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EP. REVIEW: DARLING in the FRANXX

but it starts to derail once he and the other boys deduce that the girls have a heavy burden placed on their “frail bodies”, so they need the boys' masculine strength in order to succeed as Pistils.

But yeah, for the post I really fear this is setting up a pretty conservative 'Boys are from Mars, Girls are from Venus' archetype, without really examining why gendered norms exist. Like, there's definitely empathy here for understanding others, but it's way too wrapped up in Gender Essentialism for my tastes.

Also, which some may have noticed already, the adult supervisors are actually code-named too. I thought Nana was a reference to a grandmother but it's 9 and her male counterpart is Hachi (8).

This series should have been 13 episodes instead of the 24 they are going for. After the beach episode they could have wrapped up the entire series with just 6 episodes.

This series should have been 13 episodes instead of the 24 they are going for. After the beach episode they could have wrapped up the entire series with just 6 episodes.

This most recent episode I feel went a little over the reviewer's head. Sure, it was an episode that dealt with the long-standing anime trope of Girls vs. Boys, but in the context of this show's story, it made perfect sense that we reached this point. The one thing that we've known since the very beginning is that Squad 13 has issues with chemistry between the Stamens and their Pistils, and this episode was the vital point where they realized how important it is that they get along and also respect each other as opposite genders.

The episode hit some pretty good story beats too with Zero Two acting as the catalyst for them to move on beyond their childish ways of thinking. She's clearly more mature than them, so her crossing the lines of tape at will and inciting a little mischief at times ultimately showed how petty everyone was being. The episode treaded a well-worn road for sure, but to fail to see how it purposefully subverted these tropes and almost mocked them in a way is to fail to see what makes this show so special.

It’s also unclear just how much they know or don’t know about sex - they clearly know that seeing each other naked is a big deal, but other than that ...?

Basically my complaint is that this doesn't work within the paradigm they've established. Lacking that framework, it would've just been business-as-usual stereotypes, but within it, it's impossible to keep suspending disbelief.

The girls aren't even remotely in the right based on what was actually in the episode.

jenthehen wrote:

It’s also unclear just how much they know or don’t know about sex - they clearly know that seeing each other naked is a big deal, but other than that ...?

I'm questioning how they even know that. If they don't know about sex, and no one has taught them to be ashamed of their bodies (if they had, the girls would've been protesting the Franxx's set-up long ago, and what would be the point of the adults instilling that shame in them anyway?), why do they even have a word like "ogling" in their vocabulary? Why are the boys not bothered (much) by being seen naked? Or rather, why would the girls feel a need to keep their chests hidden while the boys don't care about theirs or their underwear being seen?

That the desire to look at the other sex's bodies is also one-sided is problematic as well. It's like only the boys are hitting puberty, or worse that the girls only develop physically at puberty, while their sexual desire remains dormant or non-existant, or expressed only as shame (except for the perpetual exception of Zero-Two).

Basically my complaint is that this doesn't work within the paradigm they've established. Lacking that framework, it would've just been business-as-usual stereotypes, but within it, it's impossible to keep suspending disbelief.