Things are getting…crazy
What They Say:
“Inhumanity”
Dr. Franxx confronts the APE brass about what they did to Kokoro and Mitsuru, and their attitude makes him reflect on his past, the choices he and humanity made, and the path they took.
“A New World”
Humanity’s operation to wipe out the klaxosaurs once and for all begins, and APE sends Strelizia to take control of Star Entity, the enemy’s biggest weapon. However, the klaxosaur princess has other ideas.
“For You, My Love”
There appears to be no escape from the impending destruction of Earth. But at the end of the world, Zero Two decides that she will keep her promise, no matter what.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Franxx comments on what APE did to Mitrusu and Kokoro and how it wasn’t necessary but they argue that they just took out unessential emotions and feelings. He remarks that doing this will lose the loyalty of the children but APE believes differently. He points out how they will do anything to achieve their goals and they shoot back that he’s no different. This has him thinking about the past. Franxx aka Werner Frank was a genetic scientist that was revered but also intimidating because his research was so farfetched. He was notified that an organization of scientists calling themselves APE wanted to hire him. He goes to their HQ for an interview on his contract and meets a woman named Karina Milsa who becomes a college of his. We learn history on APE and how they introduced mining tech that could extract magma energy to use as a cheap and sustainable energy resource. This skyrocketed civilization’s material growth gaining them influence throughout the world. It even helps with the endeavour of immortality with is achieved with Frank’s and Karina’s help. Frank is not excited by this breakthrough because he finds immortality to be something that could warp humanity into something that isn’t human at all, but he does want to know how far humanity’s limits go. Reproduction stops with immortality and due to the population growth being through the roof, we get an explanation on why having children became unnecessary.
In the present we see the children struggling with their friend’s modified memories as well as the two, Mitsuru and Kokoro, struggling with the events that they are told about but don’t remember. Mostly in this part, Kokoro doesn’t understand why Futoshi doesn’t want to be her partner anymore. We see as Frank’s and Karina’s relationship develops as they become more romantically involved. Plantations are established by APE when desertification goes too far and cities are inhabitable. Klaxosaurs show up and humanity finds that they need to build their own weapons to combat the beasts, Frank appointed to build them. Through trials, they realise that only mortal adults with their reproductive organs intact could pilot the robots, though not alone. Karina becomes a casualty in the first single mortal human test as a pilot. Children are made to pilot them and are called parasites and are closely monitored and taken care of as they grow. The kids in the present again as they make their plans to confront APE for what they’ve done. In the flashback, they found that the Klaxosaur princess exists as a sort of Queen Bee to the monsters and Frank goes to check it out losing his team and his arm in the process of trying to get her DNA. The kids confront APE to put their friends back to the way they were but the brass says it’s impossible and that the kids doing this is a breach of protocol so they are let off with a warning. Hiro stands up and accuses them of what they did to his and Zero Two’s memories proclaiming that they cannot consider Papa their motivation anymore and ask that they be so free once the battle is over. APE agrees as long as they perform well in their next mission. Franxx asks Hiro to show him, and them, if they can become real humans or not and Hiro replies that he won’t forgive him for what he’s done to Zero Two, then meets her outside. In the end, it’s revealed, in another flashback, that Franxx had managed to get the Princess’ DNA which implies Zero Two was made from her.
Well, there’s much more to come where this came from so let’s focus on this one for now. We finally get the world building we have been waiting for to explain why the heck the world ended up the way it did and how the humans, and APE, had a part in it. Of course, it was obvious that world-changing was the result of the mining and general human greed; in fact, this whole flashback confirms that greed was a huge part in shaping the world of Darling that we have come to know in 20+ episodes. It was interesting to hear it from Franxx’s perspective though because it brought a bit more to his character. Through Karina he found love and through the Princess, we learned of his obsession with her which leads to a part in the next episode. He was the perfect person to recount these events since he had a crucial hand in it, especially about the invention of the Franxx. It was sad to see Karina die so brutally but it was cool to see the development of the robots we’ve come to know throughout the series and the development of Franxx’s character in the process.
