Perfection

**Perfection**

**Season 5, episode 12 (Production order); Episode 116 (Overall)**

> I don’t want to be alone anymore, these people, I want to see them. I WANT TO SEE THEM!
>
> Kagami Tsurugi, "Perfection"

**"Perfection"** is a Season 5 episode of the series, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. As based on the series's production order specifically, **"Perfection"** is the 12th written and produced episode of Season 5. It is also the 115th written and produced episode of the series, overall.

## Synopsis

What would Marinette do without her friends? The whole gang has decided to do everything to help her finally get closer to Adrien. This time, anything goes. But Marinette knows how to be surprising, again and again! Especially when no one’s told her anything, and no one knows that she also has come up with a unique plan to try and tell Adrien how she feels. They’re all in to find out that it’s better to tell things clearly to your friends if you don’t want to cause a misunderstanding... that could lead to someone being akumatized!

## Plot

Ladybug and Cat Noir try to pull a large boat out of the Seine using their yo-yo and staff. In the midst of this, Ladybug asks Cat Noir if he is in love. Cat Noir says he is. Ladybug then asks if his crush loves Cat Noir. He says he believes she does. Ladybug expresses her happiness for his situation. The two superheroes pull the large boat out of the Seine. Ladybug and Cat Noir skydive from the Eiffel Tower. Cat Noir asks Ladybug the same question. Ladybug replies with a similar answer. She grabs bird call from the giant human construct climbing the Eiffel Tower and throws the bird call to Cat Noir who catches and Cataclysms it, releasing the megakuma. Ladybug captures the megakuma and heroes land safely, catching Mr. Pigeon as he is deakumatized, Ladybug releases the purified megakuma, and Cat Noir catches Mr. Ramier. Ladybug throws her Lucky Charm using her Miraculous Ladybug. At the Jardins du Trocadéro, Cat Noir expresses his happiness at both his and Ladybug’s situations. They pound it and Cat Noir leaves. In her partner’s absence, Ladybug’s face droops. Marinette, now at her house, tells Alya about her ease of conversation with Cat Noir and difficulty of conversation with Adrien. Marinette gets a call from Kagami, she declines due to her perceived lack of progress with Adrien. Marinette is called by Kagami again, she hangs up again reasoning she’ll call her back when she talks to Adrien which she believes she is incapable of pulling that feat off and she will either never call Kagami back or only when she’s elderly and erased from Kagami’s mind. Marinette questions if she is a bad friend to Kagami. Alya, who finally is able to get a word in edgewise, assures her best friend she is capable of confessing her feelings to her love with help from her friends.

At François Dupont’s art room, Nathaniel and Marc have Marinette and Adrien set up under the guise of helping them with their story. Adrien asks Marinette to hold his hand, she attempts to do so but her nerves get the better of her and she destroys part of the set. Nathaniel and Marc move onto their next plan. At Philippe’s ice rink, Philippe tries to help but he sends Adrien and Marinette crashing into the walls of his rink. Nathaniel and Marc move onto another plan. At François Dupont, Miss Bustier’s class participates in an empathetic listening activity. The objective is to sit on a mat opposite a partner, take their hands, and express your feelings for them. Marinette tries to sit opposite Adrien, but Chloé stops her and takes her place. Alya defends her friend’s spot, but Chloé refuses to budge. That is until Lila drags her away to the mat opposite hers, discussing aloud that Marinette should be allowed to sit where she pleases while whispering to Chloé her intentions to make their common enemy’s life miserable. A pleased Chloé proclaims Lila her new best friend, much to the chagrin of Sabrina. Marinette manages to send a mat toward Alya and bowl rolling away. Nathaniel flips his sketchpad to the next page for the next plan, but the page is empty.

