Darling in the FranXX: Japanese anime series about fighting for the survival of humanity

The Trots are doing anime reviews now.
wsws.org/en/articles/2018/08/20/frxx-a20.html
Darling in the FranXX is an original Japanese animated (anime) television series that aired between January and July 2018. It includes 24 episodes and was created by Studio Trigger under the direction of Atsushi Nishigori, who was the character designer for the popular series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagannin 2007. The series is now available on the streaming service Crunchyroll, which specializes in East Asian media.
Darling in the FranXX

The series takes place in a future dystopian world where humans live in self-contained, glass-domed cities, defended by young teenagers who operate the FranXX—giant robotic weapons (mecha) that require a pair of pilots, one male and one female, to operate. The children defend the cities from klaxosaurs, a mysterious race of beings who live underground and regularly attack the cities.

The children themselves are indoctrinated in regard to the history of humanity and the overall circumstances surrounding their service. They aspire to be “adults,” a number of whom live in the center of the cities, but with whom they never get to interact. The people in power are collectively referred to by the children as “Papa,” and they pray to them, as though to a deity, before each meal.

The series’ main protagonist is a young pilot named Hiro, who once showed great promise, but in recent years has found himself unable to operate the machinery with success. The operation of the FranXX is associated with the onset of puberty, with the male and female crew members assuming positions within the machines that are overtly sexual.

The principal aim of the show’s creators seems to be to examine what it means to be a human. (But how enriched and developed is their conception?) We learn that the society’s “adults” are humans who underwent a process whereby they could become immortal at the expense of their reproductive systems. They live in an advanced state of unchanging age, but no longer have interactions with each other and live sterile lives where they do not even speak.

Ironically, in order for the FranXX to function and defend humanity from the klaxosaur threat, scientists had to reintroduce children with reproductive systems and found they had to create environments where the latter could develop emotions and “normal” human experiences rather than the empty lives of the so-called adults.
“Strelizia,” the FranXX piloted by Hiro

Anime is a complex medium, with many divisions and subdivisions. Its roots in Japan are generally traced back to the early twentieth century, but it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that the form became a part of mainstream Japanese culture. This was no doubt a contradictory phenomenon.

As in the United States with the Star Wars phenomenon, there was a shift toward space operas and “real robot” series like Yamato and Gundam. A subculture developed around such shows and animation magazines started to be published. This continued into the 1990s with the popular Pokémon series, adapted from video games of the same name, enjoying entry into mainstream culture in Western countries by the end of the decade.

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Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=fVbV-f0rMFM
youtube.com/watch?v=u3IAZfODzH8
youtube.com/watch?v=A_48Cp-aJKc
youtube.com/watch?v=PdhR5XZNXbs&list=PLmFsuxBZy0-4xj-_YaAnukIJbL7PlDQXI
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

Japanese anime no doubt has mobilized considerable skill and even artistic brilliance. But like other artistic forms that emerged in the late 1970s and 1980s, it inevitably bears the stamp of the cultural and social problems of the time. The receding of the radicalization of the late 1960s and early 1970s (which had been very intense and explosive in Japan) had consequences. No matter what its admirers may say, there is an element of escapism in anime. That doesn’t disqualify it, but one has to be honest. It cannot be a coincidence that the rise of anime coincided with the collapse of the Japanese cinema as a serious intellectual force. One of the greatest national cinemas of the postwar period, Japanese filmmaking has produced almost nothing enduring or penetrating about the reality of life in that country over the past several decades.

While anime is a niche form of entertainment in Western countries like the United States, especially for adults, it has a wider acceptance and prevalence in Japan. There is a wide variety of genres within the anime industry. Some of the most popular are fantasy and adventure series, but just as popular are “slice of life” stories, which involve a “naturalistic” (albeit often melodramatic) representation of real life and often focus on teenage romance and family relationships.

Many of these series do have their charms, as does Darling in the FranXX, and the animation is very skilled, but there tends to be a larger focus on more juvenile themes, which express themselves in the ultimate plot and character progressions in many series, preventing them from saying anything truly insightful about life.
Darling in the FranXX

In Darling in the FranXX, for example, as the series reaches its conclusion, it becomes apparent that the children and klaxosaurs are really fighting for the ability to live their lives out fully, despite hardships and pain, because a life without feeling and love is not worth living. The audience is left in the final episode with several messages instructing them how to be human. We are told to “enjoy every experience. Fight when you have to. Keep working toward your goal. Never half-ass things, and go all-out. Try and get to know another person better. Choose your destiny with your own hands. Be honest with your feelings, and be someone’s wings.”

The themes involved here are fairly banal and platitudinous, and the view of life one takes from them is inevitably limited. The creators of this and most anime series are trying to “teach messages,” but such advice doesn’t amount to much more than empty moralizing in a world racked by escalating social inequality, poverty and war. That state of affairs rarely enters into anime, which more often deals with teenagers and other young people living in economically sound middle-class families, which allow the works to explore whatever emotional problems their characters might have, isolated from difficult material conditions (to that extent, this resembles the contemporary state of Japanese cinema).

