Miraculous Ladybug has a lot of elements to it: magic, action, comedy, romance. It has a little bit of something for everyone (unless you're one of those people who just hates cartoons and fiction in general, in which case...sorry). In case you need a little persuasion, here are six reasons why you should watch Miraculous Ladybug.
In case you don't know what this show is...
The show stars two Parisian teenagers named Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. They both possess the ability to turn into superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir (respectively). To do so, they need a Miraculous (a magical accessory). Marinette's are her earrings; Adrien's is his ring. They also both have a kwami, which is this weird humanoid flying chibi thing that is supposed to help you with both your life and your superheroing. (Note that I said "supposed to.") Marinette's is named Tikki; Adrien's is named Plagg. When they say the trigger phrase ("Spots on" for Marinette, "Claws out" for Adrien), the kwami is sucked into the Miraculous and triggers their superhero transformation. Got all that? Good, because there's more.
Both Ladybug and Cat Noir have a special power that they can only use once per villain fight, because once they use it they only have five minutes before they change back to normal, and no one is allowed to know who they actually are. Not even each other. Ladybug's special power is called Lucky Charm. It will summon an object, but Ladybug doesn't get to choose what the item is. She then has to use her skills of cleverness and deduction to figure out how to fix the problem at hand with the given item. Cat Noir's special power is called Cataclysm. It allows him to destroy things, but only one thing
The main villain of the show is called Hawk Moth. He has the power to take these special butterflies called akuma and turn them evil. He then sends the evil akuma out to people who are experiencing negative emotions, often jealousy, frustration, or sadness. These people then turn into supervillains. They can do whatever they want to Paris in return for capturing Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous' and giving them to Hawk Moth
Ladybug and Cat Noir have to figure out where the akuma is hiding. It is typically an accessory on the villain's outift or something of sentimental value to them. They must break the object containing the akuma, and then Ladybug has to capture the akuma in her magical yo-yo, which will turn it back into a normal butterfly. If they don't do this, then the akuma will multiply and infect dozens of people. Then if the original person becomes akumatized, then they now have an army of mindless zombie clones whom they can control.
After Ladybug turns the akuma back to normal (or occasionally before), she will throw her Lucky Charm object up in the air and say "Miraculous Ladybug!" When she does this, all of the damage done by the supervillains will be repaired, and it will be like it never even happened.
And that's just the mechanics of the show.
Adrien's father is a famous fashion designer, and he has Adrien model for him a lot. Naturally, basically every girl at the school likes him, and Marinette is not an exception. The problem is, whenever she tries to talk to Adrien, she is reduced to a stuttering mess. However, over on the superhero end of things, Cat Noir has a crush on Ladybug. He tries flirting with her, but she either ignores it, brushes it off as a joke, or shuts him down. In one of the French webisodes, Ladybug mentions suspecting that Cat Noir likes her, and says she might have given him a chance had Adrien not been around. *melodramatic sigh* If only they knew...
Now that we have that out of the way, here are six reasons I suggest you watch this show.
1. Homages To Spider-Man
I sincerely hope you're raising your hand.
Remember that time in the first movie where Spider-Man was hanging upside down against the wall and it was raining and Mary Jane lowered his mask and kissed him? So do I. *sigh* Gotta love 2002...
Well, Cat Noir tried that once. In the episode "Rogercop."
It didn't go well.
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Speaking of Thomas Astruc, he once said that Miraculous Ladybug is like having Spider-Man and Catwoman in the same show, but reversed. But honestly, these two remind me a bit of Spider-Man and the Black Cat.
The Black Cat (A.K.A. Felicia Hardy) was a Spider-Man character who I believe was introduced in the eighties (if not that, then the seventies). In real life, Peter Parker liked Felecia Hardy, but she didn't like him. As their alter egos, the Black Cat liked Spider-Man, but Spider-Man was reluctant because she had once been a thief. (Except for the whole thief part) sound familiar?
In case all of this was not Spidey enough for you, LADYBUG IS LITERALLY SWINGING AROUND THE ROOFTOPS OF A BIG CITY EVERY DAY. Except the city is Paris. And she's using a magic unbreakable yo-yo instead of web fluid. Also, Cat Noir can kind of pole vault.
2. Homages to Anime and Manga
But the show's not done with 2D animation yet. The Miraculous Ladybug OVA (don't ask me what that means, because from what I gather no one really knows yet) is in production in Toei Animation, and there is also a webseries in production that's actually being designed by a fan artist. (I think. I just joined this fandom last week, so I really don't have a great understanding of it all. But I am trying.)
Occasional 2D animation isn't the only thing this show has that's in reference to anime and manga. Look at Tikki and Plagg:
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Also, the lead characters in the show have magical transformation sequences, which is common in magical girl shows, such as Sailor Moon and Winx Club. As a Winx fan, I can assure you that the transformation sequences will give you a little throwback to Winx,
In a 2014 licensing video, producer Jeremy Zag said [translated from French], "Ladybug is a superhero with an American look but with Japanese powers." And yet she also has a Eurpean flair. This show is just a melting pot of cultures. And I like that.
