Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, on EBS 1 (South Korea) / TF1 (France) / Nickelodeon; Netflix; Disney Channel (USA)
DisneyNow; IMDb; official website; SAMG; Shout! Factory; TF1; TV Tango; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia; YouTube (official)
streaming sites: Amazon; Disney+; Netflix

Somehow I didn't even know this show existed until I happened to find the DVD listed on Amazon while working on my website's calendar. It looked like something I'd like to check out. And... I think it was sometime later that I learned it was airing on Nickelodeon, but I didn't get that channel at the time. So I figured I'd have to get it on DVD, but I wanted to wait for a season set instead of "volumes." Eventually, once the whole first season had been released piecemeal, I got tired of waiting for that, and ordered volume one. But before I'd even finished watching it, I learned that a season set would be released in a few months. So I decided to wait for that instead of ordering any more volumes. Still, at least I watched seven episodes on the DVD I already had (even if they weren't in broadcast order).

So anyway, it's about these two teenage superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir. They work together to thwart villains, but they have no idea of one another's secret identities. Ladybug is in fact a girl Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and Cat Noir is Adrien Agreste. Ironically, Marinette has a secret crush on Adrien, while Cat Noir has a very open crush on Ladybug, but because of their secret identities, the two of them have no idea they actually like each other. Each of them has a tiny creature called a "kwami," which can transform them into their superhero forms for a limited amount of time before they need to recharge. (For quite awhile, I thought the creatures were called "miraculouses," and it was some time before I heard anyone on the show use the word "kwami." And it wasn't until some time after that before I really began to learn the difference. In fact, not until the two-part season finale. And those episodes are at the start of disc three of the season one set, but while I generally didn't worry about watching most episodes in broadcast order, I waited until I'd finished all four discs to go back and watch the two flashback "origins" episodes on disc three. And even then, not everything was entirely clear to me. But at least I can say that the "miraculouses" that are mentioned throughout the series are jewels that give the wearer super powers. It had long been clear that Ladybug's miraculous was her earrings, and Cat Noir's was his ring. But I still don't really understand what the relationship is between the miraculouses and the kwamis.) Anyway, Marinette's kwami is named Tikki, and Adrien's is named Plagg. Meanwhile, the main villain is Hawk Moth, who for some reason wants to obtain Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculouses. To that end, he uses his power to turn butterflies into evil "akuma," which then possess some belonging of an innocent person who has a good reason to be upset, thereby transforming the person into a villain who will do Hawk Moth's bidding, and cause trouble around Paris, with the ultimate goal of fighting Ladybug and Cat Noir. In the end, the heroes always defeat the villains and Ladybug uses her power to de-evilize the person and the akuma, and undo any damage that has been done in the meantime.

Other than that... I can say that Marinette's best friend is a girl named Alya Césaire, who has a blog about Ladybug and wants to find out who Ladybug really is, having no idea that it's actually her best friend. And Adrien's best friend is Nino Lahiffe, though so far I don't know much about him. And they all have a snobby classmate named Chloé Bourgeois, who is the mayor's daughter, and has a crush on Adrien, though he doesn't like her. And she doesn't seem to like much of anyone, though she does have a lackey named Sabrina Raincomprix. And there are various other recurring characters, including classmates and parents, et al. And in the flashback episodes at the end of season one, we see how Marinette and Adrien each first obtained their kwamis and miraculouses, and became Ladybug and Cat Noir. We also see that Hawk Moth has a kwami of his own, which gives him his powers, and we learn why he wants the miraculouses. We don't learn his true identity, though I must say I've had a strong suspicion for some time, I mean so strong that I would be hugely shocked if it eventually turns out I'm wrong. Also in the flashback eps, we see Marinette first meeting Alya, and Adrien first defying his father by choosing to go to school instead of being home-schooled. (He had already known Chloe before that, but this is when he first meets all the other kids at school.) Also in those episodes, we learn a bit more about a mysterious old man named Master Fu, who had previously been seen in at least a couple of episodes, in which it became clear that he had some knowledge of everything that was going on with the kwamis and whatnot.

And... there's a second season which I look forward to seeing someday, whenever it comes out on DVD, I suppose. And there will be more seasons. And there's a Christmas special I'd like to see, and webisodes I should look for. But for now, I'm just happy to have finished season one. It really is fairly amusing and kind of cool, albeit also kind of silly. And I really like the animation and everything.