Genista

Genista (ジェニスタ) is a FRANXX from Thirteenth Plantation piloted by Kokoro and Mitsuru. It was originally piloted by Kokoro and Futoshi.

Appearance
Genista is a mainly black, dark gray, and green mecha robot with light pinkish purple eyes. Its head resembles a hat, and a pair of gold strands resembling hair come out of it. Genista's front body resembles a long dress, and it has cubic shoulder pads with hands that appear to wear black and green mittens. Genista's feet resemble boots, and its weapon is a cannon known as "Rook Sparrow" that is slightly larger than itself. The cannon is mainly black, green, and orange, and it has a magma-energy bayonet used to shatter Klaxosaur cores.

When the pistil tries to pilot Genista all by herself, Genista transforms into its Stampede Mode form. In this form, it vaguely resembles a duck, with orange four-pointed stars for eyes appearing on its hat as a big mouth with sharp teeth completely covers where her face would be.

History
Genista is first seen in the second episode, where Kokoro and Futoshi synchronize and activate it during the startup ritual. After successfully connecting, Futoshi asks Kokoro if he did it right. Kokoro reassures him that he did great. Zorome tells them to stop acting lovey-dovey, and then the two pilot the mecha for the first time.

Genista is once again connected and activated in Episode 03, when it, Delphinium, and Argentea go in a Klaxosaur battle mission. They all arrive in Level 8 to battle a small Klaxosaur. However, the magma-energy of Genista and the other two robots attract many other Klaxosaurs. After fighting all of them at once proves to be dangerous for them, Genista, Delphinium, and Argentea try to escape but Kokoro (as Genista) realizes that there are a lot more Klaxosaurs in the whole area. The three of them keep battling the Klaxosaurs until Strelizia arrives to rescue them.

In Episode 04, Genista, alongside the other FRANXX robots, face off against a worm-type Klaxosaur. With the help of Strelizia, the worm-type Klaxosaur's core is shattered and thus is defeated.

In Episode 11, Kokoro requests for a partner shuffle when Nana asks if anyone wants to do it. Much to Futoshi's devastation, she asks for Mitsuru to be her new partner. Kokoro and Mitsuru later commence connecting Genista, and while their sync rate is low, it is above the stable connection requirement.

Later on, Genista takes part in a battle against a Gutenberg-class Klaxosaur which keeps regenerating into smaller Klaxosaurs, acting as the defense alongside Chlorophytum. Kokoro creates a plan on how to defeat the Klaxosaur, and the leader, Delphinium, approves of her plan. However, as Genista approachs the Klaxosaur to attack it with its cannon, Mitsuru begins to slip away, as Genista's Parasite levels go lower and lower until it completely disconnects and deactivates. Inside Genista, Kokoro talks to Mitsuru about his insecurities, as Mitsuru reveals why he doesn't trust anyone anymore. After comforting Mitsuru, Kokoro begins to activate Genista all by herself, and Genista transforms into its Stampede Mode form and starts roaring. However, Mitsuru is able to stop her from rampaging, and then he and Kokoro are able to successfully reconnect and reactivate Genista. Genista defeats the Klaxosaur using Kokoro's plan, as Strelizia delivers the finishing blow after a powerful blast from Genista's cannon reveals where the Klaxosaur's core is.

Trivia

 * Along with Chlorophytum, Genista is the only other FRANXX who does not vaguely resemble the plant that gives its namesake, the actual Genista flower species is a vibrant yellow flowering shrub, while Genista's color scheme is a variety of dark grey with hints of neon green. However, the Genista flower species is known for seed pods that burst open furiously when triggered by insects, which may have been the inspiration for Genista's cannon.
 * The design of Genista's cannon, "Rook Sparrow", could possibly have been inspired by the "Gunlance" from the "Monster Hunter" video game series.

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