I need to talk about Mitsuru and Kokoro. They are very different people from the ones they had become over the course of the series. It’s like this memory rearrangement gave them a factory reset since they remember nothing about their feelings for one another nor do they understand how they could have been partners at all. Kokoro is genuinely confused when Futoshi will not be her partner anymore or why he would feel the way he does about that notion. Things have changed and they are unable to adapt to their current state of memory. I think, overall, the main loss here is Mitsuru’s character development that has now gone by the wayside due to his memories being altered. He had grown so much over the course of the last few episodes and I was very proud and excited that this had happened, but now it’s gone and I’m disappointed. I do see the way things can go from here narratively and how this can be a necessary plot point for his and Kokoro’s character or course because it gives both of them the opportunity to grow again if at all possible. I really hope it goes that way but this could be different than the situation where Hiro and Zero Two remembered since it’s implied their memories are irreversible. We’ll see how this goes but in general I’m sad the development of Mitsuru couldn’t continue on that path.
I liked how the episode went from flashbacks to present day where we could check in with the gang of squad 13 once in a while. It was just enough to show us the gist of what they were thinking and feeling during their time waiting for their next mission. The episode was mostly about the flashbacks and there was a good balance between the two. The children are finally giving in to the conspiracies that Hiro has presented them with now that APE has done something so close to home for them. They crashed a wedding ceremony the kids put together themselves as the last hurrah and they have taken it personally realizing that the authorities will not let them have an ounce of self.
I think the weirdest thing in the flashbacks was when Franxx realized he was “in love”/ obsessed with the Princess of the Klaxosaurs. I understand where his obsession comes from as a scientist but it was just weird to me. It’s also odd for him to be in love with her as if Karina never mattered to him. Despite how long it’s been at this point since her death, it made Franxx out to be a creepy mad scientist, more than usual anyway.
The craziness only begins in episode 20 when all hell breaks loose and I start checking out on this show. The new weapon that has been developed, called Star Entity, is finally ready. The kids are told this by a new lady calling herself Nana, expecting them to have forgotten the original Nana. They aren’t fooled. Strelizia is ordered to go to the core and help them control the weapon, APE claiming that this was what Zero Two was created for. Hiro questions them on whether he, Zero Two and the squad have a future after his and Papa say they will. Hiro then declares that this is the last time they will call him Papa. Hringhorning is ready for action and is revealed to be a weapon they made from compiled cores collected from klaxosaurs. The kids are eating and Futoshi points out that Mitsuru and Kokoro have taken off their rings. Kokoro gets up suddenly and runs to the bathroom to throw up. The girls say she should take it easy and miss the next mission since this has happened a lot lately but she insists on going for Papa. She remembers nothing about doubting Papa. They are then at an assembly of the squads where they are briefed but barely pay attention to Papa. The 9’s taunt them but Zero Two stands up for her friends. The alarm blares indicating klaxosaurs and they all spring into action. Mitsuru believes that he and Kokoro will work as partners, even if they don’t remember what that’s like. During the beginning of the battle, he calls her by her code, then corrects himself with her name causing a huge headache that Kokoro feels as well, taking them out of action for a while. Zero Two, Hiro, Hachi, and the Doctor descend down the elevator leading to bring Strelizia down to the bottom of the Gran Crevasse.
The couple, while sitting on their Franxx, have a deep conversation about their future, with a tone of finality to it as if they don’t think they’ll make it back. They reach the bottom and Zero Two senses a large klaxosaur snake burrowing through the wall carrying the princess and they barely make it through the door before it crashes through the tunnel. The Princess looking for Star Entity and Franxx begs to pilot with her but she will use Zero Two. She catches up with the two and finds Zero Two not fit to pilot so she throws her off the railing and takes Hiro instead along with Strelizia. She telepathically calls all the humans inferior while Hachi is told by Franxx that klaxosaurs split into two forms during their evolution; one became the magma energy and the other consumed it and became monsters. We learn some more about them as they go on, like how klaxosaurs are biological weapons made by klaxosapiens that piloted them; male and female just like the Franxx. This causes the kids to look back on a time when they saw the core of a klaxosaur that looked like a person. APE speaks of an army in space and then klaxosaur guns emerge and shoot at ships in space beginning some sort of space battle. Aliens then come down, called VIRM, and they attack a large insect that emerges from the ground which is Strelizia Apus/ Star Entity. Papa and another APE member reveal themselves to be VIRM and “absorb” the other members, in turn, killing them. Turns out they had rigged Star entity to explode and take the planet with it. A sphere surrounds star entity with Hiro and the princess in it then some pink stuff covers them and traps them. Zero Two is alive and fights to find Hiro.
If you think that doesn’t make sense, I couldn’t even tell you why that all happened. Literally, in my notes, while watching this episode I wrote “What is even happening right now?” as soon as the climax of the episode unfolded. It’s random, it’s crazy, it’s Darling in the Franxx. I can only imagine how they’re going to end this series.
