Hiro (DitF)

Hiro is the male protagonist of Darling in the Franxx, a 2018 TV mecha anime series co-produced by studios Trigger and A1-Pictures.

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(written by Momento10)

Replace the "i" with an "e" in Hiro's name, and one would understand why he has a dark and depressing outlook in life.

Hiro was different than all the other children. He was the most curious of the bunch, a self-starter, a self-thinker. In fact, it was he who thought up the idea of a naming system. By giving everyone a name instead of a number, one is able to feel extra special, as though one is finally able to own something and call it his or her own. By calling each other by name, one is able to treat each other as individuals rather than lab rats.

Then, everything changed. Hiro lost the desire to be different. He stopped thinking for himself and, instead, thought about what he could do to make the higher-ups happy. He turned into another puppet they can control to do the bidding of their supervisors. And because he had such a major influence to the children he had given names to, they all followed suit unconsciously, unwilling to accept the fact that he was what gave meaning in his or her life.

Perhaps the desire to think may have been lost, but that does not mean that it is gone forever. Little by little, his cold demeanor about life starts to warm up. He is slowly able to make his own decisions, not because they are orders from above, but because he believes those reasons are just. Somewhere deep down, he knows he and his comrades cannot continue living this way forever. There must be something out there, something that he can cling to and guide him into the light that he once lost.

Only then will his mind be clear, will his head be raised high, will he be proud to say that here he stands, living the life he chose for himself.

Background & history
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The series takes place on a post-apocalyptic barren world where most of humanity live on massive, self-sustaining fortresses called plantations. Outside, dangerous creatures called klaxosaurs roam the earth. To protect the plantations from these creatures, children named Parasites are trained from birth in special nuseries so that when they reach puberty, they are able to pilot combat mechas named FRANXX. These flower-named mechas must be operated by a male and a female in a suggestively-looking posture.

Contest profile
Unlike his main love interest Zero Two, Hiro is a relatively mediocre contestant in anime character popularity tournaments.

Hiro is a regularly-appearing competitor in the International Saimoe League, having appeared in the main tournament since 2019. The pilot's standing improved in the 2021 edition after an ISML campaigning video in support of DitF.