Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Also known as	Miraculous Miraculous Ladybug
Genre	Action[1] Magical girl[2]
Created by	Thomas Astruc
Written by	Thomas Astruc Sébastien Thibaudeau
Directed by	Thomas Astruc Christelle Abgrall (season 2)[3] Wilifried Pain (season 2)[3] Jun Violet (season 2)[3]
Voices of	English: Cristina Vee Bryce Papenbrook Keith Silverstein Mela Lee Max Mittelman Carrie Keranen French: Anouck Hautbois Benjamin Bollen Fanny Bloc Antoine Tomé Marie Nonnenmacher Thierry Kazazian
Theme music composer	Jeremy Zag and Noam Kaniel; Lyrics by Alain Garcia
Opening theme	"Miraculous!", performed by Brittnee Belt and Cash Callaway, "It's Ladybug!", performed by Wendy Child and Cash Callaway
Ending theme	"It's Ladybug!" (instrumental)
Composer(s)	Jeremy Zag Noam Kaniel Alain Garcia
Country of origin	France
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26 + special (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jared Wolfson Pascal Boutboul Sébastien Thibaudeau Alexandre Lippens Christophe Guignement Jean-Yves Patay Cédric Pilot For Toei Animation: Hiroyuki Kinoshita Ryuji Kochi Pierre Belletante For SAMG Animation: Suhoon Kim
Producer(s)	Jeremy Zag Aton Soumache Jacqueline Tordjman (associate) Maurice Marciano (associate)
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Zagtoon Method Animation Toei Animation SAMG Animation AB Droits Audiovisuels SK Broadband De Agostini Editore
Distributor	AB International Distribution PGS Entertainment[1] Method Animation - Zagtoon SAMG Animation (South Korea)
Release
Original network	TF1 (France) EBS1 (South Korea)
First shown in	South Korea
Original release	1 September 2015 (2015-09-01) – present (present)
External links
www.miraculousladybug.com
www.pgsentertainment.com/property/11/miraculous/

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir^[4][5] (French: Miraculous, les aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir; also known as Miraculous Ladybug^[1][6][7] or Miraculous^[8][9]) is a French CGI action/adventure animated series produced by Zagtoon and Method Animation in collaboration with Toei Animation in Japan, SAMG Animation in South Korea, and De Agostini Editore in Italy.^[1] The series features two Parisian teenagers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, who transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively, to protect the city from supervillains.

Prior to its debut in France on 19 October 2015 on TF1,^[10] the series was first shown in South Korea on 1 September 2015 on EBS1.^[11] In the United States, the series debuted on Nickelodeon on 6 December. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the show premiered on 30 January 2016 on Disney Channel.^[12] On 20 November 2015, producer Jeremy Zag announced that a second and third season were in progress.^[13] On 20 December 2016, Zag announced that Netflix had acquired the U.S. video-on-demand streaming rights to Miraculous for seasons 1-3, including the English premiere of the Christmas Special, and a planned launch of Season 2 in 2017.

Plot

Set in modern-day Paris, the series focuses on teenagers^{[14][15][lower-alpha 1]} Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste.^[17] When evil arises, Marinette transforms into her secret superhero persona Ladybug, while Adrien transforms into his superhero persona Cat Noir, using powerful objects known as the Miraculous. Oblivious to each other's true identities, the two work together to protect Paris from the mysterious villain Hawk Moth, who covets and attempts to steal their powers by using his akuma, butterflies infused with black energy, to transform everyday citizens into supervillains.^[14][18]

Production

Conception and creation

The series is based on an original concept created by French animator Thomas Astruc,^[19] who was inspired by a meeting with a certain lady, Japanese anime, and "decades of comics binge reading".^[20] In an interview with Nolife, Astruc said he was working as an animator on the show W.I.T.C.H. when he met a woman who had a T-shirt with a ladybug on it. They began to share drawings, some of which were ladybug-themed. Astruc also noted that Marinette's hair was styled after the woman. They also worked on the cartoon A.T.O.M. around 2004–05. Astruc first drew Ladybug on sticky notes and remarked how strong the Ladybug character was, but despite this, he had no memory of seeing any ladybug-themed superheroes in comics.^[21]

