Why Miraculous LadyBug Is The Worst Thing To Happen To Magical Girl Genre in All It’s History.
Here’s the thing: I’m a huge fan of Magical Girl animes. I love them and treasure them, so when this craze of westernization of the genre came, I was more than glad to welcome it.
And to this day I’m happy about most shows that came out of this hybrid. I love SVTFOE despite its flaws, Steven Universe holds a deep place in my heart and She-Ra is…She-Ra is the best to come out of it.
However, among all of these, there’s a rotten apple. One that breaks my heart to see become nothing more than…an insult to everything that came before it.
Listen, when I started watching Miraculous ladybug I was hopeful. Really hopeful. Excited and mesmerized.
The original PV was 2D animated and it had this vague Princess Tutu vibe that I couldn’t resist. It was clear as day that it borrowed a lot of its inspiration from magical girls. The animation was beautiful, and the scene of Chat looking at Ladybug starry eyed under the Paris Moonlight was one that I will never forget.
I love Magical Girl Anime. That’s why, I think that I let some shows get away with more than others would. What I ask from a western show that borrows from it, is very little in fact. I still like Star vs, and I Can sit through hundreds of episodes for just one cute scene.
And when it first aired, I tried to be positive, to like even when it had all these massive red flags.
I’ve never been a big fan of 3D animation, and specially not how it’s used in Magical Girl animes. (We all know the disaster of Sailor Moon Crystal). But I swallowed it down. The characters were different from the original PV but I swallowed it down. The background scenery was bland and generic and hardly felt unique, but I swallowed it down.
I was here since day 1. I was here when Stormy Weather premiered. I was here before many of you were, and I swallowed it all down. All for one simple reason:
People who aren’t as interested in Magical Girls as I am, specifically Magical Girl Anime’s with Romance, may not understand why the Love Square was such a big deal. Why it was the core; the life of the series.
Four before that, we need to cover:
The Alter Ego and It’s Relationship To The Protagonist
An alter ego is the “alternative version”. The Superman to Clark Kent, the Spider-Man to Peter Parker, the Batman to Bruce Wayne. They represent the hero version, the other self, the better version if you will, of the character or protagonist were supposed to root for.
In magical girls, these better versions are key to understanding our Main Chatacter. While many magical girl anime’s like Sugar Sugar Rune or Sakura Card Captor don’t place so much emphasis on the Alter Ego, there’s many who do.
That’s it, because the Alter Ego is better. Brighter, happier, a sense of justice and able to confront the world. While our Main Character often times doesn’t have these characteristics. The alter ego represent everything they wish to be, while the real them hides underneath.
Which, when you add romance has a very interesting dynamic.
Our main character falls in love with another, often times a prince or an idol, who everyone looks up to. And who does this Prince fall for? Our main character? Well… No. he falls for our Main Character’s Alter Ego!
The reason why I find this fascinating is because in these situations, the Prince character isn’t supposed to be the Male Lead. That honor instead goes to the Rebel character. You know who I’m talking about. The Ikuto, the Kishu, the Fakir or even Mamoru of the story.
These are all fan favorite characters that fall under the “Bad Boy” or “Rebel Character” those who aren’t in love with alter ego, but instead feel attraction to the MC or the “real one”
Shanespear has a great video where she details the reason why a lot of teenage girls feel attracted to this kind of character. A compulsion to be “good” and “perfect” brought for by society, and the only way for them to explore these darker and more dangerous fantasies of rebellion is through a “bad boy” who pushes them out of their comfort zone.
May I mix then these two layer together? You have the MC in love with a perfect boy, a Prince if you will, who in turn is in love with the Perfect Girl version of the MC. And a Bad Boy who is in love with the Real Version of the MC, flaws and all. And it’s only through understanding both the real and idolized version on the MC that a man can “win” the love of our protagonist.
It’s an interesting dynamic. With many different answers depending on how each show tackles it’s themes. Tokyo Mew Mew offers the idea that the Prince is the correct option, while Princess Tutu says it’s not. Then there’s those with open endings such a Shugo Chara.
The interesting thing in Miraculous Ladybug was that it boiled down this interesting dynamic into the Love Square. The perfect and the real, the idolized and the true.
