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new-kit-on-the-block · 4 months

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Miraculous - The watered-down significance of akumatization

(This is an analysis, but it's also a sort of rant. So there's a lot of text underneath the cut. Just a fair warning.)

I have a problem with the way that the latter seasons of Miraculous handle akumatization.

There's a pretty basic rule of thumb when it comes to writing the bigger moments of your story:

If something is a big deal, let it be a big deal.

Seasons 4 and 5 don't always do that.

Let's take a look at what I mean.

These are screenshots of the three separate occasions that characters have broken out of akumatization in seasons 4 and 5.

Take note of who these characters are and their importance (or lack thereof) to the overall plot.

On the one hand, you have Alya and Nino, the two main characters' respective best friends. It's only natural in a show like this for these two to be strong enough to break out of akumatization, it makes the main characters look like they definitely chose their friends right.

And then you have Alix's Redditor conspiracy-theorist older brother.

Why is he one of the big three who managed such a significant feat like this?

It's not like he's been shown to be particularly strong-willed. In fact, one could argue that he's even less so than most other characters due to how much further he fell into the rabbit hole of Lila's manipulation than anyone else.

His gullibility and irrationality are the entire reason he gets akumatized in the first place.

And he doesn't ever play a significant role after this, either. The only other time that he even had so much as a speaking role was the other time he got akumatized way back in season 1 for not being allowed to sacrifice someone to the Egyptian gods.

Now, these aren't the first times that people have fought back against Hawkmoth while being akumatized. But they are the first times that they've successfully broken out.

Pixelator questioned Hawkmoth's authority over him, and in response, Hawkmoth did something with his hand that started causing physical pain to Pixelator, reinstating his control over his akuma.

The only other time an akuma victim fought back was Robustus, which was a special case because he rebelled against Hawkmoth by using the specific abilities that were granted to him.

Neither of them even tried to escape akumatization.

Akumatization has always been set up as something powerful. Something that takes the worst parts of you and amplifies them to the point of no longer being capable of rational thought.

We never end up questioning why people don't try to resist akumatization if they know that they might end up hurting people. We already know the answer. It's because they can't.

Even Ms. Bustier, possibly the character who hated akumatization the most at the time, couldn't avoid becoming akumatized despite her best efforts.

So three separate people breaking free from their akumatization should imply that Gabriel's control over his victims is getting weaker, which would be a very big deal.

But nothing is ever done with that. After Alix's brother, nobody ever broke out of akumatization again. The ability to do so is used as nothing more than a plot device in these few episodes.

Another thing is that, if anything, Gabriel's grasp over his victims' emotional state should be even stronger.

His akumas are canonically more powerful than before, to make the lucky charms that Ladybug hands out stop working against him.

If bigger and more powerful akumas don't make his hold on people even stronger than before, then the entire arc of Ladybug realizing that she can create charms to prevent people from being akumatized more than once, and Hawkmoth's counter-arc of nullifying her efforts by simply creating bigger akumas was all just a complete waste of time.

After Guiltrip, I assumed that they were building up to Rose being able to break out of akumatization through her naturally positive nature alone, and then they would have an arc of her teaching others how to do the same.

Suffice to say, neither of those things happened.

Rose's "inner voice" that she's apparently had in her head this entire time doesn't serve any actual purpose other than to make her worthy of the pig miraculous.

To be clear: I don't have any issues with Rose's invisible illness never being mentioned at any point before Guiltrip. That's the entire point of an invisible illness.

My point is that Rose's ability to break free from negative emotion-based mind control is an extremely important ability that was never even so much as hinted at before or even brought up again any time after Guiltrip.

So, once again, it's just an extremely important one-off ability that doesn't matter and doesn't affect the stakes whatsoever.

These seasons keep throwing moments at us that should be very big deals but are never treated as such.

Now let's compare all of this to an actually good akumatization-related scene.

When Chloe successfully rejected akumatization.

When this happened, it was huge, and it felt like it too.

Not just because of how impressive the feat itself was, but also because of where Chloe was in her character arc.

Chloe was under the impression that Ladybug might never let her be Queen Bee again. Full stop.

