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jesuis-melodrama · 2 months ago

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Thoughts on Miraculous World: London – At The Edge of Time

Miraculous Specials generally have no bearing on the plot. Think about Miraculous New York and Miraculous Shanghai, they could've been never produced and the narrative would've been exactly the same for it. Even the well-written Miraculous Paris have no influence on the main narrative except, perhaps, giving the Adrien and Marinette some perspective which they might never show. I don't think either of them are going to discuss that time their alternate selves came into their world again.

But Miraculous London surprised me. I had a lot of people asking me what I thought of it, because the writing turns out to be quality, and I agree.

I think the writers wanted to start Season 6 off with a bang, they didn't want to deal with all the nitty-gritty and the 'closing up of loose ends' at what is meant to be a fresh beginning. So they created Miraculous London in order complete the first arc of Miraculous, the Gabriel Agreste Arc, even though the story was not set in London. London appeared briefly, as a guest location. The special would've been more suitable named as Miraculous World: Bunnyx's Burrow – Spying on the Timeline.

Firstly, it's pretty lame that Lila cannot change the rules of Akumatisation. Who made up this concrete rule that Akumas have to forget everything they did? I always assumed it was because the people were being taken advantage of without their consent so their memory is purged once the infection is lifted, but even for people who were Akumatised willingly?? Even for the Butterfly Miraculous Holder themselves?? I think this just comes down to plot convenience.

Marinette, who usually goes into hysterics when faced with failure or impossible situations (think the end of Season 4), is disturbingly calm as she goes to free Kagami and Adrien.

This change of attitude, change of reaction, symbolises a growth in her character, a development that is forced upon her. And Marinette demonstrates her ability to lead and compartmentalise by stoically accepting the brutal responsibility.

I will commend the writers for portraying Adrien's grief very well.

Also, I'm pretty sure this pose is meant to reference Evangelion, it's far too close. And we all know Monsieur Astruc is an anime nerd.

The breaking of the background and the colour scale going to black-and-white (left) to represent his numbness and landslide loneliness is quite revolutionary for Miraculous' animation, which, famously, has stuck to the same, increasingly uninventive models and sets.

Lying to Adrien, at this point, however, is also plot convenience.

Bug Noire rationalises it pretty well in the special, explaining to Nathalie coherently why no one should tell Adrien the truth. But it's not a logical thing to do. Do they plan to keep lying to Adrien forever? Never reveal the true identity of Papillon, till the day he dies? Nathalie plans on taking this information to the grave? Marinette intends to marry and have children with a man that she keeps the truth of his own father from?

Marinette thinking that this is the best thing to do – placing everything on her shoulders in a desperate attempt to shelter Adrien – makes sense. She's young, she's self-loathing, she tends to make rash decisions where she takes the brunt of the damage. Nathalie not telling the truth to the authorities so she can continue to act as Adrien's legal guardian, I personally would've advised for to make that decision. But Nathalie agreeing with Bug Noire's hare-brained scheme is implausible. She's a grown woman who should've learned, at this point, that keeping the truth from someone, especially a truth as crucial as this, is not going to work out.

Again, do they plan on lying to Adrien for the rest of his life? How is Marinette supposed to carry on when their children start asking her and Adrien about the late Grandfather Gabriel? The fandom enjoys bringing up Chat Blanc as an excuse for not telling Adrien anything, but I don't think we're all remembering that episode correctly. Adrien wasn't driven to madness by the weight of secrets, he was forced during that episode to act by Gabriel under duress. Given time, space, and understanding, he can absorb this new, hitting truth without world-ending dramatics.

Perhaps Nathalie is lying and reassuring Bug Noire's frayed mental state by pretending she's going to adhere to her plan but is secretly planning on telling Adrien after a few months when things die down. I sure hope so. Because everyone – Nathalie, Marinette, Félix, Kagami – in his life all banding together to lie to Adrien is overkill and plain ridiculous. I fully support Adrien becoming a supervillain when he finds out, because what the hell.

