| Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (seasons 3-present) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Not even this show can be saved from being akumatized by seasonal rot.
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Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (French: Miraculous, les aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir; also known as Miraculous Ladybug or Miraculous) is a French-South Korean-Japanese superhero/magical girl CGI series produced by Zagtoon and Method Animation in collaboration with Toei Animation in Japan, SAMG Animation in South Korea, and De Agostini Editore in Italy.
Synopsis
Set in modern-day Paris, the series focuses on teenagers Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. When evil arises, Marinette transforms into her secret superhero persona Ladybug, while Adrien transforms into his superhero persona Cat Noir, using powerful objects known as the Miraculous. Oblivious to each other's true identities, the two work together to protect Paris from the mysterious villain Hawk Moth, who covets and attempts to steal their powers by using his akuma, butterflies infused with black energy, to transform everyday citizens into supervillains.
Akumatized Qualities
- The main problem with these seasons is that they lack the charm and cleverness that made the first two seasons memorable and awesome.
- The animation is downgraded from the previous two seasons as it feels choppier and dull-looking. Additionally, some animation errors can be spotted.
- Although the SAMG episodes looks passable, it feels more restricted and limited than the first season (and to an extent the second season), the animation done by the show's other overseas studios varies:
- DQ Entertainment's episodes tend to vary in quality but most of the time look pretty bad.
- Symbiosis Studio's episodes look ugly and rough with poor rendering and sometimes freeze to hide errors. Zagtoon fired them after their only season (season 3).
- Artage studio's episodes have a very low-budget animation sometimes especially the notorious animation of Qilin.
- Assemblage (so far, have only animated a season 3 episode and some of season 4 episodes) while not as great as SAMG, shows potential in quality.
- Some shots fall under uncanny valley territory due to the bad animation.
- Season 5 started using stock images for some things, mainly baby dolls, like Ladybug and Cat Noir's dream and Kagami and Felix's play and framed photos in the background which makes some scenes look lazy.
- There are lots of animation errors in these seasons.
- Although the SAMG episodes looks passable, it feels more restricted and limited than the first season (and to an extent the second season), the animation done by the show's other overseas studios varies:
- The characters have been flanderized beyond recognition:
- Chloe suffers from the worst flanderization out of all as she has gone from a bully with a heart of gold who showed slight sympathy towards a few people and had a sad backstory to a full-blown villain who treats everyone as slaves since season 3 finale.
- Gabriel Agreste went from a villain with a heart of gold who cares about his son to a mean-spirited and strict dad who cares about nothing except his ring "Alliance", rarely ever listens to what his son Adrien wants, and gets all the Miraculouses to bring back his wife alive. Additionally, unlike the first two seasons, there are little to no moments where he actually bonds with his own son.
- Lila Rossi became even more mean-spirited than in the previous two seasons as she just constantly lies making her a Karma Houdini and eventually becomes Monarch’s successor. It’s also indicated that she has dissociative personality disorder (multiple personality disorder) but it’s poorly conveyed. Just like Chloe, she became a full-blown villain.
- Marinette, while still likable, went from a clumsy yet responsible girl to a creepy stalker/yandere as evident when stalking Adrien, a slight butt-monkey, a Mary Sue and a Karma Houdini, luckily she redeemed herself in the second half of Season 5.