In her room, Marinette practices confessing to Adrien by attempting to confess to her mannequin with a picture of Adrien pinned to its head. She can’t finish her sentence properly, so she takes off the picture. She confesses flawlessly. She reattaches the picture of Adrien and tries again, but she can’t do it. Marinette gets a call from Kagami; she declines as she worries Kagami will be disappointed in her lack of a confession. Marinette keeps trying to confess with Tikki cheering her on. After what’s most likely been hours and the day nearing sunset, Marinette is red in the face, still struggling to express her feelings. Kagami calls again, prompting Tikki to suggest Marinette answer her friend as she may be able to help. Marinette then comes up with her “ingenious” solution: a picture of a cow. To finish her confession, she will use the picture of a cow to prompt herself to say “moo” to finish her confession. She picks up her phone to inform Kagami about her plan, but an alarm on her phone goes off for a Kitty Section concert she’s attending. Marinette rushes out of her room to get there.

At the Couffaine's houseboat Liberty, Adrien tells Luka about the love song he wrote for Marinette. Luka commends his song and suggests Kitty Section play it. Rose exclaims Adrien wrote a love song to everyone on Liberty, they all decide to play their part in making their friend serenading his feelings to Marinette a reality. Kagami approaches Liberty in Tatsu, reading a piece of paper. She folds it in half as Tatsu informs her she arrived at her destination. Kagami walks onto the boat in the middle of her friend’s plans. Several of them suggest she help out. Alya tells Kagami of Adrien’s upcoming love song performance. She expresses relief she will see Marinette and her approval of Adrien’s progress. Alya uses her Alliance to call Marinette who shows up nearly immediately and dashes toward the Liberty, spouting off her supposed readiness. She gets caught off guard by Kagami’s presence. Kagami attempts to ask Marinette a question, but she runs off saying she has to do something. Adrien welcomes Kagami, she once again expresses her pride in Adrien for his intentions to declare his love.

Inside Liberty, Marinette practices her declaration of love to Adrien with a picture of the former and a picture of a cow. She happily runs back up to the deck just in time for Kitty Section’s performance of Adrien’s love song with Max, Nino, and Zoé on backup vocals. As the song comes to a close, a pink spotlight shines on Marinette. She tries to finally confess to Adrien, but she panics and runs to get her pictures. Kagami tries to go after her friend, but Alya tells her that she’ll handle it, being her best friend and goes after her. Kagami takes out her piece of paper and checks a box on it. Marinette explains her original plan to Alya, who consoles her. The conversation then shifts to her life as Ladybug. Alya tries to tell her to stop with her excuses, but Marinette warns her Kagami is behind her. Alya tells Kagami they have to deal with something before they come back out. Kagami leaves and checks off the final box on her paper. Alya tells Marinette her alter ego isn’t blockcading her love life, Marinette deflects this. She transforms into Ladybug and swings out a porthole, Ayla watches her friend leave in concern.

Kagami downtrodden speaks to Lila through her Alliance about the friendship test Lila gave Kagami. A test that supposedly says if a friend is really a friend. Marinette just so happened to check all the boxes. Lila expresses her disapproval of Marinette’s supposed ignoring of Kagami’s efforts to get closer to Marinette. Lila states she believes she deserves a better friend and she’d be honored to be Kagami’s friend. Kagami shoots her offer down, believing her imperfection makes her only worthy of solitude, she ends the call and deletes Marinette and Lila’s contact information. Lila grins wickedly, scheming to cut all Marinette’s ties, leaving her all alone. Ladybug realizes Alya was right, she only transformed to avoid Adrien. She questions her reasoning for doing so. Kagami runs off Liberty in tears. Adrien notices her sorrow and runs after her. Kagami stops at her car. Tatsu asks her where she’d like to go. She looks at Lila’s friendship test, drops it and runs off sobbing. Monarch seizes the opportunity to send a megakuma after Kagami, infecting her ring. Monarch dubs her Ryukomori and transfers her the power of the Dragon Miraculous. She transforms into a giant humanoid cloud with the inability to see or hear people. Adrien, who followed her, transforms into Cat Noir and pursues her. Ladybug overhears Ryukomori’s thunderous footsteps and follows her.

