Darling In the FRANXX (Trigger/ A-1 Pictures collaboration)

It's not that Hiro was incapable of syncing with Ichigo, it's that they lost sync very quickly.

Piloting the FranXX seems to require natural ability (which seems to get better with lower code numbers) and mutual compatibility between the pilots. My guess is that the pilots are paired up based on mutual compatibility: Hiro and Naomi may have been compatible with each other, but Naomi presumably wasn't capable of piloting so the pair failed. Hiro and Ichigo may both be very capable pilots, but aren't mutually compatible.^note Or are no longer mutually compatible. My guess is that compatibility improves with time as a pair works together, at the expense of making the pair less compatible with others. Hiro and 02 are presumably both compatible and capable.

Edit: Compatibility improving with time may explain why knowledge of romance is so limited. Headquarters wants to avoid romantic desire preventing otherwise compatible pairs from forming.

edited 20th Jan '18 12:38:09 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings

Yeah, there's a big emphasis on piloting only being possible when both pilots are in sync, which could definitely just indicate a case of Ichigo and Hiro being capable but just not a good pair. The whole scene in the cockpit just kind of screams "couple with no sexual chemistry trying to get it on."

Branching off of that I could definitely see Zorome screwing himself over by torpedoing his relationship with his copilot over his mistreatment of Hiro.

edited 20th Jan '18 12:38:34 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Wow this show is like sexual Pacific Rim, seriously.

Also I gotta say I was straight up laughing at Ichigo this whole episode. From her visible disdain of 02 to outright crying at the end of the episode, as cruel as this may sound there is something so amusingly pathetic about her try-hard attempts to get with Hiro despite it being obvious as all Hell the interest the two have in each other. I feel bad for Goro, poor guy especially since he's so chill with the unfolding events & is looking to be a pretty good bro.

Also yeah Zerome is a fucking prick. Someone really needs to slug him.

edited 20th Jan '18 12:56:39 PM by slimcoder

I'll say this, we've had the quiet male/dominating female before, but very rarely is it explored like this.

I can’t help but notice that we very specifically haven’t seen a single shot of Zero-Two and Hiro piloting Strellizia together.

... she totally pegs him, doesn’t she?

Yeah, it's easy to assume he's the one on front…

Haven't seen the new episode yet, I'll watch it tomorrow. In terms of people saying this has a lot of "Does This Remind You of Anything? moments", I do wonder, is it more than Kill la Kill had?

Unlikely, since she's got all the control hardware built onto the back of her suit just like all the other girls.

edited 20th Jan '18 1:18:10 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings

Gotta say I was surprised that the girls actually connect right into the robot.

I was wondering how a mech would emote & this makes perfect sense.

Ah, right. =[ But how does she step on him, then?

…You know, even the title sounds like a weird sexual euphemism now.

edited 20th Jan '18 1:19:11 PM by Lyendith

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if she did have a way of "reversing the roles" as it were. I mean, there's clearly something unusual going on in there. In terms of their interactions, he's pretty much the submissive one the whole way, so it would be thematically fitting, at least. Even if the physical positions aren't reversed, there's zero doubt that she's the one running the show.

@Reyn: It's a contender, for sure. If the rest of the series keeps up with the pace of this episode, I'd say so.

edited 20th Jan '18 1:39:35 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Darling in the Fran XX..more like Darling in the Fran XXX. Amirite?

They could make it like he's laying on his back facing up xD

Man, this is the most 'sexual subtext of mechs' show I've ever seen. And I've Star Driver and Aquarion.

But yeah. While I'm tempted to feel sorry for Goro, in fact I don't, because he didn't seem to have a problem with any of this and things ended up working out in his favour.

Mostly, though, I spent this episode going 'ah crap, this had better not turn into a harem situation' and then ended up pretty impressed with where it actually went.

Sex Metaphor Robots: The Anime.

Seriously, we will probably have to create a separate Does This Remind You of Anything? page for this.

Is it too much to ask for Zorome to die screaming? We all know that not all of them are making it to the end, so the least they can do is start with him.

Ichigo attempts at getting between Hiro an Zero Two are indeed rather pathetic. I derived a weird satisfaction from having see her fail so hard.

I'm expecting that next episode they will finally catch on that it's not Hiro who was the problem here. None of this would happened if they just let him ride Zero Two.

When the dub comes out I'm tempted to have a running You Said X counter where every instance of innuendo has a Beavis And Butthead laugh in the background.

It's probably safer than a drinking game.

I've read a theory that Hiro is simply too... gifted for anyone other than Zero 2 to handle. Notice how when he tried to synchro with Ichigo it first went straight to 100% before shorting out.

Ah, he’s a power-bottom, then.

Zero Two is too high performance so she drains normal guys out of their... vitality. But Hiro is apparently... virile enough not to start aging rapidly.

Heheh, innuendo.

........ Huh so that Zero Two's partner that died last episode was younger than he looked then.

What's interesting about that exchange with the heads of APE is that Hiro is referred to as the "Special Specimen", and they're worried about him contaminating 02.

Not sure if there's a translation error there or not, but I'm inclined to suspect one.

The characters page on the website gives them swapped placement compared to the other pairs...

One subtle thing I do like about Hiro is he's actually DTF. Normally the mecha lead is sexually stunted, but he's more than game to pilot with Zero Two again.

She was the one providing the voice for Strelizia, though.

I don't have reliable sources for this, but I have read that the staff intend on having 02 and Hiro "swap places" as hero and heroine/protagonist and love interest throughout the story.

Well, she was the only one who was actually conscious at that point, and it's also implied that that particular mech is unique, so it might have a different piloting setup. But again, having their general roles be reverse doesn't necessarily require their physical positions to be switched. Even if they maintain the normal setup, the implication is still that he's on the receiving end of the process.

@Shulgo: So the implication is that both Hiro and Zero 2 have an issue where they... overload their partners too quickly, while pairing them up would allow them both to... keep pace with each other.

edited 20th Jan '18 6:54:47 PM by JapaneseTeeth