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)
