Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (Miraculous, les aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir; commonly abbreviated as Miraculous Ladybug or simply Miraculous)   is a French animated magical girl superhero television series created by Thomas Astruc and developed by Jeremy Zag. The series is produced by the French company Miraculous Corp. (a joint venture of Mediawan and ZAG, Inc.), and co-produced with Japanese studio Toei Animation's European division, and several international companies.

The series focuses on 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's TFOU block, the series was first shown in South Korea on 1 September 2015 on EBS1. Internationally, it is mainly broadcast on Disney-owned channels or on Disney+, with exceptions in some countries.

The series spawned a media franchise with several products tied to it, including various comic books, novels, and video games. A film adaptation, Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie, was released theatrically in 2023, premiering in France.

Synopsis
The series takes place in modern-day Paris and revolves around the adventures of two teenagers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. When evil arises, they transform into their superhero personas, Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, using magical jewels known as the "Miraculous". All the while, Marinette and Adrien struggle with their feelings for each other, not knowing each other's secret identities: Marinette is in love with Adrien, but not Cat Noir, while Adrien is in love with Ladybug, but not Marinette.

Their main enemy is the supervillain Hawk Moth—whose secret identity, unknown to the heroes, is Adrien's father, Gabriel Agreste. Using the Butterfly Miraculous, he creates akumas, butterflies infused with negative energy, to "akumatize" Paris' everyday citizens when they experience negative emotions, turning them into supervillains. His goal is to steal Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculous, intending to use them to wish his wife, Emilie, back to life, who fell into a coma by using the damaged Peacock Miraculous before the events of the series. He is sometimes aided by his assistant Nathalie Sancœur, who uses the Peacock Miraculous to create sentimonsters, magical lifeforms with a seemingly endless variety of forms and abilities.

As Hawk Moth's villains become tougher, Master Fu, the Guardian of the Miraculous, allows Marinette to borrow additional Miraculous and recruit her other classmates and friends as superheroes. Hawk Moth eventually exposes Master Fu, forcing him to make Marinette the new Guardian. Nathalie falls ill from using the Peacock Miraculous, but Hawk Moth repairs it and uses it together with the Butterfly Miraculous to become "Shadow Moth," able to create both villains and sentimonsters. Burdened by the stress of keeping her superhero life secret, Marinette reveals her secret identity to her best friend Alya Césaire.

At the end of the fourth season, Gabriel—adopting the new supervillain name "Monarch"—gains control of almost all of the Miraculous, leaving Ladybug and Cat Noir once again as the only two heroes. A battle with the heroes leaves Gabriel with magical damage that slowly spreads through his body. Marinette and Adrien eventually admit their feelings for each other and begin a romantic relationship (still ignorant of each other's secret identities). After a final battle with Marinette, Gabriel seizes the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous and makes his wish; but having had a change of heart, wishes to revive Nathalie, who had become gravely ill, at the cost of his own life. Marinette recovers most of the Miraculous and gives them into the custody of her friends, unaware that manipulative liar Lila Rossi, a former classmate who bullied Marinette, claimed the Butterfly Miraculous for herself.

Conception and creation
The series is based on an original concept created by French writer and storyboarder Thomas Astruc. He was inspired by a meeting with a certain lady and "decades of comics binge reading". 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 wearing 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 signature pigtail hairstyle was fashioned 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 about how strong the Ladybug character was. He had no memories of seeing ladybug-themed superheroes in comics.

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.

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 comic characters, like Catwoman. So it was like having Catwoman and Spider-Man in the same show but reversed genders and roles.

A character named Félix was originally going to have the role of Cat Noir, as the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous, but he was later scrapped in favor of Adrien Agreste 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. In September 2015, Astruc indicated that he was open to revisiting the character of Félix, but he abandoned it by February 2016, writing that the character was a poor idea. In 2019, Félix was remade as Adrien's cousin and was renamed Félix Fathom, and became holder of the Peacock Miraculous.

Hiring companies
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 said that they want "to create a glamorous superhero character with a real European flair with Paris as [the] backdrop." The producers had also planned to animate it in stereoscopic 3D (currently, the show is produced using CGI animation).

In the summer of June 2012, Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (known for Sailor Moon, Digimon, PreCure, One Piece & DragonBall) the famous Japanese animation studio branch owned & operated by Toei Company, Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, was announced as co-producers, alongside its European division. Two years before 2012, Toei Animation had released a PreCure film that was set in Paris, France, and was very interested in expanding their international audience. Even after the production moved to CGI animation, Toei still remained co-producer, with the 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 US$50 million through 2017 into five projects. The first of these projects was 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.

In 2019, Zag and Gloob signed an agreement where the Brazilian company will start to co-produce the next seasons of Miraculous, in addition to having exclusivity of exhibition in Brazil and the addition of a Brazilian character.