Ladybug represents the perfect version of Marinette. Adrienne represents the perfect version, while the real one is chat. Chat was both the “Bad Boy” and the “Prince” all in one. All in love with the “Perfect” or Idolized version of each other
This was something never before seen. Finally, a story that would explore relationships and dynamics, of the different ways people act and who we are with people we trust and love-
Sorry, we. We didn’t get that.
What we got was padded episode, new love interest that refused to deal with this complexity, and a stagnant rship that refuses to explore any of the flaws of their characters - why they’re not perfect, or even a reason why they stay in love
This is why the Love Square fails. This, is the core of why and how it works. People can expand upon this in million different ways, but you inevitably come back to this.
The real and the idolized. The want vs the duty. The expectations and the responsibilities.
And one thing that the show refused to explore up until late into season 3 and start of season 4 was this specific parts of the Ladybug’s character
Quick question, what does ladybug (the superhero) represent?
I’ve seen people do this with superheroes, but I don’t know nearly enough abt western superheroes to make an analogy so-
Princess tutu is the representation of Ahiru’s love for Mytho. Her purpose is to collect his heart shards to save him and make him happy. She desperately wants to make him whole again, out of pure devotion she has for him.
Sailor Moon is the representation of Usagi’s past as Princess Serenity. Her bonds that transcend space, it’s her duty to protect the earth like she couldn’t protect the Moon Kingdom. By the end of the series, it’s her deep connections and love for the rest of the sailor scouts what drives her to bear the weight of saving the world.
Amulet Heart is the representation of Amu’s “I want to be” self. Her desire to be sporty and happy, easy to mix with people. She has many others And through them all she aims to find herself. Who she really is, and where she fits in a school that idolizes a fake version of herself.
Pink Pearl Voice is representation of Lucia’s duty as a princess. She has seen her people be in distress and knows the weight her actions have on her nation. Her purpose is to fight those who want to hurt her kingdom. To return peace to the seven seas.
This is actually exemplified perfectly in Madoka, where all the girls make a wish. That wish is what fuels their heart, and if they lose sight of it - that’s when their soul gems cracks.
Magical Girls are a wish. While they become magical girls to save the planet, there’s something behind it that they guard deeply and wish to protect even more.
What exactly is ladybug’s purpose? What does she represent? Why did Marinette decide to become Ladybug?
Because of her sense of responsibility, you may say. But according to what we’ve seen, where would that sense of responsibility come from? To protect her friends? Her country? Her school? Her family? Is it pressure from her parents? Or is it herself? Why pressure herself, and to this extend?
What exactly would have been her wish when she became Ladybug? Why would she have accepted a deal where her self is in jeorpardy, and continue to accept it as more and more burdens pile up on her ? Why when she has no real sense of duty?
In the case of chat Noir is easy to find. He wants to be free, wants to be able to escape his home that feels like a prison, but still craves a place that will welcome him as he is: a mischievous trickster who messes up sometimes.
He wants a place where to belong. And Ladybug offers that, while Chat Noir lends him the means to show that true self he can’t allow to others. He would never give up his miraculous because it would mean loosing all that.
But Marinette doesn’t have that. What’s stopping (in season 1-3) from ditching everything and asking Master Fu to find a new ladybug? Realistically.
This is why headcanons and fanfic do a better job than the series. There’s no clear answer. According to previous actions, we can speculate why. But we don’t have a real reason.
We don’t know what Ladybug represents. And if we don’t know who Marinette’s ideal self is, how can we know Marinette?
The closes thing we get to a “motive” is the fact that as Ladybug she gets to be the leader and confident girl she always wanted to be, because she’s clumsy…But I have to say, that doesn’t really make sense. And that’s because
Right now, Marinette is an amalgamation of many different MC tropes all stitched together with the world’s flimsiest needle. It’s a poke away from entirely crumbling.
* I have a crush on my idol classmate
* I am clumsy and ditzy hehe sorry
* You cant bully people! That’s wrong and you’re a meanie!