In another example, Darling in the FranXX addresses climate change in superficial ways, complete with depictions of scientists discovering new energy sources and then capitalists overexploiting them, resulting in the desertification [the process by which fertile land becomes desert] of Earth. Much of the latter half of the series depicts the children growing their own crops in small communes, promoting popular community gardening movements without addressing the fact that billions of people have died whose continued existence would have required a centrally planned organization of resources.

Social inequality is mentioned in passing, but the focus is on interpersonal relationships and sexuality as the real defining characteristics of what it means to live and be human. In their arrogance, adults threw away their ability to reproduce in a selfish attempt to become immortal, but “nature” had other ideas and forced the children to regain their sexuality in order to survive and propagate the human species. The idea of human “progress” is depicted as inherently flawed.
Hiro’s squad

From a technical standpoint, Darling in the FranXX is quite well made in comparison with many other anime series, with very talented voice actors as well as animators and sound designers. However, as with much of the comic-book style filmmaking and animation in the West, when the more intimate moments are over, the screen is all too filled with bombast, gratuitous destruction and gore. Unhappily, one is left with almost no idea of Japanese life after completing the series.

Anime is a very popular medium with different levels and different impulses at work. Some of these are healthy, but others are more juvenile and limited. Darling in the FranXX does have some redeeming qualities in that it pushes the viewer to consider larger social questions and shakes up one’s view of reality, but the lack of a real commitment to thinking through the problems of contemporary life means that the viewer, in the end, is not pushed far or challenged enough.

Darling in the FranXX is currently being adapted as a manga (comic) series that closely follows the anime. There are currently no known plans to continue the story, which at this point is self-contained.

They should at least review good anime

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Fights weren’t even the centerpiece of the show, brainlet

Well ive never watched it so i wouldnt know really

It has like four or five good episodes where it really seems like an old Gainax production. The rest is a hilarious trainwreck.

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APE was a Posadist vanguard.

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anime is RACIST and SEXIST

is the other anime thread kill?
what about leftytrash
i dont see much of a discussion coming from this
dont get me wrong it's fine to share and interesting to look at but what is your own take on the anime or the article?
it's just that if it's not in response to something to explain things and give insight, an article shouldnt just be posted on its own like that as it's for an own thread doesnt offer all that much for discussion
also >>>/leftyweebpol/ might be better suited as well
i dont mean to attack you, OP, it's just a bit lacking for its own thread on this board imo

It's no wonder that Commies would like a slut filled cartoon

Are they trying to emulate Posadas Pacman now?
Also, I have not watched it but I've heard it is a shit show because the last couple of episodes were rushed. That and I don't like slutty POS tropes and clichés so that will is a big turn off for me. [spoiler] I just want cute girls doing cute things whether it is a slice of life or some drama. thots get gulaged[\spoiler]
thanks for reading my blog post.

Every episode past 15 is shit. 15 is the emotional climax. Episodes 16-18 are shitty slice of life which don’t even work because they changed 02 to be a generic nice girl. 19 is a flashback episode which serves as a massive exposition dump for the setting in a way that doesn’t feel organic at all. Then in episode 20 we get a fucking alien invasion out of left field also the evil council guys were actually alien agents all along. So 02 turns into a spaceship and she and the hero crash themselves into the alien Pearl Harbor. The End. Or is it…?

The moral of the story is: get a job, get married and pop out some babies, you degenerate little fucks.
t. Shinzo Abe

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From Maoist film Criticism in the early 2000s to ⛏️rotskysts anime reviews in the 2010s, I like where this is going.

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I swear every animeme since 2006 is one of these according to imageboards

i don't know if you can actually attribute the deterioration of japanese cinema to anime, when in fact the commodification of art innevitably ends up creating the culture industry, and as the commodification increases everywhere this process also accelerates, which explains why cinema has not only deteriorated in japan but also absolutely everywhere, where as television hasn't gone to shit, because the digital distribution system is creating a relatively new field, where not every single artistic element is fine tuned to create money quite to level of film yet.
also i absolutely have no idea why review the 15 episode show about horny teenagers, at least review something more relevant like black lagoon, or something

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The ending actually is a train wreck, though.

There's like four timeskips in the finale. You can tell the writers wrote themselves into a corner.

Lol reviewing Darling in the FranXX.

That's because it's true.

wrong

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yeah right

Late Stage Capitalism has turned anime into shit

wtf I'm socialist now

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I read the description and was almost actually interested, and then I saw this and I immediately remembered why I don't watch much anime

Because you're gay? There's a lot of anime for faggots man, you just need to search

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No, because it's a message that has to be delivered in the form of gratuitous sex so the very most lonely and sex-lesss weeaboos of Japan can like it. They got lucky when they made stuff like this because they found those people outside of Japan who like it too, like you.

