Darling in the FranXX Episode 1-6 – 20 Question Anime Review (Spoilers)

Please note: This review is no longer representative of the author’s feelings on this show for an up to date review please read: Puberty & Robots – A 20 Question Reassessment of Darling in the FranXX (Episodes 1-15)

What’s the show? No, just no, I don’t want to do this…

What do you mean? We’re here we have to do it… Ugh, fine, you really want to do this? Fine! Just give me a minute to get into an appropriate character for this, okay?

‘Character?’ You’re not usually in character for these reviews are you? No, but this is a special circumstance. Bare with me a second.

Ah, fine, sure, take your time. *messes up hair, slumps shoulders, readies fingers above keyboard, becomes a virgin again* Okay, I’m ready, or whatever bro…

Okay… what’s the show? Tch! Only the best effin’ show on the planet my dude!

Right… It’s like Studio Trigger’s ‘Darling in the FranXX’ my dude. Tch! What cave have you been living under?

Are you even speaking English? Totally my dude, and seriously did you watch that gif I sent you because I’ve been jackin’ it til I’m red raw!

Please, I regret everything; can I press the abort button? No doing my scro! We’re in this til the bitter end, did I mention how Darling in the FranXX is like killer JO material my bro, my scro, my dude.

Okay, stop. Just time out. I have no idea what you’re trying to go for with this particular character, but it doesn’t seem very realistic. What do actual fans of Darling in the FranXX really sound like online? You SJW cucks are not intellectually prepared for something as complex and revolutionary as this show, if you’d bother to not get triggered (heh!) for half a second you’d realise that the allegory is….

Wow! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse… But just wait you beta-cuck; I haven’t even got to show you my fanfic where Trump and Putin pilot a FranXX together.

Oh my f***ing god. Can we just get the regular guy back; you know Cactus Matt or whatever his name is. Oh so now you want to hear my opinion, huh?

Yes, for f**ks sake, yes! Cool, so Darling in the FranXX is a pretty good show, I mean when it’s pandering to the worst of the anime fandom, namely stunted immature males who think women amount to nothing more than the subject of physical attraction and sexual connection. The sad thing is that if the writers and animators had consulted oh, I don’t know, precisely one woman in the production of their show they might have had the obvious idea to put the protagonist Hiro in the ‘subservient’ role in the FranXX robot Strelitzia alongside 002 rather than have him ‘dominating’ and perpetuating the obnoxious degradation of women for the sake of what amounts to a Saturday morning wank-fest for twelve year old fanboys. Heck I’d even settle for it just being 50/50 where half of the FranXX have the female characters in the demeaning position and the other half the male in said position. But that’d never happen, no, there’s no money to be made in that right?

I feel like I walked into a pool that’s a mile too deep for me. Everyone who thinks Darling in the FranXX is a show beyond criticism because it’s made by a talented animation studio seriously needs to get an attitude adjustment! It’d be like giving Studio Ghibli a pass if they just suddenly decided to make rape themed hentai!

Wow, okay, I feel like you need to say something positive about this show or else we’re going to be blacklisted from the Crunchyroll anime awards in 2019. High ambitions there… Besides, there’s plenty good I can say about the show, the world is intriguing, the characters are mostly likable, the setting is appropriately mysterious and the action is well animated. Oh and just quietly the opening theme is gorgeous.

So what’s the problem? OH I’M SORRY WAS THE MESSAGE TO SUBTLE FOR YOU? There’s literally giant robot mechs who are controlled by two person crews, the female of the crew is posed in doggy style position while the male ‘connects’ to her from behind. At which point he literally becomes ‘the brains’ in total control of her body. And don’t give me that bullshit excuse that the robot doesn’t work unless they’re perfectly in sync, thus it’s about equality or something. It’s just fan-service, and I know what you’re about to say next…

But you love fan-service; some of your favourite show’s are full of fan-service, how come this show in particular irks your ire while others get a pass or even a hearty recommendation? It’s hard to put it into words! Maybe I am being a hypocrite, but it just feels so degrading here, and so pointless and so… so…

So? It’s like when you see a father out with his son and the father has one of those shirts with a half naked woman on it, and you get that kind of worrisome, nauseating feeling in the pit of your stomach like, “wow, bet that kid’s going to grow up with some real positive opinions on women.”

So it’s about the patriarchy? Now, I’m definitely not going down that rabbit hole.

I feel like we haven’t really gotten anywhere with this review. Just kind of made fun of people who like a certain show, that seems kind of mean spirited. And for that I will apologise, not everyone who watches and likes this show fits into easily definable stereotypes. And far be it from me to criticise people for something they love, even if I do think its representation of women is more harmful than almost every other anime I’ve seen. The point of this post was twofold, to let my opinion be known and to say that no anime is beyond criticism. It doesn’t matter if it’s made by a beloved animation studio or whatever, every piece of media that’s produced should be able to be analysed critically from all points of view and discussed to understand why certain things effect people and not others.

And this is only the first 6 out of 24 episodes. Exactly, we’re a quarter of the way through; it’s not beyond redemption. Maybe the show will have some grand and important things to say about the place of women in our society by the time it’s finished. At which point I’ll gladly say I was wrong about it. Or maybe it’ll just remain a beautiful looking but deeply flawed and problematic contribution to the art form of anime. Either way, I’ll be watching and waiting to see what happens.