Dr. FRANXX

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

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

Appearance
He had 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, his entire jawbone, thumb finger, index finger, and middle finger of his right hand are mechanical. Part of his new left arm is blue in color as it contains 001's DNA.

In the past, he had unkept black hair that almost reached his shoulders and his bangs covered the left side of his face. He also a thin beard and still wears the same white lab coat and no cane. He lost his arm when he first met 001.

Personality
Since he was young, Dr. FRANXX had been pragmatic and immoral, as he cultivates illegal experiments toward cloning involving human fetuses purely to satisfy his curiosity. By his own admission, he was enslaved by his lust for knowledge and doesn’t hesitate to use brutal and abominable methods to achieve his scientific goals. He was very meticulous in his work and was very protective of it to the point he was furious if someone were to enter his lab without permission.

As an atheist, he did not believe in deities and finds immortality to be a nuisance, when asked if he planned to have the procedure to become immortal, he declined because he preferred not have his body messed with and found a cyborg version of himself more favorable, he rarely interacted with others due how invested he was with his research, facing ethical scrutiny for its immoral and illegal conduct. However, after working with Karina Milsa for several years and hearing her confess her feelings to him, he eventually reciprocated them despite insisting she had bad taste, and they planned to marry before her death during a FRANXX drill. Her death emotionally broke his mentality; he stopped caring about the future humanity and poured all his focus into the study of klaxosaurs and the development of the FRANXX and its parasite pilots.

He was also adventurous and can never stay in the same place long, and always looks to have a front-row seat when there is a big battle. After encountering 001, he found her beautiful and alluring, and, despite losing an arm to her aggressive nature, he remained madly in love with her, a fact that he contributes to him losing whatever humanity he had left in him, after obtaining a DNA sample from her hair, he sought to create the perfect specimen and thus created Zero Two, an experiment he takes great pride in, he also is credited for creating all the parasites, who are nurtured and trained since birth to become pilots and fight against the klaxosaurs. His fascination with science and his creations tends to have a bizarre effect on him, to the point he refers to Strelizia as beautiful.

As an old man, he had the nature of a calm individual, with a lecherous streak, as seen when he groped Nana, he takes pride in how beneficial his creations prove to be, but he does seem quite disinterested in the formal procedures, such as when he was asked to attend the ceremony and he reluctantly agreed, he had a shaky relationship with APE, whose ideals on human physiology he strongly disagrees with, he tends to carry out his experiments without approval or knowledge of the APE council, saying the "geezers" would never understand what he was trying to discover, some of his decisions are counter-intuitive, as his decision to stop injecting yellow blood cells into Hiro to observe how Hiro will develop shows that his way of thinking is different from others, he also shows extensive interest in uncovering humanity’s precious emotional and reproductive system before humanity turned to immortality, he pursues this by hastily arranging placing the members of Squad 13 together and giving them more liberation than most parasites to allow them to naturally develop emotional and physical effects that come with transitioning from childhood to adulthood, although this impulsive act was solely for the purpose of science, Dr. FRANXX suspects that APE’s doctrines and control over the children are hindering their performance and the introduction of natural hormones that come with adolescence is the cornerstone to piloting a FRANXX. He even admits he received data far more compelling than he anticipated, as he observed the children lean on one another to survive, become self confident in their own choices to the point of rebeling, and develop intimate relationships, one of which resulted in a pregnancy and the pair having a wedding ceremony.

Although he was the creator of all the parasites, he merely sees them as expendable specimens and shows them no empathy, he did tend to spoil Zero Two on the grounds she was specifically designed to operate Hringhorni on behalf of the human race, he also shows great interest in Hiro for being the only stamen to have survived riding with Zero Two more than three times, when Hiro learns it was Dr. FRANXX who erased his and Zero Two’s memories as children, Hiro said he could never forgive him for everything he did to her, from then onwards, Dr. FRANXX began to regret how he treated Zero Two and the other parasites, before his death, he decides to make things right by helping Zero Two rescue Hiro from 001 and made peace with her. Moments before his demise, he was allured by how beautiful Strelizia Apath was.

Background
As a young man, he was known as Frank Werner, a scientist who faced ethical scrutiny for his use of immoral and illegal experiments on cloning. He was offered work by the Lamarck Club, who saw potential in his abilities. He was displeased someone arranged him for the job without his permission and, upon meeting with the council, he was not interested but, in return for his recruitment, his research would receive significant funding, which compelled him to accept. It was during this period that he met his colleague, Karina Milsa. Over time, his research led to the discovery of magma energy, which APE used as a low-cost and all-encompassing energy source. He turned his attention to the study of immortality, although he is an atheist who doesn’t believe in immortality.

