Even though I enjoyed this episode of Darling in the FranXX, I can’t help but feel as though the show is getting very aimless now. There’s been compelling questions raised but only a few answers has been sprinkled in. All the stuff about Hiro’s powers? Not much else to talk about there; he just seems fine for some reason. The strange and potentially messed-up society run by Papa? Who cares! Everybody’s getting presents in this weird quasi-Christmas celebration. Everything’s all good. As far as conflict goes, it’s just been your weekly dose of monsters and teenage drama. I worry because Little Witch Academia, Trigger’s previous work, had the same problem. That show had a potentially compelling story painfully dragged so that a bunch of dumb antis can fill in the time.
On its own merits though, this episode was pretty decent. Gorou gets the spotlight this time around and we receive a deeper look into his relationship with Ichigo. Now that he’s learning more about love, Gorou realizes that he’s had a crush on his partner ever since they were kids. A shame then that Ichigo is still smitten with Hiro and will probably stay that way for the time being.
Naturally, she pulls the friend card when she finds out but give Gorou credit, at least he confessed to her. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing these two together. It’d certainly simplify the relationship chart and put an end to Ichigo’s third wheel status in her current love triangle. Let’s not kid ourselves, the big ship in Darling is clearly Hiro and Zero Two. Just watch the scene where Hiro gives Zero Two a Papa Day gift and tell me they’re not a pair. It’s probably best to have Ichigo let go of her feelings towards Hiro anyway.
Besides, I find the chemistry between Ichigo and Gorou pretty good in its own right. We’ve seen before how Gorou helps reel Ichigo back into the fight when she’s distraught and this time, we see the reverse. Gorou plans on blowing up Delphinium to save the day but Ichigo manages to intervene and help him think of a new solution. These two are both stubborn and yet they both act as each other’s voice of reason as well. No wonder they sync so well when piloting Delphinium.
I wouldn’t mind another shipping in Darling. The primary one with Hiro and Zero Two has been pretty good so maybe a second one will too. I don’t know how I feel about the show delving in the other relationships though. An episode entirely about Zorome and Miku could be mighty annoying. And as I mentioned before, this show needs to figure out an objective ASAP.
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I enjoyed this episode but I agree from an overall plot perspective, this show has kind of become aimless. There’s potentially a really interest plot in here somewhere but it seems to have been abandoned other than the occasional throw away line for the last three or four episodes while the show focuses on getting through beach episodes, random distractions, and other issues (some of which have been entertaining enough). This show could be so much better though if it actually focused on its story.
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I actually think the beach episode was probably the most productive out of the recent episodes. That at least provided an organic way to have the cast learn more about the world around them.
Other than that, I agree that this show doesn’t feel too invested in its own story. And while I think any story should explore its characters, I think it can be frustrating if it’s happening at the cost of progression. It’s a shame because I thought the show was getting to somewhere really compelling early on.
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Early on there was certainly some hints that there is quite a compelling story here, but yeah, they aren’t interested in getting to it.
I disliked the beach episode because the few bits about the world the characters seemed to pick up felt like they could have gained that information much faster and without spending a whole bunch of time running around on a beach. It still feels really implausible that the kids who’ve been restricted in where they can go their whole lives were actually allowed to stay outside, unsupervised on a beach.
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That’s a super fair point. I mostly liked it for how they just stumbled upon the abandoned city and I guess the pacing wasn’t too big of an issue for me. The lack of monitoring on the kids is really odd now that I think about it though. I figured this society would try to keep that kind of stuff a secret from them.
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