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I went into Happy Sugar Life anticipating its deceptive cutesy mood and aesthetics hiding a more darker side since I seen this pulled before with a few past anime titles like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Low and behold, I got something rather unexpected and, at times, uncomfortable to watch with what the series explores with its plot and characters.

Focused on high schooler Sato Matsuzaka and a little girl named Shio sharing an apartment together, Happy Sugar Life starts off being as deceptive as the titles I mentioned above in assuming you think it will be a cutesy slice-of-life title involving our two leads, all the way down to the opening sequence for it not having a hint to the anime's more darker side. Beneath its cutesy facade, Happy Sugar Life is actually a psychological horror series delving into the more depraved elements of humanity and how such things can warp the mentality of those raised under such circumstances. Sato and Shio are characters of such circumstances with what Happy Sugar Life explores of their back stories and how their upbringings each effect them mentally, Sato especially as she does some rather heinous and, at times, deadly deeds to ensure her so-called "happy sugar life" is maintained with her living arrangements and bond with Shio. The exploration of Sato and Shio's characters are nicely done with exploring how dark and mentally jarring their past experiences shaped both of them to develop their bond with one another, at points even getting rather uncomfortable to watch that adds to how effective it shows how the bond may not be one for audiences to be completely sympathetic to.

The addition of other characters to the series is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some like Shio's brother Asahi and Sato's close friend Shouko that make for solid additions to Happy Sugar Life's plot as they start to unravel more about the circumstances surrounding Sato and Shio's predicament, as well as facing their own developments in regards to the circumstances. Others like Taiyou and Kitaumekawa-sensei were a bit too over-the-top with their behavior and actions to be taken seriously and felt mostly like shallow archetypes in the show's exploration of humanity's depravity.

The show also carries with it some issues in regards to its execution. It does take some time for the anime to start picking up steam in exploring Sato and Shio's characters, as we are otherwise introduced to the mentioned over-the-top characters in the series and Sato's actions to thwart anyone getting in the way of her bond with Shio. Also, there are occasions where the show's attempts at trying to come off serious can feel sloppy in their execution thanks to how over-the-top some of the characters come across with their actions, this being especially notable with Taiyou, Sato's aunt, and Kitaumekawa.

Setting aside these issues, Happy Sugar Life is otherwise still a mostly solid psychological horror series whose cutesy facade hides an impactful and disturbing look at how people can be effected from being raised under horrific circumstances by their caretakers. I'd at least recommend checking it out once to see how effective its horror elements and character exploration are.

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Being the third installment of FLCL, FLCL Alternative attempts to bring its coming-of-age comedy elements in exploring high schoolers with its focus on Kana and her group of friends being entangled in Haruko's conflict with Medical Mechanica. As the first two titles worked well enough in exploring growing up from different points of adolescence with Naota and Hidomi's characters, Alternative could have worked just as well with exploring a teen approaching adulthood given the proper execution. But compared to its earlier entries, Alternative carries some rather major issues.

The first major issue is the means in which FLCL Alternative chooses to explore its characters. Alternative devotes single episodes to exploring specific issues affecting Kana and one of her friends in some form, with Kana attempting to help out or learning to figure out how to handle said dilemma with support from her friends. While this exploration could work well with a longer series given the proper direction, the six-episode format of FLCL provides little time to properly explore and develop multiple characters. As a result, Alternative chooses to conveniently wrap up said character conflicts by the end of said episode and the characters are not shown to have changed all that much from these experiences compared to the gradual growth demonstrated by Naota and Hidomi from the prior two FLCL seasons.

The second major issue is how the show chose to focus on its particular coming-of-age theme with Kana and her friends approaching adulthood. As mentioned, this theme could have been a solid continuation of the FLCL trilogy with exploring growing up from different stages of adolescence. The first two titles were subtle and creative with exploring their themes related to growing up, having different spins to their explorations while not hammering you over the head about it and maintaining the franchise's trademark manic comedy. Alternative felt like it didn't have a clue in how it wanted to explore the transition to adulthood for a teen, thus the rather haphazard way it went about with exploring the tribulations of Kana and her friends. Plus the series is rather blatant with attempting to push whatever lesson it wants to push with growing up, which did irk me at points as I watched through the series since it obviously didn't know what lesson it wanted to push.

