I’ll be damned. Against all odds, I actually found more than a little bit to like about this set of episodes. It doesn’t redeem Darling in the Franxx as a whole. This series is still tremendously bad and all of the problems I have with the show were ever present and more annoying as always. And yet, Franxx showed small but impressive glimpses of what it could be if it was better focused and better…well everything in general really.
I’d say it was high time we got some answers to the mountain load of questions Darling in the Franxx has presented since the first episode…and while we’re still in the dark, the mystery behind Hiro and Zero Two’s relationship was cracked wide open, resulting in the shows best moments to date. The little love story between these two was actually kind of touching, heck an entire series could’ve been dedicated to it. I enjoyed seeing Hiro asking all the right questions and daring to do so despite the consequences. The search for answers led him to an adorable Zero Two, red skin, big horns, sharp teeth and all. Oh and as it turns out, Hiro is the reason Zero Two first learned the word “Darling”…so it’s entirely his fault she cant call him by any other name. While it isn’t flat out confirmed (cause it’s Darling in the Franxx), but I’m 100% certain APE is using mind erasing technology on the parasites when things get too out of hand. It explains Hiro’s cold and depressing attitude change and why he forgot his important promise to Mitsuru. Sadly, the rest of the cast, save for Goro, has never been a very curious bunch, enough to really wonder about the big personality change to the guy who gave them actual names instead of numbers.
With the touching “How Hiro met Zero Two” mystery cleared up, we hit the present pretty hard. I was anxious to see how Hiro and Zero Two would interact now that their memories had been restored. There was just one hurdle and her name is Ichigo. The worst team leader and arguably one of my least favorite Anime characters in history let her insufferable Drama Queen status shine through as she made it her mission to keep Zero Two away from Hiro at all costs, even refusing to send her team into a big battle so long as Zero Two was still around. Jeez, I’ve about had it with this girls Hiro worship and, honestly, I feel worse for Goro and his longing for a girl who cant pull her head out of her own obsession to see any other kind of reality outside of “Hiro will always be mine”. Naturally, cause Goro will always try to help Ichigo out of her self destructive ways and everyone else has less than half a brain, the entire team was turned against Zero Two. At the same time, I get Goro wanting to calm Zero Two down when she finally lost it…but Squad 13’s been asking for Zero Two to kick their collective asses, especially Ichigo. And the strange thing is, Zero Two owned up to her anger and her own selfish ways, particularly when Hiro saw what she did to the team. Yeah, the character more than half the cast views as a monster behaved more like a true human and stepped away to keep Hiro safe from her self destructive ways. Ichigo on the other hand, kisses Hiro and announces her feelings so Hiro wont go after her. Which of these two is “Best Girl” I leave to you but Ichigo is never, EVER getting my vote.
Amidst all this emotional chaos in Squad 13 was a massive operation to take to take some facility called the Gran Crevasse. What’s in there and why’s it so important? HA you think we’d get answers so quickly or at all? Whatever is down there, it had a massive army of Klaxosaurs protecting it, resulting in the need for multiple Franxx teams to jump in. Oh and the leaders of APE were willing to sacrifice Parasites, Franxx and whole Plantations to achieve their goal of victory. I’m half expecting these SEELE knock offs to be searching for Adam or Lilith at the bottom of this pit, theyre that insane/desperate/fanatical/just plain crazy it could very well be either of those things. I also have to groan at just how much I hate the mecha and creature designs in this show. I should be excited to see a large scale clash between them. But everything is so ugly, jumbled and colors clash so much, everything might as well be a blur…also I don’t care about the characters outside maybe three of them to care about who makes it or not.
Ok, ok, ive done my usual amount of complaining but I did say I did actually like some elements of this set of episodes. The first was Hiro and Zero Two’s backstory and their eventual reconciliation. The second was a decent breather after The Battle of the Gran Crevasse. For whatever reason, Doctor Franxx has pulled all adult supervision from Squad 13 and left them to fend for themselves in their own home environment. I don’t even want to begin thinking what’s going through this sick, perverted old geezers mind, especially after he forced me to watch little Zero Two getting tortured to test her healing abilities and he was excited by it (possibly the hardest scene to sit through in Darling in the Franxx). But like good little soldiers, Nana and Hachi obeyed their orders and left Squad 13 to endure this new “experiment”. The end result was…surprisingly not as bad as I thought.
Turns out a month from Franxx piloting and fighting over who wants to sleep with who does wonders for the soul. Zero Two being accepted and being less of a wild child and more of a team player…I’m on board with this. Ichigo not being a total bitch towards her…that’s fine. The kids actually learning to cook and handle the deteriorating environment around them, I didn’t think they had it in them but they proved me wrong. Even more shockingly, Zorome even questioned if “Papa” had abandoned them and if the adults were ever coming back. Considering what Squad 13’s accomplished without them, I say good riddance. It’s here that I hope the eventually changes gears and follows the kids learning the terrifying secrets of Dr. Franxx and APE and what they’ve done to them over the years. So instead of Klaxosaurs, Squad 13 decides to rise up against their adult masters and reclaim their humanity, with Hiro and Zero Two leading the charge while Ichigo mopes from behind the scenes. But, this is Darling in the Franxx, that’s never going to happen…not even close.
But, of course, there is something ominous waiting in the Gran Crevasse and it’s linked to Zero Two and her Klaxosaur origins. Who’s gonna try and end Squad 13 and Humanity first: the monsters they’ve been fighting or the faceless leaders they basically consider their Gods and their hidden Human Instrumentality Project like agenda (I’m betting it’s something similar, APE is so totally SEELE after all). Is the only good I’ll ever see in this series in this set of episodes alone? Gonna say “yes” to that and just keep my expectations super low. Darling in the Franxx, thankfully, starts it’s final run Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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