Hiro (Darling in the FranXX)

Hiro is the main protagonist of DARLING in the FRANXX anime.

Hiro was called a prodigy until he failed out in the test to become a Franxx pilot. This left him seriously depressed and made him consider leaving the Plantation, but his meeting with Zero Two encouraged him to try piloting again with her.

In the XP4 fics, Hiro debuted in XP4 Heroes of the Multiverse - Kick-Off!.

Appearance
Hiro had an average build, height, and a standard "slim" male physique. He had black, shaggy hair and rich blue eyes. His checkered past had left him with an emphatic expression on his face. He was often seen in the standard Stamen Parasite uniform.

Starting from Episode 05, he had a blue tumor-like mutation in his chest, caused by piloting with Zero Two, which increased his yellow blood cell count, the polar opposite of what happened when Zero Two rode with other parasites. This mutation later grew larger due to piloting with Zero Two again, but Hiro was able to overcome the mutation using his willpower, and completely got rid of it, although a scar was left on his chest.

Starting from Episode 14, Hiro developed canines and he also began sprouting small blue horns due to his "saurification". His horns eventually lengthen significantly and glow blue, the same way Zero Two's do when emotionally agitated. His eyes become luminescent, changing from a dark blue-green to bright blue. His irises also gained more blue hues and rings, and he also developed a blue eyeliner similar to that of Zero Two. His fangs grew out when he was enraged. Right before his demise, Hiro was shown to have blue skin, akin to that of the klaxo-sapiens.

Personality
As a child, Hiro was very jovial, optimistic, and hopeful, giving names to other kids and to himself as well. He taught the kids that names only given to themselves could give a sense of uniqueness when the only name they had was their codes. This earned him fame among other children, even those in other plantations. Because of this, he was chosen to represent the Children in the Garden. During his time at the Garden, Hiro was very curious about himself and the world around him. He would constantly ask himself questions and whenever he tried to ask the adults, they would never give him an answer. This, coupled with the fact that the other Children never took a stand with him and were very obedient, made Hiro frustrated and he felt like he was the only person fighting the world all by himself. This changed when he met Zero Two, to which Hiro realized that there were other people fighting the world by themselves. He was then shown to be tenacious and brave, as he didn't bother to wait to rescue Zero Two and broke her out of her room and helped her evade the authorities for a while all by himself. However, after getting caught, the authorities decided to erase both of their memories: Hiro's curiosity, free-spirited nature, and meeting with Zero Two were few of the reasons why. After this, Hiro became less curious, joyful and creative, and more emphatic, serious and obedient. He also stopped naming children and was stripped off of some of the original aspects of his personality. Prior of his memory wipe, Hiro only wanted to pilot in as much as it would let him leave the Garden, but when this motivation was erased from his memory, piloting was all he remembered and his sole purpose for living.

Because he was considered a role model, all of the children hoped he would lead them because he was the best pilot, but Hiro's aptitude skill began to dip after he ingested a young Zero Two's blood. This inability to pilot a FRANXX had left his hopes low, even to the point of choosing to leave the Thirteenth Plantation until his former partner Naomi encouraged him to stay. Losing the ability to pilot had left him with extremely low self-confidence and left feeling insecure and that his life had little worth. He initially struggled to find somewhere to belong, even to the extent that he was more than willing to ride with Zero Two even if it meant death. Part of the reason why he was determined to keep on piloting Strelizia is because he was finally able to fulfill his role as a Parasite, and he was willing to die fighting than live as a useless civilian. However, this wish of his came to an end after he survived his third ride with Zero Two. It was then he realized that he had found another reason to fight beside protecting Papa and the adults: to become Zero Two's wings.

Hiro appears to be quite philosophical, as he was first introduced as him monologuing about the philosophical meaning of a wounded bird he saw in the forest, indicating that he still had retained the curiosity of the outside world from his childhood. In his time in the Garden, he spent his time teaching Ichigo and Goro about many old but meaningful sayings that would stick to them even as they grew up.

