Holy shit. Episode 23 was an absolute roller coaster ride. A lot happened in this one episode, and I already know several people are going to complain about how the episode was "rushed" or "sloppily written". These are frequent comments regarding Franxx as a whole, but I actually disagree with these assessments of the series.
To me, Franxx is actually pretty damn well written for the era of anime we're in, even if it does kind of blatantly rip ideas from Gurren Lagann and Evangelion (the merging consciousness is straight lifted from the Eva script). So far, Franxx has done a great job of two things anime very commonly fucks up in this day in age: 1. It sets up plot "dominos" and actually bothers to return to them and knock them over, or set things it alludes to into full, moving action. 2. It parallels itself beautifully. The second one is an especially dominant and alluring trait of the series, and is one of its biggest strengths in this viewer's eyes. You can find thematic echos from early episodes in later ones to the point where you could probably draw a big spider-web chart that has lines connecting episodes that echo one another. I really appreciate this aspect of Franxx because it highlights the development of characters, and since character development is one of the dominant progressing forces of the plot, it is kind of important that this element is executed properly. Episode 23 is one episode where I will admit was rushed. Alpha dies in a pretty un-emotional scene, and in a manner that suggests it was because of newfound humanity we don't really get to see in any form other than him sacrificing himself. We get to see more of the Nines, but we can't give a very big shit because we've barely seen them act as individual characters. Kokoro and Mitsuru decide to say "fuck all that amnesia shit" and reconcile their relationship for reasons that really should've been further elaborated on and developed over more episodes, but I'll give it a pass because they're so cute together. Zero Two is "rescued" by Hiro and then seemingly doomed again after what is obviously their symbolic marriage. Hachi and Nana have a moment. A weird portal opens from satellites that are in asteroids for some reason. Its like A1/Trigger realized "ah shit it's episode 23 of this 24 episode anime" and shoved as much into the episode as possible. However, Episode 23 isn't the absolute worst example of rushing in anime that I've seen It doesn't even leave me with that bad of a taste in my mouth. Sure, I wish that Darling in the Franxx was a 26 episode anime, because its plot and characters sure would benefit from it, but i'm not too mad, especially since we got to see Giant Fucking Wedding Dress Zero Two. Do I understand at all how the fuck Strelizia Apus turning into a giant Zero Two would be possible? Absolutely not. Do I have any idea what the fuck is gonna happen now that Zero Two turned into rock or whatever? No. But I'm still going to watch episode 24 and hope for the happy ending I've been expecting this entire time, or I'm going to rip my own leg off and beat myself with it for allowing myself to feel hope while watching a Trigger anime ending.
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AuthorI've been watching anime since I was 9 and I write about my thoughts sometimes. Archives
June 2019
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