DARLING in the FRANXX - What the HFIL Happened?!
Summary
TLDRThe video script is a critique of the anime 'Darling in the Franxx,' focusing on its narrative shortcomings, especially in the final arc. The reviewer criticizes the rushed pacing, derivative elements, and lack of originality, arguing these issues detract from the series' potential. They also discuss the show's tonal inconsistency, particularly the absurdity of the 'Strelitzia True Apocalypse' concept, which clashes with the series' serious themes. The critique concludes that while the show has strong individual elements like animation and music, its failure to cohesively develop a compelling story and characters results in a disappointing conclusion.
Takeaways
- 🚀 The video discusses the anime 'Darling in the Franxx', particularly its ending, which the speaker found to be a letdown.
- 🔍 The speaker warns of spoilers and acknowledges that their view may differ from others who enjoyed the series.
- 🎭 The criticism includes the show's rushed final arc and its unoriginal elements borrowed from past Gainax and Trigger properties.
- 🤔 The speaker believes the real issue is not the pacing or unoriginality, but rather the lack of coherence in the show's direction.
- 👨🎨 The series' writer-director, Atsushi Nishigori, is held responsible for the show's direction and the resulting narrative issues.
- 🚀 The show's transformation from small-scale conflicts to a space opera is criticized for being too ambitious and poorly executed.
- 😅 The series is said to have shifted from emotional investment to emotional detachment, with serious drama provoking laughter.
- 🤖 The concept of Strelitzia True AP is described as ridiculous and poorly integrated into the show's narrative.
- 💔 The series is criticized for its lack of a compelling antagonist and for failing to develop its villains, the Verm.
- 📜 The script is said to be poorly planned, with many plot points and character arcs left unresolved or underdeveloped.
- 💔 The deaths in the series are seen as unearned and manipulative, as they involve minor characters rather than main or even secondary ones.
Q & A
What is the main criticism of the ending of 'Darling in the Franxx' as described in the script?
-The main criticism is that the ending is rushed and lacks originality, borrowing heavily from past Gainax and Trigger properties.
Why does the reviewer believe the last arc of 'Darling in the Franxx' is problematic?
-The reviewer believes the last arc is problematic because it tries to cram a full two years of space travel, an endless war, and the rebuilding of Earth into a very short amount of time, resulting in a narrative that is too ambitious and doesn't allow for proper development.
What is the reviewer's opinion on the character designs and animation in 'Darling in the Franxx'?
-The reviewer finds the character designs and art direction striking and memorable, and the animation consistently strong.
How does the reviewer feel about the music in 'Darling in the Franxx'?
-The reviewer praises the music as incredible.
What is the reviewer's main issue with the narrative structure of 'Darling in the Franxx'?
-The reviewer's main issue is that the show is a mess that is less than the sum of its parts, with a lack of coherent vision among the creators leading to a narrative that is all over the place.
What does the reviewer think about the series' handling of sexuality and mecha action?
-The reviewer feels that while the series starts with a serious approach to sexuality and mecha action, it becomes inconsistent, downplaying the provocative elements that were initially part of its appeal.
Why does the reviewer argue that the comparison to 'Gurren Lagann' is not fair for 'Darling in the Franxx'?
-The reviewer argues that the comparison is not fair because 'Darling in the Franxx' is not equipped to handle the concept of a massive transforming robot in the same way 'Gurren Lagann' did, due to its different narrative tone and focus.
What is the reviewer's stance on the deaths of characters in the final episodes of 'Darling in the Franxx'?
-The reviewer believes that the deaths of characters in the final episodes are poorly executed and unearned, as they involve minor villains rather than main characters, which fails to raise the emotional stakes effectively.
How does the reviewer describe the ending of 'Darling in the Franxx' in terms of its emotional impact?
-The reviewer describes the ending as lacking emotional weight and substance, with the series resorting to clichés and cop-outs for a happy ending that doesn't align with the tone of the rest of the series.
What recommendation does the reviewer have for potential viewers of 'Darling in the Franxx'?
-The reviewer recommends watching the first 15 episodes for great animation and a pretty good romance, but advises viewers to stop before the end as the last stretch of the series is not as well-executed.
