I had seen this show on Disney+, along with a lot of merchandise surrounding it, and had no interest in it for a while. I don't know why, it just sounded like another superhero show, but for very little audiences. One day my kid wanted to watch it and for some reason we jumped into Season 4 (probably because that was the newest season out at the time). Obviously I was very confused because there were so many things going on I didn't understand. We only got a few minutes into it before my kid asked to go back to Bluey.
So then, fast forward to a couple of months ago, we somehow started watching this again. But this time, I didn't worry so much about the back story and what I'd missed. After a few episodes, things basically fell into place. I actually became invested in the main story.
A few weeks later, my husband had also watched a few episodes, and we found ourselves talking about what happened in the episodes the other person had missed. "Guess what? So-and-So found out Ladybug's secret identity!" "You missed it, Shadow Moth took over the city!" "Marinette was almost akumatized!"
So, I guess we're into it.
Let me try to explain what on the surface seems to be a simple superhero show, but is actually rather layered and complex. Again, I haven't seen the first three seasons, so there might be spoilers for those if you're planning to watch from the beginning.
First off, there's Marinette, aka Ladybug. She has this thing called a Miraculous which gives her her powers. Also, the Miraculous is, like, tied to a very small creature called a Kwami that actually gives her her powers. Marinette's Miraculous's Kwami is named Tikki. To become Ladybug, Marinette says, "Tikki, spots on!" and Tikki jumps into the Miraculous (which is an earring Marinette wears) and she transforms.
Now, Tikki is not the only Kwami. A wiki article tells me there are actually 36 known Miraculouses, and 19 of them are in Paris, France, where the show takes place. For a time in Season 4, Marinette was the Keeper of the Miraculous and had a big box full of them, and all the Kwamis lived in a doll house in her bedroom. They all have different powers and personalities which are vaguely related to the animals they look like.
One of the Miraculous is held by Adrien Agreste. His Kwami is a black cat named... Plagg. A lot of the Kwamis have weird names (honestly, some of the humans have weird names. Is Marinette a normal name in France?), but I think Plagg's is the strangest. Also, Plagg loves cheese. For the longest time I thought he was a mouse because what cat loves cheese? But apparently it has something to do with the fact that the Kwamis need to recharge after their powers are used and so they have to be fed. Plagg's favorite food just happens to be something in abundance in France: fancy cheeses.
Anyway, when Adrien uses Plagg to transform, he becomes Cat Noir, which I'm sure is even funnier in French because there's a famous painting about a black cat.
Ladybug and Cat Noir work together to save the city because their powers are actually opposite but complimentary. Her Miraculous is that of creation, while his is the Miraculous of destruction. I'll get into how they do this in a bit.
Now here's where things get interesting: in real life, Marinette has a crush on Adrien. But Adrien, as Cat Noir, has a crush on Ladybug.
It's a love square.
They don't know the other person's identity. I feel like it is reiterated every episode by Marinette that it would be very bad if either hero found out the other's secret identity, because then if the bad guy caught either of them, he could force them to reveal the other hero's identity, and then there would be no one left to stop him.
The bad guy, whose name apparently changes as he acquires new powers, but always has to do with Moth, I think is originally known as Hawk Moth. His main deal is that he can sense when people feel particularly strong negative emotions, and he then turns these white butterflies into black moths which fly to the person, infect some object of theirs, and then Hawk Moth talks to them telepathically. He says, "I'll give you ___ if you get me Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculous," and the person agrees and then Hawk Moth akumatizes that person, which essentially turns them into a bad guy with powers related to the reason they were upset.
Here's the interesting thing about Hawk Moth: he is Adrien's real life dad.
Gabriel Agreste, as he is known, doesn't realize his son is one of his arch rivals, and neither does Adrien. As Gabriel, he's not a great father. He pushes Adrien to be a model, and is often cold toward him. But I feel like deep down, he cares about his son. There's an episode where for two seconds, he learns the truth about Cat Noir's identity, before his memory is erased, but for those couple of seconds he looks devastated. I often wonder if things would actually turn out okay if everyone revealed who they are.
Here's the other thing about Hawk Moth/Gabriel: his motives are not really that bad. I would have to go back and see the first few seasons to really understand, I think, but something happened to Adrien's mom, and she is in some kind of coma or suspended animation. Gabriel visits her glass coffin thingy often. And the main reason he wants Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculous, along with the others, is that he wants to make a wish to restore her. Apparently that's something you can do when you hold all of the miraculous.
So basically, what we have here is a show about a bunch of people who if they knew the truth about one another could actually probably get things worked out cordially. Like, if Cat Noir knew his dad was Hawk Moth and only wanted the miraculous to save his mom, he and Ladybug would probably be okay with letting him do that, or maybe helping him find another way if that's somehow bad. And if Ladybug and Cat Noir knew each other's identities, they would know that they are actually in love with the other person and the love square would collapse. Now, would that lead to problems with Hawk Moth finding out their identities? Maybe. But, then, if he knew his own son was Cat Noir he might talk to him about his own motivations.
