DARLING in the FRANXX Episode 9

I AM CRYING RIGHT NOW. OH MY GOD, THANK GOD GORO IS OKAY! HE IS THE BEST GUY, YOU CAN’T TELL ME OTHERWISE!!!!! THANK GOD FOR ZERO TWO’S INSIGHT!!!! IF IT WEREN’T FOR HER, I DON’T KNOW IF GORO WOULD STILL BE ALIVE AFTER THIS WEEK’S EPISODE!

But what really made me cry the most was how Goro has always been overshadowed by Hiro, and never resented him for it. He is the opposite of Mitsuru, because Hiro remains special to him in his own way.

It broke my heart how when they were little, he was the first to point out about Ichigo’s bangs getting a bit long, making it harder for her to see- so he asked Papa for a hair clip. But when he goes out to give it to her, he sees Hiro had done the same thing, but beaten him to the punch- and Ichigo who already had strong feelings for Hiro, was of course over the moon about it, and kept the clip to this very day.

So when Ichigo lost her hair clip during her mission to save Goro, I celebrated knowing now Goro had a window of opportunity to finally give it to her- but first he needed to survive. Jesus, I was freaking out over the Self-Destruction switch being out and open, I was worried he might touch it by accident, or she wouldn’t get there on time. DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THE GORO! He had me screaming at the computer, “CLOSE THAT SWITCH RIGHT NOW!” 

Afterwards, Goro was finally able to give her the hair clip, and I was so happy for him- but GAH! Ichigo really… the first thing that crossed her mind (because it was identical) was that he picked it up for her. Now that freaking hurts. Thankfully, Goro didn’t play the stupid noble-idiocy card to please her, and made it clear that this hair clip was from him, and he had wanted to give her, but couldn’t. Better yet, he confesses his love to her right then, and assures her he isn’t expecting an answer!

And I am so happy to see Goro take such bold action. It took a lot of guts to not only tell Hiro that he loves Ichigo, but explain to him that Ichigo feels the same way as Hiro does towards Zero Two. Hiro of course was shocked by all of this, mainly because he has been so outrageously oblivious to her feelings. It is important for Hiro to know because should he remain in the dark, she will never get the true closure she needs. We saw him be a bit overly conscious today, but that was quickly put to rest when Goro’s life was put on the line. I suspect we will see him being more cautious around Ichigo within the next few episodes, but it had to be done. The only thing I am a bit concerned about is how Ichigo will respond when/if she finds out Goro had to spell it out to him. Hopefully it will be more of a positive response… but it can go either way.

And this actually one of Goro’s greatest flaws. He can be an altruistic character, someone who will always put those he cares about above his own feelings or safety. He did that today by explaining to HIro what love is, and ejecting Hiro out of the FRANXX, fearing they wouldn’t survive. As result he put himself in a precarious situation that could have been avoided altogether due to their luck of where they ended up within the Klaxosaur, and setting up possibly a conflict with Ichigo in the future.

This also highlights the difference in the way Goro and Ichigo handle their unrequited love. Goro doesn’t mind it, it hurts, but he is okay with the way things are. Ichigo on the other-hand, is having a harder time with it. As the leader of the time, she has to put up a strong front, she needs to make sure her head is in the game, but we have seen her slip up by letting her feelings for Hiro get the better of her and leave her as an emotional wreck. In this situation, Goro ended up being her rock, but ultimately fails to let her do the same for him. Today Ichigo made it clear to him that she wants him to lean on her too, they are partners after all.

But it’s funny because Goro wasn’t always like that. When he little, he didn’t like the communal lifestyle and wanted to be alone. So despite being weak, he would deliberately pick fights so he could be alone, thinking he would succeed if he got the other kids to hate him. But when Ichigo helped him beat the kids who he always picked a fight with, it change his world. He learned if they can’t win alone, they can win when they are together. This is how they became a tightly knitted trio, but it’s also when he fell in love with her.

Of all the episodes so far, this is definitely my favourite one to date. I absolutely loved the way they delivered it, because there was no telling whether or not Goro was going to live or not. Flashbacks have that ominous brand of potentially being Death Flags, so naturally I was frantic and pretty much crying because god damn it, my emotions can’t take it! GORO DESERVES THE WORLD DAMN IT! I have my doubts Ichigo will ever return his feelings, but damn wouldn’t it be nice if she were to eventually fall in love with Goro…