Trivia / Iron Widow

• Approval of God: Mitsuyasu Sakai, who is in charge of the sci-fi setting of DARLING in the FRANXX, read the Japanese version of the novel and enjoyed it. He's grateful that Zhao was inspired to write the story based on the show and understands their frustration with the show's storytelling.
• Inspiration for the Work: According to the author, the idea for the Chinese Mythology-infused Humongous Mecha story came about from spite and dissatisfaction at the direction DARLING in the FRANXX took after the first thirteen episodes. The book was also pitched as Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale. More specifically:
  Bonus Summary for Weebs: Under siege by monsters beyond the Great Wall like that shitty Matt Damon movie, except the monsters are Cybertronian-like sentient machines, a society that has the fashion, social customs, and beliefs of Ancient China but futuristic tech fights back by pulling a Neon Genesis Evangelion and rebuilding their very invaders into giant mecha. A boy-girl pair in their teens, because of course they have to be teens, pilot the mecha Darling in the Franxx style, except in a much more sensible position (he hugs her from behind). Under command of human pilots, these mecha take on forms inspired by East Asian myth creatures and transform like Transformers through Digimon-esque evolution lines that get more humanoid as you go on. The pilots physically embody them, so it's more Attack on Titan rules than Gundam. Oh, and they blast qi attacks, so the battles honestly read like a bunch of furries engaged in a Dragon Ball Z fight, and that's no one's fault but mine.
• No Export for You: Despite being based on Chinese mythology and culture, the book doesn't have a Chinese translation.
• Sleeper Hit: Absolutely no one expected Xiran Jay Zhao's debut novel to climb to the #1 spots on the New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller lists on its release.
• They Also Did: Besides Iron Widow, the author’s other claims to Internet fame include starting a YouTube channel for the initial purpose of chronicling their famous Twitter thread^note The Twitter account itself having originally been created for the purpose of posting Yu-Gi-Oh! memes and shitposts calling out the numerous instances of inaccuracy in Mulan (2020) and starting an online petition to make the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game an official Olympic sport, which got enough attention to be acknowledged by the Japanese voice actor of Yusei Fudo.
• What Could Have Been: According to a comment from Xiran under this video, there were more scenes planned between Shimin and Yizhi that had to be cut due to word count limits.

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