Darling In The Franxx is a Japanese mecha, romance, science fiction anime series which was released in January 2018. The storyline is about a group of 10 pilots, with Hiro being the main protagonist, who is a natural genius, and Zero Two: an exceptionally fantastic pilot who is a hybrid human having an aspiration to turn completely human.
The plot takes place in the far future. Mankind constructs the mobile fort city Plantation on the already destroyed land. Mistilteinn, which is often referred to as the “birdcage,” is the house of all the pilots that were created within the Plantation.
The children there had no idea about what freedom was either in the sky or the outside world. These children’s only objective was to combat these enormous unknown organisms called Kyouryuu with the help of their robots, Franxx. For these children riding this Franxx proves their existence.
When anime with giant robots battling each other first came out, it was fascinating and interesting for audiences to watch and enjoy, but because the audience also has now become savvier, this mecha genre of anime started using these big robots as a symbol for something more meaningful.
Darling In The Franxx is a unique genre in itself, and this list provides you with anime that is similar to this classic in terms of genre, plot, or similar characteristic personalities.
Read more: Darling In The Franxx Season 2 Update
Note: This list may contain spoilers about the anime or the characters
1. RahXephon
The show is based on Ayato Kamina, a 17-year-old who is able to steer the RahXephon robot and wants to figure out his meaning in this world. Even though we understand that the relationship that Ayato and the robot share is essential, it is equally important to focus on Ayato’s regret for his life.
This robot, RahXephon, has a lot of mysterious and magnificent theories, but the way it is able to portray all this in the series in such a simple way is simply beautiful.
2. Guilty Crown
It’s the year 2029, which is when the story of Guilty Crown is set as an unknown “Apocalypse Virus” is caused and gives rise to a lot of disruption, which is known as the “Lost Christmas” in Japan. Japan’s freedom was surrendered to restore peace, all thanks to an international organization called the GHQ.
As far as animation is concerned in Guilty Crown, it is really clean and crisp, much ahead of its time, and it’s still relevant today. Guilty crown, summed up, is dark, fantasy-like, frightful, and romantic.
3. Gunbuster
Gunbuster is a Japanese OVA series. These twisted robots, known as RX-7 Machine Weapons, are only able to hold one person. Despite how sophisticated or complicated they might be, the Gunbuster is being trained on them.
The most brilliant young people from the Lunar colony and Earth are chosen to be the pilot candidates. The anime focuses on a teenage pilot who is responsible for handling one of the biggest robots, which will be the main line of defense for Earth.
4. Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasyte: The Maxim is a pretty recent science fiction anime with a unique plot and strong characters. The initial episode explores themes of transformation and change. Ovid’s work quickly comes to mind as a contrast.
The plot of this anime revolves around the main character, Shinichi Izumi, who is a Parasyte, a type of monster that kills and eats people. In order to live as a hybrid monster, he must understand and learn how to advance with the monster.
5. Kill La Kill
Kill La Kill has one of the most enjoyable characters, a lot of adventure, and is really comedic. The show is a fanservice anime spoof that makes sure to do a marvelous job being one. It’s a really fun series as a whole; it doesn’t try to be deep or make any sort of impression about the situation of the world.
In the series, Ryuko Matoi, a schoolgirl who doesn’t have a house, engages in violent combat with Satsuki Kiryuin, who is the head of Honnouji Academy’s student council, as well as Ragyo Kiryuin’s fashion empire, while she is trying to find the one who killed her father.
6. Mobile Suit Gundam
In a hypothetical world, the Principality of Zeon has separated from the Earth Federation and, in due course, began the One-Year War, which is an increasingly violent conflict. Every place on Earth has been impacted by the war.
Mobile Suit Gundam
Zeon, while being small, has the advantage because of its usage of mobility suits. The battle ended in a fierce deadlock killing half of all humankind.
7. Eureka Seven
The plot of Eureka Seven touches on a wide range of issues. One of the series’ recurrent themes is racial peace and tolerance, which underlies both the character interactions and the plot’s problems.
