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A story is divided into: narrative, plot and concept. It is normal to confuse a poor execution of plot and a bad narrative, consequently, with a poor concept, nevertheless there can be a great concept with a very bad execution; but this is not the case with Darling in the FRANXX.

DiTF has a bad, absurd, concept; but this is not the major problem. It is possible to have an absurd concept and have a great source of entertainment, after all, the absurd is interesting to watch; as long as the absurdity is not sold as something that should be taken seriously, and that is the ... problem here. Darling in the FRANXX sells a concept of world-building that spits in your face while wearing a purplish galaxy clown costume and still wants to be taken seriously.

Darling in the FRANXX is far from entertaining, much less a serious show.

We have a whole construction of the world that refers to a -vague- criticism of society, with emphasis on the vague, because it is no more than that; tries to reach something, a message underneath the cloths but only for the sake of S I M B O L Y S M.

But you did not get the message!

Yes I understood and all I saw was an anime trying at all costs to sell the image of intelligent without being in; fact; intelligent. Darling in the FRANXX is nothing but a patchwork of Evangelion, Gurren Lagann and Eureka Seven; a lot of flaps that do not mix and that do not work well.

We have two concepts, two cores, which do not connect at all and that is why 45% of all the mess that this anime is; the first core being what is presented to us until the ep. 20 and the second core, which practically arises out of nothing, in ep. 21 ... the two concepts have absolutely nothing to connect them in a way that works, throughout all plot twists (which is where all the narrative bets, another fatal error) and it is not at all natural to think that the signs have always been there, right under our noses; with every plot twist that is presented to us, we only feel more underestimated as a viewer and as a thinking human! At no time do we get the feeling that things are happening in an ergonomic way, develops from kicks... only for the anime to sell itself as smart.

Darling in the FRANXX tries so hard to be more of a classic; like Eureka Seven, Gurren Lagann and Evangelion, tries so much that forgets what makes a classic indeed a classic:
Coherence.

And at no time do we see coherence throughout any narrative development; either by the design of the mechas, by the -ride- jokes, by the construction of the world, and by the -absurd- ignorance of the children who know what romanticism but do not know what a kiss is (and I will not even get into the instinctive question that any animal possesses to know where to put his pipi).

Coherence is where DiTF fails terribly, it's your second mistake and, then we have the error of narrative pacing. Everything in the narrative is out of place, to begin with that the explanation of world is in the middle of the anime when it should be in the first episodes, that is, Darling in the FRANXX also suffers from: out-pacing.

Perhaps, throughout all the suffering to finalize this anime, something has caught my attention; the characters, even in the midst of all the drama (in which the viewer is not taken care of at any moment) was what led me to continue watching. The characters do not have any development (except for Kokoro and Mitsuro, doubtfully), but it led me to think that:

1. If DiFT did not sell itself seriously;
2. If the two concepts were worked out properly;
3. And, especially, if the narrative were performed at the right time;

Maybe we would have an acceptable anime.

But that's not the case: Darling in the FRANXX is absurdly bad.