* But also I’m kind hearted and will offer a helping to hand to those ostracized by society
* Except if they’re the villain or the villain’s minions, they’re bad
* I am a natural born leader and inspire others
* But also I have no self steem and constantly doubt myself
* But also I will be weird abt my crush
I liked Marinette from the PV. She reminded me a lot of Ahiru. A kind and cheery girl, with a golden heart, who secretly crushes on her idol prince. Probably someone who would be kind to a fault, trying to brefriending even the ultimate boss.
But Marinette right now wouldnt. Or at least I think she wouldn’t. I mean, she hates cloe and Lila, and would never offer to help them. Never has opened to them, and has an antagonistic rship with them.
But she did help Ivan that first time. And we see her forgive people who aren’t explicitly villains.
But she WAS really nasty towards Kagami when they didn’t even know all that much about her.
“It makes her a complex character-!”
It makes her confusing. You can’t know how she’ll act, so you can’t understand her and her actions. It alienates her
Unfortunately, at this point we only have one defining characteristic of her. The one thing you’re sure won’t change, the one thing you can trust her to be no matter the circumstances. Her defining characteristic:
Her feelings for Adrien are the only true constant.
We can’t trust her to be kind, bcs maybe the girl is crushing on Adrien and we’ve seen how she treat those girls. We can’t trust her to put art before anything, bcs we rarely see her design. We can’t trust her to be smart, clumsy, a good leader, a crybaby or happy.
The only thing we can trust about her, is Adrien
At the beginning of the series , Marinette was portrayed as a clumsy girl, that gets nervous around her crush easily but ultimately meant well. But that characterization didn’t last long. Soon, with the Episode where they run for class president, Marinette is introduced as a natural born leader who easily takes charge in an emergency situation, when Adrien and her crush isn’t involved.
And as we get to know more about her, it’s more obvious that - Marinette isn’t clumsy. Not at all. She never messes up when it comes to her art. Or at schools projects. Doesnt forget stuff, or accidentally ruins smth bcs of her clumsiness. She only truly becomes a mess of mistakes whenever Adrien is around.
Which could work. Many other magical girls base their character around their love interest. It’s not an automatic recipe for disaster. An MC with heavy focus on romance can work.
Ichigo Monomiya, for example, is someone whose crush is a big part of her character and motivation. She doesn’t want Aoyama finding out about her, and her comedy and tragedy comes from how much she wants to spend time with him - but is unable to. But the reason why she can’t confess, isn’t because she gets nervous or can’t seem to talk to him. It’s because she’s scared that when Aoyama finds out she’s half-cat, he’ll be grossed out and won’t want to date her.
And Ahiru’s entire wish is for Mytho to be happy at the cost of her own. For a while the only motivation she seemed to have was Mytho and we knew little abt her aside from that.
Marinette basing her entire identity around Adrien may not be a bad thing (writin wise) if the writers acknowledged that’s what they’re doing. If they allowed conflict to build upon it.
Maybe a explore who she is without Adrien, and how he affects the perception Marinette has on herself. Who does she become without him and more importantly
Why can’t she get together with him?
Real, why can’t Marinette get Adrien?
Well, the show has told us many times why. Awful consequences, the end of the world, etc etc.
But what I’m asking is why Marinette can’t get closer to Adrien?
what was stopping her from confessing? Being ladybug? Her own nervousness?
The first plot point doesn’t get explored ever.
It only ever gets explored until season 4 and with /Luka/. That she’ll always be distant or unable to connect with someone because of how much she has to keep from him. And it’s also kinda weird, when you juxtapose Luka and Aoyama.
Aoyama is the main love interest in the anime Tokyo Mew Mew. He was often sad and disappointed that Ichigo couldn’t put priority on him.
In one particular episode, he asked her out to go to the movies and was waiting for Ichigo, but a fight broke out and she was unable to go meet him. Mid-fight she does try to contact him but a jealous alien breaks her phone, making her unable to tell him she’s going to be late.
The iconic scene where she comes late to her date, and Aoyama is still waiting in the rain, will always be ingrained in my mind. The music, the writing, it all builds up to this point. You can see how much they long to be together, but there’s this impossible barrier for them. Cause entirely by circumstance. If Ichigo were normal, if she weren’t a hero, if she were just like other girls, she would be with the man she loves.
