So, let me get this straight: After 20 episodes of ZERO context; a ton of incomprehensible clues; an entire continent filled with mysteries about romance and emotions; AND spending a bunch of time with the most dysfunctional crew of young mecha pilots I will NEVER get back…the final endgame of Darling in the Franxx is a showdown between Prehistoric monsters living under the Earth…and Aliens…have I got that right?
I will give Studio Trigger this: this show isn’t the big success they wanted it to be. But it is excelling at showing just how too much of an outrageous can get so out of hand it just turns into insanity. And there was even a brief inkling of hope, one that still actually kind of flickers actually. The kids time alone got them to accept and reveal some hidden feelings (seriously Ikuno, I’m happy your gay but Ichigo is the worst person to crush on, just as Goro). There was even a consummation of love AND a wedding…and it wasn’t Hiro and Zero Two. Add building doubts over Papas and the Adults true intentions for the Franxx pilots and I really thought my wish to see Hiro and his squad start an open rebellion would actually play out.
But then I forgot…this is Darling in the Franxx, the show that wants to be Evangelion so badly it’s recycling more than its fair share of concepts and plots to the point where it might as well be flat out plagiarism. The holier than thou Nines showed up to take Mitsuru and Kokoro away before their wedding could be finalized and declared theyre the more evolved human beings while Mitsuru and Kokoro were sent to get their minds erased. Still, some hope persisted. Hiro and the gang were shuffled to a Franxx pilot gathering facility and flat out demanded Papa undo whatever voodoo he did on their friends. Considering these geezers, who aren’t even human but we’ll get to that, and Doctor Franxx have meddled in almost every aspect of their upbringing down to their birth, how the hell can Hiro demand Papa let them go after the supposed “final battle” that’s coming and expect him to follow through on it? That’s Supervillainy 101 dude.
Speaking of the “good” Doctor Franxx, because we’re so far into the series, it was time for some backstory. Franxx dabbling with cloning; Magma energy being the key to immortality; the start of the war with the Klaxosaurs; Franxx’s fiancée dying as a Franxx test pilot (say hi to Yui Ikari in the afterlife for me); hell even the reveal that Zero Two is actually a clone of the…sigh, the Klaxosaur Queen, was dropped in our laps. Oh and immortality’s big trade off is no more babies…so we’ll grow kids with those organs so they can pilot a Franxx cause the law of teenage mecha pilots demands it. Some of this had been built up to, especially the growing kids in a lab part. The rest feels like Darling in the Franxx is attempting something along the lines of damage control. It’s denied us answers for so long cause Evangelion did that too. Then it drops a heaping helping of revelations right in our laps and expects us to “ohhh” and “ahhh” over them. Problem with that is: THIS SHOW ISNT COMPELLING ENOUGH!!! Evangelions mysteries challenged the psyche and took a far deeper look into the human soul and the hardships those without proper human connections must endure. Darling in the Franxx is about one old man trying to find immortality and evolution beyond it to the point where he’ll scramble to restart the species properly and fail at doing that.
What the hell was wrong with Hiro and his friends rebelling against APE? I mean ok, keep in the Klaxosaurs threat because there’s no way around that now. APE being the final big bads and Hiro becoming the new founding father of humanity could’ve made this series salvageable. But no, because someone thought it was a good idea to make APE aliens known as VIRM and it was all leading to a showdown between them and Klaxosaurs and the Franxx and their pilots…didn’t mean didly squat. Ahem, time to turn attention to another mecha Anime for a moment. Agree or disagree with this direction, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 established well before the end of its run that contact with an Alien race was inevitable and it was covered in The Movie. There was reasoning, there was explanation, there was careful planning (kind of). There wasn’t suddenly pulling this plot point out of ones ass and expecting it to fly without massive blowback. Seeing that Hiro and his friends are all just ignorable pawns in a long game is a slap to the face, not just for them (cause even they couldn’t believe what had just been unleashed before them) but for the viewer too. I guess everyones got a new motivation now. Sure two conflicting powers fighting for control of the planet are ignoring them cause they’ve been building towards their own final battle. But Hiro will be damned if he and Squad 13 are gonna be left to the wayside and not have a say in the future of the planet and their species.
Ok…ok, now that I’ve gotten that rant out of my system, I think I’m ready to get back to the show and finish it off. Let me be clear: aside from some concern for Zero Two I will probably not shed many tears or feel any emotions for anyone or anything that happens because…well Darling in the Franxx has far from earned any love or respect from me…jeez it has been a very long time since an Anime actually made me this pissed off. I guess one thing to look forward to in the final episodes is just how much madder can it make me? Friday Dear Reader…we’ll find out Friday during the Series Finale of Darling in the Franxx over at the Gundam Anime Corner…pray for me.
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