So apparently the planet is going to explode, just when the squad needs even more to worry about while they are already in battle. I had a feeling that at least a couple of APE members were aliens of some sort s it felt too convenient for them to have some up with all this amazing magma energy tech with just human scientists. Not that I don’t think human scientist would be capable of it, I just felt something was off from the moment Franxx explained who they were on the surface in his flashback. I feel like this is a bit of a random thing they wanted to do to up the stakes for the climax. Throwing aliens in there that have never been mentioned before sounds like a cop-out to me. I would have been okay if it was just the humans and the mystery of klaxosaurs as they try and eradicate them all to save humanity and the Princess trying to save her people but I suppose that would be too simple.
So Kokoro being sick: she is definitely pregnant. Her being throwing up, and the girls saying this has been happening a lot lately is evidence enough for me. I would have thought that if there was anything going on with her body the doctors would have picked up on it and taken it out of her but there was no word of it if they did. She did sleep with Mitsuru that night they spent together so this was definitely coming since they still have their reproductive organs that are essential for piloting. I don’t know what this means for her or if she can actually have the child or not though I doubt the authorities would let that happen. With things the way they are now, with her and Mitsuru not having any memory of their night together, I wonder how things will play out once they find out the truth.
The heartfelt conversation between Hiro and Zero Two share was nice. The finality of their words had me thinking that something would happen to them, which it did, but not to the scale that I had expected. I am expecting something to happen later regardless, this is leading up to the climax of there series of course so things will get more complicated for our heroes and their friends.
It was indeed interesting learning about the klaxosaurs and what they really are. How there were klaxosapiens that lived and made the monsters are biological weapons then piloted them. It brings light to the core that the kids found a few episodes ago and why it looks like a person so I’m glad they brought that back to explain it. This information dump also brings the kids a new perspective on what they have been protecting on missions when they had to defend some mining operation they knew nothing of. They blindly obeyed because they had faith in Papa and because they had to but now they are seeing their actions through new eyes now that they have denounced him.
In general, I found this episode to be pretty good with the suspense and the action, but the end ruined it for me to be honest. Too random and too convenient.
In episode 21 it gets even crazier when we pick up where 20 left off and learn that VIRM, at least Papa and the other APE member, has willed these events all along; that they have been keeping peace in the universe. The princess freaks out and Hiro has flashbacks to the time when Zero Two had a meltdown before he calmed her down. He fights their restraints and ends up seeing into her mind learning that she has been alone since before humans came to be. The VIRM army is throwing klaxosaurs around and destroying franxx left and right while the squad tries to determine who they should fight. Franxx explains that Hiro’s presence in Strelizia has stalled the detonation though there is still a time limit of a half an hour. Zero Two shows up at the door to the room where Hachi and Franxx are then she collapses. The squad is still figuring out what to do and what to believe since they still aren’t sure what’s going on with the bomb or whether the claim was legitimate but they know they should believe the bomb threat because of the severity. They move to get closer to the bomb and worry about Hiro and Zero Two. Hiro asks the princess what VIRM is. Zero Two wakes up connected to an IV as Franxx explains to her what she is; a clone of the Princess.
The Princess is the sole survivor of the Klaxosapiens who was an advanced civilization that lived on the earth. VIRM came to them to ask if they would help in a war but when the klaxosapiens refused, war broke out between the two forces, prompting the invention of the klaxosaurs as weapons. They made themselves immortal and celibate like the humans did much later, though they evolved this way instead. Star entity is a bunch of klaxosaurs put together and only a klaxosapien can operate it; Zero Two was created to pilot it on behalf of humanity. She was the only successful clone and the 9’s were clones of Zero Two to act as alternative stamens if needed. The 9’s, on the battlefield, reiterate that the squad should follow Papa’s orders, even though he’s not there to speak to them anymore. The 9’s are distracted by more monsters so 13 gets through. Delta gets swarmed and dies, pushing Aplha off the edge. Zero Two finally gets up to keep going after Hiro and Franxx offers to go with her. Just then Ichigo and Miku come through the elevator shaft with some VIRM which they defeat. They take Zero Two and Franxx to the door as he explains that the VIRM likely know nothing about Hiro delaying the detonation. The VIRM are still chasing them so Ikuno stands up to them attacking with most of her power which leaves her unable to move. The Miku will protect her while Ichigo brings the Doctor and Zero Two through the tunnel.
