‘Darling in the Franxx’ Debuts Mysterious First Trailer

One of the most anticipated, yet least known about, upcoming series of 2018, is Studio Trigger and A-1 Pictures‘ DARLING in the FRANXX.

Adding even more to the mystery is the newest trailer for the upcoming series, which is mainly a showcase for characters and designs of the series. Although Crunchyroll’s English subs make it a bit easier to parse, there are many more questions needed to be answered when it finally airs.

DARLING in the FRANXX will premiere January 13, and has been announced as part of both Crunchyroll’s Winter 2018 simulcast and Funimation’s Winter 2018 English dub schedules.

Crunchyroll describes DARLING in the FRANXX as:

“The distant future: Humanity established the mobile fort city, Plantation, upon the ruined wasteland and civilization flourished. Within the city were pilot quarters called Mistilteinn, otherwise known as the “Birdcage.” That is where the children live… Not knowing anything of the outside world, and unaware of the vast sky. Their only mission in life was the fight.

Their enemies are the mysterious giant organisms known as Kyoryu. The children operate robots known as FRANXX in order to face these still unseen enemies because they believe that is their purpose in life. Among them was a boy who was once called a child prodigy: Code number 016, Hiro. However, now he’s a failure and considered unneeded. Those who cannot pilot FRANXX basically do not exist. One day, a mysterious girl called Zero Two appears in front of Hiro. From her face grew two alluring horns.”

Developed by Studio Trigger and A-1 Pictures, the show focuses on pairs of children who each get their own mech to pilot, the titular Woman shaped mechs the “Franxx.” Atsushi Nishigori (character designer for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) is set to direct the series with Toshifumi Akai (animation director for Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic) as assistant director and Masayoshi Tanaka (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day) is designing the characters. Shigeto Koyama (Michiko and Hatchin) will provide mechanical designs, and Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill) is supervising the action.

As a bonus, Mika Nakashima and L’Arc en Ciel’s Hyde are collaborating on the opening theme song “Kiss of Death,” and the creator of Black Cat and To Love Ru, Kentaro Yabuki is launching a manga adaptation of the series January 14. With such a massive collection of talent, this could be the series to watch in 2018.