Reviews Anime / Darling In The Franxx

The Most Conflicted I've Felt Regarding An Anime.

As the title itself explains, in all my years watching anime, I don't think I've ever felt more torn on a series than I have with Darling In The Franxx.

The show has kind of gotten a pretty bad reputation in recent years, and to be frank, I can understand why. Once the second half hits, and the big twist regarding the villains comes out, the story pretty much collapses in on itself. Things start happening with little build up, story elements pop up purely to nod to previous works from the staff instead of what makes sense for the plot, and it overall ends on a rather anti-climactic note. Even before that, the story tends to focus less on the big plot and more on romantic relationships, which can be a turn off, especially when it chooses to set its sights on ones regarding the side characters.

And yet, despite all those issues, I can't say that I disliked Franxx either. For all the faults, it still contains (mostly in the first half, but also parts of the second half as well) some of my favorite moments in all of anime. Episodes 13 and 15 in particular are some of the most well directed and powerful I've ever experienced. For that matter, while the characters are a bit wonky in terms of development, the core relationship between Hiro and Zero Two is one that I found myself fully invested in, and was always engaged when they were on screen. Their romance is essentially the saving grace of the show, and seeing how they both grow and change through it was captivating, even during the messy second half.

That's also not getting into the visual presentation of the series either, which is of a very high quality. Trigger's finesse when it comes to action scenes shines through in every way possible, and their style actually gels quite well with the stuff done by A1 and Cloverworks. It has all the makings of something special, which only makes it all the more painful that it falls short by the end. If the rumors are to be believed in terms of the team getting cut short in terms of episodes, then it really shows. But once again, it is the relationship between Hiro and Zero Two that still holds everything together, and keeps it from being out and out bad.

So in coming to a conclusion, I really don't know how to rate it. With all its faults and messiness in the second half, I can't exactly recommend it, but at the same time, the things it does well it does beautifully, so I can't hate on it either (quite the opposite). In the end, in the vein of Roger Ebert when he reviewed Naked Lunch, I guess I have to give it a overall critical review, but with a footnote that I admire and adore the aspects that worked.