage to utilise it well into its plot. Another thing that the show did good was the sound. Even though I've been (rightfully) trashing the show left and right, I have to give credit where it's due, FranXX’s usage of synth tracks are rarely seen in anime and obviously serve for something really good in terms of listening especially when you're using headphones (and not streaming the show). Then we move onto the OP/EDs selection, I felt that the show went lazy and just changed the OP a bit and passed it off as an OP 2, but the EDs were great. If only FranXX used those EDs more in the second half and don't abruptly end the episode I'd have a positive opinion of the show. But I'm guilty of singing “Torikago” from the show so gotta give a point to that I guess? But oh wait, they underused all the EDs anyway.

Overall, FranXX is a mess which was over hyped and tried it's best to stay relevant by throwing in useless storylines all of which were riddled by plot holes and Deus ex machinas which were unconnected and not to mention completely unrelated events and random crap here and there (from teenage drama to Star Wars to Power Rangers? MASAKA???), to remain positive, towards the end, I only ever found the two caretakers Hachi and Nana (especially Nana) interesting and likeable since they had an aura of mystery and the 30 seconds they appeared in their few episodes were all great. Miku and Goro too were characters I pretty much liked but weren't explored well since they were thrown aside for Hiro and Zero Two unfortunately. If the show had good direction, I'm sure it would have turned out to be one of my favourite anime of all time and for many other disillusioned fans-turned-critics as well. FranXX sadly will always serve as a reminder to how one big mistake in the form of bad directing can jeopardize the whole premise of a show.

Special thanks to TheCobraSlayer for proof-reading the review.

Story: 0.5
Animation: 5
Sound: 5.5
Character: 1
Enjoyment: 1.5

Overall: 2.7

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Please note this review is intended for those that have finished watching Darling in the Franxx and while care has been taken to minimise spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned. As ever this review is based on my own impressions and thoughts upon the anime.

A coming of age story where 10 teenagers fight to both protect their homes and their bonds of friendship and comradeship as they fight in a war where the truth may not be what it seems.

Based off an original idea and concept Darling in the Franxx is a science fiction, mecha and romantic genre anime that also features elements of drama within it. Taking place in a futuristic setting that’s rarely seen within animes Darling in the Franxx gives us the opportunity to see the kind of life that the members of squad 13 a squad of teenage pilot’s experience as they become the newest defenders of their plantation and the kind of problems both personal and professional that they encounter as they enter a world that is fraught with danger where the threat to them and to the human race is not always what it seems. The first episode of the series made a pretty good impression on me and did a great job of hooking me as I become curious not just on the setting but also on the relationship that is forged between Zero Two and Hiro as well as how the squad would change as they enter the life that they had been training so hard to prepare for. Looking back, I'm glad that I decided to stick with the series right to the end as it was a series that I really enjoyed watching.

Taking place in a futuristic setting where the planet Earth has been devastated by humanity’s relentless mining of the planets key resource of magma humanity has now been reduced to a mere handful whose remnants are forced to live in large mobile fortress cities called plantations. Within these plantations while the adults live in the cities within specially trained and created children called parasites are raised and housed together in isolated home areas where they learn to bond and befriend their fellow parasites and learn the finer points of achieving their dream of becoming a part of the plantations defence force as a pilot that pilots one of the plantations valuable mecha the franxx. The bonds and friendships that are forged between the parasites, however, are more than one can expect them to be however as they are something that is vital for the operation of the franxx and to the life that all children within the plantations hope to achieve with their lives. Each franxx is piloted by a paring of parasites that consist of a female parasite a pistil and male parasite a stamen where alongside their mastery of the franxx’s controls they also have one more weapon in their arsenal which is the shared bond with one another that allows the two to synchronise their thoughts and feelings and use this bond as a weapon in the war against the Klaxosaurs a hostile alien race that seems bent on humanity’s destruction.

The overall story follows the character of Hiro also known as code 016 and the members of squad 13 a squad of parasites that had been created and housed in their home of plantation 13 as they train and prepare themselves for their eventual task of taking up the duty of becoming a franxx pilot and a defender of their plantation as they join the war effort against the humanity’s enemy the monstrous and horrifying Klaxosaur species. As the time draws near and the members of squad 13 begin to work even harder to become ready Hiro encounters a slump that causes him to lose hope and strain his relationship with the members of his squad. But in his moment of despair, Hiro encounters Zero Two a half human and half Klax pilot and a member of APE’s elite Nine’s spec ops unit. Though a girl of ill repute and possessing a sinister reputation and nickname of partner killer Hiro and Zero Two soon forged a bond after an attack on the plantation forced them to fight together to repel it. A bond that will be tested as Hiro, Zero and the members of squad 13 after graduation must come to terms with as they witness the brutal nature of fighting against the klax on the frontlines while at the same time reminding them that they need to get stronger and forge stronger bonds and friendships with one other if they want to protect their friends and home.

But as the war continues and the squad and their allies are confronted with sinister revelations the reasons for the war and the true aims of APE and their leader Papa become more clouded but one things for certain. The bonds of friendship, understanding, and romance that has been forged between Hiro, Zero and the members of squad 13 are not an illusion and even when pressed to the limit they will use these strong bonds to protect each other, their home and their fellow parasites and allies from all dangers whether from within or without. Joining Hiro and Zero Two in this endeavour are a host of allies that include the members of his fellow parasites in squad 13 which includes the Kind and level-headed Ichigo, the loyal and calm Goro, the perceptive and intelligent Kokoro, the proud but surprisingly stubborn Miku, the overconfident but surprisingly understanding Zorome, the calm and logical Ikuno , the arrogant but surprisingly fragile Mitsuru and the squads mentor and guardian the kind and caring Nana who wrestles daily with her duty to her superiors and her duty to the children. Together Hiro and his friends and allies would fight to protect their friends, allies and their home from all enemies and in the process grow not just as franxx pilots but also as human beings as they learn to forge a life for themselves and for the first time in their lives control their own destiny.

Hiro

Hiro played by veteran voice actor Yuuto Uemura of Bungou Stray Dogs fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main protagonist of the series. At the beginning of the series, Hiro is a trainee parasite that along with the members of squad 13 are preparing for their accent to full parasite status. At the beginning of the series, Hiro was a quiet and composed person that seemingly preferred to remain apart from his fellow squad members. He was also noted to be of low self-esteem due to the fact that unlike the rest of his squad his abilities to syn with his assigned partner and thus be able to pilot a franxx had seemingly vanished from his body. This shock of losing his much-prized ability as well as being labelled as the failed prodigy by others caused Hiro to go into a state of depression as too him being to unable to pilot a franxx means that he’s little more than useless baggage to not just the squad but also to the plantation. However, this feeling of depression within Hiro gradually disappears after he encounters a strange human girl that had horns during one of his many walks in the nearby park an encounter that provided the perfect catalyst to awaken Hiro from the doubts and depression that had been making his life difficult.

After meeting Zero Two and successfully becoming her partner Hiro’s personality gradually begins to change as a result of not just meeting Zero Two but also fulfilling his own dream of becoming a franxx pilot. While still quiet and composed it can be seen that after his awakening Hiro has become more confident and determined and willing to help his squad mates when needed. While not shown often in his initial self but more so in his awakened self, it can be seen that Hiro is an intelligent, kind and calm person that prefers to be logical and think things through before committing to them. However, despite his composed nature, it can be seen that Hiro can also lose it pretty easily especially when confronted with unexpected situations. As a result of his new-found confidence and his willingness to help his friends Hiro rather than stay apart from his friends instead starts bonding with them and expresses regret that his past actions have worried them greatly. A key aspect of this process was the development within Hiro of a desire to forgive his friends for the many comments and doubts that they had subjected him to an aspect that I felt matched this development nicely. At the beginning of the series, Hiro was noted to be a firm believer in the belief that a parasite that cannot pilot a franxx was nothing more than trash for the plantation which was a key reason for Hiro’s depression at the beginning of the series. However, as the series goes on and Hiro and his squad mates forge stronger bonds of friendship as they fight alongside each other this belief of Hiro gradually changes and is replaced by a desire to value his friends and the bonds that exist between them more.

This is shown in Hiro’s gradual realisation that there is more to a parasite’s life than piloting a franxx and that having fun with friends, learning about them and spending time with them to overcome problems together is also part of a parasites life as well a development that I felt shows just how much Hiro’s personality has changed since his awakening. As a result of this while still retaining his core desire to protect the plantation as a franxx pilot Hiro also developed a desire to fight to live and have fun with his friends rather than simply fight because he had to as part of his duty as a franxx pilot. While Hiro’s desire to have fun with his friends and enjoy life by being with them were important another change that emerged within Hiro was a desire to find the truth that within the series was paired with the desire to be independent and be able to pursue their own destiny. This change can be said to be a development borne from Hiro’s new-found bonds with his friends and his desire to preserve them in the face of increasingly risky missions that were ordered by his superiors. This development I felt was surprising and was another indication of just how much Hiro has changed as a person and character. The character of Hiro I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed as the series went on. The change from a depressive and quiet person who ignored all of his friends attempts to help him to someone that was both willing to help others solve their problems as well as forgive those that had no faith in him I felt was a great development of his character when combined with his new-found outlook on what a life should be. I felt that his voice actor Yuuto Uemura did an excellent job of portraying the character of Hiro.

Zero Two

Zero Two voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Haruka Tomatsu of SAO and Anohana fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main heroine of the series. A klax human hybrid that was specially created by the members of APE Zero Two outwardly had the appearance of a beautiful young girl with long pink hair and a peculiar headband that had horns on it and if one did not look closely most people would believe that she was human. At the beginning of the series, Zero Two was someone that behaved very similarly to a girl of her age being positive, innocent and playful while also possessing a strong sense of confidence and a certain streak of independence that quickly got her labelled as a problem child by her minders. While seemingly someone that preferred to act in the moment it can be seen that Zero Two was also someone that was perceptive and understanding at times which I felt was a nice contrast to her childish and wilful nature. Despite her seemingly stand-off nature Zero Two was someone that can be surprisingly kind to people that she respects and even willing to break the rules to aid them if it means that she can help them. At the beginning of the series largely due to her experiences with her watchers Zero Two had a very poor impression of humans and of life in general and as a result, she had a very low opinion of her fellow franxx pilots as well as that of the civilians that lived within the plantations. Combined with Zero Two’s sensitivity to comments and ill-will being displayed towards her this had the effect of making it very difficult for others to get to know her causing them to distrust or even fear her and thus creating even more distance between Zero Two and her teammates and allies. This relationship with her fellow teammates and allies remained unchanged until Zero encounters a young boy her age that drew her interest in him because he was able to do something that very few Stamen could manage which was to ride with her and survive.

After meeting Hiro and forging a bond with him as her new partner Zero Two’s personality gradually starts to change as for the first time in her life she has found someone that treats her with genuine kindness. Though still guarded to a degree it can be seen that after meeting Hiro and forging a deep bond with him that for the first time in Zero Two’s life she is happy as she is able to show her affections for Hiro who she sees as her darling openly without needing to hide it from her watchers. Indeed, it can be said that her affection for Hiro is strong enough that no matter who tries to stand in her way she will still persevere in treating Hiro as such. However, despite the happiness that Zero Two felt at this point as the series goes on it can be seen that beneath the surface Zero Two also struggles with the unique curse that exists within her a curse that has the effect of creating sudden mood swings within her that if left unchecked would cause her to display anger towards not her beloved but also to her allies as well. During this phase of her development as a result of giving in to the anger that she feels towards her creators and the life that they have given her Zero Two suppresses the feelings of love that she feels towards Hiro and replaces it with a desire to get stronger by fighting harder on the field and thus increasing the strain placed on her partner all in a desire to achieve her dream. After being snapped out of this reckless action however and after seeing what this has wrought upon her beloved it can be seen that Zero Two displays immense regret at her actions regrets that later served as the catalyst to forge an even stronger bond with her beloved darling and one that finally gave a sense of security for the worries and fears that Zero Two had within her.

After this and as a result of the change that was imparted within Zero Two by the stronger bonds that had been forged between the two Zero Two’s personality changes into her final form. Unlike her past self in which Zero Two showed nothing but disdain towards her fellow squad mates and cared little about friendships and bonds in this form Zero Two can be seen to have finally realised the importance of friendships and bonds and as a result becomes not just friendlier but also more willing to help them solve problems that are bothering them. At the same time Zero Two also becomes somewhat more rule-bound which when compared to how wild and unpredictable her personality was in the past I felt was a great change. Arguably one of the most important developments of this new change was the realization that her constant desire to become more human in the past was misguided and that being a human is not about transforming yourself to match them physically but rather its about living your life like them by forging friendships, finding love and enjoying the time that you spend with your friends as you walk the road that is called life. As a result of this new understanding Zero Two rather than having a bleak outlook of what her life and her future would be like instead see’s both in a new light one that is filled with both hope and wishes. The character of Zero Two I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed. The development of her character from a mysterious, innocent but anti-social girl to one that was both friendly and understanding of others and yet playful and hopeful towards the future as a result of her new-found bonds I felt was really well done. The core concept and main focus for Zero Two which was her determined attempts to become human I felt was one that matched her character and personality perfectly and I felt that her struggles to achieve that goal was shown really well within the series. More than ever I was really glad that Zero Two was able to come to the realization that at the end of the day it’s the bonds with your friends and how you live your life that defines whether you are human or not and not physical appearance. I felt that her seiyuu Haruka Tomatsu really did an excellent job at portraying the character of Zero Two.

Ichigo

Ichigo voiced by new seiyuu Kana Ichinose in her first main role to date is one of the main characters of the series and is a member of the series main squad s13. A teenage girl that ’s the same age as Hiro and the members of her class squad and its commander Ichigo is a kind, caring and cheerful person by nature that approaches each situation with calmness and logic. A perceptive and understanding person by nature Ichigo is someone that can be said to be the very ideal image of a leader as in addition to possessing the after-mentioned personality traits Ichigo is also someone that’s responsible and always working to ensure that her squad mates and friends are fulfilling their duties as parasites to the city and that their actions are not causing trouble for their superiors. While this sense of responsibility was seen to cause tension between Ichigo and the more independent-minded members of her squad such as Miku and her partner Zorome it can be seen that Ichigo is someone that cares deeply about the unity of the squad and as a result dislikes it when this sense of balance within the squad is disrupted such as when Zero Two was inserted into her squad. While for the most part Ichigo is a serious-minded person that works hard to ensure the squad remains united and functional it can be seen that Ichigo also has a more childish and innocent side to her that is more prevalent when she’s interacting with her fellow squad mate and friend Hiro that was borne out of the happy childhood that both shared when they were children. This contrast with her serious-minded self I thought was pretty cute. From the beginning of the series it can be seen that Ichigo’s job of being the leader of the squad was a hard one and was a constant uphill battle as she had to deal with the many personalities that existed within the squad chiefly the independent personalities that Zorome and Miku had which caused them to dislike her as they saw her as too bossy and controlling. At the same time, Ichigo was also constrained by her own feelings towards Hiro which often clouded her judgement and kept her from seeing the larger picture and goals of a mission. Judgement flaws that led to a precarious situation that almost proved the end for the squad.

As the series goes, however, Ichigo’s personality and character begins to change as a result of not just dangerous missions but also of the increasingly brutal nature of the war that she and the squad bore witness to as it progressed. As a result of the guilt that she felt at freezing at a critical moment Ichigo becomes more determined vowing to become stronger so that she can protect her squad mates better and not rely on others to help her in a job that she was supposed to excel at. This strong desire to improve herself and not only to rely on others but also protect them soon bore fruit as the battles within the war turned even more brutal. In the past Ichigo while an efficient battle leader was someone that can be seen to rely too much on instructions from command and often let that dictate her actions on the field. At the same time, her cautious nature and her care for the members of the squad while welcome also hindered her as it made her rather inflexible on the field and not willing to trust her squad members for more serious objectives. As part of the lessons that she learned from the mine mission Ichigo becomes not just braver and more determined in battle but also more flexible with her thinking and developing the ability to make rational decisions in the midst of combat which is shown in the later battles within the series where she’s able to react to new situations and come up with new tactics to deal with new developments on the field without having to consult higher command. At the same time while not completely letting the members of her squad perform their own actions on the field Ichigo also becomes more mindful of her own performance as a franxx pilot and instead of worrying about the antics that the squad gets involved in instead makes the decision to care less about their antics and trusting them to make responsible decisions on their own initiative. This development is a good indication of the lessons that Ichigo has managed to learn as a result of the often-strained relations that she has with her squad mates and also from her interactions with Zero Two. The character of Ichigo I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed as the series went on. The evolution of Ichigo from an overly cautious, inflexible and somewhat controlling person to one that was more open-minded, trusting and more flexible in both her actions on the field as a battle leader and her interactions with her fellow squad mates and fellow parasites I felt was well done and ensured that among the cast Ichigo alongside Zero Two and Hiro remains one of my favourite characters within the series. I felt that her seiyuu Kana Ichinose really did an excellent job in portraying the character of Ichigo and given her performance I feel that her performance has already been noted by many of her seniors within the industry.

Goro

Goro voiced by veteran voice actor Yuuichirou Umehara of Amanchu and Juni Taisen fame is one of the main characters of the series and is a member of the series main squad s13. A teenage male that’s the same age as the other members of the squad Goro on first appearance can be seen to have an attitude and aura of that of an older brother like character itself a rarity within the anime world. A kind, easy-going and caring person by nature Goro is someone that can be said to be the voice of reason within the squad. While not as bossy and as responsible as his partner and commander Ichigo Goro is still someone that cares deeply about the members of his squad and works hard to keep the peace in it taking great care to stop the arguments between Ichigo and Miku and Zorome from getting out of hand. An understanding person by nature Goro can be seen to be someone that’s moderate in temperament and indeed is someone that prefers to listen to all sides of an opinion or argument first before deciding on a course of action. As a result of this side of his personality, Goro handily fulfils the role as a deputy leader in an unofficial capacity within the squad.

Like the other members of the squad, Goro was wary of Zero Two’s appearance and her subsequent insertion into the squad. However, unlike the likes of Ichigo who disliked Zero Two due to personal reasons Goro was wary of her because he wanted to protect the members of the squad from harm and to stop the unity that his partner had worked so hard to create within the squad from breaking. While distrustful of Zero Two in the beginning like the other members of the squad as the series went on Goro like the rest of the squad was able to bear witness to how the actions of Zero Two have affected his childhood and also best friend Hiro and introduced within him a great many changes that enabled Hiro to become a better person and regain the confidence that he had in the past. As a result of this it can be seen that Goro feels that he owes Zero Two a great deal and having seen the interactions between Hiro and Zero Two knows full well that the two are meant to be together despite Ichigo’s fierce denial of it and as a result had no problem with giving the two the opportunity they needed even if such a decision made him oppose Ichigo on a matter that was personal to her. While the members of the squad like all parasites were created and trained at the facility known as the garden it can be said that Goro, Ichigo, and Hiro have deeper bonds with each other than most members of the squad. This is due to the fact that unlike the rest of the squad the three of them knew each other and it can be said that all three are childhood friends. As a result of this strong bond, Goro can with a certain level of success be able to determine whether any of his two friends are hiding something that is bothering them. Arguably Goro’s most prominent trait is his loyalty to not just the mission and to the city but also to his friends as well. Indeed, it can be said that his loyalty to his friends is so strong that he will be willing to put their safety above that of his. This attitude I felt was admirable and matched well with his character. The character of Goro I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with his loyalty and good-natured and easy-going attitude with his friends and comrades being the best aspects of his character. In addition, I felt that the balance that Goro’s personality traits provided to the squad was also something that was welcome as it helped preserve the unity and chemistry dynamics of the squad. I felt that his voice actor Yuuichirou Umehara did a great job at portraying the character of Goro.

