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REVIEW: DARLING in the FRANXX Part 1 Limited Edition BD+DVD


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AmpersandsUnited



Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Posts: 633
PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2019 9:46 pm Reply with quote
I thought people were joking when they said Franxx was propaganda for Japanese citizens to have babies. But now I'm seeing that people genuinely actually believe that? I'm not sure what to say to that..

I enjoyed Franxx a lot. The character and mech designers were great, Shigeto Koyama did great work on Star Driver and I was glad to see another mech series designed by him.
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partially



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 702
Location: Oz
PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 3:26 am Reply with quote
To be honest I don't see what all the fuss is about with FRANXX. It was a reasonably solid show overall. Parts were hyperbolic, cringe and the first half did drag but I fail to see why so many seem to find the themes of the show offensive somehow.

And from the review. How was the series stance on same-sex relations in question? The stance was pretty obvious. A character struggling to understand different feelings from the rest, and feeling isolated. As another commenter pointed out if you paid attention to the readings, it was clear why the failure happened. And then further resolution occurs later in the series. It could have been handled with more care initially, but like the rest of the show, it used a hammer approach at first. In fact the resolution there was one of the more subtle elements of the show.

I personally mostly agree with the review of a solid B. Was it the most amazing, no. But it is nowhere near the worst show.

JustinTaco wrote:
The only impressive thing about Franxx is its ability to introduce new plot threads and immediately forget them with impressive speed.


Erm there was nothing particularly significant left open. The series did have a habit of leaving questions dangling for a long while in a couple of cases. But I don't remember anything significant introduced that was forgotten afterward.
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johnnysasaki



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 922
PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 11:23 am Reply with quote
AmpersandsUnited wrote:
I thought people were joking when they said Franxx was propaganda for Japanese citizens to have babies. But now I'm seeing that people genuinely actually believe that? I'm not sure what to say to that..

I enjoyed Franxx a lot. The character and mech designers were great, Shigeto Koyama did great work on Star Driver and I was glad to see another mech series designed by him.


it's the same people that say Shield Hero is slavery propaganda with a straight face,so you know what their credibility must be...
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 1:19 pm Reply with quote
johnnysasaki wrote:
Beatdigga wrote:
You can tell when all the Trigger talent left to make Gridman and left the show rather aimless and with an ending that is...something.

And it’s still about a billion times better than Voltron Legendary Defender so it can’t even take home the worst mecha show of the year award.


it certainly has a much less insufferable pieces of shit fandom than Voltron.
but hey,this anime promotes heternormativity and and if you buy this,you are an evil person.Certain ANN folks said so,so it must be truth!


Such an argument just comes off as dumb when you can attack the show on much sounder ground like a meandering plot, supporting characters that do dumb things, and ideas that go nowhere.

Compared to Voltron it’s freaking Escaflowne.
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JustinTaco



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 118
PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 2:30 pm Reply with quote
partially wrote:
JustinTaco wrote:
The only impressive thing about Franxx is its ability to introduce new plot threads and immediately forget them with impressive speed.


Erm there was nothing particularly significant left open. The series did have a habit of leaving questions dangling for a long while in a couple of cases. But I don't remember anything significant introduced that was forgotten afterward.


Where do I start?

- Why the doggy style piloting? Why do the Franx need pilots with working genitals?

-spoiler[ Why did they freeze Naomi? If it was because she wasn't compatible, why was it her and not Hiro, who was the known failure around the plantation? Why freeze all the other kids? If it was the same reason, why not instead mix and match them until they work? What were they going to do with them, leave them frozen indefinitely?

- Where are these kids even coming from if everyone is sterile? If it's like 1% of the population, how haven't they hit manpower shortages when the show makes a point of how bad their survival rate is?

- Why are APE so reckless with human lives if their goal as VIRM is to slurp them up into their collective? Not only with the pilots but by just detonating plantations for no clear advantage?