Astruc had intended to make Ladybug a comic book series until he met Jeremy Zag, who loved the project and wanted to produce it as a cartoon; Zag was 25 at the time and not originally from the cartoon industry.^[21] In developing Cat Noir, Astruc said that ladybugs represented good luck, so it was natural to partner her with a black cat character with bad luck powers. Cat Noir was a tribute to comics characters like Catwoman, so it was like having Catwoman and Spider-Man in the same show but reversed.^[21] In 2010, the show was announced at Cannes' MIPCOM with French production groups Univergroup Pictures and Onyx Films heading the project and working with Method Animation and Zagtoon. Aton Soumache of Onyx and Method^[22] said that they want "to create a glamourous superhero character with a real European flair with Paris as [the] backdrop." The producers had also planned to animate it in stereoscopic 3D.^[19]

A character named Félix was originally going to have the role of Cat Noir,^[23] but he was later scrapped in favor of Adrien because the creative team felt that Félix was a cliché of a male anime protagonist, and that Adrien would allow them to tell more interesting stories.^[24][25] In September 2015, Astruc indicated that he was open to revisiting the character of Félix,^[26] but abandoned it by February 2016, writing that the character was a poor idea.^[27]

In June 2012, Toei Animation in Japan was announced as a co-producer.^[22] Toei Animation had released a Pretty Cure film that was set in Paris, and was interested in expanding their international audience.^[21] Even after the production was moved to CGI animation, Toei remained as co-producer, with executive producers from the company being credited.

On 21 November 2012, a memorandum of understanding between Zagtoon, Method Animation, SAMG Animation and SK Broadband was announced: together, the companies would invest $50 million USD through 2017 into five projects. The first of these projects developed into Miraculous, which received an investment of $10 million. As a part of the deal, SK Broadband would have exclusive rights in South Korea for video on demand release, available to the subscribers of the company's IPTV platform B TV.^[28][29]

Animation

When Toei Animation joined as a co-producer in June 2012, it was also announced that the show would be drawn in a colourful manga-like style.^[22] Later in September, Toei released a traditionally-animated promotional video for Ladybug.^[6][7] The video featured Marinette as Ladybug and a (now-scrapped) different character named Félix as Cat Noir.^[23]

The anime concept was successful; however, there were concerns about the marketability of traditional 2D, and the difficulty in animating Ladybug's costume of red with black spots, as it caused some strobing effects.^[21] Executive producer Jared Wolfson said that Zag wanted the animation to be cinematic and epic, unique and different, and said that they are continuing to partner with Toei as it brings in the Asian inspiration and that a 2D version might be a potential product.^[30]

The aforementioned problem with 2D animation was resolved by moving to CGI animation; the switch also allowed for easier implementation of mobile camera angles.^[21] SAMG Animation, a CGI animation studio located in South Korea which officially joined in the production in November 2012,^[28][29] produced modeling and animation.^[31] Astruc and assistant director Wilfried Pain instructed the animators not to improvise scenes so that they could keep things consistent and understandable.^[21] Pain estimated about 350-400 shots are used in a typical 20-minute episode; with 10 panels per shot, that makes up to 4000 panels an episode.^[21] Wolfson said that the show's animation brings dynamic camera angles and texturing.^[30] A trailer with the new CGI-animated style was released in October 2013.^[32]

Themes, writing and process

The concept for the show originally dealt with political themes, geared towards teens and young adults. However, after failing to gain traction with networks, it was retooled for a younger target audience.^[33]:40 Astruc said that he is delighted that the show is able to reach younger and older people.^[21]

Each episode takes around 3 months to write, from scratch to final validation of broadcasters.^[34] Assistant director Wilfried Pain said that each episode is composed of two parts: a sitcom aspect where the characters have to speak for themselves, and an action element where the camera is always moving.^[21]