Kokoro

Kokoro voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Saori Hayami of Owari no Seraph and the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei fame is one of the main characters of the series and is a member of squad 13 the series main squad. A teenage girl with a very well-endowed body for her age Kokoro on initial appearances has the aura and the impression of a classic Madonna a character type best described as the ideal girl in the eyes of males. A quiet, kind and caring person by nature Kokoro at the beginning of the series was someone that seemingly preferred to not speak much preferring to instead listen to the concerns and problems that the other members of the squad are facing in their lives. However, while a quiet person by nature Kokoro was not afraid of offering her own opinions to a discussion opinion’s that can be surprisingly observant and rational often considering variables that the others have not thought off showing that beneath her quiet nature Kokoro was also someone that was perceptive and intelligent. Despite her quiet nature, Kokoro is not someone that is unapproachable and indeed is the opposite in that she is someone that most people find easy to approach which allows her to listen to their problems without interrupting them and providing them much needed advice when needed which shows off her understanding nature. At the beginning of the series, Kokoro was noted to be someone that was rather indecisive in her actions and can be seen to lack the courage to fight on the field when compared to the likes of Zorome. This attitude while certainly understandable also made her stand out somewhat when compared to the rest of the squad. While not intentionally avoiding the members of the squad Kokoro is shown to be someone that prefers solitude and in this case, she took on a skill that I thought matched her temperament perfectly which was that of gardening. When surrounded by the plants that she cares for it can be seen that Kokoro is truly at peace as she is able to express her worries and doubts about events without having to worry about comments from others.

As the series goes on and Kokoro and the squad begin to fight in more fiercer battles as the war with the klax progressed Kokoro’s personality gradually gets expanded upon. In the beginning of the series as noted Kokoro was someone that got scared easily and was visibly hesitant in combat but as the series went on and Kokoro began to see and understand the important role that parasites play in the defence of the city this sense of fear and hesitation gradually begins to vanish being replaced by a desire to become braver and more responsible so that she can protect the friends that she so cherishes. In line with this is Kokoro’s gradual overcoming of her quiet and nervous nature which is shown in her willingness to not just express her own opinions on matters face to face but also be assertive with them instead of feeling pressured to change them like she did in the past. As a result of her new-found confidence, Kokoro rather than stay on the sidelines and get the gist of arguments this way instead decides to interact with her friends more and listen to their problems directly where her perception and understanding skills allow her to provide better advice to them than before. From the beginning of the series, Kokoro was noted to be someone that was far from being just a beautiful girl as she possessed both intelligence and an innate sense of curiosity to explore knowledge that they haven’t been taught. As a result of her new-found confidence, this sense of curiosity was only increased and eventually causing her to begin to ask questions about the past human's something that APE specifically forbids and causing Kokoro to be the first member of the squad to change and setting the stage for the rest of the squad to follow suit. A notable result of this change was the development within Kokoro of a desire to live a life that Is not that of a franxx pilot and one where she can freely create a happy life of her own and bring something back into this war-torn world to create a future where she can be happy. The character of Kokoro I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with her development from a quiet, nervous and easily scared person to one that was both brave enough and determined enough to fight on the frontlines to protect her friends but at the same time brave enough to ask the questions that nobody before had the opportunity to ask papa and for the first time create the break within papa’s wall that would awaken within the squad a desire to be free. I felt that her seiyuu Saori Hayami really did an excellent job at portraying the character of Kokoro.

Mitsuru

Mitsuru voiced by new voice actor Aoi Ichikawa is one of the main characters of the series and is a member of s13. At the beginning of the series, Mitsuru had the aura and the air of an honor student though, in this case, the arrogant kind that forms grudges easily. A teenage boy that’s around the same age as the rest of the squad Mitsuru at the beginning of the series was a quiet but arrogant and condescending person that seemed to treat the other members of the squad with disdain bordering on being on anti-social. Indeed, it can be said that in the beginning Mitsuru was someone that viewed friendships and bonds with disdain and as a result did not enjoy a good relationship with the rest of the squad. This had the effect of making the squad dislike him and also feel sorry for his partner Ikuno who had to shoulder the burden of cleaning up his messes when he argues with the members of the squad. Apart from being arrogant and borderline anti-social Mitsuru in the beginning was shown to be someone that preferred to act when under orders from his superiors similar to how Ichigo was before her change and here it can be seen that this is due to the fact that Mitsuru doesn’t want to worry about anything else that might cause his perfect record to slip. During this first phase of his personality, Mitsuru is noted to have a sense of rivalry with the members of the squad and with Hiro in particular and indeed their competition while certainly useful in a certain sense proved to be nothing more than a hindrance to the squad as it affected their sense of unity. This is illustrated in the fact that in the beginning, Mitsuru did not even see himself as wrong even when the facts are shown to him showing not just his arrogance but also of the fact that this nature of his was more than just about pride.

As the series goes on however and Mitsuru and the others encounter the ever-changing nature of the war against the klax Mitsuru’s personality gradually starts to change. As a result of a fortunate encounter with his squad mate Kokoro whose unique nature managed to slip through Mitsuru’s guard and get to the core of the person that was Mitsuru, it soon becomes apparent that Mitsuru’s surface personality was actually a safety mechanism that he created to hide his fear. Unlike Mitsuru’s surface nature which is arrogant and overconfident the true personality of Mitsuru is shown to be the opposite as more than ever he fears at being seen as incompetent and useless by others especially his squad mates as unlike them he was not born with innate skills and indeed was judged by APE as being almost worthless back in training. Indeed, the unfriendly nature that he displays towards his squad mates, as well as the rivalry with Hiro, can also be seen to be a by-product of this belief as well as he does not want anyone to see his true face and skills. But more than anything Mitsuru’s dislike of Hiro stems from a more personal matter and a crucial link to Hiro that he unknowingly broke. As a result of being able to open up to Kokoro Mitsuru’s personality changed substantially as he began to realise that not being able to trust his fellow squad mates was not just hurting them but also him as well and that coming clean and telling them of your problems and struggles would not be embarrassing and shameful but instead be a good thing as it will enable the squad to better understand your capabilities and allow them to better support you on the field. After the revelation it can be seen that Mitsuru has become more caring of others and also more perceptive at being able to determine any problems that his new friends may be experiencing and rather than keeping them at a distance as his old self would have been Mitsuru instead elects to try and solve it with dialogue showing just how much Kokoro has affected him.

Miku

Miku voiced by veteran seiyuu Nanami Yamashita of Trinity Seven and High School Fleet fame is one of the main characters of the series and is a member of S13. From initial appearances, Miku can be said to be the ideal image of a girly girl the high maintenance type specifically. A teenage girl around the same age as the other members of s13 Miku at the beginning of the series was a confident, haughty and proud person by nature that was also bossy and loved to order people around. At the same time, she was also stubborn and fiercely independent. These qualities when combined together made her a great challenge for Ichigo to handle as the latter tried to get the squad to fight together as a unified unit. Indeed, at the beginning of the series, Miku was someone that viewed Ichigo as sort of a rival to her and did all she can to impede her efforts often dragging along her partner Zorome along as well. Though a haughty person by nature Miku was shown to also have a softer side to her personality that often slips out at times when she feels there’s no need to keep her guard up. Here it can be seen that Miku while haughty is also a positive and playful person that loves to joke around with people that she considers friends. However true to her nature even in this state Miku is always ready for a fight. A prominent trait of Miku that stays constant with both of her personalities is the fact that she has great pride both as a woman and as a fighter and as a result gets annoyed easily at people that offend her too often comical results.

As the series goes on however and Miku and her squad mates become involved in the ever-changing war with the klax Miku’s personality gradually starts to change. While still arrogant and haughty to a degree it can be seen that beneath this Miku is someone that’s cautious and not someone that trusts strangers easily which is shown in the fact that among the s13 she was the one that was most suspicious of Zero Two when she joined the squad and was the one that took the longest to trust her. At the same time, however, Miku was also someone that can be seen to be very loyal to her friends and willing to help them with their problems when needed. Despite her attitude, Miku is also very perceptive and understanding of people’s feelings something that becomes much more prevalent as the series goes on. When confronted with situations where the other party is reacting badly she will not be afraid to lecture them on this. This is best seen in her changing attitude to Ichigo a person that while she disliked at first slowly developed a sense of respect for.

Zorome

Zorome voiced by veteran seiyuu Mutsumi Tamura of Anohana and Digimon Tri fame is one of the main characters of the series and is a member of s13. From initial appearances, Zorome is the classic example of an overachiever and is very similar to Mitsuru in his phase 1 personality state. A teenage boy Zorome, in the beginning, was a moody, overconfident and prideful person that looked down on the other members of the squad. Indeed, it can be seen that at the beginning of the series Zorome seemed to have a fervent belief that he was the main star within the squad to the amusement of both the squad and of me the viewer. As a result of his personality, it can be seen that Zorome was someone that got annoyed at things rather easily and when he did he took it out on others much to their frustration. At the beginning of the series Zorome like Mitsuru had a sense of rivalry with Hiro as to him Hiro’s status as a prodigy was something that rubbed him the wrong way and as a result, the relationship between the two was anything but friendly.

As the series goes on however and Zorome’s personality gets developed and expanded upon it can be seen that beneath Zorome’s arrogant and moody nature Zorome was actually someone that can readily admit his own mistakes and would apologise to the people that his actions have caused harm to something that is shown in his interactions with his friend and partner Miku. While seeing Hiro as his main rival in the beginning of the series as Zorome and the members of the squad bore witness to Hiro’s gradual awakening of his abilities and his performance as a parasite on the field this sense of rivalry gradually disappears and is replaced by a newfound respect for Hiro who he now treats as a comrade. A prominent trait of Zorome that is unique to him is the reason that Zorome fights so hard as a pilot which is due to his desire to enter the plantations city and join the adult world as a full-fledged adult. This I felt was interesting as unlike Zorome the great majority of parasites which includes his fellow s13 squad mates fight because it's their duty and also because they don’t want to be seen as useless by the plantation. Having a personal reason to fight for I felt explained a great deal as to why Zorome is fighting so hard to be the main man within the squad.

Nana

Nana voiced by veteran seiyuu Marina Inoue of 3 Gatsu No Lion and Infinite Stratos fame is one of the main support characters of the series and is the squad’s minder at the beginning of the series. A member of APE Nana is the combat HQ parasite manager that oversees squad 13 both in their personal lives and when on the battlefield where she acts as a controller. A calm, positive and efficient person by nature Nana is someone that is intimately familiar with the members of squad 13 as before being assigned there they were also under her tutelage when they were being trained at the garden. As a result of this type of personal bond Nana while responsible and steadfast in her duties also cares a great deal about the members of the squad and always tries to look out for them taking care to put them at ease when needed. As a result of this Nana is shown to dislike it when the squad is put in danger and in situations where they are not prepared for. As the series goes on it can be seen that Nana has two distinct personalities that she adapts. When on duty Nana is serious, efficient and cold and dislikes it when troublesome situations happen. However, when she is interacting with her fellow charges in s13 this is replaced by a more emotional and perhaps human side to her character one that is more emotionally invested in the members of the squad.

As the series goes on and Nana’s personality and character get’s expanded upon it can be seen that in the past Nana was very similar to the members of s13 which explains the kinship and strong bonds that she has with them as she too has also experienced the darker side of the war against the klax. This latter part proved to be a costly affair when she relapsed and remembered the pain that the war had brought her. However while this pain caused Nana no small amount of pain both physically and mentally this also awakened within her a desire to not just protect the children that she manages but also open her eyes to the realization that warfare is not something that they should be forced to do and that they should be able to forge a path that is based on their own wishes and one that is based on their own free will. The character of Nana while only a support character I felt was an interesting character in her own right that was both well designed and developed with the contrast between the calm, cold and efficient officer mode Nana and the friendly, caring and positive Nana being especially well done. While her emotional side and the fact that she’s too emotionally invested in the squad is seen as illogical by her superiors I felt that it was her greatest strength as she’s ensuring that her charges will not suffer the same fate as her friends a move that brings both her calm and to the squad a sense of security as they know that Nana will not risk their lives. I felt that her seiyuu Marina Inoue really did a great job of portraying the character of Nana.

AMV

In terms of animation, I felt that the series did a great job of showcasing the various types of locations and settings that existed in the post devastated world of the planet both in terms of the surface locations that existed outside of the plantations as well as locations that existed beneath the surface such as the magma mines. This also extends to the various plantations that within the lore of the series are essentially mobile fortress cities that housed the remains of humanity within them. The plantations, in particular, I felt made use of quite the interesting design as while on the exterior they featured large but bland spaces that gave wide sweeping views of the surrounding terrain beneath it lay countless gun emplacements that could be activated at a moment’s notice to protect the city. This helped give the impression that while the city was also a sanctuary for the people living inside it was also a bastion that will protect them from the enemies that roam this world. Within the plantation, this design continues as rather than house parasites which are the cities specially created and trained defence force with the civilians that they are expected to protect they are instead separated in which the civilians live within the city as adults and the children live in their home area which is called Mistilteinn. This isolation of the children from the adults that they were supposed to be protecting I felt was highly symbolic and represented well of the belief that the children were only seen and used as weapons and tools and nothing more. This is reinforced by the introduction of facilities like the garden and the lab where the children are created and trained as well as in the views of the parasites that the home area in which the parasites live and social at is nothing more than a birdcage which while pretty is also confining. The character designs for the main and support cast I felt was also something that was well done within the series as their uniform appearance while allowing us the viewers to easily distinguish who is who within the series also matches well with the theme that all humans within the series whether its parasites like the members of s13 or controllers like Nana all have a specific role to play in this war. The fact that the uniforms that are worn by the parasites resemble those worn by high school students which when paired with the individual physical appearances and personalities of the cast I felt also symbolised that the parasites by fighting on the frontlines would as they do develop and grow as individuals and eventually graduate from their roles. This analogy to the life of a high school student from the start to the graduation I felt was pretty interesting.

In terms of mecha designs for the series main mecha the franxx’s, I felt that their design was rather unique. While most contemporary mecha anime make use of mechas that are vaguely humanoid in appearance the designs of the Franxx I felt were far more closer to this idea due largely to not just the shape of the franxx but also because of the faces that each franxx makes which within the series represents the female part of the pilot pairs since their faces are linked with their helmets when in combat which makes the mecha’s faces actually theirs. This aspect of the design I felt was an interesting one as it reinforced the pair dynamics within the pairing as while the male handled weapons control and the larger picture the female pair handled piloting and navigation and reinforcing the concept that they must rely upon each of their bonds to be successful on the field. The fact that the franxx look far more human than most other mechas that I have seen however are not the only aspects that I thought made them stand out though as the fact that each franxx were designed for and were equipped with different weapons also contributed to this impression as well. When compared to the other teams that are seen within the series whose mecha are not just more uniform not just in appearance but also in weapons load out I felt that the franxx that were used by s13 were more unique as each made use of a weapons load out that matched the personalities of each pilot pair giving them a unique role on the field that other teams did not have. A good example will be the franxx that Miku and Zorome make use of which is oriented for close combat due to its main weapons of claws. When paired with the unique personalities of their pilot pairs I felt that the franxx’s only served to reinforce the fact that s13 is an existence that’s unique to humanity whether on the field or not.

In terms of combat animation and battles, I felt that the battles and combat scenes that were featured within the series were both well designed and developed that remained consistent throughout the series whether the battles were large-scale ops or small-scale defensive ops. This was helped greatly by not just the varied designs of the enemies that the cast fight within the series but also by the fact that the squad is still learning to fight as a team. Seeing the squad gradually learn to fight as a team while also seeing their contributions to the larger war effort I thought complimented each other perfectly as it helped not just improve the war effort but also their teamwork as well. In terms of music the series made use of one opening theme and six ending themes which was Kiss of Death which was sung by Mika Nakashima and Torikago, Manatsu No Setsuna, Beautiful World, Hitori, Escape and Darling which was sung by XX:me a unit formed around the main female seiyuu’s of s13 which was Haruka Tomatsu, Kana Ichinose, Nanami Yamashita, Saori Hayami and Shizuka Ishigami. I felt that the opening and ending themes were all pretty well done with the opening, in particular, being able to convey a sense of mystique around the nature of just the war but also of Zero Two as well. The series various ending themes I felt were also well done with each conveying, not just a different emotion but also matching with the themes and developments that were started in the episodes in which they were used in. The series OST I felt was pretty well done and helped complement the various emotions and feelings that the members of the squad experience as they encounter the many events that take place within the series as the war with the klax change, not just their lives but also that of their fellow parasites and the planet as well. In terms of voice acting for the series, I felt that each of the main voice cast did an excellent job of portraying their assigned characters within the series. In particular I feel that Haruka Tomatsu, Kana Ichinose, Yuuto Uemura, Yuuichirou Umehara, Saori Hayami, Nanami Yamashita, Aoi Ichikawa, Mutsumi Tamura and Marina Inoue who portrayed the characters of Zero Two, Ichigo, Hiro, Goro, Kokoro, Miku, Mitsuru, Zorome and Nana respectively deserve special praise as I felt that they did an excellent job at portraying their assigned characters. Additionally, while I didn’t cover their characters within the review I felt that Shizuka Ishigami, Kenyuu Horiuchi, Katsuyuki Konishi and Rie Kugimiya who portrayed the characters of Ikuno, Dr. Franxx, Hachi and Code 001 respectively also did a great job of portraying the supporting cast for the series a role that’s just as important to the series as that of the main cast.

Overall conclusion

In overall Darling in the Franxx was a strong anime that despite its flaws was alongside Katana Maiden’s one of the heavyweights of the Winter 2018 anime season with its main strong points being its unique premise, strong story, well designed and developed characters, well designed battles and combat animation, strong mecha designs and excellent voice acting.

The overall premise of the story on the surface may look to be one that highlights the destructive war that is being fought by the remains of humanity and the hostile alien species known as the klax, but this is far from the truth. Rather it can be said to be half the truth for the true premise of the series is what can be said to be a coming of age story for a group of teenagers as they forge friendships and bonds with each other both on and off the battlefield as they enter a hostile world where they must learn not just about each other’s strength’s but also their weaknesses as well and learn to support them when needed as they learn to forge their own destiny. When paired with the series strong story I thought that this idea while ambitious was one that the series managed to adhere to and largely succeed at. The overall story of the series I felt was one of the main strong points of the series and made great use of the core premise of the series. Like most full-season animes of this era Darling in the Franxx makes use of the cour concept and divides the overall story of the series into two distinct parts each with distinct themes and plot developments. The series first cour which ran from episode 1 to 15 was the first part of the series whose main purpose was to introduce the members of s13 as well as Zero Two. The main themes that were introduced and used in this cour were bonding with your friends, forging bonds, overcoming differences and finding one’s place in society and on the team. The first cour I felt managed to handle the main themes that it made use of pretty well and succeeded in creating a strong foundation for the squad thanks to the countless struggles that the squad manages to overcome as they settle their differences and focus their efforts on fighting against the true foe. The second cour of the series which ran from episodes 16 to 24 was the second part of the series that acted as the soft reset to the series as it showed the squad as a unified entity and not a scattering of sand that they were back in the first cour. Unlike the first cour where the squad simply acted under orders from their superiors here in this cour as a result of their development as characters the members of the squad are seen to learn to think for themselves and with this discover new concepts and beliefs that their past selves would never would have dreamed off such as freedom, independence, and destiny. Paired with and taking advantage of the squad’s newfound desire to become more independent is the revelation of this war and the desire by the squad to not just reject the current system that’s mandated by APE but also to fight for the truth of this war. Key to this cour is the belief that everyone whether its parasites or not should be free to pursue their own destiny and live their life the way that they want. The second cour of the series I felt while expanding upon the many changes that the main cast develop as a result of the struggles that they managed to overcome back in the first cour also did a great job of introducing new concepts and ideas that were largely unknown to the main cast such as notions of freedom, destiny and a desire to live a life that is your own that’s not dictated by someone else. When combined with the plot developments within the second cour these new themes helped greatly in developing the main cast into their final selves. Despite their differing themes I felt that the two cours of the series overall story supported each other pretty well with the development of the main cast being especially impressive as they went from being a mismatched class that had no small number of doubters to one that brought great change to the world by shining the light of truth into the darkness of APE and Papa’s lies. One particular scene that I felt symbolised the growing change within the members of s13 was the wedding scene within the second cour of the series a scene that was both beautiful and powerful but at the same time tragic at how it ended.