Outlines
🚀 Introduction to 'Darling in the Frankxx' Critique
The video script begins with a cautionary introduction to potential spoilers regarding the anime 'Darling in the Frankxx'. The speaker indicates that while the following content won't ruin the anime, it may alter the viewer's perception of it. The critique is set to focus on the ending of the series, with a particular emphasis on the rushed pacing of the last arc and the show's unoriginality in borrowing elements from past Gainax and Trigger properties. The speaker also acknowledges that some viewers may have enjoyed the series despite its flaws and intends to explore why the show failed to maintain emotional investment for some, including themselves.
🤔 The Misalignment of Tone and Theme
This paragraph delves into the tonal inconsistencies of 'Darling in the Frankxx', particularly the contrast between the show's initial promise of an over-the-top, action-packed series and its eventual shift towards a more serious drama. The critique points out that while the show's premise and design suggest a fanservice-heavy, mecha-action extravaganza, it attempts to tackle themes of sexuality and serious drama. The speaker argues that the show's attempt to downplay the provocative elements typical of Trigger's style results in a narrative that is both incongruous and fails to live up to the emotional depth it aims for.
📜 Poorly Executed World-Building and Storytelling
The third paragraph addresses the show's weak world-building and storytelling, highlighting the lack of development and follow-through on potentially interesting plot points. The critique focuses on the derivative nature of the show's sci-fi elements, such as magma energy and the alien race known as the Verm, which are underdeveloped and fail to provide a satisfying explanation for the world's mechanics. The paragraph also discusses the lack of character development for the main antagonists, reducing them to plot devices rather than compelling characters.
😢 The Lack of Consequential Character Deaths
This paragraph discusses the show's failure to deliver on the emotional stakes by avoiding the death of main characters. The critique points out that the series sets up expectations for character deaths but ultimately opts for the death of minor villains, which fails to elicit the intended emotional response. The speaker suggests that the deaths are used as a last-minute plot device to create artificial drama, rather than as a meaningful part of the narrative. The paragraph also touches on the show's tendency to rely on clichés and cop-outs to maintain a happy ending, which detracts from the overall impact of the series.
🏁 Conclusion and Recommendations
In the final paragraph, the speaker concludes that 'Darling in the Frankxx' is a compromised work that fails to effectively use its characters and plot points. They recommend that viewers stop watching after the first 15 episodes to enjoy the show's animation and romance without enduring the unsatisfying conclusion. The critique ends with the speaker, Geoff thew, signing off from his mother's basement, suggesting a light-hearted tone despite the critical analysis.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Darling in the Franxx
💡Spoilers
💡Gainax Ending
💡True Form
💡Mecha
💡Character Development
💡Slice-of-Life
💡Pacing
💡Tone
💡World Building
💡Clichés and Cop-outs
Highlights
Warning about spoilers for the ending of 'Darling in the Franxx'.
The video discusses the show's transition from emotional investment to emotional detachment.
Criticisms of the show include a rushed last arc and unoriginal borrowing from past works.
The show's attempt to balance drama and action is acknowledged.
The series' character designs and art direction are praised as striking and memorable.
The animation and music of 'Darling in the Franxx' are highlighted as consistently strong and incredible.
The writing of individual episodes is noted for being powerful, poetic, and funny.
The show's messiness is attributed to a lack of coherent vision among the creative team.
The series is criticized for its inconsistent tone, shifting between fanservice and serious drama.
Comparisons are made to 'Gurren Lagann', with arguments on why the comparison is unfair.
The concept of Strelitzia True Apocalypse is criticized for its absurdity and poor execution.
The show's failure to develop its villains and the lack of a clear antagonist are pointed out.
The script is criticized for being poorly planned and failing to follow through on interesting plot points.
The deaths of minor characters are discussed as attempts to raise emotional stakes without success.
The series' ending is criticized for being too happy and uninteresting, lacking emotional weight.
The recommendation to watch the first 15 episodes for great animation and romance, but to stop before the end.