The music was done by Noam Kaniel, who had also worked on Power Rangers.^[30][35] The theme song was written by Kaniel and Zag. The English lyrics were done by Alain Garcia and performed by Wendy Child and Cash Callaway.^[36][37]

Characters

• Marinette Dupain-Cheng a.k.a. Ladybug (voiced by Cristina Vee in English version,^[38][39] Anouck Hautbois in French version) is an aspiring fashion designer at Collège Françoise-Dupont. Marinette is sweet, joyful, and a bit awkward, but respected by her peers. She has a big crush on Adrien, whom she can barely speak to out of nervousness and embarrassment; her best friend Alya is often seen trying to help Marinette declare her love to him, although it ends in disaster. As the secretly chosen keeper of the Ladybug Miraculous, she can transform into the superheroine "Ladybug" with the help of her Kwami, Tikki, to defend Paris with her crime-fighting partner Cat Noir. Her special superpower, Lucky Charm, creates an object and allows her to identify other key objects that she can use with the created object to defeat the villains.^[40] Among the superheroes that use Miraculous, she is responsible for capturing and purifying the akuma butterflies. As Ladybug, she brushes off Cat Noir's advances, unaware that Cat Noir's alter-ego is the object of her own affections. Astruc describes Ladybug as a positive character who brings happiness, like a candy, and like Amélie Poulain crossed with Spider-Man.^[21] Her transformation call is "Tikki, Spots On!" (French: Tikki, transforme-moi !, "Tikki, transform me!")
• Adrien Agreste a.k.a. Cat Noir (voiced by Bryce Papenbrook in English version,^[38][39] Benjamin Bollen in French version) is Marinette's classmate and a popular fashion model for his father's clothing company. As the secretly chosen keeper of the Black Cat Miraculous, he transforms into the superhero "Cat Noir" (French: Chat Noir, "black cat") with the help of his Kwami, Plagg, to assist Ladybug in saving Paris. Adrien is kind and well-liked, and hangs out often with his best friend Nino. Though his family is wealthy, he laments his poor relationship with his stern father, Gabriel; his mother, meanwhile, has disappeared.^{[lower-alpha 2]} He is in love with Ladybug, despite not knowing her true identity, and tries to impress her, although he makes bad jokes and cat-themed puns as Cat Noir, which frequently annoy her. His special ability, Cataclysm, allows him to destroy an object that he touches with a swipe of his paw.^{[40][lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4]} His transformation call is "Plagg, Claws Out!" (French: Plagg, transforme-moi !, "Plagg, transform me!")
• Hawk Moth (French: le Papillon, lit. "the butterfly"; voiced by Keith Silverstein in English version,^[38][41] Antoine Tomé in French version^[42]) is a mysterious villain who has the power to create new super-villains with his akuma, which are butterflies that he corrupts with his dark power. He preys on people who are at a point of weakness and appeals to their negative emotions, such as fear, sadness, anger or jealousy. In exchange for granting them powers to exact revenge on those who have wronged them, he asks his villains to steal Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses for him, so that he may use both to gain immense power. He possesses the Moth Miraculous. Long believed to be lost, its original purpose is to create superheroes, but because Hawk Moth has it, he is able to use both Miraculous and its Kwami Nooroo as the source of his power.
• Tikki (voiced by Mela Lee in English version,^[38] Marie Nonnenmacher in French version^[43]) is Marinette's Kwami who allows her to transform into Ladybug. Tikki is a small floating magical humanoid with a large head, big eyes, and a red body with large black spots on her head, resembling a ladybug. She believes strongly in Marinette and gives her advice to be the best she can be, regardless of transformation.^[40] When asked by Marinette whether she is over 5000 years old, Tikki replies that she is older than that, and had watched over every Ladybug since the beginning.^{[lower-alpha 5]} During her charge's transformation as Ladybug, she inhabits the Ladybug Miraculous, a pair of shiny black earrings that Marinette wears. One of the two strongest of the Miraculouses, it has the power of creation. Astruc has written on Twitter that Tikki means "happiness".^[44]