- There are plenty of bad episodes such as:
- "Chameleon" (a terrible way to start season 3 and started the downfall of the show)
- "Animaestro" (this episode was Astruc complaining about the critics insulting and judging the show, but they give him constructive criticism and advice)
- "Reflekdoll" (this episode shows that Cat Noir can't use a different miraculous making him look like a jerk but Ladybug can control all the kwamis of the Miracle Box and the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir have switched Miraculouses is to fanservice)
- "Weredad" (like Lady Wifi from season 1, it has forced writing and Tom Dupain was out of character and starts the decline of Marinette's character)
- "Feast" (this episode ruined the lore of the show and the character of Master Fu)
- "Stormy Weather 2" (this episode is mostly just a clip-show and the akumatization for Stormy Weather is old and stale, additionally, the fighting scene is not even seen most of the time)
- "Ikari Gozen" (Marinette was at her worst and the first part of the episode was mediocre, thankfully she becomes decent in the second part)
- "Puppeteer 2" (Adrien was out of character and his relationship with Marinette was at its worst, and there were only awkward moments with them, especially the notorious one in which Marinette almost kissed Adrien believing he was a waxwork. She never got her comeuppance when she almost kissed Adrien as a statue)
- "Cat Blanc" (a fanservice episode which was only created to make happy the Marinette fans, the people who ship as a romantic couple Marinette and Adrien) and also made a big plot hole)
- "Ladybug"
- "Félix" (this scene, has Felix wanting to kiss Ladybug!, additionally his debut is not good)
- Miraculous World: Shanghai (Which ended season 3 on an abysmal note, and has many animation errors, like for example the bottom right spot on her left earring is smaller than it is supposed to be)
- "The Battle of the Miraculous" (a bad way to end season 3, not counting the specials, additionally, it started Chloé’s flanderization and Hawk Moth, both made a grave mistake only for plot convenience)
- Miraculous World: New York – United Heroez
- "Sole Crusher"
- "Queen Banana" (shows that Chloé became worse than she was in the previous two seasons and to an extent in season 3, Zoe became a fully-fledged Mary Sue, Ladybug gives her a miraculous after knowing her for only one day and keeps often giving the Bee miraculous)
- "Simpleman" (an episode with SpongeBob humor style, but this humor works with the last one, but with Miraculous doesn't)
- "Qilin" (has one of the worst animations in the show, it was a torture episode for Sabine and Roger was at his worst)
- "Penalteam"
- "Gang of Secrets"
- "Adoration"
- "Derision" (another episode of torture for Marinette, in addition to having literal TOILET HUMOR in the episode!)
- "Emotion" (this episode outright shows Felix committing genocide on the entire town)
- "Pretension"
- "Passion"
- "Elation" (a pointless episode where Marinette goes bonkers for Cat Noir at the beginning of the episode)
- "Confrontation"
- "Migration"
- "Collision" (this episode shows Chloe going full villain)
- "Revolution"
- "The Final Day" (the season 5 finale, which ended the whole season on a VERY sour note and similar to the infamous series finale of Star vs. The Forces of Evil, "Cleaved" it ended on a cliffhanger. And now thanks to that dumpster fire, we can't see what happened to Lila)
- Some unnecessary additions of new characters are either forgettable or just bad:
- Felix Fathom (Adrien's cousin), is very rude and pushy, he wants to get whatever he wants, and he's also willing to get others into trouble by Gabriel Agreste/Hawk Moth. In his debut episode, he even goes so far as trying to kiss Ladybug, Hell, even when he was Argos he managed to kill the WHOLE TOWN! No we aren't joking! [English dub], additionally, his redemption as Argos is extremely half-baked and rushed. Similar to Gabriel, Félix changed when his father passed away, meaning he wasn't always mischievous. This is later shown in "Representation" to have been because of the control his father had on him due to the amok placed on his ring. As Colt would abuse his control over his son due to the deep hate he had on him for considering him the reason why his life force was being drained slowly, Félix was always perceived as being an obedient son who would do what his father wanted. After Colt's death and Félix inheriting his ring (the object that contained his amok), the latter was able to obtain his freedom and be who he was.
- Zoe Lee (Chloe's sister), while likable and a great character to enjoy at, is an unnecessary addition to the cast and can be a Mary Sue at times. She also comes out to Marinette as a lesbian and it feels forced.
