Zero Two mouse pads for the desk

This is where Padrift's Zero Two mouse pads and desk mats live: original art inspired by the pink-haired pilot of Darling in the Franxx, printed edge to edge on a 3 mm neoprene pad with a fabric top, a non-slip base and stitched edges. The pads come in eight sizes, the first 11.8″ × 15.7″ (30 × 40 cm) and the last 23.6″ × 47.2″ (60 × 120 cm), and yours is printed to order rather than pulled from a shelf.

This page sits directly under Anime Mouse Pads. Darling in the Franxx doesn't have a series page of its own here, so this page covers Zero Two and the world around her: Hiro, her Franxx Strelizia, the rest of Squad 13 and the klaxosaurs. Every other series in the anime range is on the Anime page.

Darling in the Franxx in brief

Darling in the Franxx is an original anime from 2018, a co-production of Trigger and A-1 Pictures directed by Atsushi Nishigori, that ran for 24 episodes. In a future where humanity lives in moving fortress cities, children are raised to pilot giant machines called Franxx, always in pairs, a boy and a girl, against monsters called klaxosaurs. Hiro, a boy who has lost his place as a pilot, meets a strange girl with horns, and she calls him her darling.

That girl is Zero Two, code 002. Rumor says that anyone who pilots with her dies after three rides, which earns her the name Partner Killer, and the story follows what happens when Hiro decides to ride with her anyway.

Pink hair and red horns

Zero Two's silhouette is among the simplest in anime: long pink hair with a fringe, and two small red horns rising from the top of her head. Even as a shadow on a plain background, those horns make her recognizable at once, which is exactly what a small pad needs.

On the 11.8″ × 15.7″ (30 × 40 cm) pad, a pair of red horns against pink, or her outline with the horns showing, sits in the upper half and stays in view while your hand covers the rest. On a desk mat, her pink hair can sweep along one end, a strong block of color that holds its own next to a black or white keyboard.

Teal eyes and red eyeshadow

Zero Two's eyes are teal-green, rimmed with red eyeshadow, and the contrast between them is one of her signature details. A close crop across the eyes and horns suits the long M size, 11.8″ × 27.6″ (30 × 70 cm): the face stretches across the strip, and the keyboard sits below the eyes rather than on them.

That green-against-red pairing also tells you how to light the desk. A teal accent, a keycap, a cable or a small lamp, picks up her eyes, while the red stays in the art. It is a more unusual combination than plain pink and red, and it makes the setup look considered.

The red pilot suit

When she pilots, Zero Two wears a red bodysuit with white panels, and off duty she wears a red uniform. Red is her color, as surely as pink, and it sets her apart from the rest of the squad, who pilot in other colors.

Red and white designs are a good fit for a white desk with white peripherals, where the red becomes the only strong color in the room. On a black desk, the same art turns more dramatic, and a red LED strip behind the monitor ties it to the wall.

Strelizia and her lance

Zero Two's Franxx is Strelizia, a slender red-and-white machine that fights with a long lance. Like all Franxx, it has a face and figure that echo the girl who pilots it, and in battle it moves with the same speed and aggression as Zero Two herself.

A lance is long and straight, which makes Strelizia a natural subject for the long desk mat sizes. On an L, 11.8″ × 31.5″ (30 × 80 cm), or an XL, 15.7″ × 35.4″ (40 × 90 cm), the machine can stand at one end with the lance stretched across the top edge, framing the keyboard from above. Mecha designs also suit a desk with other models or figures on the shelf.

Darling: Zero Two and Hiro

Hiro, code 016, was once the most promising pilot of his group until he lost the ability to pilot, and Zero Two gives him a second chance. Their bond is the heart of the series, and almost every scene between them is drawn with care: Hiro in his pilot suit, Zero Two in red, close but rarely calm.

A design with both of them suits an XL or larger. Put Zero Two at the end you see most and Hiro at the other, so the keyboard sits in the space between them, or choose a scene where they stand side by side at one end of the mat, with open sky over the rest.

The bird with one wing

One image runs through the story: the jian, a mythical bird with only one wing and one eye, which can only fly when it finds its partner. It is how the series describes Zero Two and Hiro, two halves that only work together.

That idea translates neatly to a desk. Two pads, a mouse pad with one wing and a second pad with the other, put the pair on either side of a keyboard or on two desks side by side. It is a thoughtful gift for a couple who watched the series together, and it works as a plain bird design for anyone who hasn't seen it.

A sweet tooth

Zero Two has a sweet tooth, and the series uses that small habit to show her softer, more childlike side. Designs that lean into it, Zero Two with a jar of honey or a chibi version in pastel colors, are much lighter than the battle art.

They suit a pastel desk, a pink keyboard and soft white light, and they are the gentle choice if the pad is going to a younger fan. A honey-gold background is also a warm alternative to the usual pink.

