English Dub Review: Darling in the FranXX “Never Let Me Go”

Hiro and 02’s battle comes to an end as the rest of the Parasites begin their new lives.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

While Hiro and 02 head to VIRM’s home planet to take them on, the rest of Squad 13 try their hardest to get life on Earth back on track.

Our Take:

It’s been 72 days since Hiro and 02 made the choice to travel through the dimensional portal gate to confront VIRM head on. To me, skipping so much time seemed like a bold choice for the show to take. And before the episode ends, we get a lot more time skips. By the end, though, I’m not convinced this setup helped the show in the end. All the jumping into the future left Never Let Me Go feeling disconnected and robbed it of chances to build up momentum.

On planet Earth, Kokoro doesn’t want special treatment despite carrying the first pregnancy in, well, hundreds of years. This leads to an extremely boring and repetitive series of scenes which include people offering Kokoro food, clothing, etc. (Also, Kokoro teaches a group of girls sewing, which is a little ‘ugh’ in this context. Leave fighting to the dudes, ladies! Just sew clothes for all the babies you’re gonna have!)

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Goro look to the skies and talk about how they wish there was some way to help Hiro and 02 out in the long battle against their extraterrestrial foes. This is one of the several nicer moments in the episode, most of which lean on the camaraderie that’s been developed between the squad over the last 23 episodes. The scene at the end of the episode, with everyone looking into the horizon thinking back on their good old days, is artfully executed as well.

Stuck in space, Hiro and 02 have ‘all the time in the world’. And they have a lot to talk and think about, mainly their newfound bond that’s deeper than ever. Merged together in some strange way, they seem to be able to hear each other’s thoughts and feelings. The voice work in these scenes is very good. I believe it’s just Tia Ballard’s voice with some modifications to be lower, but they may have even mixed Matt Chapman in with her.

More time passes – two hundred and forty-five days, to be exact. Kokoro’s baby is born, making Mitsuru a father. They nsmEach Parasite takes their own time and, apparently, develops individual passions and interests. I would’ve liked to see more of this, rather than simply hearing about it through Ichigo’s voiceover. After over two years, Hiro and 02 finally reach VIRM’s homeworld and struggle to overcome the hostile aliens. Their last stand is a bit confusing, and mostly seems to add up to your standard ‘power of love overcoming evil’ conclusion, but that’s not a bad thing necessarily. Hiro and 02’s relationship has grown and gotten me more

Never Let Me Go, the twenty-fourth and final episode of Darling in the FranXX, provides a fitting conclusion to an action-packed story arc. It does a decent job tying up the ultimate fate of the Parasites and their lives in the post-Papa era. While it doesn’t manage to string everything together perfectly, it’s far from my worst expectations. Hiro and 02 even get the storybook ending they deserve.

Score
7/10