After a while, he was successful in uncovering the key to immortality by injecting doses of magma energy into humans, although humans lost their reproductive systems after the procedure. During dinner, Karina asked him if he planned to become immortal but he disagreed, stating he disliked having his body messed with and preferred to be a cyborg. He then asked her if she planned to have the procedure but she said she wanted to have a child and there was someone she liked, whom he realized was himself. He replied she had bad taste. Soon, they planned to be married but he delayed signing their marriage certificate due to him becoming invested in the construction of the FRANXX units following the emergence of Klaxosaurs. After many lives were lost during the test phase, he realized only fertile male and female pilots were capable of piloting the FRANXX. Karina volunteered for the 13th FRANXX trial in 2042, which unfortunately ended in a disaster and she was killed. He was seen mourning over her grave. After the tragedy, Dr. FRANXX grew even more invested in his research and lost all hope in humanity’s future. To resolve the issue of finding pilots who retained their reproductive systems, he used his research on cloning to create children known as parasites. When it was discovered the klaxosaurs’ leader was residing underground, he and some APE soldiers went to see this leader, revealed to be the Klaxosaur Princess. After killing the soldiers, she licked his hand and said she could tell that the blood of her brethren was spilt 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. Despite this, he remained in love with her and felt he had lost what remained of his humanity. He had his arm replaced with a mechanical arm and wore long-sleeved shirts and white gloves from then on. From this incident, he retrieved DNA from a few strands of the Klaxosaur Princess's hair for cloning and created Zero Two with it.

Over the next several years, he conducted torturous experiments on Zero Two to test her regenerative abilities and he monitored the growth of the children, including a young Hiro, at the Garden. When Hiro’s sensitivity was becoming an issue, Dr. FRANXX was against increasing his yellow blood cell count to make him more obedient because he was curious to see what kind of parasite Hiro would grow up to be. However, he was obligated to follow APE’s command to erase Hiro and Zero Two’s memories after Hiro helped her escape from the Garden. Although he deemed Hiro to be useless for ingesting Zero Two’s blood, Dr. FRANXX had him returned to the Garden. He then resumed his experiments on Zero Two before she became a pistil and he created Strelizia, a unique FRANXX that he deems his ideal version of a FRANXX unit, for her.

Prior to his arrival with Zero Two at Cerasus, Dr. FRANXX became curious of humanity’s previous way of life, so much so that he specifically chose ten children, who are uncharacteristic than other parasites, to be placed in Squad 13 to be an experimental team for him to test his curiosity. Out of whim to see if Zero Two and Hiro would be able to rekindle their previous relationship despite their memory loss and be a compatible pair, he arranges to bring Zero Two to Plantation 13.

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 is hesitant on leaving 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 for everyone to evacuate.

Zero Two throws 081 out of Strelizia and tells Hiro that he's done for. Hiro tries to stop her from piloting alone. She says the Moho-class will start moving again eventually and then everyone will die. She says she's not afraid of death and she has a job to do. Hiro says that he'll pilot with her. Zero Two asks if he's prepared to die. He says he's essentially dead already and asks to be taken along. Zero Two says they're very similar and it had been a long time since she last 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 the Moho-class's 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 in the special forces unit APE directly controls. Zero Two looks down and smiles at Squad 13, saying she found her darling.

Episode 06: DARLING in the FRANXX
Dr. FRANXX watches close by as Hiro survives his third ride with Strelizia and stops Zero Two from continuing to pilot in stampede mode. He is impressed as Strelizia flies into the klaxosaur’s core and the energy it gives off forms wings on Strelizia. He says Hiro might make her dream come true.

Episode 07: Shooting Star Moratorium
Shortly after the battle, Dr. FRANXX is introduced to Hiro by Hachi, who announces Hiro and Zero Two are official partners and Strelizia will be moved into Plantation 13. The doctor has no issue with it, which pleases Zero Two. However, he warns Hiro not to let her consume his emotions, which confuses Hiro.

As a reward for Squad 13’s role in the successful kissing with Plantation 26, Dr. FRANXX sends them to the beach as a vacation. Nana is curious why he would send the children alone to the beach, as it is outside the plantation.

Episode 08: Boys x Girls
Dr. FRANXX converses with Nana and Hachi over the children going through puberty. Hachi finds it surprising that all ten members are going through it at the same time and Nana says, as the protocol in the APE manual, they must intervene should things get out of hand. The doctor advises them not to intervene or else the purpose of the experiment will be for nothing before he hangs up.

Episode 13: The Beast and the Prince
As Hiro’s forgotten memories resurface, he remembers when Dr. FRANXX would bring Zero Two to the laboratory in the Garden and perform torturous experiments on her. At one point, he had a laser blow a hole through her hand and he relished in amazement for her healing ability as she screamed in pain.

