History Anime / DarlingInTheFranxx

* BlackWidow: Zero Two is known as the "partner killer" for a reason. (She is also specifically compared, at one point, to a vampire who sucks the blood of her parnters until they have nothing left to give, killing them.)

** Probably its best to say this show doesn't use sexuality, its '''about''' sexuality, with the [=FranXX=] as a metaphor.

* SickeninglySweethearts: Zorome describes Futoshi and Kokoro like this, and while they're not exactly over the top (and don't even seem to be necessarily ''together'') they seem to have the most uncomplicated and "sweet" relationship in [[{{DysfunctionJunction}} the main cast. In Episode 5 they actually seem to start picking up Hiro and Zero Two's romantic behavior, with Kokoro handfeeding Futoshi at breakfast.

* RedOniBlueOni: [[spoiler:Hiro and Zero Two. In more ways than one.]]

* RedOniBlueOni: [[Spoiler: Hiro and Zero Two. In more ways than one.]]

* AnimalMotifs: The young parasites are compared to nestlings huddled together in their dark nest dreaming of one day being able to see the sky; the cooperation between male and female pilots operating Franxx is compared to a story of a species of bird where males and females have only one wing and thus can only fly together; and parasites who are unable to fly are compared to birds unable to fly, doomed to an early death because, "where would a flightless bird go?"

* DugTooDeep: According to the manga, the klaxosaurs came from when people started drilling into the crust to harvest magma for power.

* FourIsDeath: Hiro's locker number from Episode 2, is number 4.

* WhamShot:[[spoiler: At the end of episode three, we see Mitsuru bleeding and injured in the cockpit of Strelizia, revealing that the rumors surrounding Zero Two's partners being unable to ride with her more than three times before dying is true.]]

* AggressiveSubmissive: Zero Two's ''insistence'' that the shy and introverted Hiro be the one to pilot her Franxx comes across as this. She's more assertive and domineering in their relationship, yet when when they pilot together she would ''technically'' relinquish some measure of control and he would be the one piloting.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Foreground, from left to right:'' Futoshi, Zorome, Mitsuru, Gorou, Hiro, Ikuno, Ichigo, Kokoro and Miku; ''Background:'' Zero Two.]]

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: In episode 3, [[spoiler: Nana denies Hiro's request to join Zero Two in rescuing the others by piloting Strelizia, even though the audience has been led to believe he would be the best person for the job.]]

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: In episode 3, [[spoiler: the higher ups in charge of the plantation deny Hiro's request to join Zero Two in rescuing the others by piloting Strelizia, even though the audience has been led to believe he would be the best person for the job.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Zorome and Mitsuru are hit with this hard in episode 3, though for opposite reasons. [[spoiler:Zorome bragging instead of finishing a klaxosaur gets Mitsu badly hurt, invoking MyGodWhatHaveIDone from him. Mitsuru casually abandoning his partner and then [[NeverMyFault bragging how much better Zero Two is for him]] and how much better he is for Zero Two than Hiro invokes IAmNotLeftHanded from her, getting ''Mitsuru'' badly hurt.]]

* AlienBlood: Interestingly, at the very start of episode 1 Zero Two (or at least someone greatly resembling her) is shown to have blue blood, but at the end of the episode she is bleeding red blood.

* YouAreNumberSix: Only Zero Two is known by her numbered designation while the rest of the children have actual names. And even those are only a very small step above this trope, as they are based on alternative readings of their respective numbers.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: In episode 3, [[spoiler: the higher ups in charge of the plantation deny Hiro's request to join Zero Two in rescuing the others by piloting Strelizia, even though the audience has been led to believe he would be the best person for the job.]]

** Probably its best to say this show doesn't use sexuality, its '''about''' sexuality, with the FranXX as a metaphor.

The story is set in the distant future. The world is ruined, and humanity establishes mobile fort cities called "plantations". Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the "birdcage." Children living there know nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their lives consist of battling to carry out missions. Their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as klaxosaur, and the children pilot machines called Franxx to face off against them. For the children, riding the Franxx proves their existence.

* YouAreNumberSix: Only Zero Two is known by her numbered designation while the rest of the children have actual names. And even those are only a very small step above this trope, as they are based on alternative readings of their respective numbers.

* ADogNamedDog: All the children's names, with Zero Two as the exception, are just alternative readings of their [[YouAreNumberSix designations]].

The story is set in the distant future. The world is ruined, and humanity establishes the mobile fort city Plantation. Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the "birdcage." Children living there know nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their lives consist of battling to carry out missions. Their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as klaxosaur, and the children pilot machines called Franxx to face off against them. For the children, riding the Franxx proves their existence.

* WhamShot:[[spoiler: At the end of episode three, we see Mitsuru dead in the cockpit of Strelizia, revealing that the rumors surrounding Zero Two's partners dying is true.]]