Jacob Chapman, AKA JesuOtaku.

Works at Anime News Network.

Said this:

I could go on and on about this, being explosively angry.

But honestly, He’d be lucky if I did that.

Because I’m not gonna give him the excuse of ignoring this through the reason of ‘He’s yelling and screaming like a child.’

Nope, just CALM dissection here.

Now, let us begin.

“Darling In The Franxx is right wing propaganda, just motivated by different factors.”

First off, ‘right wing’ is an Americanized term, used to discuss conservative opinions in America. This right away shows that you are not viewing DitF in the right lense for this kind of situation, comparing a highly liberal and individualistic country’s values to a more conservative and collectivist thinking country. The two are NOT compatible.

You see, the big issues that plague Japan right now isn’t LGBT rights. They haven’t gotten to that point. The issues plaguing Japan right now are issues of xenophobia and sexism, caused heavily from the older population holding onto older views. The only reason Japan would care about LGBT rights is a way of selling to the highly liberal western fanbase.

And right there is also where your argument falls apart. When the outrage over trump, the constant cries of sexism and LGBT issues are the most reccuring issues in our news and media: It’s safe to say that our country is MUCH more liberal than conservative because the money obsessed industries are targeting LIBERAL values.

The almighty dollar has no political allegence.

I say all this due to what he talks about in the future

“Darling in The Franxx is fearmongering because of homogenization and stagnation! by blaming it on minorities!”

First: Ikuno, the lesbian woman, calls them out not because she disagrees with them but because she values Ichigo above her own feelings. Great right winged fearmongering, having the lesbian character showcase true love shown only by the main characters.

Second: This is a common trope in Science Fiction. I don’t know TOO much about Sci Fi mind you but I happen to have a deep knowledge of certain shows and unfortunately for you, one of these shows happens to be Doctor Who. In that show, the Cybermen are the second most common enemy the Doctor faces and they are portrayed as a homogenous group of machines with human brains that seek to convert all species into their ranks. The Daleks, THE most reccouring enemies, are all same looking, stubborn, xenophobic to the nth degree aliens that DESPISE anything not a Dalek and seek to kill all life. The Borg from Star Trek are one of the shows most reoccurring villains and they’re just a hivemind version of the Cybermen. Losing your humanity and becoming uniform is one the greatest reccouring themes in Sci Fi, which Darling In The Franxx.

Which is the exact OPPOSITE of what you are suggesting that the show is trying to accomplish. The show is outright showing that homjogeziation is a bad thing…but trying to portray the Nines as the minoritry would in fact cause a CONFLICT in the morals because then the themes would be saying being uniform is wrong…and then chastise characters for being different and demand they be uniform. Which is what the NINES do: The NINES are the majority here as they follow the basic outline of what society demands of them and Squad 13 are the MINORITIES, the different one chastised for being different.

I could go on and on and explain why any counter argument you could make wouldn’t work but we’ll get to them. All I can say here is: That’s some shit right winged propaganda, portraying the minorities as the virtuous, right people and the majority as the evil oppressive ones.

“Christian flicks are complaining about the death of Christmas and the ‘gay agenda’!”

A. Those ideas are a fucking minority in our country and are considered (rightfully so) as stupid and arachic.

And B. What the compliants about progressive thinking are actually about is, surprise!, similar to Darling In The Franxx: The death of the individual. Nowadays, people justify irredeemable shit by using collectivist thinking by saying “Well, this is problematic to this group of people!” without considering that the group is not a hivemind and may in fact say opposite to that. People now assume because they think one way, everyone like them must think this way. From women to LGBT people to people with disorders: Everyone assumes and thinks these groups are homogenous and are basically like the Cybermen or the Borg with no individual thinking skills. Meanwhile, people of these groups who don’t fit into the hivemind are harmed because of their individuality and are cast out from the community for wrong think.

Now you must be thinking “Well, doesn’t that PROVE DitF is following American values?” No. Like I said, science fiction as a whole has been dealing with these issues for decades (The Cybermen have existed since 1966 and the Daleks BEFORE that). It’s just that America is starting to emulate art and these just happen to line up,

“Darling In The Franxx is demonizing the exploration of gender diversity and demonizes the removal of emotions because it makes us more homogeonized!”

