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Year: 2018
Genre: Mecha, romantic drama, science fiction
Episodes: 24
Rating: 4 out of 5
What do you think humanity will be like 1000 years from now? Do you think an alien race with come from the sky and make our world more technologically advanced? Do you think we will create some type of new species that might take over the world? How do you think the world would be like? Do you think love will be a factor or even exist?
Why do I ask these questions? Darling in the Franxx is an anime where the idea of love and soulmates come into play as the world has descended into chaos. The world has become a dystopian society, and it seems like hope is lost. The future has been placed on the shoulders of kids who slowly mature and find love in each other. While two of them show what it means to be someone’s darling.
Overview:
In the distant future, mankind has abandoned the surface world and has almost been driven to extinction. The surface world has become barren as giant beasts known as Klaxosaurs rule the surface world. Mankind has decided to take refuge in massive fortress cities called Plantations. Adults and children live in two different worlds. The adults live in technologically advanced cities within the Plantations and are considered immortal. With immortality comes the loss of life: procreation and relationships have become a distant memory. Children, known as “parasites,” are artificially created and trained to become pilots of Franxx as the only weapons against the Klaxosaurs. The children are boy/girl paired to operate the Franxx. The children are isolated from adult society and live in environments called the birdcages to develop emotional responses to pilot a Franxx.
Hiro, Code name 016, is an aspiring Franxx pilot. He is an exceptional pilot but recently has lost his motivation and syncing abilities with his partner. After failing an aptitude test, Hiro decides that it is best to drop out of being a pilot. While skipping out on his class’ graduation, Hiro ventures to a forest lake where he encounters a mysterious but beautiful girl with two horns growing out of her head. The young girl introduces herself as Zero Two. She is known throughout as a “Partner Killer” as all her partners have died within three battles. While talking to Zero Two, the Plantation is soon attacked by a Klaxosaur. Zero Two hurries off to fight the enemy in her personal Franxx with her partner. As Zero Two fights, she is almost defeated as her Franxx crashes near Hiro. As Hiro opens the pilot door, he notices that Zero Two’s partner is dead. Zero Two seeing something special about Hiro invites him to pilot the Franxx with her and become her darling. The duo easily defeats the Klaxosaur. With his renewed confidence and motivation, Hiro decides to become Zero Two’s partner even at the cost of his own life.
Review:
Darling in the Franxx is one of those anime that you either really enjoy or feel like it falls just short of being truly great. As far as the storyline goes, it reminds and has that same feel of a few other anime. The one that comes to mind is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Just the colors and look feels like Gurren Lagann even with the transformation of the mecha. The one thing these mecha does that no one else does is the pairing of a boy/girl. When you first watch, the boy/girl concept seems pretty interesting. The head people want maximum capability with their pilots. Cool. BUT the position the girl is in as the co-pilot is one of the most sexual positions. How doesn’t the dude stare at his co-pilot a** all day long? These boys have focus levels over 9000!
As the story goes proceeds, it goes from a teen melodrama with mecha to the kids learning about love and wanting kids to just intergalactic fighting to everyone learning about the world and life. Pretty much Gurren Lagann all over again. At the beginning of that show, no one knew anything, but humanity sped up with technology towards the end. That is what Darling is all about: finding love, being human, and the relationships that develop with being around the people you see every day. We learn that the group has more personality than any other group. Rather than referring to themselves as the numbers given to them by the adults, Hiro gives everyone a name. This added a unique dimension and makes the characters more sympathetic, and you start to feel for all the characters. Let me say this, all the main characters are highly emotional and full of drama. Hiro’s best friend, Ichigo, who straight-up loves him, but Hiro is entirely oblivious to it. Goro, Hiro’s best bud, is absolutely in love with Ichigo, but Ichigo doesn’t see it. You have a dude who thinks he is the smartest ever. Then there is one who just wants babies when she finds out what babies are. It’s like a freakin soap opera with all the love triangles going on.
Yet the show does a great job of addressing so much about adolescence life and puberty. How each character must deal with life and try to navigate through their own emotions. The story also deals with a character who has to come to terms that she is drawn to girls rather than boys. The show deals with many dynamics that many people in the world can relate to in terms of puberty.
One of the major highlights of the show is the mecha fights. They are done so well and seem smooth and easy. They are full of action, explosions, and high-speed force. What is great about this show is that each pair of squad 13 mecha has their own design, with each of them fighting differently. Pretty much like Gundam Wing mecha. How Heero’s Wing Zero was completely different than Wufei’ Nataku. It made the action scenes seem far better because we saw different attacks and strategies from each pair.
As far as characters are concerned, there is really only one of them that needs to be discussed: ZERO TWO! She is a straight-up boss and almost the complete opposite of the main protagonist Hiro. When she is first introduced, I pointed to the screen and said, “That’s a Boss right there.” She gave ZERO f**ks about her partner. She pretty much knew that anyone who partnered with her would be dead after three fights. Oh, she was cold and aggressive. Yet, when she meets Hiro, she named him her “darling.” After some high tension between Zero Two views and the group, she softens up and sees them as a family. Yet, her backstory and what she had to endure to reach the person she wanted the most is genuinely eye-opening, with a few tears along the way.
Ultimately, this anime just reminded me too much of Gurren Lagaan. That is where the anime failed just a tad bit. Just like in Gurren Lagaan, we think the main enemy was the Beastmen and Lordgenome but come to find out, it was the Anti-Spiral who were the enemy. In this anime, we believe that it was the klaxosaur who are led by their princess. Yet, it was Papa and his group who wanted to destroy the world. Same exact storyline. Gurren Lagaan just told and transition the story better.
Even with the crazy flaw that made it seem like Gurren Lagaan, the ending was actually pretty good with maybe two little tears. No matter how far friends are, you may always hear their voice and lend your spirit to them in need to overcome the most formidable opponent.
Darling in the Franxx is a great anime to watch. One that deals with the world of puberty and adolescents. The mecha fighting is excellent even with the very suggestive position of the female pilot. Overall, this anime is a big soap opera filled with teen drama and other things. Yet, it is an excellent watch that many will love. Definitely, give this anime a look.
