#the evillustrator

Nathaniel Kurtzberg

Nathaniel Kurtzberg (aka Caprikid and The Evillustrator) is a supporting character from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir! He is canonically bisexual and has a boyfriend named Marc Anciel, though he also had feelings for Marinette Dupain-Cheng in the past.

“Power or no power, I'll always be there to protect you.”

This episode was written by Matthieu Choquet, and premiered on October 26th 2015 on France's TFOU. Despite being the 2nd episode in production order, it aired… 8th. For some reason. Get used to this; it's gonna happen a lot.

My favorite international title is the Polish one, "Ilustrachor". It's a play on "ilustrator" and "strach" (fear), and I think it works really well. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the French title is just "The Artist", which is less of a name and more of a boring descriptor. Then again, the French dub does that a lot—"Copycat", for example, is simply called "The Impostor". Also a boring descriptor is the Hebrew title, which is just "Painter", not even with a "the". And I know Hebrew has the definite article, so it's not like this is a language thing. Truly, zero fucks were given in Israel that day. Then we have the Korean dub, which decides to break convention altogether and call the episode… okay, on the Miraculous wiki it's "Draw Then Erase You", while Google Translate says it's actually "I Draw You Again"? Yeah. Point is, the Korean dub likes to go with whimsical titles like this, which I think is really nice. The akuma name titles do help the viewer tremendously to keep track of what happened in what episode (especially useful for a series of this length), but they're also kind of bland and they force the show into a very rigid formula, a formula which I think is more of a liability than a strength at this point. Lastly, the German dub opts to mix things up a little, so that while this episode is called "The Revenge Plan", Darkblade, for example, is still called " Darkblade". I would've called this episode "Drawn to You", but that's just me.

The font for the title card is also different in the French dub vs. the English one. While the English dub and the French one for the previous episode both use Kleymissky, now it's a sans serif font that I can't identify. It looks like Futura, but not entirely.

Marinette is chased by Stormy Weather and Lady Wifi. We'll find out in a bit that this is all part of Nathanaël's fantasy, but even as a fantasy it doesn't make a lot of sense. What the hell would they want with Marinette of all people? I mean, I'd understand if they were after Chloé… You know what? Hold that thought.

This episode takes place after Lady Wifi, despite Lady Wifi being the next episode. Both the English and French dubs put that episode before this one, which makes a lot more sense. Then again, it's also entirely possible that Nathanaël can predict the future, so what do I know?

"Super Nathan"? Yyyyeah. Really sapped out all the coolness factor with that name there, Nathanaël.

Nathanaël is named after the show's art director Nathanaël Bronn, who he bears a rather striking resemblance to.

Nathanaël is failing Science. Noted. Then again, this could just be Mendeleiev exaggerating. That'd be hilarious, honestly. Imagine if it turned out Nathanaël was one of the better students and Mendeleiev just has insanely high standards.

French Mendeleiev says that he's not going to improve his Physics grade like this, which is slightly better? Kinda?

French Mendeleiev uses the formal "you" with Nathanaël. Kinda weird for a teacher this crabby, especially since she's also calling him by his first name, but… w/e. It is what it is. Okay, to explain for those who might not know, French has what's called a T-V distinction. This means it distinguishes between formal and informal speech, using the 2nd person plural ("vous") in formal situations, and the singular ("tu") everywhere else. English actually used to have this too in the form of "you" and "thou" respectively, but thou was lost in most dialects, only surviving in parts of northern England and in Scotland.

The logo on Nathanaël's shirt is meant to vaguely resemble the logo of the French progressive rock band Magma, which both Nathanaël Bronn and Thomas Astruc are huge fans of. If you're into ambitious concept albums and weird time signatures, then by all means give it a shot, but I personally can't get into it. Their whole deal strikes me as extremely pretentious. Even the constructed language most songs are sung in, Kobaïan, isn't as alien as they'd like it to be; seriously, it's just Hungarian but a little to the left. Just look at a word like "Ëmëhntëhtt-ré". I rest my case. Honestly, Eths strikes me as being much more up Nathanaël's alley.

Mendeleiev just… casually lifts Nathanaël into the air. Either he weighs next to nothing, or she's the Hulk. I'm going with the second one. Mendeleiev be like "Do you even lift, bro?".

"Draw him into our evil web." Motherfucker, you're a moth, not a spider. Also, he missed the opportunity to say "Fly to him, my evil akuma, and draw him into our evil web." You know, just so you know he's evil. Also also, dat delivery. Can we take that again, Antoine?

French Nathanaël also uses the formal you with Hawk Moth. What is up with everyone being super formal this episode?