(Since we're talking about anime, here's a random fun fact: Adrien watches anime, but he's not allowed to play Pokemon GO.)
3. Comedy
Allow me to give you an idea.
In the episode "Mr. Pigeon" the titular villain is kidnapping all the park keepers, so Ladybug decides that, in order to lure Mr. Pigeon to them, they should put a park keeper hat on Cat Noir and have him stand out in the open.
Cat Noir gets bored. And it is beautiful.
He is always making jokes. Even when he reaaaaaaaaly shouldn't be.
He also enjoys flirting with Ladybug. And making puns.
I guarantee you that there will be a point in this show where he makes a joke, flirts, and makes a pun all at once. On that day, the MLB fandom will all spontaneously combust.
Not all of the jokes in this show are related to Cat Noir, though. Just most of them.
For example, Marinette around Adrien is HILARIOUS. (Although I suppose that technically has something to do with Cat Noir...)
Some of the jokes are a little more subtle. For example, in this show the rich mayor of Paris and his spoiled brat daughter Chloé's surname is Bourgeois. (Just Google it.)
4. Diversity
Marinette's best friend Alya's family is originally from Martinique, a French territory in the Caribbean. Adrien's best friend Nino is from Réunion, an island region of France in the Indian Ocean.
There are several other examples of racial diversity in the show, but I'm not digging through the show to examine every single character's ethnicity. I want to talk about other types of diversity as well.
I want to talk about the people who get akumatized.
Considering that high school is a breeding ground for anxiety and depression, you'd think that the writers could literally just go through every single student in the school and akumatize all of them. and have that be the show. Life hack!
And yet...they don't.
There are a fair amount of teenagers getting akumatized, yes, but there are also adults. There are parents, people who just want to feed the pigeons, historians, politicians, artists, chefs, musicians, crazy fans, hypnotists - heck, even a six-year-old girl once!
I don't know if the show is actively trying to do this, but to me it seems to be sending the message: we all have problems. And while that sounds like a depressing message...I like that.
Also, this isn't really diversity within the show, but I heard somewhere that Miraculous Ladybug merchandise includes the first action figures ever targeted at girls. In that same licensing video from earlier, Andre Lake Mayer (VP Licensing Bandai) said "It comes on the heels of many years of male-oriented superheroes, and the time was right for a truly relatable female superhero." It was later said in that video by Aton Soumache, the CEO of Method Animation [translated from French], "Most of the time, superheroes for girls are actually for boys. But here, we have tried to find, to create, to make a very strong character."
As a girl who loves superheroes, allow me to say:
It's about dang time.
5. Romance
From Jacqueline Tordjman, the president and co-founder of Zagtoon [translated from French], "He is so captivated by Ladybug that he completely forgets his self-confidence. This is what makes him touching." I think when Ladybug shuts him down, it hurts more than he shows.
But of course, most of his flirting comes at bad times, considering that whenever the two are together it generally means someone is attacking Paris and that it's no time to be joking around. Or calling her Bugaboo. Which is kind of an adorable name, but anyway.
Then you have the Marinette and Adrien side of things. One of the reasons Frozen did so well (beside the singing snowmen) is that literally everyone can identify with Anna's awkwardness. Marinette is the same way. She actually originally didn't like Adrien, as seen in "Origins Parts 1 and 2," but one moment you can't walk home because you don't have an umbrella and next you can't walk home because now all of a sudden you have hormones to deal with.
Miraculous Ladybug is both fantasial (yes, I did make that word up) and realistic, and that blend is hard to pull off. But they did. And it's wonderful.
6. Action
The show has great action sequences. They do sometimes fall prey to the classic Avengers "what-is-even-going-on-anymore" problem, but our two protagonists look freaking awesome while doing it.
But another thing I like about the show is that they come up with literally the weirdest ways to solve their problems. But they also work.
The show also kind of scares you sometimes. For example, Cat Noir. He's been perfumed by Princess Fragrance, puppeted by the Puppeteer, frozen in time by Timebreaker...
The Timebreaker one was what really scared me. Timebreaker was trying to freeze Ladybug in time, but she ended up hitting Cat Noir, who jumped in front of Ladybug at the last moment and was literally hugging her. Excuse me for a moment. *Goes off and cries*
Also, remember in Lady Wifi when Adrien was in the freezer room and couldn't find his ring? And then when Ladybug was this close to changing back with a video camera on her? Now THAT was terrifying.
Where To Watch "Miraculous"
Now you might be thinking "OH MY GOD THIS SHOW SOUNDS AWESOME I MUST WATCH IT WHEN IS IT ON." And while that is a run-on sentence and not properly punctuated, I will answer your question.
Right now, episodes of Miraculous are airing on Saturday mornings at 8:30/7:30c on Nickelodeon. In the United States, at least. There's a channel guide on the official website that you can check if you live in another country. Beyond that...check your local listings.
But, if all else fails, I know for a fact that you can find the whole series on YouTube in not-horrible quality.