DARLING in the FRANXX Episode 20

WHAT. THE. @!#&!$#* IS GOING ON?!?!!?!?

Where do I even begin?!

I am mind-blown right now because I don’t think any of us were prepared for this, nor saw this coming. Sure, I think most of us suspected APE were an alien of a sort, but I don’t think any of us expected them to turn out the way they did. APE are VIRM, invaders from space that the Klaxosaurs once fought against before holing up into the earth, and prepared for their return…. Except clearly, they weren’t completely prepared  since VIRM obviously were able to infiltrate the planet and blend in amongst the Humans.

APE’s objective was to obtain control of Star Entity, a mass of life that is said could disturb the universe’s peace, bring that and the Hringhorni to space to use as soldiers. Zero Two/Strelizia was supposed to serve as the key. However in case they were not able to do so, they have prepared counter-measures should the Klaxosaur Princess gain control of it, by hijacking it, and force it to self-destruct and destroy the entire planet along with it.

Yes, that is APE’s grand back-up plan.
Just abandon everything, and resume their original roles.

You have to wonder what the Nines are thinking now, especially Alpha who has always believed in Papa’s words/will. Alpha in particular was acting weird today, it looked as if Squad 13 as a whole were getting under his skin because they are no longer loyal to Papa/APE. I don’t know if he was jealous of the fact Papa had been giving them “special treatment”, but either way, all of that has been thrown out the window now that Papa has officially abandoned them and the planet.

Geez, what is everyone going to do now? I can’t imagine the Parasites will accept the Klaxosaur Princess as their new commander, their entire world has been flipped upside down and there is surely to be mass confusion. Squad 13 certainly has the opportunity to step up and lead the charge, being the only ones with minds and will of their own. Will the Nines follow, or will they side up with VIRM? It is impossible to tell with the other squads, since the only other ones died in a suicide mission, but how does everyone else feel about the revelation of using Klaxosaurs to fight Klaxosaurs, and the fact they have pilots too? Do they understand it? Are they able to connect the dots? Squad 13 is able to understand because they witnessed several things to help connect the dots, starting with Miku and Zorome realizes the “pilots” were the golden figures they spotted. And S-Splanning was excavating klaxosaurs that would serve as the base of FRANXX units.

We learned that the “magma energy” they have been mining were one of Klaxosaurs’ two forms. One returned to the earth and became energy, the other consumed energy and undergone physical evolution, which resulted losing their intelligence. Klaxosaurs are biological weapons built by the Klaxo Sapiens, in order to function they needed one male and one female, the female’s soul is connected to the weapon and the male’s soul took root in the core, aka the cockpit. This is how we have the FRANXX, and how genetically modified humans can pilot it.

We also discovered, the Klaxosaur Princess does not recognize/acknowledge Zero Two as one of her own, but identifies her as a fake. You know who she declares as her “child?” Hiro! Hearing that and then witnessing her assault him was absolutely disgusting and uncomfortable to watch.

And you know what was also gross? How Dr. Franxx wanted to be the one to pilot the Strelizia Apath with the Klaxosaur Princess. Yup, he has gone completely mad.

In other news, there is hope for Kokoro and Mitsuru, saying each other’s names helps trigger it (despite having removed their rings). Oh and Kokoro is showing signs of pregnancy. Welp. Honestly I am half expecting them to get killed just after they remember each other, since they are not exactly in prime condition to fight due to the side effects of their memories being manipulated.
Also it did not go unnoticed that Kokoro now has glowing light horns as the Nines do! What does this mean?!

With the Klaxosaur Princess being unable to pilot the Strelizia Apath, it could be Zero Two may be the only option left, since she miraculously was able to survive after all of that. If it weren’t for her regenerative abilities, she would have surely been dead by now.

Things are looking pretty grim for everyone right now, death flags are everywhere, especially for Hiro and Zero Two. Talking about the things they would like to do after they complete the battle, still under the naive assumption Papa would still grant them their future. And I have to laugh at that, because the battle had only just begun, and Papa has already broken the promise he had no intention of keeping by abandoning them and is now attempting to blow up the planet!