DARLING in the FRANXX

Episode 13

“This is the story of a monster”, begins DARLING in the FRANXX in its thirteenth episode, and what follows is both a dream and a memory, a fairy tale performed by two small and scared children who are only now remembering just how much they mean to one another. One of the children is a wild and ravenous beast, and the other is a boy who stands above all his friends as exceptionally and dangerously gifted. When the boy meets the beast, they carve their own path into the bitter cold of the forest they call home, each of them realizing that the other fills a void in the other's heart. For weeks, we've known that Hiro and Zero Two are connected in ways that go beyond just mutual attraction, and this episode reveals just how deeply their bond was forged, bringing the mad longing that has consumed Zero Two for years into sharp context. A boy changed her world through the simple act of treating her like more than an animal meant to be prodded on a slab. They weren't together for long before the scheming of grownups tore them apart, but even without memories, this experience has been the driving force Zero Two's every waking moment since then. She would stop at nothing until she got her darling back.

DARLING in the FRANXX provides an astonishingly effective piece of storytelling this week, taking the show's myriad influences and shaping them into something cohesive and heartbreaking. The surreal framework of Zero Two and Hiro's fairy-tale relationship has finally been stripped of the convoluted layers of obfuscation that were holding the show back. We get to see a world through the eyes of two children, where the lack of subtlety and nuance is a feature rather than a bug. When we see how Zero Two and Hiro's lives are perfectly mirrored by the picture book referenced throughout the episode, the sincerity on display is refreshingly genuine. There aren't any sex-robots or muddled social messages to worry about, just two poor souls born into a world that no longer has any empathy for the lives of children. Zero Two may be the most outwardly monstrous creature that isn't a full-blooded Klaxosaur, but Hiro, Ichigo, and the rest of the Parasites are just as dehumanized by the adults around them. Hiro is the first to think that they deserve names, and he's also the one to recognize that even a girl born with horns shouldn't be subject to the torturous experiments of Dr. Franxx. So he climbed to the window of her tower, and together they escaped.

We've seen snippets of this history over the course of the series, but this is where everything is thrown into sharp relief, and while we don't necessarily learn much new information about the mysteries surrounding this world, the emotional through-line of Hiro and Zero Two's story has been granted a significant amount of weight this week. I may still have some reservations about how Zero Two's character development has been handled so far, but for the moment, I was completely overtaken by the unfettered adorableness of Hiro and Zero Two's childhood interactions. The mood, tone, and character animation all work perfectly with the dreamlike nature of the flashback. The scene where Zero Two first encounters the joy of candy is one of the most effective cuts of animation this series has delivered so far, and there are a dozen other moments like that scattered about the episode, keeping things simple and satisfying.

My favorite detail would have to be Zero Two's picture book, which feels handmade even in its two-dimensional form. (We also get to see the whole thing in the end credits, which was a lovely touch.) While on-the-nose parallels are par for the course in DARLING in the FRANXX, it absolutely worked out this week; the story of the Beast and the Prince acts as a fitting microcosm for Zero Two's inner conflict, and the bits of story we get at the end are doubtless meant to be foreshadowing a portentous fate for these two would-be lovers. Even if the episode ends with the two finally re-forging their connection, it seems obvious that their true tribulations have only just begun.

It's a shame that DARLING in the FRANXX has so many issues on the macro scale, because “The Beast and the Prince” is an apt reminder of this team's talents and how effective their work can be. This is far and away DARLING in the FRANXX's best episode, and I'm left feeling more positive about the show's direction than I have in weeks. Sure, it's still a hot mess, but the more invested I become in the lives of the show's main cast, the more willing I am to see DARLING through to the end, warts and all.

Rating: A

DARLING in the FRANXX is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is an English teacher who has loved anime his entire life, and he spends way too much time on Twitter and his blog.