But she can’t. So she has to hide. Hide parts of herself, and her life. Even as she confesses that she loves him, she’s hiding her tail and ears. Worried that he’ll hate her but still trying to reach out.
And Aoyama forgives her. He says “I love you too”
It truly showed how they can’t be 100% together. That there’s a gap they can never truly fill.
And Aoyama /tries/. He doesn’t break up with her, doesn’t get angry, he hears how truly sorry she is and sees how anxious she’s getting - and accepts it. He forgives her. Because there’s things they still don’t know about each other, and neither are ready to share.
That’s why Luka’s reaction Is weird. Wanting the whole truth from your gf is strange. And yes, Marinette is an asshole for still crushing on Adrien - but Luka knew !! And he still accepted her. But he draws the line at Marinette having a secret he won’t tell her 2 month boyfriend and not even her closest friends KNOW??
So a fundamental part of Marinette’s struggles were shoved into a padded 30 min episode. Where the blame is placed entirely on her.
And this still doesn’t impact her rship with Adrien or Chat
Their relationship stays static. Never changing. Marinette is still a mess whenever he is on screen with him, and is helplessly in love with him.
Which bring us to point two: her nervousness.
This worked on the first few episodes and even seasons. But by this point, her nervousness is just not realistic, and it falls to the point of annoyance and even blatant fetishization by Thomas’ part.
Lets take it back to Princess Tutu. Also a shy clumsy girl who gets even worse when her crush is involved.
However, Ahiru gets competent the more time she spends with Mytho. By the end of it, even if she’s scared or nervous, she jumps head first into danger to protect him. She’s able to have conversations with him, and even gets close to his friends. She breaks out of her crush so much, that she’s willing to accept that Mytho is not meant for her.
But even so, she fights. Not to save Mytho, but to fight against a destiny she believes is unfair. She defies the destiny assigned to her, and fights even at the expense of her own dreams.
But Marinette stays the same. In recent episodes we’ve seen her battle with the expectations of being responsible of, well, everything. But it all stays the same.
The love square that was the foundation of the story, never progresses. It never changes. They stay static. They don’t talk about their feelings or are pushed to acknowledge that one is more or less important that the previously thought.
The reason for this I can only expect late. I believe, while I can’t be 100% certain, that the creators of the show didn’t want to continue developing the Love Square because they thought either one of two things:
• developing this dynamic would mean changing dynamics, ending the status quo morphing the story into something they didn’t want yet
•The dynamic can only change when the show is about to end, because that’s when they’re gonna get together. And that’s the endgame
Which just proves to me a flawed writing and lack of direction from part of the creator. That resonates especially true when *furious* Thomas *furious* created various Cloe centric episodes, even though he never intended to give her a redemption arc for her.
Which is plain bad writing. Changing stuff doesn’t necessarily mean an endgame is near. It just means things are changing.
Okay, maybe you’re having a hard time understanding what I mean. Imma be real mean to this series and compare it to the Magnus Opus of Magical Girls: Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon got together with Tuxedo mask in the first season, yet the writers were able to up the steaks of their relationship through its 5 season run- through memory loss, distance, anxieties of hurting one another, or simply developing their relationship.
In the very last season, Usagi is in a long distance rship with Mamoru. We see through bits and pieces that she misses him, and she’s dealing with the turmoil of him not answering her messages. She’s lonely, and sad.
We see her reminiscent of her time with him. We see her break down and cry because he hasn’t called her. We see her thinking of him when she’s with Seiya. We see her be in love with him and we see how much it affected
And by the last few episodes, we get a payoff. We find out Mamoru is dead, and that he died confident that Usagi would be strong enough to protect the earth in his stead. That he believed in her, and he thought of her until the moment he died.
And when Sailor Moon defeats Sailor Galaxia, we get the payoff.
It’s a very simple but powerful story, packaged in 45 episodes. With enough room to breathe, digest it, but not drawn out enough for it to be annoying.
All this, when the relationship was already stablished. We could have had something like this, if the writers WERENT drawing out the reveal and get together until the very last second
Because, apparently, thinking of love post-reveal is too much. Instead we watch them run and run in circles. Which just cheapens what was an iconic dynamic.