• Plagg (voiced by Max Mittelman in English version,^[38] Thierry Kazazian in French version) is Adrien's Kwami who enables him to transform into Cat Noir. Plagg looks much like Tikki, but with a black body, green eyes and pointed ears, resembling a black cat. Unlike Tikki, however, Plagg is sarcastic and lazy. His favorite food is camembert, a stinky cheese.^[40] During his charge's transformation as Cat Noir, he inhabits the Black Cat Miraculous, a large silver ring that Adrien wears on his right hand. One of the two strongest of the Miraculouses, it has the power of destruction. Astruc has written on Twitter that Plagg means "plague".^[44]
• Alya Césaire (voiced by Carrie Keranen in English version,^[38][45] Fanny Bloc in French version) is Marinette's best friend who typically wears a plaid shirt and black glasses. She constantly helps Marinette with her problems, most of which pertain to Marinette attempting, and failing, to speak to Adrien; she is often seen encouraging and helping her to talk to him. She aspires to be a journalist and is in charge of the school blog. She is a big fan of superheroes and like her peers, is a massive fan of Ladybug; she even operates a fansite known as the Ladyblog, but like everyone else, is unaware of Marinette's superhero identity.^[40] In the episode "Lady Wifi", she is influenced by Hawk Moth and becomes the supervillain Lady Wifi. Alya's family name is Césaire, her family originally from Martinique, a French overseas territory in the Caribbean. Her mother works as a chef at the Grand Paris hotel.^[46][47]
• Chloé Bourgeois (voiced by Selah Victor in English version,^[48] Marie Chevalot in French version^[49]) is the mayor's daughter and a classmate of Marinette and Adrien. Chloé is extremely mean, snobby, spoiled and thinks the world revolves around her.^[40] She often bullies and ridicules her classmates, resulting in the latter's sadness and despair and becoming a target for Hawk Moth's transforming them into akumatized villains. She has an unrequited crush on Adrien, and often tries to charm and kiss him, much to his discomfort, and resulting in a constant rivalry with Marinette for his affections. Like the other students, she has no knowledge of Ladybug's identity, and is a big fan of Ladybug,^[40] often trying to take pictures with her; she even has a Ladybug costume. In the episode "Antibug", she herself is influenced by Hawk Moth and becomes the supervillain Antibug, who wants revenge on Ladybug for pushing her aside. In the episode "Ladybug & Cat Noir - Origins, Part 1", it is revealed that she has been classmates with Marinette for 4 consecutive years.^{[lower-alpha 6]}
• Nino Lahiffe^[50][47] (voiced by Benjamin Diskin in English version, Alexandre Nguyen in French version^[51]) is Adrien's best friend who dresses in skate punk fashion, typically seen with headphones around his neck and a cap on his head. He DJs at the school's radio station.^[40] Nino is fond of Marinette, but ultimately discovers that he has more in common with Alya.^{[lower-alpha 7]} In the episode "The Bubbler", he is influenced by Hawk Moth and becomes the supervillain the Bubbler. When asked about Alya and Nino's ethnicity, Astruc wrote on Twitter that one of them was from Réunion, and later wrote that Alya was from Martinique.^[46]
• Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng are Marinette's parents who operate the renowned bakery that the family lives above. Tom is a burly French man who is very passionate about his baking and loves to play video games with his daughter. Sabine is a petite Chinese woman who runs the storefront, and is known for her love and warmth towards her family and her city.
• Sabrina Raincomprix^[47] is Chloé's only friend and her assistant. Chloé often treats Sabrina as her lackey: Sabrina does Chloé's homework for her and runs her errands, and in return, Chloé charms her with expensive, fashionable clothing. She has orange hair and wears glasses. In the episode "Antibug", Sabrina is angry at Chloé for ignoring her, and becomes influenced by Hawk Moth, turning into the Vanisher supervillain who is invisible to the human eye. Astruc wrote on Twitter that Chloé, Sabrina and another classmate named Alix were originally intended to become a trio as a reference to the title characters in another French animated series, Totally Spies!.^[52]

