Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

### Executive Producers

Pascal Boutboul, Sébastien Thibaudeau, Jean-Yves Patay, Hiroyuki Kinoshita, Ryuji Kochi, Pierre Belletante, Suhoon Kim, Stella Noh, Alexandre Lippens, Jared Wolfson, Cédric Pilot, Kevin Marciano, Magali Bion and Camille Oesch

### Production Companies

Zagtoon
 Method Animation
 Toei Animation Europe S.A.S.
 The Walt Disney Company France
 SAMG Entertainment
 SK Broadband
 De Agostini Editore
 ON Kids & Family
 Gloob

### Original Release

October 19, 2015 - March 13, 2022

**Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir** is an American television series created by Thomas Astruc.

It focuses on two Parisian teenagers who transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, to protect the city from supervillains.

The series premiered on Disney Channel on October 19, 2015 and aired for four seasons until March 13, 2022.

## Plot

The series takes place in modern-day Paris and revolves around the adventures of two teenagers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. When evil arises, they transform into their superhero personas, Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, using magical jewels known as Miraculouses, which are powered by small animal-themed cosmic beings called Kwamis (theirs being named Tikki and Plagg respectively). All the while, Marinette and Adrien struggle with their feelings for each other, not knowing each other's secret identities – Marinette is in love with Adrien, but not Cat Noir, while Adrien is in love with Ladybug, but not Marinette.

Their main enemy is Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father. As the supervillain Hawk Moth, he attempts to claim Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous jewels. Using the Butterfly Miraculous, he creates akumas, butterflies infused with negative energy, to "akumatize" Paris' everyday citizens, turning them into supervillains when they experience negative emotions. He intends to use the jewels to wish his wife Emilie back to life after she had fallen into a coma from using the damaged Peacock Miraculous before the events of the series. He is sometimes aided by his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur, who, using Emilie's jewel as the supervillain Mayura, uses feathers called amoks to create sentimonsters, magical lifeforms with a seemingly endless variety of forms and abilities.

As Hawk Moth's villains become tougher, Master Wang Fu, the Guardian of the Miraculous, allows Ladybug to borrow different Miraculouses and recruit her other classmates and friends as superheroes.

Marinette and Adrien also encounter guitarist Luka Couffaine and fencer Kagami Tsurugi respectively, developing feelings for them, which further complicates their romance. They also become enemies of Chloé Bourgeois, a Ladybug fan and former superhero who turned against her; Lila Rossi, a pathological liar and con girl; and Félix Fathom, Adrien's maternal cousin, who has a vendetta against the Agrestes, especially Gabriel.

Hawk Moth eventually exposes Master Fu, forcing him to make Marinette the Guardian; she starts training under Su-Han, the leader of the Guardians. Nathalie falls ill from using the Peacock Miraculous, so Hawk Moth repairs it and fuses it with his Miraculous to become Shadow Moth, able to create both villains and sentimonsters. Marinette's best friend, Alya Césaire, learns her secret identity, and Luka discovers Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities by accident, but keeps them to himself. Over time, Marinette starts to prioritize Alya and other temporary heroes over Cat Noir, causing a severe strain on their relationship.

Gabriel eventually gains access to almost all of the Miraculous jewels, renaming himself Monarch and in exchange, Félix obtains the Peacock Miraculous, leaving Ladybug and Cat Noir once again the only two heroes.

Monarch attempts to capture the heroes himself, but he is accidentally left with a scar that slowly spreads through his body. Realizing his days are numbered, he turns the Miraculouses into special rings, enabling him to give his supervillains Miraculous powers to make them stronger. Marinette also tries to stop loving Adrien, believing her feelings have become a distraction to her goal in defeating Monarch, but in doing so, she begins to see Cat Noir in a new light; at the same time, Adrien finally lets go of his crush on Ladybug and realizes his true feelings for Marinette. Eventually, Marinette and Adrien truly come to terms with their feelings for each other and begin a romantic relationship, much to Gabriel's disapproval who actively tries to separate them. When he is unable to do so, he plans to send Adrien to London.

## Episodes

See Also: List of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Episodes

 2 | 26
 3 | 26
 4 | 26

## Production

### Conception and Creation

The series is based on an original concept created by French writer and story boarder, Thomas Astruc. He was inspired by a meeting with a certain lady 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 signature pigtail hairstyle was fashioned 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. He had no 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 comic characters, like Catwoman. So it was like having Catwoman and Spider-Man in the same show but reversed genders and roles.

A character named Félix 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 Félix was a cliché 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 Félix, but he abandoned it by February 2016, writing that the character was a poor idea. In 2019, Félix was remade as Adrien's cousin and was renamed Félix Fathom.

### Hiring Companies

In 2010, the show was announced at Cannes' MIPCOM with French production groups Univergroup Pictures and Onyx Films heading the project and working with Method Animation and Zagtoon. Aton Soumache of Onyx and Method said that they want "to create a glamorous superhero character with a real European flair with Paris as [the] backdrop." The producers had also planned to animate it in stereoscopic 3D (currently, the show is produced using CGI animation).

