Darling in the Franxx (Studio Trigger)

[kuribo-04]

Anybody else watching it?
It's on Crunchyroll.
Interesting and pretty cool so far (2/24 episodes are out).
Two issues: maybe too much and too weird fanservice, and too many Eva similarities.
Contrary to many people who are losing their shit though I feel like both of these things could be subverted.

Atsushi Nishigori writes and directs (you know, the TTGL and P&SG character designer), Hiroyuki Imaishi directs the action (and it shows!) and you've also got Sushio on the animation. Khara is doing 3D cg.

Promare is my most hyped show still, but I'm enjoying this.
I'm a little surprised there does seem to be less interest around it than with something like KlK.
Although, granted, that show was the best thing ever.

[robersora]

I've watched one Episode so far. I think the writing is really sup-par so far. Definitely expected more. That said, I think the execution in terms of animation, shot composition, design work are definitely very good, although never reaching quite the stratospheric highs that Trigger managed with Little Witch Academia or Kill la Kill. Also, for whatever reason it seems like it was pushed forward - it should have aired in Spring. Coupled with the fact, that it's listed with 24 Episodes I really fear that the only strength, which is that it is totally my A E S T H E T I C might suffer. But lets see. Overall the first Episode was very enjoyable, while not quite there, definitely above mediocre.

There definitely is a huge Eva influence, but which Mecha show hasn't been influenced by it, lol? Overall it feels a lot more like an off-brand Diebuster to me.
Looking at the stuff it's totally understandable where the feel is coming from... The A1 guys involved are Gainax alumni, going so far that they credited the specific location of the division of A1-pictures. Which is good, since those guys really manage to bring some spirit to the otherwise soulless productions of A1 pictures. After all, those guys were responsible for Occultic;Nine which was pretty rad.

[kuribo-04]

It's true that you'll find Eva influence everywhere, but here it's very direct. Things like the orange interfaces, the klaxosaurs having some kind of core, etc.

I think it's early to judge the writing. For me it's in general kinda hard to get what the show is going for, which could be due to it being very early still.

[Justacrazyguy]

It's completely filled with obvious sex related symbolism and metaphors and I LOVE IT.

The first episode was good but the second one gave me hopes that this could be one of the better shows of the season.

Just give me some sweet action and characters getting mind raped(or maybe just regular raped, with how the show is going it wouldn't be surprising) and I'll enjoy the ride.


Why the studio trigger thing in the title though? I know they're involved, but aside from the action I haven't really felt their presence that much.

[Mr. Tines]

It's true that you'll find Eva influence everywhere, but here it's very direct.

Indeed. I just watched the first episode and was struck by how much the MC was literally doing the "mustn't run away" thing; 00-ni doing Mari's thing of falling on the guy and liking what she senses (taste, rather than scent his time) felt familiar, too. Yeah, I know the number of "he was a normal highschool boy until a girl fell out of the sky" premises is also large, but...

[Joy Evangelion]

The idea of dual piloting paired with the personal relationships between the pilots is a very cool idea. It'll be nice to see where they go with it. I think they can really do a lot with the cast, though I do think it's still too early to call too much. The mecha designs are pretty cool and cute(I like how they have eyes), though the main robot did look a bit like the main robot from Star Driver, though I guess that can be expected from having the same designer, huh?

Got Seele vibes from those masked dudes, and was reminded of Gunbuster with that fight at the end of Episode 2, but I didn't get too many other Eva vibes. But that's probably just me.

And just how wonderful it is to have a 24 episode mecha series to watch weekly.

[kuribo-04]

Why the studio trigger thing in the title though? I know they're involved, but aside from the action I haven't really felt their presence that much.

Just so people who've liked other Trigger stuff know.
A lot of the key stuff is Trigger people, the show feels different due to Nishigori directing. Each director has their style obviously.

@Mr.Tines
I was reminded of Mari to.

[::KL7::]

Klaxosaur sounds like the name of a pokemon.

It's still early but seems like an interesting show so far. Just not a big fan of the mecha designs or all the sexual references, but interested in seeing where the story goes and how much more eva vibes and influence there will be.

[ran1]

Darling in the Franxx is Evangelion for Gen Z. I'm cashing in all my chips in regard to Atsushi Nishigori becoming the next -- and ultimately more prestigious -- Hideaki Anno.