Ryukomori sits on the streets of Paris with her feet in the Canal Saint-Martin and reflects on the day she and Marinette forged their friendship. She feared disappointment, yet she now feels at peace. Meanwhile, the police have surrounded the oblivious Ryukomori. Ladybug and Cat Noir overlook the situation. Cat Noir hands Ladybug Lila’s friendship test to read. Ladybug realizes while trying to shield her civilian self from hurting, she hurt her friend in the process. The hero duo leaps into action to save Kagami, but their strike attempt goes right through Ryukomori, landing them in the Seine. Ladybug and Cat Noir try to talk to her atop Paris city hall via megaphone, Ryukomori walks right through city hall and the heroes. Ryukomori stops at the Jardin des Tuileries and reminisces about all the times she trained with her mother. Clara Contard, in a helicopter, reports on the situation with Ryukomri. She gets close enough that Ryukomori tries to shoos her off with her hand, cluing Ladybug and Cat Noir to her awareness of objects. Clara doesn’t leave, so Ryukomori shocks her with her lightning power, sending the helicopter hurtling to the ground. With the disruption to her serenity and tranquility gone from her presence, Ryukomori leaves. Cat helps Clara and the cameraman down from the crashed helicopter with his staff. Ladybug formulates a plan to communicate with Ryukomori. Cat Noir directs Ladybug in setting up cars in the shape of kanji. They translate to “talk” (話). Two cars are thrown through Ryukomori to get her attention. She reads the kanji, but doesn’t want to talk, wishing for silence.

In her anger, summoning a blustering wind which blows the heroes away. Monarch tells Ryukmomori if she wants peace, she needs to defeat Ladybug and Cat Noir. She spots the cars they broke flung at them by her winds and attacks them with lightning. They narrowly dodge electrocution. Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, which gives her a box of variously colored ironing beads. She comes up with a plan and sends Cat Noir to gather the materials needed to execute it. Cat Noir shows up at the Wang’s art shop and orders a bunch of supplies from Socqueline. Ladybug creates a picture of Kagami with the ironing beads she intends to have a bunch of people replicate on a larger scale. Though she only has Nathaniel, Marc, Ivan, Max, Markov, and Alya present with her. Markov offers a solution, he’ll contact the group’s friends and their friend’s friends, and so on and so forth. Socqueline and Cat Noir arrive with the necessary supplies in a pickup truck. Ryukomori arrives at François Dupont and flashes back to her fencing match with Adrien. She laments her disappointment that she could be anyone’s friend and her feelings of freedom from suffering. Cat Noir flies in front of her with a helicopter, infuriating her. She follows him to the Parc des Princes to find Ladybug has gathered many people, just for her sake. This touches Ryukomori. Monarch tries to persuade her they’re trying to trick her, but she’s not buying what he’s selling. Ryukomori rejects the power Monarch gave her, transforming her back into Kagami and releasing the megakuma. She starts free falling, the hero duo act quickly. Cat Noir grabs Ladybug and extends his staff, launching them into the air to catch their friend. Kagami congratulates Ladybug on the applause and cheers and thanks Ladybug. She tells Kagami the applause and cheering is for her, commending Kagami on single-handedly rejecting Monarch’s power. Ladybug throws her Lucky Charm in the air, activating her Miraculous Ladybug. It fixes the damage caused by the battle. Ladybug opens her yo-yo and pulls out a magical charm which she gives to Kagami as a symbol of her and everyone else’s friendship.

Later, Marinette gives Kagami a keychain with a picture of them in it and tells her when in doubt, to use it to comfort her. She accepts and asks her to pick up her phone next time. Both girls share their feeling of inadequacy: Kagami with how to act around friends and Marinette with Adrien. Marinette hugs Kagami to thank her for helping her come to this revelation and declares Kagami her best friend. Kagami asks about Alya. Marinette replies she can have more than one best friend. Alya adds her contact to Kagami’s Alliance, as does Nino, Rose, Juleka, Luka, Kim, Mylène, Ivan, and Max, who wave and cheer for her. This makes Kagami happy. On her way home, she asks her Alliance to call Lila. Kagami decides to take Lila’s offer to be her best friend. Lila replies she thinks of Kagami not as a friend but as a sister to her. Marinette drops off Alya, most likely at her apartment on her moped. Marinette confides in Alya about her being right about using her alter ego as an excuse why she struggles with Adrien. Alya tells her they’ll figure it out together.

