#oh wait looking up manon her name is different in english

[lollitree]

I finished the XY series, now halfway through the sun/moon series and I miss Manon...

[dawninlatin]

Queen of Peace, chapter 7

A Manorian High School AU

Masterlist

Words: 2431

Summary: Manon Blackbeak is flawless, untouchable. From the outside at least. Her grandmother pushes her to achieve greatness, and she doesn’t let anyone get too close in fear of being hurt. How can anyone love her when not even her parents could?

Dorian Havilliard has always felt safe and confident around his friends. He might not have the greatest of families, but with Aelin and Chaol by his side, nothing can go wrong. That is until he tries keeping his greatest secret from them.

What will happen when Dorian and Manon gets to know one another? Can two lost souls find their way back together?

Would you leave me

If I told you what I have done?

And would you leave me

If I told you what I’ve become?

-Florence + The Machine, No Light, No Light

«How’s school at the moment? Do you have a lot of work?»

Manon looked up from where she was chopping vegetables to find Asterin leaning against the counter, a curious look on her face. It was Friday night, and since her cousin had decided to stay home for once, they were currently in the kitchen, making dinner together.

«It’s okay, the only major assignment I have right now is a book project in English,» Manon responded, said book lying open on her bed, waiting for her to continue with it.

Asterin only nodded, turning back towards the stove. It had been like this the entire evening, the air full off awkward silence and unsaid words. Manon wasn’t entirely sure what had happened for it to be like this, who’s fault it was, but one thing she knew: She couldn’t take it anymore, not even for a minute. She had to say something to break the heavy tension.

«How’s it going with you and Hunter?» That certainly caught Asterin’s attention, considering they hadn’t spoken of her boyfriend since their argument a few weeks back. Manon didn’t want to bring it up again now, either, but there was a big elephant in the room, and its name was Hunter.

A blush spread over Asterin’s cheeks, and Manon wanted to throw up at the sweet, lovestruck look on her cousin’s face. «It’s all great,» Asterin said, smiling dreamily, «I really like him.»

Manon twisted back to her vegetables so that Asterin wouldn’t see how hard she rolled her eyes. She regretted asking.

Her cousin didn’t seem to take the hint though, because she kept going, «I would have gone to his place tonight as well, but he’s visiting his parents this weekend.» Right, Manon thought. Hunter was in college. He was only a freshman, only a few months older than Asterin, but still, he had a car, had his own apartment, was an adult. And their grandmother, if she found out-

«You haven’t told her, have you?» Asterin suddenly asked, as if knowing where Manon’s mind had wandered when she’d gone quiet. She really didn’t want to have this conversation.

She sighed, putting down the knife she was holding. «No, I haven’t told her, and I’m not going to either. Just-,» Manon didn’t know what to say, had never been good with words, had always preferred expressing herself physically, «-just be careful, okay?»

«I know, and thank you, for not saying anything I mean.» Manon smiled at her cousin, the heavy tension between them seemingly gone.

They continued their cooking in silence, but this time, it was the relaxed, calm quiet that came when you were so comfortable with being around someone that you didn’t need to talk. Manon relished the feeling, at least until Asterin opened her mouth and spoke once more, «You have some secret boyfriend too? You’ve been in a disturbingly good mood lately?»

Manon only emitted a choking sound, becoming very interested in the floor as Asterin wiggled her eyebrows at her. She could feel her face go beet red, could feel her heart being thundering, yet she didn’t answer, and she didn’t have to either, as water suddenly began to boil and Asterin had to shift her attention elsewhere.

Thank god, Manon thought, silently cursing her cousin for even daring to ask, silently cursing herself for reacting in such a way, and silently cursing a certain blue-eyed, smirky bastard for being the first person she had thought of.

-

Although it was late September, the warm summer they’d had lingered long enough for Dorian and Aelin to spend their shared free period outside, sitting by the football field.