Eureka Seven is not just a mere nostalgia trip. It’s also a political statement about the environment and why it is necessary for us to care about it.
8. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Japanese animated television program Neon Genesis Evangelion was broadcast across the nation from October 1995 to March 1996. The anime centers on the group NERV, which positions enormous robots called Evangelions to battle monsters known as Angels.
When the angel invades the earth, Gendo Akari wants his son Shinji to take over and defeat the angel. Even though Shinji has not the best relationship with his father because of the past, he has a lot of self-doubts and thinks he is not capable of taking up such a big responsibility which makes the character so much more relatable to the audience.
9. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
The main focus of the anime series Gurren Lagann is fast-paced science fiction action. A really important factor in the anime series is how the action is taken care of. In the anime, the story talks about a world where human beings are confined to live in underground villages and are restricted from going to the surface of the earth, a boy named Simon lives.
Simon’s dream is to get to the surface and explore outside with his friend Kamina when they find a small drill-shaped relic. Where they decide to use this relic to get to the surface of the earth but are stopped by the village chief. The story advances from there and takes many more interesting twists and turns.
10. Star Driver
Star Driver is a blend of two premises that is massively mecha. It has robots fighting against each other, combined with a slice-of-life high school romance. There is an abundance of recurring symbolism in this anime that can be appreciated only with an understanding of what the story is about.
The central conflict of Star Driver revolves around the secrets of society known as the Glittering Crux, who are fighting for ownership of this universe’s version of humongous mechas known as Cybodies. The Cybodies are currently suspended in a pocket dimension known as Zero Time, and the only way to use them in the outside world is to break the seals that hold the dimensions together.
Read more: 90 Best Sci-fi Anime Shows Of All Time: The G.O.A.T
11. FLCL
FLCL is a coming-of-age story, as well as a lot of violence. The way this anime shows coming of age genre is completely different than other shows. This is because FLCL focuses on a particular aspect of this process with great detail.
Every new viewing leads to new realizations in regard to past experiences. When going through the ringer relationship-wise, it’s important to keep in mind the lessons that this show tries to teach.
12. King Of Braves GaoGaiGar
Eight separate series, collectively known as The Brave Series, were published following one another along with Japanese TV programs. The story follows Gai, an astronaut who nearly dies after encountering aliens, subsequently undergoing life-saving surgery and becoming an android.
Mamoru, a young boy with a mysterious past, discovers his latent magical powers. Together, they face aliens who transform Japanese citizens into powerful Kaiju with abilities related to their disposition.
13. 86
Along with some exciting fight scenes, 86 also provides an intriguing narrative. This anime draws a lot of inspiration from Word War 2; other than that, we also see themes of romance between two star-crossed lovers.
86 is a war-based anime that is between the Republic of Sand Magnolia and the Gideon Empire. At first, the two states lived in harmony, but later on, the Gideon Empire went astray and declared war on the Magnolian Empire to take over the entire continent.
14. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross
Every Macross entry has a healthy balance between action, romance, comedy, music, and drama. Each Macross series follows a formula for its overarching plot and characters. While the main plot is consumed with war, nothing is ever what it seems to be, as there’s always a giant mystery surrounding their enemy that’s gradually revealed.
In addition to the mystery and tension of war, love flourishes between attacks. The suspense is doubled by a love triangle between its protagonist and two side characters. This is always a polarizing choice as each love interest features a contrasting personality.
15. Code Geass
Lelouch, an abandoned Imperial Prince of the Britannia empire, swears to restore Japan to its independence when the Holy Empire of Britannia strikes, conquers, and puts the once-proud nation to the position of an occupied country.
Code Geass is a mecha anime where when he was granted the power of Geass by C.C. This power lets him issue anyone command to anyone that cannot be disobeyed. Lelouch slowly but steadily carves out a resistance group in Japan known as the Black Knights. They slowly rise to power until they attack Tokyo.