Red against klaxosaur blue

The klaxosaurs, the giant creatures the Franxx fight, bleed blue and glow with blue light, and the series often sets Zero Two's red directly against that blue. The result is one of the strongest two-color schemes in mecha anime: hot red on one side, cold blue on the other.

That split is easy to bring to a desk with lighting. Set red LEDs at one end and blue at the other, and a red-and-blue design across an XL or XXL ties the whole setup together. If you only want one color, red suits Zero Two and blue suits a klaxosaur design.

Plantation 13 and the Mistilteinn

Squad 13 lives on Plantation 13, one of the moving fortress cities, in a quiet, green home called the Mistilteinn, set apart from the adults who run the city. It is where the children eat, argue, fall in love and grow up between battles.

Those scenes give Zero Two designs a calm setting: trees, gardens and daylight. They suit a study desk or a home office better than the fights do, and they look natural next to plants and a wooden desk.

The picture book

A worn picture book, The Beast and the Prince, matters to Zero Two's story. It tells of a beast who falls in love with a prince, and its soft, hand-painted pages reflect her own past in a way the series reveals slowly.

A storybook-style design, all soft colors and simple shapes, is one of the most distinctive ways to show her. It suits a calm reading or study desk, and it is subtle enough that people who don't know the show will simply see a fairy-tale illustration.

Squad 13

Zero Two flies with a squad of five pairs. Ichigo, the leader, pilots Delphinium with Goro; Miku and Zorome ride Argentea; Kokoro and Futoshi ride Genista; Ikuno and Mitsuru ride Chlorophytum. Each Franxx has its own color and shape, and together they make a striking lineup.

A squad design needs the largest sizes. On a 4XL, 23.6″ × 47.2″ (60 × 120 cm), the five Franxx can stand in a row with Strelizia at the end, so the keyboard covers one of the others rather than her.

Trigger's color

Trigger is also the studio behind Kill la Kill and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and its work is known for loud color, sharp shapes and fast, exaggerated movement. Darling in the Franxx shares some of that energy in its battles, and balances it with slower, quieter scenes of everyday life between them.

The battle art suits a gaming setup with neon or RGB lighting; the everyday scenes suit a calm desk. Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill has her own page under Anime if you like the studio's style.

Zero Two on a gaming desk

A Zero Two pad is a straightforward gaming pad under the art: a fabric top with an even glide, a non-slip base that keeps the mat steady during fast flicks, and stitched edges that hold up under your wrist. It has no gel wrist rest and no built-in lighting, just a flat, cushioned surface. For a study desk, a storybook or Mistilteinn design under a laptop keeps things calm and gives you a soft surface to write on.

Sizes for a Zero Two desk

Look at the product page of any design to see the sizes it's printed in. Here is what each size suits on a Zero Two desk.

Setup	Size	Good for
Mouse only	S, 11.8″ × 15.7″ (30 × 40 cm)	Red horns or one wing of the jian
Laptop desk	TCG Mat, 14″ × 24″ (35.5 × 61 cm)	A page from the picture book
Compact keyboard	M, 11.8″ × 27.6″ (30 × 70 cm)	A crop across the eyes and horns
Keyboard and mouse	XL, 15.7″ × 35.4″ (40 × 90 cm)	Strelizia with her lance
Deep desk	XXL, 23.6″ × 35.4″ (60 × 90 cm)	Red against klaxosaur blue
Whole desk	4XL, 23.6″ × 47.2″ (60 × 120 cm)	All five Franxx of Squad 13

For a long desk with little depth, L, 11.8″ × 31.5″ (30 × 80 cm), and 3XL, 19.7″ × 39.4″ (50 × 100 cm), are the two in-between options.

Gifts for a Zero Two fan

A Zero Two pad suits someone who still knows every line of the opening, Mika Nakashima's "Kiss of Death", someone who loves mecha as much as romance, or a couple who watched the series together and might like a pad each. The red horns are the simplest choice; Strelizia suits a mecha fan. Without the desk's measurements, XL is the size least likely to be too big or too small.

Expect production to take 1–3 business days. From Turkey, the pad then usually needs 2–5 business days to reach a US mailbox.

Caring for pink and red

Pink and red designs show skin oil where your wrist rests, so give that spot a wipe with a damp cloth every week or so. If it needs more, wash it by hand in a basin of lukewarm water with mild soap, rinse away the suds, press the water out under a towel and leave the pad flat to dry. Don't machine wash it, tumble dry it or iron it; the print is fade resistant, so the pink stays pink.

A note on names

Zero Two, Darling in the Franxx and the other names on this page describe the inspiration for our designs, nothing more. Padrift is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Trigger, A-1 Pictures, CloverWorks or any other rights holder of Darling in the Franxx.