1. The EXACT OPPOSITE is happening in DitF. The Nines want to LIMIT gender diversity and SHAME people for not expressing gender the way THEY want. The Nines are acting EXACTLY as you accuse the show of acting. It’s not that they identify as different is the issue: it’s that they are FORCING their identity onto others due to intolerance and hate. You know, like how a certain subsection of Christianity did to LGBT people years ago?

And here’s where any counterargument against this show fails.

‘The nines are representative of transgender people!’

Then how come they work on a system where, by definition, being transgender CANNOT exist?

‘The nines are representative of condemning different gender roles!”

Then what about Hiro and Zero Two, who have their expected roles completely reversed and are portrayed as incredibly happy and content with each other?

‘The nines are basically a metaphor for how evil LGBT people are!”

Then how come Ikuno, a lesbian, calls them out and is one of the show’s examples of true love?

‘The nines are all about how evil other lifestyles are!’

Ikuno again.

And all of THIS is negated by one thing:

Nine Alpha never gives his opinion on things.

He only says what PAPA thinks. PAPA, someone who is implied to be NOT HUMAN and cares NOTHING for human life. Nine Alpha is portrayed similar to how an indoctrinated cult member acts: Never voicing their own opinions and always referring to another’s thought process. Nine Alpha has never once said ‘I think-’ or ‘I believe-’: JUST what ‘Papa thinks-’ or “Papa believes-’ and treats that as divine law. And this is treated as a BAD thing, as creepy and unnatural, which contradicts how propaganda works , ENCOURAGING collectivist thinking not CONDEMNING IT.

2. No duhthe show is condemning the removal of emotions. That kind of DEFINES who we are as people. Our morality, our individuality, our standards: EVERYTHING WE ARE is defined by emotion. Losing that key part of us would makes us…well, like the APE: Selfish, cold hearted, ruthless assholes who are so self centered they’d sacrifice the happiness and LIVES of others just because they feel like it. Are you SERIOUSLY advocating against emotions?

“Darling In The Franxx is accusing other people of not being tolerant of intolerance ergo that’s bad!”

No, that never happens. Squad 13 is a very open and accepting group of people and the Nines and by extension the APE are the intolerant ones. They never complain about Squad 13 being intolerant and are in fact the only intolerant ones. If this were propaganda as you said: Then it would show this in order to get it’s message across. Propaganda is not subtle.

“Giving women the freedom to work instead of breed, letting gay people marry or letting your girlfriend anal fuck you is what the show is speaking out against!”

First doesn’t work because Kokoro is actually EXPECTED to work herself to death and be happy with that and never once think of having kids. The two are REVERSED in this situation and it doesn’t work as propaganda because no other female aside Zero two (who we’ll get to) shows this desire.

Second doesn’t work because Ikuno’s feelings are framed as perfectly okay and normal, especially as they mirror Ichigo’s feelings for Hiro (cept Ikuno is better at handling them.)

And third doesn’t work because the relationship between the dominant and aggressive (read: masculine) Zero Two and the submissive and shy (read: Feminine) Hiro is portrayed as extremely healthy, happy and loving.

Doesn’t work.

“Darling In The Franxx frames oppression of others as ‘true’ rebellion!’”

The show disagrees, framing them as oppressed by people who have no right telling them what they can or cannot do and cares nothing for them. AKA like the LGBT community rallying against the militant Christians.

‘Darling in the Franxx has bad characterization and confusingworld building built on lies about humanity!”

Like that we need emotions.

And that people are allowed to do whatever makes them happy.

And that being different isn’t bad.

And that total conformity is a BAD idea.

… See how crazy you sound?

Also: considering your peers all disagree with you and you have made it clear that you have a political agenda here. Safe to say: You don’t know what you are talking about.

“Darling In The Franxx is embraced by the Alt Right!”



which is why there is so much gay fanart in the fandom and that it’s widely popular on the almost radically left Tumblr.

Jacob, your tweets are closer to propaganda than Darling In The Franxx. You lie numerous times throughout, rely on misinformation to make your claims, shove your politics down our throats and try to portray anyone that disagrees as wrong and you as always right. None of this applies to Franxx.

If this is how anime journalism is going then we’re gonna have another Gamergate sometime in the future. And that will be a massive headache if not, sadly, justified because politic driven hacks like you who don’t do a lick of research or pay attention to what they are talking about should be journalists.