After Hiro and Zero Two were captured after running away, Dr. FRANXX was ordered to erase their memories.

Episode 15: Jian
Dr. FRANXX meets with the APE council, who learn Zero Two devoured all her stamen. They say this moment is a great opportunity to seize Gran Crevasse and the construction of Hringhorni is almost complete. The doctor walks away before Papa stops him by calling him “Werner”. He says he wants to have a front-row seat.

When a super Lehmann-class klaxosaur appears from underground, Dr. FRANXX walks in and is amazed. It begins heading straight for Plantation 13. Nana tells the doctor to evacuate and orders Hiro to return to Mistilteinn. He asks Hiro if he finds Zero Two more beautiful than any other human, pure, proud and more alone than anyone else like a klaxosaur. Hiro says she is not a klaxosaur before he returns to Mistilteinn.

APE orders the backup plan to begin and some of the plantations begin to self-destruct. Dr. FRANXX is disgusted with their choice as they did not rely on Strelizia to end things.

Episode 16: Days Of Our Lives
Nana and Hachi call Dr. FRANXX, who asks if they have had contact with the children. Hachi confirms they haven’t. The doctor is happy and tells them intervening will ruin the whole experiment. Nana doesn’t understand and thinks their efforts will be in vain. He calls her inflexible and she’s been down this road before. He compliments Hachi before hanging up.

Episode 17: Eden
While interviewing Kokoro for knowing forbidden knowledge on human reproduction, Hachi tells her that Dr. FRANXX ordered him and Nana to have no contact with the squad for a month as part of the squad’s ‘last test’.

An argument with Kokoro causes Nana to relapse into puberty and Dr. FRANXX is disappointed that Nana is useless now. Hachi thinks there is no need to carry out the experiment. The doctor agrees but says he gathered some intriguing data that Squad 13 regained humanity’s original reproductive instincts.

Episode 19: Inhumanity
Dr. FRANXX confronts APE on their decision to erase Kokoro and Mitsuru’s memories for wanting to get married and have a child without consulting him. One council member says they wanted to eliminate the irregularities before their operation. Dr. FRANXX warns that, if they continue, there is no guarantee the children will be obedient. Another member says they haven’t done anything to Squad 13 but those two. Dr. FRANXX demands to know why. The Vice Chairman says to get rid of unnecessary emotions and memories. The doctor asks why he wasn’t consulted. Papa asks him to behave since he wished for their plan to succeed as well. After they hang up, he thinks he is different compared to them.

After recalling his past, Dr. FRANXX is present when Hiro demands that Papa restore Kokoro and Mitsuru’s memories, which Papa says is impossible. This enrages the entire squad and Hiro demands he release them from duty since they no longer see him as their papa, to which Papa agrees as long as they win the final battle before hanging up. Dr. FRANXX tells them to show they can be real humans. Hiro says he saw what the doctor did to Zero Two in her memories and he can never forgive him. The doctor then watches Hiro and Zero Two walk away holding hands.

Episode 20: A New World
Dr. FRANXX talks with the APE council with Hiro and Zero Two begins him about the upcoming battle. He then talks with Hachi, who says Hringhorni is ready. The doctor asks about Nana and Hachi says she is briefing the squad, but the doctor says “not that Nana”. He immediately changes the topic and tells Hachi to do what he wants. He later accompanies Hiro and Zero Two to Strelizia. 001 suddenly enters Gran Crevasse and Dr. FRANXX asks her if she plans to operate Star Entity but says she can’t because she is the only klaxosapien survivor. He offers to pilot it with her like he’s dreamed of since they met but she pins him down, saying she doesn’t need a partner but will take the one he’s offered.

In the control room, Dr. FRANXX and Hachi are surprised 001 connected with Strelizia. He says he wasn’t expecting her to link with a human and thinks she will devour once again. As 001 sends a message to all the parasites, Dr. FRANXX reveals the truth of klaxosapiens: they built the klaxosaurs as weapons that are composed of male and female klaxosapien pilots, and the female’s soul is connected to the weapon and the male’s soul is linked to the core. Hachi says that sounds like a FRANXX. The doctor says FRANXX are an application to the klaxosaur system and klaxosaurs can be piloted by humans genetically modified as klaxo sapiens. All the parasites hear this in their comms and are shocked. As VIRM appears from space and klaxosaur ships start shooting into the sky, Dr. FRANXX comments it is beautiful.

Episode 21: For You, My Love
Star Entity is revealed to have been implanted with a virus by Papa, who reveals himself as the leader of VIRM, in which when 001 attempts to operate it and this starts a detonation countdown. Dr. FRANXX realizes this will cause the entire planet to be destroyed and says VIRM got him good while laughing. However, because Hiro was a foreign factor to Star Entity, his presence was able to stall the detonation a bit. Hachi pulls up the countdown, which shows 72 minutes left to the blast. Zero Two says that’s how much time Hiro bought them before she collapses.

