A Love Square Between Two People [Miraculous Ladybug]

So... does anyone here even watch it? I caught up with it since the last Stevenbomb and i've been really enjoying it. It's silly and simple, somewhat childish, and follows an easy monster-of-the-week formula, but it's pretty and pretty funny sometimes, with a couple of heartwarming and sad moments here and there; it was supposed to be made for an older audience, but networks were looking for something for kids, so it doesn't have anything too heavy, but... idk. it has enough mentions of it to make me care for these dumb teenagers, so i'm watching it.

It's about Marinette Dupain-Cheng's superheroics as Miraculous Ladybug, who has a magic yo-yo and the powers of good luck and fights villains to save Paris with the help of her partner, Chat Noir, who has the powers of - sorta obviously - bad luck. These villains are people who have been so affected by strong negative emotions that they grab the attention of the main big bad, Papillon, who offers them superpowers to act against whatever's bothering them if they promise to get Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculous - the source of their powers.

AND THEN THE FUN PART THAT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE THE 'OH DEAR' AUNT THAT SAID 'OH DEAR' WHILE HOLDING A GLASS OF WINE AND LAUGHING WHEN YOU WERE 14-15 AND DEEPLY SUFFERING THANKS TO YOUR LOVE TROUBLES:

Marinette likes her Super Hot Awesome Actual Model classmate, Adrien Agreste, who's a kind and shy boy who's somewhat smothered by his cold, distant father. She has it so bad for him she's reduced to babbling every time he so much acknowledges her presence, and thus he doesn't think of her as anything besides 'the stuttering girl that sits behind me in class'. As Ladybug, she is a lot wittier and confident and sarcastic, and she keeps getting hit on by Chat Noir, who is a flirty cat pun-loving dork who thinks it's super cool to call the girl he loves "my lady", but she doesn't take him seriously because a) her heart is already taken, b) chat noir is a dork, c) it would be very unprofessional and she takes her job very seriously.

but.......... Adrien is Chat! Le gasp, i'm sure no one saw it coming.

It's adorable. It drives me insane because they're totally Clark Kenting while in-costume - the only difference is a spandex bodysuit and a mask. The Valentine's day episode was phisically painful.

I'm enjoying it a lot though, because it's the sort of thing that's great to have playing while i'm cooking or something - each episode's 22 minutes long so there's less replaying involved than SU - and it's mindless fluffy distraction. I really liked Marinette when I got over the worst of her sillyness as Marinette, I feel so sad for poor Adrien, I love her relationship with Chat Noir and I am so totally hoping there's more of it in the future and that the series is allowed to mature a bit as the time passes.

both the dub and sub are on kisscartoon, and there's a tumblr for the subbing project too.

 

I watch it! As of ... two or three days ago, haha. My mom and three sisters have been watching it since it came out, but I only caught a bit here and there. Until I had some free time this past week and watched all 18 episodes and 10 webisodes over the course of a few days, then read all 23 fanfics my sister Connanro had bookmarked in one day, and now I'm plotting fanfic and fanart and Con and I are trying to type the characters in MBTI and sort them Sorting Hat Chat-style (I'm pretty sure that Chat Noir is Slytherin/Gryffindor but Ladybug is hard to figure out except I'm betting on a Slytherin secondary).

The ridiculous love square fills me with glee when I'm not headdesking in frustration. I really really want to see what happens when one of them figures out who the other is, and I really really hope it doesn't get dragged out for the next ... two seasons? that are being produced. On the other hand, I think we're already seeing Chat Noir/Adrien become gradually more interested in Marinette as herself and not Ladybug, and it would be hilarious if Adrien and Marinette started going out before figuring out their secret identities.

...Do you have any fanfic recs? So far I've not found much of what I like (I prefer longer, more action-oriented stories with enough relationship stuff to make it interesting, and I'm finding mostly short introspective pieces, which are nice but...). I read my favourite one so far before I even got into the series - it's much funnier now that I actually know what's going on.

#*pitches tent in thread* #i live here now

 

I find the concept great and the characters incredibly adorable. But I cannot actually watch it, because the number of plots that focus on deception (especially the hiding-things-from-crush element) give me massive anxiety spikes.

I want so bad to be able to watch this show, you guys, but I literally cannot watch more than one or two episodes a night.

 

I'm gaga over this stupid show in a way that I haven't been for years. I've made fankids. I haven't done that since I was fifteen. It's bad you guys.

 

@Elaienar i 100% sort Chat and marinette as hufflepuffs but lol the question is: who i don't think is a hufflepuff #puffpride
I really liked the Kung Food and gamer episodes where they start talking a bit more normally as their nonpowered selves, but i was hoping it would stick instead of marinette reverting to babbling... which doesnt really happen. But yeah he is starting to notice she's great outside the ladybug costume too and i really want to see where this is going!! the villains are getting a little more powerful and Hawk 'Totally Not Adriens Dad' Moth seems to be getting antsy so i really really hope we're headed to more plot-heavy and less stand-alone episodes in the future.

Also, the subs i watched for the mime episode had [LADRIEN INTENSIFIES] written while they're looking at each other in the car and i am going to laugh about it for the next 300 years. the whole thing makes me go very [peridot lauging noises] at the screen.

i don't really have fanfic recs because im just starting to go through the tags and i am a sucker for Sad Angsty Introspective Fluff, so if you'd like to share some that you've read and are good id be like. super happy.

@Starcrossedsky marinette's phone-stealing habits are a little concerning, yeah. i understand why they'd have to deceive people on their secret identities, but... girl. stop. that's going a little too far. there's an episode going on where marinette accidentally deletes a ladybug video on alya's phone and she steals it to try and recreate the video and i was just screaming at the screen for her to just be honest already it's not such a big deeeeaaaaaal

 

The episodes aren't aired in chronological order, so it's possible that the actual development of Marinette's relationship with Adrien gets more casual over time. Or, that's what I've heard.