In brighter news, I love the design of 60 years old Alix. The glasses, the fur-lined waistcoat, the black bowtie – gorgeous. They're leaning more into the Alice in Wonderland theme the older Alix gets. I'm pretty sure Fluff is inspired by the White Rabbit. A bunny with time-travelling powers whose Miraculous is a waistwatch? Someone on the writing team reads Victorian literature.

Also, after repetitive seasons of unnecessary fillers, I love how Lila gets started on a plan straight away. Like I said, I'm surprised by how relevant Miraculous London is, it jumps right into the plot. Lila, of course, isn't like Gabriel. She's not going to waste time making grand plans, casting illusions. She knows what she wants and she's heading straight for it.

Chronobug getting a neat little gold finish after wearing Bunnyx's fluorescent vest was fun. I love how yellow she is, and all her spots are illuminated with a diamond glitter effect. It reminds me of the 22-spot ladybug and of the old power-up edits artists created for Marinette post-Season 2.

I do have to wonder – was that fluorescent vest a special material? I doubt it, because at the end of the special, when Marinette de-transforms and casts her healing magic, you like see the vest floating away like a discarded plastic bag. Interesting thing that fanfic writers might want to incorporate into their stories, apparently the colour of the parka your characters wear may determine the colour of their battle-suit.

I really, really liked this shot.

It's the small details that really let you know how much effort the writers put into their story. One of my biggest irks about the negligence of small details in Miraculous comes from this magazine cover in Season 4's Optigami:

Where the subtitles and headings are nonsense Latin. The writers couldn't be bothered to change it to the most generic statement: Adrien Agreste Shocks In Teal was the bare minimum they could've done. They could've described what he was wearing, and they chose to do nothing. This always bothered me, because for all that Miraculous started as a single man's passion project, I'm not seeing a whole lot of passion in it. I can't see soul. The fact that the writers are willing to skip out on small details like this tells me of the lack of focus they're putting into the visual media.

But that scene, where Chronobug slides under her desk – you know those video games where the set are completely untouchable? You're an avatar who always get prevented by a forcefield when you try to go near a desk? That's what the animation of Miraculous always seemed like to me, the characters can't interact with their surroundings, and that only cements the uncanny effect. Chronobug being able to go under her desk is such a small but relieving detail. It make her world feels more real.

Goofy-ahh pose.

Real talk: I love how well-thought out Ghost's power is, especially compared to her more combat-able alternate, Timestalker (? for this name, I had to find it out from the Miraculous Wiki. Really? Timestalker? That was the best they could come up with? To be fair, I was criticising Miraculous for not being literal just a paragraph ago...). Ghost's only ability is to phase through solid objects, and it's perfect for her mission to retrieve all the Miraculous. She can't fight, because she doesn't need to fight. It's her purpose and her defence against any pesky heroes that comes her way, and it highlights Lila's caution and her dedication to her task.

Unlike Gabriel, who's often so lost in his own emotions (think of the many times he insisted on going after Ladybug even though Chat Noir's Miraculous is right there, or in the episode Evolution when he could've saved Emilie but chose to pursue Ladybug in revenge instead), Lila is filled with rage, but she's capable of separating her feelings from her goal. It makes her much more calculating and dangerous than Gabriel.

That being said: what on Earth is Lila's goal? What did she Wish for? Did she already knew about the Miraculous, and that's why she went after? How did she come to uncover Gabriel's undercover identity as Monarque? Season 5 never explained it, Lila just finds out off-screen. Although the special does wrap up loose ends, it doesn't answer everything. I always thought that Lila was just an opportunistic girl who lies to get what she wants, but turns out she has three identities? The theory that she's a time traveller from the future who came back to defeat Ladybug before she reaches her prime still stands, but I can't decide whether or not I want the writers to head in that direction.

Watching the trailer, I thought Félix was Ghost, or that the special would be related to him in some way, seeing that he lives in London, but Félix wasn't even mentioned.

I hope we get to see a lot more of Félix in Season 6, I hope that his relationship with Adrien gets more development. I'm fascinated with sibling (or cousin) relationships, because it's been an integral part of my personal life, and it's a relationship I always zero in on in any media I consume.

This line from Ladybug is incorrect:

"There's nothing I can do [against Ghost]".