Gabriel is in his atelier when Tomoe, furious over her daughter’s akumatization uses her bokken to trap Gabriel’s hand and break his computer screen. He tries to calm her down, but she tells her to make sure he honors his contract with her or she will make his dream disappear like he tried to do to her dream and he owes her everything.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
* Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
* Gabriel Agreste/Monarch
* Tikki
* Plagg
* Longg
* Megakuma
* Kagami Tsurugi/Ryukomori
* Lila Rossi

### Minor Characters

* Xavier Ramier/Mr. Pigeon
* Alya Césaire
* Nathaniel Kurtzberg
* Marc Anciel
* Zoé Lee
* Nino Lahiffe
* Juleka Couffaine
* Rose Lavillant
* Jean-Pierre Monlataing
* Ivan Bruel
* Mylène Haprèle
* Max Kanté
* Lê Chiến Kim
* Philippe
* Chloé Bourgeois
* Sabrina Raincomprix
* Caline Bustier
* Luka Couffaine
* Kaalki
* Clara Contard
* Socqueline Wang
* Markov
* Tomoe Tsurugi
* Aurore Beauréal (background)
* Mireille Caquet (background)
* Denis Damocles (background)
* Fred Haprèle (background)
* Barkk (background)
* Mullo (background)
* Alix Kubdel (pictured)
* Sabine Cheng (pictured)
* Tom Dupain (pictured)
* Marlena Césaire (pictured)
* Armand D'Argencourt (flashback)
* Firefighters
* Police officers
* Civilians

