Zero Two

Zero Two is the main heroine of Trigger and CloverWorks' anime original series Darling in the Franxx. She is a human-klaxosaur hybrid who is notorious as the "Partner Killer" because many males who have co-piloted with her do not survive more than three missions. Zero Two takes interest in the protagonist Hiro and calls him her "Darling".

Upon the anime's release, Zero Two quickly became a sensation in anime communities around the world because of her attractive design and assertive personality, garnering a loyal fanbase which has enabled her to win several "Waifu Tournaments", mostly organized by various anime groups on Facebook. Those wins have grown enough to induct Zero Two as a member of the Ten Kings Club. However, the pink-haired pilot has also gained a reputation for being an "overrated waifu" in several notable contests like in /r/anime and ISML, making her prone to being voted out in the middle rounds of these tournaments.

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ISML
Zero Two is a regular competitor in the International Saimoe League, and first appeared in the winter 2018 seasonal contest where she notably lost to romantic rival Ichigo in the semi-finals. She then made her Main Tournament debut in 2019, surviving until the Emerald period (fifth group stage). In 2020 she was eliminated in the second split - a 16-player single round-robin format - placing dead last in her group with only one win to her name.

Zero Two's appearance in ISML 2021 saw the emergence of a DitF fanbase who became very active in their campaigning efforts at the start of the tournament, with a sizable number of registered users making their presence known in the ISML forums. This was largely brought about by the anime's popularity in the Chinese app Douyin (known internationally as TikTok); several ISML-related videos campaigning for Zero Two and Hiro were also uploaded to the video-sharing site bilibili. As a result, the Franxx main couple topped their respective nomination lists by a large margin, with deuteragonists Ichigo and Goro also joining the duo in the Main Tournament.

Despite having one of the highest pot seeds and expectations of making it deep into the tournament, the Zero Two campaign wasn't consistent enough to carry her through. In Split 1, she faced two Raildex characters - one of the most active voting factions in ISML - winning against Index but losing to Kuroko Shirai. She was then placed in the Aquamarine exhibition gem round and initially led the match, but eventually conceded to Chika Fujiwara from Kaguya-sama, also one of the strongest fan bases at the time. By the time Split 2 arrived, her fanbase had almost disappeared, resulting in three of Franxx's characters getting directly eliminated. Zero Two hung on with an 11th place in her group, but eventually went out as well after placing last in the second wildcard round.

Seasonal & Exhibition
ISML 2018 - Winter Seasonal


 * Group I: 2W, CVP: 3.706 (seed 3)
 * (Aqua 11): Miho Nishizumi  @ Girls und Panzer: Das Finale Movie BD --  7385 - 1560
 * (Aqua 13): Miyuki Shiba @ Mahouka Movie BD --  7500 - 2870
 * (Aqua Gem): (14) Miyu Edelfelt @ Fate/kaleid liner Movie BD --  11,124 - 8978
 * (Topaz 2): (6) Ai Yashajin @ The Ryuo's Work! --  5074 - 4034
 * (Topaz 3): (2) Ichigo @ Darling in the Franxx --  4473 - 5164
 * (Topaz 4): (4) Takagi @ Takagi-san --  6034 - 3663

Exhibition gem record
 * 2021 (Bracelet): Aquamarine (2nd)

Main Tournament
Overall record (as of ISML 2021)

Match History

r/anime
Zero Two was the darling (pun intended) of the r/anime subreddit in early 2018, which led to her victory in the site's winter seasonal after thrashing rivals Violet and Ichigo. She then came second in the yearly contest after the subreddit found another more popular darling in the form of Mai Sakurajima.

In the subreddit's major character brackets, Zero Two (and the DitF fandom by extension) developed an infamous reputation for brigading the contest to other subreddits, causing much discussion and violent reactions in the r/anime contest threads. Her most famous match happened in Best Girl 6 where she fought Asuna Yuuki, another Tomatsu-voiced character, in the round of 32. The links to the contest's particular day was cross-posted to Zero Two's home subreddits r/DarlingintheFranxx and r/ZeroTwo. Most importantly, a campaigning thread managed to get a high amount of upvotes on r/Animemes, a subreddit where the pink-haired girl has a notable presence in.[citation needed] Despite those efforts, Zero Two ultimately lost by a slim 32 votes, and the large influx of voters affected other matches of their bracket as well, resulting in Asuna securing an easy path to the championship afterwards.

Another instance of brigading happened in Best Character 5 where Zero Two won against last edition's quarterfinalist Homura Akemi in round 3. Following the tournament host's policy of disallowing brigades, her bracket's round was replayed for another day, with the klaxosaur bowing out in the ensuing rematch.

