Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (; also known as Miraculous Ladybug or Miraculous) is a computer animated Childrens superhero fiction series produced by studios Zagtoon and Method Animation. The studies collaborated with with De Agostini Editore S.p.A. in Italy, Toei Animation in Japan, SAMG Animation in South Korea, DQ Entertainment and Assemblage Entertainment in India, and Globosat in Brazil. The series features two teenagers from Paris, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, who transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively, to protect the city from supervillains and Hawkmoth.
Before its debut in France on 19 October 2015 on TF1, the series was first shown in South Korea on 1 September 2015 on EBS1. In Canada, the series originally debuted on TVOKids and WildBrainTV on 6 December 2015. New premieres moved to Netflix on 20 December 2016, and reruns currently air on Disney Channel beginning on 8 April 2019. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the show premiered on 30 January 2016 on Disney Channel.
Plot
Set in modern-day Paris, teenagers Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste transform into superheroes when evil arises. Marinette transforms into her superhero persona Ladybug, while Adrien transforms into his superhero persona Cat Noir, using magical jeweled objects known as the Miraculous who are inhabited by Kwamis. Not knowing 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 negative energy, to transform Paris' everyday citizens into supervillains, through a negative emotion that they have recently felt or are feeling.
The first season ends with Marinette meeting Master Fu, the Guardian of the Miraculous, the man who gave Marinette and Adrien their Miraculous. The second season opens with Hawk Moth's identity being revealed as none other than Gabriel Agreste. This season also sees Marinette under Fu's tutelage, learning about the Miraculous. Circumstance requires Marinette to loan various Miraculous to friends and allies to fight some supervillains for temporary purposes. These 3 allied heroes are called back in at the season's end when Hawk Moth manages to traumatize over two dozen civilians. The heroes are victorious, but Hawk Moth manages to escape with the aid of the Peacock Miraculous holder, Mayura, Gabriel's assistant, Nathalie.
Hawk Moth continues his campaign in season three, aided by Mayura and her sentimonsters, creatures created from feathers, called Amoks. Marinette calls upon even more allies to become Miraculous heroes while her nemesis, Lila, allies herself with Gabriel, unaware of his identity as Hawk Moth. Two plot arcs include Nathalie's failing health from using a damaged Miraculous and Ladybug's refusal to give the Bee Miraculous to Chloe, leading her to betray and turn against Ladybug and join Hawk Moth.
Hawk moth later fixes the peacock miraculous and fuses it with the butterfly miraculous to become Shadow Moth.
Hawk moth later becomes known as Monarch.
Production
Conception and creation
The series is based on an original concept created by French animator Thomas Astruc, who was inspired by a meeting with a certain lady, Japanese anime, and "decades of comics binge reading". In an interview with Nolife, Astruc said he was working as an animator on the show W.I.T.C.H. when he met a woman wearing a T-shirt with a ladybug on it. They began to share drawings, some of which were ladybug-themed. Astruc also noted that Marinette's hair was styled after the woman. They also worked on the cartoon A.T.O.M. around 2004-05. Astruc first drew Ladybug on sticky notes and remarked about how strong the Ladybug character was, and had a couple memories of seeing ladybug-themed superheroes in comics.
Astruc had intended to make Ladybug a comic book series until he met Jeremy Zag, who loved the project and wanted to produce it as a cartoon; Zag was 25 at the time and not originally from the cartoon industry.
In developing Cat Noir, Astruc said that ladybugs represented good luck, so it was natural to partner her with a black cat character with bad luck powers. Cat Noir was a tribute to comics characters like Catwoman, so it was like having Catwoman and Spider-Man in the same show but reversed genders.
A character named Felix was originally going to have the role of Cat Noir, but he was later scrapped in favor of Adrien Agreste because the creative team felt that Felix was a cliche of a male anime protagonist, and that Adrien would allow them to tell more interesting stories. In September 2015, Astruc indicated that he was open to revisiting the character of Felix, but he abandoned it by February 2016, writing that the character was a poor idea. Years later, in 2019, Felix was re-made as Adrien's cousin and was renamed Felix Graham de Vanily..
Themes, writing and process
The concept for the show originally dealt with political themes, geared towards teens and young adults. However, after failing to gain traction with networks, it was retooled for a younger target audience. Astruc said that he is delighted that the show is able to reach younger and older people.
Each episode takes around 3 months to write, from scratch to final validation of broadcasters. Assistant director Wilfried Pain said that each episode is composed of two parts: a sitcom aspect where the characters have to speak for themselves, and an action element where the camera is always moving.
The music was done by Noam Kaniel (Noam), who had also worked on action superhero shows such as X-Men, Code Lyoko, W.I.T.C.H., Fantastic Four, Power Rangers, Digimon Fusion, and Glitter Force. The theme song was written by Kaniel and Zag. The English lyrics were done by Alain Garcia and performed by Wendy Child and Cash Callaway. The French version was performed by Marily and Noam.
Reception
Critical reception
Kimberly Cooper, a blog writer who has contributed to news media such as The Huffington Post, wrote that the show has inspired teens and adults to create and propagate Miraculous remixes, and liked that the show featured multiracial characters as with the film Big Hero 6 which had won an Oscar. She "quickly realized there was a far cooler and broader Miraculous movement underway". Caitlin Donovan of entertainment website Epicstream listed it as one of her top 10 animated series of 2015. She wrote that "The characters are so charming that the tropey aspects of the show are merely a lot of fun, rather than irritating." with creative fights and good CGI animation. She wrote that "Marinette is an adorable lead who is genuinely awkward as a civilian, but confident as a superhero, which makes for an interesting contrast." Ella Anders of BSCKids wrote that the show stands out because of "how it meshes both the magical girl and superhero genera together". Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times described the show as "clever, romantic, fun, the way some of us prefer our superhero stories". He found the characters to "have the look of extruded plastic common to CGI cartoons", but "within these limits the design is lovely and the animation elegant, and a lot of work has gone into the staging and execution of the action scenes".
The North American Precis Syndicate called the show "authentic and aspirational - a story of today's modern everygirl superhero who comes to life. The series, about a young girl who taps into her superhero powers and innocent optimism to save Paris from the evil Hawk Moth, will no doubt inspire today's youth to try to save the day, each and every day in their own way". Andrea Reiher of Zap2It wrote that the "storylines are rich with family, friends, adventure, intrigue, villains, creativity and more, delivering themes that are relatable and relevant to kids and preteens" and anticipated it would be a huge hit on Nickelodeon.
Several media reviewers have anticipated Miraculous-brand toys to be among the hot superheroine properties for 2016. Zag has partnered with Bandai to release Miraculous-based toys, as well as deals to make Miraculous-brand clothing and other merchandise.