Ikuno

Ikuno (イクノ) is one of the main characters in DARLING in the FRANXX. She is a former Parasite with the codename "196" of the Thirteenth Plantation, where she's partnered in boy-girl pair with Futoshi to pilot a FRANXX called Chlorophytum. She had Mitsuru as her original partner.

Appearance
She has deep purple hair tied into a short ponytail using a blue butterfly clip and bangs on either side of her weary green eyes. She wears a pair of black-rimmed glasses and has freckles under her eyes. When piloting Chlorophytum, she wears a white bodysuit with light violet accents.

During the events of Episode 21, her purple hair turned white. In Episode 24, she is shown to have aged significantly compared to the other parasites, having white hair and is confined to a hospital bed.

Personality
Ikuno is intelligent, logical, and a very quiet girl who doesn’t speak much with others. She naturally comes off as emotionally detached and serious, and she prefers to keep to herself and maintains an air of poise. Although she gets along with most of the squad, she has a tumultuous partnership with Mitsuru and they don’t hesitate to hide their dislike for each other. However, she is not completely indifferent towards him and is willing to help him if necessary. She is an avid reader of books and spends her off-duty time reading.

Despite her composed exterior, she is rational and will carefully analyze a situation so she can help conclude a logical solution. By her own admission, Ikuno loathes the boy-girl pairing system and she has never harbored any interest of boys. This causes confusion among her squad mates and she secretly hates how she feels. She later admits to Ichigo that she is attracted to girls and she has been in love with her since Ichigo gave her her name but she is ashamed for this because it makes her feel she is not normal. Despite this, she is comforted and encouraged to not be scared of her true feelings.

Her struggle with her own sexuality tends to have a deep impact in her over concepts such as gender; when Alpha said humans casted their gender aside for evolution because it was a nuisance, Ikuno was enraged and slapped him before attempting to attack him. With Ichigo’s encouragement, Ikuno becomes more open and sociable, and is willing to take risks for the sake of her friends. This is demonstrated when she goes full power in episode 21 to help Zero Two reach Hiro, causing her health to significantly weaken. She also spends ten years developing a cure for the parasites’ accelerated aging process, although this shortens her own lifespan, so they can all live their lives to the fullest.

History
Ikuno spent her childhood in Garden with the other parasites. Receiving the code of "196," she did not have special rights or expectations of her piloting ability.

After children begin copying Hiro, she is shown to be alone and mocked by them. She is given her name by Ichigo and begins to have feelings for her.

Ikuno is accepted into plantation 13's squad where she is partnered with Mitsuru. Though she passes, she is present as Naomi and Hiro fail to connect.

Episode 01: Alone and Lonesome
Ikuno is present when the other parasites discuss the "partner killer" as she reads her book. She looks up to stare at Ichigo. When they begin to talk about Hiro, she shows more concern for Naomi and the position he put her in.

She attends the welcoming ceremony and, in the train, the group discusses Hiro on their way to the startup ritual. Ikuno says that their ship probably isn't headed back to the garden since she never heard of any parasites coming back home. Hachi greets them at the platform.

In the parasites' FRANXX, they begin the startup ritual. A fog rolls in and the ritual is stalled. Hiro begins to refuse to leave when Naomi's ship is hit by a klaxosaur. The plantation begins firing at the klaxosaur and Strelizia in its stampede mode. Dr. FRANXX notes it's a maho class and Nana orders everyone to evacuate.

Strelizia easily destroys its core and defeats it. They are shocked when it's revealed that Hiro was piloting it. Zero Two drops Hiro to the ground. Nana introduces her as a pistil with the special forces unit APE directly controls. Zero Two looks down and smiles to him, saying she found her darling.

Episode 17: Eden
Ikuno narrates that everything at some point will come to an end but will never know when. Like the rest of the squad, she is displeased when the 9’s show up and announce they will be staying. The next day, Zorome tells the squad that he saw Kokoro and Mitsuru in an embrace and Ikuno says she is not surprised as Kokoro and Mitsuru hear their friends know what happened. Alpha shows them the baby book that Kokoro has been hiding and demands an explanation. She confesses her desire to have a baby and she believes they can live a life other than piloting the FRANXX but Alpha condemns her. He says humans have casted their reproductive functions aside for evolution and gender is an inconvenience. This angers Ikuno and she slaps him across the face, challenging his assertion. He says humans have also let their emotions take over them and she tries attacking him again before Ichigo and Futoshi restrain her. Nana and Hachi then defuse the situation.

