- Release me! I'm not done with me revenge. - All that anger, who am I to stop you from giving in to it? (quirky music) - [Lea] So, besides
giving us a bunch of puns and a brief history lesson, what exactly did the "Miraculous
Ladybug" New York special have to offer? Oh, it was angst. It was angst that they gave us. Hello everyone and welcome
back to "Toon Ruins." I'm your host Lea, and its about time that I scream about my favorite disaster show yet again. This time, however, I'm not
talking about wacky production or canned characters. Nope! This time, I'm talking about
literary themes and writing, which is going to be rare for me when I'm referring to this show, because its not exactly known for having the strongest writing. I do call it my "garbage
show" for a reason, after all. As myself and many others have stated in my comments section, being a "Miraculous
Ladybug" fan is to suffer. Its part of the experience. - I just have a few medical
exams I couldn't postpone because I will soon be having a baby. Be having a baby. - [Lea] That said,
something that surprised me about the most recent
"Miraculous Ladybug" special, "Miraculous World: New York," was that the writing was
actually pretty decent. Higher quality than what we're used to in terms of character
development, that's for sure. And while there are problems with it, as there is with every piece of media, I wanted to talk about one aspect of this special in particular, the dynamic between Ladybug and Chat Noir. And yes, I know that this also implies that I'll also be
talking about the dynamic between Marinette and Adrien, but I really do mean it when I say Ladybug and
Chat Noir's relationship is going to be the focus here, mainly because I find it
to be far more important developmentally than the romantic drama happening in the background. If I wanted to watch Marinette fawn to near obsession over Adrien, I can watch any episode of
the show at random for that. And while I can't really talk about them and their relationship
without at least mentioning their civilian identities, its not what I found
to be the most complex and the most important
part of this special. The best and most captivating
part of this special, at least for me, was the conflict that comes between our two
heroes about mid-movie. Obviously spoilers ahead
if you haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure you already knew
that there would be spoilers when you clicked on the video. One of the main conflicts in this movie is that Marinette is going
to New York for a week with her classmates for
French-American Friendship Week, leaving Paris without
their primary Guardian. Obviously this worries her, since this is taking
place post Season Three after Fu had resigned as Guardian and given Marinette that responsibility in his permanent absence. This understandably puts more
pressure and responsibility on her as Ladybug, since there's no backup if she fails. At least when Fu was around, he was there to give advice, or to hand out Miraculous
to other individuals when all else failed, like he did in the episode "Party Crasher" after Ladybug was captured
by an Akumatized Wayhem. He's not involved with
the Miraculous anymore due to his voluntary amnesia,
and so now Marinette is and always will be the final fail safe. With the exception of Bunnix of course, who only seems to intervene when their failure is catastrophic enough to become apocalyptic. Tempering with time is a very messy thing, and so is trying to keep up with the in universe show
lore and rules apparently. Slight jab at the show aside, its understandable why
Marinette would be stressed at the prospect of leaving
Paris for even just a day, let alone an entire week. If she isn't there to purify any Akuma that Hawkmoth happens to attack with, he can cause real and
permanent damage to Paris. Up until this special, she has
always managed to revert it with her Miraculous Ladybug ability. Something which, until this special, we learn isn't a luxury
that most other heroes have. The cleanup of destruction
is a very real thing, and it luckily isn't something that our two teens
heroes have to deal with. Anyways, I'm getting a bit off track here. We'll get back to the destruction
bit later in the video. First, I want to talk a little
bit about how this special portrays the relationship
between our two Parisian heroes. - No funny business, okay? - Have I ever struck
you as the funny kind? I'm as serious as they get. (can meowing) (Chat Noir chuckles)
(Ladybug sighs) - [Lea] So, there's a few key differences between this Chat Noir and Ladybug to the show canon Chat Noir and Ladybug. Now, obviously they are
from the same canon, but there were also some
very stark differences between how the special and
