This DARLING is my TRIGGER: DARLING in the FRANXX

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Greetings, ladies and gents!  It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time once again for another review.  And believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to this week’s review...even more than Devilman Crybaby.  Imagine if Kill la Kill and Evangelion had a baby; this show would be that baby.  That being said, I can’t wait any longer, so let’s talk about this week’s review on DARLING in the FRANXX.
In a distant future, humanity is pushed to the brink by monsters known as klaxosaurs and forced to live in moving cities called Plantations.  Protecting these Plantations are Parasites, teens tasked with piloting giant robots called Franxx.  Hiro, once trained to be one of these pilots, finds himself unable to pilot a Franxx after a series of failed tests, leading him to fall into a depressive state.  That is until he meets a mysterious girl named Zero Two.  After her Parasite partner dies, she takes Hiro on as her partner and begins calling him her “darling.”  Becoming the only ones capable of piloting the powerful Franxx frame Strelizia, the two become major pieces in defending a world where humanity fights to survive.
Given that this was a Studio Trigger work, I was pretty hyped by this show.  And after actually seeing it, I liked it…yeah, just liked it.  So on the whole, I give DARLING in the FRANXX a 7.5 out of ten.  Yeah, like I said, I simply liked the show.  It’s certainly no Kill la Kill  or Gurren Lagann, but there were certainly some elements from the show that I enjoyed.  For one, I loved this dystopian society that’s not entirely totalitarian, but has a very cultish vibe to it.  Heck, the leader of this society is called “Papa,” which for me was a pretty odd and yet disturbing.  Plus, you can tell right away that things are not as pleasant as main characters think it is, like you know that they’re being lied to by their authority figures.  It’s interesting to me that even though it’s not a Studio Trigger show, Guren Lagann set a standard in post-apocalyptic world creating for the studio.  It was nice to see Trigger give us another crack at it, especially as it’s a  mech show as well as a sci-fi show-considering Gurren Lagann  also set a standard in mech shows as well.  Speaking of mechs, I absolutely loved the Franxx!  These were some gorgeous mechs.  Granted, they’re very feminine looking, and Trigger has always done well in drawing female bodies-after all, they have some of the sexiest female characters in anime.  Still, past the looks, they do pack a pretty powerful punch.  I wouldn’t be surprised if people talked about these mechs for a while.  So in general, what the series had was fun to explore and fun to look at too, just like anything Trigger puts out.
Ok, going into the not so great parts of the show, I’m just going to throw this out there, the usual troupes you see in anything done by Trigger are in this show: fan service and subtle innuendos.  Yeah, I was secretly hoping that these tropes would be avoided for once, but that didn’t happen.  Among other things, let’s just say DARLING in the FRANXX gave a whole new meaning to the term “love handles.”  That aside, I felt like the first few episodes were really tedious.  If you thought Shinji getting in an Eva was a pain, getting Hiro in a Franxx was worse; it takes him almost four episodes to actually be taken seriously as a pilot, not counting the first episode where he unconsciously pilots Strelizia.  It took Shinji one episode to get in an Eva and pilot it.  Not only that, it takes a while for the characters to grow on you.  The first couple of episodes, a lot of the main characters are kind of jerks.  Zero Two was probably the worse of them, coming off as pretty heartless and narcissistic, and not to mention overtly sexual (but again, its Studio Trigger.  It should almost be expected).  Still, for as slow as the show can be, what is good about it is pretty good and well worth the watch.
While I can’t say this show is my darling, I think it’s one of the more unique shows of the winter season.  And quite FRANXXly, it’s worth a watch!  The show is currently available in Japanese on Crunchyroll and is a part of Funimation’s winter simuldub line up for those of you interested in watching it dubbed.  And so, that wraps up this week’s review!  Tune in next week when I reveal Character of the Month! 
-Hanime on Anime
DARLING in the FRANXX promo (Crunchyroll)



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