The overall story of the series while certainly entertaining also made use of a number of unique concepts that were unique to the series foremost among these is the bond that exists between the male member of the pilot pair the stamen and the female member of the pair the pistil. While bonds of friendship and comradeship are concepts that we often see in other action themed anime I felt that the bond that exists between the pilot pairs within the series are unique because the bond rather than being just a physical one like that of a friendship is one that is both emotional and mental as both pilots of a pair must not only be good friends but also be able to synchronise with each other by merging their minds and fighting as one being. As a result of this specific bond, it can be said that the stronger the friendship and bond that exists between the two the stronger the bond will be and the stronger their franxx will be on the field. This concept of using the feelings that exists between a boy and a girl I thought was an interesting one as it made use of the concept of turning the feelings that you have whether its friendship or romantic ones into a weapon that can be used to protect them when fighting on the field. A concept that was introduced as part of this bond within the series was the existence of the Jian which is a mythical bird that Hiro and Zero witness that must join together with another of its species in order to survive as on its own it cannot. This concept I felt was an apt one as it symbolises the bond that exists between a male and a female as both must rely on each other to survive thus showing the bond between a husband and a wife a meaning that I felt was also apt for the pilot pairs as well. While the story featured a number of interesting revelations that I felt was maybe at times too strong for it I felt that this was handled pretty well within the series by introducing well timed and well-developed explanations for these new faces within the series.

While I enjoyed Darling in the Franxx’s overall story and premise I felt that the series was also let down by a number of flaws that existed within the story. Flaws that I felt kept it from getting a higher score in my book. First in terms of character development while the main cast was developed pretty well as the series went on I felt that this wasn’t applied to everyone within the squad. The characters of Futoshi and Ikuno I felt had the least bit of development for their characters as the series went on and while admittedly both were minor characters when compared to the rest of the squad I felt that they could have at least been given some development to highlight the fact that they too are members of the squad. Secondly, there was the problem with the Nines. Within the series, the Nines is a spec ops unit of parasites that report directly to Papa and the APE’s but apart from acting as the antagonists of the squad, they have almost no character development whatsoever. Indeed, of the Nines their leader appropriately called Nines Alpha is the only one that actually gets some degree of development while the rest have nothing. I felt that the Nines could have been expanded upon so that their members at least have a more meaningful role within the series rather than just act as intimidating watchmen. Near the end of the series, I felt that the main cast lacked any kind of clear role within the series and while it can be said that they are at their final forms of development as a character I felt that they could have been given better roles rather than what they were given. Too me I felt that the main cast there acted more like support characters than main ones. While the story of the series was something that I really enjoyed I felt that some things could have been explained and expanded upon better rather than let the viewer infer from whats happening in the background to determine whats going to happen next.

Overall Darling in the Franxx was a series that I really enjoyed with its main strong points being its unique premise, story, characters, battle scenes and animation, mecha designs, voice acting and its take on a number of both new and existing themes. While it does have a number of flaws that hinder it and stop it from becoming the masterpiece that a lot of people wished that it was I felt that despite them Darling in the Franxx was a series that I still enjoyed watching as like Nana said within the series I like her have become emotionally invested in the members of s13 and I wanted to see whether they will be able to end this war and live their life independent of the decisions of others and having the freedom to do what they want with their lives in the world that they live in. As a final score, I felt that Darling in the Franxx deserves a final score of 9/10.

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This is not a review per se, rather a conservative essay masked as a review about the series. There are spoilers ahead.
What is conservatism? Is it the worship of the ashes or the preservation of the fire?
What is Darling in the FRANXX? Is it a glorified mecha or a cheap romance anime?

And now, what does conservatism have to do with Darling in the FRANXX? It’s exactly the dystopian future where the fire has not been preserved and there are barely ashes to even be worshipped. A world ruled by an elite whose actual faces are not even seen at all, pulling the strings from a podium ordering what should be done and what should not.

So it’s no coincidence that in 2018, conservatism is having its finest year since a few decades, and also one of the finest anime of the season, both have absolutely awed the world with their simple, but blunt and clear way to show their worlds and why it’s more needed than ever.

-Story (10/10):
Children are made to fight mechas called Franxxs to protect the plantations from klaxosaurs, which are a species of reptiles who live under the Earth, one of those children is called Hiro, a once promising parasite waiting his turn to finally pilot a Franxx, can’t connect at all with a female in order to pilot it. His fate changes when he meets a controversial pilot by the name of Zero Two, who is believed to killing her partners after a few rides in her favorite Franxx, the Strelizia. Somehow, Hiro knows Zero Two from earlier times, and vice versa.

When Hiro gets tired of waiting, goes to pilot with this controversial pilot Zero Two, and surprisingly, he makes connection with her, but starts to have the same problems and conditions that former Zero Two partners endured before dying. Not to be deterred, he keeps insisting it is fake and just by pure willpower, manages to break that curse from him, accepting unconditionally Zero Two and vowing to never let her alone and “be one with her”.

Zero Two is invited to live with Hiro in an old house reminiscent of the old 19th century mansions in the place referred as the Garden, here she is met with skepticism by the other parasites, namely Ichigo, the leader of the squad, who herself has something with Hiro. The first episodes consist on mostly fights with the mechas against the klaxosaurs, and of course the mandatory beach episode. And it’s ironically that in the fan-service-ish episode where one the most important, yet secondary arcs of the anime is started.

Cheap romance drama happens all the time, crushes are widespread between all the cast, some broken hearts and some not, typical for people in their puberty/adolescence, volatile mood swings, so very typical, but in this dystopian world, it’s forbidden to have emotions! The parasites are treated as numbers (Ichigo: 015, Goro: 056, Kokoro: 556, Hiro: 016, Zero Two: 002), confined to renounce their individuality and being forced to swear loyalty to Papa (the elites who control the entire world), even not caring about their humanity as it was the case when they’re left alone in the Garden for several days until their protectors Hachi and Nana (also named by their codes) intervene.

The soul searching of Zero Two is quite magnificent, as she wants to be more like a human, several fights with her fellow parasites, especially Ichigo, finally breaks that hard shell she had, opens herself to Hiro and co. and enjoying fighting with his Darling. All of this happens while a sweet girl named Kokoro finds a rare book about taking care of a baby, a forgotten art in the dystopian world; soon, Kokoro will go deeper in this strange book, while trying to sort out her feelings towards Mitsuru, something that upsets the sturdy Futoshi who is also in love with Kokoro.

One of the bigger reasons that this happens is that all the parasites are having higher mood swings due to entering their adolescence and trying to understand their bodies, no wonder when they now see each other naked, they get very ashamed and vehemently oppose the other sex watch them, exemplified of the volatile duo of Miku and Zorome, always the most loud and obnoxious members of the Garden and the most representatives of the nature of a growing woman and a growing man, respectively.

The higher peak of the middle part happens when finally Kokoro and Mitsuru open themselves to love and climaxing in Kokoro’s bedroom and sleeping with each other. The parasites later plan their wedding just to be stopped by the more Papa loyal Nines, who in before find the real state that the Squad 13 are currently and what they are really planning, the Nines being similar to the classical soviet spies who doesn’t express anything, but are astute in detecting dissidence; and of course in typical soviet style, Kokoro and Mitsuru are sent to some kind of “rehabilitation” which forces them forget what happened those last days.

In one of the most confusing parts of the series, happens a lot of strange cases, why Papa conquered the world and what’s its real nature, why adults are immortal and why parasites never reach adulthood (something that Zorome thinks a lot) and what happens when the parasites doesn’t die, what happened to real klaxosaurs, Ikuno finally confessing to her dear Ichigo. These parts without doubt generated a huge negative reaction (somewhat justified) and if they were written correctly and with more clarity, I’m pretty sure we could be talking as this series as part of the far side of the anime Heaven.

And finally, before the final fights with the Franxx start, it’s when we know that what really happened in that night where Kokoro and Mitsuru were alone, they created new life, a baby ready to make understand everybody there what it’s needed to recover their old world (and also the reason that both have to stay), the extinguished fire lost a lot of decades ago. Ichigo finally accepts the relationships of Zero Two and Hiro and also Goro’s love, and now she’s ready to move on. The old world is trying to be reseeded and replant with the old ways of their ancestors after many years of unlimited magma extraction, and of course, that current Earth doesn’t have the same fertile soil of its olde years.

Hiro has to departure to complete the saving of the world with Zero Two and tells that they’ll come someday; the now former parasites and adults try to reconstruct the world left with what both taught and left them. Kokoro gives birth to her baby girl, who unsurprisingly puts the name of Ai (love), and settles in her new life with Mitsuru and her children, Ikuno became the scholar of the new world and settles with Naomi, a former parasite-in-training who was isolated because she never had the “conditions” to be a parasite, Goro travels the world to finally settle with Ichigo, Zorome and Miku became teachers of the new children being born, Futoshi moves on and is the new chef, with all of them trying to repopulate that new world, all while their old leaders Hachi and Nana give them the keys of that new world and become something like the guarantors of it.

After Hiro’s and Zero Two’s ascent to the outer space to protect the new world, all of the former parasites still on Earth pray for their wellbeing and hoping their sacrifice is not in vain, while at the same time thanking both for re-enlightening them, giving new reasons for being helpful with their new others, and wishing and preparing for their second coming.

A true story of how the young parasites overthrew their old soviet liberal establishment, all of them understanding why the old ways are still timeless and why we should never surrender our liberties and humanity just to play and be God.

-Art and sound (9/10):
Nothing much to add here (and also don’t want to), animation is pretty fluid, what you most expect from Trigger and A-1 Pictures, but there’s a little decay when Trigger stops animating it in the third quarter. No weird frames or weird animation, all characters are well drawn and have very natural proportions.

The opening Kiss of Death is an underrated 2018 masterpiece opening, and the endings, while not keeping up to the OP; they mostly entertain you, good singing by the unit of the five parasite girls. All the voices are clearly on song with their respective characters, higher praise to Miku and Zorome seiyuus who made the characters much more entertaining (and/or annoying) for me.

-Characters (10/10):
When you see that they are 10 main characters, you may say that this show is actually bad or it’s some kind of error, but quite the opposite is actually. No character here will make you feel indifferent towards he/she, all of them serve a purpose and while having or not a mini-arc dedicated towards one of them, taking just one of them out of the picture and Darling in the Franxx will not feel the same at all; and in contrast of other anime who have heavy focus on just the characters, DitF balances extremely well the story, the execution, the characters and the conservative moral of the show.

Zero Two is the best character by far, changing from an isolated girl whose only focus is beating klaxosaurs towards a more caring person, not only to Hiro, but for the rest of the parasites who had heavy suspicions of her, when she calls Hiro “Darling”, she truly means it and it’s actually committed to him. Hiro comes from the leader of the current Squad 13 to outcast to the spiritual leader of the group, clearly committed towards Zero Two, and understood the true reality of the group and the Garden, just to suffer a small cruel fate of defying the almighty Papa world.

Ichigo is the actual leader of the Squad 13 and has a laser focus to keep order over all the parasites and fighting in the Franxxs; she admired Hiro from standing up to the soviet-esque establishment to the point to accuse unfairly Zero Two for taking him from her, always fighting for what she considers right. Goro is the most “normal” guy who, like her partner and love interest Ichigo, has a laser focus when riding the Franxx and is mostly jealous of Hiro, but he also serves as a species of masculine role model and also a guarantor of sanity for the other boys.

Zorome and Miku are exactly carbon copies of each other, loud and obnoxious who consider the other one as the rival to beat and somehow still having the time to care for each other. Zorome is the typical boy who lauds the current system as the most perfect system ever made by man and tries to become part of that system, only to become the biggest opponent of the Papa’s world once he knows the harsh realities that intrusive governments have not only on economies, but also on the social life aspect. Miku also understand what’s going on and also becomes one of the highest dissenters of it, also keeping her feminine personality and also being totally against to being the object of the lecherousness of the men, attracting the other girls towards her position. No coincidence that this wild couple (if I can say that) represents the true nature of why a man (Zorome) should be masculine, that it’s not only bad, but also natural and necessary, and also why a woman (Miku) should be feminine as such.

Kokoro and Mitsuru are arguably the finest couple of the series, from “different” upbringings and sufferings; they manage to connect each other really well in the latter parts of the series. Mitsuru is the biggest examples to how to stand up when you are thrown to the floor to suffer, that there’s no reason that somebody should stay in the same state forever and a proof of will is power; like Zero Two, he was tortured and “rehabilitated” many times to be just one more of the system, also embraces Kokoro warmly and manages to forgive Hiro for “forgetting” his promise, and on the last episode, supporting Kokoro and their offspring,. Kokoro is a shy girl who is somewhat resigned to her parasite life without any aspiration, but after the finding of a mysterious book about taking care of a baby, she starts to discover this strange old way of living and caring; decided to be loved by Mitsuru, she plans to take care of him even on the most tiny moments, once in love, she, like most of the parasites, has a laser focus, this time on trying to have a baby, and after succeeding, she suffers the same fate to the people who manage to defy the system and gets “rehabilitated”, this didn’t manage to break her will even after getting pregnant and remaining confident in delivering, despite “warnings”.

Futoshi is that guy who always gets the worst scenario of the many possible on the series; this doesn’t deter him for trying to overcome an infinite and a half of problems that the system and the luck give him. That means suffering the change of his partner and love interest Kokoro, having eating problems who make him heavier and being always the butt of a joke; this clearly shows up when himself officiated the wedding between Kokoro and Mitsuru, and of course after the final moments, he clearly looks at peace with himself and managed to move on from Kokoro and forming his own family. Ikuno is a very underrated characters who doesn’t like to shine on her own, the system makes her resigned and upset to the point to forcing the changing of partners after breaking up the chemistry with Mitsuru, unbeknownst to everyone is that her interests are on her side, actually Ichigo; she suffers of not having her and having many boys around her makes her jealous, and after confessing her, she clearly felt more alleviated, moved on and began a relationship with a rejuvenated Naomi, and accepted her fate of aging faster than the rest by overexerting the last remnants of energy she had, to the point of still caring for Ichigo and her future baby (from Goro) with the same care and dedication she devoted to the establishment and scholarly of the new world.

Even the outer characters, Hachi and original Nana mostly show a cold and distant nature towards the parasites, but deep into them, they care for them a lot, and also for each other, the new world made by the old parasites has the guidance of them. New Nana is colder towards the parasites, but eventually helps her other Nana and Hachi to give the needed advice to the future of the world, the former parasites.

The other group, the Nines, also fight against the klaxosaurs, but their upbringing made them cold and distant to everybody, and in some occasions, they serve as the secret service of Papa, trying to monitor the lives of the parasites. Interestingly enough, as they are abandoned by their bosses, they become crazy and later help the former parasites to their last battle to fade into the time and give them space for the new world.

-Enjoyment (10/10):
What hasn’t been said about Darling in the Franxx yet? It’s all resumed in what you think and you may be right or not, opinions are subjective and should be treated as such. For what I considered above may be wrong in the mind of a certain person is equally valid as if other person were to support my thesis made about the series.

Many have said that Darling has been based on the old mechas like Gurren Lagann or similar, however, I’m not the one to make such comments because I haven’t watched it any of the other old mechas mentioned, so this essay-review is just being made from what I thought about Darling in the Franxx when I was watching it.

As this review is published, seeing the current score of 7.80 and the top reviews is not only disappointing, but rather criminal and dangerous where we criticize what the anime establishment imposes as a way to think. Sure, Darling in the Franxx has a quite big quality dip in the middle part to somehow justify lowering the average score over and of course things could (and should) have been done better, however, this doesn’t affect my writing of this essay masked as a review; in comparison, there are many anime whose real score is way higher that it should be, an example is Charlotte, whose rating is an unfairly high 7.93.

Maybe if I made a more neutral and colder review of the anime, could I have penalized it to a 9 or an 8? It could have been a yes as I could have been a no, but since the middle of the series is when I truly saw what was really behind this series and I decided to review by that way. So maybe taking 3 weeks to finally complete this review seen with conservative lenses was the best idea as I think this is the correct way to watch Darling in the Franxx. Could Darling have a better outlook if it was aired in 2008 or earlier, rather than 2018 in an era where true conservatism has all but disappeared, and somehow it’s having its best months in a very long time? We'll never know, or it’s just maybe my higher than average paranoia tricking my mind.

To say that I enjoyed could be appropriate, as I enjoyed a good bunch of adolescents trying to understand their world and each other, and why it’s like that and why they have to suffer, while at the same time, discovering each other and doing what our human nature mandate us, it was funny as hell most of the time. But my highest emotion on the latter half was mostly of fear, tremor and anxiety, and it’s not because the confusing part of, well, a good chunk of episodes, but rather the very normal things that we do right now are in great danger to be destroyed by an elite whose only wish is to obliterate our current lives and existence as we know it.

So this conservative critic asks this question: Are we on the point of no return where we are monitored by the state and like Orwell, war is peace? No, and by a long shot actually. In spite of that, this doesn’t mean we don’t have to rest on our laurels, rather keep fighting for conservative values until the end of the world.

So for many, Darling in the Franxx is an overrated mecha, for others is the greatest thing since sliced bread, for others is a wasted potential, for others it’s just a mug anime who only fills in the season. For me is the glorification of true conservatism, where the family, community and environment are given their spaces to live in peace with each other; moreover, the central piece that makes love and later family is the much needed remedy to a great quantity of ills that we currently. All in all, Darling in the Franxx’s objective is not only glorifying our classic normal ways to live, rather serves a warning about a possible collapse of our current system that took us millennia to create and could be destroyed in mere weeks.

Final score: 10/10.

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So Darling in the Franxx is the first anime I've watched and is what made me love anime all together. No other anime I've watched so far can compare to Darling in the Franxx personally. The excitement I would get working on Saturdays to know that when i get home there would be a new episode was unforgettable. So without further ado, here is my review of the show.

Story. The story for the show was very unique and i never heard anything like it but then again I'm still an anime noob. It has good progression and a pretty big twist here and there. Overall it was a thrilling story that will leave you on the edge of your seat on what will happen next.

Art. The art for Darling in the Franxx is what caught my attention and made me start watching it. The characters, the places and the fight scenes are so visibly appealing.

Sound. The sound for this anime is awesome. The opening song, the ending song, the music for the fight scenes, the sad scenes, they all are awesome. I was able to experience some real feeling during a scene with the music that was played during it. The voice actors and actresses were also excellent. They had real emotion in their voices and all did a great job. I was especially impressed with the voice actor of Hiro and voice actress of Zero Two.

Characters. Ahh the characters. All the characters were such fun to watch. Especially with best girl Zero Two and Hiro. The chemistry and interactions with these two and everyone felt real. Each character has their moment in the series and grows throughout which was very enjoyable to see.

Enjoyment. Out of all the anime I've seen so far, I haven't enjoyed a series as much as I did this one. With what I said earlier, the excitement I would get working on Saturday to know that I can watch a new episode was unforgettable. During the first few weeks of this anime I had trouble thinking on actual real life matters cause I was so obsessed with this show.

Overall this anime really was something special. What with its story, its art, its sound, and its characters, it really was perfect for me as a viewer in every way. Im sad that its over, but thankful. Without it, I don't think I ever would have gotten into the world of anime!