how the show portrays them. This could be because
of a slight time skip from Season Three until now, or it could just be a change
in the writing team members, but I digress. Chat isn't flirty with Ladybug. Like, at all. Its mentioned very briefly at the start after they defeat Mr. Pigeon that he had been romantically
pursuing her in the past, but by brief I mean incredibly briefly through an offhand comment
about roses and color symbolism. If this was your
introduction to the series, I doubt very much that
you would know he's flirty to the point of being obnoxious at times. - So now I'm offering you a yellow rose because I've looked it up, and yellow represents friendship. Here's to a perfect partnership. - Are you sure yellow roses
don't represent jealousy? - Uh, no. - [Lea] Instead of focusing on Chat's romantic feelings for Ladybug, this special zeroes in
on the platonic feelings that he has for her as a friend and the bond that they've formed because of their partnership. Because while yes, we do
know he still loves her despite the unrequited feelings, he does value their
friendship and partnership as superheroes above all else, as he has stated multiple
times throughout the series. - I get it, Ladybug. Your friendship means everything to me. You can keep the rose, it
goes with your costume. - [Lea] You need to keep
in mind that Ladybug, next to Nino, is
technically his first friend if you exclude Chloe. Its a no brainer that
even if there weren't romantic implications between these two, their relationship would still be incredibly important to him. And its because of its
importance that he gets himself and the rest of Paris in trouble, thinking through clouded
and panicked judgment. He cares too much about
what she thinks of him on a personal level, and it certainly doesn't
help that his social skills are kind of a mess and
bordering nonexistent. This is where we start to
dip into the main conflict between Ladybug and Chat Noir. Now, as I mentioned earlier in this video, Marinette will be absent
and unable to protect Paris for a week while she's gone. Her plan, instead of
coming up with an excuse to stay in Paris, is to make Chat Noir
the temporary Guardian and sole protector of Paris. Now, while this isn't much different than what they already do since she considers him to be her partner rather than a sidekick, it is her putting more pressure and responsibility on him than normal. Her trusting Chat Noir to
watch over and protect Paris and protect it on his own for a week shows that she has a great
deal of trust in him, and that she feels comfortable
enough to leave him alone for an extended period of
time no questions asked. This, again, shows how
strong their partnership is, putting an emphasis on how
close of a relationship they truly have. They would trust each
other with their lives, and Ladybug would also go
as far to entrust Chat Noir with the safety of the city
she has sworn to protect. Their bond is very strong,
but its not unshakable, as we see later in the movie. Initially, Chat promises
that he'll take her place as temporary Guardian. However, at the time, it was because he wasn't expecting to
also be away from Paris. Initially, Gabriel had forbidden him from traveling with his
classmates to the United States, telling him that it
would be too dangerous. However, Marinette goes to convince him to allow Adrien to attend. And although Gabriel pretends
like that's the reason he decided to allow his
son to go in the end, its never good intentions with Gabriel. Because being a decent person is just not on this man's agenda. Nah, he decides to allow Adrien to go because he could use him as a coverup, since he was planning on going to New York as Hawkmoth anyways. If its one thing I hope anyone
learned from this special, its that Gabriel Agreste
is the worst father and the only place he
belongs is behind jail bars. And while I would love to rant about this abusive Barbie Ken Doll looking ripoff, that's not the point of this video. However, I do have more
to say on him later in this little Ted Talk as well, so keep this interaction in mind. As well as, well, all the
other times he's gotten unreasonably angry with his son. I know its a lot, but
its kind of important to the point I'm trying
to make, I promise. - Letting Adrien go to New York will be simpler than hiding
my absence here from him. Besides, this will allow me to continue keeping an eye on him. - [Lea] So Gabriel
essentially tells Adrien at the last minute that he's
going to New York after all, and that there's no excuses to not go since he had Nathalie
cleared up his schedule. He honestly doesn't even give
him any choice in the matter, since, you know, evil plots and all that. Adrien is kind of conflicted
