Darling In The Franxx (Story Recap)

The City of Eternity

Sypnosis:

The members of the 13th plantation are reward for their success in battles. An award ceremony is held where they are to be given medals, taking place in the city. The children are ecstatic, as it will be their first trip to the city which they protect. Among them, Zorome, who had always dreamt of becoming an adult, is beyond ecstatic.

On the day of the ceremony, the mayor of Plantation 13 personally encourages the children. The ceremony itself ends solemnly, and on the way home, Zorome strays from the group and becomes lost in the depths of the city.

Plot:

Zorome narrates that he'd been having the same dream over and over again where he's surrounded by darkness and staring at a distant bright light, and crying. Gradually, the light grows larger until it envelops him, and he lets out a loud scream.

Squad 13’s FRANXX units attack a klaxasaur and easily disarm it. Before Strelizia can kill it, Zorome and Miku deliver the final blow. However, Zorome takes too long to pull Argentea out of the klaxosaur and it shoots blood all over Argentea, much to Miku’s annoyance.

The Seven Sages discuss how Squad 13 is moving ahead compared to other squads. However, they are concerned individualized FRANXX giving a unique asset to the squad as a whole is creating an imbalance with APE’s ideology of calmness and informality, thus making the children imperfect. They decide to move on to the next stage of their plan, as klaxosaur activity has been detected in the depths of the Gran Crevasse recently and it is Squad 13’s duty to escort Zero Two to the Gran Crevasse. Papa agrees and says he will arrange for the squad to undergo maintenance at the Garden. Tarsier suggests that they reward the children and explains it has been custom since ancient times to reward soldiers as inspiration and their way of life reflects a bygone era. Papa agrees.

At the docking lounge, Zorome and Mikuargue about their previous battle. Hiro notices that Zero Two seems sad and hasn’t come out of the cockpit, so he asks her what's wrong. She replies that she was just thinking about something. Nana shouts that she has good news.

The parasites gather around her and she happily explains that they have to wear their formal clothing the next day as Papa is going to award them medals. The ceremony will be held in the Plantation Parliament HQ. Though the other kids are excited, Zorome doesn't understand and seems indifferent to the medals. Miku explains that it means they can go into the city. Zorome looks to Nana for confirmation and she smiles. He becomes overjoyed and yells, to the annoyance of Miku.

Zero Two looks indifferent and turns to leave. Before she can, Nana stops her and says that she'll arrange for her to undergo tests while there. Zero Two says that she hates the tests and always feels lousy after she takes them. She turns and smiles, saying that she's in great shape right now and will pass on the tests for a while. After she leaves, Nana says that she thought she'd grown more obedient since she teamed up with a certain someone.

The next morning, the kids stand at the door and they remark that Zorome looks cooler than usual. Zorome smugly agrees, but Futoshi teasingly says that he was checking himself out in the mirror the entire morning. Mitsuru asks how he didn't get sick of it, causing Zorome to become angry. Kokoro giggles and says that he does look a lot cooler, though, returning him to his positive mood. Miku tells Kokoro not to flatter him, causing she and Zorome to bicker again. Hiro notices that Zero Two is being standoffish, but Hachi and Nana open the door and they all leave.

At an ID gate, Hachi and Nana easily pass through. The children hesitate so Nana tells them to come along. Zorome suddenly throws himself through the gate, to the amazement of the others, but lands on the ground.