There generally hasn’t been a lot of mystery when it comes to series from Trigger – they’ve tended to be as consistent as any studio’s output, for better or for worse. The wrinkle with Darling in the FranXX is that they’ve paired up with A-1 Pictures for this show – which is ironic, because if any studio is the anti-Trigger it’s A-1. They’re pretty much a total chameleon, using other studio’s talent and stylistically adapting to whatever is dictated by the material, with production values that range from sublime to awful.
That added intrigue is a good thing for me, because despite being a huge Gainax fan I’ve found little to like in most of Trigger’s works. They seem to be Gainax with all the inspiration sucked out, what would have happened if the marketing department had made all the creative decisions at the old studio. Darling in the FranXX is of course loaded with old Gainax talent as all Trigger shows are, with director Nishigori Atsushi having worked on all the big projects (Eva, FLCL, TTGL et al). But somehow despite the constant presence of Gainax creators, Trigger’s series have never come close to capturing the Gainax magic for me. So would this one be any different?
We’re only one episode in but if I were to answer in a word, “No.” This was a pretty competent premiere on the whole (Animation Director/Character Designer Tanaka Masayoshi hasn’t done a lot at Gainax but has built an impressive resume at a wide swathe of studios), but it fran(XX)kly comes across as quite generic. If you’re looking for a mecha series full of every trope in the book, look no farther – Darling in the FranXX has you covered. And this is more or less typical of what Trigger has done before – it’s as if the Gainax shows were (mostly) painted from inspiration, while the Trigger ones were painted by numbers.
The core premise here finds us in some sort of indistinct future, where young teens are (as usual) staked with saving the world by piloting giant robots. The twist here, such as it is, is that every boy and girl must partner with someone from the opposite sex to pilot one of these things (that’s actually been done already, but who’s counting). These kids are called “parasites”, and the girl is apparently the “pistil” while the boy is the “stamen” (subtlety, it was nice knowing you). The main job of these pilots seems to be fighting off “klaxasaours”, some kind of giant creature which destroys everything in its path unless something destroys it first.
At the center of this story are “partner killer” Zero Two (Tomatsu Haruka) whose horns are apparently a result of having klaxasaur blood – and Hiro (Uemara Yuuto), a boy who’s flunked out of pilot training, taking his assigned partner with him. Their meeting is mecha shounen 101 – he unintentionally peeps on her bathing and she calls him a pervert – and she spends much of the episode cock-teasing him by licking and kissing him while he wonders why she makes him feel all funny inside. These kids aren’t unlikeable, but there’s not a lot that’s distinctive or memorable about either of them, and the rest of the cast is so far just a cipher.
I mean, I think you get the picture – this is optimistically something you could call classic mecha anime if you were feeling charitable, and it’s certainly well-done for what it is (legendary mecha designer Koyama Shigeto’s creations are the most original thing in the premiere). But that “by the numbers” quality could hardly be more unmistakable in this first episode – it’s strong as too much perfume in an elevator. From the bath scene to the premise to the alpha female/beta male dynamic between the leads, this is boilerplate stuff. Darling in the FranXX may have enough going for it to please hardcore mecha fans, but it’s going to need to show a lot more if it’s going to hold my interest for two cours.
Simone
January 13, 2018 at 2:28 pmYeah, this was definitely by the numbers – including the Obligatory Sexual Subtext for every mecha anime. Dare I say, this was somewhat almost more Bones than Gainax in inspiration? Still, it could go somewhere from here, and I liked the animation and designs a lot. I guess this is a classic example of why the 3-episode rule exists.
Guardian Enzo
January 13, 2018 at 2:47 pmIt has a lot of Bones influence too – both Koyama and Tanaka did a ton of work for them. Probably fair to say this feels more like a prefab generic mecha than a prefab Gainax one specifically.
sonicsenryaku
January 13, 2018 at 5:28 pmyeeeaaaa aside from the stellar animation on display, I can’t really say I care too much about what this series has to offer. The directing, unlike something like violet evergarden, is not disciplined enough to elevate the same, tired mecha tropes that are being used here (Sometimes people underestimate how important directing is to a visual narrative; It’s not that far off from writing in terms of importance). I’m an advocate for relying on tropes so as long as they are used to elevate the storytelling, but nothing from this premiere gives me the indication that this will be the case. I need something to satiate my sci-fi mecha fix for this season but you know what, I have no problems waiting two months to get it in the form of A.I.C.O. Ehh, I don’t know; this premiere certainly wasn’t bad but i couldn’t help but feel like there was so many missed opportunities, you know; like the conflict between Hiro and Naomi. There was something interesting brewing there but this premiere played that conflict so straight and bare-boned.