because he wants to go and spend time with his friends, but he literally just made
the obligation to Ladybug about protecting the city
solo while she was away. However, he's terrified
of disappointing Ladybug, so he doesn't tell her. He thinks about it,
but Plagg convinces him to act on impulse and be selfish for once. And while Plagg's heart
is in the right place, it ultimately only encourages Adrien to act against his better judgment, and he decides that it would
be better not to tell Ladybug about his sudden change of plans, essentially leaving Paris
at the mercy of Hawkmoth, should he decide to attack the week Paris isn't under their watchful eye. His reasoning and justification
behind not telling her is that she cannot be disappointed in him if she doesn't know about him
leaving the city temporarily. Now keep in mind he uses
the word "disappointment," but his definition of the
word is severely warped due to forces outside of his control. Again, more on that later. This all comes to a head once
Hawkmoth attacks New York and Paris at the same time, no doubt attempting to distract the heroes from what he's doing in New York, of course operating on the assumption that they're still in France and not in the United States with him. Nathalie had stayed back
in Paris to become Mayura so that she could create a Sentimonster to fight Ladybug and Chat Noir, while Gabriel was in New York
Akumatizing a super villain by the name of Techno Pirate, turning him into Techclonizer. Unfortunately for him, the two Parisians just so happen to be in the area already, and they join in the fight with
Uncanny Valley and Sparrow, two of New York's superheroes. Of course, Hawkmoth isn't
the only one who's surprised, as Ladybug is automatically
taken aback and frustrated with Chat Noir's unexpected appearance. Her clear anger in the
situation is something that deeply hurts and upsets him, and its what leads to him
making a huge mistake. One that, quite frankly, took a dark turn and I wasn't expecting. After rightfully chewing
him out for lying to her, she states in a fit of anger that she can no longer trust him. This causes him to become
distracted in his movements, and Techclonizer is able
to redirect his Cataclysm, forcing him to use it on Uncanny Valley. This quite literally, for
lack of a better term, deactivates Uncanny, which is basically the robot equivalent of death. Ladybug is able to reverse the damage with her Miraculous Ladybug ability, but the damage has already been done from a psychological perspective. Of course Chat feels horrible over this, and it even leads to Knight Owl demanding that both he and Ladybug
give up their Miraculous until they leave New York, so that they can't cause anymore trouble for the local heroes. They instead elect to run away
and keep their Miraculous, understandably so, as they are right not to trust their magical jewelry with some random hero they just met. This leads us to the heartbreaking scene between Chat and Ladybug where all of these bad
decisions made by Adrien come to a head. Its revealed that the
Sentimonster has disappeared, and so that there's no time
for them to return to Paris and restore the damage caused. Chat, knowing that his
lack of communication is what led to all of this renounces Plagg and returns
his Miraculous to Ladybug. Now, I've seen this scene interpreted in oh so many ways by the fandom. I've seen people call Adrien selfish. I've seen people say he was overreacting. Hell, I've even seen people saying he was being manipulative towards Ladybug. However, its none of those things that we're witnessing here. Sometimes when it comes to Adrien, I wonder if people actually
understand his character, or if they're looking for
any reason to rip into him just because he gets in
the way of Lukanette. Anyways, what I see here
is a boy in distress over the fact that he literally just killed somebody by accident, even if it was only temporary. I see a boy who was
just told by his partner that she no longer trusts him. I see a boy who realizes and understands that part of Paris was destroyed due to his lack of transparency. I see a boy who genuinely
believes that the relationship between him and his partner, one of his first and only
friends, is irreparable. Its safe to say that next to his father, Ladybug is the most important
person in his life currently. He isn't acting irrationally
from his perspective. He's acting like an abused child who doesn't understand
how relationships work, because he's never had
a healthy one before. Does this make him renouncing Plagg right? No. Does this excuse him not telling Ladybug about his unplanned absence from Paris? No. But does it explain why he did it? Yes. Does it make him a horrible, selfish, and manipulative partner? No. He made a mistake. A mistake that was bound to
