Short Answer: When it comes to messages, Darling in the Franxx comes with a lot. These messages tell us a lot about our world’s current state and its potential future. The most prevalent message in Darling in the Franxx is probably the concept of sexuality and how it affects birth rates. However, that is not to say that the other messages like sex drive and homosexuality aren’t as impactful because they also have significant relatability with the real world. Adults in Darling in the Franxx publicize sexual activities as taboo, and children discover the truth regarding reproduction on their own, just like in the real world.
We find several insane similarities between the fictional world of Darling in the Franxx and our real world, probably because the author wants to create awareness about the things our society neglects. With that said, let’s explore the different aspects of Darling in the Franxx that are a part of our world as well.
Sexuality
Darling in the Franxx features children left in the dark about sexuality and how male and female intimate feelings for each other result in reproduction. Adults strictly look over children’s growth while manipulating them into believing their sole purpose is to fight for the sake of humanity. However, even with strict regulations, adults couldn’t stop children from learning about sexuality. After all, they possess reproductive organs. As such, it’s no surprise for them to get aware of how genders work while developing sexual feelings for opposite genders. Ichigo’s developing romantic feelings for Hiro is one of the signs highlighting the awareness of sexuality in children.
“Children are usually obedient, docile and rational. They only live to fulfill their mission: fight the Klaxosaur and protect the ADULTS. Not these kids. Too many times, they don’t know what to do with their emotions and get carried away. That’s definitely not child-like.”
Nana talking about Squad 13
The brazen sexuality of children in Darling in the Franxx is similar to the real world, where youth go through the same process of developing sexuality at a young age which helps them in shaping their personality. Although it is one of the most challenging phases in one’s life, it indeed helps one grow into a mature person. When youngsters go through this phase, they are likely to be driven by their newfound feelings in this phase, just like how Ichigo ends up becoming the subject of hate as she couldn’t help but act on her immature feelings for Hiro.
Sex drive and Birthrates
Darling in the Franxx depicts a world where adults have lost their reproductive abilities in exchange for immortality, causing a major decrease in birth rates. Moreover, when APE took over the world, they imposed heavy penalties on reproduction. As a result, people lost their sex drives and could no longer produce babies. On the other hand, the children are the only humans left with reproductive organs, but they are unaware of the reproduction process. However, gradually they begin to develop sex drives through various emotional events, like Mitsuru and Kokoro getting together after supporting each other through hard times. Kokoro discovers a baby picture book and stumbles upon the reproduction process and eventually decides to try it with Mitsuru, as shown in episode 17 of Darling in the Franxx.
“We lived our lives believing our only purpose was to ride the FRANXX into battle. But you know what? That might not be true! We could carry new lives and leave them for the future. When I learned about that, I was very happy.”
Kokoro to Squad 13
The fact that Kokoro and Mitsuru ended up having intercourse despite being ignorant about the whole reproduction thing tells us how opposite genders are naturally attracted to each other to produce an offspring as it is required for survival. The author used this whole scenario to portray the declining birth rate in Japan because people are losing their sex drive while developing infertility. There are also more reasons like less marriage and inflation that results in low birth rates.
Homosexuality and Birthrates
Darling in the Franxx focuses very much on biological themes like birthrates and species’ survival from names of children to their given titles; all the terms related to reproduction and biology, like the XX symbol on Franxx, symbolize male and female chromosomes. It also stresses how homosexuality results in a lower birthrate. Ikuno’s sexual feelings for Ichigo that remains unrequited further prove that Darling in the Franxx discourages homosexuality. Ikuno wanted to pilot Franxx with Ichigo, but pistil to pistil piloting is impossible as Franxx only operates when a male and female connect with each other. This reference also applies to reproduction, where intercourse between two females is not possible, and attempting homosexual intercourse only leads to decreased birth rates.
“I love you, Ichigo.”
Ikuno confessing her love to Ichigo
In our world, Homosexuality is becoming quite common, but people haven’t realized its outcome yet. If it continues at this pace, the whole world will suffer from declining birth rates which would put humanity’s existence in danger. That’s probably why creators of Darling in the Franxx integrated this theme to create awareness about it.
Destruction of Earth
The Darling in the Franxx storyline features a dystopian future in which humanity lives in massive plantations powered by Magma Energy as the rest of the world is barren, but the true tragedy is that humans extracted an excessive amount of Magma Energy from Earth’s core, causing desertification to the planet. The author must have used this setting to send a message about how our real Earth is deteriorating as we continue to exploit natural resources while producing pollution and that it will not be long before the planet becomes uninhabitable.
“By the time we finally fought off VIRM, fighting and warfare was all that remained of our civilization.”
Code 001 explaining about desertification of Earth
Looking back on the timeline of Darling in the Franxx, the Klaxon Sapien race also met demise because they overused Earth’s natural resources to gain the upper hand in their war against an alien race called VIRM. Eventually, the Planet ran out of energy, and Klaxo Sapiens sacrificed their own lives to save the planet from destruction. Several million years later, Humanity ended up doing the same mistake, causing harm to the planet, but Hiro and Zero Two defeated VIRM in due time at the cost of their lives while their friends and fellow parasites stopped extraction of Magma Energy and eventually restored Earth back to its normal state.
Teens coming of age, raging hormones, and new feelings in their bodies
Adults created children for the sole purpose of piloting Franxx while laying out a calculated tragic lifestyle for them that causes them to die before reaching adulthood. However, Squad 13 children managed to remain alive and begin to develop raging hormones and new feelings in their bodies that every human develops during such age (15-17). Since children weren’t aware of the reproduction process and sexual drive that starts at this age, they found this situation troubling, like Mitsuru and Kokoro developing intimacy and progressing towards intercourse while remaining scared of the future. On the other hand, Goro, who has been suppressing his romantic feelings for Ichigo, could no longer hold his desires and bluntly confesses to Ichigo. These combined events clearly demonstrate the change in children’s hormones and, ultimately, their bodies.
“The beginning of adolescence, it’s just a small realization. You can’t understand the others, and they misunderstand you. It seems to me there’s such a huge divide between us. A change of heart like this makes a lot of things that were obvious, not obvious anymore.”
Miku prior to the Boys vs Girls conflict
Children exploring the sexual dynamics of being a human is relatable to real-life. This phase is called puberty and it’s where hormones in the bodies of young teens develop during this period. It is considered the most unusual time in one’s life as unexpected changes and growth are observed, just like Hiro learns what it truly means to love someone. At the same time, Zero Two realizes that race and origin are just useless barriers when it comes to love.
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Our Final Thoughts:
Upon analyzing the theme and purpose behind Darling in the Franxx, I can clearly say the creators of this series are bold enough to create a storyline that not only lays stress on sexuality but also create awareness about several issues connected with it, like homosexuality and low birth rates. Although some might feel that Darling in the Franxx is overly sexualized, in the end, it raises a voice on things that society fails to acknowledge and resolve, especially the deteriorating condition of our planet earth and declining birth rates that threaten the survival of humanity.
Thank you for reading!
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