Transcripts
in about 30 seconds this video will be
jumping into spoilers for the ending of
darling in the Franks the first things
I'm gonna show you aren't going to ruin
this anime except in the sense that once
you see them it's gonna be impossible
for you to take it seriously anymore but
I figure it's worth warning you anyway
and from that point forward it will get
increasingly spoilery later on I'll also
be discussing a certain similar element
from the ending of gurren lagaan that's
not in itself a huge spoiler unless
we're talking physically and is
generally well known even to people who
haven't watched the show but some of you
may still want to avoid seeing it
however I can't avoid talking about that
element because well just [ __ ] look
at this this trainwreck which I once
thought would be one of the best shows
this year didn't just go off the rails
it's somehow d4 seed into an alternate
reality where the rails never existed in
the first place within the span of 24
episodes I went from being so
emotionally invested that at the series
peak it made me cry to being so
emotionally detached that all of its
attempts at serious drama had me crying
with laughter I'm aware that some people
made it through the comedic brilliance
that is strelitzia true APIs with their
respect and love for the series intact
and that's great if you came away from
darling in the Franks and think it's a
10 out of 10 flawless masterpiece made
by Haruhi herself I'm happy for you I am
glad that you could enjoy this anime and
stay invested in the story straight to
the end but I couldn't and this is my
youtube channel so I'm gonna spend the
next 20 minutes or so trying to figure
out why that is buckle up
it's time to figure out what the hell
happened to darling in the Franks
to be clear we're not gonna be playing
blame the studio here because it's the
individuals with creative control of the
project not the company's involved in
its creation who are ultimately most
responsible for the direction that the
series took particularly writer-director
atsushi nishigori two big criticisms
that I've seen levied at darling in the
Frank so that one the last arc of the
story is really rushed and - the series
borrows pretty liberally from past
gainax and trigger properties in shall
we say less than original ways I think
that both of these complaints are valid
but they failed to get to the heart of
what's really wrong with this show yes
obviously three episodes is a bit of a
tight squeeze for an anime to suddenly
make the transition from mostly
small-scale ground conflicts to the
massive starship fleet battles of a
full-blown space opera and cramming a
full two years of space travel and
sleepless endless war for the fate of
the universe plus the gradual
reformation of humanity and rebuilding
of the earth into 23 minutes is
ambitious to say the least I'd say on
par with the last episode of Charlotte
in that regard and it's definitely a
problem that anyone who's seen a guy
next show before can call every twist in
the series a light year away including
that sudden jump to space but it's not
like the series suddenly started
cribbing from dine axes playbook as it
got bad and got to its gainax ending the
good parts of the show also reuse and
remix ideas that we've seen before in
fact when it started the omage was kind
of part of the appeal for a lot of
viewers at least up to the point where
it became obvious that the show was a
little light on original ideas and many
of the show's best episodes and arcs
move at a breakneck pace I mean after
episode 14 fans were ready to riot over
developments in 0-2 and Hiro's
relationship that were resolved in a
very satisfying manner just one episode
later now some might argue that the show
could benefit from condensing some of
its more dull slice-of-life Yepez ODEs
to make room for more action but those
slice-of-life bits are what give the
show its heart and let us connect with
the characters there as necessary as the
fighting robot bits if not more so they
could definitely have been better
written especially from episode 16 to 19
and maybe spread out
a bit more evenly but I think the ratio
of drama to action in francs is at least
on paper pretty well balanced and on
paper if you break darling in the francs
down to individual components basically
all of it is really good the character
designs an art direction are striking
and memorable for the most part the
animation is consistently strong the
music is incredible the writing of
individual episodes and bits of dialogue
can be powerful poetic and genuinely
funny yet cram all of these individual
elements together and what you get is a
mess that is less than the sum of its
parts a lot like the other recent much
hyped and much maligned mecha series all
NOAA zero all of the teams working on
darling in the francs clearly had a lot
of passion for the project but it feels
like all of them had slightly or
sometimes wildly different ideas of what
the show should be and nobody ever
bothered to sit down and talk to
everybody and actually figure out a
coherent answer to that question if you
step back and look at the product as a
whole darling in the Franks is kind of
all the [ __ ] over the place its designs
and premise suggests that we're in for
an over-the-top balls-to-the-wall
cavalcade of fanservice and mecha action
I mean zero - spends literally all of
her time either naked or wearing a plug
suit in the first couple episodes yet
for a show about drift compatible