Third, the series seemed to be a bit too dependent on the plot formula of the original FLCL to try pushing along whatever plot it had and it shows. Sure, this argument could be presented as well with Progressive. But the series at least changes things up some with the plot structure and mood of the series to give it its own unique identity to connect it to Hidomi's character developments and Haruko's actions. Here with Alternative though, the plot elements used from the original FLCL aren't used any differently from the original series, making Alternative feel more like some sort of skeleton as it lacks the layers of depth and cohesion that made the prior two titles a treat for me. Sure, Haruko is still around with her nutty actions and causing chaos to stir up conflict with Medical Mechanica. But unlike the prior two anime, she seemed mostly directionless with her actions and lacking any motive compared to her earlier appearances. Plus, the ending to the series was rather sloppy and anti-climactic in execution as it carries some ambiguous and unresolved plot developments.

Overall, FLCL Alternative was the total opposite of what Progressive offered up as a coming-of-age comedy in terms of quality. While Progressive took its own direction with FLCL's themes on growing up and succeeded greatly with its execution, Alternative seemed to have issues with trying to use a larger cast of characters to explore these themes and not seeming to have a clue on how to incorporate the plot elements of the prior two FLCL anime into Alternative to give it its own unique feel. I suppose Production IG may have overestimated their capabilities with creating two simultaneous anime projects based on Gainax's classic OVA series, as the quality of Progressive and Alternative seem like night and day in terms of quality to this reviewer.

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By the looks of it, it seemed Rampo Kitan was trying to be a sort of modern telling of story concepts taken from the mystery novels of famous Japanese writer Ranpo Edogawa. This very story gimmick can possibly prove to be a major barrier for many Western anime fans since not too many of Edogawa's works are accessible in English and this series is dependent on its viewers having knowledge of characters and story elements from the mystery writer's work to understand the symbolic elements of its storytelling. I'll admit even I was a bit lost with many of the Edogawa references as my only exposure to the man's work is the gentleman thief Twenty Faces.

But setting this issue aside, Rampo Kitan is focused on teen detective Akechi and two middle school boys who assist him in trying to solve a mysterious string of murders connected to a vigilante named Twenty Faces, this being an obvious nod to the rivalry between detective Akechi and Twenty Faces from Edogawa's works. It looked like the series was attempting to be symbolic with exploring society's ills and the oppressed lashing out against them by tying it in with whatever themes and story elements are within Edogawa's works. The execution of this is a bit hit-or-miss. It does have its moments of effective storytelling such as a rather tragic exploration of the murderer from one case tackled by Akechi in the middle of the series to show how far society's ills could break someone mentally trying to do the right thing for others. The style in which the cases are explored at a number of points is also quite creative as Ranpo Kitan goes for a theatrical-style presentation with showcasing elements of its cases, character back stories, and themes that helps enhance the story mood at key points and also serves as some effective symbolism at points to show the disconnection that Akechi and some other characters can have with perceiving others. Plus, the middle comedy episode in the series serving as a buffer between the show's first and second half was quite humorous for me with its absurdity and is worth a look if you enjoy comedy.

Beyond these positives though, Rampo Kitan's very premise carries some major issues outside of the mentioned accessibility of the series. A number of the major characters in the series didn't feel like characters to a good degree as they felt more like shells to carry along the major elements of the series that it attempted to push, this being quite noticeable with the middle school boys that accompany Akechi on his cases. The motives of a number of the criminals and the supposed wrongs that society pushed a number of them into felt either absurd or a bit too nihilistic with pushing the anime's themes or attempting to twist character and story elements from Edogawa's novels. A few of the characters in particular, Black Lizard and Shadow Man, felt a bit out of place with Rampo Kitan's attempts to be a dark and serious look into mystery and elements of the human condition with how over-the-top their characters came across.