happen due to his identity and life as Adrien Agreste. What do I mean by this? Well, this is where we take
out the magnifying glass and look at the subtext from the material before this took place. - My father's right. I should have never come to New York. - [Lea] Now, like I said
earlier in the video, Adrien's idea of
disappointment has been warped due to his abusive
relationship with his father. This is further highlighted
by one of the main plot points for the Adrien side of
Chat in this special, as its stated pretty much point blank that he needs to develop his relationships and social skills. Nino quite literally at
the start of the special calls him a "baby chick"
who doesn't understand even the most subtle of
social cues and situations. - I love Adrien, but
he's like a baby chick that just started cracking out of his egg. He has a hard time understanding the signals people send him. - [Lea] Part of his and Alya's
goal with Operation New York is to get Adrien to come out of his shell, and for him to develop a healthy
friendship with Marinette, since the show acknowledges
that at this point they don't really have one. Props to them on
acknowledging that by the way. Their other goal is to get Marinette to be honest with herself and
others about her feelings, which is also important to
the Ladybug arc of this movie. And I know a lot of this video
has been about Adrien so far, but I will talk about her too, I promise. Adrien is a sheltered rich boy, having never had contact with other people outside of a business setting. His only friend prior to
attending a public school was Chloe Bourgeois, who he
had only had a connection to due to her also being a rich
kid with influential parents. And I'm not going to go so
far as to say that Chloe was abusive towards Adrien, because I don't think that
she was even in the slightest. I think she can be a bit pushy with him, but she shows a great
deal of care for him. Far beyond what she does
for anyone else in her life, save from maybe Sabrina
on a rare occasion. Nino takes a chance on
him and becomes his friend upon seeing that he's
genuinely confused and upset, but outside of him,
Adrien really doesn't have any other non-business relationships. He even states in "The Puppeteer 2" that he doesn't understand
how friendships work, and thinks that he's a bad friend. - I'm sure I did something to mess up our friendship by accident. I'm so clueless about these things. - [Lea] With the only
meaningful relationships that Adrien has being with his
father, his missing mother, Chloe, Nino and Ladybug, you could see why his
knowledge on how things work would be limited. I would argue that
while he's on good terms with the rest of his class, he isn't really friends with them. They're more like acquaintances
than they are friends. This is even supported by
how in the episode "Felix" his classmates admit that they don't actually
know him very well and that they've only
known him for a short time. They're very quick to turn on him and to fall for Felix's trick, proving that they're not
really close with him. In other words, Adrien is
kinda like that one kid in your friend group who
only hangs out with you because they have a mutual
friend who invited them. You're not unfriendly with them and you may enjoy their company, but they're just kinda there and you don't know them very well. Its sad to think about, but that's the reality of the situation. Because Adrien has a limited pool of relationship experience to draw from, he applies his experience
to all of his relationships. So, for example, if his
father reacted a certain way to a situation, he may think its likely that Nino would react in the same way. And this in of itself
wouldn't be a problem since trial, error, and experience is how we as humans learn. However, its a problem
because Gabriel is abusive. And so, Adrien is drawing experience from his abusive familial
relationship with his father, and then applying that
expectation and anticipation to his other relationships. And how has Gabriel reacted when he's been disappointed in Adrien? Well ... - If she really loves you she'd let you save your mother. - Stop it, stop it, stop it! - Chat Blanc, I'm giving you the infinite power of destruction! - [Lea] In the episode "Captain Hardrock," Gabriel is disappointed with Adrien's piano playing progress, and so he prevents him
from seeing his friends at band practice, after
he had already said that he could go. This is used as punishment
in direct consequence of his disappointment, and this
is just merely one example. - Father, you promised that I could attend my friend's concert. - Not after that performance