The princess wonders why Hiro continues to struggle when there’s no hope for survival, but he talks about Zero Two and how she changed his perspective from living to fight into fighting to live; essentially, he’s motivated. Hringhorni comes to life, Alpha is feeling lost without Papa and the VIRM catch up to them. Ichigo and Goro defend them but push themselves off the edge after losing an arm to kill the thing. Franxx offers up his arm which has the Princess’ DNA in it which is the only way to open the door. The snake arrives to take her to Hiro and she thanks Franxx for creating her so she could meet Hiro. The snake sacrifices itself in taking her there, but they make it. She finds Hiro unresponsive so she unleashes her power and her horns then kisses him. In seeing their relationship, the Princess is moved and lends them the rest of her strength. They wake up in a dream reunited and have an emotional reunion before kissing again, bringing everything to life and awakening Strelizia Apus. They drive the VIRM away and Franxx is killed in the process, but the VIRM declare they will be back. Hiro is relieved but Zero Two is unresponsive and blank-faced in the last frame.
The fully awakened Strelizia Apus was AWESOME. I’m not kidding here, it blew me away when we first saw it after breaking through the cocoon it was encased in. It was a great moment when the couple were finally able to drive VIRM away together, but it was obvious something would have gone wrong with Zero Two because the only one shown throughout that whole ending sequence was Hiro. When they don’t show one out of two characters being used in a battle scene, there’s always something unseen up with the absent one.
I hope we get a glimpse into the Princess and Hiro falling unconscious. Did they die at that moment? Did the pink stuff take away their strength? All we saw was Hiro struggling the last time they were focused on then when we get back to the time has passed, and they are unresponsive. I was expecting this but also a scene that would show us the process of Hiro at least falling unconscious. I don’t know, I just don’t like it when things are abrupt like that after no build up, but it does make things more interesting.
There were a lot of emotional moments in this episode, especially those surrounding Hiro and Zero Two, as well as the whole of squad 13 when Ikuno is out of commission. I will talk about the squad first. I loved how it wasn’t only about the couple but the friends who love them coming to their aid in this crazy time. Ikuno telling them to go on without her, willing to sacrifice herself for her friends was a very telling moment in her character that made it clear how much her character has improved since her and Futoshi partnered up. Miku and Zrorome deciding to stay back and defend her must have brought things into perspective for Ikuno once again, helping her realize that she’s not alone in this. Ichigo, as their commander, begging them not to die so she can see them again was a short but adorable moment that made the fall from the railing much more impactful, even if they are shown to have survived in the end of the episode. Not enough focus was on Mitrusu and Kokoro though. Even in episode 20 when they were out of commission for a while because of their communal headache at his mention of her name, they were suddenly okay much later as well as in this episode. It surprised me that they did that then out it on the backburner. I know there was a lot going on but maybe that’s a fatal flaw; there was too much that they wanted to introduce as stakes when there was already a lot to begin with.
I felt like it was too easy an ending for Zero Two and Hiro to kiss in a dream and then have all this power at their fingertips because of love. I know that’s not all there is to it but it felt very easy to me considering everything that had happened thus far to make things complicated. The ending in general was a cop-out, plain and simple; the VIRM just leave, almost too conveniently. Just as fast as they showed up, the VIRM are gone, likely for the kids to have more plot moments but it just felt so weird and made no sense to me. They are this powerful alien race that battled the klasosapiens and yet they are intimidated by Apus. That must be why they decided to blow it up and the world around it just so they wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. I also put it down to some lazy writing, but I’ll reserve that judgement until I finish the series.
Learning about klaxosapiens and what they are was cool. It gave an explanation for VIRM coming to the planet but nothing about what they are other than aliens, also the klaxosaur information we learned about them being similar to franxx. It was also interesting that they lost their ability to procreate through evolution while the humans did so through want of immortality. The similarity was weird, but I guess it might represent history repeating itself.
The princess was humanized a little bit when she found herself giving up when Hiro wouldn’t. She also learned more about humans in this experience while Hiro reiterated the character development we saw him grow into. It was a good scene with him explaining to her the value he now puts into life.
In Summary:
These episodes started well then got pretty bananas, which Is telling of what is to come in the finale. I worry what will happen to Zero Two and whether she is okay after that burst of power in Apus. I loved the sentimental moments with zero Two and the squad. I wish they could have focused a bit more on Kokoro and Mitsuru’s incapacitating headache. Do they remember anything now? What’s going on there? The VIRM are still unexplained and they’re leaving at the end of episode 21 was lazy and such a cop-out. All in all though, up until the end of 20 and the all of 21, the stakes were high and I was glued to my seat. This show has been amazing so far and it’s sad seeing it going in a weird direction. Let’s see how this goes in the finale…
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
