Why is Zero Two So Popular?

Are you curious why Zero 002 is so popular?

I’m here to explain why Zero Two blew up almost instantly and caused everyone to fall in love with her when Darling in the Franxx first aired in 2018.

After one year passed, she is still the most requested waifu in Discord’s Waifubot and I’m seeing her frequently on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

To answer this question absolutely boldly: Zero Two is popular because she is the ultimate waifu bait character. That means that she was intended to be waifu material in the first place! To clarify that further, all waifu baits are at least baseline attractive and have traits that appeal to various kinds of people.

Zero 002 is constructed to appeal in a romantic and sexual way to anime viewers. Her character was reduced to waifu bait midway through the show even though there were hints that it was waifu bait from the start. She transformed from a wild girl to a tame pet quite quickly, to be honest.

Let’s analyze what really makes her so popular to understand this topic better.

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Anime

Darling in the Franxxx is ranked #101 when it comes to popularity and has 567,212 members on MAL. The main girl of this anime is naturally destined to be popular.

As of 2022, there are ~35k people who chose Zero Two as their favorite character on MAL. While that might not seem like a lot, she is actually the 7th most popular female in the database!

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Appearance

Zero Two has pink hair, horns, pale skin, and cute makeup which makes her outshine other girls. She is basically a hot dino girl. 

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Character

Now, this is where it gets really interesting. She was written to be the superior main girl of Darling in the Franxx. As a result, all the other girls in the anime appear max-average compared to her.

Apart from saying darling in an UwU voice she actually has a solid backstory that makes you feel sympathy for her but I feel like that’s not what made her so popular.

She has many traits that are actually attractive to shut-in otakus and gamers (the primary audience of anime).

Anime lovers are usually more introverted and shy people in general so that would mean that she is a perfect match for them.

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Some other reasons why Zero 002 is a perfect match for the majority of anime lovers

She is being inaccessible to everyone except the main male character, taking initiative on her own (not waiting for the boy), she is also bold and the whole anime is based on the progress of showing Zero Two as wild and playful when she messes with Hiro at the beginning which changes later when she starts developing feelings for Hiro and falls in love with him, resulting into sharing her most intimate feelings and creating a powerful intimate bond.

Is Zero Two also your favorite anime girl? 🙂