She can take all the Miraculous before Ghost gets to them, but the point stands that for the sake of the plot, she has to prevent Ghost from ever discovering her identity.

I can't believe they mentioned Troublemaker, as if Miraculous has a linear storyline. For so long, Miraculous' episodic format has haunted it, all development is wiped away at the start of the next episode and the characters never grow. Miraculous likes to pretend it's linear, but that aspiration is busted when you realise that means twelve days canonically passed between the Christmas Special of Season 1 and the celebration of King's Day in Dearest Family in Season 4. I hope this mention of the past means that there will be less focus on filler and more on telling a relevant story in Season 6.

I don't understand why Ladybug can't take the Butterfly Miraculous when she saw it dangling at the edge of the catwalk over the pool in Gabriel's underground tomb. What set future events is she disturbing? Lila making a Wish is a set future event, but it's okay to disturb that but not okay to prevent her from ever getting her mitts on the Butterfly Miraculous? The story picks and chooses what's allowed and what's not, I can't figure out the rules around it.

Also, Gabriel made his wish to save Nathalie? Wow. I did not expect that. So, Gabriel did wise up a little at the end. Emilie is not going to return for Season 6, she has completely passed away, and it is Amélie we saw at the end of Re-Creation. Season 6 really is going to be a clean slate, none of the major antagonistic figures of the old will have a role in it. I hope this means the writers have paved a well-thought way for Lila, and she truly is going to shine as a villain.

That being sad; how can Lila use the Butterfly Miraculous limitlessly? The special shows her acting two different Akumas on herself without exertion. While she is still proven to be a child? Her ability to utilise its power is also adroit, how is she managing that? How is she literally using the Butterfly Miraculous better in six hours than Gabriel has managed for a full year? This supports the theory that Lila is a future Butterfly Miraculous Holder who came back in time because how else is her familiarity and confidence supposed to be explained?

Tell Adrien the truth. I cannot emphasise this enough. Miscommuncation is a dull, dull plot point. I don't want to see characters fumbling around each other like blindfolded men. I want to see them try their best and still fail. It's more terrifying that way, it's more impactful.

This horror segment is done pretty well:

When Chronobug widens her eyes and the music reaches that low, horror movie-esque strings. The terror that hits her as she realises that the lights are supposed to be off by default. This is a clever way of demonstrating her deductive skills because it's a deduction the audience can make alongside her. We watched at the beginning of the special how Ladybug stepped into the stairway filled with light and we assumed that was the norm with it. It's only until the lights turned off after Ladybug's exit that you realised: hey, that's not right. It means someone entered just before we did!

Real clever. This is a bit of actual intelligence. Miraculous is usually filled with convolution schemes that had no realism, so it makes Marinette's intelligence seem a little far-fetched. How can anyone (adult viewers, especially) buy Ladybug's cleverness when her plans of trapping Akumas with a spoon and a towel is plain ridiculous? But this is real, this is possible. A Sherlock Holmes moment, which Bunnyx even explicitly referenced.

More evidence supporting that Lila is a Future Butterfly Miraculous Holder, her identity as Timestalker more than a fair physical for Ladybug.

Akumas usually fail to get the upper hand on Ladybug when they go melee one-on-one with her, but Timestalker managed to successfully repel Ladybug. The choreograph was really well done.

This shot, where Chronobug and Bunnyx are highlighted as two bright but tiny splotches on a pure white landscape, it really screams This isn't over. You are still puny, you have no idea what you're in for. Meaningful visual storytelling. It's them against the big, wide world.

Lila has such a cute set-out here. I like that she purchased all watches that she used as her Akumatised object, and they seem like pretty expensive watches too, if they came with their own gift boxes. Her brown leather shoulder bag is adorable, and I like that she has a stand for her notebook. This is a sophisticated girl who knows the importance of presentation.

I'm going to lose it. Remember what I said about the writers not caring about the small details? What is the writing at the top of the page supposed to be? Viking runes? They couldn't be bothered to spend ten minutes recounting the story in word form?