In the summer of June 2012, Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (known for Sailor Moon, Digimon, PreCure, One Piece & DragonBall) the famous Japanese animation studio branch owned & operated by Toei Company, Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, was announced as a co-producer. Two years before 2012, Toei Animation had released a PreCure film that was set in Paris, France, and was very interested in expanding their international audience. Even after the production moved to CGI animation, Toei still remained co-producer, with the executive producers from the company being credited.

On 21 November 2012, a memorandum of understanding between Zagtoon, Method Animation, SAMG Animation and SK Broadband was announced: together, the companies would invest US$50 million through 2017 into five projects. The first of these projects was developed into Miraculous, which received an investment of $10 million. As a part of the deal, SK Broadband would have exclusive rights in South Korea for video on demand release, available to the subscribers of the company's IPTV platform B TV.

In 2019, Zag and Gloob signed an agreement where the Brazilian company will start to co-produce the next seasons of Miraculous, in addition to having exclusivity of exhibition in Brazil and the addition of a Brazilian character.

### Animation

When Toei Animation joined as a co-producer in the summer of June 2012, it was also announced that the show would be drawn in a colorful manga-like style. Later in September, Zagtoon, Method, & Toei released a traditionally-animated promotional video for Miraculous Ladybug. The video featured Marinette (in different clothes similar to the clothes in the current series) as Ladybug, and a (now-scrapped, later Adrien's cousin) different character named Félix as Cat Noir, Marinette and Félix's Kwamis, Tikki and Plagg, Hawk Moth / Gabriel (without the mask and with a different outfit, look, and lair compared to the current series), and also two akumatized villains from season 1 in the current show – The Mime and Mr. Pigeon. Their Miraculouses and their transformation sequences had different designs compared to the Miraculouses and the transformations in the current series. The demo song from the promotional music video was performed & composed by Noam, who would later compose music and perform songs for the current series.

The whole anime concept was a complete success; but there were concerns about the marketability of traditional 2D animation and the difficulty in animating Ladybug's costume of red with black spots, as it caused some strobing effects. Executive producer Jared Wolfson said that Zag wanted the animation to be cinematic and epic, unique and different, and said that they are continuing to partner with Toei as it brings in the Asian inspiration and that a 2D version of the show might be a potential product for future purposes.

The aforementioned problem with 2D animation was resolved by moving to CGI animation; the switch also allowed for easier implementation of mobile camera angles. SAMG Animation (later SAMG Entertainment), a CGI animation studio located in South Korea which officially joined in the production in the fall of November 2012, produced modelling and animation. Zag later recalled that SAMG was chosen for quality reasons in a video message he sent to a South Korean press conference held in 2015 by the Seoul-based company. Astruc and assistant director, Wilfried Pain, instructed the animators not to improvise scenes so that they could keep things consistent and understandable. Pain estimated about 350–400 shots are used in a typical 20-minute episode; with 10 panels per shot, that makes up to 4000 panels an episode. Wolfson said that the show's animation brings dynamic camera angles and texturing. A trailer with the new CGI-animated style was released in October 2013, a year later.

On 22 January 2018, Zag posted on Instagram that the crew was working on season 4 and season 5.[better source needed]

On 18 April 2021, It was confirmed that in addition to season 4 and 5 the show will have two more seasons (season 6 and 7).

### Themes, Writing and Process

While the show is marketed as a Western superhero narrative, its thematic base is the Japanese mahō shōjo (magical girl) genre, with its focus on transformation sequences, a school cast, the gathering of a team of heroes, animal friends, and end-of-episode collages. In particular, Ladybug is strongly influenced by the genre's landmark entry Sailor Moon: Not only does the name of Marinette ("little sailor girl") recall Sailor Moon's title, but the main characters' magical companions reflect Sailor Moon's Luna and Artemis, the main villain's power resembles that of Queen Beryl, and the show's entire plot parallels the story of Sailor Saturn. Ladybug features numerous other direct and indirect references to its inspiration.

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.

Noam Kaniel (Noam) writes the music and songs. Kaniel has 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. Kaniel and Zag wrote the theme song. Alain Garcia wrote the English lyrics, which are sung by Wendy Child and Cash Callaway. The French version was performed by Marily and Noam Kaniel.

## Release

Astruc representatives have said that the show has reached over 120 countries. Disney Channel has broadcasting rights in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Japan and Latin America are able to broadcast the series with participation from The Walt Disney Company France specifically, it acquired cable and satellite television rights in Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia, and free-to-air rights in Spain, Germany, Russia and Turkey.

## Reception

### Critical Response

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 the 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" and commended the fight sequences and 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 genre 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 every girl 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.

The show has also received negative criticism from both critics and fans of the show. Most of the criticism is directed at how Chloe has been written since the third-season finale. Ryan Lewis of CBR.com portrays a negative view of the show's primary conflict between the two main protagonists.

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.