Chaol was busy having P.E, his class running laps on the track around the field. Aelin delighted in watching them, in giving Chaol a mocking wave whenever he passed them, accompanied by a look that said, Look at me, sitting here in the sun, not running laps.

Dorian enjoyed himself too, but not because of his best friends misery. He had always loved this time of the year. When the trees turned red and yellow and brown, as if they were aflame, but it was still warm enough to bask in the sun with a good book.

Which was what Dorian was doing at this very moment. He was about halfway through Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, and he was enjoying every second of it, especially since he would get to discuss it with Manon later that very day. Dorian desperately hoped she would like it…

Too lost in his own thoughts, Dorian didn’t realize Aelin had asked him something until she waved her hand in front of his face. «Hellooo, earth to Dorian.»

He shook his head, closing the book and carefully laying it in his backpack. «Sorry, I got a little…lost,» he mumbled, Aelin rolling her eyes. «What was your question?»

«I was just wondering what you’ve been up to lately. I know I’ve been spending less time with you and Chaol because of Rowan and all, but you seem different today, happier, more relaxed, than you’ve been for a long time.»

This was it, Dorian thought, taking a moment to ponder over what she’d said. He had to say it now. So he took a shuddering breath, before blurting out, «I’m bi.»

Dorian watched as Aelin’s eyes went wide, as her face broke out in one of the biggest grins he had ever seen, and he couldn’t help it when he let out a relieved exhale.

«Oh! That’s awesome!» Aelin exclaimed, throwing her arms around him with such force he lost his balance and had to brace an arm behind him to keep them upright. Still holding him in a bone-crushing embrace, Aelin asked, «Does Chaol know?»

Choking out something that sounded like I can’t breathe, Dorian wormed out of Aelin’s grasp, smoothing his hair that looked slightly more disheveled than it had moments ago. «Yeah, I told him last Friday,» he answered, looking towards the field, where his friend had stopped running, instead looking up at them. As if knowing exactly what was going on, Chaol gave Dorian a proud smile that made him feel all warm inside.

Dorian shifted his attention back to Aelin, cringing slightly, before saying, «Sorry I didn’t tell you first-»

«None of that,» Aelin interrupted, clicking her tongue. «Even if I am slightly offended you didn’t tell me first, I’m just glad you trust me enough to tell me at all. I’m happy for you Dorian!»

This time it was his turn to pull her into a warm embrace, although less crushing this time. «Thank you,» Dorian murmured into her hair. Aelin tightened her hold in answer.

After a while, they both pulled back, smiling softly at one another. Dorian hadn’t felt this light ever, he thought. It had been a victory, telling Chaol, but both of them knew now, he didn’t have to hide anymore. He had told both of his friends that he was bi, and yet nothing had changed. Everything was fine. No, everything was great.

Looking at Aelin, he saw that her signature smirk had appeared, her eyes glowing with mischief and playfulness. Bracing himself for what was to come next, Dorian raised an eyebrow in question.

That terrifying smirk only grew wider as Aelin said, «Does this mean we can talk about hot boys together?»

Dorian couldn’t do anything but laugh at her question, although he was sure anything could make him laugh right now. He felt so light he wondered how gravity was able to keep him grounded.

«I thought you had a boyfriend.» Aelin rolled her eyes.

«Yes, but me being on a strict Rowan Whitethorn-diet doesn’t mean I can’t look at other snacks.»

«You’re gross.»

-

«Just admit it, you love it,» Dorian teased, and had they not been sitting in a library filled with other people, Manon would have punched him. Hard.

It was Wednesday, and they were using their English lesson to compare notes. They had agreed to set this lesson as their halfway point, and Manon had read half of the book, and then some.

She wanted to hate it, she really did, but she couldn’t. Since that Saturday, Manon had found herself unable to stop reading. Her busy schedule had made it so that she only could sneak in a few pages here and there, but she read, everywhere. She read while waiting for the rest of her team to show up to dance practice, she read late at night, until she was so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open, she had even taken up the habit of eating her lunch outside, alone, so that she could read a chapter or two in peace.

