One criticism about Miraculous Ladybug that I find really interesting is the criticism that the show is still like that. Itâs phrased in different ways, like âthereâs no developmentâ or similar, but it often includes an exasperated âitâs season five and Marinette still hasnât told Adrien she loves himâ somewhere in the text. This criticism isnât fascinating because itâs correct (itâs not) or because it raises complex questions (it doesnât); itâs interesting because on some level, I totally get it.
Imagine youâre six, or eight, or ten years old when Miraculous Ladybug launches in 2015, or maybe even fourteen like Marinette, and you love it: Itâs funny, it has good action, a beautiful romance, and Marinette is just an awesome character: She wants to do good, she loves her friends, sheâs clumsy, sheâs anxious, and sheâs still awesome, all in one package. You canât help but love her.
But now itâs 2022. If you were the showâs target audience of six years old, you have now spent half your life with that show existing. If you were as old as Marinette, youâre now an adult. Youâve certainly changed schools once or twice; made new friends, lost old ones. You gained new hobbies, new interests, your first interest in romance if youâre into that, your first global pandemic and so on. And the show, on a really high level, is still like that. Marinetteâs foibles, which used to be funny, are now cringy, because they remind you of how you used to be. Marinetteâs anxiety around her crush may have become a painful reality, or a painful memory long in the past. The threat theyâre facing is still the most cartoonish in the history of cartoonish threats, and theyâre not even one step closer to doing anything about it; i.e. their biggest problems are still exactly the same, while yours have changed completely.
Other shows and book series and so on often try to grow up with their audience, dealing with darker topics and/or more explicit kissing as they go on and their audience presumably gets older. Miraculous Ladybug cheerfully does not. Itâs still fundamentally the same show it is now as it was in 2015.
That means you grew up, and Marinette is still fourteen. And isnât that just the worst? A reminder of who you used to be, back when you were a young, stupid child. A reminder of all the things youâve outgrown. I totally get being frustrated with that.
Of course, that isnât a flaw with the show as such. It wants to be a show where Marinette remains fourteen forever, or at least for a couple of seasons more, and itâs doing that well. Getting better, even. It just means that you and the show have split ways at some point, and youâre no longer the person who fell in love with it. Thereâs no shame in that, it happens.
(To be clear, itâs not required. There are people who fell in love with the show as a child and still enjoy it. Whatever makes you happy.)
Move on. Or fail to recognise it and make angry Tumblr posts about it; your choice, really.
Thatâs why I personally recommend watching the show once youâre in your thirties and have stopped giving a shit. Then youâll have the best long-term experience with it. đ