Overall, I suppose my thoughts on Rampo Kitan are a bit mixed. While I applaud it for trying to be different with its creativity and incorporating elements of Ranpo Edogawa's stories for this mystery series, the execution of this is quite hit-or-miss and there is the obvious issue of many of its story elements flying over the heads of many Western viewers unfamiliar with Edogawa's literary work. I suppose whatever enjoyment you may get out of this series will depend greatly on how read up you are on Edogawa and his novels.

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This latest installment of the Lupin III franchise adds some new elements to Lupin's thieving adventures that helps freshen up the now 50 year old franchise. First, it explores Lupin dealing with the challenges of modern technology such as the Internet and smartphones. This adds some new challenges for Lupin to deal with as technological elements like hackers, webcams, drones, and social media serve to complicate Lupin's crimes in the modern era. Yet in spite of this and unlike his companions who feel overwhelmed by the changing times at points, Lupin is shown to be quite adaptable in changing technologies and gains a new companion in the form of teen hacker Ami who aids him at a number of points throughout Lupin III: Part V.

The second element that helps make this series a unique one in the Lupin III franchise is that it actually takes time to exploring the relationship dynamics with the members of Lupin's gang. This is quite different from many past installments of Lupin III that mostly focused either on Lupin's thievery, dealing with a worst enemy threat, lusting for Fujiko, or evading Zenigata. With the challenges everyone faces from changing technologies, the members of the gang also come to question what sort of bonds they each have with one another in their connection with Lupin, this especially getting some interesting perspective with Lupin and Fujiko's neverending on and off relationship with one another. This new focus helps to add some new dimension to these characters since older anime fans would mostly identify them from the standard character types they exhibited from past installments of the Lupin III franchise.

In regards of plotting, Lupin Part V is mostly similar to Lupin Part IV in that it features ongoing plot developments throughout its entire series run. This series is divided up into several arcs where Lupin and his gang are challenged in some form with whatever big adventure they are involved in revolving the mentioned themes above, carrying a solid balance of serious and amusing moments throughout each arc. With the 24-episode run time, each character has enough time to get their own spotlight of focus throughout the series, this even including series character Ami who gets a fair amount of development throughout the series as she breaks out of her introverted shell. Outside of the series arcs, Lupin: Part V also has the occasional episodes serving as buffer between arcs that have the tone of the episode be similar to that from past Lupin III TV anime, serving as a homage of sorts to past Lupin III works as long-time fans of the franchise can pick up on what series is being portrayed through the color of Lupin's jacket.

Overall, I was quite entertained with what this latest addition to the Lupin III franchise had to offer. It added in some new story elements that helped freshen up the franchise's typical story formula, while retaining the ongoing story developments offered from Part IV and having the occasional episode serving as a homage to past Lupin anime. If you've been a longtime fan of the Lupin franchise, this is a definite recommendation I would suggest you try to watch at some point.

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Big Fish and Begonia may have you drawing parallels to Studio Ghibli films and Avatar: The Last Airbender with its visuals and elements of its premise. But in spite of this, this Chinese animated film does quite a beautiful job at establishing its own identity in exploring a focus on love and sacrifice with the challenges faced by Chun to resurrect the soul of a young human man who saved her life during a venture into the human world.

The obvious thing that was a highlight for me with Big Fish and Begonia was the animation. Outside of the apparent drawing style being inspired by Ghibli films, this film features highly detailed and beautiful scenic shots that are pleasing on the eyes and take place in a number of locales that include the spirit world that as Chun's home and the sea in which she meets Kun within the human world. In addition, it features an impressive merging of 2-D cel-shaded and 3-D computer-generated animation that blends seamlessly with one another during some of the film's more elaborate animation sequences, a feat that is hard to replicate in many animated films as the CG typically sticks out like a sore thumb when used. The film also maintains consistently fluid movement throughout its run, having many elaborate sequences that are able to maintain the elaborate visual details of its scenery and characters without any drop in quality or noticeable animation shortcuts.

