Miraculous Ladybug Archives - deus ex magical girl

Television Review: ‘Miraculous Ladybug,’ Season 3, Part 2

Miraculous Ladybug, Season 3, Part 1, directed by Thomas Astruc. Written by Nicky Baker et al. Zagtoon, 2019. Rated TV-Y7. 13 episodes.

It had seemed, after the second season of Miraculous Ladybug made it from France to the United States, that the distributor had worked out the problem with the jumbled episode order. The third season of the show, however, tells us this is not the case: The episodes are crazily out of order here, which is a problem since this third season continues to develop a linear plot. Despite that, this is another strong season overall with only a few flubs. A viewer just needs to be willing to go with the flow, to assume that previously unmentioned plot points or characters will get their introduction at some point.

I earlier wrote about the first half of the third season and think this previous post only needs a slight update now that the third season is available in its entirety.

The beginning of this season’s second half is not encouraging: It’s a recap episode, and like all recap episodes, it’s pretty bad. However, after that and a few other weak episodes, things ramp up.

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Television Review: ‘Miraculous Ladybug,’ Season 3, Part 1

Miraculous Ladybug, Season 3, Part 1, directed by Thomas Astruc. Written by Nicky Baker et al. Zagtoon, 2019. Rated TV-Y7. 13 episodes.

I have previously reviewed the first and second seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, the surprisingly entertaining magical girl show out of France. At the time of writing, the first half of the third season is available on Netflix, with the second half presumably coming soon.

At least so far in this season, the show appears to be trying to revert to the formula that made it popular in the first place: While the second season introduced a slew of new animal-themed superheroes, the first half of season 3 puts the focus back on the two main characters, Marinette and Adrien, who are also the heroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, and their increasingly complicated love triangle.

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Additional Notes on ‘Miraculous Ladybug’

I have previously reviewed both the first and the second seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, the popular magical girl show out of France. A few brief additional comments worth making:

First, I mentioned before that plans for a live-action film were in the works, to be released through Lionsgate. That would arguably have been the first, or maybe just the most prominent, live-action magical girl title from outside Japan. However, the movie has, in spite of the cartoon’s popularity, died in pre-production hell. That is perhaps no great surprise: crowd-pleasing though the cartoon is, the film would probably have struggled to find a sufficiently large audience outside of France.

Second, for whatever reason, Netflix only has the second season available in English, but the first is available in multiple language, so I find myself rewatching the first season in French—which I assume is the original French and not a Netflix re-dub. I have mentioned before that the English voice cast of this show is excellent, and now I am astounded to find that it in fact closely matches the original. The characters for the most part sound largely the same in both languages, though I admit I prefer both Adrien and his kwami Plagg in the English: The French Adrien sounds whiny, and Plagg has a voice that’s surprisingly deep for such a tiny character.

My only real complaint about the French version is with the subtitles, which are a transcription of the English dub rather than a direct translation of the French. My French is admittedly rusty, but even I can tell that the subtitles deviate considerably at times from what the characters are actually saying. I don’t know if this problem is unique to Netflix, or if one would find it on the DVDs as well.

Art by DelianaM

Featured image: “Miraculous” by DelianaM.

Getting Frenched: ‘Miraculous Ladybug,’ Season 2

Miraculous Ladybug (a.k.a. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir). Season 2. Directed by Thomas Astruc. Written by Thomas Astruc, Fred Lenoir, et al. Zagtoon, Method Animation, and Toei Animation, 2017-2018. 26 episodes of 22 minutes (approx. 9.5 hours). Rated TV-Y7.

Available on Netflix.

See my review of the first season.

Although this is a blog about magical girls, I have always made an effort to write it for people who are not magical girl fans. To that end, I have often pondered what would make a good entry-level magical girl title—something funny, fast-paced, action-oriented, and without the saccharine quality that audiences in the West might find off-putting. I have decided that the best entry-level title I know is Miraculous Ladybug, the family-friendly CGI magical girl show out of France, made by Zagtoon in association with Toei Animation, the Japanese company that has historically dominated the magical girl genre.

Also, the show’s director once insulted me on social media, so I have a certain personal affection for his work. I took it in stride, of course: He’s French, so I expected him to be rude.

