It’s already March, the days are getting warmer in Japan and Darling in the Franxx’s 8th episode aired on 3 March. Squad 13’s vacation ended in a glimpse and now they’re back fighting Klaxosaurs, but the first enemy is quite sneaky…
Visit Crunchyroll in order to watch Darling in the Franxx legally and with English subtitles!You can find the link and streaming options for all airing anime here: Winter 2018 Anime: Legal Streaming List.
Japanese title: 男の子×女の子
Squad 13 fights against a Klaxosaur after their day off and get hit by a harmless looking fluid, which then enters the cockpit and melts away pistils’ clothing. The guys enjoy the nice view, but the girls, ashamed being looked that way, get furious and fight the guys. They separate their house into boys’ and girls’ zones. Zero Two is living on both sides as she wants to be near Hiro and is not really offended by Hiro’s looks. Zero Two, trying to be more human-like, tears off the sign on the bathroom door and lets the boys into the room where the girls are taking a bath.
Hiro: This is bad, Zero Two. It’s gonna be exposed!
Futoshi and Zorome: Don’t tell her, dumbass!
Futoshi: As for me, I simply found you amazingly beautiful, Kokoro! Believe me! This is straight from the heart!
Hiro: Zero Two told me that parasites are, uh… better off being a little pervy!
This was a quite refreshing episode. The Klaxosaur they fought looked so much like a soccer ball with a head, arms, and feet. It was interesting that the liquid, which was sprayed at the squad, did not harm the Frannx but rather the pistils’ clothing. I wonder how much of the girls’ bodies has been disposed to the guys’ eyes. They looked so happy when their partner’s battle suit suddenly melted. Hiro was delighted too, but he just couldn’t keep his mouth shut like the other guys and told Zero Two that she was revealing a lot. I just love how Zorome and Futoshi were against telling the girls the fact of their disappearing clothing, which they would have found out sooner or later. Hiro is like a good kid amongst a group of bad ones. Even Mitsuru couldn’t hide his red face after seeing Ikuno’s suit melting away. But why do the boys look at the girls that way all of a sudden? Before, they didn’t see their partners as girls and they have not even been educated to know anything about the relationship between boys and girls. The same goes for the girls. Why did they feel embarrassed now? Even their pose riding a Franxx would have had me ashamed and embarrassed. Only Zero Two seems to know a little bit, and Kokoro, who found the book about maternity looked like she knew something. When she wanted the girls to make up with the boys, she tried to reveal something, but didn’t do it. She only mentioned that they needed the guys. ‘After all, that’s how…uh… it’s born, I think.’ I guess she was about to say that that’s how babies are born. Ah… I wanted to see the reaction of them all, when they realize how children are made.
When Kokoro entered the greenhouse where Mitsuru was standing alone with some medication, the maternity book fell out of her pocket and a second later she rapidly picked it up not to reveal her possession. But why would she have to hide it in front of Mitsuru, who was with her the day she found it? Does she have a feeling of not being allowed to have taken it or is it because of the content of the book? I have the feeling that it is my first guess. If someone knew about this book, Nana or Hachi would have taken it away, because parasites shouldn’t know about the reproductive process.
The same goes for puberty. Nana and Hachi talked to Dr. Franxx about the parasites’ behaviors and he concludes them to be in puberty. But they are the first group to almost all go through it. I wonder what the APE’s manual suggests to do with parasites who go through puberty, because Nana states to ‘intervene and resolve the issue immediately’. Would they just bring the kids to another place, or worse, get rid of them because they are slowly getting interested into the opposite sex? It would be quite a difficult time if the parasites date and then break up or fall in love with a different pilot than their partners and so on. It seems to be the best for them not to engage into romantic relationships, but how are they going to stop them from doing so? I love how Dr. Franxx just told them to leave them that way, not to interfere and not to report anything to the ‘geezers’, papa. He also mentioned that Squad 13 is a test group, but what exactly does he mean by that? Zero Two did mention something like that the parasites should act like children and say things they want to now, because it would be too late when they become adults. We have not seen ‘normal’ adults yet, only the ‘Papa’ people, who are being treated like gods by the parasites.
I loved the scene where the girls and boys discuss their current fight separately and then Hiro says that the girls are fighting, while letting the guys control them, and then they have to endure all the attacks. These are the reasons why Hiro wants to be more supportive and wants to get to know more about his partner. The guys agree and try to reconcile with the girls.
The moment when the girls realize that their clothing is melting, we see the Franxx trying to cover their boobs and lower parts with their arms.
Why would someone leave the photograph and teddy bear of an already deceased parasite group in a room and just seal it with ‘keep out’ tape like the police would do to a crime scene? Of course someone would become curious and enter the room to find these things. But wait, it took a long time for them to discover this place anyways, so maybe they’re just not curious enough.
It was a pretty pervy but cute episode. I like it a lot, even though it made me question their ‘Papa’ – parasite system and what happened to the previous Squad 13 members. How did you like this ‘revealing’ episode? Leave a comment!
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.