She had potentially permanently lost a privilege that really mattered to her, Lila was starting to get inside her head, and she was becoming mean to Sabrina again.

By all accounts, Chloe should've been in the stage of her arc where she started to revert back to her old self. The old Chloe would've accepted Hawkmoth's words without a second thought.

If this was the conventional Zuko-style arc that so many writers try and fail to replicate, this would've been the scene where it seems like she may not actually get redeemed, and would fall back on old patterns of hers. Which is an interesting enough arc on its own.

But we instead have a girl who doesn't have any way of truly knowing better, has no good role models, and is close only to people who enable her worst behaviors. And she chooses to be good.

Her worst fears are starting to come true, nobody seems to have any care or respect for her, and a smarter and more experienced grown man is using all of these negative emotions against her to mind control her. And she still chooses to trust the process and work to gain back Ladybug's trust. Exactly like Ladybug told her to.

The one time she was given really good advice, it stuck with her.

This is the moment that flat-out confirms that Chloe can be redeemed, and actively wants to be better.

Not only did she not get akumatized, she almost made it look easy.

But the show still makes it perfectly clear that this wasn't an easy feat by any means.

She was visibly exhausted and scared after the akuma left, breathing heavily like she almost just drowned.

But the important part is that she did it. She didn't get akumatized. And she is shown to be rightfully proud of this fact.

It's also interesting to note that no other character has ever broken out of akumatization, mid-akumatization.

In the seasons to come, several people would be breaking out of akumatization after they had already been akumatized. But Chloe is the first, and only, person to reject akumatization before it even took hold.

That's how you give a moment like this the emotional weight that it deserves, by letting it stand on its own and not bombarding your audience with the same scene played out by several other characters.

Chloe was the only one to do this, and that shows that she could bring something special to the team if she actually got the chance to be a heroine again. It makes us consider the possibility that her stubborn and argumentative nature might actually end up being a silver lining. She can still be herself while saving people. In her own way.

She can be a hero. She can become a better person. And she doesn't have to change a thing about herself.

It would be a really nice message to send.

Which just makes it all the more disappointing when it doesn't amount to anything.

If the point of her character was that she could've been better, but became worse instead, that would've made for an interesting sort of tragedy.

But that's not what it is. I know that's not what the writers intended because if that were the case, then Ladybug would've probably had some lines about how much potential Chloe had, and how well she was doing before she went back to her old self.

We don't get any of that. What we get instead is the show and characters acting like Chloe was always as bad as she is in seasons 4 and 5.

She never actually liked Adrien. She was never kind to her father or Sabrina. She never wanted to get better.

And that's just not true.

Sorry, the main point of this post was to showcase the difference between important moments that were given the appropriate emotional weight, and those that weren't. But I just went off on a bit of a tangent there.

God. Even when this show gets something right, it gets like ten other things wrong.

Anyway, TDLR: If you want a moment to be significant, let it be significant. Let it make big changes that actually matter. Don't be a coward who's too afraid to change the hierarchy of your story in any kind of way that matters.

If you want a moment to have an impact on your audience, give it time to breathe on its own, and don't repeat it for at least a little while after.

And for God's sake, if an ability is a big deal, then don't let some unimportant side character that no one cares about also have that ability. It just makes it seem like it's not.

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nervousbelieverstarfish · 2 years

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aalissy · 6 months

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Me tryna watch anyyy of the livestreams rn omllll

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #ml #ml spoilers #ml s4 spoilers #miraculous Paris special #miraculous special spoilers #ml special spoilers #literally can’t find a single working livestream oml help

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airi-p4 · 2 years

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I was salty...

#lukanette #Pro LukaMari #airip4 #my art #4koma comic #ml salt #ml crocoduel spoilers #ml s4 spoilers #(((Don't worry- parrot 4 will come. idk when but it surely will!!)))#(((take this one meanwhile :P )))#((((rushed art))))

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xaran-alamas · 10 months

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You know, thinking about it, I think Season 4 of MLB is my favourite so far, and I think a part of that is the team aspect, but also getting to know the Kwamis more.

Which is why I'm pretty optimistic for Season 6

One of my favourite characters joining the cast didn't hurt either.

