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EP. REVIEW: DARLING in the FRANXX

1 - If the Franxx doesn't function at all without the girl partner, and it took a returning Ichigo to pilot the two of them back to safety, then what was the point of ejecting Ichigo in the first place? Why can't they just fly out without getting Goro stuck? And why can the Franxx only eject the girl, but not the boy?

I dunno if I read what it's doing as entirely heteronormative. It's not like in Brave New World where John's desire for Traditional Romanticism is contrasted against the amoral hedonism of Modernity, at least not in the same way. It's people pantomiming the customs of the nuclear family without it having any actual meaning. And obviously it could go two ways; either it's saying recapturing the meaning is fundamental to the human experience, or that there can be alternatives to it. But I don't think, as of yet, that it's as cut and dry as that (I still think Ikuno is likely gay while Mitsuru might be Ace).

This episode's small peek at how this dystopia functions is very much Science-Fiction 101, and while I would like DARLING to be a little more experimental with its social commentary in general, I'm equally wary of the way the show seems to be equating a traditional heterosexual pair in a nuclear family with the “correct” form of human experience.

Cause i wouldn't call a show, with an average of 1500 comments per week, as not thought provoking.

James Beckett wrote:

This episode's small peek at how this dystopia functions is very much Science-Fiction 101, and while I would like DARLING to be a little more experimental with its social commentary in general, I'm equally wary of the way the show seems to be equating a traditional heterosexual pair in a nuclear family with the “correct” form of human experience.

The idea that the nuclear family is outdated makes as much sense as the idea that breathing is outdated. I do find it amusing that political correctness has gotten to the point where a story about a dystopian society is now considered controversial since some people don't see the problem with the dystopian society. The reason that Darling in the FranXX gets so much feminist outrage each week is because it is about heterosexual relationships, family bonds, and the dangers of authoritarian governments.

but I certainly reserve the right to be critical of it.

The nuclear family isn't outtdated (I came from one myself, and I'm happily married) , but I would argue that it is a bit out of date to point to the heterosexual nuclear family as the paragon of the human experience, while paying little to no attention to other, equally viable modes of living.

Ya know, when humanity is forced to live in closed-off ambulatory shelters under the daily threat of extinction by a mysterious horde of enormous society-destroying monsters, no "other modes of living" are comparable to heterosexuality. The two fundamental objectives in the evolutionary game of life are to first survive (natural selection) and then to mate (sexual selection). Yes, evolution itself is heteronormative and when the survival of an entire species is at stake, to even entertain the notion that "other modes of living" are equal to heterosexuality is ridiculously suicidal.

This is a very valid point. My big worry, though is how the show would frame those deviations from traditional heterosexuality; I could see the show having Ikuno filling the role of the Tragic Gay character who is essentially punished for her homosexuality, and Mitsuru's lack of interest in anyone bit himself isn't painting a flattering picture of people that aren't necessarily interested in sex.

But yore right, there's still a lot of time left for DARLING to explore those ideas in a more nuance and unexpected way; I certainly hope it does!

James_Beckett wrote:

This is a very valid point. My big worry, though is how the show would frame those deviations from traditional heterosexuality; I could see the show having Ikuno filling the role of the Tragic Gay character who is essentially punished for her homosexuality, and Mitsuru's lack of interest in anyone bit himself isn't painting a flattering picture of people that aren't necessarily interested in sex. But yore right, there's still a lot of time left for DARLING to explore those ideas in a more nuance and unexpected way; I certainly hope it does!

I think its complicated by the Love Polygon that snakes it's way out from Hiro. Obviously he's going to end up with 02, but how Ichigo, Goro and Ikuno will play out is still definitely up in the air. The issue as you said though is that it doesn't seem like whatever feelings Ikuno may have will be requited. I can't see this as saying that homosexuals are incomplete beings though, what with Not!Kaworu appearing a few episodes back, so I wonder if we'll get a spotlight episode on Ikuno in the near future. As for Mitsuru, I think it goes beyond just being an egotistical prick; he was pretty checked out of the whole 'battle of the sexes' thing in a way that makes me thinks it's important.

