Darling in the FranXX

In the distant future, humanity has been driven to near-extinction by giant beasts known as Klaxosaurs, forcing the surviving humans to take refuge in massive fortress cities called Plantations. Children raised here are trained to pilot giant mechas known as FranXX—the only weapons known to be effective against the Klaxosaurs—in boy-girl pairs. Bred for the sole purpose of piloting these machines, these children know nothing of the outside world and are only able to prove their existence by defending their race.

Hiro, an aspiring FranXX pilot, has lost his motivation and self-confidence after failing an aptitude test. Skipping out on his class' graduation ceremony, Hiro retreats to a forest lake, where he encounters a mysterious girl with two horns growing out of her head. She introduces herself by her codename Zero Two, which is known to belong to an infamous FranXX pilot known as the "Partner Killer." Before Hiro can digest the encounter, the Plantation is rocked by a sudden Klaxosaur attack. Zero Two engages the creature in her FranXX, but it is heavily damaged in the skirmish and crashes near Hiro. Finding her partner dead, Zero Two invites Hiro to pilot the mecha with her, and the duo easily defeats the Klaxosaur in the ensuing fight. With a new partner by his side, Hiro has been given a chance at redemption for his past failures, but at what cost?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Zero Two Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Ichigo Main

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Hiro Main

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Kokoro Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Gorou Main

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Miku Main

Yamashita, Nanami Japanese

Mitsuru Main

Ichikawa, Aoi Japanese

Zorome Main

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Ikuno Main

Ishigami, Shizuka Japanese

Futoshi Main

Gotou, Hiroki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Wakabayashi, Hiromi Producer

Kamagata, Eiichi Producer

Toba, Yousuke Producer

Reviews

Jul 7, 2018

Karhu

Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 7, 2018

Stark700

Mixed Feelings

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 7, 2018

Krunchyman

Not Recommended

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)

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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