Seasonal Salt : 2018 Winter - seed 1
 * (64) Francis Drake (Rider) @ Fate/Extra -- 2578 - 336
 * (32) Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra @ Overlord -- 2075 - 342
 * (17) Harumi Taniguchi @ Citrus -- 2482 - 1000
 * (9) Hinata Miyake @ Sora Yori --  2094 - 1569
 * (4) Violet Evergarden @ Violet Evergarden --  3189 - 1820
 * (2) Ichigo @ Darling in the Franxx --  5032 - 1696

Best Girl of 2018 - seed 7


 * (26) Azusa Hamaoka @ Grand Blue -- 2768 - 964
 * (10) Anzu @ Hinamatsuri -- 2024 - 1286
 * (2) Kaede Azusagawa @ Seishun Buta Yarou -- 2931 - 1842
 * (6) Violet Evergarden @ Violet Evergarden -- 2830 - 1919
 * (1) Mai Sakurajima @ Seishun Buta Yarou -- 4698 - 6135

Best Girl 6 - seed 29


 * (484) Tsukasa Hiiragi @ Lucky Star --  3570 - 1280
 * (228) Yuuri @ Girls' Last Tour --  3687 - 1807
 * (100) Beatrice @ Re:Zero --  5646 - 2471
 * (36) Sayaka Miki @ Madoka Magica --  6076 - 3975
 * (4) Asuna Yuuki @ 'Sword Art Online -- 8058 - 8090

Best Girl 7 - seed 43


 * (470) Lieselotte Sherlock @ Trinity Seven -- 2160 - 791
 * (214) Narumi Momose @ Wotakoi -- 2789 - 1768
 * (86) Shizuka Hiratsuka @ Oregairu -- 2845 - 2763
 * (22) C.C. @ Code Geass -- 3029 - 3660

Best Girl 8 - seed 13


 * (500) Sawako Kuronuma @ Kimi ni Todoke -- 2397 - 1239
 * (244) Maho Hiyajou @ Steins;Gate -- 3768 - 1164
 * (141) Mashiro Shiina @ Sakurasou -- 1935 - 1577
 * (52) Miko Iino @ Kaguya-sama -- 1896 - 2376

Best Character 5 - seed 88
 * (425) Ayaka Uehara @ Dumbbell Nan-Kilo Moteru? -- 520 - 213
 * (169) Phosphophyllite @ Houseki no Kuni -- 601 - 562
 * (41) Homura Akemi @ Madoka Magica -- 492 - 925

Wins
Total Wins = 18
 * 1) r/anime's Best Girl of Winter 2018
 * 2) Anime D. Cambodia Waifu Tournament 2019 link
 * 3) Anime World Most Beautiful Girl Contest 2019 link
 * 4) Facebook @Jozz-391 Sempai Torneo de waifus 2020 link
 * 5) @Mitsuha Best Waifu 2020 link
 * 6) Anime Tsundere Waifu Tournament 2020 Vol.1 link
 * 7) Animes Meu Souho 2020 link
 * 8) FB @Anime Weebs Waifu War 2020 link
 * 9) Facebook @Maths Waifu Wars S1 2021 link
 * 10) Facebook Waifu Wars La Taberna del Debate 2021 link
 * 11) Anime Star TdW 2021 link
 * 12) FB Otaku Communist Federation Satella Torneo de waifus 2021 link, link
 * 13) Facebook Vote Anime - nè:33 cmt waifu 2021 link
 * 14) El Tio Miyuki TdW Civil War 2021 link
 * 15) FB @Anime-Waifu Thai Vote 2021 link
 * 16) Athena Mejor Waifu 2021 link
 * 17) Anime Time Best Waifu 2021 link
 * 18) Genji Waifu Wars 2021 link

List of runner-up finishes = 17
 * 1) r/anime's Best Girl of 2018
 * 2) Facebook My Anime Land 2018-19 Waifu Tourney link
 * 3) AnimeDPI Torneo de Waifus 2019 linklink
 * 4) Facebook Favorite Non Human Characters 2020 link
 * 5) Copa Super Waifu AnimeWall 2020 link
 * 6) Facebook Waifu Tournament @Dejavuu 2020 link
 * 7) Facebook Mundial de Waifus 2020 link
 * 8) FACEBOOK Suculent Anime Torneo de waifus 2020 link
 * 9) Facebook Torneo de Waifus @Daitoshi Posting 2021 link
 * 10) Planeta Anime TdW Elijan a su favorita 2021 link, link
 * 11) Facebook Torneo de Waifus 2.0 @Eliud 7w7 (2021) link
 * 12) Facebook Torneo de waifus Chomosuke_:彡 2021 link
 * 13) Anime Chigones Ganadora del Tdw 2021 link
 * 14) Facebook @Blueberry torneo de waifus 2021 link
 * 15) Anime Pirate Best Character Poll 2021 link
 * 16) Facebook @Hikari Best Waifu Contest 2021 link, link
 * 17) FB Cre: Cao Fennik chung ket 2022 link