Ive spent the last five reviews tearing Darling in the Franxx a new one at every opportunity. Everything this show has strived to be has been a disaster, not anywhere close to the level of impactful legend like Gundam or Evangelion. Watching this show can be draining and yet I always wondered how much more could I judge or rant about. Turns out the Series Finale was willing to give me a little bit of a break, or at least I didn’t know what else to rant about because I was all ranted out. Or, it’s just that the final confrontation was so stupid, joyless and lacking in inspiration that it was about par for the course…and I just gave up. The show is done, let’s cover what happened and move on like the rest of the world has.
Darling in the Franxx has been trying to emulate Neon Genesis Evangelion almost to the point of desperate plagiarism. It looked like the finale wasn’t going to be much different, starting in a very End of Evangelion vibe with Squad 13 and their surviving Franxx allies being overwhelmed by VIRM forces and some even being torn apart in horrific fashions. Considering how this show has done its best to tear down any semblance of happiness Hiro and his friends have managed to scrounge together at the end of the world, I expected to start seeing characters drop like flies pretty quickly. However, once the battle shifted to space…yes, we’re in space now, the finale changed gears, shifting from End of Eva to the end of Gurren Lagann…which in a way is sadder because Gurren Lagann was the last project many of Triggers founders worked on at Gainax before forming Trigger. So theyd covered this territory already. Why the retread? Were they that desperate to tie things up in a less dismal manner or was this “the plan” all along?
So the gang, minus Kokoro and Mitsuru cause Kokoro was indeed pregnant with his kid, headed to the final frontier to face VIRM one more time. Granted they didn’t do this out of saving Humanity, they did it because Zero Two consciousness was stuck inside the mega mech Strelizia had become before the Klaxosaurs took it into space. I’ve never been a fan of the mecha, the aliens/monster designs or the action throughout this entire series. Therefore, I wasn’t shocked to feel so bored watching a half assed fusion of Gurren Lagann’s final battle and a random sequence from Legend of the Galactic Heroes play out. Sometimes going that big and that bold cant mask the sins of a series and it has to have weight to it too. Do I care about Zero Two and Hiro’s romance? Sure, I’ll admit, it’s one of the more well done elements of Darling in the Franxx but it wasn’t enough to save this show from being less than mediocre. I didn’t get any emotional investment out of them sacrificing their lives to save Humanity and stop the VIRM (for now anyway apparently), during which time Zero Two became Mecha Angel Rei to face the Anti Spiral. In short, the final showdown was boring spectacle, emphasis on boring.
You can imagine I was surprised to see that basically everyone of Squad 13 got off with a happy ending. Against all odds, they jumpstarted the Human Race once again and managed to rebuild society in about ten years time. Koroko and Mitsuru started a family. Ichigo decided to be with Goro (good luck there pal). Miku and Zorome became teachers. Futoshi became a Chef (no shock there) and Ikuno became a Doctor making medical advances to help everyone out. The Klaxosaurs returned to the Earth and used their energy to give the surface life again and in a thousand years time, the reincarnated souls of Hiro and Zero Two found each other once again. Oh and those pompous ass Nine’s had their world view shattered before making a heroic sacrifice to make sure Hiro got to Zero Two in the end. Here’s the bigger shock: watching this unfold was way more interesting than any bombastic action sequence in the last four episodes. Taking away the mecha battles and Klaxosaur elements, Squad 13 was given chances to be explored and made more likeable and it proved to be one of Franxx’s more stronger attempts at being great.
So let’s step back for a second and I propose this: What if Darling in the Franxx was a Mecha Anime without the Mecha? What if this show was told from the perspective of the pilots in their off time from combat? You could still keep the mystery of society being totally messed up and gradually build towards some huge bombshells that would drive Hiro and the kids to rebel against their Masters, seek some answers and begin rebuilding society in their own/better way? The most decent episodes had nothing to do with a Franxx but rather when we got to sit down with the kids and see them all actually getting along and growing a little together. The second half of the show actually showed more promise when it dropped the romantic drama and let everyone actually learn to be friends. But sadly, this show had to go to space, introduce Aliens, keep its world building to a minimum before info dumping in the final episodes and tried to force an Evangelion level of deep, thematic connection that was never going to work.
Alright, time for Final Thoughts. Darling in the Franxx is one of the biggest messes of a high profile Anime that I have ever seen in my life. Terrible mecha and monster designs, a plot that borrows from almost every big Mecha Anime from the last four decades without a hint of originality, and worst of all…it isn’t fun. Sure it’s fun to yell at and lose your mind over how bonkers it gets (someone was paid to write this series and I hope the paycheck was worth it). But this show was a chore, a real struggle to get through. Besides Zero Two and occasionally Goro and Hiro, I did not like this cast and Ichigo is gonna go down in my books as one of the Worst Anime Protagonists of All Time. Hell Ichigo might even be Queen of that Mountain alongside King Shinn Asuka from Gundam Seed Destiny. I keep bringing this up but I cant help it: Darling in the Franxx was desperate to be the next Neon Genesis Evangelion with themes of adolescence, loss of innocence and war is hell…and it failed, failed so badly. This series wanted to be remembered among the greats like Eva, Gundam, Macross, Code Geass or Gurren Lagann. And it will be…just not as a great Anime and more like one of the most bizarrely botched dumpster fires of the new century.
2/10 (yep it’s Pilot Candidate bad and it even had double the length of that show to get its act together).
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