Darling in the FranXX Ep. 17-20 Review – Aliens Incoming!

What I came for:

What I got:

Kokoro, what the heck, girl? Since when have you become a preacher for making babies and shoving your intentions on the man that just happened to be close at hand? Someone open Youtube and show her a video of a woman giving birth. That ought to bring back her senses. You know, I liked that pair and now look at what happened. It’s as if Kokoro is taking advantage of Mitsuru’s feelings for her and the man just went along with it. At least the wedding was nice.

The 9’s have been annoying since day one and they continue to be. (Hah, it’s funny how that blonde guy is so damn cocky yet it took the entire team to pin down Zero Two.) I mean, they don’t even have goals of their own aside from being Papa’s good lap dogs. All they ever did up until this point is smile and act like the know-it-all, strongest people to ever live.

In contrast to how weird episode 17 was, episode 18 had cleverly used Kokoro and Mitsuru to make the team seem the underdog and push them to lash out against Papa. It’s why we cheer for the heroes; because they’re the underdog compared to the overpowered villain. (Same tactic used by a certain party in Thailand’s upcoming 2019 election. They portray themselves as the victim bullied by the current government and gained almost half the country’s vote. Damn it.) Also, Ikuno’s thing with Ichigo. It’s the same deal as the thing with Ichigo and Goro. Pops up and fades into oblivion. It’s apparent that the script tries to bring some closure to the relationship, but Ichigo’s indirect rejection was not that clear, to be honest.

Episode 19 was alright, it was a backstory episode that is to be expected. It paints the Papa gang as the true villain, not the Kyoryuu. Dr. Francs was an interesting character and the very definition of the mad scientist stereotype. His obsession with the Kyoryuu princess did not seem that apparent in earlier episodes, where he’s just the observer. I feel so bad for his wife, man, her knowledge and expertise is too valuable to die in a test for a stupid robot that needs a super inconvenient piloting system. It was not made apparent why using the magma fuel would require the robot to be piloted by two people, or why Dr. Francs decided to copy this system from the Kyoryuu. The fuel is the fuel, the system is the system. It’s not the same as Pacific Rim’s neural load thing. Okay, let’s not go too deep into that.

Then Kokoro gets pregnant (totally saw that coming) and the team starts a gang rivalry with the 9’s. Meanwhile, Mitsuru and Kokoro’s relationship spiral downwards.

I love that scene where Hiro and Zero Two are in Strelicia and everything is so serene while people are dying outside.

That twist where the Kyoryuu princess is trying to protect earth is so…uh…I don’t know, unexpected, yet not really ‘wow’. And it seems that two of the Papa gang are aliens. What is this, Independence Day: FranXX? Call of Cthulhu? Welp, I dunno what to think anymore, but go Zero Two. Go bring your boyfriend home.