Darling in the Franxx (Studio Trigger)

[Mr. Tines]

And it's done. Incredibly rushed at the end (some plot threads getting resolved in a panel or so), as one might have expected, given where we were when the "3 chapters left" dropped.

On balance, slightly better at the conclusion than the anime, if only because it simply omitted most of the new elements that appeared in the closing episodes.

[Blockio]

Welp, it's something at least

[Blockio]

Read it now. By far the quickest a chapter has ever been translated, lol.
Yeah, the ending was kinda rushed, but still a lot better than the garbage the anime presented us with - I like what they tried to do, but somewhere down the line they seriously miscalculated how much time they'd have left.

Also some sort of epilogue would have been nice, I guess

[Mr. Tines]

they seriously miscalculated how much time they'd have left.

From what I read, "Code000" wanted to axe the manga at chapter 32, but Yabuki managed to negotiate a few extra chapters to get some kind of conclusion. Compared with the usual axing, this was better than we might have had.

[Blockio]

Okay that explains a lot

[BiQ]

So. After semi-binging the show from crunchyroll and the manga afterwards, I kinda just want to say that ... I admit liking the experience while simultaneously being very well aware that it's honestly somewhat or even quite trash.

Storytime with my history with this show... which, funnily enough, I just watched for the first time ever.

See, I dabbled in /a/ while DitF was coming out. (off to great start here, are we??) So I had ideas about this show before going in. I knew there was romance between MC and this spike-horned redhead Asuka-wannabe and I knew there was sexually suggestive lol elements through the roof all over the place. But I also did not read too closely to those threads so I had lots of false expectations (both good and bad) about it. For example, I actually remember seeing a picture with ZeroTwo and Hiro switching up the seating arrangements which never came to be in the show as far as I can tell. So, I guess that was an edit that fooled me. Also, the railing of hate that I read in /a/ towards Kokoro with the partner swap thing I wrongly took to mean she, like, spat on Futoshi's face while telling him to get lost or something. And so on, having all kind of false and mostly stupid ideas floating around my head that came back to me when I started to actually watching it, and then having them not materialize and having other kind of incredulous stuff materialize instead.

So, I went in expecting very low-brow entertainment that maybe tries to be original with mixed results and ... I both was and wasn't surprised. Being this much of disjointed mess was somewhat disappointment, although when those cracks started to come in forefront I was already more invested than I seriously expected in the ZeroTwo/Hiro romance ... and here's the thing; I know it's not the most original love story, and I also do have some first-hand experience about co-dependent romantic relationships and by all means I should be reeling against it ... but goddammit if ep 13 does not tug my heartstrings just... That... Way. The way that powers me to get through all kinds of dreg to see if these two soon-to-be-cardboard-cutouts actually manage to get together and how. Also, I'm kind of fan of bittersweet endings so I wasn't completely dissatisfied with the whole reincarnation thing either. Like, "fine, I can take this".

With manga the most surprising change for me was that they cut short the "team 13 wants to keep Hiro and ZeroTwo separate for Hiro's safety despite both of their wishes" which was kinda the Sensible(tm) thing to do since, well, Ichigo felt a legit villain to me at some point in anime to me. Yet I kind of raised my eyebrows when they did it by having Hiro just spill the beans about their shared history like that for the whole team. Which kind of felt a bit "eh?". All in all, I think the manga is objectively better if only for having a better focus BUT somehow the romance thing felt more gripping with anime. Me like moving pictures making noises is undoubtedly a thing with yours truly as well as retreading a storyline a second time obviously loses some of it impact (however unoriginal it was the first time around).

About fanservice in anime vs manga: It was weird. I somehow expected manga-level fanservice (despite this being TV anime) from the anime when I swooped into this stuff. After seeing anime and starting manga I (despite actually reading MrTines comment on this thread earlier) did not expect the manga to devolve to this level of casual ecchi all over the place. So take that as you will. Well, I guess it's good to be surprised from time to time?

tl;dr: I have trash taste in my romance fiction and I liked -- like, really -- the experience of binge-watching ZeroTwo/Hiro romance unfold even as I saw there was no originality whatsoever anywhere to be seen. Right now I have the feeling I'd be into this for a longer time than I expected to be when starting it but, honestly, I know that feeling will not last. Part of me gurgitating this wall of text is me getting this out of my system to put it to rest. But I think I'm going to let it hang on in my "guilty pleasures" box of things, at least for a little bit. Fight me. Or not, I don't really care.

Looking back to this, if I didn't have crunchyroll subscription I would probably still be under the delusions I got from /a/ about this show, since the reason I started watching it was partially not wanting that money go to completely waste. And the reason I have that subscription is only because I got it immediately upon hearing Berserk Memorial edition did actually include Wounds episode with Casca holding Guts and accepting his history, which, you know, was A Moment for me. So there's an anecdote to close this thing off.

...Edit: given the amount of DitF fanfiction I've inhaled past two weeks, I guess this is actually going to stay with me for a while...