The newest episode of Darling in the Franxx aired on 24 February and brought us some relaxing time and cute bathing suits!
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Japanese title: 流星モラトリアム
Plantations 13 and 26’s kissing was completed without further incidents. Hiro is now officially a parasite and the partner of Zero Two. Squad 13 was given a special vacation. The group is having fun at a real beach by the sea on the surface for the first time in their lives. They are swimming, sunbathing, playing with a beach ball, and they are just having fun. Zero Two approaches Hiro like she is going to kiss him, but licks his cheek instead. Goro, Zorome, and Futoshi pull Hiro aside in order to ask him what the word ‘kissing’ means because they overheard his conversation with Zero Two. Meanwhile, Mitsuru finds an interesting place and leads the group, except for Zero Two, to an abandoned city. Kokoro finds a little book covered in dust and Ichigo enters a store with rental books and DVDs and reads a title including the word ‘kissing’ and sees the cover of two people kissing. She realizes what kissing means. While everyone is asleep, Ichigo and Hiro take a walk, look at the stars and Hiro interrupts Ichigo’s confession.
Zorome to Hiro. ‘Let me kiss you!’
These poor kids finally got a short vacation at the beach! This was their first time at a beach with a real ocean on the surface. It also seemed to be the first time that they all wore bathing suits in front of their partners. The way Goro looked at Ichigo wearing her bathing suit was different from how he looked at her before. Goro, Zorome, and Futoshi practically stared at the girls playing at the beach, while floating around. Good that their lower bodies were under water that time, otherwise it would have become pretty awkward by the time their blood rushed into the region down under.
Zero Two must really love to tease Hiro with her sex-appeal and behavior. The way she acts so naturally and nice in front of him is so satisfying and nice to see. It feels like she has found her partner for life and I don’t just mean one to ride Strelizia with. At the same time, she seems to be very fragile, so I wonder what would happen if Hiro were to literally break her one day. I bet she would first bite his head off and then just cry in a room all by herself.
Anyways, back to what happened in this episode. Zero Two teasing Hiro and almost kissing him was not unnoticed by Zorome, Goro, and Futoshi. These three boys, eager to learn what the word ‘kissing’ means, kidnapped Hiro in order to question him. These scenes were definitely made for the girls because we got to see Hiro, Goro, Futoshi, and Zorome’s butts and other parts of the male body… To be honest, I was quite disappointed by the fact that the guys didn’t have nice butts. They looked so flat in their shorts. But what was I expecting? At least some of the girls have nice proportions, for which the guys should be thankful for. Goro, Zorome, and Futoshi finally learned what kissing means and seem to be really interested in trying it out. At least Zorome doesn’t care with whom he can try it out.
The abandoned city Mitsuru found was a normal city on the surface, before the Papas learned about magma fuel and Klaxosaurs were attracted by it. They’ve never seen a city and didn’t even know that people lived outside plantations before they discovered this place. The kids also noticed that their home does look the same as one house they came across. Ikuno mentioned that their house might be a replica, but she couldn’t think of a reason why. I could only think of one reason. It must have been easier to just copy a place rather than invent a new one. After Kokoro entered a hospital and picked up a book about maternity, Mitsuru saved her from a bookshelf falling all over her. This was quite a heroic scene and I was a bit moved by Mitsuru’s act. I wonder what this little book will do to the group (if Kokoro takes it back home with her) when they discover how babies are made or whatever this book contains. I really hope she does bring it. This will freak her out and I bet she will let the others know.
This episode was focused on Ichigo, as she was the narrator in the first minutes before the opening and at near the end too. She does play an important part in this anime as she is Zero Two’s love rival, Hiro’s friend, and leader of Squad 13.
Is it only me that finds Ichigo and Hiro’s way to walk really strange to look at? I mean the way we see them walking at the beach with their heads moving up and down. This is the first time I see anime characters moving so much while walking.
Their vacation ended so fast and almost nothing happened. I was hoping to see a bit more action, like a sudden problem, because Nana was so worried about them going alone, but nothing happened. Can’t wait to see if the little book will cause a ruckus or not in the next episode on 3 March!
The first season of the new year is just one month away from its finale. It was a great start with many amazing titles that made these past months worth the extra hours we put in front of our sets. Now, it is time for the cold wind to give way to the pink hues of the sakura tree and for the Winter 2018 season to give the anime baton to Spring 2018.