teenagers piloting mechs doggy style
it's surprisingly tame like yeah there's
the one episode where the goop gets on
the plug suits and makes them start
melting and then the girls and boys go
to war but the aggressive sexuality and
in-your-face jig leanness of stuff like
killa kill and gurren lagaan
just isn't there in the same way the
series makes an active effort to
downplay the Gainax enos or i guess you
could say trigger eNOS of everything
making a statement early on that while
we're gonna be having a bit of fun here
we're gonna be looking at the themes of
sexuality through a more serious lens
this is an action drama not an action
comedy which isn't the worst idea in the
world to be honest it's neat to see
someone take these distinctively trigger
designs and ideas and use them to tell a
more grounded subdued story and for the
first 15 episodes the romantic tension
between hero and 0-2 and
drama that unfolds between them and
their friends and the adults is
legitimately gripping but if serious
dramas what you're going for ah what the
hell is this what in the ever-loving
[ __ ] are you doing stop when I posted my
reaction to this nonsense on Twitter a
few weeks ago quite a few people brought
up gurren lagaan in response some just
making comparisons others using that
series to defend the choices made in
this one but I don't think that
comparison is fair and I say that for
two reasons firstly the whole design of
strelitzia true APIs is inherently
ridiculous and stupid this is not parts
of a robot rearranging themselves to
look more like the person piloting it
this is a metal shell transforming into
a human with flesh blood hair and makeup
somehow and like goddamn the tiny
bottles that yazi buys from Sephora are
already crazy expensive I don't even
want to imagine what a few hundred
meters worth of lipstick and eyeshadow
would cost you can't just blow a regular
ass human up to planetary scale without
it looking either super goofy or super
creepy I mean that's almost half the
concept of attack on Titan on a
fundamental level this just looks an
order of magnitude dumber than super
tengen toppa gurren lagaan which
benefits from being made out of spiral
energy and not you know a hundred square
miles of human skin with titties the
size of literal mountains but even if
true APIs didn't have a god-awful
character design darling in the Franks
was simply not equipped to make this
concept work not in the same way that
gurren lagaan pulled it off anyway
because the idea of an absurdly massive
transforming robot taking out thousands
of spaceships at once with a barrage of
lasers fueled by the power of love is
right at home in an ever-escalating
balls-to-the-wall action series like
Guren but it feels about as alien as
well sudden aliens in a moody
coming-of-age teen romance story darling
in the Franks is not a show about
pointy-haired kids and rad sunglasses
making bold declarations about digging
equipment with anime bravado
it's about sad teenagers arguing and
crying and in
bracing each other and most of what
happens in the last few episodes is
totally incongruous with that tone which
makes it hilarious not moving not
exciting hilarious when during the
show's big emotional climax the comatose
girl on earth turns to stone and
reappears as a half mechanical giant s
orbiting Mars I wasn't crying I was
laughing my ass off when everyone on
earth decided to spend hours holding
hands with a rock prompted only by a
little girl saying the word darling in
order to somehow help hero thousands of
light-years away escape space hypnosis
all so that he can commit mass genocide
for peace and justice that goofiness
stopped me from appreciating the moments
of the show's epilogue like showing all
of squad 13 grown up with kids that are
pretty well executed and have the
potential to be really powerful there
were a few moments in the last couple
episodes that almost certainly would
have been really emotional for me if I
was still able to care but every time
that I was about to be moved by
something I was seeing I'd remember this
heck sometimes the show would cut
directly from a potentially affecting
scene to this and immediately all of the
emotional energy that the show had been
working to build up was released through
laughter instead I've banged on for a
while about this disaster and I don't
think I can overstate how stupid true
apus is or how badly it damages the
integrity of the show's narrative on its
own but even before it warp jumped over
all the sharks in existence darling in
the Franks was in trouble because as big
a problem as true apus is literally and
figuratively the show has a much bigger
one the script is poorly planned and
fails to follow through on just about
everything potentially interesting that
it sets up I've been over the messy
world building and storytelling in
episode 19 in depth so I won't repeat
what I said there here but subsequent
episodes of this show do nothing to
remedy these problems not only are the
reveals that follow about the true
nature of Frank's robots magma energy
and ape all painfully derivative of
other
better works of sci-fi they're also
super bare-bones examples of those
tropes that don't really explain
anything help some of the reveals just
create bigger plot holes like magma
energy is really the lifestream of sorry
clack so Sarju s-- and it provides life
energy that allows the earth to be
fertile alright but then like how did
clack so sapiens evolve and develop
their civilization without already