Afterwards, Ikuno and everyone debate what Kokoro said about being able to have babies. Ikuno later sits on the patio and says they know nothing after what happens now.

Episode 18: When the Sakura Blooms
After Hachi tells Ichigo the squad will be leaving for a parasite camp soon, Hiro gathers everyone together to discuss his plan to create a wedding for Kokoro and Mitsuru, who have decided to get married before they leave. Everyone voices their support. Ikuno, Ichigo and Miku gather curtains to make the wedding dress.

ikuno lays in bed and Ichigo wonders if she is under the weather since she had a fever not long ago. Ikuno says no and throws Ichigo into the bed, admitting how much she hates the boy-girl pairing and she has never been interested in boys. She confesses she has loved Ichigo since she gave her her name and she wants to keep Ichigo all to herself. However, she knows how she feels is not normal and hates herself for it before breaking down in tears. Ichigo hugs her and comforts her.

Before the wedding begins, Ikuno gives a bouquet of flowers to Kokoro and pins some flowers on Mitsuru‘s uniform before sitting in attendance as the wedding continues. However, the 9’s and APE assault team interrupt the wedding and take Kokoro and Mitsuru away. Weeks later, it is revealed their memories were erased.

Episode 22: A New World
Squad 13 takes charge of taking care of the other parasites and begin attempting to grow crops to survive. During a meeting, they discuss their shortage on water and maintenance, and they can’t use magma energy so they will have to continue farming. While working in the fields, Ikuno appears tired and Ichigo tells her not to work too hard but Ikuno says she is fine. The parasites then see a VIRM and klaxosaur crash into the field after killing each other.

Ikuno is present in the hospital room with the rest of the squad when the new Nana tells Kokoro that she is pregnant. As Kokoro begins to panic, Miku asks all the boys to leave while the girls try to comfort Kokoro. The next day, the parasites find that all the crops have died despite following the requirements. Hachi and Nana arrive, much to the relief of the parasites. Hachi surmises the crops died because magma drilling has deprived the soil of natural resources. Ichigo collapses and Ikuno takes care of her, and says Ichigo has been so worried about the others that she has been neglecting herself. She and the squad devise a plan to gather fresh soil from Cerasus to try farming again until Hiro announces he will be going to space to rescue Zero Two. Although everyone is worried he will get killed, Hiro refuses to change his mind.

Ikuno sits outside with everyone as they look as a shower of shooting stars and they discuss Hiro’s words, and wonder if they will ever find something so important they will choose it over everything else. They next morning, the squad meets with Hiro to tell him they will be going with him, with the exception of Kokoro and Mitsuru. The 9’s also announce they will be joining him.

Episode 23: A New World
Squad 13 and the 9’s arrive in space and travel to Mars’ orbit to reach Strelizia. They find Strelizia in the middle of a battle with a large armada of VIRM and the klaxosaurs form a defensive strategy. Everyone engages in battle and offer cover for Hiro so he can reach Strelizia. After Alpha sacrifices himself to protect Hiro, he and Zero Two manage to reconnect and Strelizia evolves into the Strelizia True Apus. After eliminating the armada of VIRM, the two announce they will be traveling through a warp gate to track down the rest of the VIRM and destroy them for good. Although Ikuno and the others struggle to accept this, they tell Hiro and Zero Two to return alive.

Episode 24: Never Let Me Go
72 days since Hiro and Zero Two passed through the gate, the parasites return to Cerasus and begin farming. She and Ichigo bring files to an office space. When Ichigo asks what they're for, she says there's something she wants to get done.

245 days after opening the gate, Ikuno is present at the birth of Kokoro and Mitsuru‘s daughter, Ai. She happily watches with Ichigo and Miku as Mitsuru is introduced to his daughter. She is also present when Naomi is brought back And all the girls embrace Naomi. She continues to work in her office and Naomi brings her food as she writes.