you've just given, which is probably due to their influence. - [Lea] In the episode "The Collector," Gabriel throws a massive fit over Adrien finding the Guardian's Grimoire, and even goes so far as telling him he no longer trusts him
after this one action. And what does he do as a consequence? He pulls him from school,
socially isolating him as punishment for him
disobeying and being curious. As he rightfully should
be, since, you know, Gabriel literally tells him nothing, and even refuses to spend even a fraction of his time with him. He's too busy laughing away
while terrorizing two teenagers and hoards butterflies. - How can I possibly
trust you again, Adrien? - I'm sorry, I'll get you another copy. - The book is the source
of my inspiration. - I didn't know that. I hardly know anything about you, father. - You won't be returning to school. - [Lea] When Adrien confronts Gabriel about him possibly being
in love with Nathalie and him being okay with
having a new maternal figure, he reacts by getting angry at him and leaving him as a consequence, refusing to continue an
important conversation they were in the middle of having on the anniversary of his
mother's disappearance. - I've noticed how close you
and Nathalie have become. If she can make you happy again, then as far as I'm concerned she's already part of our family. - How could you possibly
think such a thing? - [Lea] Also in "The Collector," he literally stages himself
having thrown a fit, destroying many things in his office, making Adrien believe that he
was Akumatized because of him. And he wasn't even angry, he legit just used it as an
excuse to Akumatize himself, and then made Adrien his target. All of this to make Adrien
feel bad for mistakes and feel bad for disobeying him one time. All of these consequences
are completely overblown when you look at what
he actually did wrong. - Maybe The Collector's
already captured him. - You think he'd take
it out on his own son? - Uh ... - [Lea] So now does it make
sense that his reaction to be reprimanded by
Ladybug was overblown? These aren't even the only cases of abuse. There's lots more,
particularly from the episodes "Chat Blanc," "Simon Says," et cetera. These are just the cases of Adrien receiving overblown
consequences to his actions, but there's plenty more that
are just plain outright abuse. Heck, there's even a moment
where Gabriel gaslights Adrien in the special. When he comes to collect Adrien after he made it dangerous for him, he makes it feel like it
was his fault for going, even though he never asked to go to New York in the first place. He was forced to go. But instead of fighting
with his father and staying, he says that Gabriel was right and goes along with it obediently, as Gabriel has conditioned him to do through years of manipulation and abuse. So when Ladybug reacts in rightful anger due to feeling betrayed, his mind is automatically jumping to the worst case scenario. He knows that he made a big mistake. He's not going to argue with her about it. Not only has Ladybug told
him this to his face, but so has Knight Owl and Majestia. Knight Owl even says that
Ladybug's only purpose is to "fix his mistakes," which only further rubs
salt into the wound. He genuinely thinks that
what he did was unforgivable, and that Ladybug deserves
a better partner. And while she does deserve a
partner who won't lie to her, Chat Noir can be that partner. He didn't tell Ladybug
because he was afraid she would be disappointed in him, leading to some cruel punishment like Gabriel did when
he took the Grimoire. That was something that was small, but it was met with harsh
and swift punishment. There's nothing there to show that she would react any differently, and so he was scared. In his mind, it was
better to take the chance that everything would be fine and that she wouldn't find out. That way, she wouldn't ever
be disappointed in him. That way, their relationship
wouldn't fall apart. Unfortunately, it was due
to this way of thinking that he had almost lost her permanently. And Ladybug even finds the
reaction of him renouncing Plagg to be surprising, since she never once said
that she wanted a new partner because of his mistake. She was disappointed and
upset with him, sure, but they're still a duo,
and she still cares for him even if he made a mistake that hurt her. She just wants him to do and be better. She thought that he knew, but him leaving made her
realize that maybe he didn't. And this ties into Marinette's arc about needing to be
clear with her feelings to herself and to others. Once Chat comes back after
Uncanny returns his Miraculous, she promptly scolds him and tells him never to scare her like that again. She's even honest with herself about not being able to be
Ladybug without him as Chat Noir, which is something we haven't really seen from her before in the series. She's usually playfully dismissive of him and both his platonic and