There were a couple of interesting things that came up that I was surprised you didn't mention. A smaller one was the beat with Ichigo and Goro, where Goro gets a bit of coldfeet to how affecionate he was to her last episode, while Ichigo still fixates on Hiro and 02. But I think what was probably more interesting was how Nana chides Hiro for not being able to 'rein 02 in'. I think that calls into question like the surface level explanation of their relationship, that his role is to 'break a wild horse' which is creepy in the way that a lot of Manic Pixy Dream Girl stuff is. I hope whatever they're doing with 02 continues to develop next episode, because I don't want her deal to just be a generic tragic backstory revealed in the 11th Hour.

I for one would welcome more discussion of the shows' actual story/plot rather than picking them apart for homosexual themes or lack thereof or whether the reviewer is "right" or not.

Hiroki not Takuya wrote:

I for one would welcome more discussion of the shows' actual story/plot rather than picking them apart for homosexual themes or lack thereof or whether the reviewer is "right" or not.

Thank you!

This is just ridiculous! All because the reviewer can't analyze a story properly without going off on an opinion tangent. You don't do that in professional reviews. You look at the world lore and analyze from that. Where the plot holes are, where it does the story right or wrong in relation to that. Save your personal comments for the final review of the series in a special opinion review segment.

Hiroki not Takuya wrote:

I for one would welcome more discussion of the shows' actual story/plot rather than picking them apart for homosexual themes or lack thereof or whether the reviewer is "right" or not.

Thank you!

This is just ridiculous! All because the reviewer can't analyze a story properly without going off on an opinion tangent. You don't do that in professional reviews. You look at the world lore and analyze from that. Where the plot holes are, where it does the story right or wrong in relation to that. Save your personal comments for the final review of the series in a special opinion review segment.

Scherzo wrote:

James_Beckett wrote: This is a very valid point. My big worry, though is how the show would frame those deviations from traditional heterosexuality; I could see the show having Ikuno filling the role of the Tragic Gay character who is essentially punished for her homosexuality, and Mitsuru's lack of interest in anyone bit himself isn't painting a flattering picture of people that aren't necessarily interested in sex. But yore right, there's still a lot of time left for DARLING to explore those ideas in a more nuance and unexpected way; I certainly hope it does! I think its complicated by the Love Polygon that snakes it's way out from Hiro. Obviously he's going to end up with 02, but how Ichigo, Goro and Ikuno will play out is still definitely up in the air. The issue as you said though is that it doesn't seem like whatever feelings Ikuno may have will be requited. I can't see this as saying that homosexuals are incomplete beings though, what with Not!Kaworu appearing a few episodes back, so I wonder if we'll get a spotlight episode on Ikuno in the near future. As for Mitsuru, I think it goes beyond just being an egotistical prick; he was pretty checked out of the whole 'battle of the sexes' thing in a way that makes me thinks it's important. There were a couple of interesting things that came up that I was surprised you didn't mention. A smaller one was the beat with Ichigo and Goro, where Goro gets a bit of coldfeet to how affecionate he was to her last episode, while Ichigo still fixates on Hiro and 02. But I think what was probably more interesting was how Nana chides Hiro for not being able to 'rein 02 in'. I think that calls into question like the surface level explanation of their relationship, that his role is to 'break a wild horse' which is creepy in the way that a lot of Manic Pixy Dream Girl stuff is. I hope whatever they're doing with 02 continues to develop next episode, because I don't want her deal to just be a generic tragic backstory revealed in the 11th Hour.

I usually don't comment on plot details if I feel like they're redundant to past epusodes' material, or if they don't add much to what's going on in the episode, which is how I felt about most of the non-Zorome material in this episode. The Zero Two material is simply foreshadowing future stuff, I I thought that the Ichigo/Goro beats were mostly just reminding the audience of what went down last week: Goro confessed, but Ichigo still doesn't know how to feel. It was a good moment, though, for sure.