Not even two minutes in and Nathanaël is already getting akumatized. I haven't timed them all, but I think out of all the characters who were akumatized on screen, Nathanaël's akumatization actually holds the record for being the earliest one relative to episode runtime.

Chloé's French voice is grating as all hell. It's like Marie Chevalot can't decide whether she's going for evil witch or spoiled five year old, so she's doing both at the same time. Then again, Chloé isn't very well cast in any language except English and maybe Hebrew. She had a lot going for her, but I don't think she'd be the fan favorite she is without Selah Victor's performance. Someone give that woman a treatment for hernia; she carried Chloé's character on her back.

This is a group presentation, not pairs. Deal with it!" Mrs. Mendeleiev is based. ("Based? Based on what?" — Mendeleiev, probably.)

This moment led some people to hold up Mrs. Mendeleiev as "the good teacher" as opposed to Ms. Bustier (we'll get to that), ignoring the fact that she casually announced to the entire class that a kid was failing. [… btw, as I was going through my notes I read that as "announced to the class that an entire kid is failing". I need to pay closer attention when I read.]

That blue eyeshadow is horrendous. Brown would have gone way better with those cold blue eyes and really made them pop. Someone edit that for me, please.

Also, I can't get over how dated Chloé's look is. Electric blue eyeshadow is a very 80s thing; you can see it in the music video for ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All". Astruc and Bronn are showing their age here.

Chloé and Sabrina have known each other since elementary school. Noted.

Marinette, I love you, but offering help no one asked for and butting into situations you know nothing about is a really bad idea.

"Because without me, she has nothing." French Chloé says "Because without me, she is nothing." Yeesh.

I love how one of the richest girls in Paris gets her hair done by her butler rather than a professional hairdresser. Then again, it might also be that this Jean-Claude and Jean-Something aren't the same person, but I highly doubt that.

"I got wind that you were being blown away by a hairy situation." Three in a row, really?

"Fewer puns, more action!" Took the words out of my mouth, Ladybubs. In French, Ladybug says "Help me instead of making jokes!", which is even more blatant.

"I dunno, but he sure has a way of illustrating his point." Heh.

Oh, lighten up, Marinette. That pun was brilliant. French Marinette doesn't react to the joke at all, which I guess is slightly better.

Chloé is so oblivious she can't even tell when Marinette is being sarcastic.

"I'm just a little camera shy." French Ladybug says "I'm a bit allergic to selfies." Hilarious.

I like how Chloé scribbled all over Marinette's face, but not Nathanaël's. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she's a bit jealous.

"It's hard to keep my cool. Especially in school." Shut up! The rhyme is a bit better in French, where Marinette says something to the effect of "It's hard to keep my cool. Like when she said to Sabrina—" (" C'ést dur de garder mon sang froid. Comme quand elle a dit au Sabrina—"), which also connects better to the next line about Sabrina and the project.

That is a lot of missed calls. You know, I'm starting to think only Chloé is friends with Sabrina because Sabrina is exhausting.

"'Cause Chloé is cruel and selfish!" I mean... not that he's wrong or anything, but I can count on one hand the amount of times that these two have interacted in five seasons, and what she did this episode was mild compared to Mendeleiev repeatedly insulting him in front of the entire class.

Nathanaël does have the tendency to easily fly off the handle (more on that when we get to Reverser), but all this vitriol feels very pastede on yay, even for him. Then again, a lot of things about this episode don't really make sense when it comes to Nathanaël, like the fact that he likes Marinette to begin with. We're talking about Mr. Trust Issues and the queen of going behind people's backs—if his characterization made sense at all, Nathanaël would want nothing to do with Marinette. Heck, we actually see this later on; their only other interaction this season is him getting mad when Marinette accidentally accuses him of theft, and in Reverser he, apropos of nothing, assumes Marinette is making fun of him.

Can't believe it's taken watching this episode in French for me to notice the freaking record scratch noise. Then again, the record scratch is way more appropriate in French. English Nathanaël sounds shy and awkward, like a normal schoolboy with a crush, while French Nathanaël is a tad overenthusiastic. I mean, just look at this change in dialogue: English Nathanaël: (shyly) You? You're Marinette! You're beautiful and sweet and perfect and I could never hurt you. French Nathanaël: (enthusiastically) You? You're Marinette! You're so sweet, so pretty, so perfect!

The French line also rhymes ("Toi? T'es Marinette! T'es si douce, si jolie, si parfaite!") What is up with everybody rhyming this episode?

I really like Nathanaël's English voice. Michael Sinterniklaas is very pleasant to listen to.

The same, however, cannot be said for Nathanaël's French VA, Frank Tordjman. Honestly, since Sinterniklaas is French, part of me kind of wants to hear his take on French Nathanaël's dialogue, just to see what it'd sound like. (Also, yeah, Nathanaël's English VA is actually French. And Dutch. You now have that cursed knowledge.)