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Darling in the FranXX is a great example of what two studios working together can bring, though in the later episodes it struggles with it story, it is still really enjoyable and with some amazing art, sound design and characters

Story: 5/10 The main story is pretty interesting, it has shown us a mysterious world and a lot of things to figure out (that could get explained in the rest of the series), like why are there plantations, what has happened to the world, was the world always like this, what are the klaxosaurus, and most importantly, WHY ON EARTH ARE THE FRANXX PILOTED BY DRY HUMPING?!?!? , I have a small theory that I made myself, and that is one of the great things about this story, because it makes me believe that the intent of trigger is to provide viewers with a sense of pride and accomplishment for finding the hidden reasons to things, the only problem is that in the second and third episode it lost part of its charm, but recovered it in the fourth and fifth episodes. At the second part of the show the story decides to end the world building quite rapidly and has an enormous twist that can be related a lot to some Gainax or other Trigger shows, but the thing is, that while those other shows managed to do it in a perfect way, putting hints, and making you feel like there is more, this shows twist was really unexpected and left me more confused that shocked, it slowly recovers in the final part though, even if it is just a little.

Art: 9/10 The art has that really cool Trigger artstyle but more polished with the help of A1 pictures, with some gorgeous moments, and some really good animated fighting scenes.

Sound: 10/10 I admit it, I’m one of those guys that tend to skip the OP and ED to get straight to the action, but this is one of the exceptions to that, the opening is probably my favorite of the season, and the ending is on my top list of all time, they are that good. And about the OST, it is really good, in the calm moments it is really relaxing, but in the fights, oh man, it makes the action feel 1000 times more epic.

Characters: 9/10 The character design is really good, paired with the great animation, it gives us a large cast of characters with really distinct looks and personalities, and none of them feels too cliché. There gets a point in the show where you actually start feeling more connected to the side characters, and while this in other shows would be a bad thing, in this one it feels like something good because of the quality of those characters

Enjoyment: 9/10 This is a really entertaining show, though in some parts it does feel a little bit annoying in how it starts to and more things without notice and without time to process it, it almost always is a really good watch.

Final thoughts: I believe that this is a show that should be watched, it brings a lot to the table, does some things well, and some not as well as they could have made, especially in the story side, but apart from that, if you want a really good mecha drama you should totally watch this, and even If you don’t enjoy it, finish it all.

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Inspired by old familiar mecha, Darling in the FranXX tries to incorporate over-the-top elements of Gurren Laggan and symbolic yet dramatic elements of Evangelion.

Where it doesn't fail to deliver in generic combat, it not only fails to deliver in consistent plot, which it tries to build upon, but adds unnecessary elements of melodrama from characters, which just makes them look unrealistic and unlikable, it adds on extra awkward elements that makes sympathizing with the cast a pain and following the plot a chore.

Perhaps the cartoony mecha style emphasizes on that, but in the end it's a shallow show that foreshadows heavily on plot twists, but doesn't follow through to them in the end.

If you enjoy "nu"-mecha anime with unnecessary fanservice, no respect to its own world building and plot, and no respect to the viewer - go ahead and give this a go. What might seem to be a popcorn flick at first, simply something fun to watch, ends up being something that simply spits on the viewer in multiple ways and calls it a day.

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For decades, glorious Nippon has been growing closer to extinction. To cure Nippon through the limitless power of anime, our lord and savior Trigger has blessed us with Darling in the FranXX! But to our surprise, this anime was touched by Satan himself, A-1 Pictures, and its true purpose was to accelerate the extinction!!

(Long spoiler-filled review ahead. Spoiler-free TL;DR at the end.)

With the declining birthrate in Japan, people are living longer, but fewer babies are being born; there aren't enough young people to take care of the elderly. The Japanese government is spending more money on health care; the workforce is shrinking with fewer young people to fill jobs; people are getting overworked to death due to a lack of employees. The economy isn't flowing properly. The country's issues become abundantly clear when looking at how pharmacies stock their shelves with more diapers for adults than for kids.

Then there's Darling in the Franxx, a shoddily written clusterfuck of a mecha series that attempts to inform its audience about Japan's declining birthrate. Yet when it does address the birthrate dilemma, it only manages to conjure the most asinine, idiotic, and offensive answers possible. While it's animation, storyboarding, and fight choreography are exceptional for at least half of the show, it's writing fails on every conceivable level. Beginning as a subpar and predictable character-driven drama with a vague sci-fi setting, it gradually fell into incoherence. The lack of information was a trick used to mask the nonsensical lore. There's a lot to unpack here, so I split my review into parts for the sake of organization.

Part 1: [Hiro & Zero Two]
The first indication that something is wrong with A-1 Pictures/Trigger's dystopian mecha series appears in the first scene: A monologue by the monotonous protagonist Hiro and his soon to be wild waifu Zero Two.

"The Jian, also known as the bird that shares wings, only possesses one wing. Unless a male and female pair lean on each other and act as one, they're incapable of flight."

Throughout the series, this metaphor is present. You can find the bird on the characters' uniforms and the futuristic infrastructure, yet there is no such thing as a 'Jian' bird in real nature. There are no bird species that only has one wing. Even implying a one-winged bird that wouldn't die out through natural selection is ridiculous. This metaphor has two meanings; the literal: the kids pilot mechs known as Franxx, which require a male/female pair. The series demonstrated this rule in Partner Shuffle (ep. 11) when two girls could not pilot together. The message is clear: every human requires another person of the opposite gender to thrive. Franxx mistook relying on another human for survival as love. It's not. That's just codependency.

The show romanticizes toxicity. It never attempts to refute this message: Codependency is necessary for survival. Hiro and Zero Two need everything from each other. They're never genuinely in love. He is physically unable to piolet with anyone except her. She needs him because he's the first partner she hasn't killed. Plot contrivances pull them apart, then put them back together—of course, with fanfare to trick you into thinking they overcame something. Yet, the series frames them as a perfect couple; this is codependency, not love. They both NEED something from one another, and that's what is tying them together, not a bond! They're like two snakes wrapping around each other until one of them suffocates first.

At the beginning of the series, Hiro is wallowing in self-pity because he was just too good for his last piloting partner, she was a lame normal girl, and the show decides he needs a wilder girl. He's just a potato self-insert protagonist; everyone loves him for shallow reasons. Seeing all of the characters admire Hiro feels so unnatural. It's apparent they're deliberately written to like him regardless of his lack of charisma. He's a surrogate for the audience. The writers know the (male) audience desires the affection of friends and women. All of Hiro's struggles are rooted in him being better than everyone else. He just perceives himself as being worse because of his frustratingly low self-esteem. That's what the writers think is relatable. No matter how much he annoys us with self-pitying monologues, he's never believable.

Once his wild waifu Zero Two shows up, and they start piloting with one another, he finally feels fulfilled. She's a half-monster/half-human hybrid, and she has horns. That's the single flimsy explanation we get for her craziness, not nearly enough to find her personality believable, but at least she didn't have the same generic design as all of the other characters. She's known as the 'partner killer' because anyone who pilots with her dies after three times (keep in mind this was back when she was allowed to have worthwhile personality traits). This conflict gave the show chance to discuss how Hiro felt physical pain when he piloted with her, but as we would come to see, the show had no interest in delving into its characters in any meaningful way. Zero Two spends the first half of the show wallowing in angst. After all, she's not a human or whatever, which is moderately intriguing because she develops PTSD and, in hallucinations, sees the past partners she killed. It gave the show a chance to develop her in a meaningful way, but it dropped this entirely for the sake of making her relationship with Hiro seem as saccharine as possible.

The Beast and the Prince (ep.13), their backstory episode more or less existed solely to contribute to the cloying tone. Zero Two began as a test subject for the creator of the partner piloting system, Dr. Franxx himself, and he's a Super Evil guy, so the episode spends a fair bit of time on her getting tortured. Genericness and predictability aside, the episode itself is decent enough upon your first inspection; Hiro became friends with Zero two as a kid while in training, he taught her what it's like to be a normal kid, they tried to escape Dr. Franxx together but eventually got caught, and then the doctor erased their memories of each other. I didn't care for the episode considering it was more or less a copy of Yuri Kuma Arashi's climactic scene; the director ripped storyboards and narrative beats from Kunihiko Ikuhara—but Franxx had none of the thematic implications of Yuri Kuma. Franxx copies great anime like this (mostly Evangelion and Gurren Lagann) to craft a hackneyed story that's less interesting than even one of its parts. The only reason anyone will remember this anime is for the climactic moments and otaku pandering. I can't give it any credit because the director plagiarizes the anime's only creative shots. It's repugnant.

The travesty that was Punishment and Confessions (ep.14) was the turning point in the series when it lost any chance to develop the two leads beyond their one-dimensional starting point. In this episode, Hiro's squad separates him and Zero Two because their last time piloting together left him in critical condition, with her merely remarking, 'If he can't handle it, then he's not worth it.' Hiro's squad is always in the right when they call out Hiro for his bullshit. Yet the show wants us to believe they're the villains. The primary cause of conflict between them is when Zero Two visits Hiro, but when she arrives at the infirmary, by some coincidence, Hiro happened to have snuck out of the room and went looking for her. When she noticed he was missing, she went into psycho girlfriend mode and tried to murder his friends. Then through another coincidence, Hiro returned and saw this brawl, convincing him to break off their relationship. This isn't a conflict that arises due to their difference in personalities. It's a lazy plot contrivance. It only existed for them to have a reunion one episode later. The show pretends like they overcame something. No, they did not learn ANYTHING from this. Hiro and his friends all forgive Zero Two with no discussion whatsoever. In the next. Goddamn. Episode. No apologies for her beating the crap out of all of them.

The show treats this like the grandest climax so far; and it is the last time Trigger's fantastic sakuga is on display—it's like they ran away as soon as everything went to shit. The visuals are pure mediocrity for the following nine episodes.

Hiro and 02's reunion had virtually no impact. It contradicted what we saw in the previous episode because it nullified all of Zero Two's emotional baggage. After episode 15m the whole partner killer problem is forgotten. Her PTSD does not get discussed again. Her half-monster genetics are barely an afterthought—because being in a codependent relationship fixed all her problems! After episode 15, they were still very much relying on one another to survive. They didn't develop organically. Eventually, their parasitic relationship led to Zero Two sacrificing herself, hilariously turning into a statue. She also turned into a giant space robot lady. Yes, you read that right. I have to admit; I laughed my ass off when she transformed into a giant mecha woman—of course, with exposed cleavage the size of the moon.

In the beginning, Zero Two was the most interesting character in the series; her unpredictability defined her. She had intriguing emotional hang-ups—she had the potential to be a good character. Then by the end, she became a rock, both physically and metaphorically. She lost any edge she had because Hiro tamed her wildness. As we see throughout the series, this is the case with all of the pairings. Their relationships stunt character growth. For the rest of the show, Zero Two had no agency over the story other than sacrificing herself for her darling's sake.

Part 2: [Story & Setting]
In the early episodes of Franxx, the setting purposefully is left vague. This post-apocalyptic Earth populated by deserts is run by a council of powerful adults who issue orders to kids' various squads to protect the plantations containing adults unfit for battle. Kids pilot mechas to destroy oncoming attacks from giant alien creatures known as Klaxosaurs.

What began as a standard premise rapidly descended into nonsense. With each big reveal and twist, the show gradually lost what the main story was even about. At the start of the series, the kids fight aliens, then it's revealed to be an older form of humans (very original), THEN it's revealed the councilmen were the real aliens all along. Because why the hell not! There's no foreshadowing, but we need twists to make sure the mouth breathers don't fall asleep. Then it's revealed all of the adults are immortal because they injected molten lava into themselves. Yes. Again, you read that right. There is so much illogical the lore of Franxx. The best way to look at the story is from a thematic perspective. That's all the show seems to care about anyway.

Rather than competently crafting a story, Franxx emphasizes its characters, themes, emotions. Like the mecha classics that it copies incessantly, like Evangelion and Gunbuster, this is an emotional narrative. Except, they don't know how to make characters feel like believable humans, and the themes attempt social commentary without actually commenting on a person/group of people in the real world.

The story progresses in a semi-episodic structure similar to Evangelion. Episodes typically do not pick up right where the previous ones leave off plot-wise. Instead, they follow the ten main characters' squad as they experience becoming pilots and overcoming drama amongst one another, all while delivering small details on the setting to keep you intrigued to where it may go. If Franxx were good, this plot structure could work just as well as the shows it's imitating, but it's so much worse. Despite being relatively well animated, its story beats are mind-numbingly generic, and it never surprises. It feels like the script was generated by a soulless corporation, ticking off a checklist with each generic story beat, cliched character archetype, and seemingly crucial themes used cheaply as window dressing.

While watching Franxx, you are always ten steps ahead of the characters. They're shocked by the most mundane tropes found in any dystopian sci-fi story. Like when the main cast discovers they aren't the first squad of kids who lived in their dormitory, it was information hinted at us many times over with the kids always saying, "Oh I can't wait to be an adult someday…" Wow, what a shocker, the menacing council of enigmatic hooded figures leading an army of child soldiers are Very Evil. Who could have guessed?? None of the idiotic characters. These story beats are so standard, yet the show feels the need to present it with arbitrary foreshadowing as if it's not obvious enough already. Franxx is the kind of series that doesn't believe we're capable of thinking beyond a toddler's level. It spoon-feeds us information, making it even more unbearable to watch. Expecting us to be brain dead idiots or very young children also leads Franxx to create some of the most hilariously stupid metaphors in anime.

The mechas and how the kids pilot them are very obnoxiously a metaphor for sex; the boy mounting the girl in a doggy style position, complete with sex terminology to describe the mechas and seating positions. As if the sex analogy wasn't clear enough, the characters' piloting banter always sounds like they're talking about sex rather than, I don't know, fighting aliens. The mechas are, for some reason, thicc women with big boobs. There's always fanservice right in the middle of fight scenes—it's like they wanted to distract you from the action. The mechs are a mishmash of ugly colors and random accessories that make no sense. And the thing is, the kids have been raised in a sterile environment devoid of any information about sexuality, so they don't even know how perverted it is to pilot the mechs. It's so creepy and only adds to the layer of sleazy fanservice covering this whole mess. Secondly, it presents the procreation propaganda in such a painstakingly literal way that there is no room for analysis. A baby could understand the allegory. If Franxx had even a little self-awareness, it could have at least partially avoided this tonal whiplash if it framed it as humorous. Instead, it's unknowingly parodying itself by being as stupid as possible.

That leads us to the fact that the world of Darling in the Franxx makes no goddamn sense. It's full of contradictions. It repeatedly tells us that the kids don't know anything about sexuality; they don't even know what a kiss is, yet for some reason, they view nudity as inherently sexual and humiliating. The writers did not consider what a culture would look like if boys and girls got raised alongside each other without any real contact with adults or exposure to sex. The boys' ogle' the girls pervertedly, which makes no sense whatsoever because they should not know to view them as sexual, and the fact that the girls feel shame, in turn, makes no sense either. If the show hadn't forced that pointless beach episode, these issues wouldn't have been as noticeable. In a better written dystopian story, the characters' puberty would be free of expectations that society would typically pass onto them. However, rather than carefully considering the dynamics of the sci-fi setting they were attempting to create, the writers simply gave us cliched romantic comedy hijinks seen in any generic anime.

Part 3 [WHAT THE FUCK IS FRANXX EVEN ABOUT?]
The world-building in Darling in the Franxx is flat out awful, which makes the vast majority of the story feel incredibly shapeless. If Franxx wanted to be a good reflection of the birthrate decline in Japan, it would have used its sci-fi setting beyond just stupid sex-robots. For starters, a lack of kids being born would be an explicit conflict in the story to reflect the birth rate decline in modern-day Japan. However, there are a TON of children in Franxx! So many that they can throw them into cryosleep, as we see in episode 22. There is a surplus of kids in Franxx. If discussing birthrate was the real goal of the show, then they failed from the start. The issues the heroes in Darling in the Franxx face is not that there aren't enough children. They want to have children the "correct" way. In the world of Franxx, that means parents can only be male-female pairs (which they got assigned to), but the aliens in control of their system do not allow that. For some reason, the aliens are against traditional gender roles.

Episode 17 is the moment that the series lays down its themes clearer than it ever had before. Kokoro voices that she wants to have a baby in order to feel fulfilled, then the evil Squad Nine comes and takes her book on pregnancy and they tell her humans have cast away their reproductive organs because they cause too much unnecessary drama. He further clarifies by stating the firm belief of APE, the council of aliens leading the anti-reproduction regime.

This is simply connecting a person's fertility directly to their emotional depth. The world of Franxx says you don't need to reproduce OR have emotion, and that's what the main characters are trying to break away from. Of course, why wouldn't they want to break out of a system like that? But why? What does it represent? What person or group in the real world is preventing people from having kids because they want to be shallow, genderless, and without children? No one! It's social commentary written by someone who is out of touch with reality.

In the awful backstory of "Inhumanity" (ep.19), Dr. Franxx voices that he believes humans are only truly beautiful if they can procreate, which is why he puts faith in Hiro's squad to become "real humans" and create children in his designated forced piloting system. The piloting is just pseudo-science that very obviously has no reason for existing outside of serving the show's message and trashy fan service. The show takes this message even further by portraying any person or group who doesn't procreate the Franxx way as a threat to humanity.

Franxx is very much able to say a traditional family is good; mother, father, procreating, that is a good message for tackling birthrate. But for some reason, it chooses to frame anyone who chooses not to adhere to the traditionalist family setup as a threat to mankind. Franxx just ignores the fact that there are many other ways people can have a family, and still live fulfilled lives. There can be same-sex relationships, people can adopt kids, or even to not have children at all, but Franxx says these are all signs of inhumanity. That hilariously stupid wedding episode served only to convey this message but in the most hamfisted way possible. In episode 18, the makeshift wedding between Kokoro and Mitsuru gets raided by the alien SWAT team led by APE. The bride and groom are torn apart, then their memories of one another are erased.

The entire wedding arc was unnecessary to the story and boring as hell, it was just crammed in there for the sake of pushing these themes even more. APE is just the idea of diversity but overblown to ridiculous proportions. It antagonizes anyone who opposes traditionalism to an absurd degree, but it also portrays traditionalists as insanely hysterical in their beliefs in an offensively stereotypical way. Both sides of the political spectrum are written in a way that is so overblown to an alienating degree that very few people will want to agree with it. When the purpose of a piece of art is to change the audience's political views, it is fitting to label it as propaganda. However, assuming that level of thought and consideration was put into the story would be giving the moron who wrote it way too much credit. Regardless of your stance on the themes in Franxx, this is all it has to offer in terms of in-depth analysis, other than that it's boring teenage drama between underdeveloped characters.

Part 4: [The Squad]
How could this have happened?! The voice actors were good enough to mask a lack of depth, the animators were talented enough to make them look like lively pieces of cardboard (at least in the first half), but nope instead they are unavoidably awful and no icing will make this pile of shit resemble a cake. At best they're forgettable, but at worst they're horribly portrayed archetypes that will make you feel sorry for how badly the show treats them. There was so much potential in most of these characters, but without writers capable of crafting cohesive or satisfying arcs, all of them remain flat cardboard cutouts only existing to support Hiro and Zero Two's efforts to be the most obnoxious couple in the show.

Ichigo:
All this poor girl did was have a crush on the potato protagonist, and that caused people to send her voice actress death threats. They're children, who gives a shit about who likes who? Her reason for actually liking him is so vague and petty, they were friends as children. And per Franxx's idiot logic, your first affectionate interaction with a person will decide who you're attracted to when you're older. Ichigo had a few interesting moments of standing up to Zero Two for the sake of protecting Hiro, it went how you expect, with the two parasites wallowing in codependency and nothing developing. She does very little throughout the show aside from looking pouty whenever she sees the two leads acting lovey-dovey around her. It was impossible for me to sympathize with her because I can't comprehend why she would feel so strongly towards a potato. Regardless of her love, by the end, she does not change at all despite being the most prominent supporting character.

Goro:
Occasionally Goro calls Hiro out on his bullshit in some of the most satisfying scenes of the series, then in the most disappointing moments of the series, he immediately apologizes and acknowledges Hiro's superiority. Goro is allowed to be a character for a few seconds once every few episodes, but for the remainder of the show, he has no stakes in the story.
Goro's main attribute is that he's a nice guy who feels unrequited love for Ichigo. He respects her and acknowledges that she has feelings for Hiro and doesn't overstep his boundaries. He's the most likable member of the whole cast, but sadly there is truly nothing to him than his unrequited love for Ichigo. His whole character arc culminates very early on in "Triangle Bomb" (ep. 9) when he confesses his love to Ichigo in the best way he could, explicitly stating he doesn't want to pressure her but wanted to clear the tension between them because he is a nice and respectful guy.
Then Ichigo shrugs off his confession with "I don't know how to respond to that,"
...
...and then she doesn't...
...
FOR THE ENTIRE SHOW.