Moving onto storytelling, Big Fish and Begonia does a great job within its 100-minute runtime to offer solid world-building of the spirit world that Chun lives in and developing its themes of love and sacrifice that our heroine faces in protecting Kun's soul. The film's world is inspired through a number of ancient Chinese and Taoist legends and stories that dabble into supernatural and magical elements, this being apparent in some of the film's themes focusing around resurrection and reincarnation. As for the story of the film, it revolves around Chun's admiration of the human world leading her to make a large risk to save Kun that jeopardizes her world's stability due to Kun's presence and her place within it. Without spoiling too much, the journey leads Chun to reflect on what path she wishes to choose for herself in life and make a great number of sacrifices to ensure Kun's safety and return him to the human world. Outside of Chun, other characters are introduced in the film to aid or deter Chun's efforts to protect Kun, though all said characters have justifications in their actions more than simply existing as a story element in Chun's adventure.

Overall, I must admit I was quite impressed with what I seen from Big Fish and Begonia as I believe this is the first Chinese animated titles I've had a chance of seeing. While some may draw parallels to Ghibli films with it as mentioned, it still stands on its own two feet with creating an engaging adventure with Eastern supernatural elements and many sacrifices being made by Chun to fulfill her goal of ensuring Kun's resurrection. I would strongly recommend checking this film out if you happen to come across it.

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Before I start my review, please be aware my review covers my thoughts for all six films of the Digimon Tri film series. That said, on with the review.


Digimon Tri serves as a continuation of the Digimon Adventure series featuring the Digidestined as teens where they reunite with their partner Digimon to combat a mysterious computer virus that is causing Digimon to go berserk and tearing portals between reality and the Digital World for the berserk Digimon to wreck havoc. Outside of the eight original Digidestined, they are joined by a new classmate named Meiko Mochizuki and her partner Digimon, Meicoomon.

Digimon Tri has its fair share of ups and downs throughout its six-movie series run. The first three films of the series actually offer up the best quality of Tri's run serving to reconnect older fans to their favorite characters and Digimon from the Adventure TV series (minus the Adventure 02 children), while adding on some new developments faced by the Digidestined children as they deal with the challenges of growing up. At varying points in the film, Taichi and the other Digidestined have their own different challenge affecting them from the developments of their adventure or their high school lives that affect them to varying degrees. From dealing with personal flaws to overcoming self-conflict, the film does a solid job with devoting further development to them.

The new characters of Meiko and Meicoomon are a bit of a mixed bag with their addition to Tri. On the one hand, they play a rather significant role with driving the major plot of the film series that leads to some interesting developments in exploring the partner dynamics between the human Digidestined and their Digimon partners. On the other hand, their characters leave quite a bit to be desired as Mei is the archetypal shy and nervous glasses girl who doesn't really grow much out of the character type, and Meicoomon doesn't have much to work with as a character beyond her serious developments toward later in Tri that the film series tries playing up as tragic, yet had me feeling rather indifferent to her situation due to her lack of dimension as a character.

The major crux of Tri and the driving force behind its existence has to do with the mysterious virus and wormholes affecting reality and the Digital World. While I won't spoil too much, all I'll say is what is ultimately revealed behind the cause surrounding both developments and the reasons behind them are rather weak and felt lazily thought out in motivations and execution. Concepts from prior Digimon seasons are brought up, yet Tri haphazardly jumps around them and doesn't smoothly integrate them into the film in a coherent fashion as they felt tacked on just for the sake of making a nod to a long-time Digimon fan or to add padding for the runtime of any of the films. Worst of all, Tri leaves things unresolved for a certain villainous character's presence as he is still at large by the end of the film series, implying he may make a return in future installments of the Digimon franchise.

In regards of presentation, Digimon Tri is a mixed bag. Scenery is vivid with a decent amount of detail and character designs sport more polish and detail than the original Adventure TV seasons, especially in regards to the updated designs of the now teenage Digidestined. However, the animation quality is rather subpar as animation shortcuts are usually milked and character model quality often degrades during action scenes when the animators attempt to put more fluid movement into them.

