Darling in the FranXX

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Having survived the anime and felt despair on its rushed ending, I quickly searched for its manga adoption once it was announced. However it took me some time to read it through and through, and finally after months I was able to finish it.

My review will have no spoilers, however my review would assume that the reader has watched all 24 episodes of DitF the anime.

DitF the manga is a must-read for the heartbroken admirers and fans of the series. Sure, you might not be hearing Haruka Tomatsu's "Daaahrin" or hear "Kiss of Death" when opening it, but the 60 chapters, rushed as they may ... seem, is an experience worth reliving for.

The manga's strongest asset would be Yabuki-san and his art. Scenes are drawn with extreme sincerity to the anime. The emotion in each panel is palpable and in-your-face, personally finding it stronger than that of the anime. Speaking of Yabuki-san, the naked illustrations of the Parasites are tasteful and sometimes would add to the emotions felt while reading the scenes.

Story-wise, it does not deviate too much from the anime, but instead rethinks how the scenes could have been presented better. This is its other great asset, which is something that the anime was desperately needing halfway though. Some plot holes were still left open though, but they won't be as severe as anticipated. The writing focused the story to Zero Two and Hiro in such a way that all story lines converged into them. To do this, all side stories were redone to be as realistic and as understandable in relation to the whole story as possible. Conclusion: no more surprise cuckoldry!

Nevertheless, being capped at 60 chapters made the plot pacing too fast and it would even gloss over the more significant scenes in anime. This also caused Chapter 60 to finish on a weak note. But... I would rather let you experience that yourself.

As for me, I'm finally satisfied and am at peace with the whole DitF series.

TL; DR: The series had great potential with interesting storyline and characters. However, it is extremely rushed and underdeveloped which takes away a lot of the enjoyment. The art (as expected from Kentaro Yabuki) is definitely the best point.


No Spoiler Review

I think Darling In The FranXX has a really good and original idea with a fine cast of characters. The build-up is interesting and the story develops well, there are good humour and romance.

However, the development is extremely rushed, a lot of details are left out and backgrounds of characters are hinted but then completely left out. The ending is unclear and ... also extremely rushed and a lot of the relationships between characters are left hanging mid-development. I found this seriously intimidating and it ruined the series for me.

The only satisfying conclusion is regarding the two main characters. At least their story is told well. Also, the series is filled with cliches and overused plot structures which are irritatingly predictable.

Maybe I am too harsh but I really think the series didn't live up to its full potential.

ART

The best part for me is the art - Kentaro managed to nail facial expressions, emotions, details, and dynamics.
STORY

The story, as I mentioned, starts strong but then goes completely downhill for me.
CHARACTERS

Also had a lot of potential for great development and interesting background reveals, however nothing of this sort happened except for the two main characters.

Before writing a review about this opera it is absolutely necessary to make extremely clear that Darling in the FranXX is an ORIGINAL ANIME SERIE.

This means that the anime came first, and I strongly advise to watch that first and then, if you really must, read the manga.

The anime did have a rushed and somewhat confusing and arguably meh ending. Which is why the manga came out and many people end up reading it after the disappointment of the anime, but the truth is that not only the manga is worse in every aspect (starting with the excess of really not needed fanservice).

The biggest problem ... with the manga is that it COMPLETELY MISS THE WHOLE POINT of the anime.

Darling in the FranXX is a brilliant work that bring a lot to think about about how society is evolving and a BIG take on transhumanism all the way up to getting tangled to other kind of extraterrestrial entities which I won't mention more for spoiler reasons.

Now the anime ends up addressing and making tha point that it took over 20 episodes to try to make, although in a rushed and dubious way. The manga basically wipes everything out and take an easy way out.

All the way to the point of completely swapping out the main villain!

If the anime is a serie that tries to bring some ethical questions about what's to come in our society both in a civil and spiritual way the manga is a battle shonen with absolutely no point.

I was expecting a chance to read something that expands on the rushed ending and of the plot points of the original anime work but what i find is a manga that trivialise and throws away all the interesting plot points and rewrites the whole thing in a pointless mecha battle thing with zero depth.

Honestly just watch the anime and take it as it is. I feel like all the people complaining about the ending completely missed the point of it. Sure it felt rushed and it could have been excecuted way better but at least it had some context