having magma energy in the earth to
allow plants to grow what did they use
to fuel their incredible impossible
technologies like the clack so czars
themselves you know the giant robots
that humanity at the height of its magma
energy fueled development still had a
lot of trouble reverse engineering into
Frank's where'd they get the energy to
make those the answer is don't think
about it
seeing huge gaps in world building like
this is frustrating but I guess it's not
super important to the narrative overall
you know it is though the main villains
of the whole story the verm you guys
kind of just forgot to give them a
backstory motivation or personality
aliens showed up out of nowhere
thousands of years ago and we're bad now
thousands of years later they're back
and they're still bad that's literally
it I mean their stated motivation is
bringing immortal hivemind peace to the
universe but if a species turns them
down they then immediately go to war
with them which is the opposite of peace
there's no philosophical consistency
there and we're never shown any reason
why they'd endanger themselves or the
peace that they've worked so hard to
create and they say that they want in
order to achieve more peace may be the
verm aren't even as fleshed out as the
anti spirals they're really just evil
for the sake of being evil because the
plot needs that even though they have
dialogue you can barely call them
characters let alone villains their plot
devices ultimately they have about as
much personality and drive as the
tsunami or earthquake in a roland
emmerich film and because the verm are
responsible for the clock so czars being
violent as well that kind of leaves the
story without a real antagonist and
without a real
to fight the sole driving force of
darling ends up having to be the
interpersonal drama of squad 13
particularly the romance between hero
and 0-2 and the conflicting feelings of
Goro and Ichigo and until episode 15
that does keep the show going but after
that point zero 2 basically loses her
whole personality like in Prior episodes
when she's hanging out with squad 13 she
is clearly a [ __ ] disturber poking fun
and prodding at others for her own
amusement and generally being very
haughty and full of herself but after
reuniting with hero she's just nice to
everyone all the time and doesn't stir
up any conflict ever it's like the
writers think that being in a
relationship somehow magically solves
all of your emotional hang-ups and
personality quirks that's uh that's not
how organic character growth works and
that lazy writing leaves the series
spinning its wheels from that point
forward forcing it to focus on weaker
characters who just can't carry an
episode as the primary focus like Mitsu
rouge sole defining characteristic is
his man crush on Hiro which is already
basically resolved and three out of the
four paragraphs on the series wiki
describing cocoros personality are
literally just about how she wants to
[ __ ] Matt suru and have a baby while the
other one just says that she's really
nice not exactly the most complex
characters in the world yet our
investment in their interactions and
eventual wedding has to fuel the a plot
of three whole episodes with zero action
when the series does eventually try to
get back on track with the war against
the clock so SARS the writers to their
credit realized that they've given us
zero reason to care about the outcome so
their solution for injecting some
emotional drama into these final battles
is to tear Hiro away from 0to again so
that they can reprise episode 15s fight
to bring them back together only this
time it's her saving him and then
because they have three episodes to go
and zero ideas left they do the exact
same thing again but in space this time
and if you strip those repetitive
elements away there is next to nothing
in these episodes that we can be
reasonably expected to give a [ __ ] about
because all of the surrounding casts
basically does nothing and nothing
really happens to them the entire time
that darling in the Franks was running
viewers were shouting incessantly about
death flags left and right and eagerly
anticipating the [ __ ] just got real
moment when a member of squad 13 would
finally get killed off and it really
makes sense with such a huge cast of
untrained kids fighting giant monsters
one of them has to die at some point
right well apparently not
the writers clearly felt that someone
had to die to raise the emotional stakes
in these final episodes because for
significant established characters do
die across these last two battles but
the thing is none of the deaths our main
characters not even any of the useless
ones instead of taking characters who
we've spent a lot of time growing to
like and that our heroes have an
emotional attachment to darling and the
Franks tries to wring some cheap
unearned tears out of the audience by
killing minor villains a big blue snake
a small blue lolly a barely developed
mad scientist and a blonde kid who's
literally never been anything but an
[ __ ] every last one of these
characters follows the same pattern
they're introduced as some kind of
threat early on in the series that 0 -
and hero will have to overcome and
characterized in such a way that you
look forward to seeing them get their
asses kicked
but then the show needs to meet a death
quota so all of a sudden they do one
good thing and immediately die
afterwards and we're just expected to be
sad about it because [ __ ] if I know dr.
