In a battle against the klaxosaurs only the children, classified as parasites, are humanity’s hope in this dying world. Fighting in mechanized suits known as FRANXX, parasites are grouped up in male and female pairs to face the monstrous creatures. Hiro was once a prodigy FRANXX pilot. But when he gives up the fight, he meets Zero Two, the girl with the horns, and finds a new reason to keep going.
Review
Darling in the Franxx started out as an interesting dystopian future Mecha anime. As the story continued, insanity took hold, and the plot didn’t seem to know where it wanted to go. I won’t go into everything revealed in the later half of the first season and will focus on Part 1. That being said, we quickly get thrust into a world were special children are basically forced to pilot Franxx in order to kill klaxosaurs which look like some time of alien dinosaur.
Each child was only given a number as their designation but Hiro (016) decided to give everyone from his group a name. As a result their group was considered ‘different’ from the rest and performed better as a group. Hiro finds himself in a slump, after once being the best pilot around, but then a certain infamous pilot shows up in their colony, 002. He finds something oddly familiar with her. Those who know of her know that nobody who has ever piloted with her has survived for long.
Hiro ends up piloting and surprisingly he is able to handle being her co-pilot, something no other has been able to do. Now, the show takes great steps to remind us that all Franxx are piloted with one male and one female. They also go to great lengths to show of the ‘way’ in which they are sitting in said cockpit. Needless to say, it was a lot of fan service that was just a bit distracting.
Once we get past all that, the story starts to get somewhat interesting. It turns out that Hiro has met 002 before, but he doesn’t remember. The adults are hiding things from them, and he wants to know why. By the time part 1 is finished, we find out just what he forgot and why its so important to 002. Darling In The Franxx is one of those shows where the most interesting characters are not the main characters. In fact I found Mitsuru “Code:326” and 9 Alpha as the two most interesting characters to watch. Trust me, watch them as the story continues in part 2.
Darling in the Franxx is sappy and full of fan-service but still Mecha at its core. With so many really well done Mecha anime new and old, its difficult for Darling in the Franxx to shine. Still, it gets better as the story goes on and you find yourself committed enough to find out what happens.
Hey! Nice Package
The limited edition of Darling in the Franxx comes packed with some great collectors items. Check out Funimation’s unboxing of this collectors edition.
https://youtu.be/2X_l0jWmKLs