(Rimshot.)

Anyway, Miraculous Ladybug is lightning in a bottle. I can’t really describe for you how good it is, because it’s one of those shows that seems to be made on a secret formula. It gathers together various shopworn motifs from children’s cartoons, YA fiction, superheroes, and magical girls, puts them together in a blender, and renders the result into mediocre CGI. Yet somehow, it is pure magic. It works on the Casablanca principle: It is good not because it avoids clichés, but because it uses all of them.

And Rose is still best girl.

The first season was so remarkable, I wondered if the show’s creators would be able to pull it off a second time. Not only have they pulled it off, but they’ve stepped up their game. This second season is better than the first and has eliminated some of the first’s biggest problems, both technical and story-related.

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#memes

I’m sorry.

Brief Update (and art by SushiyamaArt)

Featured image: “Miraculous Ladybug” by SushiyamaArt.

I was going to write the review for Made in Abyss this afternoon, but I instead volunteered to put up Christmas decorations at a church, which I thought would take an hour and instead took all day.

This morning, I was making good progress on Jake and the Dynamo, so I’m going to spend my evening going back to that instead of writing a review I wouldn’t get finished tonight anyway.

In other news, I notice the third season of Miraculous Ladybug has got started. I know the first episode has aired, but I’m not quite sure if it’s available in English yet.

I haven’t even seen season 2 yet. I feel like I’m really behind on the shows I want to watch and discuss—but then again, I’m trying to finish a second novel over here, so I can’t watch TV all the time.

By the way, my plan for publication goes like this: I want to get volume 2 of Jake and the Dynamo out, and my plan after that is to put out volume 1 of Rag & Muffin, which needs heavy editing but is entirely drafted. I haven’t thought ahead beyond that. I may or may not also have a short story in an anthology in the near future.

‘Miraculous Ladybug’ Season 2 Official Trailer

The official trailer for the long-awaited second season of the French CGI magical girl series Miraculous has made its appearance just today. It’s a silent montage with accompanying music. Based on what we see here, season 2 will likely follow the pattern of season 1—which would be a good thing, as season 1 was enormously entertaining, if formulaic.

Rumors have been going around for a long while that additional superheroes will appear in the second season: particularly, Internet legend has it that Marinette’s bestie Alya will acquire the fox miraculous and that her enemy Chloé will acquire the bee miraculous. There’s no evidence of such a thing in the trailer; it may be rumor, an early idea that got nixed, or something they’re still planning but decided to leave out of the preview. But the symbols on that little box, suggest, at any rate, that more superheroes should be making an appearance.

#WaifuWednesday

Featuring Rose Lavillant.

Today’s #WaifuWednesday goes out to Rose Lavillant from Miraculous Ladybug.

Rose is in the same class as the protagonists Marinette and Adrien. Blond, blue-eyed, and presumably French, she is known for her sweet temperament. Look at the picture at the top there: does she have a finger pressed against her own eyeball?

I can’t stop staring at the characters’ freaky eyes.

When her classmates were attempting to make a homemade horror movie, Rose was in charge of the catering. Even when a real monster showed up and started devouring them one by one, she was still making sure that everyone had enough to eat.

That’s her in the back with her spread of fruit and juice.

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Drawn Like My French Girls: ‘Miraculous Ladybug’

Les filles magiques de la France sont les meilleures filles magiques, non?

Miraculous Ladybug (a.k.a. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir). Directed by Thomas Astruc. Written by Fred Lenoir, Matthieu Choquet, et al. Zagtoon and Method Animation, France. Toei Animation, Japan. 2015-2016. French (English dub). 26 episodes of 22 minutes (approx. 9.5 hours). Rated TV-Y7.

Available on Netflix.

For over a decade, probably the most successful magical girl title from outside Japan has been the Italian cartoon Winx Club, a dungeon-punkish hot mess that’s like a cross between Harry Potter, Tinkerbell, and Sailor Moon. But within the last few years, France has gotten into the act with at least two strong contenders, LoliRock and Miraculous Ladybug. We’ll discuss the former some other time, but we’ll discuss the latter right now. A French magical girl cartoon rendered in CGI, Miraculous Ladybug is known in some countries (including the U.S.) under the more cumbersome title of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.