Jan 13, 2019
I'm going straight to the point: I loved this anime, but I'm going to be objective about its flaws and give my sincere opinion about the overall enjoyment and the more technical elements of this anime.
Animation: 10
Character Design: 6
The graphics are pretty, but aside from Zero-Two character's design, there's not much that stands out. Not even the giant robots; their design is honestly tacky.
Music: 8.5
There is music. The Opening and the Ending are not very memorable, but they are definitely not bad.
...
Plot: 6.5
I'm going to give the plot 6.5 because of a lot of reasons. A lot of the reviews about this anime talk about how it is not original and it gets a lot of its plot from other mecha anime. You see, I'm not really a big fan of the genre, so I cannot say I know what the Darling in the Franxx took from other shows and what it didn't, but I'm going to say this: getting inspiration from other sources is not wrong, and when you mix together a lot of things, you get something new. A cake is not milk just because you used milk to make it. It is not eggs, it is not flour. It is cake.
The plot gets a 6.5 not because it has elements from other animes, but because I, personally, though the story was rushed, which left a lot of plotholes. The rushed story also left little room to actually develop the relationship between the characters, in my opinion, especially the romantic one between [spoiler alert] Kokoro and Mitsuru.
Some of the things left unexplained are: [spoiler alert] Why did some parasites grow older faster than normal? How exactly did they extract energy from magma? Why and how could the Nines operate Franxx regardless of gender? And etc.
Characters: 9
I'm going to give the characters a 9 because there is no denying that they have personalities and all of them are different from each other, which is something hard to find nowadays for characters that are not the main couple or part of a love triangle. They have different interactions with each one of the other characters, they are memorable, which is nice.
The characters are teenagers, and the plot bases itself heavily on this fact. If you don't like stories that are more "coming-of-age-y" I believe you won't really enjoy the anime as a whole, because its drama relies a lot on the teenager mindset and their discovery of the world.
Romance: 8
I really enjoy Zero-Two and Hiro's romance. I think it was a bit rushed from the beginning, but their past is lovely and I got pretty emotional over the flashbacks because I'm a sucker for this "fate" sort of story. I do believe Zero-Two is honestly a bit troubling in their relationship and all, but I also believe she carries a heavy burden on her shoulders due to her creation and desperate need to become a human. I believe one shouldn't judge their relationship lightly, you should look into each one of the characters and understand why they act the way they do. I believe there are problems in Zero-Two and Hiro's relationship, but I think they can be easily solved - from a writing point of view, real life is not that easy.
Overall enjoyment: 10
I really enjoyed this anime, and lately that is a hard thing for me. I enjoyed how they tried to include LGBT characters with Mitsuru's brief crush in Hiro and Ikuno's feelings towards Ichigo. I enjoyed how they stopped with the fanservice after a few episodes, I enjoyed the character development, I enjoyed the times this anime has gotten me emotional over nothing at all.
I don't think everyone is going to like this anime - especially if you have some kind of experience with mecha anime or if you don't really like stories filled with drama - but I enjoyed it a lot and I do believe a lot of people are going to enjoy it too. Well, that is what I had to say
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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