As a fan of the first Digimon Adventure series, I must admit that I'm rather disappointed in this film series. While offering up some solid developments with the human Digidestined and their Digimon partner dynamics, the main conflict of Tri felt rather sloppy in execution and development as events progressed in the film series. Plus for a movie, the production quality left much to be desired. Overall, Digimon Tri is a rather mixed package with what it offers up for older and newer generations of Digimon fans.

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Ideon: Be Invoked serves as an alternate retelling to the final several episodes of the TV anime when it was abruptly cancelled the year prior before Sunrise could wrap up the anime's plot. The film serves to wrap up events in the escalating conflict between the human crew of the Ideon and the alien Buff Clan.

Be Invoked starts where the TV anime left off in depicting Karala's confrontation with her father before the Ideon's power surges upward in response to the hostility between both factions. From then on, the film doesn't let up in showing how these hostilities result in an all-out final conflict between the Ideon crew and Buff Clan. The film is well regarded by mecha anime fans for being the high point of Tomino's "Kill Em All" moniker and it definitely shows with the high kill count seen throughout this film as not all characters are safe from suffering a violent death in the ensuing final conflict of this series. While I won't spoil how things ultimately conclude with Be Invoked, I will say that the ending is rather fitting considering how events had escalated and is a poignant showing of the ultimate consequences of war. The impact of the film is reduced somewhat in that the limited depth on the Buff Clan had me caring less for how things pan out with them. But I would at least say the film is a large improvement over how the TV series concluded.

Visually, Be Invoked is a considerable improvement over the TV anime with its more cleaner details and fluid animation. This helps make the action scenes more engaging to see in the conflict between the Ideon and the Buff Clan with action sequences including gun fights and mecha action with both sides. A number of the character designs are still a product of their time such as with Cosmo's afro and the attire of the Buff Clan, but I suppose this is to be expected from an early 80s anime.

Overall, I would say Be Invoked made for a more satisfying conclusion to Ideon than its TV anime, and I can certainly see where it served as inspiration for later mecha titles like Evangelion with the chaos that ensued throughout the film. If you seen the Ideon TV anime and are looking for a more proper conclusion to the series, Be Invoked is as fitting as you will get out of Ideon.

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Following his work on the famous Mobile Suit Gundam, director Yoshiyuki Tomino moved on to direct what is yet another one of his famous works in the mecha genre with Ideon, an entry in the super robot genre focused on humanity's clash with the alien Buff Clan by utilizing the titular mecha of the series.

Personally for me, Ideon felt like a step down with what Gundam contributed in being one of the grandfathers of the "real robot" anime genre, though has some glimmers of potential. Whereas Gundam took the time to explore its world and offered enough fleshing out of both the Federation and Zeon factions to show both had their morally grey areas, the same can't really be said for Ideon to a good extent. While a number of the human characters do get some fleshing out like Cosmo and Bes, nearly all members of the Buff Clan remain as two-dimensional characters in conflict with the human crew of the Ideon. Also, the series mostly focuses on the Ideon crew's conflict with the Buff Clan, with the latter continually spawning "mecha of the day" plots to attempt getting the Ideon in their possession and killing its human crew. Not helping matters is that it does take the series nearly a dozen episodes to start picking up steam with offering up some story development.

And said story development does gradually start to deliver if you can survive past Ideon's earlier episodes. Later episodes of the series offer some interesting twists in the anime's story as the Ideon's crew start to learn more about the mecha's mysterious origins and question the very force that empowers it. Some solid character development is offered with the character of Karala, a Buff Clan member who defects from her race to join the human Ideon crew and develops a relationship with Bes. Also, the anime tosses in some twists to the "robot of the day" formula for later episodes when the Ideon crew also have to evade apprehension from human military forces who want to claim Ideon's power for themselves or assume the crew is in league with the Buff Clan. Still, this doesn't stop the formulaic plot setup and largely shallow members of the Buff Clan from rearing their heads throughout Ideon's run and the anime is also left abruptly unresolved during a major point in the anime's plot thanks to the series abruptly being cancelled during the time it aired. However, this issue would be resolved a year later with the release of Ideon's film sequel, Be Invoked.