Yeah, a party for two. Just say you wanted to ask her out on a date, you insufferable little shit. Seriously, I have no idea why the writers had him say it's his birthday and that he's inviting her to his party. It doesn't affect anything, it doesn't help pin the episode down in the timeline, and it doesn't even do anything for Nathanaël's character except maybe making the viewer feel a tiny bit worse for him. It's a completely useless detail.

That said, when do you think Nathanaël's birthday is? He gives me Taurus vibes, so I'm gonna chuck a dart at a calendar and go with May 14th.

He could've at least fixed the window.

"Sabrina's so selfish…" Oh, shut up and taste your own medicine. Then again, I love the fact that Chloé actually tries to work on the project, if only for a few seconds before completely giving up. If she were as much of a brat as later seasons would have you believe, the idea would have never even entered her head.

"This cat's got particle physics in the bag." In French, Cat Noir says Physics is his favorite subject. If you were wondering why a lot of S1-era fanfic has Adrien studying physics later in life, now you know.

"Really cute, isn't she?" Marinette complements herself to Cat Noir. I love her, your honor.

Sabrina turns on both Chloé and Marinette on a dime. She's also very quick to flip out at Marinette, and I think the only reason she doesn't do this with Chloé is because she knows Chloé would smack her into the next week.

"I can't believe I did your geography homework for you." In French, Sabrina says, "And to think I worked all evening on your geography homework.", which. I'm pretty sure this episode takes place all in the same day. What are you talking about, Sabrina? Did I miss a scene?

The flexing would be a lot more impressive if he wasn't built like a twig.

"That birthday boy date of yours is bad news." How do you know it's his birthday? I'm guessing Adrien is a lot closer with Nathanaël than Marinette is.

Speaking of which, Polish Cat Noir calls Evillustrator by name. I… How do you know his name, Adrien??? Polish Adrien is straight-up psychic, geez.

French Cat Noir says "I'm your knight for tonight's ball, Princess." If you were wondering why a lot of MariCat fic has him calling her "princess", well, now you know.

An artist and a musician? Why do we need Luka, again? I kid, I kid.

Also, the fact that Nathanaël can write sheet music means he can play an instrument, so what do you think it is? I'm going with violin. Like drawing, it requires a lot of dexterity.

Yes, Adrien, don't do anything. Just sit there like a block of moldy cheese and let the guy monologue.

But you're really just like Chloé—teasing me, mocking me, leading me on!" Look, I know what the writers were going for here, that Marinette leading him on is just like Chloé messing with him (and indeed, French Nathanaël says something more along the lines of "You're just like Chloé, mocking me, laughing at me! You betrayed me!"). However, the way this sentence is phrased and those two pieces of information are stuck together ends up implying that Chloé strung Nathanaël along at some point. The double meaning of the word "tease" doesn't help, either. I don't know if the English translator did this on purpose, but I bloody hope they did. Then again, this might not even be on the translator. We'll get into this more in Animan, but the final French dub is not the original French script, it's an adaptation of the English script. Not only that, but the writers have a level of control over the English dub—"evilize" was apparently Astruc's idea. So, for all we know, this might actually be on Choquet, and knowing that his favorite character is Chloé, I wouldn't put it past him. His favorite episode is also the Heroes' Day two-parter, so we know exactly which version of Chloé he prefers.

"Seriously?! Why is everybody comparing me to Chloé tonight?" Oh my god, thank you, Marinette! No, really, why are people comparing her to Chloé this episode? Now, I'm not saying these two aren't similar, because they definitely are. They both have self-worth issues the size of France (albeit in different ways and for very different reasons), they both have trouble seeing from other people's points of view and are thus capable of stunning disregard of those around them, they can both be petty as hell, and they both project their idea of the "perfect relationship" onto Adrien, trying to mould him into what they thing is their ideal boyfriend instead of just treating him like a person. Problem is, this episode isn't trying to make a point about any of those similarities. It's just: say Marinette is like Chloé, refuse to elaborate, exit stage right. If that's how you're going to do it, why even bother?

Also, at least in Sabrina's case we knew she's Chloé's best friend. This is being said by a guy whose relationship to Chloé we know literally fuck all about. We know that he thinks she's "cruel and selfish" for some unspecified reason, but we never learn what that reason is.

"Great thinking!" No it isn't; you're just dumb. Both the show and the fandom make a big deal out of Marinette being smart, but she's not; she's a semi-normal person in a world where everyone has the IQ of a banana. Y'all really have no right to complain about Lila.

Then again, writing smart characters is super hard, so I'm not surprised that the writers didn't bother and just dumbed down everyone else instead.