Broadcast

Astruc has said that the show has reached over 120 countries.^[21] Disney Channel has had broadcasting rights in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, having to do with participation from The Walt Disney Company France: specifically, it acquired cable and satellite television rights in Europe, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and free-to-air rights in Spain, Germany, Russia and Turkey.^[1][53]

South Korea was the first country to premiere Ladybug, with girl group Fiestar to sing its translated theme song. It aired on 1 September 2015 on EBS1,^[11] and ran for 13 episodes until November 2015, with repeats through February 2016, and its second half of the season airing from 1 March 2016. SK Broadband, having participated in the production, provided the episodes on video on demand exclusively to subscribers of their IPTV platform B TV, about a half-hour following the South Korean broadcast of each one on EBS1.^[28][54] Disney Channel in South Korea has also aired the series as of 7 December 2015.^[55]

In France, the series premiered on 19 October 2015 on the Tfou programming block on TF1.^[10] In Canada, the French version of the series was premiered on 9 January 2016 on Télé-Québec, a provincial public service television network in Quebec.^[56]

The series debuted on Nickelodeon in the United States on 6 December 2015.^[57][58][59] Other English-language premieres are as follows: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the show premiered on 30 January 2016 on Disney Channel^[12][60] In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation released the show on its ABC iview streaming service on 1 January 2016,^[53][61] and premiered the show on its linear channel ABC3 on 22 March 2016. In New Zealand, the show premiered on 27 April 2016 on TVNZ's TV2.^[62] In English Canada, the series premiered on Family Channel on 1 November 2016.^[63]

The second season premiere is scheduled for a global launch around September-November 2017,^[64] A third season is also in development.^[65]

Episodes

Reception

Kimberly Cooper, a blog writer who has contributed to news media such as The Huffington Post,^[66] wrote that the show has inspired teens and adults to create and propagate Miraculous remixes, and liked that the show featured multiracial characters as with the film Big Hero 6 which had won an Oscar. She "quickly realized there was a far cooler and broader Miraculous movement underway".^[67] Caitlin Donovan of entertainment website Epicstream listed it as one of her top 10 animated series of 2015. She wrote that "The characters are so charming that the tropey aspects of the show are merely a lot of fun, rather than irritating." with creative fights and good CGI animation. She wrote that "Marinette is an adorable lead who is genuinely awkward as a civilian, but confident as a superhero, which makes for an interesting contrast."^[68] Ella Anders of BSCKids wrote that the show stands out because of "how it meshes both the magical girl and superhero genera together".^[69] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times described the show as "clever, romantic, fun, the way some of us prefer our superhero stories". He found the characters to "have the look of extruded plastic common to CGI cartoons" but that , but "within these limits the design is lovely and the animation elegant, and a lot of work has gone into the staging and execution of the action scenes".^[70]

The North American Precis Syndicate called the show "authentic and aspirational – a story of today's modern everygirl superhero who comes to life. The series, about a young girl who taps into her superhero powers and innocent optimism to save Paris from the evil Hawk Moth, will no doubt inspire today's youth to try to save the day, each and every day in their own way".^[71] Andrea Reiher of Zap2It wrote that the "storylines are rich with family, friends, adventure, intrigue, villains, creativity and more, delivering themes that are relatable and relevant to kids and preteens" and anticipated it would be a huge hit on Nickelodeon.^[72]

Several media reviewers have anticipated Miraculous-brand toys to be among the hot superheroine properties for 2016.^[73][74] Zag has partnered with Bandai to release Miraculous-based toys, as well as deals to make Miraculous-brand clothing and other merchandise.^[1][30]

Works cited

References

External links

• Official website
• Miraculous at TF1 (in French)
• Miraculous at Nick.com
• Miraculous at Disney Channel UK
• Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir on IMDb