Read more: 40 Best Robot Anime Series of All Time
16. Ninja Robots
The anime is about Joe Maya, living on Mars and has aspirations of going back to Earth. Jenny Ai and Mike Coil are two of his buddies. When Joe and Mike are running from the military police, they come across the Xenos 5, a crashed spaceship that is being attacked by enormous robots.
Joe enters the spacecraft in an effort to flee the pursuing robots, where he meets three aliens who appear to be humans.
17. Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost In The Shell starts and ends with Makoto’s identity crisis. She is a constructed Cyborg who is specifically constructed to appear human to any superficial observer. The anime takes this existential horror and forces it almost entirely upon the character of Matoko.
Ghost In The ShellIn the world of the movie, it is assumed that because the cyborg has no link to the natural world, it does not actually have a soul or, for the purposes of this anime; is a ghost.
18. Beyond The Boundary
Beyond the Boundary is a beautiful story about Kuriyama and Kanbara. They are similar in respect to both having issues they face due to supernatural backgrounds. Kuriyama comes from a cursed bloodline, whereas Kanbara is a half-human half-youmu. For both of them, it’s a fight for survival in a world that is so cruel.
Beyond the Boundary sound like a setup for a really melodramatic story, but the characters have just the right level of goofiness to them; where it still makes the story feel like a comedy, but it doesn’t lose its dramatic edge.
19. Scrapped Princess
Scrapped Princess takes place in a medieval-style fantasy world. One day the prophet has a divine revelation that the newborn princess will destroy the world on the day she turns 16. So to prevent this, the princess is forcefully taken from the queen and is thrown. But she somehow ends up surviving and is raised by a peasant family.
The anime swiftly transitions into varying extents of science fiction elements. Despite the fact that many of the characters and circumstances appear to be funny on the surface, the mood has undertones of grief.
20. Valvrave The Liberator
Valvrave The Liberator is a mecha anime where almost seventy percent of humanity lives in space, and it follows our main protagonist called, Haruto, who is a school-going teenager. While on earth, there are a lot of superpower countries wanting to rule the world, one of the superpowers, Dorssia, decides to attack the academy that Haruto goes to.
Haruto ends up discovering this giant robot, and when he gets in, he understands that he needs to give up humanity and ends up becoming something that is not human.
Read more: Anime List That Mecha Genre Fans Need To Watch
21. SSS.Dynazenon
Yomogi Asanaka, a freshman student, encounters a really mysterious individual; Gauma, who pretends to be a “Kaiju User”.
A Kaiju and Dynazenon, a ginormous robot, arrive out of nowhere. In addition to Yomogi, they are engaged in a fight with the Kaiju while passing by together with Yume, Koyomi, and Chise.
22. SSS.Gridman
The original Gridman series, it concerned itself with three computer-savvy kids whose custom video game character is possessed by an interdimensional police officer named Gridman. In order to battle with giant monsters created by a social outcast and brought to life by an evil program.
SSS Gridman is one of the few lesser-known and famous mecha anime series where the characters in this anime have a lot of references to the Transformer series as far as clothing design is concerned.
23. Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet
Set in the distant future, humanity has long abandoned the cradle of the earth to explore and colonize the deep annexes of space. However, one threat stands before humans and finds a hospitable new planet called home: the Hidiya, a vicious alien species that wants to destroy mankind.
The Galactic Alliance of humanity has long waged war on this threat, and the main character Leto is eager to join the battle to prevent humanity’s extinction.
24. Kuromukuro
Kuromukuro is a 26-episode mecha anime where the setting is about an average mecha about aliens trying to take over the earth, and the characters are high school students. This anime contains less mecha action as it also makes sure to focus on the character’s story, and we watch them grow in terms of character development.
One of the best animes with a well-done tale that is undoubtedly worth viewing. Both the mecha animes Kuromukuro and Darling In The Franxx include romantic storylines.
25. Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic! centers on Sousuke Sagara, a young missionary working under Mithril which is an international peacekeeping anti-terrorist organization with mechs. Sousuke’s main mission is to protect a high-value target that the KGB seems dead set on abducting for reasons that aren’t yet made entirely clear. It also so happens that this target is a high school girl Chidori.
The main objective of Full Metal Panic is that it’s the story of the intersection between two different worlds; high school slice of life and advanced mech military.
Read more: 45 Anime Like Akira: Best Sci-Fi Anime Recommendation
26. Brain Powerd
The story of Brain Powerd takes place in a distant future in which the earth has been affected by earthquakes and floods. The cause of this natural disaster is a giant alien spacecraft that sits beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Brain Powerd seems to be providing us with a heavy environmental message as the reclaimers have very little concern about what would happen to the earth and its residents if orphans were to take off as they seem to care more about becoming the new seeds of humanity.
27. Genesis Of Aquarion
The anime is set in the far future where there were humongous combat robots called “Aquarion” that were responsible to save the world from alien-type species known as “Shadow Angels”. Mankind was at the mercy of these Shadow Angels until one of their kind, Apollonius, fell in love with a female human warrior.
The science fiction series is a homage to the super robot shows of the 1970s and the 1980s, executed with modern animation techniques and aesthetics.
28. Vandread
Men are from Mars, whereas women are from Venus in Vandread. Vandread features a group of characters where no potential is wasted. With each character having a role, each of them fulfills their duties. In the world of this anime, humans have colonized the galaxy in a one-star system where men and women are at war with one another.
Hibiki Tokai, our main protagonist, finds himself stranded on a warship. The Taraakian Vanguard is captured by the women just as Hibiki thinks things can’t possibly get worse. The narrative continues after that.
29. Infinitive Ryvius
Taking place in our solar system, over 200 years into the future, humanity has spread out in response to the dueled, a sea of burning hot fog making space travel dangerous. When a group of conspirators invades an astronaut training school during breaks again at the secrets.
Within the remaining students are forced to flee on the powerful black curve, but the most dangerous aspect to believe is the passengers on the vice are terrorists or are those passengers themselves.
30. Astra Lost In Space
On a trip to the planet, McPa, a group of teenagers and students arrive at their destination. Now on planet McPa, they see a mysterious orb. When the orb chases them and consumes them, they are sent 5000 light years from the planet in the middle of outer space.
But luckily for them, they find themselves a derelict spaceship that they use to travel from planet to planet. Their goal is to use the ship to get themselves back to their home planet in one piece.
Read more: 45 Anime Like Akira: Best Sci-Fi Anime Recommendation
31. Date A Live
One of the strongest elements of Date A Live is its incredibly unique and interesting premise. This anime is a blend of harem, action, romance, science fiction, and comedy. It revolves around a character named Shidou, who lives with his little sister, and they town they live in is being targeted by spirits.
Date A Live has a lot of great characters, which is one of its many appealing qualities. With each new storyline in the series, the cast of Date A Live continues to grow, giving the viewers a large variety of characters to choose from as their favorite characters.
32. Mars Daybreak
The story follows Graham River, who lives on Mars, which is completely full of water. Mars is always under constant attack by sea pirates. The Ship of Aurora is one of the most infamous ships of them all, as Graham River ends up on this ship.
The only issue is that he quickly begins to like the adventure as he ends up on the ship. A romantic relationship between childhood friends is included in Mars Daybreak.
33. The Vision Of Escaflowne
Escaflowne is a great anime series if you’re a fan of fantasy, mechas, isekai, and romance. The story starts on Earth, where we’re introduced to our protagonist Hitomi Kanzaki. In a series of events in the series, she gets introduced to a boy who magically appears out of nowhere and fights off a dragon. Hitomi and the boy get pulled into a beam of light, and she is transported to a foreign planet called Gaea.
Soon she finds herself in the middle of a political war, surrounded by people who seek her powers for their own gain. Can she find a way to not be used as a tool? Or can she find a way back home? You’ll need to watch the series to find out.