Tired as she might be, it was worth it. The story was thrilling, funny - and with no better word for it - magic. Had the circumstances been different, Manon thought, she probably would have been as much of a nerd as Dorian.

But even if she liked the book, there was no way she would admit it. Sighing, she replied, «I don’t. It’s a stupid, silly children’s story.» Manon had to bite her lip to keep her mask of boredom intact.

«Then why have you read three chapters past where we agreed?» Dorian asked, lifting an eyebrow while pointing his chin towards her book, lying in front of her with a bookmark marking a page way past the middle of the book. He was buying none of it, Manon realized, yet she couldn’t admit defeat. Never.

Manon had to look away to stop herself from smiling, to stop herself from rambling on and on about how good this book was. «Because I will be very busy the following days. Dorian only gave her a look that said Sure you will.

Dorian was about to open his mouth and say something else, but Manon beat him to it. «We should just get it over with, so you can go have your lunch-date with the librarian.» As soon as the words left her mouth, Manon realized what mistake she’d just made. Dorian looked over to the 90-year old librarian who looked like she had been in this dusty, old building since the dawn of time, and as if she’d heard what Manon said - which there was no way she could have done, Manon was fairly sure the woman was actually deaf - she winked at him. Holy shit.

The boy in front of her only gaped, before he started laughing. Dorian laughed so hard his face turned red, laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair, earning a reprimanding look from a woman sitting a few tables down. Manon scolded herself for making that joke, for showing any other emotion apart from boredom and annoyance, for revealing that she might not be as uninterested as she let on.

Once Dorian had managed to collect himself, at least a little, he said, «I never thought I would witness the mighty Manon Blackbeak make a joke.» He grinned at her, his face still red from laughing, and damn her, Manon couldn’t help but grin back.

-

Dorian hated Wednesday nights. It was the one night a week where his entire family was home, which meant he had to endure eating dinner with his entire family as well.

All joy from earlier today, from coming out to Aelin and working with Manon, disappeared as he sat at the table, listening to his brother throw another tantrum, while simultaneously shutting out his fathers voice coming from the end of the table.

He hardly spoke during these dinners, content with just eating in silence and fleeing to the peace and quiet of his room as soon as he got the chance.

Today was not one of those dinners. Dorian felt as if he was boiling with rage inside as his father kept talking, never shutting up. Apparently, gay marriage was to be legalized in some country somewhere, and his father was not happy about it.

Trying his very best to ignore out his father’s words, to ignore all the discriminating, homophobic comments that deep, arrogant voice wouldn’t stop spewing out, Dorian forced another bite down. The food felt like glue in his mouth.

After speaking to Aelin today, he had actually contemplated coming out to his parents. He had felt brave enough to do it. All that bravery disappeared the moment his father said a sentence so offensive Dorian decided he never wanted to hear it again, not even in his own head.

He felt anger and rage churn inside him, his blood turning to ice. Dorian wanted to get up and scream at his father. He imagined himself yelling, «How can you say something like that when I’m sitting right here?» But he didn’t, he kept eating, kept pushing the tears back, kept silent, feeling heavier and heavier.

-

As Manon read the final words of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, she couldn’t help but feel a little gloomy. It was depressing enough that she was spending her Friday night alone, reading a children’s book, but she also only had a week left of her and Dorian’s English project. The deadline had even been postponed a week, yet she was sitting here, feeling sad that it would end soon. Why are you feeling sad about that stupid project? You don’t actually like him, do you? she heard a voice inside her say. She couldn’t decide if it was her own or her grandmother’s.

Manon hated herself for admitting it, but she did enjoy spending time with Dorian. She enjoyed how easy it was to talk to him, how he made her smile and laugh, how he teased, but never mocked or judged. Had she been anyone else, she might had wanted to be his friend afterwards.

But Manon Blackbeak didn’t have friends. Friends were nothing but a distraction, and she couldn’t risk anything getting in the way of her future.

You will only end up like your mother.