- For that reason, why are their weapons so inefficient? It's shown that you can use magma energy for ranged weapons too. Why are the plantations totally defenseless and don't have cannons or anything? Why is every Klaxosaur fight a melee in the middle of the desert where the humans are horribly outnumbered with no attempt at tactics?
- If this is some dystopia where the kids are supposed to be kept in the dark and believe Papa is some kind of eternal god, why are they given every opportunity to learn the truth? Why did they let them loose on a beach right by some very intact ruins? Why did they not clean out the former Parasite room full of clues? Why let 02 constantly give the squad restricted information? How is Zorome able to just walk off into the Plantation city? Why does any of this happen when we know the kids are monitored constantly?

- Why does Kokoro immediately become enamored with giving birth after reading a medical journal you'd find in a waiting room?

- If boys are the pilots and the girls are the "programming", why are the girls (02 especially) able to take control whenever? What is the boy's purpose?

- Why are there times (like in episode 15) where they act like there's only room for 2 people in a cockpit? Why did they leave Goro vulnerable in a collapsing city when he could just sit in the corner?

- How does 02 absorb information by eating paper?

- What happened to the massive hand in the Gran Crevasse that crushed everything instantly? The one so large that the cast only survived because they coincidentally happened to be between its fingers?

- All of them apparently have the parasite disease, why does Ikuno age like 50+ years from firing one salvo from her Franx? If having two pilots is meant to alleviate the stress of connecting to the machine, why was only Ikuno affected? Doesn't magma energy stop the aging process too?

- How is Futoshi's eating disorder (apparently a symptom of the parasite disease) cured by Zorome insulting his weight some more?

- Why are the Nines allowed to constantly harass 02 when she's apparently an important APE asset? (shown by her constantly being taken alive and certain dialogue) Why does APE constantly try to turn her against them, even after demonstrating how powerful/useful she is?]


-spoiler[ Why are the kids kept in the dark about reproduction? What purpose does it serve? Wouldn't it be better they know since most of humanity can't reproduce and replenish casualties? If not that, wouldn't dangling sex in front of them as a reward for serving APE's interests be a good motivation for hormonal teenagers? Why aren't the kids hormones blocked at all if they're not expected to survive or learn about reproduction? Why are their still protocols for abortions if they could just stop the problem at the source?

- If fertility is required to pilot Franx, why are they kept in the dark about it? It's not just that Franx won't operate optimally, they won't function at all. It's like keeping a soldier in the dark about bullets or the fingers they use to squeeze the trigger.

- Again why are the Nines able to do whatever they want and freely harass the squad by revealing the true nature of humanity? Why do the Nines say that immortality frees humans from gender roles when that's not shown at all? Why is it even a reason when the real reason for immortality... is being immortal, as shown 2 episodes later?

- Why does APE let the kids nearly starve in the destroyed plantation when they weren't actually planning on abandoning them? Why did they only show up to break up the wedding? Why not just transport them to the camp to begin with and avoid the trouble? Why is the wedding not allowed if pilots are supposed to be in perfect sync to operate most efficiently? Why are the kids expected to be in perfect sync but aren't allowed to form relationships?

- If APE has brainwashing technology ready to go at any time, why is it only used once? Why aren't the kids brainwashed whenever they bring up any objections to APE? Why is it only Kokoro and Mitsuru that are brainwashed? The rest of the squad knows everything they know. Why is the squad allowed to immediately try and fix the couple's memory when they leave the procedure when guards are standing right there? Why are they allowed to join the same squad who will try and remind them of everything they were just brainwashed for?

- How did the other APE members not know some of them were VIRM? Where did the magma technology come from? Did VIRM provide it? If they did, what was the function of the other APE members? How did they join such a secretive group with nothing to offer? Did the VIRM members just give them magma technology and say they could take credit too?