34. Magic Knight Rayearth
The anime centers on three junior high school girls, Hikaru, Umi, and Fu, all attending different schools. All these three girls also end up being selected to rescue princess Emeraude from the evil Salgado and save the land of Saphira.
The dynamic of the characters, the story, the setting, and the action forces you to put some respect on the series, even though it seems pretty generic as far as the plot is concerned. But let’s not forget this series came out in the mid-90s.
35. Mazinger Z
The plot is about an enormous super robot constructed with Super Alloy Z, which is forged from a new element called Japanium that was found only in the sentiments of Mount Fuji. The mecha was built by professor Kabuto as a secret weapon against the forces of evil by Dr. Hells mechanical beasts.
The anime gets straight into the action, the characters are great, and the robot takes the cake as it is the main point of the whole series.
36. Revisions
High school student Daisuke Dojima was kidnapped when he was a child, along with his childhood buddies. He participated in the Shibuya Drift.
Revisions Approximately 300 years in the future, they were moved to the heart of Shibuya. They will encounter “Revisions,” which are huge mechs. The character development was really phenomenal, and the animation was really crisp.
37. Aldnoah.Zero
The plot is that in 1972, humanity found a hypergate on the moon that leads to Mars. Upon landing, astronauts discover that hypergate was fueled by mysterious power known as Aldnoah. Soon many humans relocated to Mars and adopted the name Martians as well as they based it on the society that could actually control Aldnoah.
After Princess Asseylum, the daughter of the Martian king, descends onto Earth in an attempt to create a treaty between both planets, she is shortly assassinated. A war breaks out between Earth and Mars, where Martial soldiers begin to descend from the sky and land castles intent on exterminating humanity.
38. Marriage Of God & Soul Godannar!!
In 2042, alien threats known as the Mimetic beasts invaded the earth. The only line of defense against them are giant robots that utilize a twin-drive system that requires two pilots to operate it during a battle against the Mimetic beasts. Goh Saruwatari loses his partner and lover, Mira but manages to rescue a girl Anna Ali. Years developed, and the two of them developed a strong romantic relationship.
However, on their wedding date, the Mimetic beasts reemerged after five years of tranquility. Goh is called to action forcing him to leave his fiance at the altar. She joins the battle as she activates one of the robots to save Goh. What follows is a tale of romance as secrets are uncovered, new characters are introduced, and the plot takes several twists and turns.
39. Knights Of Sidonia
The characters in the series are all CG so are the monsters and basically all of the action scenes. The series takes place in the far future, where our earth and our entire solar system were wiped out by an alien race known as the Gauna. They are sort of like giant alien viruses which can devour anything from as small as human beings to as big as moons and asteroids.
Just before the earth was destroyed, humanity was saved by launching several spaceships into space which are basically like miniature piles of earth. One of the spaceships’ names is Sidonia, who is our protagonist, Nagate.
40. The Big O
The Big O is a unique anime that combines the genre of tech noir with mecha anime. The main character is a man named Roger Smith, a negotiator who deals with high-level criminals and investigates equally serious mysteries. He employs a variety of high-tech gadgets that aid him in his adventures. Most notably, an enormous mech or Megadeus as they are called in the show.
The Big O
Roger Megadeus is known as The Big O, and although he isn’t really sure how he is connected with the Megadeus he controls, he understands that he knows how to control it well.
41. Infinite Stratos
Infinite Stratos follows Ichika as he learns to become a striker unit pilot and cope with many romantic and emotional struggles that happen to him due to aiding many women around him with their problems. Infinite Stratos is an action-packed romance harem that is simply entertaining.
The anime consists of 2 seasons and a few OVAs. This show is a simple, easy-to-watch show with not a lot of depth into the storyline but just to watch if one is in the mood of watching something light and entertaining cause this show does have a lot of fanservice!
Also read: 35 Best Action Anime To Watch In 2023