Animation
When Toei Animation and its European division joined as co-producers in the summer of June 2012, it was also announced that the show would be drawn in a colorful manga-like style. Later in September, Zagtoon, Method, & Toei released a traditionally-animated promotional video for Miraculous Ladybug. The video featured Marinette (in different clothes similar to the clothes in the current series) as Ladybug, and a (now-scrapped, later Adrien's cousin) different character named Félix as Cat Noir, Marinette and Félix's Kwamis, Tikki and Plagg, Hawk Moth / Gabriel (without the mask and with a different outfit, look, and lair compared to the current series), and also two akumatized villains from season 1 in the current show – The Mime and Mr. Pigeon. Their Miraculouses and their transformation sequences had different designs compared to the Miraculouses and the transformations in the current series. The demo song from the promotional music video was performed & composed by Noam, who would later compose, produce music and perform songs for the current series.

The whole anime concept was a complete success; but there were concerns about the marketability of traditional 2D animation and the difficulty in animating Ladybug's costume of red with black spots, as it caused some strobing effects. 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 of the show might be a potential product for future purposes.

The aforementioned problem with 2D animation was resolved by moving to CGI animation; the switch also allowed for easier implementation of mobile camera angles. SAMG Animation (later SAMG Entertainment), a CGI animation studio located in South Korea which officially joined in the production in the fall of November 2012, produced modeling and animation. Zag later recalled that SAMG was chosen for quality reasons in a video message he sent to a South Korean press conference held in 2015 by the Seoul-based company. Astruc and assistant director, Wilfried Pain, instructed the animators not to improvise scenes so that they could keep things consistent and understandable. 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. Wolfson said that the show's animation brings dynamic camera angles and texturing. A trailer with the new current CGI-animated style was released in October 2013, a year later.

On 22 January 2018, Zag posted on Instagram that the crew was working on season 4 and season 5.

On 18 April 2021, It was confirmed that in addition to season 4 and 5 the show will have two more seasons (season 6 and 7). Season 6 is expected to launch in Fall 2024.

Themes, writing, and process
While the show is marketed as a Western superhero narrative, its thematic base is the Japanese mahō shōjo (magical girl) genre, with its focus on transformation sequences, a school cast, the gathering of a team of heroes, animal friends, and end-of-episode collages. In particular, Ladybug is strongly influenced by the genre's landmark entry Sailor Moon: Not only does the name of Marinette ("little sailor girl") recall Sailor Moon's title, but the main characters' magical companions reflect Sailor Moon 's Luna and Artemis, the main villain's power resembles that of Queen Beryl, and the show's entire plot parallels the story of Sailor Saturn. Ladybug features numerous other direct and indirect references to its inspiration.

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. Astruc said that he is delighted that the show is able to reach younger and older people.

Each episode takes around 3 months to write, from scratch to final validation of broadcasters. 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.

Noam Kaniel (Noam) writes the music and songs. Kaniel has also worked on action superhero shows such as M.A.S.K, X-Men, Code Lyoko, W.I.T.C.H., Fantastic Four, Power Rangers, Digimon Fusion and Glitter Force. Kaniel and Zag wrote the theme song. Alain Garcia wrote the English lyrics, which are sung by Wendy Child and Cash Callaway. The French version was performed by Marily and Noam Kaniel. Starting from season 4 & 5, Lou performed the theme song in both French and English.

International broadcast
Astruc representatives have said that the show has reached over 120 countries.

In France, TV channels or streaming services owners are required to participate in the financing of French productions. Since The Walt Disney Company owns TV channels and a streaming service in France, they finance the series through their French division which gives Disney the broadcasting rights in the United States, and in select European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African regions, where the series airs on Disney-owned channels or Disney+. It also give them the reruns rights on the French versions of Disney Channel and Disney+.

In countries where the series is not broadcast on Disney-owned channels or services, it airs on locals networks or cable TV channels.

Europe

 * In France, the series is broadcast on TF1 during the TFOU programming block. Reruns airs on Disney Channel, while Netflix, Disney+ and MyTF1max share the streaming rights. It premiered on 19 October 2015 on TF1. Season 2 premiered with a Christmas special in December 2016 with further new episodes in France on TF1's TFOU block on 26 October 2017 and other channels throughout Europe. Netflix began streaming the series, starting with the Christmas special, on 20 December 2016.
 * In the United Kingdom, the show premiered on 30 January 2016 on Disney Channel (until 30 September 2020); and premiered in February 2017 on Pop.
 * The world premiere of season 3 was in Spain on Disney Channel on 1 December 2018. In France, on TFOU, it premiered on 14 April 2019.
 * Among the free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasters in the Republic of Ireland, Raidió Teilifís Éireann premiered the show in 2021 on RTÉ2's teenage programming block in English; the series' Irish language-dub would later premiere on TG4 in late September 2022.
 * In Ukraine, the series originally aired with a Ukrainian-language voice-over of the English version on Pixel TV, beginning in November 2017. A Ukrainian dub later debuted in March 2019 on PlusPlus, who would go on to release the last two episodes of season 3 before the season had finished airing anywhere else in the world.