When she wakes up, she asks why 001 called her a fake. Dr. FRANXX reveals 001 is the sole survivor of the klaxosapiens and Zero Two is her clone. Star Entity could only be operated by a klaxosapien and she was created to operate it in behalf of the human race. Dr. FRANXX adds there were many specimens before her who failed to survive and she was the only success. He explained he created the 9’s from her DNA but they didn’t inherit her klaxosaur blood.

Zero Two announces she is going to rescue Hiro and Dr. FRANXX offers to go with her as the other Squad 13 units arrive to take them to the entrance. He says he believes a miracle can happen if Zero Two, Hiro, and 001 come together. Upon reaching the door, he opens it by tearing off and throwing his robotic arm containing the Klaxosaur Princess' DNA. Zero Two goes to care for him but he says it’s the least he can do to atone for his sins. A giant klaxosaur snake appears and offers to take Zero Two to Strelizia. Before leaving, she asks him if he brought her to Plantation 13 to reunite her with Hiro. Dr. FRANXX says he never expected them to rekindle what they had before and it was just a whim. Regardless, Zero Two thanks him for creating her and expresses her forgiveness for him.

When Strelizia reconnects, the rubble from the building collapses. Dr. FRANXX lies on the ground as he admires the scene of Strelizia Apatha (Strelizia and Star Entity), and is crushed to death from falling rubble.

Zero Two
Dr. FRANXX is the creator of Zero Two and he forced her to undergo torturous experiments. During one of Dr. FRANXX's experiments on Zero Two, he considered her as a special parasite, "a marvellous creation" from the discovery of her abilities and reacted to delight when she screamed in agony.

As Zero Two grew older and her performance as a pistil increased, Dr. FRANXX began to treat her in a parental manner based on the tone when he speaks to her about her rebellious behavior. He tended to give her more liberation once she became a parasite but kept her under close surveillance as she devoured her partners after 3 sorties. He also tended to react with dismay towards her lack of self-control.

Zero Two’s feelings for Dr. FRANXX were initially unknown despite the torture he forced her to endure as a child. She spoke to him in a casual manner and never quarreled with him. In the final battle at the Gran Crevasse, Dr. FRANXX and Zero Two share a final moment as he loses his cyborg left arm to help her reach Hiro and she tries to tend to him. Before she leaves to find Hiro, Zero Two thanks him for creating her and helping her meet Hito, showing she forgives Dr. FRANXX. He is amazed at how human she has become.

Hiro
Hiro is deemed a special specimen by Dr. FRANXX due to his aptitude results. Hiro’s memories are erased by Dr. FRANXX after he helped Zero Two escape from the Garden. Years later, Dr. FRANXX acts in a whim by bringing Zero Two to Plantation 13 and reuniting her with Hiro.

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

In Episode 15, they had another chat. He remarks about how Zero Two is such a marvellous 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.

001
Dr. FRANXX is obsessed with the Princess of Klaxosaurs, he describes her as "the most beautiful being" he has ever seen. Even after she bites off his left arm during their first encounter, he still shows interests in the princess and wants to be her partner in a FRANXX. In Episode 20, he offers to pilot Strelizia alongside with 001 since she is the only Klaxo Sapien alive, but his request is rejected and she brutally attacks him.

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 were generous enough to give him more than enough money for him to continue his research.

Dr. FRANXX has a low opinion of Papa and the other members of APE, as he refers to them as geezers. He conducts social and emotional experiments on Squad 13 without Papa’s knowledge or consent. He believes Papa’s doctrines and control over the parasites hinder the children’s performance, and he is openly critical of Papa’s ideals and laws.

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 the marriage certificate and waited for Werner to return so she could get his signature on the certificate as well, so they would be officially married.

Years later, Werner is recasted when she is killed during the 13th FRANXX startup prototype ritual. This causes him to lose all interest and hope in humanity. In the manga, Dr. FRANXX wonders if he hadn’t strayed so far if he hadn’t lost her.

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

Trivia

 * As a young man, he closely resembled Hiro, which makes some fans wonder if Hiro is a clone of Dr. FRANXX.
 * In the manga, Dr. FRANXX is killed when 001 destroys Plantation 13 with a laser attack from Hringhorni, and his last words were apologizing to Zero Two and the other children.
 * His scientist mindset and overall physical appearance, excluding his cybernetic parts, greatly resemble Mega Man arch-nemesis Dr. Albert Wily.

Dr.FRANXX Werner Frank Doktor Franxx Доктор Франкс