ダーリン・イン・ザ・フランキス

DARLING IN THE FRANXX

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
8
RELEASE
January 26, 2020
CHAPTERS
60

DESCRIPTION

In a devastated post-apocalyptic future, Earth is a ruinous wasteland. Humanity’s only remaining strongholds are mobile fortress cities called Plantations. Massive beasts known as klaxosaurs, the planet’s new apex predators, have pushed mankind to the edge of extinction, and within the walls of the Plantations, things are no less dire. Humans no longer love or reproduce–adults live on in sterile immortality while children are regarded as nothing more than parasites, artificially created to pair up and pilot the Plantations’ giant defense robots known as Franxx. Former child whiz kid Hiro fails out of the piloting program after falling out of sync with his co-pilot, and a fateful decision to skip his group’s graduation ceremony puts him on a collision course with a horned girl known as Zero Two, whose co-pilots always end up dead. She claims Hiro as her “darling,” but what can that word even mean in such a loveless world?

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

CAST

Zero Two
Hiro
Ichigo
Kokoro
Goro
Mitsuru
Miku
Kyouryuu no Hime
Zorome
Ikuno
Nana
Futoshi
Franxx-hakase
Hachi

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO DARLING IN THE FRANXX

ANIME ActionDarling in the Franxx

REVIEWS

Yuseistar
62/100
An average manga series about Mechs and Kaiju.

Story: 6/10

The plot and story of Darling in the Franxx is nothing to brag about, but there are positive points about the story that make this manga a fun read. First, the world that is created in Darling in the Franxx is really quite interesting. Throughout the length of the manga, the reader is introduced to more and more information about the world that they’re reading about. It seems like every time the story introduces something new about the world that’s shrouded in mystery, in subsequent chapters, it is cleared up.

The story has a rhythm. It doesn’t seem too slow nor too fast. There will be parts that will be slow, like the downtime in-between fights and there will be parts that will be fast, like the actual fights. However, this all coalesces and delivers the reader great pacing of the story. With that, the story also handles the various elements within it quite well. The world is straight out of a great Sci-Fi novel, there are futuristic architecture, insane technological advancements to bear witness to. It has almost everything a Sci-Fi junky would want, and within this lies the biggest element in Darling in the Franxx, Mechas. This element of the story is done well too. Each of Plantation 13’s Mechs are unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses, they have awesome and huge battles, and the Mechs are there to battle some sort of power struggle.

Those are the great parts about the story but what is something positive without it’s negatives, and there are a handful of those as well. Starting off with the theme of Ecchi. This manga overuses fan service to a large extent. If you’re not familiar with the manga, Darling in the Franxx includes nudity, and because of that, I feel that the nudity aspect of the manga is exploited way too much. At times, I found myself wondering if I was reading porn or not. The fan service is just way over the top and not done tastefully at all. Then the next biggest thing, which I will expand upon in the character section, is the people that exist in this world. I understand that this is a 60-chapter manga so, it doesn’t necessarily have all the time in the world to develop each and every single character but, this manga doesn’t do that one bit.

Art: 7/10

The art is definitely the shining aspect of Darling in the Franxx. From the cool designs of Plantation 13’s Mechs to the unique look to each of the characters, the art is great. Each of Plantation 13’s Mechs are drawn so cool and unique. They all look different from each other, they all have unique weapons and when you get to see them fight, it’s a sight to behold. Oh boy, oh boy, are the fights and the action drawn well. Most of the time, you can see what exactly is going on in a fight, and the gore, wow… the small amount of gore scenes in the manga are done exceptionally well. I always found myself gasping at all the moments someone’s head came off or a limb was severed.

