Let’s be real. If you were around the anime community in April 2018, you remember the "Ichigo Fiasco." It was a mess. Death threats were flying at the staff, Twitter was a literal war zone, and one blue-haired girl was the most hated person on the internet.
Why? Because she dared to be human.
Ichigo Darling in the Franxx is a character that people love to despise, but looking back years later, the narrative has shifted. She wasn’t a villain. She was just a teenage girl in a post-apocalyptic cult who had no idea how to handle a heartbreak.
The Episode 14 Disaster That Broke the Internet
It all came down to Episode 14, "Punishment and Confession."
Context is everything here. Hiro and Zero Two had just realized they were each other's childhood "darling." The fans were desperate for a reunion. We wanted that catharsis. Instead, Ichigo stepped in. She blocked the door. She kept them apart. And then, in the final moments, she kissed Hiro while he was clearly in emotional shock.
People lost it.
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Fans felt like Ichigo was "cock-blocking" the main romance. They saw it as a selfish power move. But if you actually look at the screen, Ichigo is terrified. She hasn’t seen the flashbacks we saw. All she knows is that Zero Two is a "Partner Killer" who literally just strangled Hiro and sent him to the hospital. From Ichigo's perspective, she wasn’t stopping a romance; she was saving her best friend’s life from a monster.
She was wrong, of course. But she was consistent.
Why Ichigo Actually Matters for the Story
Most characters in Darling in the Franxx are archetypes. Zero Two is the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" with horns. Hiro is the "Chosen One." Ichigo, however, represents the weight of leadership and the pain of unrequited love.
- She’s the only one actually leading: While everyone else is focused on their crushes, Ichigo is trying to keep Squad 13 alive.
- The Goro Dynamic: We can’t talk about Ichigo without mentioning Goro—the ultimate "best bro." He loved her unconditionally, and she basically ignored him for 20 episodes. It was painful to watch.
- A Mirror to Zero Two: If Zero Two is "wild and free," Ichigo is "duty and discipline." The show needs that friction to work.
Honestly, the hate was mostly a result of "waifu wars." When you have a character as iconic and marketable as Zero Two, anyone who stands in her way is going to get trampled by the fandom.
The Manga vs. Anime Divide
If you only watched the anime, you missed out on a version of Ichigo that feels a bit more grounded. In the manga, written by Kentaro Yabuki, the plot takes a sharp turn after the battle at the Gran Crevasse.
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The manga cuts out the "space aliens" plot (thank God) and gives the squad a much more terrestrial ending. Ichigo’s role here is less about the love triangle and more about the survival of her team. Many fans argue the manga handles her development better because it doesn't force the "kiss scene" drama in the same way the anime did.
A Quick Comparison
In the anime, Ichigo eventually moves on and ends up pregnant in the epilogue, presumably with Goro's child. It’s a bit of a "participation trophy" ending for her character arc. The manga, however, leaves the future a bit more open, focusing on the immediate survival of the parasites.
The voice acting also played a huge role in how we perceived her. Kana Ichinose (the Japanese VA) did an incredible job making Ichigo sound vulnerable. It’s hard to stay mad at a voice that sounds like it’s constantly on the verge of breaking. Interestingly, Ichinose later went on to voice Suletta Mercury in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, proving she’s the queen of voicing socially awkward pilots.
Re-evaluating the "Childhood Friend" Trope
Ichigo is the ultimate victim of the "Childhood Friend Never Wins" trope. It’s a staple in anime, and we usually feel bad for the loser. But Ichigo was different because she fought back. She didn't just pine in silence; she actively tried to win Hiro over.
We say we want proactive female characters until they do something we don't like.
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Was she manipulative? Sorta. Was she desperate? Absolutely. But she was also a fourteen-year-old who had been raised in a laboratory without parents, being told her only value was in "pairing up." Of course her social skills were going to be a disaster.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re still feeling that lingering annoyance toward Ichigo, I highly recommend a re-watch of the middle episodes. Focus on her eyes during the briefings. Watch how she handles the pressure when Goro is trapped inside a Klaxosaur.
She wasn't trying to be the "main girl." She was trying to be the glue holding a broken family together.
The next step for any Franxx fan is to check out the manga. It’s a different experience that might just change your mind about the blue-haired leader. Once you see the story without the rushed ending of the anime, Ichigo’s "Darling" obsession starts to look a lot more like a tragic side effect of her environment than a character flaw.