As Goro leaves for his journey, Ikuno asks Ichigo is she's okay since she'll miss him the most. She is surprised when he kisses Ichigo. Afterward, he says that he'll find what she asked him for. She smirks and thanks him, later saying that he's changed a lot.

Two years after opening the gate, Ikuno returns Naomi's mirror to her. She smiles when she thanks her. Ichigo suddenly opens the door and tells them to come quickly. She joins the others as they start praying to the skies. She tells them that she decided to make the most of the time she has left as Naomi stands by her side. After Hiro and Zero Two sacrifice themselves to destroy the VIRM planet, Ikuno wonders if their prayers reached the two in time and Miku believes they did. Everyone then mourns the loss of their two friends.

3705 days since the gate passage, Naomi and she continued their research. She later lies in a hospital bed as she examines Ichigo, who is heavily pregnant, and says everything is fine. She also wonders what Ichigo’s baby will be like. Futoshi enters the room and tells her to try his new bread recipe. When Naomi teases him for not losing any weight, he blames Ikuno for helping him regain his appetite. He thanks her for researching and keeping the ex-parasites' accelerated aging in check. Though the rest of the group reunites outside, she and Naomi hold hands in the hospital bed.

Ichigo
Ikuno has known Ichigo since childhood, and harbors romantic feelings for her. She blushes when encouraged by her in Episode 4 and finds comfort in recalling it before successfully linking with Mitsuru and activating Chlorophytum. Ikuno is notably more talkative and happy when she is speaking with Ichigo, as in Episode 7, though she returns to her quiet facade when Ichigo leaves. In Episode 11, when Nana and Hachi ask if anyone would want to do a partner shuffle, Ikuno states that she wants to do a pistil-to-pistil connection with Ichigo in Delphinium. However, they fail to link and activate Delphinium. Because of this, Ikuno gets mad, saying that she was serious about doing this to Ichigo, who didn't take it as seriously as she did.

In the 5th ending theme, Escape, a scene is shown where Ikuno attempts to kiss Ichigo. In Episode 18, she tearfully confesses to Ichigo, crying about what a pain she finds herself to be, as well as the whole FRANXX piloting system. Ichigo hugs her, and comforts her by stating that she herself is also a pain, and that she believes it's just a natural part of life. When Ikuno was in the Garden, a few children called her 'Ikuro', from her numerical readings. Ikuno disliked the name, and Ichigo came up to her, and turned the 6 90-degrees counter-clockwise so her name sounded like 'Ikuno' instead of 'Ikuro'. Ikuno states that ever since then, she has had feelings for her, but for she to give up to her feelings it not so easy, and by the time the wedding starts, she is calmed down and beginning to accept the situation. Although Ikuno knows Ichigo will never reciprocate her feelings, she still cares deeply for her and, despite showing a brief tint of jealousy after Goro kisses Ichigo, she shows her support for Ichigo and Goro as a couple. When Ichigo becomes pregnant, she goes to Ikuno for prenatal care and Ikuno is interested in knowing what her baby will be like.

Naomi
Naomi and Ikuno had previous interactions due to her previously being Hiro’s partner but their relationship was unknown. In episode 24, they begin spending time together after Naomi is freed and she works with Ikuno as a doctor. As they continued working together, they develop a relationship and Naomi takes care of Ikuno from her hospital bed.

Mitsuru

Mitsuru is Ikuno’s original partner. However, they do not get along and don’t hide their dislike for each other. Mitsuru blames Ikuno for their incompatibility due to her distaste for the boy-girl pairing system but she points out he is also at fault for his difficulty in trusting others. However, she is not completely indifferent towards him, as she was visibly hurt when he paraded how Zero Two was a better partner and she later defended him and Kokoro against the 9’s. Things between them start to ease after they switch partners and become more civil with each other.

Etymology
Ikuno's name comes from the numeral's readings of her code "196": i from 1, ku from 9; meanwhile, no resembles hiragana "の" (no) when 6 turns 90-degree counter clockwise.

Quotes
"A pain? So what if it's a pain?"

- Episode 17; Ikuno says this after slapping Nine Alpha.

Trivia

 * Ikuno's notebook is decorated with white lilies. In Japanese, the word for lily is 百合 (yuri), which is also the word used for homosexual relationships between women.

Икуно