There is little to surprise, as Darling in the Franxx has truly swept across the anime medium with a huge fan following when it was first released. And this surge in popularity only gained more momentum with each passing episode of the show. The series portrays an innovative take on the mecha genre, filled with sprinkles of romance elements, which made it a truly daring concept coming from the creative mind of Atsushi Nishigori.
In a 2018 interview, Nishigori opened up about the creative process behind this series, and some of the revelations left fans and critics in awe. A previously unknown creative aspect of Darling in the Franxx changed how mecha anime is generally perceived from its definition, which is also the reason why Cyberpunk: Edgerunners became so popular.
The Mecha Genre Needed Something More Than Just Robots!
During Crunchyroll EXPO 2018, the creative team behind Darling in the Franxx provided insight into how this global anime sensation even came to be. Director Atsushi Nishigori, Character Designer Masayoshi Tanaka, and Producer Yōsuke Toba answered burning questions from fans in their respective panels at the Crunchyroll EXPO.
According to Nishigori, the original concept art for the mechas was surprisingly traditional. It was just like other previous mecha designs one can find in series like Gundam, which was rather unappealing and did not provide enough significance to the robots. So, the early designs took quite a long way in their development, as director Nishigori envisioned a more integrated relationship between robots and pilots.
We started brainstorming and thought “does it really have to be robots? How can we portray the idea that robots and pilots are one and the same?”
The final organic design for the series was a deliberate move to diversify the series away from conventional mecha aesthetics. Nishigori wanted to represent the unity between robots and pilots so that machines and humans could be portrayed as the same. This innovative choice in design became a signature aspect of the series, otherwise Darling in the Franxx could have been Studio Trigger’s first big fail.
How Atsushi Nishigori, the Director, Came up With The Concept For The Series
The idea of Darling in the Franxx came quite naturally to director Nishigori. He was simply pondering on what kind of show his team was supposed to make. For a perfect depiction of the scenario between robots and everyday life, he started to look for his team’s specialties and finally found a staff that could show them in a unique way. Nishigori also showed some grief, pointing out that this blend of genres hadn’t been executed effectively in recent years.
The concept was a natural result of the staff I had gathered and also the thought that I don’t feel it has been done very well in the past few years. It definitely came afterwards, however. First the staff, then the concept.
As a result, Darling in the Franxx is still to this day considered a great series all over the world. This truly has all the perfect and strong elements of the mecha genre combined with characters that are as near to real life as they can be. Moreover, it is also filled with moving stories that create the right amount of nostalgia in the head. Nishigori chose the best attributes of his team to work with, which eventually resonated with the audiences of Darling in the Franxx.
Darling in the Franxx is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