It was enough that she was seriously contemplating heading to the library before dance practice tomorrow, to pick up the rest of the Harry Potter series, she didn’t need to befriend Dorian Havilliard as well.

Besides, if she let her mask fall too much, he would take one look at the broken mess she really was and bolt.

A/N: Decided to make it a little longer this time, as a treat:))) (don't get used to it tho...)

As always, feel free to comment, critique, ask questions, whatever you want:)

Bye! Imma go play The Sims

Peace&Love<3 -Dawninlatin

[andseperand]

thoughts

ive been sitting on this post for the better part of a year. i tried to read through it and make edits, but im going to have to post this as is. maybe ill be able to edit it someday. anyway, this is completely composed of spoilers.

tl;dr: i mostly wrote bitterness about “kung food,” “origins part 1,″ and “reflekta.”

these are my thoughts on what ive watched of the first season of miraculous ladybug (i have watched most of every episode except the last three).

i may be confused or misinformed on some points. some of this is not as serious as other parts, and the writing style is disjointed because i didnt write it all in one go. any links are formatted within brackets (as in [text]).

ordered by the order i initially watched (parts of) the episodes in and indicated by villain name somehow (english, korean, french, french translation, etc.).

stormy weather/climatika

why did alya just toss manon like that? she couldve hurt something just being thrown around with her tiny little bones and joints that lack any significant cushioning. not to mention that her neck is completely unsupported. safety, much?

the bubbler/le bulleur

so the record is fully functional but also survived getting smacked off a building on its edge? wow.

copycat/l’imposteur/the imposter

i get that alya is supposed to be that “go-getter” friend who pushes marinette to be brave, but honestly, if she had waited another minute for marinette to be more ready for making a phone call, this wouldve been less of a mess. yeah, i get the “pushing boundaries to build confidence,” but honestly we could have waited for marinette to stop stalking adrien, too.

i gotta say: marinette is truly fearless. my phone is so suspicious. i would not have the confidence to deliberately touch it with my face and risk contact with who knows what has been on it.

the “moral” or whatever of this episode is kind of unclear? steal someones phone and run into issues with security but then also somehow break into it and get what you want anyway? no, thats not okay. its not that funny that marinette legitimately stole someones phone, and she doesnt even get seriously reprimanded for this.

timebreaker/chronogirl

one of the most pressing questions i have for this episode is why no one thought of using pockets or a bag or something to hold this important watch. hand perspiration is pretty bad for a lot of older and newer mechanical objects alike. why is this clearly-important item treated any different? ive considered both the “tikki is in the bag” (doesnt mean it has to be marinettes bag) and the “girl pockets” (marinette designed her own clothes, though) possibilities, and im still stumped.

mister/monsieur/mr./m. pigeon

how did chloe know what the colors were or even what the embroidery pattern looked like from a pencil sketch? it looked like chicken scratch.

lady wifi

im not sure that “dont violate other peoples privacy” was very well stated, seeing as alya was landed with an unfairly harsh punishment due to corrupt politicians. and how did that get resolved, anyway? was she still suspended? was there even supposed to be a moral in this mess?

the pharaoh/le pharaon

the villain is a pharaoh, continuing the ages-long trend of pretending ancient egyptian culture is just ~so interesting~ and that its portrayal isnt exploitative at all. i cant really say much about this, but i dont like those special ancient egypt episodes of anything.

rogercop

a mess

im pretty sure that this was to save animation budget or something, but why was marinette picking up those croissants off the floor and arranging them so nicely as if it really mattered what she did with them besides cleaning up the spill? i guess ill let it slide if shes trained that way as an advertising thing (though advertising doesnt get a free pass by default just because its strange).

the evillustrator/evil artist/le dessinateur

off topic, but could that tablet also erase or create living beings?

dark cupid/le dislocoeur/heartbreaker

this was still technically a kiss without consent? doesnt really feel all that romantic and whatnot. i cant really get behind this as shipping material.

horrificator

side note: i really liked how chloes english voice actor delivered the lines mockingly announcing mylenes “award” in the beginning.

