Short Answer: Zero Two loves Hiro to the point that she is willing to sacrifice everything just to be together with him. At first, their relationship doesn’t seem to be driven by love, but Zero Two discovers that Hiro is her darling from the past as the series progresses. This realization further flourishes their relationship as they both vow to love each other till eternity.
Let’s take a deep dive into the relationship of Zero Two and Hiro to find out whether Zero Two truly loves him or not.
Zero Two when she first met Hiro
Zero Two and Hiro’s first meeting goes rather bizarre as Hiro accidentally witnesses Zero Two swimming in a river causing Zero Two to deem him a pervert, much to his dismay. Later, Hiro finds Zero Two in an injured state due to fighting a Klaxosaur. Coincidently, Zero Two had lost her partner, and Hiro refused to let her fight alone, so they ended up piloting Strelizia together. This encounter left Hiro with new hope as he managed to pilot a Franxx after such a long time.
Zero Two continues to take an interest in him. At the same time, Hiro remains uncertain of his feelings as he witnesses his friend Mitsuru getting wrecked after piloting with Zero Two. However, Hiro makes up his mind and decides to pilot with Zero Two regardless of the consequences, as he doesn’t want to be left out while his fellows fight on the frontlines.
Their relationship continues to grow with each episode, and surprisingly Zero Two managed to blend in with other children as well. Although Zero Two and Hiro were on good terms with each other initially, Hiro couldn’t decipher Zero Two’s obsession with killing Klaxosaurs. This mainly cause Zero Two didn’t properly open up with Hiro and the other children till half of the series.
You can watch the scene where Hiro first meets Zero Two right here!
Zero Two’s obsession with becoming a Human
Since the start of the series, We have seen Zero Two getting really aggressive when it comes to killing Klaxosaurs. Although other parasites also consider fighting Klaxosaurs a noble thing, Zero Two has a whole different ideology behind killing Klaxosaurs. She believes that killing Klaxosaurs will eventually make her human, and for that purpose, Zero Two is ready to go to any limit to kill Klaxosaurs.
With every episode, Zero Two seems to become more aggressive even toward Hiro because she wants to kill more Klaxosaurs, and her obsession with becoming human is driving her crazy to the point she begins to abuse Hiro’s honest feelings for her. She went as far as to call Hiro a fodder that broke Hiro’s heart, as shown in episode 12 of Darling in the Franxx.
“Give me all your life. I’m going to become a human. So I can meet my darling from back then.”
Zero Two to hiro
It is important to note that Zero Two’s obsession with becoming a Human doesn’t stop at just killing Klaxosaurs. She regularly trims her horns, which again shows how much Zero Two is sensitive about her appearance.
Check out the scene where Zero Two actually tried to take Hiro’s life!
Zero Two when she lived with Squad 13
Hiro was able to pilot a Franxx with Zero Two more than two times and even reversed the mutant tumor that had appeared on his chest due to an accumulation of yellow blood cells. Considering the growing compatibility of Hiro with Zero Two, the officials allowed Zero Two to move into the dorms so she could live along with her darling and other parasites.
The time Zero Two spent living with Hiro and other children is quite interesting and worth mentioning as her unusual behavior towards Hiro proved to be a significant lesson for other children. Zero Two interacts with Hiro more romantically during her stay at the dorms, like feeding him bread with a lot of honey in front of other children without showing any signs of embarrassment, as shown in episode 8 of Darling in the Franxx.
Such acts introduce the children to new ways to treat the opposite gender. Needless to say, the children in this show have no idea of what love is or what dating is for that matter so them seeing Zero Two feeding Hiro is something new for them.
Here’s a clip of Zero Two feeding Hiro in front of the squad 13.
“Darling! Grab on to me and never let go, okay?”