- Is magma energy always part of their conquest strategy? Do people need to be immortal first to be vacuumed into the VIRM hivemind? If not, why didn't their super massive fleet just take over Earth before giving humans all this new technology? Couldn't they just forcibly prepare humans to be absorbed?

- Why does magma devastate the environment by being mined? Does removing magma from deep in the mantle somehow destroy the ecosystem on the surface? If it's the magma itself, why doesn't it renew the soil like it does in real life?

- Why is there not even any of pseudoscience explanation for why magma is able to both provide energy and immortality? Why do they just jump straight from one to the other in the span of one line of dialogue? What do they do to lava that makes it into orange immortality juice? Why do humans have to give up their fertility for the orange juice to make them immortal? How do scientists know they've achieved immortality? What signs are there, did aging simply stop? How do they know they didn't just slow down aging or pause it temporarily?]


-spoiler[ Why do the rich give up their monopoly on immortality technology? Why would the global elite ever do that? Why is no reason given for the rich to give up possibly the most valuable resource in history in the span of 6 years? (2030 - 2036) What happened to the gap between rich and poor explicitly mentioned by the show? How did they convince nearly 6 billion people to sterilize themselves in 6 years when some people don't even trust proven vaccines? How much time was even given to test the effects of the procedure?

- Why did humanity keep using magma energy when kaiju show up to specifically attack sources of it? It's not like fossil fuels where it's a slowly escalating environmental impact over time. Giant monsters that can level cities in minutes are involved. Why was everyone just fine with Earth becoming a desert too? If APE was influential enough to accomplish all this with minimal resistance, why couldn't they properly monitor some kids living in a single mansion?

- Why did Dr. Frank obliterate a fetus in that one scene?

- Why, oh why, do Franx need intact genitals to function? How did they find that out?

- Why was the cockpit on Karina's mech not secured at all? What even happened? Why did it just headbutt itself and explode? Why did she even volunteer? She's a scientist, not a pilot.

- Why did he bury her in the middle of nowhere? Did she not have family that might've disagreed with this?

- How did they find out there was a Klaxosaur queen when all that's mentioned it them attacking magma energy indiscriminately? How did Dr. Frank get a DNA sample from her when she ripped off the arm that she bit?

- How is Mitsuru's memory jogged just by saying Kokoro's name? Is their brainwashing that bad?]


- spoiler[How does the Queen pilot Strelizia just because it was based on Klaxosaur technology? All human technology is based on earlier human technology, doesn't mean you can jam a micro-USB into a phonograph.

- How does 02 survive limping down that massive hallway if she's bleeding enough to coat the walls the entire way through?

- Why would one form of Klaxo Sapiens evolve into energy? How does that happen? How did the one Klaxo Sapiens gender evolve by consuming the other? How does a species survive by entirely consuming the other gender? (as opposed to say, praying mantises doing so after successful reproduction) Did they have a hivemind queen before or after evolving into energy and then into Klaxosaurs? Why is there only one?

- Why does the APE space station not have any offensive capabilities like orbital cannons? Why are aircraft and spacecraft not used to fight at all? What stops them from attacking Klaxosaurs at range when we never see one that can fly? Why are all engagements fought like Starship Troopers but worse? Why is their last resort blowing up Earth when there's no indication of human colonization anywhere else? Again, isn't their goal to assimilate humanity? Why were the non-VIRM APE members okay with blowing up Earth?

- Were the giant Klaxosaur anti-orbital handguns just sitting underground the whole time? Why are they never used against humans who use giant aircraft and space stations?

- If the Klaxosaurs managed to stop the first invasion millennia ago, why couldn't they beat humans? Why did they hide underground instead of building their strength if they knew VIRM was coming back? Why didn't they just tell humans that evil aliens exist?

- If Star Entity was a superpowerful weapon able to upset the balance of the universe, why didn't the VIRM just take it? If the VIRM had already placed a trap on Star Entity, why didn't they just take it or destroy it? Where did it come from in the first place?