#ml s5 spoilers #kinda #miraculous ladybug #spoilers #ml s4 spoilers #I <3 Zoé

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blacktiredandnerdy · 2 years

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I always thought it was so stupid that the other miraculous holders couldn’t keep their miraculouses once they got them. Ladybug had to waste time every fight that her and Cat needed backup to go find and distribute miraculouses to the others while leaving Cat to fight alone. She had to waste even more time when she’d have to go to Master Fu to get the miraculouses. She couldn’t even let Cat help distribute the miraculouses because everything had to be kept a secret from Cat for no damn reason. Cat knowing the other miraculous holders’ identities literally had no fucking consequences whatsoever.

The rationale behind not letting the other holders keep their miraculouses never made any fucking sense to begin with. Master Fu didn’t want them to keep them because he didn’t want to risk them falling into Hawkmoth’s hands. Reasonable. But wouldn’t it make more sense to have the miraculouses spread out in different places than to keep them all in the same place? I mean think about it. Hawkmoth would have had to figure out the identities of each miraculous holder and take it from them individually instead of just figuring out the identity of just the guardian and taking all of the miraculouses in one go. I will concede that Hawkmoth did end up finding out the identities of most of the holders anyway, but he also figured out that Master Fu was the guardian so it’s a moot point. Logically speaking though, spreading the miraculouses out was still the better option. The season 4 finale just proves this point. Hawkmoth now has all of the miraculouses (except the ladybug and black cat) because Marinette kept them all in the same place.

Let me be clear though. I do not blame Marinette for this. This is all Master Fu’s fault. Marinette is just abiding by the rules Master Fu set in place. To be honest, most of Ladybug and Cat’s issues are Master Fu’s fault. Ladybug and Cat could’ve had a much stronger friendship and partnership if it wasn’t for Master Fu’s stupid rules. While I can cut the teenagers a lot slack, I refuse to cut Master Fu any slack. Master Fu is too old to not have any common sense or critical thinking skills.

#miraculous ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #ml season four #ml s4 spoilers #ml s4 finale #ml salt #master fu #master fu salt

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jelly-guiro · 2 years

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I loved season 4 season finale's angst. The Ladynoir payoff was great!

Anyway. Here's my redrawing of that frame that I made back when the episode aired and I forgot to post.

#miraculous ladybug #ml s4 spoilers #ladynoir #strike back #doodles #such a quick frame but so meaningful anyways

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fandomrouletteburrito · 2 years

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You know what I think they’re doing in those whatif episodes? Especially the placing of the episodes. Showing what would happen if Adrien faced Hawkmoth when he isn’t ready.

Season 3

During these episodes, Ladybug gets another piece of the complicated puzzle that Chat Noir is made of. In Chat Blanc, she knew something about Chat Noir was capable of being broken enough to be akumatized.

What we also learned was Adrien isn’t ready to break the chains his father has placed on him.

Season 3 for Adrien was about getting truly comfortable with being Chat Noir with realizing that what he can be for Ladybug is to just be himself as Chat Noir. That he doesnt need to be perfect Adrien via Aspik, Adrien is the best for Ladybug when he is Chat Noir, which also as we know is just another side of Adrien. He doesnt need to shut out his Chat Noir side to be by Ladybug’s side by just being Aspik. This is much more reinforced in Kuro Neko which I get to later.

Season 4

At this time in the series Adrien is only beginning to be challenged in his role as part of the Miraculous team in season 4. I say challenged because up until now he could very safely say he is vital to the team since Ladybug was 1) not the Guardian until then 2) there are only a few heroes and Ladybug calls on them ONLY after he and Ladybug attempt to handle things by themselves. This changes in season 4 where she calls on them pretty much whenever she wants and not after first trying with Chat Noir.

Totally unrelated but I really liked that despite Chat Noir giving up his miraculous Ladybug NEVER even considers continuing without a Chat Noir, which to me just states that she understands the importance of the Cat miraculous. Which she also needed to understand to find another one(cough failed since she ended up going back to the original heheh and I love her for it).