Kokoro:
Ok, I was bracing myself by talking about Goro first because Kokoro is by far the worst member of the squad. Not only is she the source of many plot holes, but she is also more or less a vehicle for the show's creator to preach the themes. In the totally 100% necessary beach episode (ep.7), she finds her bible, a book on pregnancy, and for the remainder of the series, she preaches it like scripture. She uses it to learn about sexuality, weddings, and childbirth. In "Boys x Girls" (ep.8) she references the book to explain why the boys were ogling the girls, she says 'we have to put up with their perviness in order to pilot together and to eventually have a family with them.' Kokoro believes that girls are supposed to ignore any problems they have with the boys because they have to make a baby regardless of how they feel. Not only is this a harmful message for viewers, but it also causes even more stagnant character writing because the pilot pairings never have arguments over their differences. Nothing is ever overcome because Kokoro perpetuates this outdated rhetoric. All that comes from her character is bizarre teen pregnancy propaganda.

Kokoro does very little throughout the show. She passively sits around until she gets the Baby Craziness and DEMANDS to have a child. After promising she would stay with her piloting partner Futoshi (an overweight kid), she immediately kicks him to the curb for a new guy in episode 11 for no other reason than he's fat. She doesn't want her kid to have fat genes. Basically, she's in favor of selective breeding. Needless to say, she's a monster, and I felt no sympathy whatsoever.

That leads us to the makeshift wedding they come up with, which was one of the stupidest moments in the show; for some reason, right before she gets wed to Mitsuru, they're raided by APE with the council's SWAT team. It's totally ridiculous to think that a futuristic advanced society of aliens could kick down the door at any moment, but they chose to wait just as the two are about to kiss. Furthermore, seeing them waving around guns at kids playing dress-up is so unbelievably over-the-top. That whole marriage episode was a trudge to get through, and I was honestly relieved when the alien SWAT reproduction-abolitionists ended it early. What is the message here? Does the show seriously think a marriage between a man in a woman is a radical act? For some reason, it makes traditionalists look like the oppressed group, and anyone who opposes traditional marriage is a gun-toting maniac.

But wait, there's more. APE erases Kokoro and Mitsuru's memories of one another, but this opens even more plot holes:
1. APE forgot to remove their wedding rings after the memory removal procedure, genius.
2. All of the other kids knew about the memories getting erased, so they just told her and that's how she remembered.
3. She was still pregnant after being captured by the anti-marriage alien SWAT team. They're pretty bad at being an anti-reproduction regime if they can't even figure out this basic shit.
4. Kokoro and Mitsuru regain their memories a few episodes later on their own. They overcome nothing because they return to how they were just before getting married.

Zorome/Miku:
They're the most forgettable members of the squad, simple one-note personalities with no impact on the story. They do have a brief bit of 'development' if you can even call it that abhorrent in "Boys x Girls" (ep. 8). They briefly clash when Zorome ogles Miku (we've discussed how this doesn't make sense), and she reacts by dividing the dormitory with tape in the most sitcom-y episode in the show. It attempts to be serious, yet it throws a wrench in the tone at any chance it gets. It was such an unnatural tonal shift that it made them feel like aliens. Other than this one fanservice episode, they just hang around the squad and offer a few inconsequential quips that add absolutely nothing to the show but background noise.

Futoshi:
This poor chubby kid is just bullied by the show whenever he is onscreen, his whole character arc is one big fat joke. At first, it was just a few offbeat jokes along the lines of "Hey, don't take any of my food while I'm gone." His humor was just as unnatural and stereotypical as the rest of the cast, but then the show takes it a step further from a poorly written annoyance into offensively awful. His piloting partner Kokoro ditches him during "Partner Shuffle" because he has the fat genes and she wants a good baby to further the species. Understandably, this causes him to become insecure about his weight and form an eating disorder. This is a very sensitive topic with plenty of potential for good discussion, but this is Franxx so they flushed any potential down the toilet. Franxx approaches this real-world issue that affects plenty of people with the sensitivity of a sledgehammer.

The writers were too incompetent to handle a serious topic like an eating disorder deftly, so they just ignore it. Episode 16 gets dedicated to Futoshi's struggle with not wanting to eat any food. Zorome confirms that Futoshi is throwing up his food; he has become bulimic—it's depressing to witness, and I felt sorry for him. Yet even though the crew confronts him about his eating disorder, the episode ends with Hiro giving one of his bullshit speeches about friendship with sad piano music playing, cue the whole cast crying. Futoshi's illness was glossed over and never resolved. Instead, they continue shaming him for his weight because none of the corporate drones who manufactured this knew how to handle real-world issues sensitively. The whole episode tacitly endorses fat-shaming—it's morally bankrupt. The director goes out of his way to show us how unhappy Futoshi is with himself in minor ways throughout the show. Whether he is playing with his food or sadly staring down at his full plate, even by the end, it's obvious he's still struggling with his eating disorder. Yet Franxx couldn't give less of a shit about him. Rather than addressing his issue, they choose to force him to be the de facto-priest at Kokoro's wedding. It's so cruel and horrible that I felt terrible for the poor kid. His whole involvement in the depraved and awful show was so depressing to witness.

Ikuno:
Throughout the show, she is in love with Ichigo, which gave the writers a huge chance to backtrack the message that anyone who isn't in a heterosexual relationship is actively part of the birthrate problem. But because Franxx is the anime of disappointments, the writers handled her character arc appallingly. One of the most egregious moments in the series was in "When the Sakura Blooms" (ep. 18) when Ikuno confesses her love to Ichigo, and she wrote it off by saying, "Oh, I was the same when I felt unrequited love for Hiro, but now I am doing what's necessary for the greater good and hooking up with someone else." It's the passive-aggressive type of homophobia I've seen plenty of in real life from people who are only accepting of gay people as long as they become straight eventually. What Ichigo says to Ikuno sounds more like, "Oh how sad that you're defective. Someday you'll grow out of that phase."

And it doesn't end there. Ikuno perpetually gets shown as the least able member of the squad. Like I mentioned previously, this show dives into some dark dehumanizing themes of eugenics. It is explicitly stated that in the world of Franxx, your life force is directly connected to your fertility, if you're not having a kid your hair will become gray and you will die faster than those who chose to further the species. Whether or not it was the creator's intention to dehumanize LGBT people, he threw these pieces on the board and they landed unnervingly close to hate-speech.

Mitsuru:
At the start of the series, Mitsuru is the 'rival' archetype who has an inferiority complex to Hiro, but through subtle coding, he is actually in love with him. Mitsuru received his name from Hiro when he was a child, therefore per Franxx idiot logic, he is gay. With this character, Franxx approaches the topic of homosexuality as a developmental mistake, something you are born with then eventually grow out of. Which is just not true on any level. Sexuality is biodiversity, you're born that way or you're not. A person does not need 'a reason for being gay,' they just are. The fact that Franxx framed it as a discrepancy in Mitsuru and Ikuno's upbringing and that they have to grow out of it regardless of how they feel is appalling.

His turmoil over being in love with Hiro is swiftly brought to a close with him being forced into a relationship with Kokoro. She projects her desire to have a kid on him until he tepidly reciprocates because they are both convinced that unless they have a child they won't be fulfilled in life or ensure the future. Of course with no resolution for his unrequited love. The show goes out of its way to frame his marriage to Kokoro as an obligation rather than a choice. Similar to Futoshi, through subtle character direction you can tell Mitsuru's still pining for Hiro even in the episode he starts his relationship Kokoro. And there's never the same coding for Mitsuru being in love with Kokoro. Hiro flat out tells Mitsuru "you ARE in love with Kokoro" and he accepts that hesitantly. It's as if the writers were trying to indicate that Mitsuru actually wanted to be with Hiro, but needed to suppress his feeling in order to prevent the metaphorical birth rate from declining.

Even if these messages were unintentional, the creators of Franxx are playing with serious issues just for the sake of window dressing to make the sex-robot alien stuff seem less stupid, which is in my opinion just as offensive.

Part 5: [Dr. Franxx, APE, "Inhumanity," and the scienceless sci-fi]
"I'm an atheist, you see ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"
-Dr. Franxx while licking his lips at the sight of the loli-monster-girl-princess.

Our first introduction to the eponymous Dr. Franxx is him delivering his half-breed experiment kid Zero Two to Hiro's squad. One of his first lines is him uncomfortably sexually assaulting Nana, the squad's parental-type overseer, and telling her to loosen up. The assault is framed as a joke because of course a show as inane as Franxx thinks workplace assault is comedy gold. That's how he's characterized for most of the series, as a guy who does explicitly bad things like torturing Zero Two during "The Prince and the Beast," but he is framed as sympathetic towards the end. They really expected us to think, "he's done bad things, but he really had some good ideas!" He has no value for human life, but somehow designing the awful sex-powered mechas absolves him? It's like a crazy person trying to defend Adolf Hitler. I. Don't. Care. He tortured and experimented on a kid, why are we expected to feel bad for him when he 'sacrificed himself' so everyone could survive at the end of episode 21. I stood up and applauded when a plot contrivance caused him to get violently crushed by tons of falling rocks.

APE is just a bunch of aliens that came down to Earth and pretended to be an organization of scientists, they gave the government a new form of energy, magma, and took over the world more or less. It's a very silly twist, but this is Franxx and it's a stupid show, magma could technically be used as a form of energy and greed could lead the government to trust mysterious scientists. But the magma is somehow also the key to unlocking immortality? How? Magma is molten rock, hot rocks! How the hell do you make the logical leap between a form of energy and DNA mutation? It makes no goddamn sense! APE was just a bunch of random aliens that had so little to do with the main characters, it added nothing to what had been built up in the prior episodes. The magma energy constantly shown in background details supposedly caused the Earth to become deserts? Taking molten lava from the Earth (below the crust) would in no way affect the soil, it might lower the temperature of the surface but that would cause it to become cold, not hot. I'm not sure who thought coming up with scientific-sounding words and a vaguely futuristic aesthetic would make good sci-fi, but it doesn't. Even I, someone who knows very little about science can tell this show is brain dead stupid and no effort went into researching its concepts.

Then after Franxx spends twenty-two episodes building up this illogical science, it throws in a giant twist in episode 20 that nullifies everything that came before it. Oh no! APE was actually aliens and now Zero Two's brain is trapped in space fighting them!! Who gives a shit? At this far into the series, the themes and pseudo-science were all the show cared about. Regardless of how badly they were written, at least it was something to engage with. All of the petty melodrama the characters face, all of the hackneyed lore, even the art quality goes down the toilet by episode 22. Franxx does these twists so often with its story. Whenever it wants to achieve a pivotal moment, it just skips over the build-up and goes straight to the catharsis.

By the end of Darling in the Franxx, it doubles down on the ridiculous plot twists, desperate to make you take it seriously when you're more likely to laugh at it. In its final attempt to make you cry, it kills off its two main characters, but even this lends no catharsis. The only catharsis you'll get from the ending of this train wreck is knowing you'll never have to watch it ever again.

TL;DR
[Story: 0/10] Clichefest, contrived filler drama, terrible world building, nonsensical twists that nullify the whole story.
[Character: 0/10] I've seen planks of wood more interesting and relatable than this entire cast.
[Art: 3/10] No visual identity, good battle sakuga in the first half with hideous mecha designs, very rushed towards the end.
[Sound: 3/10] Mediocre soundtrack, a waste of talented voice actors.
[Enjoyment: 0/10] Both intellectually and personally insulting.

[Overall Score: 1/10]
There's enough potential here to leave you curious as to what the writer/director Atsushi Nishigori might have created if he weren't so satisfied with repurposing classic anime into a clusterfuck that's less interesting than even one of its parts. He never understood what made their themes so impactful in the first place, and he didn't bother to create an anime capable of standing on its own merits. Without a coherent story, remotely believable characters, or even themes rooted in reality, this show offers no redeeming value.

Darling in the Franxx is UNWATCHABLE.

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Introduction:

Darling in the FranXX is an original sci-fi anime co-production between studio Trigger and A-1 Pictures directed by Atsushi Nishigori (Tengen Toppa Gurren Langan, FLCL, Evangelion 1.0 Movie, etc..) with the mech designs made by Shigeto Koyama who became famous after his mech designs for Star Driver, with Nishigori and Naotaka Hayashi handling the series composition, Masayoshi Tanaka designing the characters, Hiroyuki Imaishi(one of the co-founders for Studio Trigger) serving as action animation director and Asami Tachibana composing the music. The series was announced at Trigger’s Anime Expo 2017 in July 2017, with the first episode airing on 13 January 2018 with a length of 24 episode running time.


Story:

The story is set in the distant future. The world is ruined, and humanity establishes mobile fort cities called "plantations". Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also known as the "birdcage." Children living there know nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their enemies are mysterious giant life forms known as Klaxosaur, and the children pilot machines called Franxx to face off against them. For the children who pilot those machines that is their sole reason to prove their own existence into that desolating future not knowing if they will see the day of tomorrow. The World is one of the strong points in this show and its containing elements are explained at a steady pace in each episode with the purpose of making the viewer to understand how its mechanics, principles and laws work and interact with the story and characters.

Characters:

To get the viewer familiar with the characters in the first couple of episodes the anime displays their ordinary lives and activities in those “birdcages” and the specific bonds that are formed between them. If we take each character apart we will notice that Zero Two steals the spotlight each time she appears on screen leaving the other characters in a con of shadow…..To compensate for that huge gap the anime focuses on the bonds between them and how will influence their further development into that world. The anime allocates time in each episode to dive into each character and display their reasons for piloting the Franxx and depending on your own interpretation you may hate them or love them. There are some heartwarming moments that enforce the bond between our characters that myself I just fell in love with them. Another thing I must mention is how beautiful and smart the visual metaphors are used when each character is telling us his own experience as a Franxx pilot and what made him the person that he is today. These are the “marvelous slice of life moments” that made me love and appreciate Darling in the FranXX.

Our characters as they dive further into the that world filled with destruction where each day is a battle for survival discover and learn different emotions that they aren’t familiar with it such as love, bond, affection, compassion and family. Those emotions become their new sole reason of existence replacing the old one in which their lives were at stake each day. Their fight is not over yet but this time is not a fight for the selfish adults but for their own future and to create a place filled with smiles and warmth a place called HOME. The bonds that are formed between the characters, their experience principles that they form for themselves during the fights with the Klaxosaurs become the foundation for their development and growth as characters across this show.

Visuals & Audio:

The show starts off with a visual metaphor to captivate the attention of the viewers which later will become a narrative monologue metaphor part of the story and main plot of Darling in the FranXX. The visual vocabulary is rich and attractive having an important role for telling us the long forgotten bond between Zero Two and Hiro which is the main attraction of this anime. The visuals, story and audio together manage to take the viewer through different stages of emotions and connect them to each character’s experience. The op song is damn good especially the one for the second half were the visual metaphors are damn juicy for the audience who enjoys this kind of stuff.

Personal Opinion & Enjoyment:

As having some experience in many anime communities and hearing a lot of different opinions about this anime, myself agree or disagree with many of their points about Darling in the FranXX who borrowed different elements from famous shows like Evangelion , TTGL, Kill la Kill and so on…… Despite all of that, this show manages to maintain its original concept and despite the lack of appeal for some characters this anime manages to deliver a form of enjoyment accessible to a variety of viewers (beginner or veteran) especially those who don’t enjoy the mecha genre, through its unique mech designs, characters bonds and visual metaphors. Having seen a lot of shows with different genres and variety of themes I gotta say that I enjoyed Darling in the FranXX for the story , world and bond created between the characters and hope studio Trigger will keep on the good quality they deliver in their original concepts for shows that may come in the near future.

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4 Cups of Evangelion
2 tablespoons of granulated Gurren Lagann
1/4 teaspoon of Star Driver
1 dash of Beauty and the Beast

And last, but not least.

69 metric tons of CRAP! (freshly steamed)

In case it wasn’t obvious, these are the instructions for one serving of Darling in the FranXX.

There is a tacit understanding in the anime industry, as well as the filming industry, that you are allowed to draw inspiration from other works, but not plagiarize said works. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule — particularly, in regards to satirical natured shows (Gintama and Inferno Cop, being the perfect examples) — however, solemn show’s dance on a very thin line, and must introduce innovative ideas to alter the perception on existing paradigms; otherwise, they come off as being cliched, and redundant. From a monetary perspective, it makes sense to draw influence from other works, for example: Disney’s Lion King took inspiration from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Kimba, the White Lion (an anime from Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy). Yet it doesn’t absolve those involved from imbuing their own ideas and nuances to create something worthwhile. Darling in the FranXX doesn’t seem to comprehend this point, as it overtly uses critical elements from several other anime as a faux attempt of appearing sophisticated.

For ease of reading, I have created a short list of instances that were copied, slightly altered, or outright stolen from other anime (this is not all-inclusive, as there are countless examples):


-The underground city bears resemblance to Tokyo-3 and the Geofront from Evangelion.

-The mysterious men/women in the white uniforms that have significant influence are rip-offs of SEELE from Evangelion.

-The launch sequences are essentially mirror images of Evangelion’s launch sequences (see a theme here).

-There was some kind of testing that was being performed in the early episodes that paralleled the synchronization tests in Evangelion.

-Episode 6 of Darling in the FranXX has been compared to episode 8 of Gurren Lagann. Which makes perfect sense, since Atsushi Nishigori (the director of Darling in the FranXX) was the director for episode 8 of Gurren Lagann, but this brings up a more serious issue: why is Nishigori reusing old ideas from over ten years ago? Not only that, but why is episode 6 of Darling in the FranXX a worse rendition of his earlier work (he couldn’t come up with improvements in all these years)?

-Episode 13 is a reverse retelling of Beauty and the Beast — in fact, the title of the episode is The Beast and the Prince (they’re not even attempting to disguise their intentions at this point).

-Episode 20 we find out that VIRM wants to annihilate the klaxosaurs who retreated underground, similar to the spirals (who lived underground) fighting the anti-spirals in Gurren Lagann.

-Mecha’s transforming to absurd levels of scale and power like Gurren Lagann.

-Instrumentality, much?


Then comes the real “butt” of my issue with this series, and this concerns the “doggy-styled” positions the girls must assume to pilot their Evangelions — I mean, their FranXX’s. It’s one thing to engage the viewer through needless fan-service, but there are limits one can go before coming off as ridiculous. Kill la Kill, another studio Trigger production, already ingratiated the anime community to the concept of excessive lasciviousness, the difference being: they did so with a self-deprecating tone. This show, on the other hand, is treating the matter with solemnity; and sure, they attempt to shoehorn in a half-assed explanation, but the whole immortality subtlety doesn’t fit well with the predetermined conclusion. Immortality, as a concept, lends itself to numerous paths of intrigue about the overall worth of life, the monotony of existence, and the deterioration of cognitive faculties. Alas, Darling in the FranXX (i.e. Studio Trigger) does not choose to expand on any of these philosophical conundrums, and instead, elects to go for sex and procreation — no surprise.

Hold your frustration back, because it gets worse. In episode 8, when the girl’s clothing gets disintegrated by the Klaxosaur “goo,” revealing portions of their bodies to the boys, they decide to pull-out (Mitsuru should have done the same thing, hehe) the ultimate TV trope: dividing the house in half, with tape. They straight up took this out of the I Love Lucy playbook. Considering that sitcom television is the lowest form of televised entertainment known to man, it speaks volumes about an anime that takes inspiration from said “art form.” It’s like the anime staff couldn’t be bothered to think of one original concept, so they just mashed a conglomerate of ideas into a CGI mess of an anime.

