Karina Milsa

 is a character in DARLING in the FRANXX.

Appearance
Karina Milsa was a middle-aged woman with bobbed caramel-blonde hair and gray eyes. She would wear eyeglasses during experiments and when she had to read or write.

Personality
From the outset, Karina was shown to have had a great deal of initial admiration, if not attraction, to Werner. Similar to Kokoro, she desired to have children, and that with none other than her "dense" partner, the doctor himself. Because of this, she refused to become immortal. She often discussed with him about the peak of human development and would worry about him.

Karina was quite fearless, too, willing to be a test subject (the 13th one, to be exact) for the prototype FranXX unit. Several years after her death, her husband conducted his test squad at Plantation 13, perhaps in honor and memory of of her.

Episode 19: Inhumanity
In 2025, at a building, a woman walks beside him and asks if he's Werner Frank. She says it's an honor to meet him and that she read all the papers he's published. She introduces herself as Karina Milsa. Though she extends her hand, he shifts away from it. He asks if she's of regenerative telomere medicine fame. She confirms this is he is surprised.

In 2030, two scientists test and find no signs of aging. Karina Milsa reports that they couldn't have done it without Dr. Frank's help. She later notes that he doesn't seem happy about it. He answers that mankind might lose its reproductive functions in exchange for its immortality. She says they don't have indication of that, but he says it's inevitable. She asks if he thinks it's wrong for mankind to attain immortality. He says no, that he always wanted to know mankind's pinnacle, but wonders if they'll still be humans at that point. She asks if he means they'll be gods. He smiles at her and says he's an atheist.

''Dr. FRANXX narrates that the treatments led to the loss of reproductive functions, but many still made the choice to become immortal. Around that time, mankind recovered from its rut and quickly approached the apex of material civilization. But the only ones to benefit from it were the rich, with access to immortality and the class divide continues to grow wider. Some years later, to combat the population explosion, a law passed in East Asia to heavily tax childbirth. At the same time, rapid desertification was observed in the southern parts of North America. Some identified the mining of magma energy as the cause, but they were ignored.''

In 2036, humanity's immortality rate exceeded 70% and the rest were scheduled to complete their procedures withing two years. But he still refuses to.

Karina asks if he still can't bring himself to undergo the procedure. He says that he doesn't like having his body messed with. He says he'd prefer to replace it with a mechanical one. She smiles and asks if he doesn't think it's time he stopped to think about his future. He says that isn't like him and asks if she isn't going under the knife. She says she wants to have a child. He is surprised and says he didn't think she had a partner. She says that he's dense and hasn't noticed her feelings. He says that she should asks him for dinner instead of himself. She says that she did. He is still confused, and she asks if he isn't being too dense. He asks if she means him and says that she has bad taste.

''By that time, desertification had become a serious issue across the globe, and APE presented to nations its plantation project, which would be humanity's ark. It essentially became the leader of the world.''

In 2037, at an offshore magma energy mine, a klaxosaur appeared and destroyed the mining facility and made a landfall, only stopping after several nuclear missiles hit it. The eastern half of the Australian continent became an exclusion zone. They were called klaxosaurs for "screaming reptiles," and began showing up everywhere. They too were attracted to magma energy mines. The plantations turned into mobile anti-klaxosaur fortresses, cities were abandoned, and mankind disappeared from the surface.

Karina asks where he is going, and he answers that they've secured a decently preserved klaxosaur corpse in Alaska. She says they were supposed to submit their marriage registration next week. He tells her to submit it if he's not back. She later signs her section alone.

He was enthralled that their bodies could be both mechanical and organic, and thought they were extremely beautiful. He noticed that it contained the same XX chromosomes seen in female humans. He was appointed lead developer of an anti-klaxosaur weapon, the FRANXX.

In 2042, they hold the 13th startup trial for the FRANXX prototype. It hit a roadblock where it wouldn't start up. After rigorous testing, it was discovered that the pilot needed to possess reproductive functions.

Werner tells Karina that she didn't have to volunteer herself. She enters and it begins to move, but it smashes its head against the wall and she dies.

Dr. FRANXX
She was engaged to Dr. FRANXX, who was known as Werner Frank at that time. She first met him when Werner got a job at APE, and got to know him before she proposed to him, and Werner gladly accepted her proposal. However, Werner went to investigate a Klaxosaur corpse in Alaska during when they were about to get married. She signed a marriage certificate, and waited for Werner to return so she could get his sign on the certificate as well, so they would be officially married.

Quotes
"1"

- 2

Trivia
    
 * Although her reason for declining to become immortal was to have a child, Karina never had children.
 * In the manga, Dr. FRANXX says that if he hadn’t lost Karina, he would have never strayed so far.
 * 9'α bears a strong resemblance to Karina, and it is probable that Dr. FRANXX used her DNA to create him.