In the end of the season 4 though, Chat Noir is left beginning to understand the value that he by himself has, we can see this in the last scene where he tells Ladybug that she hasn’t lost him yet. He is capable of doing this because he KNOWS he is important to Ladybug and that he is enough to bring her back on her feet. Maybe he doesn’t understand fully but I am sure he will in time. Also notice in Ephemeral he faced hawkmoth ALONE, which maybe Im reading too much into it also shows he isn’t ready to resist akumatization by himself BUT we also see him beginning to when Marinette calls to him for help while he is akumatized.

We get Kuro Neko directly after Ephemeral which is important because uptil Ephemeral we see Chat Noir continue to feel left out and undervalued. But in Kuro Neko this is beginning to be addressed which again undoes the feelings that likely helped Adrien get akumatized.

So how does this end?

I bet when Adrien finds out about hawkmoth, there will be a scene where Ladybug parallels that scene telling him that he hasn’t lost her. Where she reaches out and shows him that she is there for HIM.

And how do we get to that scene?

In Chat Blanc we saw Chat Noir use - fight as his reaction

In Ephemeral he used - freeze

I am willing to bet he will use flight, find Ladybug and thats when Ladybug supports him enough to face reality, together with her.

I think whats going to happen when Chat Noir finds out about his dad its going to involve him needing to successfully resist akumatization. I think this is very likely too since we have already seen many characters successfully resist it and I’m sure we will see the same from Adrien in time.

But through each season Adrien gets a little bit more ready to break away from his fathers control and his bond with Ladybug gets stronger.

Thoughts?

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thesaltyoceanwaves · 2 years

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By this point, I think it’s safe to say that Miraculous Ladybug is not about ‘girl power’. Not in the way that’s traditionally meant. Rather than empowering girls, it’s about disempowering them – presenting the idea of girls having any kind of power as problematic.

The series twists itself into knots blaming Marinette for everything that goes wrong, following the most inane lines of ‘logic’ imaginable. It is far more invested in convincing its audience that she IS to blame for things far out of her control, that she is responsible for everything bad that happens. Her, and perhaps a few other characters as well… namely Chloe, Alya, Lila…

Oh, Adrien? Why, Adrien hasn’t done anything wrong. How could you even suggest such a thing? No, no, Adrien is perfect just the way he is, hasn’t made a single misstep anywhere. There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

And what makes this all so much more disturbing is how it’s working. How much of the fanbase mindlessly parrots the party line, cheering on her suffering and insisting that she ’deserves it’, that her misery is well warranted. This is not and has never been a show about uplifting and supporting young girls; it is about tearing them down and punishing them for not catering to spoiled brats like Adrien. Teaching them that this is the way things are meant to be.

What is this going to teach impressionable young girls? If you have a crush on a popular guy that other girls like, they’re are immediately your enemies. It’s natural for girls to be pinned against eachother for the stupidest reasons. Teaching girls to turn against each other and mistreat each other like the common stereotype. That their only good people if they bend over backwards for the person they like even though their crush doesn’t do the same.

It’s disgusting.

Well anon, you've essentially summed up the reason why I quit watching this show.

Like the whole ending of the season being that Marinette loses all of the other miraculouses but still has AdriChat is devastating. Like:

A. AdriChat being solely depended on is not a healthy thing. He's not going to have all the answers MariBug needs, and his perspective is limited.

B. MariBug wasn't going to other holders because she couldn't trust AdriChat - it was because the scale and intensity of their fights was getting to be too much for the two of them to handle on their own.

C. AdriChat has proven that he's not entirely trustworthy anyway - like he was pulling shit all the way back in s1, but his actions in s3 and s4 are the most telling. And unlike MariBug, who always has to learn a lesson, even when it doesn't make sense, or makes up for her mistakes, Adrien's "mistakes" don't even count as mistakes because hE cOuLd NeVeR!

Like most magical girl anime, even the ones that really lean into power of love, aren't like this. They encourage friendship and teamwork and relying on each other, not just your love interest. How ML manages to be MG-inspired but miss that entirely is beyond me.

#ml salt #ml s4 spoilers #ml s4 finale spoilers #adrien salt #writing salt #salty answers #i gave up after s3 bc like #ofc it was only gonna get worse #but ughhhhh

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