Visually, Ideon hasn't aged all that well. The character designs are a product of their time with the seemingly disco vibe that many characters sport with their appearance like Cosmo's afro and the Buff Clan's clothing looking like anything you may seen worn in retro sci-fi titles like The Jetsons and Flash Gordon. The animation quality can vary from looking terrible to decent during battle scenes, which are mostly not too spectacular to see for their choreography due to how slow and played out they are.

Overall, I suppose my reception to Ideon is mixed. While touches of Tomino's story direction are on display in later episodes to make the series somewhat engaging, its flaws still stick out like a sore thumb compared to other mecha titles of the time period he directed like Gundam and Aura Battle Dunbine. Still as I hear Be Invoked is what is Ideon's most memorable use of Tomino's "Kill Em All" moniker, I suppose I'll be continuing my viewing of Ideon by checking out the film.

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Set an unknown number of years following FLCL, FLCL Progressive focuses on middle-school student Hidomi dealing with growing pains, while becoming entangled in a conflict between Haruko and a new alien named Jinyu as the two seek out the great power coming from Hidomi for their own differing reasons.

Being connected to the original FLCL, Progressive certainly had some big shoes to fill in trying to make as much of a strong impression as the classic series did in mixing up manic comedy with exploring coming-of-age themes. I was initially cautious hearing news of the series having new seasons made as I felt the original series told all it needed to with Naota's story and was concerned if it could explore any further with the franchise, especially with the number of recent titles based on older properties that I've had an underwhelming response to. Fortunately, my concerns were expunged when I got a chance to watch through Progressive as it actually does quite a bit to establish its own identity over the original FLCL.

The coming-of-age focus found with FLCL is still retained in Progressive with its exploration on new character Hidomi. Being in middle school, Hidomi is at a different point in life compared to Naota as she copes with her own growing pains and her perspective is a bit more darker compared. She prefers to disconnect her from her surroundings by regularly wearing a pair of headphones and she has some rather dark dreams showing her feelings on reality due to some family troubles. Throughout the series, Hidomi is shown to gradually change her personality throughout the series thanks to the chaotic adventure she is roped into from Haruko and Jinyu's conflict with one another, demonstrating changes to her personality and becoming more active at engaging with others.

As for the trademark comedy of FLCL, it is still there albeit not as over-the-top and a little more subdued within Progressive. Haruko still displays her nuttier side as a front to mask her true motives and the show has its bizarre moments pop up, but it is nowhere as absurd as the original series where you have the infamous animated manga sequences or breaking of the fourth wall. I've seen some fans of the original FLCL criticize this quite a bit in Progressive considering the manic comedy of the original series was a trademark for it. But considering the somewhat more darker and serious feel of Progressive compared to the original series, I felt the more subdued humor worked appropriately for Progressive considering the show's focus being more on how overwhelming a teenager's mind can be coping with growing up, compared to approaching adolescence within the original FLCL.

As for the major plot, the crux of it involves Haruko and Jinyu's conflict over Atomsk's power, with the latter trying to prevent Haruko from using Hidomi as a means to lure the Pirate Lord out. In a unique instance for an anime, FLCL Progressive makes use of its ED sequence to show the rather unique connection that Haruko and Jinyu have with one another and I'd at least implore folks to watch it at least once since it offers some major fleshing out of what led to Jinyu being a relevant character within Progressive. Anyway, Progressive's plot is fairly straightforward with Hidomi's growing pains and Haruko and Jinyu's conflict, until the anime's second half when factions from the original series like Medical Mechanica and the Bureau of Interstellar Communication make their presence felt. This is where FLCL Progressive's comedy is at its most manic with the many events being played out with character and faction conflicts. While it may be a treat for fans of the original series, this can make the plot convoluted at points for newer fans of FLCL to approach since they may not be as familiar with events from the original series considering the 15-plus year divide between both titles debuting.

Presentation wise, FLCL Progressive retains the artwork style of the original OVA series albeit with a bit more polish and detail with Production I.G. at the helm of animating it. It still makes use of a number of different animation styles at points to hammer in the show's themes, this notably shown in Hidomi's dreams that can be quite dark and macabre due to reflecting the grim view Hidomi has on confronting reality. The Pillows return to provide music for FLCL Progressive's soundtrack as a mix of new and old songs are provided as insert tracks for the series that still work nicely to accompany the anime's key scenes and are still memorable to listen to over 15 years after the original FLCL.

