In the current anime medium, using mechas is a surefire way to make people compare your series to Evangelion. Heck, the producers of Darling in the Franxx made sure to connect their series to Evangelion to generate hype and interest. Boy, it backfired.
From death threats to dedicated trolls, this series was constantly plagued by a level of hate even SAO started to envy. I wasn't so invested in anime when SAO came out but I expect that a lot of people felt like I fell now - completely lost and confused about the burning hate some people have for a simple series.
Darling in the Franxx ended up being a cultural phenomenon more than anything, reminding us once again that every community has an overwhelming amount of toxic
Now that I finished this rant, I want to start this review by saying that Darling in the Franxx is NOT like Evangelion. Both series use symbolism to convey some pseudo-intellectual philosophy, the hedgehog dilemma - how we end up hurting people closest to us - in Evangelion and some very pure (or actually immature) view of romance in Darling in the Franxx. I fail to see how the series are similar, but hey, what do I know.
The series is primarily a coming of age story following a group of teens going through puberty, putting up with temperament changes and overall enjoying their youth - with a twist. In this post-apocalyptic world, they're child soldiers protecting "the adults" and an evasive "Papa" that acts as a god/father figure. They're given little to no backstory as characters because, shockingly, they have none. Turns out you don't put too much effort in the childhood of someone brought up to be child soldier. Nevertheless, the cast leads, Hiro (a play on hero) and Zero Two ( a play on o ni - demon) are given a pretty satisfactory backstory that is indeed very cliche.
The first part of the series is extremely childish. It's full of sex jokes and sexual innuendo - something that goes completely over the children's heads, everything seems happy and there's a light aura of mystery which slowly reveals the actual brutality of the plot. A lot of people started judging the series here, complaining about fan service and saying that the series is a steaming pile of manure. I believe they failed to understand that all this was done on purpose, the aim of this introduction being to show that they're oblivious children with no idea about the world.
A lot of hate, and by a lot I mean an incomprehensible amount (just check the forums), was generated because of the way the mechas (dubbed Franxx) are piloted. Male-female pairs called stamen and pistil (a play on flower sex organs) sitting in a position similar to the sex move "doggystyle". Now I have no god damn clue why someone thought it's a good idea, but I must agree it was pretty funny. Unfortunately, many people took this to mean that it symbolises sex and that riding with a different partner is basically cheating. Many people were outraged and the anime started getting called "Cuck in the Franxx". I'm honestly sad for everyone involved in this idiocy, but I guess it is their way to come to terms with their own sex lives *cough* *cough*. Anyway...
The worldbuilding, in the beginning, is AMAZING, Mother's Basement explained how it is a great example of the "show, don't tell" style of narration, that is letting the viewer figure out what happened in the world instead of spoonfeeding them information. This was abandoned in episode 20 when they decided to just set the series on fire and watch it burn.
Up until a certain point, Darling in the Franxx was great but, similarly to the original Fullmetal Alchemist, whoever wrote the series decided to take a very, very odd turn for its end, completely ruining the enjoyment of anyone watching.
The last episode was one of the worst things I watched recently and it left me questioning if I actually enjoyed the series. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it as a whole and it pains me that so many people mindlessly hate it.