Average anime high school series that's so melodramatic it is painful to watch.
HAHAHA
That doesn't apply for sure to this stupid teenage soap opera for sure. I dropped it around episode 15 for some specific reason, but i don't remember why. Probably boredom.
The art is pretty good though.

I honestly agree with your sentiment but there is more anime out there then echii haram anime. Like Terror in Resonance, inuyashiki (antagonist is sasuke tier edgy, don't watch), steamboy and other typical action shows that's not retarded edgyness.
Even slice of life shows with the same art style as this that fits in the moeblob genre isn't sexualized, it's just cute.

What

this board tho

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There is no such thing as even a decent anime where most of (or all) the main characters are wearing school uniforms.

This. Watching some of the classics and compare it to now it’s obvious how far the medium has gone.

such as?

hard mode: no anime films

Eva, Cowboy Bebop, FMA.

but eva is a classic example of le trainwreck meme and the good fma series is post 2006

Hokago tea time motherfugger

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To the best of my knowledge, it is. Overly conservative and consensus-driven production committees trying to make the safest movies possible has been cited as a major reason for the decline of Japanese film. That has nothing to do with the anime industry.

Maybe someone needs to tell him about the zillions of slice of life, comedy and drama anime that come out every year.


This is what happens when you outsource your thinking to internet memes.

Zero Two design is so boring that they had to give her that stupid makeup so people would remember her.

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Darling in the FranXX is ass. Watch Yuru Camp.

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Ahh yes the old pseudo intellectual criticism of "immaturity/juvenile" when any piece of work is not intended to be as heavy and ponderous as a Dostoyevsky novel. This is one step away from "shallow and pedantic" in terms of saying nothing.

The whole shitting on the themes and what not was worse consider the whole thing was set on a backdrop of inequality poverty and war, not to mention the whole idea of ethics, indigenous versus invading , transhumanism and the question of what it means to be human. Interpersonal relationships being shit on seemed to miss the point yet again. Missing Japanese cultural elements is just icing on the cake.

Aside from some vaguely left bits about inequality and whatnot this is the same kind of "look how smart and mature I am " review typically hawked by insufferable libertarian (US definition) types.

Aside from that particular set of issues, I've always questioned the idea of media critique from a particular political or ideological perspective . They so often require basically pulling interpretation out of ones oriface or trying to shape it around something that does not fit. That's another discussion though.

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Shit anime kys

Hayao is anprim gang

“To keep anime is no benefit, to destroy it is no loss.”
-Hayao Miyazaki

fuck off Zig Forums

Trying to find "socialist" themes in art is the most pseud petit-bourgie thing there is. But at any rate they could have picked something actually interesting from JP animation instead of the anime equivalent of Maroon 5
youtube.com/watch?v=fVbV-f0rMFM
youtube.com/watch?v=u3IAZfODzH8
youtube.com/watch?v=A_48Cp-aJKc

It isn't titillating at all, the only sex in the show is one instance of an established couple doing it who literally get married the next day and have a baby

Personally the only good anime I have ever seen is called Mushi-shi. It is basically fairy tales, but is so serene and slow and (unsexualised) it seems like a refutation of all the other anime I've ever come across.

Nice to watch before bed.
youtube.com/watch?v=PdhR5XZNXbs&list=PLmFsuxBZy0-4xj-_YaAnukIJbL7PlDQXI

Watch more anime retard, not everything is sexualized lolis which is good viewing material and moeshit

dropped.

Really, leftists are anime reviewers now?

A Zig Forumslack on /a/ gave this analysis. I believe that Goblin Slayer unironically be the show that turns the tide in America over towards Fascism.

They say this all the time. Remember all the hype they generated by the Angry Birds movie being a redpill for europe? Also the fact is that Amerifats are already largely fascist being that they live in a settler-colonial society. They don't need to dehumanize more people. They already have multiple different ways to control and eliminate problematic domestic elements. That being said the establishment will definitely go hard(er) right as their empire dies though. However it won't save any of them.

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These kids are retarded. I doubt they even read the LNs.

Well at least the author didn't go with Orc Slayer.

This wouldn't be shocking, I mean a Fantasy Novel is literally what caused the creation of the Nazis.

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Utena, Sailor Moon, CCS, Higurashi, Madoka, Ping Pong, Nichijou, KlK, etc, etc

it is an fashit anime and we must fight against it, that it was so succesful with zoomers was because of our lack of action, we should never have a defeat like this everagain!!

The lobster man really fucked with Zig Forums‘s brain, didn’t he.

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Anime is reactionary, vacuous trash.

The fanservice that was supposed to make the show interesting was completely abandoned after the first episode, it just became a wasted premise when the show reached its conclusion and ditf should be forgotten.

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Girls und Panzer

There's still a couple fanservice episodes after that, but yeah it mostly goes away afterwards.