I love how angry Lila's voice gets, how it trembles as she says "Why did I write that? Did something go wrong with my PLAN?" We're starting to see elements of her real personality, her quick fury, her violent temper. She's a perfectionist, and despite her low exam scores, meticulous in planning and quite intelligent, enough to be a match for Ladybug, until she had to settle for a stalemate rather than a complete victory.

Neither of them won anything. Ladybug still doesn't have the Butterfly Miraculous and Lila doesn't have her identity.

Whenever we see Lila post-Confrontation, she's always dressed up in some disguise or the other, to fool people. This is the first time we've seen her where she has no need to camoflauge herself. So, is this what Lila actually looks like? She has pale blonde hair and lavender eyes? Her outfit is also super cute, serving private school in a V-neck woollen blouse, white shirt, and pleated skirt. It looks quite similar to the leaked Season 6 concept art of Lila where she looks like she's going to sell me Girl Scout cookies.

So, I think the resemblance in the outfit means that this leaked concept art is genuine, as the eye and hair colour and outfit match (they're even saving money by keeping Lila's tights and re-colouring her boots).

I wonder how Lila's voice actor feels. Did she always knew she was going to have a big role? Lila had one appearance in Season 1, vanished for the entirety of Season 2, and while enjoyed better representation in Season 4+5, it's nowhere close to Gabriel's once-in-a-episode cameo. If the same format plays out for Lila Butterfly, that means Lila will be appearing once in an episode. I look forward to that, I think Lisa Kay Jennings has a beautiful voice for Lila; soulful and sly.

Finally: why does Miraculous Holders have a ridiculous amount of power over the Kwami? It doesn't make sense. Canonically, Kwami are the physical form of abstract concepts. The Miraculous is nothing more than a vessel for their power to be channelled through, so that the Miraculous Holder can wield their abilities. It's not some sort of collar, and it certainly doesn't explain why Gabriel can mute Nooroo and how Lila can just freeze him in a single snap. Why does the narrative keep insisting that these forces older than Earth are childish and incapable and naïve? I feel like the Kwami shouldn't even care about humanity, not because they're evil, but because they don't understand and they don't want to understand. Human civilisation will, after all, pass in the blink of an eye for them. Instead, they're so concerned with little things like secret identities. Yes, I know the answer is because it's a cartoon. It's still not a well-written plausbility.

The London Special does a great job adding facets to Marinette. She cares, but she's short-sighted. She tries her best, but she's still not enough. She's so empathetic, she's selfish. She considers everyone, to the point that it goes back to what is most convenient for herself. I don't like Marinette – I think that anyone who follows me for a length and read my stories can tell – but I still respect her character and give her credit where it's due. And she is wonderfully five-dimensional.

The story goes over-the-top at proving her brilliance sometimes, however. Why does Marinette have the ability to re-make the Miraculous? It took Gabriel Agreste an unholy amount of research, money, privacy, and technology to melt the Miraculous down into his rings. You're telling me that Marinette can undo all that with spare equipment she found around her bedroom? What?

Just in general, the London Special was really good. All my mutuals were right, there are issue, but the writing is quality. This gives me hope for Season 6 (and expectations too, unfortunately), and I hope that the story will continue to move forward.

Also, regarding the animation, I found out from its Miraculous Wiki page that it was done by SAMG which, sadly, we may not be seeing them anymore, as Season 6 is supposed to be animated entirely by Dwarf Animation, a French company, who also produced the Miraculous film. I'm glad that Zag Toon is finally keeping it local. Out-sourcing their animation work to multiple different international companies not only means that the quality is inconsistent and that the episode order is whack, but it also spells some pretty ugly intentions for their corporation too. Mainly that they don't care about art, but keeping things cheap. Miraculous already looks pretty cheap. If I didn't know any better, I would say it seems to be a small indie series; with its uninspiring models, lack of extra characters (featuring a completely empty Paris), but Miraculous is one of the most popular animated shows, shows in general in the world. They're making bank on merchandising and streaming. So, why does none of that profit shows in their animation? What Dwarf did for the Miraculous movie was spectacular, and I can only hope they'll bring that level of quality to its main series.

#miraculous #london special #at the edge of time #marinette dupain-cheng #lila rossi #thoughts

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