by Gabriela Linehan
Miraculous Ladybug is a TV series about a girl named Marinette Dupain-Chang and a boy named Adrien Agreste who are normal teenagers with a secret identity. They were chosen to be heroes of Paris after a villain named Hawkmoth gets a hold of two kwamis. In each episode, Marinette and Adrien go about their normal lives, when a character of the episode is under a negative emotion Hawkmoth akumatizes them. Then they turn into Ladybug and Chat Noir and try to find the akumatized object and destroy it. Sometimes when they have a struggle they use their powers or call on a friend. People watch it for many reasons including, the love square, the stupidity, and the diversity.
The first reason people watch it is because of the love square. Now you may be wondering what a love square is. In the beginning, Marinette falls for Adrien, who turns out to be Chat Noir, who falls for Ladybug, who is Marinette. So there are other love interests but it always leads back to the two of them and neither of them knows that they are in love with each other. Ergo, “She’s just a friend,” said Adrien about Marinette. “We can’t know anything about each other. Our identities must remain a secret, we’re both superheroes Chat Noir, we don’t have a choice,” said Ladybug to Chat Noir. People watch it for this reason because it’s humorous that they don’t know it’s each other. This leads us to our second reason.
The second reason people watch it is for the stupidity of the show. Like all hero movies and tv shows, they disappear at the most convenient times, and no one has any suspicion about it. That is only part of it. When Ladybug and Chat Noir leaves to change into superheroes the places are very out in the open. Behind a bench, in an alleyway, etc. The other weird part is that neither of the superheroes can know about each other’s identity, which is a little smart and a little bit dumb. The kwamis know the identity of each other’s owners, so why can’t the actual people know each other? Also, how has Hawkmoth not figured out the identities of the heroes since he’s literally overlooking the whole city of Paris.
It’s obvious that there is diversity because they live in Paris, the city of love. From skin color and ethnicity to love. One of the main characters, Marinette is part Asian. Her best friend Alya is Martiniquan Creole-French. Adrien is white. His best friend is Moroccan-French. Then we can’t forget about the love. Even though it is never actually stated that they’re in love, it is clear that Rose and Juleka have some chemistry. They’re always together and worrying about each other, and even though that’s what friends do, people tend to put two and two together.
You should watch Miraculous ladybug because of the love square, its stupidity, and the diversity. “But it’s a kid’s cartoon,” some people might say, but there is so much more when you get into it. Normalize watching younger kids’ tv shows.