And everything because the writers don’t actually know what they want to do with the love square. So they add new rivals, new teams, new accessories, side plots - all to avoid touching the actual core of what made the series great.
It strongly reminds me of Star vs. in that scenario the creators also weren’t sure where to take the show. It wasn’t until season 2 where they started the subplot of Star realizing Mewni colonized Monsters that it started having a sense of self. And it showed in the romantic subplot, which was all over the place. They didn’t know what they wanted, so The romance in that show was a mess. Lack of direction and intention, aside from the knowledge that Star and Marco were the end game
I personally don’t hate Star vs. I don’t like how it handled romance but I will give it much leeway because the actual plot of Intergenerational conflict and coming to terms with the harm your ancestors have done to others - is quite compelling and not something I see tackled often.
But Miraculous does not get that. It’s plot is simple and refuses to get into the murky waters of its own premise. Because, once again, the creators think that getting into them means the endgame is nearby.
So what did they do to artificially give the viewers a sense of progression?
All the emphasis on the story right now, is put instead on the new Miraculous Team. Which, is probably the worst thing to ever happen to the show, and the actual reason why I dropped the series.
Before we continue, quick question
What genre is ladybug borrowing from?Super hero? Magical Girl? Sentai?
Knowing the genre is knowing the story. And knowing the story, you have expectations and themes that the writers are expected to tackle. I mean, you expect science fiction to talk about computers and if their impact on society is good or bad. Same with these genres. That’s why it’s important to know
What genre are they trying to emulate??
Yeah I don’t know either. It seems like a mix of all three, but these three genres are widely different. It’s like trying to combine Fantasy, science fiction and Isekai, just because they’re all fiction. Yeah they’re a bit similar, but each has a theme and dynamic that fans are expecting to see.
But if what you know it’s a superficial level understanding of those genres, you may come out with something that everyone hates.
And that’s what happened with ML. The initial focus on two superheroes is, again, complete magical girl territory. The monster of the week format that gets repetitive to a point, also is. So I didn’t mind that. I was fine with little to no progression in certain episodes because I knew it came with the magical girl territory.
But things started to get weird, at episode 45 with the introduction of…Sighs, Rena Rouge.
I knew the moment Rena came that this was gonna get bad. I felt it in my bones that THIS was the sign of something insidious and awful boiling in the back of the show. This character marks the beginning of everything downhill in the show - it’s a glaring reminder of how awful the writing in this show is.
Don’t get me wrong I love Alya. I love the character design of Rena and I don’t think that - on a vacuum - her existing is bad. But her appearance signified that something even more rotten had happened behind the scenes.
They were trying to add more heroes. Heroes we didn’t need, and breaking the delicate balance of Chat & Ladybug’s dynamic. Because they were never planned to be there. High chance it was just a cheap way to add filler and sell toys no one will buy.
The team is bad. They ditched the “Magical Girl” formula and decided to go for a bit of a setain feeling. But they did this, so into the show that we ALREADY had a sense of their character as side character - bringing them to the spotlight was uncomfortable. Like suddenly making Molly a sailor scout, or giving Tomoyo clow cards in the middle of the second season.
That’s not their purpose in the story.
And they’re introduced so haphazardly that there’s hardly any time for them to hang out with each other
Since they don’t GET to keep the kwamis, they don’t get to participate on every chapter. Which means there’s no sense of a “team”. Which makes you wonder why they’re even considered a “team”
This is such a horrible decision it genuinely makes me wonder if these people KNOW how to create ANY story !!!
I feel like I keep comparing MLB to many decent and genuinely good magical girls animes. Which feels unfair, EVEN THO IT ISNT, because these are iconic anime’s that have left a print in media
So fine, let’s get this show to a level you all can understand how bad it is
The point of the show is a slice of life, and it’s GOOD, check it out if you can. It’s something to turn on and enjoy, with little overarching plot.
But get this, the entire focus is to watch the team girls Interact. A lot of the comedy comes from watching these girls having fun and watching them come to terms with their own super powers. Watching them get in trouble as they hide their identity, and how they bounce from one another. Who helps who, who are besties, who kinda hate each other, who brings them together and who keeps them strong.
