Darling in the Franxx – 09[Triangle Bomb]

Today on Darling in the Franxx, death flags averted. I admit that throughout this episode I fully prepared myself to see Goro die. The signs were everywhere with him confirming to Hiro that he was in love with Ichigo, the mission leaving him stranded with a trolosuar, the hair clip as well as the base fully admitting they were ready to leave him for dead. But low and behold Goro gets to live another day and even goes as far as to confess his feelings to Ichigo. The beginning of this episode had me worried that this series was heading in the direction of KIznaiver but Goro essentially did the one thing the Kiznaiver kids couldn’t manage to do even after a full cour. As for my thoughts on it I am in favor of Goro nuking this silly love triangle Ichigo has going on with Hiro. For let us be realistic here, Ichigo is not getting together with Hiro as the boy in question has pretty much fully decided on Zero Two. He’s made his feelings clear about Ichigo and while Goro revealing Ichigo’s feelings to him have made him more conscious of her, I doubt he would feel for her that way. To begin with Ichigo’s feelings seem very much like a first crush kind of deal that is a mixture of admiration for his younger self. If we are to judge purely on relationship compatibility, Hiro and Ichigo just feels awkward while Goro and Ichigo are ridiculously compatible. Goro takes care of Ichigo when she’s overreaching while Ichigo stops Goro from taking on everything himself. As far as I am concerned these two are perfect for one another and I am hoping that Goro’s confession helps get Ichigo off the doomed ship that is Hiro and move on.

The monster of the episode is quite fascinating being what looks to be a similar to that of a human brain with does seem to hint that these monsters may be related to humanity in some way. After all they have never been referred to as aliens which suggests their origin is on earth and with the human experimentation that’s going on here, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say these monsters were inadvertently created by humanity. Not the most shocking plot twist, I know, but this show hasn’t been all that surprising with it’s plot direction. Well discounting the odd unexpected fanservice. EIther way we had some good action and I would consider this a pretty strong episode that helps flesh Goro out, even if the majority of his fleshing out is just confirming his romantic feelings for Ichigo. It’s also fun to see Miku start a catfight with Ichigo, prompting Zorome to take the wise road of sneaking off frame before sparks fly. It is hypocritical of Miku though as the whole reason Goro got trapped in the first place was due to them jumping in to attack.

I have always had this feeling with Darling in the Franxx that it would take a darker turn and that feeling still persists here even if shaken by the current episodes events. It wouldn’t be out of the norm for this show to turn at the halfway point as Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann did take on a more serious storyline as they hit their middleground. It’s isn’t baseless to think this show would go in this direction as there have been several hints to darker aspects and a general idea that these kids are destined to die one way or the other. Either in battle or what is a more likely candidate, shortened lifespan. It does feel like someone is going to die here but it wouldn’t be the first time for a show to hint at dark developments only to take the light road. I would say I will have my answer on where this story stands in a few episodes.