romantic feelings towards her, which is just part of their dynamic. But once in a while, it'd
probably be a good idea to let him know that she appreciates him. And overall, I think that's the lesson that she learned from this experience. If there's one thing that I
really enjoyed narratively from both sides of the Love Square, its that Operation New York's goals were the same for both
Marinette and Ladybug, as well as Adrien and Chat Noir. The goal for Marinette
was that she needed to be more open and honest about her feelings. Not only did she admit to herself that she was still in love with Adrien, but she also as Ladybug realized how much Chat Noir
means to her as her partner. And while she is too late to tell Adrien how she feels before he leaves, she does manage to tell Chat how important he is to
her when he returns. Take note of how surprised Adrien is to hear that she still
wants to be partners despite his mistake. It almost hurts to see how
shocking it is for him to hear, even though it should be a
given due to their dynamic. And with Adrien needing
to break out of his shell, he does that by hanging
out with Marinette. But he also does that as Chat by learning that
communication is important and that not everyone is
going to react irrationally to simple mistakes like his father does. That he deserves and is
worthy of forgiveness, and that there's room
for him to make mistakes and grow from them. A lot of his perfect boy facade as Adrien comes from that fear, which is why he has such a
drastic personality change once he's behind the protection of a mask. As Chat he has the
freedom to be who he wants without consequence from his father, which is why he can be a
bit impulsive at times. He's far too restricted as Adrien, which is what has led to his
less than elegant alter ego as an outlet for that frustration. In conclusion, this was
a natural progression that needed to happen for
both Ladybug and Chat Noir. It seems like oftentimes in the series, Ladybug doesn't let Chat Noir know how much he's appreciated. Paris seems to view him
as more of a sidekick than an equal to Ladybug, and it seems that New
York's heroes viewed him in a similar light as first. This certainly didn't
help for his self image and him feeling expendable, but it's something that needed
to be addressed eventually. - Whoa, easy! What are you doing? - If you don't tell me what
Ladybug is hiding from me, I'm done. - You can't do that! - Why not? No one will know if I quit. No one will care. - I will. - [Lea] Chat's impulsiveness
and unrealistic understanding of their relationship also
needed to be challenged, which is why I think this was
the best way to go about it. By directly putting them in a situation where the only resolution
was to face these issues as their main conflict. That being said, I think
a resolution like this came a bit late. This feels like something
that should've happened at the end of maybe Season Two. This taking place before Season Four just kinda shows that the show has a character development issue. I'm still overall
impressed with the quality and direction that they
took with this special, but I'm also not sure if its because my expectations were low. I think only time will tell with that. I also really like how Chat
didn't need to redeem himself in order to become
Ladybug's partner again. He learned his lesson,
and obviously his mistake wasn't done anywhere out of malice. Ladybug knows that he won't do it again and that he genuinely felt
messed up about what he did. She doesn't force him to prove himself, or anything like that. They just have a quick makeup scene before they need to rush
into battle, and that's that. They're still partners, they
just had a bit of a hiccup. And their relationship isn't ruined just because of one
mistake that Chat made. Its really good that he
didn't need to waste the time on a redemption or anything like that. It just wasn't necessary. What he did was bad and Ladybug had every
right to be mad with him, but it wasn't bad to the point where he needed to redeem himself. I don't really have a good
way to end this video off, and I'm afraid that if I keep talking I'll just end up ranting about how much I love my dumb idiot cat son. So if in the future you'd
like to see more videos where I dunk on Gabriel's
awful parenting skills, why not subscribe and hit that bell icon to get notifications of when I upload? Special thank you to my top tier patrons: Ambrose Rothwood, Brandon Nunes, Thelovelyghosty, Kerrifique, Lee Taylor, and Zachary Ainsley. It's because of people like them that I can continue to
make content like this. And I hope to see you
all in the next video. Have an amazing day, guys. (mellow music)