im not a fan of the “you must kiss as part of acting” plot point. it always gives off those peer pressure vibes from other people and opportunistic vibes from main characters who want to actually kiss the other person.

darkblade/le chevalier noir/the black knight

sabrina is honestly super lucky that marinette made her box have a hole big enough for super tiny animated character wrists or else she wouldve been in a world of more pain.

alya had a platform? im so confused about how this election worked. did they do ballots or some sort of “heads down” in-class vote thing?

the/le mime

seeing as people dont lose their memories of being attacked by the villains, i really dont see how tearing down the eiffel tower (even in an animated show where people are not in the structure at the time) is the best way to minimize traumatic experiences. i get that it was supposed to be a “wow” moment for the plot and just visual effects but not the appeal.

kung food

the second i ever laid my eyes on this name i knew it would be bad, i just didnt know how bad because there were just so many ways it couldve gone with that phrase and i didnt know what to expect until i actually watched the episode. more on this in a bit.

there was literally no point to having the famous chef be related to marinette other than contrived circumstances to get adrien into this episode. im using this as a launching off point for talk of other stuff.

why didnt marinettes parents do anything about a relative coming to their house? this really baffles me because they have their daughter meet an effective stranger with no help.

why didnt marinettes parents tell her what languages the relative spoke? honestly, it kind of seems like they just didnt even care if this would cause her extreme anxiety or anything. you would really think they would have at least discussed this as a family because it was made pretty clear that his visit was actually expected. i thought way higher of their characters until it seemed that they pulled this crap move.

i know it was supposed to be all cute and a bonding moment when adrien came over to translate, but it was even more of a disaster. why did they take a car literally around the corner to get to the hotel? why didnt the chef go directly to the hotel if it was so close? was that adriens car? who was in charge of organizing this event and making sure the contestants didnt end up in the wrong place? how in the world did the chef even get to the bakery? because of the close proximity of the hotel to the bakery, it doesnt make sense that he would go to the bakery instead from an airport or something? unless he was supposed to meet his relatives? which, in this case, was not facilitated at all? so many questions are raised.

i dont speak nor understand mandarin, but im pretty sure adriens wasnt good enough for him to actually be complimented for it. then again, its nothing new to see white people getting complimented for deigning to learn a ~foreign language~ while i get interrogated about my lack of “authenticity” for not speaking “my native tongue,” so i guess the writers were just being realistic.

he bowed...funny story, at least one time i went to a restaurant with other visibly asian people and the apparently-white waiter kept making this weird head bobbing motion every time they left the table and what im saying here is that i know adrien has presumably been learning about culture stuff, but i also know firsthand that creators really love to shove bowing into media whenever asian people show up. (that waiter did give us extra mints, so i guess that was nice.)

sarcasm alert: i love when ~asian~ people have ~asian~ accents. its not like this is a tired gimmick that i dont need to see literally everywhere i turn (oh, wait! according to the english version, it is! hooray for me! this is probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me ever! im not being sarcastic at all! or overly sarcastic to the point where im sarcastically putting in that everything ive written in this paragraph is sarcastic because im just so mad! or maybe it definitely is! it probably is all sarcasm!) [bonus sarcasm here]

the chefs english/default dub language fluency was either inconsistent or this was just a straight-up rude portrayal of a nonnative speaker of a language, because adrien didnt seem to wait five seconds (for the chef to even consider the question about what he was cooking) before talking to the chef (and naturally, being a polite person, the chef listened to what adrien was saying), and i feel like it was only for the sake of adrien being ~useful~ because right after that, he talks to the chef in english/whatever language? dont think i didnt notice that his english speaking got “better” after becoming a villain. you know, if they hadnt faked the accent in the first place, they wouldnt have had to hastily cover for the fact that their voice actor couldnt even execute it well.