 

@tinyhydra Oh, I didn't know that! That would explain a few things ... is there a list of the chronological order somewhere? Also, please tell me about your fankids, what are they like?

@witchknights Ahaha, well, I'm a Slytherin by the Sorting Hat Chats method (and I usually get either Slytherin or Hufflepuff with other tests) so I'm probably biased myself. I would totally buy Ladybug as a Hufflepuff with any kind of sorting, though!

...That's the episode/subber that also gave us this gem, right?



And let me just dump Con's ML bookmarks here, because she has good taste even if we like different types of fic. Out of those ... I think Coin is a nice little piece, and three two zero is a series of shorts that might have the sort of thing you're looking for?

 

@Elaienar, I've mostly just seen speculation based on background info and stuff. Like Animan had to take place before some other episodes because of what is and is not in Mari's room, etc, etc. I don't think there's an official list or anything. I'll see if I can't find the posts I was thinking of.

As for fankids. They're kinda embarrassing, haha. Older daughter is short, stoic, easy going. Hard to read, but doesn't know it. Has a deadpan sense of humor which doesn't help. Has her papa's tendency towards self-sacrifice, but in a very quiet, easygoing way. Not insecure, just kinda casually self-depreciating. Would be Chat Noir if she were anything. Kinda lazy when on her lonesome, relies on others to tell her what to do with herself. Puns, but doesn't find them funny. They just remind of of home and make her feel safe. Takes her responsibilities as the older sister very seriously and tends to mom others in a way that people find very surprising giving her general permissive air.
younger brother would be flamboyant and dramatic, artsy like his momma. Charismatic, likes people a lot and hates being alone. and now I'm tired and embarased and can;t make myself go any further.

 

Spoiler: nsfw

Haha, holy shit I just saw a Chat Noir doujin on a hentai site, fucking hell. This is like when I saw that RWBY doujin or that one fucking Big Hero 6 one. It's such an event in my mind.

 

Yes! Mutual unrequited pining! It's so ridiculous.

So the issue with "chronological order" is that the English, French and Korean broadcasts are all in different orders. The French broadcast is probably the one that's in actual order, maybe.

Fic recs:
The Ladybugs and the Bees
Two Truths and a Lie
What I Don't Know
It's Complicated
Just Practice
The first one's dirty.

 

yeah, the production order and airing order on all three main languages are all over the place and as far as i know there isn't an official chronological order, the only one i know is that Lady Wifi comes after Evillustrator because she shows up on his daydreaming.

 

@Elaienar Thanks for the links!! and yeah, i think that's it! i love when subbers add these little comments haha. I've always been placed in Hufflepuff so i grew to really love my house and now i see everyone i like being a puff too, it's sorta automatic.

i'm so happy i'm not going to burn in hell alone :'^y

 

Also the Puppeteer is definitely after Rogercop, Evillustrator and Lady Wifi. Besides that, the only real indication I can see of ordering is how incoherent Marinette becomes around Adrien, in that it would make more sense for her to become more comfortable around him as time goes on.

 

i was looking at some stuff and apparently the next episode is about Juleka (the goth classmate) turning into an Akuma because Chloé makes her miss a class picture or something, and she turns everyone into copies of herself, including Adrien. which makes me think that a) hawkmoth should hire Chloé, no one has been responsible for more akumas than her; b) it's funny that after Antibug, that was all about how Chat Noir and Ladybug are a total 100% awesome team that need each other, we'll have two episodes where he's not around and Marinette has to save the day alone

 

Well, she is the main character. And it's a superhero show made for girls, so of course it has the girl hero all up and saving the dude every other day.

That aside, are those perfect copies of herself? Looks, looks and behavior, or just style? I thought it was gonna just be style, but it'd be pretty fucking funny if there were just ten thousand Julekas running around. And Chat's just one Juleka in the crowd. Juleka's voice actress flirting with Ladybug. Ha.

 

oh, i was just laughing at the timing! Even Adrien knows he's the sidekick and i'm definitely not complaining. watching her kick ass against four akumas and a mind controlled chat made me kinda teary. she's so cool. i wish shows like these were around when i was in the target audience.

I'm not sure how it's going to play out because i got it third-hand from the non-official brazilian fanpage, but i'm hoping it's a full copy exactly because of that!! it would be super funny.

 

I drew ladynoir.......

 

Spoiler: Episode 19 spoilers

I watched the episode and then spent like three hours drawing Reflekta's outfit because ... I don't love myself? Anyway episode impressions:

- Wow Reflekta's outfit was ... something else. I can't decide if I like it, hate it, like to hate it, hate to like it? Anyway it's hard to draw.

- I like Juleka.

- I like that Chat Noir was still running around helping Ladybug in that ridiculous outfit and without powers. On the other hand, now I'm even more desperate for an episode where Adrien can't transform for some reason and winds up helping Ladybug as himself, please Santa I will be so good.

- Ladybug making dumb jokes and Chat Noir being like "that's not funny". Lies! It was hilarious! I want more.

 

So I took a peek at this thread the other night and nOW I HAVE WATCHED ALL THE AVAILABLE (english subbed french language) EPISODES AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE SUBS TO COME OUT I LIKE THIS SHOW A LOT.... I watched a couple episodes a while ago and was meh, but the third episode hooked me and nOW I CARE and I blame all of you. Dangit.

 

Spoiler: Reflekta

I find it kind of hilarious that the punk/goth girl ends up in a bright pink costume.
Also, Rose/Juleka anyone?