The suggestive positioning of the girls, along with the incognizant sexual innuendo’s surpasses the realm of idiocy, resembling the writing complexity of a soft-core porno. We get it, the stamen (the boys) and the pistil (the girls) are references to the sexual organs of a flower; and the lack of trust (i.e. love) leads to incompatibility and a flaccid conclusion. In other words: sex is not as meaningful without the love; especially when partners are switched amongst each other, implying unsympathetic cucking. Then, in the final episodes, Nine Alpha rides with Hiro (bisexuality?), harkening back to Gurren Lagann when Simon put aside his differences with Viral in their final battle.

And let’s not forget the first episode when Zero Two is catching fish with her mouth, in the nude. It was a senseless scene that provided nothing more than reference material for future waxing sessions (you know what I’m talking about). Seriously, though. Why must Studio Trigger continue their quest of inducing the most boners in the anime community? It use to be an art to inject promiscuousness into anime, now its so ubiquitous that if feels burdensome to the viewer.

If you thought this review was scathing up until this point, then you would be correct. Nevertheless, stay tuned, because I’m about to discuss the worst aspect of the show: the characters.

……They all suck!

Okay. That’s not much of an analysis, but what can we really say about these characters? Zero Two acts like a temperamental five year-old, who condescends to her superiors and comrades because that’s what passes for cool nowadays. She also likes to slather her food in honey and shove it down her “darling’s” mouth. Speaking of which, I’m not sure what’s worse: Yuno, from Mirai Nikki, saying “Yuki”, or Zero Two saying “darling.” They are both excruciating to the eardrums. Her “darling,” Hiro, is your typical mundane protagonist, lacking identifying characteristics that would engage the viewer and become interested in his plight towards becoming a FranXX pilot. He is, however, infatuated with Zero Two to the point of feeling dead inside without her presence (get over it dude, your like, 14?)

The rest of the cast, unfortunately, is a compilation of tired tropes that have been utilized time and time again. In fact, I can’t remember any of their names, so I won’t waste your time, and mine, looking them up just to explain how trivial their roles really are. Suffice it to say, the cast is a representation of the anime staff’s laziness, but considering this show has a higher rating than the reboot of Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (which has an excellent cast of characters), it should come as no surprise why anime writers continue to shove monotonous characters down our throats ad infinitum.

I don’t want to sound too presumptuous, but this may be the worst anime I have ever seen in my life — or, at the very least, it’s in the running. As it stands, the current list of the worst anime goes as follows (in no particular order):

1) Mirai Nikki
2) Sword Art Online
3) Bio Broly
4) Boku no Pico
5) Darling in the FranXX

Considering they copied everything else from Evangelion, it is only fitting to compliment Darling in the FranXX for their crappy achievement.

Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!


Enjoyment: 0/10
Characters: 0/10
Plot: 0/10

Overall: 1/10 (by default)

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“What kind of fuckery is this?” Amy Winehouse.

Well, folks, it’s finally time to talk about the most notorious anime of 2018. Darling in the Franxx.
After the success of Little Witch Academia and Kill la Kill, as well as the unfortunate failure of Kiznaver Studio Trigger, decided to make Darling In The Franxx but with the help of A1 Pictures/Cloverworks. Like many others on the internet, I was really excited for Darling in the Franxx. Maybe that was my biggest mistake and like with Beatless, Black Clover and Re:Zero I was expecting too much. However, even if the anime had failed to live up to expectations the anime would be still be entertaining so bad it’s good to watch. Unfortunately Darling in the Franxx is not so bad it’s a good type of shows. In fact, Darling in the Franxx is by far one of the worst written and directed anime I have ever seen from this medium. Say what you want about Black Clover, The Asterisk Wars, Big Order and Eromanga Sensei for being for worst shows than this but least those shows had the so bad its good effect where despite these shows being horrendous least they were actually funny. This show from start to finish was not funny at all as it only got more insulting and stupid as it progressed and because of that am going to end my intro here because since this show doesn't give a damn about its viewer so why should I?

God help me.

Act I: The broken written and directed mess of a story that has no idea of it it's doing.

There are so many problems with the show's plot I seriously don’t know where to begin.

For starters, the story is very dull and boring as hell. I didn’t care about many events in the story because I was bored by them and I thought they were poorly executed. It’s also rips off a lot of better mecha anime without understanding of what made them good for example Hiro and Zero are just poor-mans versions of Demonic and Anemone where they relationships are similar but it was done better in Eureka Seven as there was a lot of build up for Demonic and Anemone to grow as characters before they formed a relationship with each other. Also, did I forget that Demonic and Anemone are far better-written characters than Zero Two and Hiro will ever be.

Darling in the Franxx also has some of the worst pacing I have ever seen in any anime as the show consistently waste its time on pointless bullshit instead of focusing on relevant things that are important to the overall narrative.
The world-building for Darling in the Franxx is god awful. Besides from the episodes 7, 10 and 19 where the show briefly did world-building in a bad way the show never even bothers at establishing its own setting and because of this, the world in Darling in the Franxx is incredibly empty. Where do the Klaxosaurs come from? What´s this organization that's fighting against them? In which time is this series set? What kind of government there is there this world? How old are each parasite in the series are? This show never explains any of these things because screw worldbuilding lets just have characters go out with the pathetic and cringe-worthy character drama that is contrived as hell. These issues along with the pacing would eventually bite the show in the ass later on which I will talk about in a bit.
Darling In The Franxx is also the dumbest show ever to take itself too seriously where the show tries to be all serious, smart and edgy with its monologues, symbolism, and themes but because of the horrendous tone shifts and flashy fan-service it completely makes the show very pretentious as a result of its themes and speaking of themes.
This show also does a horrendous job at presenting its themes and topics to a point certain characters in the show just preach about sex, love, and family all over the fucking place without any context and real reasoning. It doesn't the fact this show has the maturity level of a horney 12-year-old.

Another issue of Darling in the Franxx is how it really doesn’t know what show it wants to be as it keeps changing its damm genre in almost every freaking episode?

Does it want to be balls off the wall dumb mecha show?

Does it want to be a sitcom?

Does it want to be a mystery anime?

Does it want to be a slice of life show?

Does it want to be a coming of age story?

Does it want to be a serious mecha show that deals with a lot of sensitive topics and themes?
Who the hell knows because this anime clearly doesn’t and top it all out because this show tries to squeeze in many genres as possible the pacing and the tone of the series becomes screwed.

Act II: The boring and infuriating cliched empty characters.

Characterisation and character development in Darling in the Franxx are practically non-existent thanks to the show having a nasty habit of using certain elements that completely prevent any form of character growth and because of that am currently struggling to find a series with more empty characters.

Our male protagonist Hiro is a boring empty husk who barely even capable of producing the energy required being a mecha protagonist. He has no personality on his own and there’s nothing that stands about him as the way his written and designs is awful. Plus all the character development that he gets feels forced and unnatural. Not to mention he becomes a much worser character as the series goes on but we will get to that in a bit.

Zero Two is an awfully written waifu pandering character with no substance.
Despite being the character that has the most personality from this bland cast she is still a pathetic written character that has no substance that doesn’t develop for shit. She also has a stupid and annoying sexy horney personality where she constantly preaches about being with Hiro.
The final nail of the coffin for this piece of shit character is that she is just a god damm wish fulfillment/waifu pandering character where outside of the awfully predictable romance with Hiro she just there to pander to the lowest common denominator. Screw this character and her wish-fulfillment bullcrap

The rest of the characters from the Thirteenth Plantation are absolutely awful.
Zorome and Miku are both loud mouthed tsundere’s who like to yell a lot. They don't have a purpose to the narrative at all other to be background noise.
Goro is a boring bro type character that we all have seen before who is very friendly and protective to people.
Futoshi is your typical fat friendly guy who likes to stuff his mouth with food all the time.
Kokoro is a shy girl who has a good heart.
Ikuno is a very calm and collected girl who loves to read books.
Mitsuru is the prideful guy who has a superiority complex.
Ichigo or as I like to call her Bitchigo for being an insufferable contrived bitch is your cookie cutter childhood character that we all seen before.

Do you guys see a problem here? Not only the characters in Darling in the Franxx are tropey as fuck but they can't even stand up on they own as characters.
The rest of the characters are all equally awful and not even worth mentioning at all as they all feel like Gurren Lagann and Evangelion character rejects.

What makes this worse is how this show plays with its audience with its half fast character development that didn’t matter thanks to character resets.
One of the examples of this was in episode 10 where the show tried to develop Zorome as a character you know that brat who behaves like Boruto. He got great character development in that episode and by the end of the episode they decided to kill off all the characters development that he had and went back to the same loudmouth tsundere character from episode 1.

Don’t me started with Episode 14 with the whole Ichigo bullshit. Okay while she didn’t lose her memory or anything she devolved to a whiny and unsympathetic bitch of a captain who constantly gets too emotional about Hiro and that completely who against all of her previous character development in episode 9 with Goro. The final coffin for Bitchigo is that as soon as Zero Two leaves she literally takes advantage of Hiro by kissing him.
Bitch, we get it you don’t like Zero Two but did you really have go out of your fucking way to tell everyone in the room that members from the Thirteenth Plantation won’t take apart in the battle unless they tell kick Zero Two off and on top of that you go confess to him even though you got Goro as a love interest. I understand you want to project your childhood friend from danger but this was the dumbest way to do it and because of that you just became one of the dumbest characters to ever exist in an anime
There’s also that stupid love subplot with Kokoro and Mitsuru but I will get to that in a bit because that subplot alone killed the show it an idiotic fashion.
Honestly, what is a point of being a coming of age story if you only to going to reset character development and motivations? I swear the staff was god damm clueless knowing the basic elements of a coming of age story.

Act III: The cringe homage festival aka episodes 20-24
(Spoilers Ahead)

Now if you thought the first 19 episodes were awful you ain't seen nothing yet.

The final 5 episodes of Darling in the Franxx are some of the worst final episodes I have ever seen in any anime.
Not only it was horrendously build up but the way that the show that disgustingly changed its tone was infuriating because it took one of the shows biggest problems and took it to a next level where the show tries to squeeze all the story elements from NGE, Kill la Kill, Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann without understanding of what made those story elements great and because of those reasons the pacing, narrative, direction, production values and especially worldbuilding becomes broken.
It’s like the creators in the show had no freaking idea of what the hell they were doing plus you could clearly tell they were on a tight deadline.
I can even predict how the staff of the show was handing the final 5 episodes.

Creator 1: Hey what episode are we on now?

Creator 2: Ummmm episode 20 I think

Creator 1: OH SHIT

Creator 1: What the hell. We need to get going as we only have 4 episodes left now. How do we fix this?

Creator 2: (Looks for Gundam 00 Movie and Chicken Little Blu Rays and shows them to Creator 1) Have you tried aliens that usually end things.

Creator 1: But isn’t that cheap.

Creator 2: Do you have a better idea.

Creator 1: I told you we shouldn’t have spent so much time on individual characters only for them to not develop at all,

Creator 2: Too late now.

Creator 1: Screw it. Just add aliens in the series and call it a day.

What makes this worst is that if your someone like me who likes goes back to watch earlier episodes of the show to catch certain story/character elements that you missed the first time around. However, in the process of revisiting certain episodes in Darling in the Franxx you will start to see poorly made and directed this show is and it got to a point where you could have removed or shortened certain episodes like for example episode 8 Boy x Girls.
That episode alone was the beginning of the shows horrible writing and direction because only they did a horrendous job at exploring the theme of puberty but the reasoning for the girls to set the line for the dorms was horrendous and contrived.
This conflict alone would have been solved in 5 minutes but thanks to this show stupidity it decided to drag it out to point where it becomes contrived with its stupid character drama that had no reason to exist other to preach the theme of puberty to the audience.
Girls in this show I understand you want to protect your bodies but in a war-zone, especially on a scale battle, no one will give a shit about your sex life because in a battle you either kill or be killed.

Don’t get me started with the whole romance subplot between Kokoro and Mitsuru where instead of the show foreshadowing and building up story events. The show decides wastes its time on two episodes on a terribly contrived romance subplot that characters who have no character chemistry with each other whatsoever. Plus that subplot didn’t even matter because as Hiro decided to pull off a wedding for these two the show decided to take that subplot and flushes it down the toilet by having these characters lose they memories after being captured by the Nines. What made this subplot even worse thanks to a dialogue asspull by Mitsuru in episode 23 where he states that ''even without our memories we can start all over again'' even though the show had made it clear at the end of episode 18 that Kokoro and Mitsuru cannot regain or make new memories with each other whatsoever.

Words cannot describe of how contrived and poorly executed this subplot was because the only reason why this subplot even exist at all is to showcased the shows fanfic writing. The show already had a lot of fanatic writing, to begin with, but this one takes the cake for being the most insufferable subplot I have ever seen in a long while.

This doesn't just end there Episode 19 is a complete waste of time. While the show for the last time tried to do its world-building it failed miserably becauae everything else on that episode ended up being pointless. Not to mention that episode quickly devolved to a typical sob backstory for Dr Franxx of how he became the person that he is today thanks to his motivations in the past. However two episodes later he get's killed off Akame Ga Kill style where chararters get they backstories or sob stories before they are killed off one to two episodes later. What's a point of having a backstory of a chararter if your only going to kill them off one to two episodes later? This is atrocious writing and direction.

The last thing I want to talk about is Hiro as a character. Do you remember when where I previously called Hiro an empty husk? Well after episode 15 this sack of shit literally devolved into a freaking Gary Sue who preaches about Hiro. I don’t know about you guys but I have never seen a protagonist in a fictional work that literally started off being horrible empty husk to being an insufferable preachy Gary Sue where every single piece of dialogue is about Zero Two and nothing else. It also gotten to a point where in episode 22 where Hiro would rather choose to save his sex object aka Zero Two in space instead of helping his friends and follow parasyte survive. Some say that his change of personality from being an empty shell is a good thing but for actually writing it's not because at the of the day he went from an empty husk to a preachy Gary Sue who only cares about Zero Two.

I could go on and on talking about the shows plotholes such as Hiro being able to ride with 9α who is also a male character as well not a nine's member, characters not reconsidering that Ikuno hair colour has changed to white, Ichigo being able to plot her mecha even though there is no male pilot, members of APE only wiping out only Kokoro and Misturu memories instead of all the Thirteenth Plantation members to Zero Two being able to transform into a mecha at the end of episode 23 but since this show doesn't give a damm about writing and directing why I should I even bother.
(End Of Spoilers)

Am finally done talking about the show's plot and chararters.
Overall the story was hot garbage, really hot garbage. This felt like an awful Gainax fanfic that was done by a horney 12 year old on fanfic.net. The pacing was awful the character drama was insufferable. I didn’t give a shit about any of the characters and writing/directing especially in the final 5 episodes were god awful. This is one of the worst told stories I had ever had the displeasure of watching.

Act IV: The almighty cheap and uninspired production values that have no soul and charm.
Saying that Darling in the Franxx look like shit is a fast understatement because this is by far one of the worst looking and animated shows I have ever seen from this decade.
It may look decent at first but the more of watch this show you will start to see how lazy animated the show is as it starts to use animation shortcuts to cover up the show ugliness and lazy directing.

The character designs are all horrendously bad and uninspired.
Hiro is basically Dominic from Eureka Seven but downgraded.
Zero Two who despite being the best-looking character in the show is a downgraded Anemone from Eureka Seven with added horns on her face and a bit of makeup.
Ichigo looks like a more deformed version of Rem from Re:Zero.
Zorome looks like a blander Boruto with that brown hair.
Miku looks more like an Asuka reject that Hideaki Anno decided to throw in the bin. decided to and the rest of the ranged from being uninspired knockoff to being downright awful especially Futoshi who is by far one of the worst characters designs I have ever seen any anime.

The mecha designs are even worse as they all look like they were done by a horney 12-year-old. Am sure that the same horney 12-year-old designed all the Klaxosaur's in this show because they all look terrible.
Another thing that I didn’t like the art is how cheap it looks in terms of color. It’s like someone from secondary school in art class who is not good at art decided to paint over the background, character to even mecha designs forgetting to add detail in the progress. It just makes the anime look cheap and lazy.

Don’t get me started how inconstant the art was as at various times character to even the mechas go off model to a point where the show can look incredibly ugly.
The animation in this show is just flat out horrendous. Still frames up the ass, characters constantly going off-model, horrible fight choreography, stiff and awkward movement, to even the frame rate at one moment of episode 23 where the show had the frame-rate of 8.

Overall visuals were just awful is uninspired and have no charm and soul.

ACT V: The somewhat enjoyable soundtrack and great opening and ending themes.
The music is the best thing about this show. The soundtrack is pretty alright what it was as it does a good job at presenting its setting and tone of the series then again having a good soundtrack doesn't automatically make an anime any good.
The opening Kiss to Death is a great opening theme that is very catchy that I really enjoyed especially the version 2 of the same opening from episode 16 onwards with the different lyrics.
All the ending themes are pretty good and catchy in they own ways.
In short, both the opening and ending themes are good and it’s easily the best thing to ever come out from this anime.

ACT VI Finale: The borderline hentai dub acting and audio quality.

The sub is pretty good overall that is filled with talented Seiyuus that did a good job with the roles that they were given.
The dub, on the other hand, is absolutely horrendous. There was not a single good performance in the dub as all the voice actors sound like they were doing a hentai production. Not only that but it makes an already horrendous series almost unwatchable thanks to its shitty audio quality.
As a person who loves English Dub as a whole watching this show dubbed episode 1-20 was pure misery. One of the worst dubs I have ever heard.
If you had to pick a choice stick with the sub for this one than again why would you even watch this broken mess of a show, to begin with?

Epilogue.

“♫♫♫♫ It all returns to nothing, it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down...♫♫♫♫"

So that’s was Darling in the Franxx.
A broken, pathetically written and directed train-wreck mess of a show that disgustingly plays with it's audience emotions. It has pathetic characters, horrendously written character drama, contrived subplots that have no reason to exists other to pad out time, laughable production values, pathetic world-building, horrendous pacing, poorly executed themes and most importantly this show has no respect of what it trying to homage/rip-off as it keeps on poorly homaging a lot of Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, Gunbuster and Eureka 7 elements without having any understanding of what made those shows great in the first place.

Other than the music there is nothing and I mean NOTHING redeemable or good about this series whatsoever.

This is one of the worst animes I ever had the displeasure of watching.

Also, I have to say this. When even the worst mecha shows like Gundam Seed Destiny, Brain Powered and Aldnoah Zero where despite them being more flawed they have more things going for them and manages to outclass you in certain aspects you know you have screwed up on a scale that is immeasurable.

If you want to a good mecha show that features great character drama and great story elements go watch Eureka Seven, Gurren Lagann or Neon Genesis Evangelion.
If you want to watch a good anime from Studio Trigger? Watch Little Witch Academia Space Patrol Luluco and Kill la Kill.
If you want to watch a good anime from A1 Pictures? Watch Shinsekai Yori, Space Brothers, and Magi.
Avoid this show like the plague.

Final Score 0.5/10

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Seeing this number of positive reviews on this show made me decide to write an honest review on it. This review is written by a person who was on the Darling in The FranXX hype train before it arrived at the r/anime station, and also by a person who absolutely loves Trigger and their work, from the Gainax beginnings to their "independency".

Darling in the FranXX started out pretty solid, if you ask me. It already introduced a very interesting metaphor in the first 2 minutes, and I was very excited at that point. Then came the naked girl cliche. Ignoring it as an "A1 shenanigan", I continued the episode and was able to find it a tad bit enjoyable, mostly because of the cool world concept and the interesting-looking characters.

That didn't last long. In the first 6 episodes, those seemingly interesting characters have either done nothing or have been super annoying. I was not expecting side character development in 6 episodes, but this was just unbearable. 02 also got old real fast, making Hiro the only one able to save the show. Turns out Hiro is just budget Kirito therefore shattering all my hopes for the characters part.