## Trivia

* Internationally, this episode first premiered in Brazil on Gloob.
* The episode shares its name with the concept of the Dragon Miraculous.
	+ Besides the power of the Dragon Miraculous, the concept of Perfection was exemplified, with people dwelling on their need to be perfect in order to not disappoint and help others and express themselves:
		- Marinette's inability to tell Adrien she loves him caused her to avoid Kagami as much as she can, as she couldn't bare to face her as long she didn't confess her love for Adrien, fearing to disappoint her.
		- Adrien writes a song for Marinette to confess his love for her and asks Kitty Section to help him so the song is as perfect as possible for her.
		- Marinette's friends try to come up with the perfect plan so Marinette can confess her love for Adrien.
		- Kagami's limited contact with others made her believe that she had to achieve perfection so she'd be good enough for someone else.
		- Kagami, after being tricked by Lila to think Marinette didn't consider her a friend, comes to the conclusion that, if she can't be her friend, no one else can, so she focuses on being the perfect girl she was pressured to be by isolating herself from everyone else.
	+ The concept of Perfection was also applied in other episodes, showing how the concept can either lead to fortunate success, or showcase high expectations for others which ultimately lead to causing pressure on themselves.
		- Before Adrien started public school in "Origins", he was kept away from everyone else by his father and through his modelling career everyone was blinded by his perfections as a model that no one saw the real him, to which Adrien expressed frustration for this in "Risk".
		- Marinette immediately believed that she had to be perfect right on the spot upon becoming Ladybug, but due to her failing to capture Ivan's akuma in "Ladybug & Cat Noir", she claimed herself to be unworthy of using the Ladybug Miraculous.
		- Chloé wanted to prove to Ladybug that she was the perfect choice to be the Bee Miraculous holder, as shown in "Malediktator" and "Miraculer", expressing her disappoint in Ladybug for having to suspend her from using the Miraculous again.
		- Sabrina believing she had to put aside her own feelings, interests and desires to be the perfect BFF for Chloé in various episodes like "Antibug", "Malediktator", "Miraculer", "Penalteam", expressing clear disappoint if she could not exceed her perfect expectations.
		- Similar to Marinette in "Origins", Kagami believed she was not the perfect holder for the Dragon Miraculous in "Ikari Gozen" after making the mistakes of rushing things and giving away her secret identity to Hawk Moth.
		- How Chloé and Audrey expected perfection from others and expressed disapproval should they fail to deliver, in which some cases, led to others, or themselves, into being akumatized, like "Antibug", "Style Queen", "Malediktator", "The Battle of the Miraculous", "Sole Crusher", "Queen Banana", "Optigami", "Adoration", "Confrontation", and "Revolution".
			* As well as in "Revolution" shown how Audrey raised Chloé to exceed perfection and did not raise losers, deciding that she would take control of her life if that was the only means necessary for her ideology, leaving Chloé to express visible frustration and annoyance, in which she took off from her mother by expecting everyone else to be perfect for her own desires, leading people, even her former friends, feeling unhappy and disappointed.
		- In various episodes, Cat Noir believed himself and Ladybug to be a perfect couple, sometimes expressing disappointment for her contant rejections, as shown in episodes like "Prime Queen", "Glaciator", "Frozer", and Glaciator 2" for example.
			* As well as Marinette believing that she had to be perfect enough for Adrien to like her, shown in "Mr. Pigeon", "Dark Cupid", "The Bubbler", "Gigantitan", and more.
		- As revealed in multiple instances like "Timetagger", "Cat Blanc", and "Evolution", Ladybug had (or will have) made the perfect choice in choosing Alix Kubdel to be the holder of the Rabbit Miraculous.
		- Adrien, Félix and other sentimonsters' perfect nature and appearance after being manifested.
* This is the sixth time Kagami gets akumatized following "Riposte", "Catalyst", "Mayura", "Oni-Chan" and "Lies". This time however she gets akumatized into Ryukomori, her fourth overall akumatized form.
	+ The name "Ryukomori" is a combination of "Ryuko", her superhero name, and "*hikikomori*", a form of social isolation performed by some Japanese people. This is a reference to how Kagami wants to be alone from everyone.
* Kagami is the first temporary hero to get akumatized and receive the power of her Miraculous through the Alliance Ring.
* This is at least the 73rd time Mr Ramier gets akumatized into Mr Pigeon.
	+ This also suggests that the magical charm he received in "Mr. Pigeon 72" has been broken by a megakuma.
		- Mr. Pigeon is also the second akumatized supervillain not shown to receive a Miraculous power through his Alliance, after Sole Destroyer in "Deflagration"
* In the original French, Marinette is having trouble saying the final sound of the phrase "Je t'aime", getting stuck repeatedly on "Je t'ai... Je t'ai...". In this case, her solution is to use the picture of the cow to say "Je t'ai-meuh."
* This is the third non-special episode where a character sings in a musical number, after "Silencer" and "Deflagration".