im sure adrien and marinette tag-teaming to argue with chloe and her racist comments was supposed to be this whole “wow look at that team” deal, but it felt like adrien was shoehorned into this mess sloppily. woohoo for the white boy defending marinette because she cant do it herself or something! i do appreciate when white people help stand up for me, but in this context, it feels off.

i have such a big problem with the “pep talk” adrien gives marinette when she thinks the chef doesnt like her. first thing, white boy explaining things about a person of color to a person of color, and the two people are actually literally related? i think the bouquet misunderstanding was really bizarre, and when did adrien have time to gain all this extensive exposition? the interview when they first arrived was short, and i dont think that both adrien and the chef would be so rude as to exclude marinette from their conversation in the car on the way over. this just comes off as a way to have adrien ~encouraging~ marinette, and its not a very good one.

this supposedly super prestigious competition literally has no security to make sure no one is mucking around behind the scenes, let alone ensure that the contestants arent up to any funny business. because why not. and no cameras around either, because cooking-based television programs never show any cooking, just the tasting and subsequent subjugation by a villain (this is a sarcastic sentence). even if this is supposed to be a featured dish and thus one they dont want to showcase the recipe behind, they could still have those little soundbites interspersed with candid panorama shots (can you tell i have no idea what any of these words mean?). im just going to have to chalk this one up to animation budget and move on.

i know this was just a sort of (intendedly funny) visual thing, but i highly doubt that the objects chloe put in the soup could just go unnoticed, especially since i presume a chef would thoroughly stir (and taste) their cooking, and the soup didnt appear to have properties of decomposing things touching it. otherwise that tasting session would probably have turned out a little messier (i am completely kidding here).

why is the chef being upset about being sabotaged made into a ~cultural~ thing? why is a white boy telling marinette about her ~own~ culture? sheesh, its like you cant just be upset because your shot at a world title was ruined on live television and you have confirmation that you were deliberately sabotaged. yes, chloe did it because shes petty and racist, but the results of her actions could upset anyone! its not just because the chef is chinese! what is the point of saying that? its a pointless throwaway comment! why dont you just find some other way to get the chef alone so he can be become a villain that isnt a) nonsensical and b) making sweeping generalizations about people? (granted, i cant speak to the validity of anything said about cultures, but i sure can comment on why saying such things about them isnt okay regardless).

“kung food” oh my god. this is such a piece of crap name. it is racist. you can literally try to argue against this until youve gone far beyond oxygen deprivation and in a grave but itll still be racist by the time youre done. aside from the pharaoh, there arent a bunch of ~ethnic~ names (not that it would be okay for that to be the case anyway) running around, and yet we get one with this specific villain whose ethnic and national origin is talked to death? okay.

and ive seen this pointed out, but the villain appearance seems to have a kind of anime-inspired design, which is honestly a good laugh because who was just talking about not conflating china and japan again? weeaboos and sinaboos are often in the same boat.

okay, not related, but adrien just had to taste a suspicious substance off the floor. why. there are so many ways to figure out what a substance is before putting it in your mouth. or you could just not do that at all. before this point, they did not appear to suspect a food-related villain, so this couldve ended badly.

another side note: i dont know how that receipt retained its integrity long enough for ladybug to wrap the villain up after dipping it in the soup. do the magical items just have super special properties like extra toughness that allows them to defy the reality of paper receipts? i wonder how many of the things ive talked about in this post have been me marveling at the sturdiness of lucky charm items.

of course this turns into an ~accountability~ lesson for marinette. and chloe doesnt get reprimanded? yeah, she got booted off a panel she didnt even want to be on and no one actually clearly articulated to her that the things she said were absolutely unacceptable? then again, this is a “diversity episode,” so i dont know why my standards are so high.

wow, marinette really needed to have adrien encourage her before going to take a picture with her great-uncle? im going to be generous and allow that she wanted to make sure he would be okay with her ditching him for her much cooler great-uncle because she didnt want him to feel bad about how not-cool he is in comparison. there, you see what i mean about making up story elements? (though im really not much of a writer, oops.)