Overall, I would say FLCL Progressive certainly defied whatever concerns I had going into it as a follow-up to an older anime title. The series is able to establish its own unique identity in exploring a teenager's perspective to growing up, while retaining the themes and comedy of the original FLCL and further exploring the franchise's world. If you were a fan of the original FLCL OVA series, I would strongly recommend giving this series a look.

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Darling in the Franxx is a mecha anime set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is fighting against a mysterious alien threat called the klaxosaurs using mecha called the Franxx that are piloted by a pair of boy-girl teenage pilots. The main focus of this conflict is on Hiro, a former mech pilot who finds himself struggling with being incapable of piloting any of the Franxx until he partners up with the aggressive Zero-Two to pilot the Franxx called Strelizia, which has acquired a bad rep for killing any male pilot who partners with Zero-Two in fighting with it.

There are quite a number of issues that Darling in the Franxx suffers from throughout the span of its run that make it a fun mess to watch through. Suppose the first major issue I should focus on is the show's attempts at trying to seem more deep than it really is. Being set in a post-apocalyptic future, Darling's society is seemingly dystopian with its children pilots given life through genetic engineering and sexual reproduction being seemingly forgotten by humanity in spite of both genders still having reproduction organs. The series is rather blatant in attempting to try conveying sexual themes such as the value of human relationships and the creation of life through intercourse, this being especially notable with the names of the male and female pilots of the Franxx being the plant reproductive parts of stamen and pistil respectively. Rather than come across as an insightful look on valuing human relationships, Darling in the Franxx's efforts of portraying these themes come off feeling more pretentious, especially with the other issues surrounding the series.

Another major issue with Darling is originality. Granted, this may seem a bit unfair as many anime have story elements and character types they have pulled from past titles. But for quality ones that do such, they are capable of creating their own unique spin on these tropes that can make them memorable and engaging to watch. But in the case of Darling, it doesn't really add anything new to the storytelling tropes it pulls from other anime titles as it merely copies the concepts and plot twists of specific titles without doing anything new to break the mold with them. While I won't spoil too much of what specifically it blatantly copies, all I will say that two popular and well-known Gainax mecha titles are the major titles of note that Darling rips off its story twists and elements from.

The other major issue of note comes in how rather shallow much of its storytelling and characters are. Outside of the mentioned lack of originality, Darling is mostly a typical affair in the mecha genre with "monster of the day/ arc" threats that the Franxx pilots have to deal with and attempts at trying to come off as deep with exploring the issues of the teen pilots. But other than Hiro and Zero-Two, the majority of Darling's cast are mostly two-dimensional archetypes who get little in the way of fleshing out and development. The one silver lining I give to Darling's storytelling is that it does do okay to a point in handling developments on Hiro and Zero-Two's characters as the both of them do get a solid amount of focus and gradually change throughout the span of the series, with the middle episodes making for the show's best material to explore the connection the two have with one another. This solid focus on the two does gradually tank in later episodes due to the ridiculous revelations told in Darling's final five episodes, but it's as good as you can get out of it.

Presentation-wise, Darling in the Franxx sports Trigger's typical stylish visual flair with a rich amount of color, beautiful scenic shots, slick-looking Franxx and klaxosaur designs, and some engaging Franxx/ klaxosaur fights. The show's soundtrack is probably it's best feature, filled with a mix of somber, melancholic, and energetic tracks that are mostly engaging to listen to in spite of the questionable attempts by Trigger to utilized them in trying to make Darling seem better than it really is.

Overall as I said, Darling in the Franxx felt mostly like a hot mess to me. Its attempts to come off as deep are mostly pretentious, it borrows a little too heavily from past anime titles for its story elements, and its story and characters felt mostly lazy and shallow. It's not the worst anime I've seen from Trigger, but it's certainly an underwhelming entry from the studio.

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