But wait! There's more to a show than characters. "Great Art" is indeed true, and I won't even deny that the art is consistent and good, but it's normal. It brings nothing to the table, it's just the standard "good" animation. The music is also unnoticeable. I was expecting better music from Trigger. Have they even worked on this anime?

While I can't say much about the story, since right now many questions remain unanswered, I can say that it doesn't seem to be going anywhere in these 6 episodes. It seems more like they're experimenting with the mechs and the "kyoryuu" battles right now, and sometimes adding a little bit of info.

I am not enjoying this show. I'm having trouble finishing these last episodes and that's a no-no for me.

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It's easy to not like Darling in the FranXX. It has a lot of things acting against. Yeah, butt-piloted mechs are silly. Yeah, the mech designs themselves are like Voltron had a bad hair day. Yes, much of the plot is composed of teen melodrama. And yes, the show clearly wears its heart on its sleeves, drawing inspiration from the last two decades of mecha anime.

It's easy to not like Darling in the FranXX. Why do I think it's worth the time?

Where Darling shines is in how all of the best parts of its disparate inspirations and intrigues blend together. Clearly drawing from the names most anime fans are familiar with - Eureka Seven, Gurren Lagan, Evangelion, and the like - Darling draws on a dramatic flair while slowly drip-feeding the viewer with a slow-burn bit of world-building. What are Klaxosaurs exactly? Why do they want Plantation? Why are there rarely adults around? Why does the youth have to fight for the Plantation, and why do they have to be in pairs? Each episode explores each of these topics, little by little, further paving the world with information, both for the characters and the viewers themselves. What will this result in? That depends on the direction of the series. But very similar to Evangelion itself - with it's seemingly random, monster-of-the-week styled Angel battles - less is more, and the intrigue behind why things are happening leaves the viewer eager to learn more about the odd, dystopic world around the characters, so that the dots can slowly be connected over the larger arc of the series.

By deliberately obfuscating the reasons behind the larger plot at play, this allows the show to play out as a character drama. It is explained quite explicitly that the main cast is "different" from other mech pilots in this world. Thus, in a Breakfast Club mishmash of characters concepts thrown together, the show gleefully begins to layer out each individual's backstory.

Main characters like Hiro are probably the least interesting, acting as a surrogate for the viewer to this world. But even then, his leadership and charisma to the rest of the crew bonds them all together. He's not just some faceless Kirito, and also certainly doesn't have the depth of someone like Shinji; but he proves that he is a unique soul of his own, with goals and ambitions (even if they mostly are obsessively regarding one character). 02 is clearly an anti-hero, someone the viewer is meant to hate, and the caring attitude of Hiro is the only thing that binds her abrasive personality down. While I don't particularly like their relationship - 02 is quite toxic/abusive and definitely ain't best girl - having Hiro act as a foil to her combat abilities and personality which lacks control allows the two to operate in junction with each other.

The rest of the characters come into play with their own interrelationships. If you haven't seen the octahedron memes, those constant inter-dependencies between characters come into play in various ways to further develop both the characters themselves as well as for climactic moments of trial during the plot. Two people aren't getting along because of teen melodrama? Mech stops working, everyone might die. Two characters get into a petty argument? They can't pilot anymore, and it ripples through the morale of the rest of the group. Certain characters are infatuated with others rather than their own partner? The team dynamics suddenly switch, both affecting the combat portions, the relationships between characters, and heightening the drama itself. Darling is very good at showing how seemingly petty melodrama can resonate through a large cast of varied characters, who have shared goals, but different investments.

The art, animation, and sound barely need to be discussed. All are stellar, and nothing less than should be expected from a TRIGGER production. Having the talents of A-1 pictures to help boost the fluid action while also enhancing the quieter and more emotional scenes, which ring ever more gorgeous as time goes on. An epic fight with a giant monster has all the bombast you expect from a high-octane mecha anime, while a character trailing their crush's footsteps in the sand is able to draw out both happiness as well as a painful twang of melancholy. The music has a particular orchestral style that, although similar to many other series, has a certain pomp reminiscent of Kill La Kill, giving each scene their appropriate emotional flair. The first ED, "Torikago," is especially good, ending the early episodes with a strong refrain to deep you intrigued in the next episode.

The slowest episodes in the first half of the series begin to drag down the show, as it slogs through run-of-the-mill beach and bathhouse episodes. And although there are no compliments that can be given to these inductions into the series, it is nice that the show at least stays true to the characters still being developed over time. Even in these slight moments that can seem irrelevant and purposeless in the larger scheme, the deeper commitment to drip-feeding the audience with ever-expanding social connections and worldbuilding pay off as the series begins to shift gears into the end of the first cour.

It's easy to not like Darling in the FranXX. But pushing beyond some of the trappings of its genre, and letting the world and character development continue to expand, it is quick to see why this show is so rewarding not for its EPIC HYPE, but for its dense character evolution over time. This is a show mired in feelings and emotion, and the scenes within it are best appreciated through the lens of an emotional viewer: someone who tries to feel out a scene rather than logically analyzing it, and understanding that you aren't meant to know the details, but are instead asked to let the world around you shift your feelings, just like the shifting loyalties and persuasions of the characters within.

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I decided to write a review after episode 6 as this series keep getting better and better after each episode for me. If they keep this up until the very last episode I will definitely make this anime as one of my recommendation to people who want to watch some quality mechs anime.

Story (9):
The story itself about the pilots of the mech, their relationship with other pilot and I think about finding their purpose in life other than fighting with their mechs. The beginning of the story itself is quite typical. The usual boy meet mysterious girl (Eureka 7 did this, Evangelion did this, Comet Lucifer did this, Code Geass did this, etc). However it is by no mean bad, I love Eureka 7 and if this executed well I might love this one too. A the series progress I think the story improve and keep getting better. It has enough mysteries to keep me wanting more and looked forward to the next episode.

Art (10):
One of the best part of this series is its actions scene, episode 6's fighting scene is so awesome. The duo animation studios work really well in here. There is no inconsistency in the animation. The animation is fluid, the character, the mech as expected of A1 Picture and Trigger working together.
The action simply the BEST in this season for me.

Sound (9):
There is one OST that play in every epic moment (The climax in episode 6 for example) which I really love. Torikago and Kiss of Death is one of my favourite ED and OP song this season aside of Sora Yori Mo Tooi Basho's and Yuru Camp's. I am waiting for the second cour ED and OP song.

Character (8):
At first I hate how Hiro's act, but as the series progress up until episode 6, He developed and He begin to grow on me. On other hand I really like Zero Two since the beginning of the series. Zerome and Miku is also a pair that really memorable to me especially Zerome because of his arrogance. Some memorable character for me are enough for me to give this part a solid 8.

Enjoyment (10):
As a mechs fans mysel, I watched a lot of mechs series, some which I enjoy some other not so. This one is one of the mechs series I really enjoy.The battle scene, the character, the story.
I am looking forward for new episode every week.

Overall (9 + 10 + 9 + 8 + 10 = 9.2):
This anime keep getting better and better and I hope It will always be. Give this series a chance especially if you like mechs. Don't let the excessive amount of fans service put you off, this anime has a lot more to offer. For me, as of now this is on my top 3 for this season.

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First of all, all the negative reviews here have been done when only the 6th episode has released, so they are suffering from a SEVERE lack of information to even properly judge this anime.

If you consider up to the current episode, ep 15 right now, this anime is a MASTERPIECE. There simply is no other way to put it. It mixes elements of romance, action, suspense, and mystery perfectly to create the ultimate plot. The character development is INSANELY strong, and we get to know the preferences and backgrounds of almost all the main characters. This leads to a plot that makes sense and is enjoyable to watch.

Character dynamics are amazing, the plot is terrific, the foreshadowed symbols and recurring themes are all top-notch.

This anime is a must watch and will probably be remembered as a classic.

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I'll be as fair and objective as possible here, additionally, this review will be practically completely spoiler-free!

Story: 3 (Poor)
Art: 8 (Very Good)
Sound: 6 (Fair)
Character: 1 (Pathetic)
Enjoyment: 1 (Pathetic)
Overall: 1 (Pathetic)

Some can be accredited to its massive hype up until its release, but also to the objective analysis of the different parts that make up this anime. I will be delving into the different parts that I rated it on, and explaining why I chose that number. Hopefully you can come to your own conclusion about whether you'd want to watch this or not, or whether you agree with me or not, but regardless;

Let's get right into the parts:


Story: 3 (Pathetic)

There is simply no other way of putting it. The story follows utterly generic story cliches that have been done many times before. Whilst I understand this solely doesn't invalidate the anime, the sheer amount of plot holes and evidences of terrible writing does. You don't get fed a lot of information about the world, and not even in a purposeful way; whilst mystery is nice, it requires a balance of given information to keep you interested in the mysteriousness. Darling in the FranXX, however, lacks any mysteriousness as it also lacks information to begin with. You, the viewer, feel very lost watching it, as you try and piece together the characters to the story.

There is also a beach episode, which logically doesn't make much sense in the story and was extremely shoehorned into it even though prior statements showed that a "beach episode" is highly unlikely to be able to occur. These changes in the story (ie. inputting a sole fanservice episode, even when the story would dictate otherwise) show that the writer's intentions were not even towards forwarding or developing the story. Perhaps money, or a sickening desire to make fanservice, were the real reasons behind the completely-lacking-plot.

The world does look interesting, however, but this is more accredited to the art, since the world isn't explained at all, which is a shame to put such art to waste. It's like seeing something amazing that really sticks out in a painting, but never being able to find the true reason why that object was placed there, or what it is - this is the only kind of intrigue you get about the story; an annoying kind. In the first few episodes, the story progresses alarmingly quickly. This is given to the fact that the story skips over things that might seem important simply to move to the next big plot twist, however, the plot twists are extremely predictable. The next few episodes actually completely copy each other, with the exact same kinds of things happening in the story, repeated 3 episodes in a row. For example, A happens, then B happens by surprise, and C has to fix it. It became extraordinarily apparent that the next episode would follow suit, and I physically predicted the episode before it happened. Again, it copied the same template, which was so painfully obvious I had no enjoyment watching the episode (as with all of the episodes).

Although, there are definitely animes with worse stories. There are plotholes in many major publications, but regardless is still worth mentioning due to their glaring obviousness in Darling in the FranXX. If you don't think about the story, and just watched the fight scenes, I would admit that it would be an enjoyable watch. However, this does show the precedent example of how the context of the story actually somehow makes the intermittent (and rare) fight scenes worse.

Overall, the story is a weak point. In some later episodes, plot holes and problems become severely apparent. "The plot" is used to do practically impossible things, with little expectation. You actually feel quite dumb, as the anime is practically assuming you wouldn't notice the plot holes.


Art: 8 (Very Good)

The distinct 'Trigger style' is what initially drew a lot of people to this anime, as the name carries good connotations for most. Kill la Kill, Kiznaiver and Little Witch Academia all carried the Trigger name, and were massively successful, so it's without a doubt that there were already high expectations. Unfortunately, this is where its let down. Sometimes the Trigger style art is obviously 'switched out' or at least touched by A1 Pictures in some way, most notably on a lot of the fanservice moments. Really makes you think.

Regardless of that, the artwork is nice. The colours go well together, for example, Zero Two's mecha Strelezia, has a great contrasting colour scheme. The world vibrantly comes to life, especially during large-scale scenes. Unfortunately, the action scenes are a let down, a tiny bit, but still illustrate the battles quite well.

Additionally, made apparent by the beach episode, the characters are oddly disproportional. Younger, smaller characters have massive breasts which are completely impossible for their stature, yet are shoehorned into the episodes, whilst the "flat-chested" characters (basically anyone without C+ chests) feel bad about it. With no place in this anime, it becomes amazingly jarring when you see those parts of the character designs, and completely understand the artist's intentions behind the character.

Overall, there isn't much else to say for the art. The colours and art style are pleasant to look at, but are let down by the blatant use of disproportionate characters for more sex appeal, and some fight scenes not being as fluid as they could be. I also have to deduct a point for pointless cinematic black bars appearing randomly. I thought they helped make the fights more cinematic, for some reason, but I saw them appear even during random conversations. It confused me and detracted my attention away from the content itself. Still, a solid piece to look at.


Sound: 6 (Fair)

This one was harder to rate. At not one point did I consider the sound to feel 'off' except for, more often than not, the music. Sounds for everything else is practically pristine - its powerful, pristine, and matches whatever is going on, and at whatever scale, too (some objects in the world are large, for example, and sounds given off match that well). However, I noticed several times where the music used did not fit the situation or feel of the scene at all. Usually it was with the music during, and around, fight scenes. Some times it would play utterly unfitting music that actually distracted you from the scene itself, which is something that shouldn't happen in any anime, to say the least.

Since it doesn't stick out, and is let down several times by unfitting music, it isn't amazing, but nothing to complain horribly about.


Character: 1 (Pathetic)

Well, in addition to the parts of the review that talked about the story, the characters fit in next. They are bland, to say the least. The most relatable character for most viewers is probably Goro - he's down-to-earth and overall a nice guy. Unfortunately, he is not the protagonist. The protagonist, Hiro, is a carbon-copy of Kirito (from SAO), but objectively worse and actually lacking any form of personality. He makes dumb decisions, not even for the sake of 'its a mistake', but completely illogical. For example, there are multiple times where the conversation is turning towards a point where we might actually learn something about a character's viewpoint/feelings, but in both situations, Hiro, gets distracted by 'something' (aka an event that was shoehorned into the plot, completely coincidental, and would never happen between people talking, ever), and you completely lose the buildup. I would suppose, however, that I do like the side characters, as a positive. They are very relatable, and actually react to conversation in a much more realistic sense, unlike the protagonist. If you are okay and can deal with a complete self-insert basic protagonist, and can see past him to see the more interesting characters, it would be bearable to watch.

The characters are definitely the weakest point of the anime. It's such a shame for characters with strong visual representation to be so poorly-written. They fulfill tropes to a disgusting degree, although that can be argued to help the story by letting the reader's instinct about particular tropes (eg. the fat guy eats a lot) to extrapolate information to help construct a context. Apart from this, it's difficult to get any more information about the characters other than what's scarcely fed to you.

Overall, the characters are weak; some are strongly relatable, but you easily begin to realise that their small screen-time is jarring and disturbing. One character introduced in Episode 5 for about 5 seconds is seen again in 6, for about the best of 30 seconds. Even in this short space of time, they already give off an amazing air and vibe of mystery, with me desiring to want more. Why couldn't I feel this for all the other protagonists and side characters? It really shows the shortcomings in the character development, compared to other animes by the same studios, for example.


Enjoyment/Overall: 1 (Pathetic)

Well, it's hard to be objective about this part, so it will be subjective. Darling in the FranXX is mediocre at best, but terrible at worst. Its most marketable character, the pink-haired 002, is arguably the most well-known character due to her distinct look compared to the other main characters, but she is wound up in this odd plot. There is no point that you want more answers about her and her lore simply due to an air of mystery, you are fed information intermittently, and you piece together bits, but never get any real answers for her, or the other characters for that matter.

The plot is basic at best. It's a generic "us vs. them" story for starters, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but is orchestrated in such a horrific manner that it becomes a letdown. Things make no sense, plotholes become obvious, the plot itself makes drastic changes that are absurdly unrealistic, and ultimately results in a disturbed experience as you wonder 'Why? How?' to almost everything.

Not to mention the sex appeal appalling fanservice. Random scenes of close-up bodily parts, obvious insecurity from 'flat-chested' (as I mentioned before, who are practically not even flat-chested) characters to the rest, disproportionate body types, and such really detract from the rest of the art. Whilst the enemies, allies, and world itself look beautiful at times, seeing a character with massive breasts that are too big for her body swinging them about (which I may add, is whilst wearing a skintight suit, therefore them 'bouncing' is impossible) for no reason really shows the creator's intentions. It genuinely seems like, most of the time, the creator is gearing for the next posterior camera angle rather than the next reveal in the plot.

To which I will go on to say that each 'reveal' that you're geared up to be somewhat excited for is a massive letdown. Either it follows the same archetype of there being some sort of 'unseen problem' which is ultimately fixed by the power of ____ (insert feeling here). One part I remember, is where another team of characters we've never seen before had to fight some enemies, and I actually connected to them more than I had any other of the main characters. Their situation was realistic. They acted realistically. At no point were they saying cringey lines.

To mention 'cringey lines' is funny too, as a lot of the words are unnecessarily replaced with innuendo-esque words. "Kissing" is used a lot to refer to a certain event in the anime, as well as "Docking" etc. Again, it seems too intentional to really take the anime seriously at all.

Overall it's a shame. The anime looked good from the trailers and screenshots, reveals and character designs. Hearing 'Trigger' really set people into expecting a lot, but the end result is a massive letdown. You may wish to watch this if you can see past the problems above, but I doubt there are a lot of people who can actually be honest to themselves and actually admit that it is genuinely a mediocre-to-bad anime at most. Similar anime that do their job properly would be Evangelion, Aldnoah.Zero, and Sidonia no Kishi.

Thank you very much for reading my review.

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First off, i have no clue how to write review, but here's what i think about this anime. I don't usually share my thoughts like this, but i've changed lately

In my opinion the anime definitelly deserves more than #500 ranking. To be honest, i'm giving it 10/10 overall just so it gets more ranking.

I love anime like this, when i started watching anime for first time, i wanted to see a anime like this, where couples fight. A true anime couple. When i first started watching anime, i watched the boo hoo bad anime SAO and in fact, i liked SAO's first few episodes, Just because of Kirito and Asuna teamworking, to take down the first SAO boss. But then they split up and stuff, and SAO became bad.

Story: 9/10 There's still more to learn, but for sixth episode it's good enough. I like how the anime explained why Hiro's squad is the only ones who have colorful mechas and nicknames.

I was always picky about what anime to like, because i used to talk to a friend, that liked literally every bad anime, no matter what ranking MAL gave it, so i always just skipped through low ranked anime, thinking that they're bad, but i changed lately. I'm giving now 10/10 even to a show that's got #500 ranking at this moment. I think it deserves more than #500.

Art: 9/10 Well it's not some super art masterpiece like Violet evergarden, but again it's good enough. The animation's not that bad, i think we should leave 10/10 for anime like Violet evergarden.

It's propably hard not to see me as one of these triggered fanboys, after putting in 10/10 overall just like that. I'm self aware of that. I knew that's how i'd look like, but whatever.

Sound: 8/10 I like both ED and OP, there's sometimes violin playing in background too, that's nice. Violin's nice.

Character: 10/10 I love how Zero Two is so close to Hiro right from the beginning, it's kind of charming. I don't mind Hiro being unconfident, there's space for him earning the confidence, as anime progresses.

This couple kinda reminds me of Horo and Lawrence! Horo and Zero Two are so alike. Why haven't i seen someone mention this before.
Horo and Lawrence are propably best couple out there.

Enjoyment: 10/10 Don't see why not put 10/10, there were some cringy moments, and cringe is always not enjoyable, but whatever i enjoyed it.
I love how the monsters/enemies are all in difference shapes, always have different abilities, you never know what to expect of them. That's fun.

Overall: 10/10 I don't think it's masterpiece, we should leave 10/10 for the true masterpieces, but i think it deserves more than just #500. So i'm gonna give it 10/10. Hope it gets better rank.

I should've though propably waited a while longer before posting this, because of two reasons: I finished watching episode 6 just 30 minutes ago, so my review is easily affected by emotions, and second reason is because the anime is still not finished.
Wow, episode 7 sucked. Literally nothing happened. am i watching One Piece, or a Naruto filler, or what.
Damn, episode 8 sucked too, i dislike these "relaxation" episodes so far, i'd rather prefer if they kept advancing the story asap. If it continues like this, i'm gonna regret making this review tbh,
Kinda funny, people will propably hate this review, if i didn't change lately, i would've hated it too.

You could say that the purporse of me giving it 10/10 overall is literally just to increase it's rating. Don't know if this is legal or not.

