Winter 2018 Anime:  DARLING in the FRANXX

Synopsis

In the distant future, the land is ruined by monsters called Klaxosaur and humanity lives in a fortress city called Plantation. Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the “birdcage.” One of them is a boy named Hiro, who is called Code:016. Once known as a prodigy, he has fallen behind, and his existence seems unnecessary. His life changed when a mysterious girl with two horns, known as “Zero Two”, appears.

Comments

Dany Muhammad (The Indonesian Anime Times)

In the early part of DARLING in the FRANXX, the two main characters, Hiro and Zero Two, uses a Chinese mythical bird, the Jian bird, as an allegory of their condition. It is a bird that only has one eye and one wing. To be able to fly, they must first find a partner to complement each other, before finally able to fly.

What interesting from that point of view is, while both of them has a desire to find partner, they have different motive. The robots in DARLING in the FRANXX, which are called FRANXX, have to be piloted by a pair of boy and a girl. For Hiro, his desire to find partner is caused by his insecurity. He can’t pilot FRANXX, so he feels he has no reason to live in the birdcage, which makes him empathizing with the Jian bird who has to live a harsh life before it can find its partner. Zero Two, on the other hand, is fascinated by the Jian bird’s idea of living in a pair. As a pilot herself, she is a special soldier who has Klaxosaur blood in her body, which is probably why all her partners lost their lives after piloting FRANXX with her. For her, having a partner is a necessity, thus she admired the beauty of it.

Other than introducing the thematic idea, the first half of the story also builds its world and the characters’ backstory. The pilot, who lives in plantation and isolated from the outside world, only has one purpose to life: fighting Klaxosaurs with FRANXX. If they fail, the have to leave, and nobody knows what happened after that. The uncertainty of the situation also makes their position in danger, which is why Hiro’s insecurity becomes understandable.

The latter half of the episode is where the action starts. One of the notable thing is that the robots are largely still hand-drawn instead of made with CG. While animating action scenes with CG is not always a bad thing, It is fresh to see robot fights that mostly still animated hand-drawn. The fight animation feels more loose. The robot designs, which actually looks like a normal human (they have expressive faces) also helps.

As a collaboration project between studio TRIGGER and A-1 Pictures, DARLING in the FRANXX‘s first episode definitely does not disappoint. It captures the more “wild” animation of TRIGGER. This anime also has a thematic idea that gives more depth into the story. Interested in action anime? DARLING in the FRANXX is recommended.

Facts and Figures

Screenshots and Trailer

The Indonesian Anime Times