im so over people making fun of how others dress as a joke. before i realized that i am autistic and reflected back on my life, i didnt realize that i gravitate toward clothing i find comfortable rather than fashionable, and ive always gotten negative comments, ill-intended or otherwise. so i really didnt appreciate marinettes jab at chloe, even if it was to defend herself. it was just unnecessary.

i want to talk about the whole ~chinese representation~ thing in this show. yeah, i know marinette is one of the very few chinese and mixed main characters out there (and there are barely any that are both), but im going to be super honest about this: i dont think shes all that great. i am a big fan of her and this show, but that doesnt make it infallible. the fact that adrien of all people is telling her about her own culture is a huge failing in itself. i dont know everything about my own cultures, but its not cool to have a literal outsider being shown to be the expert on someones culture and be the one to guide them through that. theres barely any portrayal of sino stuff in the show as is, and i hate the way this is only shown as a kind of special episode topic. i would be way more fine with this if this wasnt basically the sole instance of discussion of marinettes heritage. and no, the fact that her mother wears stereotypical clothing doesnt count. at all.

okay, this has been a huge issue for me before and after this point, but it was in this episode that it was made abundantly clear just what we are dealing with. i know that it is completely possible, genetically speaking, for a mixed chinese and white person to have blue eyes. its also completely possible for a chinese person to have gray eyes even without being mixed (i say this because i dont know if her mother is monoracial). however, if you only have two confirmed recurring characters of chinese descent, and their eye colors are ~special~ colors...well, thats kind of iffy there. why is it that the minor chinese character has stereotypical eyes? theyre basically just expanded pupils for all intents and purposes, which is not the problem, because its possible to have irises that are so dark as to make figuring out whether they have a distinguishable brown tint to them really hard. anyway, i suppose i dont want to talk about things ahead in the season, but why is it that the background asian characters get the stereotypical eyes but the main characters who are asian get the special eye colors? (that was a rhetorical question. i know exactly why.)

im pretty that at some point in the creation of this villain name, someone patted themself on the back for being so ~clever~ like “haha kung food geddit? its like kung fu but with food because im actually not that creative and more racist than i would like to openly admit.” okay, i know im being a bit harsh. but its really annoying when one of the few things people “know” about sino people is that kung fu exists. and honestly, i kind of suspected this, but ive seen other people say that the villain more resembles a villain from anime, so...thats kind of disrespectful there...

the/le gamer

i really disliked marinettes combo move names. they all had ~asian~ words like lotus, jade, oriental, etc.

animan

i find the sniffing scene to be kind of creepy. personal space much?

the city has really high quality buses. i cant believe the bus didnt end up backfiring on their plan because if i know anything about buses its that the ones ive seen are probably way older and more decrepit than me.

antibug

how do the earrings work in this setting? as far as i can tell, it would make sense for chloe to have pierced ears and a pair of ladybug imitation earrings that she could put it, but how is it possible that ladybug was able to just pull the earrings off? because that could be a really, really messy situation if they are actually piercings with backings and everything, but is there an explanation for this? magnets, clips, anything?

the puppeteer/le marionnettiste

can that glowing bright red effect that comes from her yo-yo and the power cord being swung around just for the viewers, or can it actually be seen in-universe? or is that a null point because both items are generated by ladybugs magic?

reflekta

this show really didnt need any “haha look a ~guy~ in a dress” jokes. and honestly, this was ill handled (though arguably, its very existence was ill handled). first of all, im not the best judge of this kind of thing, but to me, ladybug felt out of character while mocking chat noir? honestly, marinette doesnt strike me as the type of person to find that kind of situation funny in the first place, so the premise doesnt really hold up in my opinion. i know marinette can make mistakes, but youd really think she would be more open to not thinking this way because she knows what its like to be bullied for other things. moving on... [though, to reiterate]

the way this was not addressed? at all? yeah, ladybug apologized for that one comment at the beginning of their conversation, but then she continued to make jokes at chat noirs expense, and it just wasnt as funny as it was probably intended to be?

