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.

Personality
A calm girl who prefers to keep to herself and maintains an air of poise. An avid reader of books who can more often than not be seen with one in-hand. She is rather quiet and composed and appears to have little to no interest in boys, although she does seem to have an interest in girls (as shown by her interest in Ichigo in Episode 18).

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 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 Ai to Kokoro and Mitsuru. She happily watches with Ichigo and Miku as Mitsuru is introduced to his daughter. She is also present when Naomi is brought back. 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.

3705 days since the gate passage, Naomi and she continued their research. She later lies in a hospital bed as she examines Ichigo's stomach. 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.

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.

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