But because they all have to hide in miraculous ladybug, you don’t see this. Which, btw, THIS is the foundation of both Magical girl GROUPS and Seitan. And I would argue you would get more leeway abt secret identities to one another in MG that Seitan. Seitan’s bread and butter IS team dynamics. The fact that we don’t know how two superheroes that aren’t ladybug and chat would behave around each other is an INSULT to the genre.
And the fact that Marinette is allowed to CHOOSE who is part of the team probably even a worst decision.
Most teams DONT get to chose who their partners are, and that’s what makes it amazing.
Because it’s a bunch of people who are forced to be together, slowly learning to open up and depend on one another. Which creates amazing and profound bonds that one originally wasn’t expecting.
Take for example Usagi. She didn’t CHOOSE her team. Instead, she found it. They found her. While Ami and Makoto are kind to her, she’s always butting heads with Rei, and playfully competing with Minako. They don’t all coddle her, or think she’s amaZing. They see her as a friend. A crybaby, clumsy but with a good heart who will help them out.
Tokyo Mew Mew has the same. Ichigo isn’t in perfect terms with Mint and they butt heads. Zakuro is a loner that isn’t integrated fully even in later episodes. But they’re a team. They work together.
The fact that Marinette gets to pick, creates issues like…Queen Bee. Who she kicked out (mostly) because she’s not someone Marinette trusts. Even though time and time again Chloe showed she is very willing to help. In a GOOD series, this is a way of proving the MC that not everyone who is annoying or a missy, or has a different attitude than Hers, is a bad person. That are people who are willing to do good, if given the chance to do good.
But this it not a good series.
Thomas claimed in various tweets that “bullies can never be heroes” and that’s….insulting.
Never mind that Chloe is an neglected teen, this is show inspired by magical girls. Name ONE magical girl anime where the girl who’s kinda mean to the MC but WANTS to do better - is shown to actually be cruel.
None. Princess Tutu has Rue. Shugo Chara has Utau. Sakura Card Captor has Mei. Sailor Moon has - well not girl but Fisheye -. Mermaid Melody has Sara. Mermaid Melody PURE has Michelle. Madoka has Homura. Lyrical Nanoha has Fate. Pretear has Mayune and Mawata. Tokyo Mew Mew has Mint AND Zakuro-
Magical girls are about forgiveness. They’re about kindness and the power of perceived feminity. It’s about offering a helping hand, when the world is cruel to you. A magical girl doesn’t raise her sword first. She talks. She asks. She feels. And only after all has been exhausted, she fights.
If a girl wants to be better, it doesn’t matter what she did before. She is allowed a second chance.
Even Madoka, the “darkest” magical girl - she saves every girl who wanted to do better. She stopped them from becoming witches, because they didn’t want to. But they were forced to. Forced to become horrible monsters, until someone killed them. But Madoka saved them.
The fact that Thomas spat on the very core of THE Magical Girl Genre. Shows what he is. An old dude, who THINKS he knows what little girls want. Who thinks a woman who was mean, is an evil creature that knows no remorse, and deserves to be hated forever. Not forgiven, or handed a second chance. But despised.
He is the type man that pollutes the genre. Who thinks he knows, but really no one wants him here.
ML is bad. For a number of reasons. But it fails to be what it promised to me. It failed me on the first day. And I still stuck with it. Because a lot of western series failed me on their initial take of a Magical Girl.
Star Vs wasn’t best. Steven Universe didn’t borrow enough. She-Ra’s transformation left much to be desired.
But they all gave me something. And what’s most important, it held its core belief.
“Women can help one another. And kindness isn’t weakness”
Miraculous isn’t that. It disappointed and hurt me, because it believe the exact opposite. Marinette only cares about Adrien, and cares little for other women. She is antagonistic for any girl who shows interest in him.
In her eyes, kindness isn’t a priority. Her friends and teammates, are all people she chose, not those who she had to learn to love and fight along side with.
If She-Ra’s last season is the culmination of everything a Magical Girl should be in the west. Miraculous is the exact opposite.
It doesn’t only fail as a show. It doesn’t only fail as a Magical Girl show. It borrowed every last thing it had from the genre.
And once it was popular, it spat on it
Miraculous ladybug hates magical girls. And honestly,