Well, I'm now five seasons in, and that hasn't happened, so I'm guessing we'll have to wait for the series finale to find out if my hypothetical situation ever occurs.
There are lots of other characters in the show. Most of them are Marinette's friends, but one of them is a bully. Her name is Chloe, and she's your classic rich, popular girl, complete with a spineless lackey, Sabrina.
In the first several seasons, Chloe and Adrien are apparently friends for some reason. She must do a better job of hiding her selfishness because Adrien is a nice guy and I can't figure out why he would want to hang out with a mean person. By the fourth season he's amiable with her but also seems shocked when she's rude and berates her for it.
I won't talk too much about Marinette's friends, but they have their own stories going on that sometimes leads to them having strong emotions and becoming akumatized. I think the writers of the show also do a really good job of not making stereotypes out of any of them. Like, a lot of shows will make the chubby girl in the friend group also obsessed with food. Here, she is an activist who is also very shy. Her weight is simply a part of her appearance. It has nothing to do with her personality. Also, Marinette's best friend has a mole on her forehead. For a cartoon, that would be really easy to not add, so someone very obviously made a point of putting that in there. I think it's awesome that they show a positive role model for girls that maybe have a feature that they don't love, and see that you are beautiful with that feature.
Honestly, with all the characters, their stories, the intrigue of the love square and Adrien's father doing mysterious things all the time, the superhero portion of each episode is probably the least interesting part. But I'll tell you a little bit about it.
So, after someone gets akumatized, they begin wreaking havoc on Paris. Everyone knows that akumatization is a thing, that Hawk Moth is behind it, and that Ladybug and Cat Noir are the local superheroes. You would think they would work a little harder to not have strong negative emotions, right? I could see Paris being a sort of dystopia where everyone walks around chanting, "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts," like that episode of The Twilight Zone.
Anyway, Ladybug and Cat Noir always have their little transformation scenes and then spend a little time fighting the bad guy of the day before remembering that Ladybug has a very important power, which is to shout, "Lucky Charm!" and some random object appears in her hands. I guess this is the miraculous of creation in effect? She then looks around and things turn red with black polka dots. I can't tell if this is her figuring out how to use the item, or if this is an aspect of her power showing her what to do. Anyway, she then uses the random object and it trips up the bad guy long enough for Cat Noir to use his power, Cataclysm (I literally just got the cat pun there). Cataclysm destroys anything Cat Noir touches, and he usually uses this on the item that is infected with Hawk Moth's magic moth. The moth is released, and Ladybug catches it in her yo-yo, Ladybug says, "No more evil doing for you, little akuma," the black moth turns back into a white butterfly, and as it flies away Ladybug says, "Bye bye little butterfly." And then Ladybug says, "Miraculous Ladybug!" and tosses the lucky charmed object in the air which, miraculously, puts all the destroyed things in Paris back to normal. The akumatized person also changes back to normal and usually (unless they're Chloe) feels bad about what they did.
The repetition in the superhero portion of the show is why it gets a little annoying for me. Sometimes it affects the main story, but often it doesn't really matter. I just want to get back to the very slow progression of the overarching story of Marinette and Adrien.
And there is some progression. Little things change from episode to episode and that's what keeps me hooked. But I will admit that I get a little impatient waiting for them to get together. Which is a problem, because the love square is sort of the premise for the whole show. So I find myself kind of begging for the end of the whole show so my dreams will finally come true. The good news is, some things have started happening in SEASON 5 on that front, so if you can hang on that long you will be rewarded.
Maybe just skip to Season 4 accidentally?
My ratings:
Kid Entertainment: 3.5
She likes this show and does ask for it, but it's sadly lower on the list than I wish it was. I'm always hopeful when I ask what she wants to watch that it will be Miraculous Ladybug, and I'm often disappointed. It seems she only wants to watch when I'm getting in the shower, which means I miss stuff.
My Entertainment: 4.5*
I put an asterisk because, while I really like this show and am already considering watching it by myself to catch up on some of the episodes I've missed, all of my frustrations above are still true. The overall pacing of the story is slow, and I think I'm on the last season and things are only now coming to a head on the romance front. And the repetition in the superhero sequences gets a little annoying. So, I love it, but there's fine print.
Content: 4
As I said, there's some wonderful role models in all shapes and sizes in this show, which I think is particularly important for little girls. There's also a lot of good things about friendship and right and wrong, and after people get akumatized there's a moral lesson. Maybe one problem is whether the show teaches to keep secrets or lie because Marinette hides her identity. But, you know, it is a superhero show. It kind of comes with the territory.