Reviewing a unfinished anime is propably easier than reviewing a finished one, it has IMO potential to become either one of the bad anime, or a above average 8.30 anime, at this point it's propably just average one that i taken liking to. I have no clue what "hype train" is everyone talking about, i found this anime randomly just a day ago.
Anyway, i've written what i wanted to write.

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“How can I become popular?”

Darling in the FranXX is a sad attempt at creating or rather, replicating a legacy act. It took inspiration from what popular shows like Evangelion and Gurren Lagann did, without understanding a thing about what made them work. It tries to expand on ideas without understanding how to sell them, let alone incorporate them meaningfully. It wants to craft a setting to draw us in and make us remember it but instead, FranXX falls flat on its hormone-driven face. It’s a brilliant showcase on why the insular nature of anime writers & directors is detrimental. It is the definition of an anime that tries to pander to the entire anime community, and as a result, FranXX lost the chance to craft a work of art worthy of being remembered. What we have now is a vulgar yet ambitious mess whose only remarkable features are its volume of ineptitude and its interesting but horrendously executed aesthetic.

Speaking of which, what does FranXX’s sex aesthetic contribute to the narrative? Nothing good. Sure, every conflict deals with the idea of sex, gender, and couples in some way, but the visuals don't remotely contribute to this. Additionally, the world-building that stemmed from this is as questionably handled as it is derivative. Yes, Neon Genesis Evangelion did similar things, from the concept and world to having its mechs be drenched in symbolism. However, we get to what separates the two: humanity and focus.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most human anime ever made. It constantly delves into the psyches of each character in a way that feels both relatable and real, while exploring their hobbies and how these people bounce off each other and affect each other personally. They were in the face of a war against deadly creatures, and the focus was placed on how this, their upbringing, and their conflicts stemming from this affect each other. This happened because Eva was written and directed by a legendary man and nerd who went outside, talked with people a lot and had a social life with them, and suffered through personal, relatable problems. The director and writer also had a sense of focus, making sure each world-building element made sense and retained consistency in the logic of the show, and that each character was consistent, with gradual mental declines that felt natural.

Now, look at this show, made by someone who no doubt worked to get here but is as much an unknown figure as most other directors in this insular, borderline unsustainable industry. While he's capable of delving into his characters' upbringings, no one is written well enough for us to care. Part of why is because instead of relying on substantial interactions and meaningful introspections, FranXX takes the Re:Zero route of letting these caricatures shout their pathetically written and constructed feelings to each other Light Novel monologue style while letting flashy directing choices do the rest, often during contrived scenarios meant to incite drama with the most hideous of dialogue. To put this into perspective, episode 1 does this 5 or 6 times with its main character. Unlike say: Fate/Extra: Last Encore, this show isn't oozing with the kind of style to make it feel natural, instead only busting out the interesting presentation as a borderline disingenuous attempt at enhancing or explaining emotions. LE also delves into the introspection aspect far better and shows a superior portrayal of broken people raised by a horrible, controlling system that sends its inhabitants to fight for their lives. Additionally, it better demonstrates how that affects several of them once they’re out fighting and when they’re part of the system. FranXX can't even make a compelling character to save its life, let alone a character that truly feels real. They're barely explored at the best of times, and some such as Zorome and Miku (which make up 1 of the 4 mech teams in this squad) have almost no relevance or character given they pretty much stop at just being whiny brats. The few that do get explored don't fare much better in terms of having standout or consistent personalities.

If you're familiar with awful post-Eva works such as Brain Powerd or De;Vadasy, you may have found these problems all too familiar. Another common post-Eva trait is the ability to have a general idea of what to explore without any idea on how to make it work. Brain Powerd focused on trying to do the concepts and relationships of Eva backward and did so incoherently with a script to reflect that as they had to make up new terms and ideas out of nowhere that don't fit or make any sense. It decides to copy the actions of Evangelion and the narrative structure of Gurren Lagann while failing to create a coherent world with believable characters to care about. The disastrous second half more than cements this fact in several ways.

I won't cover everything, but let's start at the top. The world-building in FranXX is among the worst I have ever seen, delving into its symbolism with little regard as to how it can make sense beyond vague setup, much like with the direction of the narrative as a whole. So much about the setting and lore counters itself, even outside of the parts that already make no sense. This anime’s inability to show us the necessary information for certain events to have possibly taken place have resulted in monumental plot holes to make matters even worse. The FranXX mechs make no sense in literally any aspect, and the implications in them manage to assassinate the already badly executed relationship between Hiro and Zero Two. Let’s not even mention how hideous the final 11 episodes were, especially in regards to FranXX's lore. Even then, the beginning was atrocious too, what with the awful love triangle, episodes 6 and 8, the aforementioned world-building, and the fact that most of the characters are obnoxious, worthless, needlessly hateful, and surprisingly inconsistent caricatures at best. The show has such little respect for them that its primary mascot character Zero Two, constantly switches on a dime simply for the sake of creating drama and steering the show in a planned direction. It shows a sense of callousness for the show's characters on the part of the writers that even the most uncaring audience member cannot surpass.

Before we wrap up, we best look at the audiovisual side of things, as this show still manages to trip over itself in this regard, though it doesn’t do so as hard as it does with the writing. The fembot designs are all around the passable range with nothing being truly awesome or toy-worthy. The creatures and settings have nice colors but nothing is particularly well designed, from creature to character -with the possible exception of Zero Two-. Hiro’s design is especially awful for obvious reasons, and several of the supporting cast designs are eerily similar to certain Eva characters. The outfits are also mediocre to bad, often with awkward “X” and “Y” logos for no good reason, and whenever the show tries to do something with dynamic cameras -sometimes even when they don’t- the frames get cut in half, from a normal amount to what feels like half, if not less. The premiere episode alone is the perfect indicator. It thankfully doesn’t happen too often when it does, the viewing experience becomes a rough one. As mentioned, the directorial idea of messing with the aspect ratios haphazardly or for the sake of emotion and whatnot is borderline laughable as well. Additionally, there are several scenes where no one has any facial features, and the luckily infrequent CGI here is subpar at best. This collaboration between A-1 Pictures, Studio “saving anime” Trigger, and eventually, A-1’s new subsidiary, Cloverworks, was definitely shaky, even from a visual standpoint. It’s not like the show was badly animated or anything, and the environments were done rather nicely. There were just several variables that kept this work from functioning greatly on a visual level. One last one to mention is how the fight scenes manage to be completely unexciting, with little real flow or impact to anything, or many truly good bits of animation or spectacle.

In regards to the music, none of the background tracks stick out, even if none are necessarily bad or ill-fitting -outside of one rap song at the start of episode 8-. There are some triumphant tracks in the first quarter that are good, but that’s as far as that goes. The opening theme "KISS OF DEATH" by Mika Nakashima x Hyde, is certainly unique, even if not to my taste. The ending themes are all numerous, and none of them are particularly good or memorable. Sure, some are better songs than others, but none of them are really going to stick with you in the same vein that Gurren Lagann ED 2 or Neon Genesis Evangelion’s ending themes did. Somehow, all of this makes the music the most competent part of the entire show, which is mortifying.

The most embarrassing thing is that the show not only tried its best to become popular, but it did so whilst having its staff being treated like shit by its “loyal fans” like it was the second coming of Re:Zero. There was ambition here but little thought beyond popularity and mimicry with a spin. One could argue this is propaganda for the Japanese to have kids and fix their under-population problem, but that doesn’t exactly fix anything, or even help give the show any real identity. Such a shame since, again, the ideas present here, if given more thought, could have turned into a fun dystopian action show that explored its characters in interesting ways while being a meaningful allegory for sex and puberty. It isn’t like the show doesn’t have its moments of sincerity or even a visible narrative through-line either, so the potential was obviously there. It's just that so much of what it did would require a complete and utter reworking in order to even become salvageable. Alas, we get this broken, tiresome replica to forget about once the memes are over.

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!! POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING !!

NOTICE: This review was updated week by week and now that the show is finished, has ended with my comprehensive review.

Now let's get into the final review.

Story: 2 (last week: 3)
Literally this story has fallen so far off I have no words. I had very high expectations for this show but, it seems as if I was wildly off. The story went from a fun, teenage-ish drama with some intriguing concepts (yes, I know they have been done before) and lovable characters to an explosion of the cluster fuck that had been building up. From episode 19-24, I was so lost. The story doesn't stay at all consistent and way too much gets introduced for anyone to make any sense of what the hell is going on. It literally makes me gag because of everything being forced down my throat at once. Not only this, but the story lacks any consistency. By sending Hiro and Zero Two, our protagonists, into space, the importance of the other parasites now becomes literally zero because they cannot affect the outcome of the story anymore. They are simply characters that could've been wiped out in the beginning and it really wouldn't have changed the ending that much since Hiro and Zero Two basically do everything themselves. Not only this, but APE's presence it basically useless and I think that the only thing that was got right in the last six episodes was the killing off of them once they became useless. Also, the focus of the story switching to the earth was stupid since it never was really about the good of the earth but instead about the parasites but whatever.

ART: 9 (last week: 9)
I love the art in this show. This is done by A-1 and Trigger. What more could you ask for art wise? I love this style although they do nothing special. If you look at the FranXX, they each are done very well and with a solid color palettes that show their personalities. But also, if you look at this environments and background arts, no space is wasted. The fact that the FranXX's resemble the female pilots is also a pretty cool concept, while it may just be so the audience knows which is which without needing to memorize each pair and their FranXX. The OP's and ED's are very well done and I actually really like both.

SOUND: 9 (last week: 9)
The sound in this show is nothing special by any means but it isn't bad. They are careful to not use the same sound twice for different types of characters, which is often done in A-1 productions. The sounds of ambience and chaos are balanced fairly well but can be a bit abrupt at times. I think the sound is the same but the sounds of fighting and dialogue are balanced well. The fighting noises aren't way down, and the dialogue isn't extremely loud during fight scenes and the same goes for it vice versa. Plus, the voice actors are paired with characters very skillfully. I prefer the sub VA’s and just based on how well they fit each role. I raised my score in this category by one because I really do love each VA and their roles. They each are paired incredibly well.

Characters: 1 (last week: 3)
Ok so we have lovable and enjoyable go to complete shit in literally like three episodes. By the end of the anime, no one besides Hiro and Zero Two matter, which is fine but the transition is way too sudden and we are just basically strobed with things like, "GORO AND ICHIGO ARE FINALLY TOGETHER, LOOK," "WOW LOOK AT MITSURU AND KOKORO HAD A BABY AND STUFF," and "ZOROME ISN'T COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT," like it really has anything to do with the story at this point. I think it would have been much more effective to just focus on Zero Two and Hiro in space and their relationship during this time then try to switch between them and the other parasites because the people back home really didn't matter in the slightest to the story.

Enjoyment: 1 (last week: 2)
I went from, "I freaking love watching this show every week and waiting for each episode is excruciating," to, "Just end it here."

Overall: 2 (last week: 3)
I recommend this show because of the fun characters, interesting story, and especially Zero Two. You won't regret your decision unless you have a very specific taste and hate these types of shows in general.

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Before Darling in the Frankxx actually aired, I asked myself if Trigger could ever replicate the success of Kill la Kill. Remember that series back in 2013? Their debut show made a significant impact for anime fans all over the world. From then on, Trigger produced some questionable series like Kiznaiver but also reminded us that there are still golden eggs such as Little Witch Academia. Sometimes I still have to ask myself, what the hell is Darling in the Frankxx?

To be fair, Darling in the Frankxx is actually a co-production between Trigger and A-1 Pictures. It’s an original TV anime that adheres to more of a humongous mecha show while mixing elements of drama, comedy, sci-fi, and absurdity. Oh wait, that’s not a genre, isn’t it? Well, you will probably understand the meaning of that later on. But first things to remember is that Darling in the Frankxx takes place in a distant future. There are imminent sci-fi themes that deals with pilots and Frankxx, giant robots that are capable of fighting the mysterious klaxosaur. Here, we meet the children that lives in mobile fort cities known as the Plantations. Out of these children, a young boy named Hiro (Code 016) meets a strange girl with horns on her head. So begins this journey….

On my first viewing, it felt like Trigger really wanted to play a bit with the viewers’ emotions while attempting the tricky feat of combining many different genres. I’m not going to lie, the first few episodes made me feel like the anime wanted to experiment with sex. Even the first moment when Hiro encounters Zero Two showed implies there may be an immense amount of fan service in the show. However, I wouldn’t say this anime thrives on sex as it’s mostly played out like a metaphor. In other words, this anime isn’t a trick pony but does rely on the emphasis of fan service to some extent. The gimmicks of the anime relies more on the characters’ actions to do the talking. Remember, the main cast is composed of young characters who hasn’t fully grown up yet. In fact, they rely on the Frankxx in order to exist in their world and doesn’t really know their true purpose. A driving factor of the show chronicles the lives of these children. They begin to learn more about their world, themselves, and what their true purpose really is. That is to say, the plot is suspenseful from the start as more and more storytelling is unraveled.

Because the series is mixes in a variety of themes, exposition is necessary and we get a lot of info dumping. It shouldn’t take long to learn the show’s terms as every episode made is easily understandable. However, it’s the characters that are deceptively complex as we learn more about them. At the heart of the show is the horned girl named Zero Two. There’s not much we know about her in the beginning but it’s discreetly shown that she has a connection with the klaxosaurs. From a viewer’s perspective, Zero Two draws the line between human and inhuman. A good portion of the characterization focuses on whether Zero Two accepts on being who she is. She seeks her own identity and place in the world. Thanks to Hiro and his friends, Zero Two does manage to realize who she is and makes her own choices like seeking freedom. And to be quite honest, freedom is a pretty important word considering that these children are trapped like birds in a cage. The animal motif is evident as the children from Squad 13 are called “parasites” by the adults. The mysterious Papa gives out orders to them and they obey them without question. Later on, Squad 13 begins to wonder their real purpose and seek to create freedom themselves.

Zero Two is a controversial character who seemingly caused the deaths of pilots who formerly were partnered with her. In a sense, she can be labeled as “black widow”. It is only when she took Hiro as her “darling” that reveals a more sensible side of her. Usually, Zero Two is playful despite being serious about her duties. It’s easy to see how childish she can be even on the battlefield like a cat playing with her food. (she actually does this in early episodes) The show also takes a deep dive into her past as we learn how the adults experimented on her and connection with Hiro. Speaking of which, Hiro is like a light in a dark tunnel for not just Zero Two but all his teammates. He is hopeful and is often a voice of reason. As a pilot, he isn’t afraid to take risks despite knowing potential consequences. This inevitably leads him to fall in love with Zero Two. At the apex of the story, he is able to express his feelings in honesty to her. From that point on, they are pretty much inseparable. However, this show’s relationship dynamics isn’t exactly well written if you read between the lines. From the two main leads, it’s very obvious that the anime wants to keep them as true loves. It’s a pretty generic way of storytelling that sends the message of “love will conquer all”. It's something you can find in almost any sci-fi flicks these days. From puppy love to an actual romantic relationship, it’s something any show could have done easily. It’s a shame since I wanted to see this anime think a bit outside of the box.

BUT, that’s not all. The biggest turn off of the relationship dynamics involves the other characters of Squad 13. Let’s face some facts here, the children in the show are very clueless about the concepts of love. Yes, love itself is a very complicated subject for discussion but the anime makes it clear that they have zero knowledge about it. There are multiple character love angles going on by the time you reach 1/3 of the show. For a short list, it involves the love triangle between Goro, Ikuno, and Ichigo. Then, there’s Ichigo, Zero Two, and Hiro. Outside of this circle, there’s also a love triangle between Mitsuru, Kokoro, and Futoshi. Zorome and Miku also seems to have some special feelings towards each other. At one point in the series, Ichigo became an Internet meme for the drama she bought in between herself, Hiro, and Zero Two. I also felt bad for Futoshi as well since the show made it clear that he didn’t stand a chance. Kokoro and Mitsuru’s relationship is perhaps one of the more tragic ones in the series. And Ikuno…, it almost feels like the show put the character in a love triangle with Goro and Ichigo to make her more relevant. That being said, you may get a headache or two after realizing how clueless these kids are about love. The show even has multiple episodes where they question the meaningful of a “kiss”.

To be honest, Darling in the Frankxx actually started off pretty strong with a lot of potential for developing some of the main characters. Indeed, there are definitely moments that are worth talking about considering how far the series takes care of them. Outside of Squad 13, we also take a deep dive into Dr. Franxx (the creator of the Frankx) and his past. There’s even exclusive storytelling on what motivated him to create these giant mechs in the first place. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much how far the characterization ends up for individuals who are not part of the main cast. An example is Nines, a special defense force who were once part of Zero Two’s former unit. The number 1 of the Nines is an antithesis of Hiro as he is intensely loyal to Papa while mocking Zero Two of becoming “human”. The series hardly explores him beyond his personality and even though he changes, it felt like a script of a play that anyone can predict would happen. I was more interested in seeing how the show would handle the roles of the adults. There’s no doubt that Papa plays the role of a distant surrogate figure to Squad 13. In early episodes, they all try to impress him that characters such as Zorome goes to absurd lengths to prove himself. Later on in the show, we find out their real motivations and almost feels like a slap to the face when you realize reality.

Actually, now that I think about it, this series can actually be a bit dark. Trigger’s anime projects consists of a diverse variety but Darling in the Frankxx took a lot of risks. I do commend them a bit for doing that. It’s what makes Trigger the studio they are known for nowadays. Did the risks pay off in the end? I’d say hardly because the final few episodes in the show really made me scratch my head wondering if the creators planned this out in the beginning. The incredibly rushed plot is stuffed with cheesy dialogues and subplots that felt irrelevant. The power of love trope is so overused in this show that the final arc felt mindless and it took me awhile to get it over with. There’s a feeling of the anime of cooking up drama for the sake of drama. The worst part ends up being whether we should care about all this or not. Because honestly, I think this show went way over itself in trying to be something special. Instead, it became a hollow shell of itself and degenerated its own legacy.

By animation quality standards, Darling in the Frankxx maintains a consistent flow throughout the show. The first few episodes made it clear that there would be over the top action and it didn’t betray expectations. The producers were able to capture the highlights of battle scenes, emotional segments, and comedic moments flawlessly. Actual fighting scenes in the show is fast paced that makes an emotional impact. This is accomplished through the character expressions as it made many scenes feel larger than life. The mecha designed by Shigeto Koyama (Captain Earth, Eureka Seven) looks well-polished with the biotech features. Character designs shows the children well-dressed despite being isolated from society. On the other hand, the adults in the series looks ambiguously alien-alike. In addition, the klaxosaurs looks like they were inspired by kaiju movies. And of course, there’s fan service. It’s one of the main selling factors of the show to attract an audience. The metaphoric suggestive positions of the pilots are like a visual innuendo. Zero Two also spends some episodes in full nude while being shameless of her appearance. You want fan service? You got it, you horny viewers.

Known for taking a lot of risks, the show does also jump into the music department with a mission. That mission is to bring out a sci-fi show to its most iconic form. Admitingly, the theme songs are moderate at best in terms of appeal but contains a lot of creativity. The amount of foreshadowing and references are evident in many scenes. However, the theme songs adheres to a more emotional side of the show once you get into it. Battle OST also works its magic during many important scenes. The character voice mannerism of the show also makes an interesting impression in the case of Zero Two. She does indeed draw a line between a human and inhuman by the tone of her voice. In some episodes, she behaves like a playful child while other times, she acts like an emotional doll. Unfortunately, the other main cast falls short. I mean, who wants to listen to Hiro talking all day or Ichigo complaining like a brat?

With a total of 24 episodes, Darling in the Franxx ended up being a show that made a big impact but couldn’t fully capitalize on its ideas. It has a creative world and an intriguing group of characters. But when it comes to the actual storytelling, that turned into a chunk of mess. In fact, it made me wonder if the creators had a clear plan in the first place or if they procrastinated it like a final school project. To me, it’s a show that hit the right spots in the beginning but doesn’t live up to the hype. It sure got people talking about it if that was one of its missions. However, it’s ultimately a series that talk the talk, but couldn’t walk the walk.

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