Hiro was shown to be very hardworking and devoted, as he refused to stop pilot with Zero Two and when he trained in a FRANXX training unit all day and all night so he could be useful and fight alongside the other Parasites. He was also kind and caring, as despite feeling depressed over his inability to pilot, he never acted in a harsh manner towards his fellow pilots, even when some of them weren't as welcoming towards him. However, he was more than willing to fight back when Zorome antagonized him several times. He was determined to prove himself worthy to pilot and make himself acknowledged. When he does get promoted to an official Parasite, he states that he would do his best and not tie them down. After regaining his memories, Hiro regains his former personality. Also, thanks to Zero Two's influence and his bonds with people, he understood that there were more to life than just to pilot a FRANXX. He also began thinking about the future and all the possible paths that were open for all of them. He teaches all of this to his friends in Squad 13. Instead of the "fight until I die" mentality, Hiro developed a "fight so I can keep living" mentality. His traits from childhood also started to resurface: he became fearless, disobedient, rebellious and ready to stand up for his friends, even it meant going against the rules. This is seen where when Papa and the others destroyed Squad 13's happy and peaceful life, especially in regard to Mitsuru and Kokoro's memories being erased due to their decision to get married, Hiro told Papa that he would never see him as their ‘papa’ nor obey him ever again after what he did to his two friends, insisting that the Parasites would be free from APE after their final battle. He became increasingly adamant about gaining freedom for himself, Zero Two and their teammates. Hiro also develops a strong dislike towards those who hurt his friends; and he told Dr. FRANXX he will never forgive him for the torturous treatment he put Zero Two through, and felt disdain towards the 9’s for their interface of Squad 13’s personal lives and frequent mocking of them. Nevertheless, Hiro is willing to set aside his personal feelings in order to do what he believes to be the right cause, such as pairing with Alpha in order to rescue Zero Two.

Hiro was a person that could do anything if he put his mind to it. As the story went on though, Hiro would rarely let his friends affect the decisions he took by himself. He also had the tendency to keep things to himself even when sharing them would be beneficial for everyone, which then leads to serious cases of miscommunication. Even when he was struggling, he kept to himself because he did not want to trouble the others. This is the case where Hiro asked Goro to keep quiet about his tumor-like mutation since he was devoted to keeping piloting with Zero Two. As stated by Goro, he often jumps into things by himself and takes his own decisions without talking with his teammates first. Although Hiro does feel guilty for hurting his friends’ feelings and letting them down, he wants them to understand that he feels it is important to chase after and protect what he loves the most to the point he would rather die trying to protect it rather than do nothing and live a life full of guilt.

Ever since Hiro met Zero Two, he had been thinking about her, her personal life and her feelings as he wanted them to understand each other. He also wanted to help her with whatever was weighing on her mind and get closer to her. Rather than his initial thoughts where he would rather be dead than cease to pilot, Hiro later admits that his resolution to live is to be with Zero Two and if he can't see her smile, he would rather be off dead.[6] The two have shown unconditional love for one another and know that their bond can overcome whatever obstacle fate throws at them. Zero Two credits him for encouraging everyone to live their lives for the greater good but Hiro feels it is not something to be proud of because he believes he only caused too much trouble to his friends, but she persuades him that it was because of his desire to live. Right before his demise, Hiro and Zero Two were completely willing to sacrifice themselves to save the Earth and so their friends and the other people could live a good life. They state that even if they would die, the paths they had walked would never fade since their friends would take it even further.

Abilities
Hiro is more assertive in the manga, where his desire to pilot with Zero Two prevents Mitsuru from ever piloting Strelizia and he also confronts Nine Alpha at full after the latter doesn't allow him to help out his beleaguered friends.

Trivia

 * Hiro gave everyone in Squad 13 their names, except for Ikuno.
 * Despite being unable to pilot, Hiro has the record of piloting 4 differents FRANXX's: Unknown FRANXX with Naomi, Strelizia, Delphinium, 9 Model.
 * Hiro also has the record of the largest variety of partners: Zero Two (official partner; Strelizia), Naomi (former partner), Ichigo (temporary partner; Delphinium), 001 (temporary partner; Strelizia) & 9'α (temporary partner; 9 Model).
 * Hiro is terrible at art, shown when he drew a picture of the prince for Zero Two’s picture book and she burst out laughing upon seeing it. Ichigo also states he sucked when she sees the drawing.
 * Hiro enjoys reading, as he read The Golden Bough and understood its concepts as a small child and asked for an illustrated guide as an annual gift from Papa.
 * Hiro’s English voice actor, Matt Shipman, and Ichigo’s English voice actress, Brittany Lauda, are married in real life.