Americas

 * In the United States, the series originally debuted on Nickelodeon on 6 December 2015. The show aired on KidsClick from 3 July 2017 to 29 March 2019, and that run on TV was ended on 31 March 2019 due to low ratings.  On 8 April 2019, Disney Channel acquired the rights to broadcast the first two seasons with the third season being aired starting 1 June 2020 and ending 5 December with the episode "Christmaster". Disney later acquired the exclusive rights to stream the series & TV specials on their service, Disney+ worldwide (excluding Brazil, China, & Canada). Disney Channel will premiere all of these seasons and specials first. The first three seasons were only available on Netflix until 1 February 2023, when they moved over to Disney+.
 * In Canada, the show premiered in French on 9 January 2016 on Télé-Québec, a provincial public service television network in Quebec. The series was broadcast in English on Family Channel starting on 1 November 2016.
 * In Hispanic America, the show premiered on 16 May 2016 on Disney Channel.
 * In Brazil, the show premiered on 7 March 2016 on Gloob.

Asia

 * South Korea was the first country to premiere the series; the Korean version was originally titled Ladybug, with girl group Fiestar singing its translated theme song. It premiered on 1 September 2015 on EBS1 and ran for 13 episodes until November 2015, with repeats through February 2016, and the second half of the season began airing on 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. The Disney Channel in South Korea has also aired the series as of 7 December 2015.
 * In New Zealand, the show premiered on 27 April 2016 on TVNZ's TV2.
 * In Japan, Disney Channel streamed the episode "Stormy Weather" through its mobile application on 1 July 2018 before the official premiere on 23 July of the same year.
 * It premiered in Southeast Asia on Disney Channel on 6 November 2018, it aired until on 30 September 2021 when the channel closed on 1 October 2021 all in favor for Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar.
 * In Pakistan, the show was telecasted by Kids Zone Pakistan with the Urdu dub in April 2019; the second season first aired on 22 October 2021, the third season on 3 May 2022, and the fourth on 31 December 2022.
 * In India, the first five seasons aired on 29 April 2019, 14 December 2020, 12 April 2021, 9 May 2022 and 12 June 2023 respectively on Disney Channel. The Miraculous World TV specials also aired on the same channel, with the New York special aired on 9 May 2021 and the Shanghai special aired on 14 November 2021.
 * In Indonesia, the first season was aired by Trans7 from 2019 until 11 July 2021 on a graveyard slot.
 * In Uzbekistan, Miraculous was released on July 11, 2020, presented to the public under the name "Xonqizining sarguzashtlari".

Critical reception
Kimberly Cooper, a blog writer who has contributed to news media such as The Huffington Post, 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". Caitlin Donovan of the 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" and commended the fight sequences and 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." Ella Anders of BSCKids wrote that the show stands out because of "how it meshes both the magical girl and superhero genre together". 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 "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."

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." 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.

The show has also received negative criticism from both critics and fans of the show. Ryan Lewis of CBR.com portrays a negative view of the show's primary conflict between the two main protagonists: They know each other outside of crime-fighting but somehow never recognize each other's superhero identities. To the annoyance of many fans, this conflict is yet to be resolved, causing some to lose interest in the show for its overly drawn-out romantic tension.

Several media reviewers anticipated Miraculous-brand toys to be among the hot superheroine properties for 2016. Zag has partnered with Bandai to release Miraculous-based toys as well as deals to make Miraculous-brand clothing and other merchandise.

Spin-off
A spin-off series, Miraculous Chibi, premiered on 31 August 2018 on YouTube and on major broadcast channels, and since late 2019 on Disney Channel Latin America.

Film
In September 2018, Jeremy Zag announced an animated film adaptation of Miraculous. Production started after the production of the fourth and fifth seasons of the television series. With a budget of €80 million, it is the second most expensive French film ever made behind Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Titled Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie, the film explores the origins of the franchise. It was released on July 5, 2023 by SND.

Stage musical
In 2021, a stage musical adaptation titled Miraculous Ladybug : Le spectacle musical ( Miraculous Ladybug: The Musical Show) was announced. The musical was originally set to premiere on 21 December 2021, at the Dôme de Paris. However, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It premiered on 20 December 2022, at the Dôme de Paris, where it was played until 1 January 2023. After that, the show went on tour in France, and in French-speaking areas of Belgium and Switzerland.

Manga adaptation
On 6 December 2020, Zag announced that a manga adaptation will begin serialization in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Sirius magazine beginning in the March issue in January 2021. On 20 November 2022, during their panel at Anime NYC 2022, Kodansha USA announced that they have licensed the manga in English.

Game adaptations
An endless runner video game was developed by TabTale and released in April 2018 as a mobile app. In April 2019 Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir was announced as new mobile game and in May 2019 the game was presented by Jeremy Zag.

It was revealed by Venturebeat and Mars Rose that a Roblox game was being produced. Titled Miraculous RP: Quests of Ladybug and Cat Noir, created by Toya Games, it was released in beta on 4 May 2021, and fully released on 2 June the same year. This roleplay game is the first official Roblox game for a TV series franchise and has reached 200 million plays as of September 2021.

On 1 September 2022, a game based on the show was announced, titled Miraculous: Rise of the Sphinx, developed by Magic Pockets and published by GameMill Entertainment for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch, and was released on 25 October 2022. The announcement stated that the game would feature both single-player and co-op game modes.

The theme song was released to Just Dance 2023 Edition via the Just Dance+ subscription service on August 10, 2023.