Guardian Enzo
January 13, 2018 at 9:44 pmWell, it was definitely better than Beatless…
sonicsenryaku
January 13, 2018 at 10:29 pmOh my god it was soooo much better than beatless; I was hurt by how not good that first episode was and nothing indicates it’s going to get better. Seiji Mizushima did not save the material, which had me slightly disappointed in him because the directing in that premiere felt extremely lackluster. Either the production committee had his balls in a vice-grip threatening him to not add his creative flair to the adaptation or he’s completely sleepwalking through this one; that’s just how it feels. Not to mention that for a series that’s also being co-produced by amazon, the visuals kind of suck. The sci-fi genre is just not looking that good this season. i haven’t seen Kokkoku yet, but that’s more of a supernatural series is it not?
donhumberto
January 14, 2018 at 4:58 am^^By all means, check out Kokkoku asap. It’s a million times better than this and it feels way more unique (at least animewise) with a cast of adults and a really intriguing sci-fi -supernatural setup
Guardian Enzo
January 14, 2018 at 6:40 amKokkoku is leagues better than either FranXX or Beatless after 1 episode.
sonicsenryaku
January 14, 2018 at 9:36 amLooks like i have an anime to check out then
Simone
January 14, 2018 at 3:41 am“The directing, unlike something like violet evergarden, is not disciplined enough to elevate the same, tired mecha tropes that are being used here”
I mean, I’d say exactly the opposite, because I’m totally not down for watching another minute of Violet at the moment, which bored me to tears, while this one at least looked fun enough to deserve my attention, if not my enthusiastic admiration. I guess it depends on what your buttons are, but really, with all its prettiness, Violet felt to me like way too self-serious a rehash of a lot of tired anime tropes (Gunslinger Girl kept popping up in my mind). Art can alone an anime make, but then I prefer the messiness and dynamism of Franxx than the perfection and cleanliness of Violet, so exact and on-model at all times to look almost inexpressive to me.
sonicsenryaku
January 14, 2018 at 9:17 amAgain, I’m talking about the quality of the directing, not the aesthetic of the series. All you’ve done here is compare how the series looks to you while neglecting how scenes are directed and composited. Other than that, yes you’re right; sometimes it does come down to what your buttons are. Violet eveargarden is definitely a bit on the corny side (lovably so) and uses tropes, but everything from both its narrative and visual directing (something that people who have complained that the visuals are too pretty fail to actually comment on and dissect) makes the entire package engaging to watch. I agree that there was fun to be had in Franxx’s erratic visual language, but the human drama here lacks potency because it fails to ground the emotional conflict in any substantial psychological or behavioral action; something to flesh out and texture the male character’s motivations or his internal conflict in a way that does’t feel like exposition; again i was let down by the interactions between Hiro and Naomi. The imagery and symbolism here is not particularly interesting either; it’s as subtle as a hammer to the teeth.
Aside from my negatives, I like the slick animation cuts and the eccentric conveyance of the main duo’s relationship. I think the premise has a bit of promise and the issues the characters are burdened with are rife with exploration; however if it plays it as barebones as it did this premiere, ill be disappointed. Regardless of all this, this premiere is derivative of other mecha series. Like i was saying, I would be fine with all this if the directing was more than just decent here but because it’s not (just look at the directing on display in something like gurren lagaan versus something like this), all this comes off as just average; to which there’s nothing wrong with that. i guess i was kinda looking for that gainax spirit and only got it in the animation rather than the visual and narrative storytelling. In this way, i kind of get where Enzo comes from when he says that trigger only feels like a simulcrum of old gainax. I wouldn’t say that they haven’t made anything with sparks of the old gainax in it, but they certainly don’t seem on top of their game here.
Simone
January 14, 2018 at 12:58 pmI’m not really one for judging directing on an analytical level, but there are times when I DO notice that it’s working for me, and Violet wasn’t one of those. As far as emotional resonance goes, neither did anything for me – Violet seems far too predictable and stiff to feel anything like a real human story – but at least Darling has explosions, giant monsters and robots with boobs, which is the second best thing when it comes to keeping my attention.
El Huesudo II
January 13, 2018 at 8:34 pmA literature teacher once told us that a good writing exercise was taking something that we either liked but were annoyed by for some reason, or something that we straight out hated, and tried to rewrite it in a way that was more to our tastes; and then have it read by someone else with no emotional attachment and a different perspective so they could give you a more honest take on the result that you’d ever tell yourself.
Someone forgot to tell Naotaka Hayashi that that second part of the process was important, it seems; because this stinks of “I wanna write my own Evangelion”, then “I wanna write my own Pacific Rim”, then “welp I need to present something to get my next paycheck, let’s put these 2 projects together as fast as we can”.
It was also nice of him to make this first episode as standalone as possible so that I wouldn’t feel the least bit intrigued about what happens next and feel very comfortable in dropping this show right now.
sonicsenryaku
January 13, 2018 at 8:46 pmoh real quick; I forgot to mention that evangelion homage to the synchronization tests. That shot of hiro being tested for his aptitude as a parasite was an almost 1:1 recreation of shinji sitting in the cockpit of unit-01 during his synchro tests; nice bit of fanservice there
mhlia
January 18, 2018 at 3:16 amI’m also not really hooked with first episode. but ‘everything is textbook’ pilot is pretty forgivable.
and I’ve feeling this series is gonna be great.
water imp from the future
January 24, 2018 at 10:12 pmSaw this ep. Will skip this.
Run of the mill handling of the beta protag, is never quite Leo Watched, Boku Dake’d or 2nd gen Rozen Maiden (I know, I know. Setting the bar at the wrong height).
Haruto from Valrave is the unfortunate one note dictionary image next to the definition.
Of course, alphas are flattened out & Gary Stu’d to death.