One of the things I do when I finish an anime or JRPG or what have you is think about how far its come since its opening. The contrast between where a story starts and ends is important to me, and the sense of the story having been on a journey is one that really resonates with me.
If nothing else, Darling in the Franxx went on a journey.
It's interesting to look back at my first post, and the almost child-like optimism it contains. The first episode was genuinely really good, and so much of this show is good. Visually, musically, even in terms of its writing, especially early on, Darlrfra was genuinely very remarkable. As a production it almost never faltered, and everyone involved in its creation, from the director to the voice actors to the animators to everyone in-between, worked really hard to make this show. So it's a little disappointing that the journey just wasn't much to write home about.
On the last page I said I expected it to basically just be Gunbuster, and that is more or less what it was. And in the end that is its main failing. At some point it stopped being Darling in the Franxx. It stopped being its own thing, and became increasingly less thoughtful. The sincere attempts at having to say about making bonds were simply far less interesting than the social satire it started with, and just plain sappy.
As I said, I wanted to see the characters complete their journey, and I was happy enough to see that. But despite the show having come a long way, it left me cold.
)