There is nothing stopping this dude's mammoth directing talent. Each scene throbs and thrusts with visual precision, his compositions are nothing short of Botticelli-esque. Prostrate in this man's shadow -- in the annals of artistic eroticism, there was only Klimt, de Sade, and the aforementioned Sandro. Make that Ménage à trois a foursome now.

In this period of new Renaissance, I truly wish Ophelia was still here. We'd make beautiful music in regard to analyzing this series, I assure you.

[Mr. Tines]

Word on /a/ is that this series has been banned in China -- the site that was streaming it having pulled the title -- on grounds of excessive sexuality. Also, for some reason, Slow Start seems to have been collateral damage.

[amitakartok]

China bans everything. Why are you even surprised?

[imprimatur13]

Darling in the Franxx is Evangelion for Gen Z. I'm cashing in all my chips in regard to Atsushi Nishigori becoming the next -- and ultimately more prestigious -- Hideaki Anno.

Ran... do I perhaps detect the slightest hint of sarcasm?

[ran1]

Ran... do I perhaps detect the slightest hint of sarcasm?

No. Screencap this: Darling in the Franxx will become the most influential anime for the next vanguard of great auteurs. It'll occupy the place Space Runaway Ideon and Evangelion currently reside in and surpass both because it addresses the sort of psychoanalytic problems inherent in mech with a completely innovative pathos (yes, dweebs, I've seen Brain Powerd and this is better than Tomino's lolDEEP edgy shit and don't try talking to me about Diebuster when this is taking WAY more risks).

Sex becomes the solution and not the fundamental problem. And as aesthetic icing on the critical cake -- it blazes forth in an accelerationist afterburn of magnificent visuals that cement its brilliant commentary and prop it erect against the backdrop of otaku-incel-wish-fufillment trash. It's the Jungian antidote to the Freudian disease of Otakudom.

Yamakan was right in part -- anime is being saved, just not by him. Darling in the Franxx is saving anime.

[Mr. Tines]

Adding one to the "why didn't I realise that myself sooner", it has been pointed out that this series is literally ゼロツー/Hiro.

[pwhodges]

Darling in the Franxx is saving anime.

Anime gets saved so often that I don't get why anyone thinks it's at risk!

[robersora]

Adding one to the "why didn't I realise that myself sooner", it has been pointed out that this series is literally ゼロツー/Hiro.

I'm not sure what you've realized there...

Spoilers for Episode 5

SPOILER: Show

Anyways, I was sure that it would be revealed that ZeroTwo was handling her Darling, but that doesn't seem to be true. Now, it also doesn't seem to be the case that Hiro is immune to the "piloting three times together - Darling's dead" - issue. I would love if they followed through and killed Hiro off. That would make for an interesting development, opening the door for all kinds of uncharted territory the story could go in the future.

I think the series has improved so far. Yes, it's still not amazing or anything, but the direction is overall inspired enough by 15 year old productions (sadly without adding anything new to the toolbox), to at least keep me entertained. It's (sadly) decidedly above average Anime-fare, which doesn't really make it great, but suffices for my purposes.

[Mr. Tines]

I'm not sure what you've realized there...

It's a pun.

[kuribo-04]

1 was really cool, 2-5 where interesting I guess, but made me lose hope a little, 6 was awesome (for the action, thanks Imaishi), 7 was surprisingly entertaining for a freaking beach episode.
I'm expecting this show to reach "pretty good" levels and to be entertaining. It's probably gonna get better too. It's just nothing amazing.

[Cybermat47]

A new Trigger anime is out?! Awesome, Kill la Kill is one of my favourite shows of all time

[Mr. Tines]

It's by A-1 Pictures, who are outsourcing some of the work to Trigger, which means that many of the folk working on it are old Gainax hands. In particular it's being directed by Nishigori, who is better known for doing character design for TTGL and P&Sw/G. That involvement means that this series was one of the two massively hyped titles for the current quarter (the other one being KyoAni's Violet Evergarden). While the promo material started only with a gradual reveal of the cast, by the end enough had been shown that it was expected to be a show about giant dinosaurs attacking moving sci-fi cities protected by magical girl mechas, done with the same straight-faced insanity as previous series out of the same stable.

Needless to say, that pretty much hasn't happened; as you can see, this thread had been silent for 3 weeks (unlike similar threads for P&Sw/G or KlK), the show has been tanking in general measures of popularity in Japan (as has VEG), and also, this happened.