Dr. FRANXX

Werner Frank, better known as Dr. FRANXX, is a character in DARLING in the FRANXX.

As a scientist, he contributed an enormous amount to the creation of the FRANXX. He is a member of APE who's also responsible for the construction and management of FRANXX.

Appearance
He has the appearance of an older man, sporting grey hair and a mustache. He normally wears a white coat similar to the other adults in the setting, along with white gloves, and he also uses a cane. Half of his face, thumb finger, index finger, and middle finger of his right hand are mechanical. Part of his new left arm is blue in color.

In the past, he had brown hair and a thin beard and still wears the same white lab coat, and no cane. He lost his arm when he first met 001 and was drawn to her.

Personality
He has the nature of a calm individual, with a lecherous streak as shown when he groped Nana. He takes pride in his creations, but does seem rather disinterested in the formal procedures, such as when he was asked to attend the ceremony.

Some of his decisions were counter-intuitive. His decision to not inject more yellow blood cells into Hiro to observe how Hiro will develop shows that his way of thinking is different from others.

He's also quite adventurous, never sitting in one place. He always tries to find the best seat whenever there's a big battle.

In his thirties, he was known as Dr. Frank Werner, a talented and well-known scientist who's always invested in his research and is furious whenever somebody enters his lab without permission.

He had feelings for Karina Milsa, his former colleague and she liked him too. But before they could be officially married, she died in a tragic FRANXX trial.

Since he was young Werner has shown to be pretty pragmatic and immoral, he used to cultivate illegal experiments toward clonation, using also human fetus in order to achieve his goals and satisfy his curiosity. Werner is indeed totally enslaved by his lust for knowledge and he doesn't hesitate to use the most brutal and abominable methods to satisfy this desire.

He was indeed the one who created by clonation Zero Two (and later tortured her to make tests on her body) and the other children to make them pilot the Franxx in order to fight Klaxosauruses, and he also had a major role in discovering the secret of immortality, silently allowing that humanity came near extinction. Even thought he sometimes seems to support the children (in particular Hiro and Zero Two, for not losing their emotions and being willing to rebel against their destiny), he actually doesn't care at all about them. He considers all this to be just a part of his own experiment.

Episode 01: Alone and Lonesome
In their large ship, Zero Two says she wants to take a bath. Dr. FRANXX tells to have some self-control. She leans over to 081 and asks if she smells. Dr. FRANXX tells her to leave him alone, since he's drained after the last battle. She asks if Plantation 13 has an ocean because she wants to swim in it. Nana says there isn't and she can take a shower. As they begin to descend, Zero Two licks herself and says she hates how she tastes.

As the transport plane lands, Dr. FRANXX says that the seats are too hard for him. Nana says that they don't have many options when it comes to transporting large cargo. Dr. FRANXX says that he hasn't seen her in ages, but she's still as stiff as ever, though her body is "soft and yielding" as he gropes her. She turns and scolds him.

He asks if Hachi is well and Nana says that he'd been asked to speed up the children's training, as it will be the first trial run for the unit they're using. She asks Dr. FRANXX why run the test case there with such a makeshift team. He says that something's been bothering him, though APE might not understand it. After agreeing to attend the startup ceremony, he says that Zero Two is already missing. They look around and notice her going through a door. 081 angrily says that she's run off again.

At Cerasus, the parasites attend their welcoming meeting where they are praised by Papa. The adults cheer for them. Goro tells Ichigo to focus on the ceremony, since Papa and everyone else is watching.

Zero Two says that she can smell a klaxosaur. 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.

Zero Two throws 081 out of her FRANXX and tells Hiro that he's done for. Hiro tries to stop her from piloting alone. She says that it'll start moving again eventually and then everyone will die. She says she's not afraid of death and she has a job to do. He says that he'll pilot with her. She asks if he's prepared to die. He says he's essential dead already and asks to be taken along. She says they're similar and it'd been a long time since she saw a human cry.

She pulls him into her FRANXX and into a kiss, calling him her darling. Dr. FRANXX says that when the negative and positive - male and female factors combine and their hearts become one, the iron maiden will reveal her true form.

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 02
He appears in Episode 1, he was escorting Zero Two along with the cargo needed for testing that he intends to carry out at the Thirteenth Plantation. When the Mohorovic-class Klaxosaur appeared, he observed it before Strelizia dispatched it.

In a flashback in Episode 13, it is shown to have run experiments on Zero Two, and later erasing her and Hiro's memories.

In Episode 19, he was offered work by the Lamarck Club, who saw potential in his abilities. It was there that he met his colleague, Karina Milsa. Over time, Karina came to like Frank and invited him to dinner. It was then that Frank came to realize that he liked Karina. Soon, they would be husband and wife but the emergence of Klaxosaurs lead to the need to create a weapon to counter them - the FRANXX. Karina volunteered for the 13th FRANXX trial in 2042, which unfortunately ended in a disaster. He was seen mourning over her grave. He then grew even more invested in his research.

During episode 19, he had also lost his left arm after meeting the Klaxosaur Princess. After licking his hand, she could tell that the blood of her brethren was spilled because of his creations. To teach him to no longer kill, she bit into his shoulder and torn part of his arm off, throwing it away. He had his arm replaced later on and wore long sleeved shirts and white gloves from then on. After this incidence, he collected body tissues from the Klaxosaur Princess for cloning.

During Episode 21, he went with Zero Two and opened the sealed door with his fake arm containing Klaxosaur Princess' cells to atone for his sins and when Strelizia was revived, the rubble from the building collapsed at Dr. FRANXX as he admires the scene of Strelizia Apatha (Strelizia and Star Entity), and died from falling rubble.

Zero Two
The doctor seems to have an almost parental relationship with Zero Two, given the tone he speaks to her with and how casually he accepts her behavior.

In Episode 13, during one of Dr. Franxx's experiments on Zero Two, he considered her as a special parasite, "a marvelous creation" from the discovery of her abilities.

Hiro
Hiro had survived 3 sorties with Zero Two, which makes him an "interesting specimen".

During their personal meeting in Episode 7, he says that "that boy (Hiro) could be the one to fulfill her (Zero Two) wish".

In Episode 15, they had another chat. He remarks about how Zero Two is such a marvelous creation, yet is always so lonely, like a Klaxosaur. Hiro objected, saying that she's human. Intrigued, the doctor turns around to look at Hiro. He says that he had thought she (Zero Two) may have finally found a partner as Hiro prepares to leave for Zero Two.

In Episode 19, Hiro says he saw him in Zero Two's memories and that he can't forgive him before walking out.

Papa
Papa refers to Dr. Franxx as Werner as they were scientists who collaborated in the past. Papa and other members of the Lamarck Club was generous enough to give him more than enough money for him to continue his research.

Karina Milsa
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.

Etymology
His real name is Werner Frank (ヴェルナー・フランク), both of which are Germanic.

Dr.FRANXX Werner Frank Doktor Franxx Доктор Франкс