* Lila is seen doing exactly what she promised she would do to Marinette back in "Chameleon". Lila told her she would make sure Marinette would end up alone and without friends and, in the episode, she tried to manipulate Kagami to believe Marinette was not really her friend, a plan that almost succeeded.
* More about Lila and Chloé's alliance to turn Marinette's life into a nightmare is shown in this episode, following its creating in "Penalteam" and subsequent demonstration "Risk". The friendship between the two is shown to be growing, with Chloé even considering in making Lila her best friend, much to Sabrina's sadness.
* Kagami is the seventh person to reject an akuma after being fully akumatized and return back to normal on their own, following Alya in "Gang of Secrets", Nino in "Rocketear", Sabine Cheng in "Qilin", Gabriel in "Dearest Family", Chloé in "Penalteam" and Jalil in "Reunion".
* Thanks to Kagami, Marinette realizes that the reason why she can't express her feelings for Adrien is because she feels she is not good enough for him.
* Tomoe is seen being angry at Gabriel for akumatizing Kagami, but more specifically for sending the megakuma to Kagami's ring.
* It's revealed that Gabriel, in the past, tried to take away Tomoe's dream, causing him to be in debt to her.
* This is the tenth episode that features a post-credit scene, following "Miracle Queen", "Gabriel Agreste", "Optigami", "Sentibubbler", "Dearest Family", "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Illusion" and "Transmission".
* This episode shows a flashback and a callback to "Ikari Gozen" and "Riposte".
* This is the sixth time Adrien is seen singing following "Princess Fragrance", "Befana", "Santa Claws", "Cat Blanc" and "Félix".
* Despite Kagami being akumatized for the sixth time, this actually the first time she deakumatizes while being airborne.
	+ This is the sixth time this happens someone deakumatizes while being airborne overall following "Stoneheart", "Gigantitan", "Reverser", "Weredad" and "Crocoduel".
* This is one of several times where an akumatized victim's object isn't destroyed.
* This is the seventh time where the heroes sit on a rooftop with a view of the Eiffel Tower following "The Dark Owl", "Lies", "Hack-San", "Kuro Neko", "Jubilation" and "Deflagration".
	+ But like "The Dark Owl", this scene didn't come at the end of an episode.
* This is the twenty-sixth time where a Lucky Charm is an object that appeared in a previous episode. This time, it's the teapot that previously appeared in "Sapotis" and "Oblivio".
* This is the first time where a Lucky Charm is summoned twice in Season 5.
	+ This is the twenty seventh time in which Lucky Charm is summoned twice in a single episode following "The Bubbler", "Antibug", "Sapotis", "The Dark Owl", "Syren", "Style Queen", "Anansi", "Malediktator", "Mayura", "Miraculous Shanghai", "Reflekdoll", "Weredad", "Miraculer", "Oblivio", "Desperada", "Ikari Gozen", "Timetagger", "Heart Hunter", "Psycomedian", "Glaciator 2", "Hack-San", "Dearest Family", "Ephemeral", "Kuro Neko", "Strikeback" and "Passion".
* As Cat Noir, it's revealed that Adrien carries a notepad on him.
* Sabrina, Aurore, Mireille, and three unnamed characters are seen on the Liberty for the first time. It's possible they were invited because of Adrien's performance.
* Adrien's Love Song was never dubbed in Chinese Mandarin and they left it in English.
* This is one of six times in season 5 that Cataclysm is used to destroy an akumatized object, the others being "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Migration", "Adoration" and "Representation".
* Later, in "Representation", it is revealed that Kagami knows that Marinette is Ladybug by eavesdropping on her conversation with Alya, in a flashback of this episode. Once she escapes from London with the help of her boyfriend Félix, Kagami tells him that Marinette is Ladybug, and Felix then tells her that his uncle is Monarch.

### Errors

 File:Perfection 010.png
* When Ladybug and Cat Noir have raised the ship, the latter disappears in one of the scenes.
* Kaalki turns into a blue cloud instead of a brown one when Monarch gets her power.
* Monarch's face masks are miscolored blue throughout the episode.
* In one scene, Cat Noir's lower arm is missing.
* When Kagami deakumatizes herself, Monarch's broken face mask uses Shadow Moth's design. The same happened when The Pharaoh deakumatized himself in "Reunion".
* When Ladybug raises her card to give the signal to the people helping her, the suit she has is her normal suit instead of her modified suit.

 File:Perfection 403.png
* When we are shown the Monarch, who is on his knees, all Kwamis' cages are empty.
* When the applause starts, the image should've fallen, but it remains where it is which would only be possible if everyone had four hands.
* When Monarch touches Longg's cage to transfer her power to Ryukomori, he touches it with his right hand despite the Dragon Miraculous ring being on his left hand.
* In the Ukrainian dub, Lila's normal and Alliance lines have been mixed up, so the effect is used during the yoga scene and the scene in her room, but isn't both times when she talks to Kagami.

## Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for Perfection.
*Click here to view the gallery.*

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/ladyofacat/status/1505600314103279621

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