Short Answer: Klaxosaur Princess (001) kisses Hiro in order to take control of Strelizia as it is designed to be piloted by a male and female pair. Her goal then was to defeat the invading forces of VIRM and she was willing to do anything, includinga a kiss, to get the job done. Coincidentally, she saw the horns on Hiro’s head and got intrigued by them. This lead her to believe that Hiro is not an ordinary human and that he was compatible with piloting a Franxx with her.
It’s worth noting that Klaxo Sapiens, like Code 001, uses the kiss to bond with another person while extracting data from them. It is safe to say thatKlaxosaur Princess kissed Hiro not romantically but to take control and information from him.
Let’s take a deep dive into the events involving Klaxosaur Princess to discover whether that kiss she is attracted to Hiro.
What are Klaxosaurs?
Darling in the Franxx features biomechanical creatures called Klaxosaurs that first appeared when the APE organization extracted magma energy from the earth’s core. At first, they seem to be wild creatures without any consciousness, but later we discover that Klaxosaur are the weapons that came into being when an ancient race known as Klaxo Sapiens sacrificed their bodies to protect their planet from an extraterrestrial race called VIRM. The Klaxo Sapiens divided themselves into pairs; males became the core while females became the body of beings called Klaxosaur.
“We believed that by abandoning our ties and embracing solitude, we could perfect ourselves, make ourselves stronger.”
Code 001 to Hiro and Zero Two
At first, they retained their consciousness, but eventually, they succumbed to their wild instincts and lost their intellect while becoming selfless creatures. Humans believed them to be their true enemy as they continued to fight them over magma energy which is also the result of evolution that occurred within weak Klaxo Sapiens. In simple words, the powerful Klaxo Sapiens became Klaxosaur while weak ones turned themselves into energy as a measure to save planet earth from desertification.
The Klaxosaurs are classified into four groups: Conrad, Mohorovicic, Gutenberg, and Super Lehmann. Conrad is the weakest class of Klaxosaurs that are easy to defeat, while Super Lehmann is the strongest class of Klaxosaurs as they are about the size of a giant plantation, making them a very serious threat. All Klaxo Sapiens, with the exception of Klaxosaur Princess (001), are extinct in the current timeline of Darling in the Franxx, as they evolved into Klaxosaur and magma energy centuries ago.
This video is a great watch if you want to learn more about Klaxosaurs and the Klaxosaur Princess.
Why did the Klaxosaur Princess take an interest in Hiro?
The Klaxosaur Princess has lived for more than 60 million years as she is immortal to the flow of time and space, but she has never seen any human with blue horns; that’s why she begins to take an interest in Hiro as he is the sole human that has evolved to such a level close to the Klaxo Sapiens. The Klaxosaur Princess found the growing horns of Hiro’s an intriguing thing and ended up piloting Strelizia with him to take control of their ultimate weapon called Star Entity, as shown in episode 20 of Darling in the Franxx.
However, soon she gets paralyzed by the virus program that VIRM integrated into the Star Entity. Unable to get free, She loses hope, but after witnessing Hiro struggling against his doomed fate, she finally understands that one should not live to fight; instead, fight to survive as it is what you call living, as shown in episode 21 of Darling in the Franxx. Moreover, Hiro’s firm trust in Zero Two reminded Klaxosaur Princess what it truly means to love someone as she has forgotten about love which is indeed the most revolutionary power of all times.
“Perhaps some lives only shine when in unison with others.”
Code 001 to Hiro and Zero Two
The beautiful union of Hiro and Zero Two restores her fate in humanity and life itself. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Hiro inspired Klaxosaur Princess and gave her a new hope to the point she sacrificed her life to give him one more chance to save humanity from eternal ruin.
Here’s the scene where code 001 kisses Hiro and takes control of the Franxx. Check it out!
Code 001’s connection with Code 002
Klaxosaur Princess (001) striking resemblance with Zero Two (002) is not just a coincidence as both are biologically related. Some fans thought Zero Two was a twin sister or child of Klaxosaur Princess, but in reality, Zero Two is a clone made from her cells. Dr. Franxx met Klaxosaur Princess during a magma extraction operation, and he fell in love with her at first sight. She smelled the blood of her brethren on his hands and bit off his arm in rage, as shown in episode 19 of Darling in the Franxx.
However, She let him go, unaware of the fact that Dr. Franxx has stolen some of her hair. Later, Dr. Franxx performed several experiments on her cells extracted from hair to create a clone, but all experiments failed until a clone surprisingly survived, and Dr. Franxx assigned her Code 002. It is important to note that Zero Two inherited the KlaxoSapien blood of Code 001, but she didn’t inherit some of her powers like Telepathy and Spider legs because Zero Two is an artificial clone. Dr. Franxx wasn’t concerned about these powers as he created Zero Two to pilot the giant mass of Klaxosaur called Star Entity as only a pure KlaxoSapien is capable of piloting it.
“Ah, the fake that the humans created. You are not fit to pilot our child.”
Code 001 to Zero Two
In childhood, Zero Two resembled more like Code 001, but eventually, she developed skin like normal humans because she wanted to become human, like her beloved Darling (Hiro). Moreover, Zero Two had red body color, unlike Code 001 blue color, which might be because of genetic mutation or side effects of artificial creation.
How Code 001 feels about Code 002
In Darling in the Franxx, Code 001 moments with Zero Two are very limited; in fact, Code 001 hasn’t talked much with any human except Hiro, as he turned out to be an interesting subject for her. Klaxosaur Princess despises Zero Two as she considers her a cheap clone that humans created to steal their ultimate weapon, Star Entity.
She also fears that humans would use Zero Two as a means to destroy her brethren; that’s why she mocks her and considers her nothing but a shallow effort of humans in creating a KlaxoSapien. Klaxosaur Princess’ hate towards Zero Two is not based on her personality. She initially thought of her as an arrogant clone with no feelings, but after witnessing Zero Two save her lover Hiro despite all obstacles, she changed her mind and began to think of her positively. Code 001 trust in Zero Two is proved by the fact that she sacrificed her life and entrusted the faith of planet earth to her.
“Decide whether you want to fight or accept your ruin.”
Code 001 to Zero Two and Hiro
In short, Code 001 discovered the true meaning of life thanks to Zero Two, who showed more humanity than all humans despite being a clone. As her race abandoned everything for power, Code 001 discovers the lost charm of living in Zero Two.
You Might Also Like: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Suppose you’re into mecha anime with depressing, dark-themed storylines but at the same time, is entertaining as well. In that case, Neon Genesis Evangelion is the perfect answer as it has the right amount of action and thriller one could ask from a mecha anime. Furthermore, the plot is quite similar to Darling in the Franxx since both anime depict young people fighting for survival with gigantic, powerful mechas known as Franxx and Evangelions.
In short, you’ll love Neon Genesis Evangelion if the clashes between Franxx and Klaxosaurs piqued your curiosity. It’s a mecha anime, like Darling in the Franxx, but instead of fighting other mechas, humanity is fighting for survival against invincible monsters known as Angels.
To learn more about Neon Genesis Evangelion, you can click here to read our articles about it.
Thank you for reading! If you made it this far, you are amazing!
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out our other articles for more Mecha and Gundam fun!