- If the VIRM can just immediately remove a soul from someone's body (like they did to the rest of APE) why didn't they just do that to everyone else? What are the limitations of that ability? We see it happening to all the plantations present at the Crevasse. Why don't they just get the protagonists too? Why do they even need purple space weapons?

- Why can Hiro absorb all of the Queen's memories by just kinda grasping at one of her tentacles? (wearing gloves no less) If Klaxo Sapiens had a hyper advanced civilization 60 million years ago (exact number given in the show), why is there no trace of it? Why do we have dinosaur bones but no traces of a planetwide civilization with skyscrapers and mechs?

- There's a frame of Klaxo Sapiens riding doggy-style in their mechs. Why do they have to pilot that way too?

- The Queen says their civilization turned completely warlike to defeat VIRM and that's why they couldn't reproduce. How does that make any sense? How do your replenish casualties? How do you just stop reproducing?]


- spoiler[Why does the Queen say "perhaps some lives only shine in unison with another" about Hiro and 02 when her entire species split into pilot and programming genders to merge together? Wouldn't she see that as normal?

- If the Strelizia Apath can just wipe out VIRMs forces effortlessly, how were the Klaxo Sapiens ever desperate during the first invasion? Why are they able to make a weapon that easily beats what is apparently a far more advanced species? Wouldn't the VIRM, who were spacefaring, already be more advanced during the first invasion? How does the Apath still defeat the VIRM technology, when they have been existing (and presumably advancing) for 60 million years?

- How is magma energy able to be used in food preservation and treating wounds?

- When VIRM and Klaxosaur corpses fall on Earth, why are the kids surprised and wonder if the VIRM will attack when the VIRM announced they would attack Earth again in the previous episode?

- Why is Nana in a wheelchair? All they do is lock her up and replace her, she's never shown being tortured or crippled. Why does she eventually just stand again? Why did she lose strength in her legs in the first place?

- Why are the plants able to grow just enough to all die dramatically at the same time? Episode 19 specifically said the new technology was for extracting magma from deeper than ever before. How did doing that affect the soil on the surface?

- Why does shooting a huge laser transplant 02's consciousness into Strelizia? Why does her body still move around? Why is damage telepathically linked with her human body?

- Why does Goro (rightfully) knock Hiro's face in for wanting to abandon all his friends and the remainder of humanity for 02 and then just change his mind later?]


- spoiler[If the Klaxosaur were already fighting (and dying to) the VIRM in orbit, why didn't they launch their mothership until Hiro was ready to go? If the Klaxosaurs had all kinds of enhancements and things specially made for humans buried underground, why didn't they just cooperate earlier?

- Why can Hiro easily ride with Nine Alpha when the show has made such a huge deal about compatibility? Why couldn't Ikuno and Ichigo even get their Franx to start? If it's because of emotional compatibility, why could Ikuno and Mitsuru ride together when they're shown to resent each other? For that reason, why could Hiro and Alpha when the Nines have been mean to them the entire time?

- Why does Hachi barely get knocked off his feet and get ready to die? Why is he just fine later?

- Why do the VIRM barely put up a fight in space? Why do they just float around while being cut apart by the dozen? Why do they make an easily circumvented wall of bodies? Why do they not attempt to plug the hole in it or attack the Franxx flying through? Why is the only one that attacks them just appear to kill off Alpha?

- Why is the Strelizia Apath able to shrug off immense amounts of damage and attacks but Alpha and Hiro easily pry off a panel to get inside?

- Why does 02's body turn to stone? Why does the Strelizia become a huge version of 02? Why does Hiro sound like he's brainwashed when the squad asks him to reconsider leaving? Why does he say they're going to take the main VIRM force by surprise when they're using a wormhole they already know about and were guarding?

- Why does Hiro mention not feeling hungry or sleepy like he's surprised? Did they really not pack any food or supplies at all before realizing that he wouldn't need them?