- Tomoe Tsurugi (Kagami's mom) is incredibly mean-spirited and strict towards her daughter Kagami. Not to mention, she, along with Gabriel Agreste, was dead set on hooking her up with Adrien. The implications sound shaky as it sounds like they were trying to marry them off despite being teenagers. Tomoe seems to be a very strict and kept woman who is very aware of her environment. She can be wise and informative towards others as well, advising the less open-minded Gabriel to not give into fear in "Backwarder". When she mentions Gabriel being more blind than she is, Tomoe doesn't always believe in friendship as she believes forging bonds with another can end sour or disappointing, but she is willing to change her ways in letting Kagami make a new friend]]. Despite being a stringent parent towards Kagami, she refuses to allow her daughter to be harmed, especially through her silver family ring, as seen in "Perfection".
- Quantity Over Quality: Similar to Cartoon Network constantly airing Johnny Test (2005) (in late 2009-2014) and Teen Titans Go! (in 2013-2017) and Nickelodeon constantly airing SpongeBob SquarePants and The Loud House, this show, along with Big City Greens, became Disney's biggest cash-cow as it constantly airs on Disney Channel and takes up the whole schedule, this even includes reruns.
- There are a huge number of plot holes that have more questions than answers:
- How and when did Chloe (a teenager) become the mayor in season 5?
- Lila Rossi in season 5 as a whole: How is Lila able to pull off multiple identities without raising suspicion? How does Lila have multiple mothers and how does she get these women to go along with it? (Assuming she brainwashed them is even crueler given that one of her mothers is a deaf woman, making Lila even more insulting for manipulating the disabled)
- Why are Gabriel and Tomoe so deadset on Kagami and Adrien getting together? Do they want to marry them off despite them being teenagers?
- The entirety of the season 5 finale "Re-creation".
- There are lots of continuity errors in these seasons, most notably in "Collision" "Derision" and "Revolution" which contradicts the events of season 2 episode "Malediktator".
- The humor in these seasons is almost non-existent, and some that are here fall flat, most notably in "Simpleman" and "Derision" (Derision being the most infamous example)
- Season 3 has Lila Rossi taking over her "mean girl" role, Chloé seemingly started to undergo some character development and grow to be a better person.... but the season 3 finale throws it all out the window having her turn evil once more just because Ladybug refused to give her the Queen Bee Miraculous and denied her offer to aid them in defeating her Akumatized parents, becoming an antagonist once again... So much for a good redemption arc.
- Season 3 is arguably the worst season out of all due to the overload of fanservice only to make the fans slow a lot the plot, ruin the lore, and the characters sometimes being out of character for plot convenience. Season 5 is arguably even worse due to sudden shift in tone to being dark, bleak and serious.
- The main villain's name keeps getting changed for no reason:
- In the first three seasons, the name was: Hawk Moth
- In the fourth season, his name was changed to Shadow Moth
- In the last season, it was changed again to Monarch.
- Half of the villains are reused which comes across as lazy such as Puppeteer, Sole Crusher, Reflekta, Mr. Pigeon, The Bubbler, Stormy Weather, Gamer, and Glaciator (despite the last two being good episodes).
- The writing has been downgraded from being fun and comedic, yet sometimes serious at the same time to being nonsensical, catastrophic, and lame.
- Similar to The last two seasons of Star vs. The Forces of Evil, there are lots of moments that are way too dark even for a kids show (especially in season 5) thanks to its shift in tone from a lighthearted superhero comedy show to a darker one such as:
- Cat Noir getting the Claw in the ribs in "Miraculer".
- Felix committing genocide on the entire town in "Emotion".
- The entirety of "Derision", "Collusion", "Revolution" and the two-parter season 5 finale.
- Monarch getting the Claw in the arm in "Destruction".
- The new character designs ranges from uncanny to atrocious: Mainly, Miraculous unifications, such as the first Monarch, PegaBug, and PennyBug.