Franks is the only character out of any
of them who's had more than 5 seconds of
screen time where he has any chance to
appear sympathetic but his death is too
hilarious to be sad this Boulder
crushing him has the framing and timing
of an actual roadrunner gag look just
replaced the sound effects
this all smacks of last-minute rewrites
to me I mean in episode 18 the nines are
displaying fanatical devotion to Papa
after he reveals that he's an evil alien
and plans to blow up the whole planet
they were clearly intended at some stage
to be the final bosses faced by squad 13
and give us some mekin mech action
before the finale yet instead of
following through on that the show backs
down having nine alpha gets sick and
turned good for basically no reason and
it simultaneously uses the deaths of
these villains to back down from killing
off any members of its main cast who we
actually might care about all in order
to give them a happy ending like if I
had to wager I'd be willing to bet that
in an earlier draft of this script it's
Mitsu supposed to take the role of
heroes male pistol leaving Kokoro back
home on earth and he's the one who
ultimately sacrifices himself to help
Hiro reach zero - not only would that
pay off the earlier set up when Mitsuru
says that he wants to be hero's partner
it would be a lot more meaningful and
emotionally satisfying for the audience
than the death of this random [ __ ]
and it would make for a much more
powerful moment in both his and cocoros
character arcs than just having him stay
back at home and be a happy dad
seriously killing off at least some of
the squad members this late in the game
would give these episodes the emotional
weight they so desperately need to work
as the climax to this kind of melodrama
it would also shape up the cast dynamics
in a way that would make these otherwise
bland episode plots a little bit more
interesting instead the series takes cop
outs at every turn to preserve the
dynamic that the writers are comfortable
with on the way to an unambiguously
happy and totally uninteresting
conclusion okay so some people are gonna
argue that hero and zero to dying makes
this ending bittersweet but come on all
of their friends live long happy lives
without them and they get to go off for
two years doing exactly what they've
wanted to do from moment one of the
series just be alone together they die
at exactly the same time so neither has
two more than the other and to top it
all off there
incarnated Souls are apparently
cosmically intertwined so that they can
be together in a time completely free of
conflict in the future without that
reincarnation scene it would be a little
ambiguously sad but with it you
literally couldn't write a happier
ending for these characters without I
don't know making them immortal gods who
get to spend all of eternity in love
with each other or something and to be
clear there's nothing wrong with ending
a show what they all lived happily ever
after and reincarnated happily ever
after but it's not really in line with
the tone of the rest of the series and I
don't think it really says much of
substance at the end of the day the only
message that darling in the Franks
really puts out there despite all of its
philosophical meandering is love's good
have babies and that's a shame because
when it started it seemed like a show
with a lot more to say but maybe that's
just because it borrowed so much from
series that actually had something to
say either way darling in the Franks
feels like a compromised and poorly
planned work one with no idea of how to
pay off the plot points that sets up or
how to effectively use the characters
and concepts that it develops in lieu of
that the writers chose to fall back on
old cliches and cop outs which only
exacerbate those issues still while the
last stretch of it sucks the first 15
episodes provide a satisfying enough
emotional journey and while it doesn't
have much in the way of concrete meaning
if you stopped watching at that episode
hey it doesn't if you finish the whole
series either so if you're interested in
darling in the Franks I do recommend
riding it out to that point for the
great animation and pretty good romance
but just make sure that you disembark
before the train turns into a wreck I'm
Geoff thew professional [ __ ] signing
out from my mother's basement
[Music]
浏览更多相关视频
X-Men '97 Really Frustrated Me... (Series Review)
Gear 5 Is The Worst Transformation Of All Time - One Piece Episode 1071 Sucks -
HBO's The Penguin REVIEW - NO SPOILERS - Batman 2024
NO SOY EMO!!! | La Rosa de Guadalupe
Object Lockout 3 is NOT GOOD
ESSE ERA O SONHO DE AEGON, O CONQUISTADOR! GAME OF THRONES ERROU? Canção de Gelo e Fogo
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)