Introduction
At the start of the year i decided to watch Darling In The Franxx after my friend told me that it was one of her favourites, i have seen many reviews (Not just on AniList) rating the show poorly and the reviews were all around poor. This got me second guessing whether i should watch it or that my friends anime tastes are just poor, but. I am glad i watched it and i actually enjoyed the show and think that CloverWorks did a pretty good job especially as Darling in the Franxx is not adapted from a manga.
This is my review on Darling In The Franxx if you don't want any spoilers then i would suggest not reading on and i those of you that are still here hope you like my review!

Art Style & Animation:

First off i want to talk about the art style, the art style in Darling in the Franxx varies from amazing animation and detail to simplistic drawings. Cloverworks often mixes up the style in Darling in the Franxx but it just works... During emotional or important scenes they tend to improve the detail and quality of the art. As for the actual animation of the show it is great and the movement of the characters is fuid and the movement of the Franxx Mechas amplify this, the art style of the Klaxosaurs mainly the humanoid ones such as Zero Two, The Klaxosaur Princess & Hiro (Later on in the season), the glows of blue and red look really aesthetically pleasing even mid battle scene.

Characters & Character Development
Now this is probably where this review gets controversial, most of the reviews that I have seen on Darling In The Franxx have criticised the characters and their development and felt that CloverWorks could have gotten more out of some of the characters which i do agree with them is somewhat true but it is not show ruining and does not warrant the poor ratings, here i will go through most of the characters that live in "Mistilteinn" and explain their character and their significance:

Hiro:

Hiro is the main protagonist, at the start of the show he is shown as a kind of outcast as he couldn't pilot a FRANXX, but he redeems himself by piloting with Zero Two which he finds out is slowly changing him. Hiro is one of the most important characters in the series as the story is mostly from his perspective and shows how he deals with being different to the others and also his relationship with the others and Zero Two.

Zero Two:

Zero Two like Hiro is also an outcast she is different to the rest of the group because she is a Klaxosaur, which isn't made clear until later in the series. She also only gets introduced to the group at the start of the series, which means we got to see how she coped with a new environment. We also learn how she was in her younger life when we go through hers and Hiro's memories of them running off together, which helps us understand her more as a character.

Ichigo:

Ichigo is the "Leader" of the group but throughout the series she does not prove herself to be a very good leader often breaking down, and acting upon emotion and her feelings for Hiro. Her and Hiro have been really good friends since they were young but with all the changes like Zero Two joining them she starts to catch feelings for Hiro and it is made abundantly clear that she does when she kisses him outside of the house, despite her already having a partner.

Kokoro:

Kokoro is an important character in understanding the world that the characters are in, when she finds a book on childbirth and decides to keep it with this new information she decides she wants a child with Mitsuru, but "The Nine" find this book and report it to the leaders this is when they wipe their memories and confiscate the book and breaking the bond the two characters had.

The "Downsides" of the Show

Now I already know that i'm going to have many dislikes on this review because this show is very much disliked and to some points I can agree with these reviews. The ending of Darling in the FRANXX is very rushed and they could have expanded on the character development a bit more, but I honestly think it doesn't take away from the show. The show is still great story wise and although the storytelling may not be so good the story itself is great and if CloverWorks emphasised on story telling a bit better then i and others would probably have rated a bit higher than we have given it.

My Overall Thoughts

My overall thoughts on Darling in the FRANXX is that i enjoyed the show and yes it may not be the best show but it definitely does not deserve such negative feedback as I think that they do nothing that ruins show, and that for an anime-only show they did as good as they could with the story telling and if it was planned out better then it could have been a great show and i hope there are some people out there that agree with me.
The characters in Darling in the FRANXX are easily recognisable and all have their personality and stories which could always be expanded in a second season or OAV (Which will never happen), they all have their Strengths and Flaws some of them being the same as others some being totally unique. We see how they all deal with their own problems and the trauma of living in such a place and being placed into war as a child.
Finally, I encourage new viewers to watch this and try not to pick out all the small flaws in the shows as it is a very enjoyable show to watch despite it!