- Ms. Bustier being revealed to be a lesbian (who has a wife) and Zoe coming out as a lesbian in season 5 feels forced and feels like a poor attempt at appealing to the LGBTQ+ community.
- The flash hits from the previous seasons became even more overused than before, making some of the fighting scenes dull and not satisfying to look at.
- While most of the voice acting is still good due to the voice actors still doing good jobs as their characters, some of them can range from poor and unfitting (Zeno Robinson as Nino who also voiced Remy from Big City Greens) to grating and annoying (Selah Victor as Chloe and Max Mittelman as Plagg).
- Additionally Zeno Robinson acting as Nino is a downgrade and lacks the charm Ben Diskin (Eric Sparrow from Tony Hawk's Underground and Number 1 from Codename: Kids Next Door) had.
- These seasons overall nearly ruined the series.
Miraculous Qualities
- The theatrical film: Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie released in 2023 is a huge improvement over these seasons and saved the entire franchise as a whole.
- Season 6 might redeem the show.
- As mentioned, the animation in the SAMG episodes is passable despite looking more restricted and limited than in the first two seasons.
- As such, the Miraculous World specials have better animation and are possibly even better than the first two seasons.
- The new theme remix in the fourth and fifth seasons are nice to listen to, along with the intro sequence being better animated.
- Everyone else (except for Chloe, Lila, Gabriel, Felix, Tomoe) are still likable and weren't flanderized, especially both Marinette and Adrien, who are still fantastic characters.
- Chloe was also tolerable before the season 3 finale.
- Some characters are also more developed in these seasons such as Sabrina since season 5 episode "Confrontation" as she is no longer Chloe's slave, Luka and Kagami Tsurugi have more screentime in these seasons.
- Additionally, some of the new characters like Zoe Lee (despite being a Mary-Sue at times) and Marinette's grandfather are likable.
- There are still a handful of good episodes such as:
- "Backwarder"
- "Chris Master"
- "Bakerix"
- "Silencer"
- "Miraculer"
- "Oblivio"
- "Startrain"
- "Gamer 2.0"
- "Timetagger"
- "Party Crasher"
- "Truth"
- "Lies"
- "Furious Fu"
- "Gabriel Agreste"
- "Guiltrip"
- "Crocoduel"
- "Optigami"
- "Sentibubbler"
- "Glaciator 2"
- "Psycomedian"
- "Wishmaker"
- "Kuro Neko"
- "Shadow Moth's Final Attack" (an extraordinary way to end the fourth season and arguably the best episode of this season)
- "Evolution" (despite Monarch getting away, which started season 5 on a high note)
- "The Kwami's Choice" (despite the unneeded hate for Kitty Noire, at least she did a good job as the temporary holder of the Black Cat miraculous, and we get to see Scarabella again in this episode and Revelation, and despite Lila/Hoaxer being a karma houdini in the episode. Both Transmission and Deflagration and Revelation are good episodes)
- Miraculous World: Paris (Which ended season 5 on a high note, and a great special where we can see Ladybug and Cat Noir's evil counterparts, along with Monarch's good counterpart: Betterfly, who is a much better character than Monarch)
- The voice acting is still great (except for the Korean Dub), especially the English Dub (except for Zeno Robinson as Nino and Selah Victor as Chloe).
- The fighting scenes are still nice to look at, at least when a flash hit is not used.
- Season 4 is arguably the least bad as it has more good episodes, and the characters (except for Chloé) are more likable.
- While the new character designs look terrible, Dragonbug's design looks pretty cool.
- The scene where Zoe Lee comes out as a lesbian, while forced is rather heartwarming, and it's kind of nice to see the show have LGTBQ+ representation despite being a bad attempt.
- The first two seasons of the show were better than the newer seasons which makes the show's downfall even sadder.
Receptions
While the first two seasons were well received, the third seasons onwards received mixed to negative reviews.
Trivia
- Season 5 is the first season to have actual title cards.
Videos
TBA
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