#Did I just write an essay about different categories on how to stop an Akuma?

[strawberrystar7]

There’s 3 types of stopping an Akuma and here’s how:

How I see it there are 3 types of stopping an Akuma. Maybe 4 if you want to be very exact to the tiniest detail but I categorized 2 of them in 1 category because I think they are close enough. This does not include defeating the Akuma and cleansing it with the Ladybug Miraculous.

People oftentimes argue that Chloé has been the very first character to resist an Akuma when others bring up Alya as the first to reject an Akuma but that’s the thing. She was the first to resist an Akuma’s influence but she wasn’t the first to reject an Akuma and she was not the first to repel an Akuma. People tend to treat all of these the same but I think they are different cases and categories.

Now this may be a bit confusing without knowing what I mean by the categories repulsion, resistance and rejection so here are my explanations as to what these categories are supposed to mean and include. (If anyone has better fitting names for the categories I am open for suggestions. Those were the best fitting ones I could come up with but they may not match like I wanted to).

1. Repulsion:

What do I mean by repulsion? Well usually this includes instances where an Akuma does not touch an object and therefore gets repelled.

Examples for this are: Su-Han’s mantra in the season 4 episode Furious Fu. Or that time in the season 3 episode Chameleon where Marinette calmed down before the Akuma could touch her belongings. But I also include instances like in the season 5 episode Revolution where Mister Damocles almost gets akumatized but because of his students encouragment he gets courage again which results in the magical charm manifesting as a shield allowing him to cleanse the Akuma before it could touch anything. But then there is the instance in the season 5 episode Collusion where Miss Bustier manages to cleanse an Akuma through meditation (at least I am assuming that was some form of meditation technique). Yes an object of hers got touched by the Akuma so technically it’s a bit different compared to the other instances but it’s also kinda similar to Damocles case since the Akuma got cleansed so I’d still count it as repelling.

So generally we can summarize this category with characters and instances where characters have calmed down before an Akuma could touch them or when they have cleansed the Akuma. (Those are actually the 2 sub-categories which I have categorized in one category because to me cleansing an Akuma and stopping the Akuma before getting touched are both ways of repelling an Akuma to me.)

There is a bit of a side effect to this tho. While in some cases the Akumas do get cleansed because of meditation or the magical charms, it can also happen that an Akuma instead gets redirected to the next victim because the Akuma hasn’t been cleansed.

2. Resistance

What do I mean by resitance? Well usually this includes instances where an Akuma does manage to touch an object but the target managed to resist the temptation and offer of power. However the Akuma doesn’t get cleansed.

Examples for this are: Chloé Bourgeois resists getting turned into an Akuma Villain even after the Akuma touching her picture by rejecting the temptation and Hawk Moth’s offer for power in the season 3 episode Miraculer. Or Félix Fathom when he resisted getting turned into an Villain even after the Akuma touched his stuff simply by rejecting Shadow Moth’s offer (and Senti!Gabriel’s threats) in the season 4 episode Gabriel Agreste.

However because the Akumas don’t get cleansed they just target a new victim so someone else gets turned into an Akuma instead.

3. Rejection

What do I mean by rejection? Well usually this includes instances where an Akuma manages to akumatize the target and fall under some semblance of mind control (since Akuma Villains do tend to act in a way the target would never have acted like without the Akumas influence). However the target eventually manages to break free from that control and manages to deakumatize themselves.

Examples for this are: Alya Césaire in the season 4 episode Gang of Secrets, when Alya managed to break free and turn herself back from Lady Wifi into Alya. Nino Lahiffe in the season 4 episode Rocketear, when Nino managed to break free and turn himself back from Rocketear to Nino. Chloé Bourgeois in the season 4 episode Penalteam, when Penalty got sick of her clones and eventually turned herself back into Chloé. Kagami Tsurugi in the season 5 episode Perfection, when an akumatized Kagami sees how much other people actually care about her. She breaks free from the Akumas control in that moment and managed to turn herself back from Ryukomori into Kagami. Lila Rossi/Cerise (or whatever her name is. I’ll call her Lila for simplicity) in the season 5 episode Revelation, when she manages to deakumatize herself from Hoaxer to Lila after she got the information she wanted from Nathalie.

What I’ve also noticed about the instances in this category is that the characters seem to retain their memories from when they have been akumatized which is something that usually never happens after getting deakumatized. Usually characters are disoriented and don’t remember anything but whenever a character manages to deakumatize themselves they seem to know where they are and what happened. Take Lila as an example. She smirked right after deakumatizing herself like she knew exactly what she did. Or Alya, she didn’t look confused at all and could instantly respond to Ladybug’s comments which is something that Akuma Victims usually never do due to the disorientation and confusion. They usually take a moment to collect their thoughts and realize where they are or why they could be there meanwhile Alya didn’t take that time. She only took a little time to catch her breath. Or Kagami who seemed to remember what happened while she was Ryukomori. It’s similar like with Alya where she didn’t seem disoriented at all and she didn’t seemed confused on why Marinette’s classmates where there with a big picture of Kagami. It was like she knew exactly what happened similar as Alya and Lila.

Anyway…

There really are differences between how a character may stop an Akuma from targeting them.

Anytime someone brings up the characters that have rejected an Akuma there is always someone who brings up Chloé Bourgeois. The character who had a picture touched by an Akuma in the season 3 episode Miraculer and then resisted the Akuma’s influence by rejecting Hawk Moth’s offer for power. People keep bringing up Chloé was the first to resist an Akuma. And that is true but the problem is that they throw it into the same category as repulsion and rejection. How I see it’s not the same thing so I don’t think Chloé should be brought up when people talk about characters who have rejected an Akuma. Same thing the other way around. And same thing with characters who have repelled Akumas. Characters like Alya should not be brought up when talking about characters who have resisted an Akuma. At least not if you are trying to say they are the same thing. It would be like trying to compare apples and pears.

Even if we would act like repulsion, resistance, and rejection are all the same thing, Chloé would still not be the first to stop an Akuma from targeting herself. In that case, it would be Marinette who was the first to stop an Akuma from targeting herself since the season 3 episode Chameleon (in Chameleon Marinette managed to stop the Akuma from targeting her by calming down) was canonically before the season 3 episode Miraculer (in Miraculer an Akuma landed on a picture Chloé was holding and Cloé managed to resist the Akuma’s influence by rejecting Hawk Moth’s offer for power). However like I previously said these are not the same thing. Yes generally speaking all 3 are ways to stop an Akuma from targeting a specific person but they are different ways to do that. Some stop the Akuma from targeting only one person, others stop the Akuma from targeting everyone and the rest stop the Akuma from controlling someone (which kind of is also a form of targeting in a sense. Maybe not the traditional way but it is kinda targeting someone if you try to control them). I don’t want to treat them the same because to me they are not the same. If we go as a whole then yes, Marinette would be the first to stop an Akuma without explicitly using the Ladybug Miraculous. Chloé would be second, and Alya would be 3rd. However, if we divide this into sub-categories like I did Marinette is the first to repel, Chloé is the first to resist and Alya is the first to reject. It just makes more sense to me to divide them into separate categories.