Characters: 3/10

As I mentioned earlier, the characters in Darling in the Franxx are pretty bad. There is little, close to 0-character development for any other character outside of our 2 main characters, Hiro and Zero Two. You find yourself not knowing anything about the rest of the characters. If you’re lucky, the reader will get maybe 2-3 panels of flashbacks for certain supporting characters. Even then, the 2 main characters, outside of their origin story, don’t really see them progress as characters. Other than the cliche “love triumphs over all” the characters themselves are quite dull and not exciting at all. Then, worst of all, this lack of character development is attempted to be solved by shoving love triangles down the reader’s throat. This one character loves this one character but that character loves another, then another character shows up and loves that one. It’s a sad attempt to get the reader to care about the characters and their evolution.

Enjoyment: 6/10

Overall, I enjoyed Darling in the Franxx. I’m a complete sucker for Mecha series because it reminds me of my childhood. The very first thing I saw from the anime medium was a movie that included Mechs and I would always remember playing with Gundam figures as a wee child. So, aside from the dullness of the characters, the actual Mecha part of the series really carried my enjoyment. Darling in the Franxx had these pretty-looking Mechs that had cool weapons and could engage in awesome fights. The ending to the manga was also satisfying, it didn’t leave me wanting more and it also did one of my favorite things in manga and anime, in which the beginning of the series will start with one small theme that’ll introduce the world that you’re about to dive into and the ending will revisit that theme. Whenever a series does something like that, I always love it.

Verdict

At the end of the day, I’d have to say that this manga is just average. It’s definitely got its positives but that is not without it’s negatives, and in Darling in the Franxx those two are equal. It’s a Mecha series that was pretty fun to read but any lasting impression soon disappear after it’s been completed.

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HadesBlast
30/100
Una idea interesante, tirada por el Fanservice asqueroso
Darling in the Franxxx esa serie que tenia tanto que prometer que movió tanta gente pero que al final fue una verdadera mierda. Sin esconderme la leía y cada vez me daba mas y mas pereza de lo mala que era.

La premisa principal de humanos siendo criados para pelear contra una serie de monstruos que asolan la tierra y haciéndolo en dúos es interesante. El diseño de los monstruos es increíble, hasta que empiezas a meter un montón de fanservice innecesario, relaciones toxicas entre todos los personajes principales y sobre todo la falta de continuidad, es como que quieren darle un plot severo pero lo rompen en todo momento sin dudarlo ni tardar mucho, contándote la relacion de otros integrantes menos interesantes. Cuando debería girar mas alrededor de 02 y Hiro, con tal vez el drama de Ichigo y Goro, esos detalles son buenos, pero no querer abarcar todo además cortarte momentos por meter el drama de Mitsuru y Futoshi. Realmente no cuesta nada, centrarse en lo principal, si se quisiera abarcar mas en personajes secundarios se podría pero es difícil hacerlo con tantas cosas a la vez.

El diseño de los personajes no mentiré que es bueno, son diferentes y nada repetitivos por suerte, los Klaxosaurs tienen diseños variados y diferentes dándoles un estilo interesante... Hasta que aparece la reina siendo una niña pequeña, los robots siendo niñas con trajes de marineritas, que realmente si usaran directamente el diseño animal de primeras seria mucho mejor, para después con una mejor relacion de personajes alcanzar una forma superior mas "Humana" seria mucho mejor. Ademas...la posición que usan para usar los Mechas... entiendo la idea de querer introducir 2 conductores, pero ponerles en esa posición tan... Innecesaria, en mi opinión es algo innecesario, burdo y que hace que pierda la gracia completamente, parece sacado de un capitulo de una serie estilo Gintama.

La verdad nunca entendí lo que hizo que todo el mundo adorara tanto esta serie... hasta que lo leí a muchos no es que realmente les gustase es que lo que querían era seguir viendo el Bait, que eran algunos personajes. Especialmente la mayoría por ver a ZeroTwo, que realmente si hubiesen continuado con la idea del cuento de los pájaros de un ala y Hiro, hubiese sido algo mejor. Pero quiso abarcar tanto, que incluso el final fue infumable... Muy triste que estas series son las que triunfen y no otras con una mejor trama y idea, solo por el triste empeño de los fans del Fanservice
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