- Again, why can Strelizia just blast through what looks like thousands upon thousands of VIRM ships with no effort? If the VIRM have been consistently conquering the galaxy/universe for, again, over 60 million years why can't they just wipe the floor with any resistance?

- If the VIRM could just desync Hiro and 02, why didn't they do that before letting them blow up 50 jillion ships first?

- What is "that thing" Goro promises to find for Ikuno? Why is it never mentioned again?]


- spoiler[Why is the squad's prayer circle able to give Hiro and 02 enough power to overwhelm the VIRM's most powerful force? Why did Kokoro and Mitsuru's daughter innately know the 02 statue had any significance or call it Darling?

- Why do Ikuno and Naomi get together despite sharing almost no dialogue before episode 24?

- What did Strelizia even accomplish if the VIRM just say they're going to return? How did all the Klaxosaur ships return to Earth in a few days when it took 2 years to reach the VIRM homeworld? Was there another wormhole that led straight from there? Why didn't the VIRM attack Earth at all when it was totally defenseless for 2 years?

- The VIRM said "are you going back to be caged in your bodies?". Does that mean everyone the VIRM ever absorbed is released? What are they released to? The scene with the other APE member shows their bodies just slump over when their soul is absorbed. Wouldn't the vast majority have been absorbed millions of years ago? Wouldn't almost none of them have something to return to? Even the humans, the most recent to be absorbed, left their bodies for several years. Wouldn't even their empty bodies died and decomposed by now?

- How was the explosion from the VIRM homeworld bright enough to be seen on Earth?

- How did the Klaxosaur ships just revert back into dirt and stone? Why did the Klaxosaurs just give humans control of Earth after fighting them for years and then doing 100% of the work to defeat the VIRM?

- Why is Ikuno's research able to keep the other parasites from aging too quickly but not herself?
]


Yeah, some of these are definitely nit-picks. Some of them aren't vital, such as the specifics of certain scifi technology. For a lot of them, I already know the answer is "because it would look cool" or "because it'd make for cheap drama". However, for almost all of them, no attempt is even made to give any explanation. The more and more needlessly unanswered questions accumulate, the more the viewer can't maintain their suspension of disbelief. It's made worse by the reveal in episode 19 that spoiler[Franxx isn't just scifi it's near-future scifi. The closer to the present day and reality something is, the more you have to account for.]
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 4:29 pm Reply with quote
JustinTaco wrote:
Where do I start?

You can start by proper using spoiler tags for points that are beyond the purview of this particular release.(And since more than half of that incredibly long post was, I just spoiler-tagged most of it rather than waste time trying to straighten out what points were and weren't in the first half.)

Since this review is only for the first half, and since I also explicitly said in the review that I was only dealing with the first half, please do not assume that every person reading this thread has already seen the whole series.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13540
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:37 am Reply with quote
@ JustinTaco

Yeah, some of these are definitely nit-picks. Some of them aren't vital, such as the specifics of certain scifi technology. For a lot of them, I already know the answer is "because it would look cool" or "because it'd make for cheap drama". However, for almost all of them, no attempt is even made to give any explanation. The more and more needlessly unanswered questions accumulate, the more the viewer can't maintain their suspension of disbelief. It's made worse by the reveal in episode 19 that spoiler[Franxx isn't just scifi it's near-future scifi. The closer to the present day and reality something is, the more you have to account for.][/quote]

How long did it take you to write those 193 questions in the spoiler tags? For those wondering how many times Zero Two said "darling",these are the episode numbers and number of times she said "darling" for those epi. Note that I used the Eng. dub for the amount.
Franxx 1-2: 6
Franxx 3-4: 7
Franxx 5-6: 4
Franxx 7-8: 8
Franxx 9-10: 1
Franxx 11-12: 4
Franxx 13-4: 10
Franxx 15-6: 14
Franxx 17-8: 2
Franxx 19-20: 6
Franxx 21-2: 12
Franxx 23-24: 17;
Tota: 91
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