Darling in the Franxx Episode 21 Review: For You, My Love

Episode 21 of Darling in the Franxx showed us the beginning of how klaxo sapiens lived in peace before the VIRM came to occupy Earth.

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Japanese title: 大好きなあなたのために

Episode 21 – For You, My Love

The papa-tachi, better known as VIRM, have programmed Star Entity to explode if the Klaxosaur’s Princess tries to ride it and the countdown leads Hiro and the Princess to get trapped inside the cockpit of Strelizia. While being inside the cockpit with her, Hiro sees her lonely past. In the meanwhile, Dr. Franxx reveals that Zero Two is a clone of the Princess, that she has been created to operate Strelizia Apath in order to save humanity and that the Nines are her clones. The Princess’ past reveals that Klaxo sapiens have lived on earth in peace but then VIRM arrived and a war took place which the Klaxo sapiens assumed to have won the first round. Ichigo and her group want to rescue Hiro and Zero Two and decide to go after them, bring Dr. Franxx and Zero Two to Strelizia, where Zero Two is able to take over the control of Strelizia Apath. She defeats the enemy. Some escape and the peace on Earth is back! Or is it?

Terms and Lingo

Klaxo sapiens
A race that reached earth sixty million years ago and was far more advanced than human beings. They evolved to stand VIRM, but lost the ability to procreate as a side effect. The Klaxosaur’s Princess is the last of her race.

Star Entity
Is a weapon build of a mass of Klaxosaurs. Only Klaxo sapiens can operate the machine. Also known as Strelizia Apath.

My Thoughts

Strange things have occurred in this episode. First of all, we get to know more about the Klaxo sapiens’ past through the connection that Hiro had with the Klaxosaurs’ Princess. They came to Earth and were a super advanced species, but then VIRM arrived and told them to become bodiless like they were. Because they refused to do so, a war began that cost many lives. Some Klaxo sapiens reformed into weapons that the others controlled. As they evolved, the species lost the ability to procreate and that is why the Klaxosaurs’ Princess is the last of her race. Sadly, they only defeated VIRM’s vanguards and moved near the Earth’s core until the VIRM species came back using humans to kill Klaxosaurs. The weak of the Klaxo sapiens turned themselves into energy, magma, which served as a power source for the stronger ones, which evolved into stronger weapons. Lastly, Star Entity was built, which is made of a mass of Klaxosaurs and can only be operated by Klaxo sapiens. The Princess, as the last of her species, was kept alive and I think I now understand why Dr. Franxx paid her the first visit. APE members wanted to destroy her before she could enter Star Entity. Or it was because he wanted to have some of her DNA to create a clone, which would be a bit easier to handle than the original, 01. Zero Two was created to fight for humanity, or better for VIRM, and was told to destroy as many Klaxosaurs as possible to become a human. APE just wanted to get rid of all the weapons, by using her and the children. Then, I guess, Dr. Franxx also created the Nines out of Zero Two’s DNA to have more warriors that can be sent into a war. The Nines did seem to be very obedient as they fought Klaxosaurs instead of VIRM until the very end of this episode. One of the creepiest scenes in the series was the scene where VIRM attack the Franxx of Delta and rip the Franxx’s body apart. It seemed like a horror movie with zombies in it – *sarcasm on* my most favorite monsters *sarcasm off*. Now that they don’t get any orders frorm their beloved papa-tachi, will they finally snap and realize who the real enemy is?

The teamwork of all Squad 13 members and Zero Two is just really nice to see. How they defended each other in the series, how they wanted to rescue Hiro and Zero Two. And Zero Two even blushed after Ichigo’s nice words. How cute is that?

Oh and by the way, did you notice this sudden change in animation style at the end where Zero Two enters the cockpit and is in a different world with Hiro? This was so cheesy that I couldn’t take it. So cute and all lovely. However, the end of the episode does not feel right. Did Zero Two give all her best and died in the end for Hiro and her friends?

Best Phrase Award Goes To…

Zero Two! I love how cool she was before her journey to Strelizia Apath!

‘So what?
The Klaxosaur Princess? VIRM?
I don’t care. I don’t care if I’m a fake or a monster or whatever.
My darling and I promised to be together forever, and that we’d go get the other if we were torn apart.’

Isn’t that cute?

My What-Is-Going-On? Moments

Dr. Franxx and the Klaxosaurs’ Princess
The strange affection that Dr. Franxx has, or better had, for the Klaxosaurs’ Princess is quite disturbing. He met her two times and risked his life in both. I really would like to know why he admired Strelizia Apath that much. He even implanted a part of the Princess’ to enter Star Entity. Did he plan to ride Strelizia Apath with her as the pistil part? I don’t think that he would have survived even the first ride with her.

Dr. Franxx as father
Now that we know that he created Zero Two out of the Princess’ DNA, he was indeed a father figure. Zero Two even thanked him for creating her and that he brought her and Hiro back together because he took her to Plantation 13 instead of any other.

Dr. Franxx’s last breath
At the beginning of the anime, I thought that Dr. Franxx would be a cool guy, as he was a bit pervy. Then we saw what he did to Zero Two in the past and I started to dislike him. Now in Episode 21, he showed some good, though creepy, traits. He helped Zero Two to get inside Star Entity by risking his life and synthetic arm. In the end… when he was talking about his beloved Strelizia Apath, he got smashed by a falling ceiling which resulted in much blood everywhere. This came quite unexpected. I didn’t even dream of him being killed. I thought that he would meet his Princess again.

Ikuno turning gray
It was not only Miku whose hair started to turn gray. In this episode, Ikuno got all white while fighting! What does this mean? Are they aging faster than normal humans would? Is it because the pilots normally do not survive this long that they weren’t ‘produced’ to last longer?

In the End

Oh no! Zero Two looks like she’s dead! But is that even possible? And then Hachi says that someone is controlling Hringhorni, but who and why? My review for episode 22 is going online soon!