'Darling in the Franxx' Is Nearly Awesome

Darling in the Franxx was an anime series I didn’t immediately pick up when it started early in the year.  It was only around the time I finished making my annual mid-year TV list that I checked it out.  I got so hooked that I binged it hard, catching up with the series just in time for its finale.  Well, that was a week ago, and I put off writing a review since I wasn’t quite sure what I feel about it.  In the time since then, I even got to try, binge, and finish another anime series, Golden Kamuy, and had put up a review for that.  I simply needed time to let my thoughts about Darling in the Franxx marinate for a while.

The 24-episode series is set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity – in their ongoing war for survival against the mysterious, monstrous klaxosaurs – is forced to live in titanic mobile domed enclosures called Plantations.  Defending these Plantations and fighting off the klaxosaurs are mechas called Franxx, which are piloted by child soldiers called Parasites.

The training for Parasites starts at childhood.  Once they enter their adolescence, they are expected to be combat-ready, and are partnered with someone of the opposite sex.  It’s because, similar to Pacific Rim’s Jaegers, Franxx require two pilots.  However, unlike Jaegers, operating the Franxx usually requires a boy-girl duo.  The male pilot is referred to as Stamen, while the female pilot is referred to as Pistil.

The plot primarily focuses on Hiro, a Stamen cadet who was once considered a prodigy but has since lost the capability of synchronizing with a female partner.  One day, he meets a red-horned girl named Zero Two, the elite pilot of the Franxx Strelizia.  She is notorious for being a “partner killer”, as the Stamen paired with her are known to die after just a few missions, due to the tremendous strain she puts them while going berserk in combat.  Soon, she begins calling Hiro her “darling”, and for some strange reason, he discovers that he’s capable of piloting Strelizia with Zero Two without taking damage.  With the other Parasites of Plantations 13 fighting alongside them, Hiro and Zero Two spearhead the effort to save the world and secure mankind’s future.

For most of its run, Darling in the Franxx was looking to be a contender for one of the best anime of 2018.  It was a fantastic, well-rounded mix of nuanced storytelling, multi-layered characters, exhilarating giant-robot action, rich mythology, well-placed comedy, heart-breaking drama, and thought-provoking metaphors.

The writing is smart.  It doesn’t spoon feed information.  There are a few exposition-heavy scenes, but it mostly leaves it to the audience to figure out what are the rules in place and what is going on with its world as the story is told.  Key revelations hold up really well whenever they unfold.  In addition, it allows the audience to spell out certain implications long before the narrative definitively states them.  For example, it can be discerned right from the start, based on the employment of child soldiers and the observed system in place, that humanity may not entirely be the good guys here.

Of course, since this show is dealing with teenagers, there’s definitely going to be some hormone-fueled stuff in it.  The ecchi-ness involved is minimal, but naughty elements are nonetheless present.  The most apparent is the setup of the Franxx cockpit, in which the Stamen and Pistil are hilariously positioned in a sexually suggestive manner.  Still, this isn’t entirely ecchi-motivated.  For though nothing very graphic is ever shown, sexuality is actually a prominent theme in this anime.  But simply because it’s an integral aspect of the anime’s overarching message: the wonderful, complementary dynamics of men and women.

Obviously, teen romance also plays a part in the story.  Aside from Hiro and Zero Two, there are other couples that developed.  Though things can sometimes get corny, it’s often sweet and poignant.  Smiles are formed, and heart strings are plucked.

But all these great things can be found within the first eighteen or so episodes.  The remaining episodes, however, significantly underwhelm.  It’s not that they’re bad.   There are even a couple of good moments.  But the last episodes really fail on providing a truly impactful, logical ending.

I think it all boils down to the last big twist in episode 20, which sets up the final arc.  It comes out of nowhere in a bad way.  It doesn’t really fit with what has been previously established by the narrative.  It feels like a rough, rushed segue, and it feels too big for its own good.  Afterwards, there are a lot of dumb, “jumping the shark” happenings in the plot.  Most of these can be traced originating from that twist.

Also, if that last arc had been given a couple more episodes to develop – extending the series to 30+ episodes or a season two – it might have come off as more earned.  And maybe there wouldn’t be so many loose plot threads.

When I watched Hyde, Jekyll, Me a few years ago, the first couple of episodes were so good that they made me think it was going to end up as my all-time favorite K-Drama.  However, it was ultimately ruined by its last few episodes.  My experience with Darling in the Franxx is somewhat similar.  The home stretch could have been done much better.  But because that isn’t the case, a considerably undermining effect is cast upon the anime as a whole.  That being said, it needs to be stressed again in the end that, at its best – which is most of its parts, mind you – it proved to be quite terrific.