i know the whole thing about ambiguous chronology, but there is no reason ladybug wouldnt take chat noirs opinion into account when planning for things anyway. it felt like that part was written specifically so he could “prove” his worth to the rest of the episode and ensure that, yes, he is still allowed to be in it after being turned into a reflekta lookalike, and the whole thing smacks of trying to write out of a corner...that was written into in the first place. if it hadnt gone the route it did with the mocking of appearances, i dont think it would have had to be as convoluted as it ended up being.

i personally dont care for high heels, but i dont get the kind of “fashion cracks” that were being made about them. like yes, high heels can be hard to move in? yeah, it isnt fun being turned into the appearance of someone who isnt you against your will? i just dont understand this gag.

guitar villain

did ladybug really honestly just full-on spray someone in the face with the contents of an aerosol can? im aware that the point was that the hair was in front of his face, but what if some had gotten into guitar villains eyes? dang, what if someone tries to emulate this in real life? ouch.

digital/numeric

kind of done with the spotlight on stalking behavior this show has.

marinette still shows no fear of suspicious screens. she continues to use parts of her face to touch one multiple times, never mind that she literally flings her yoyo all over the place.

stoneheart/coeur de pierre i

did marinette have pierced ears in the first place? shes not shown taking any earrings out, and we dont get that clear a view of her earlobes anyway. that might be deliberate for modeling budget and all.

master fu has brown eyes. so thats like four ~chinese~ characters that are in this show, and the main character and her mother have the special eye colors, and the minor character who is somewhat important to the plotline has non-black eyes, and the minor one-episode character has the black eyes. what a shining example of diversity (no).

anyway this is a good point to say that some things are just not for you. there are things that you just cant be a part of no matter how much you want to be because it just doesnt work that way. and the mess that is the miraculous “mythology” is definitely an example of this. i myself have very little knowledge of anything sino, but i sure as heck can spot that this...”history” thing is so off.

at this point i should probably mention i really dislike master fu as a character in general. just as a single point, apparently hes based off the teacher character in karate kid? i saw somewhere that the creator said he basically made marinette mixed because he was dating an asian person when he was thinking about the show and that marinette is basically his idea of their mixed kid? and back to the eye color thing (again), ive even seen someone with green eyes and blue hair suggest to him that they could be the child of marinette and adrien, and he said theyre like his grandchild? (im not really inclined to try to dig up an iron-clad, indisputably genuine source for this right now, but if youre honestly searching for completely serious, well-researched information in a really good quality post, this is not the post you are looking for.) i have no idea where i was even going with this paragraph.

stoneheart/coeur de pierre ii

why is marinette so invested in her crush on adrien? this couldve been a sweet crush, but no, she has to make it so creepy? leading up to this episode, i really didnt know what to expect because i really thought there would be some sort of explanation for just how extreme the lengths marinette goes to are, but from what i can tell, shes just being super invasive? the ambiguous timeline doesnt really help with this, nor does the fact that the origins episodes were aired at the end of the season. whatever characterization was supposed to be inferred from this feels choppy and unnecessary.

simon says/jackady/jacques a dit

i dont really blame her, but ladybug totally could have reduced the level of adrien distractedness going on here. shes previously shown signs of compartmentalizing ladybug and even having to face the fact that it isnt worth using up her power over adrien, but gosh golly, what gives?

princess/princesse fragrance

ive seen criticisms of how ladybug was written to be overly competent in this episode, which i think is fair since it keeps happening, and its so late in the season by this point that its gotten tired.

volpina

i try not to be too judgmental, but frankly, adrien is not that great of a prize.

anyway, from what i can tell about this episode, i think that there was too much on marinettes flaws, which i really think is a bit much to have in the last chronological episode of a season. its already been established that she makes mistakes with her decisions, but i just thought her unequal prioritization of adrien was too much. it just seemed contrived to squeeze in scenes that the creators wanted to animate regardless of overall context in the show, which is really unfortunate because of how the show becomes a little less chronologically ambiguous at this point.