Zero Two To Hiro
Zero Two’s cheerful behavior and minor pranks on Hiro enabled other children to voice their thoughts more as in this way, they will be able to understand each other better. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that after watching the couple of Zero Two and Hiro, other children gained the ability to express their emotions. The future relationship of Mitsuru and Kokoro seems to be inspired by Zero Two and Hiro’s relationship.
Zero Two when Hiro rescues her on Earth
As I have mentioned before, Zero Two went out of control several times during fighting Klaxosaurs, but Hiro didn’t give up on her and managed to save her. For instance, Zero Two becomes aggressive during a mission in the Garden and tries to consume Hiro while saying she wants to become human so she would suck out his life, as shown in episode 12 of Darling in the Franxx.
Here’s a clip of what happened after when young Hiro rescued that cute, little, red, young Zero Two when no else was there to help her!
Here’s that touching moment where Zero Two and Hiro finally understood each other! That moment where Hiro’s words rescued Zero Two from fully transforming into a Klaxo Sapien.
“The picture book… You were the girl with the picture book back then, weren’t you?”
Hiro To Zero Two
Hiro experiences the memories of Zero Two, where Dr. Franxx forced her to undergo various experiments, but a boy who turned out to be Hiro himself saved her. Eventually, they got caught, and Dr. Franxx erased their memories, but Zero Two struggled and refused to let go of this memory as it was the first time anyone showed her kindness. Upon witnessing these memories, Hiro and Zero Two break into tears as they both have found their long-lost love, as shown in episode 13 of Darling in the Franxx.
However, due to several misunderstandings, Hiro fellows refrained Zero Two from meeting him as she tried to devour him. Later, We see Hiro saving Zero Two from going insane, and they finally manage to reconcile with each other, as shown in episode 15 of Darling in the Franxx.
“This world is surely much, much larger than we can ever imagine! We couldn’t do it back then, but this time, for sure, let’s go to the outside world together! Zero Two… Together, we are one.”
Hiro To Zero Two
Zero Two when Hiro rescues her in Space
With the help of Klaxosaur Princesses (Code 001), Zero Two and Hiro managed to free Star Entity from the control of VIRM and destroyed a portion of their fleet, but amidst all this, Zero Two lost consciousness as her mind remained linked with Star Entity. Hiro and other children remained on Earth while Star Entity and other Klaxosaurs left Earth to fight the VIRM army in space, as shown in episode 22 of Darling in the Franxx.
Although Zero Two’s body remained on Earth, the body still suffered as her consciousness was fighting along with the Star Entity. Hiro and his fellows decided to leave for space to save Zero Two. Upon reaching space, Hiro links with the Star Entity despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to return to Earth and saves Zero Two while swearing to stay by her side for eternity.
“I hereby vow to never let you go.”
Hiro To Zero Two
Their successful linking unlocks the final mode of Star Entity called Strelizia True Apus, which resembles Zero Two in the flesh. Later, Hiro and Zero Two leave for the dimensional gate that will lead them to the main plant of VIRM, as shown in episode 23 of Darling in the Franxx.
You May Also Like: Darling in the Franxx: Who is Code 000?
Darling in the Franxx features characters that are assigned a codename according to their abilities and significance. We all are familiar with Zero Two (002) and Klaxosaur Princess (001), which leaves the question of who is the mysterious Code 000 in Darling in the Franxx.
Many fans believed that Code 000 belongs to another ancient being like the Klaxosaur Princess, but in reality, Code 000 belongs to the production team of Darling in the Franxx. It does come as a surprise, but the creators of Darling in the Franxx did catch us off-guard by assigning themselves code 000 while we continue to create theories about it.
Our Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Zero Two loves Hiro because he saved her countless times and showed her love and kindness when everyone else deemed her a monster. Their affection for each other transcends the normal parameters of the term called love, as they love each other despite having so many differences. The way Hiro and Zero Two devote their souls to each other is genuinely aspiring for us and coming generations.
Thank you for reading! If you made it this far, you are awesome!
If you enjoyed this article, please check out our other articles for more Gundam and Mecha related stuff!