The way the light reflects off of Chloé's blazer makes it look plastic-y, like it's made out of a piece of linoleum.

Fuck me, is Nathanaël ruthless. Dude is like a cat toying with his prey.

Chloé also uses the formal "you" with Evillustrator. It's basically the equivalent of calling him "sir" in English, which is really weird for someone this irreverent and especially considering she's calling him a monster in the same breath. Chloékins, there's a time and place for roleplay. This isn't one of them.

Speaking of which, time to take that pin out: Nathanaël doesn't read like a bully victim. He reads more like a jilted ex. Think about it, the dude has no reason to care what Chloé thinks of him or to be hurt by her nonsense (no readily apparent reason, at least), so his reaction to her should be similar to that of the rest of his classmates, a kind of annoyance, frustration, and semi-confusion. Something like, "Girl, what's your damage? Do you seriously have nothing else to do with your time besides bothering me? What did I even do to you? Get a life!" Instead, he's out there acting like Chloé killed his cat. Nobody gets this pressed if they don't care in some way. Yes, I know he's akumatized and his anger is at an all-time high, but he's still the same person. Akumatization can only amplify what is already there; it can't give someone a completely new personality. Unless we're meant to believe Nathanaël is so unbelievably fragile that the least trustworthy person in the room making fun of him is enough to send him into a tailspin, his anger is deeply intimate and personal. This is not helped at all by the weird mix of playfulness and sadism in the way he toys with Chloé. Nor by Mike Sinterniklaas' line delivery—seriously, listen to him without looking at the screen and tell me he doesn't talk like an abusive boyfriend getting revenge on his girl for breaking up with him. Not only that, but both here and in Reverser, he gets super mad when he thinks people are toying with his feelings and taking advantage of his trust—when he thinks the person he's opened his heart to is taking him for a fool. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together.

This does raise the quesion of what the hell is it about Chloé that Nathanaël would find attractive, but I'll hold off on answering that until we get to Reverser. I promise it'll be interesting.

"Cat Noir! He can't draw in the dark!" Yell a little louder, why don't you?

"Sadly, those who get in my way get erased." I freaking love this line.

This sequence is completely ruined in the French dub, where Nathanaël uses baby talk and Frank Tordjman does this derpy, sing-songy delivery that kills any and all intimidation factor Evillustrator might have. But yeah, guys, the French dub totally sounds more mature than the English dub. Totally. Yes, I'm being petty, why do you ask?

Both Cat Noir and Nathanaël call Marinette "little lady". (This doesn't happen in the French dub, btw. Boo!)

"Once I have them all in my grasp, I shall rule the world!" As we're going to find out later, that's not actually his motivation, which makes this line really weird in hindsight. French Hawk Moth says "I'll have absolute power", which is slightly better, I guess?

Mind if I pat your shoulder again? No? Good. — Adrien, probably.

"Girl, you have got to get better control of your emotions." Tikki's starting to sound like Alya. I guess Marinette has that effect on people. In French, Tikki says: "Marinette, when will you learn to control your emotions?", which sounds a lot more like her.

Thank you for your patience, Bad Bird fans. I had this idea that Mayuri’s hidden layer is in the Paris catacombs, with sentimonsters guarding her labyrinth of an evil layer.

Bonus: some sentimonsters

I mean of course Chloe ain't no saint here since she did reveal he had a crush on Marinette, but Mendeleiev literally yelled at him in front of the entire class for drawing and further humiliates him by telling the entire class he's failing science before demanding he goes to the principal's office over drawing in her class.

AKUMA 018 September 15, 2015 | Tuesday THREAT LEVEL 7

Nathaniel Kurtzberg, a student of Collège Françoise Dupont, was akumatized because he was made fun of for having a crush on a classmate. The Evillustrator was first seen in the courtyard of the school, tormenting his bully with a gigantic hair dryer.

The Evillustrator has a screen strapped onto his forearm and is able to materialize his drawings. As long as there is light, then he will be able to draw. He can also erase existing items by erasing the illustration of them from his tablet.

Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived at the Collège Françoise Dupont courtyard shortly after the appearance of The Evillustrator.

It was reported that Ladybug and Chat Noir staked out at Le Grand Paris, specifically Chloé Bourgeois's room because she was the one who had "made fun" of Nathaniel. It was then revealed that Chloé did not make fun of Nathaniel (see interview 1).

It was also reported that The Evillustrator asked out his crush, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, on a date. Marinette then revealed that she had worked together with Chat Noir to capture The Evillustrator's akuma (see interview 2). Marinette had also confirmed that Ladybug was not at the scene because she had some personal matter to tend to at the time.

AKUMA REPORT