This Is Exactly What I Have Been Thinking This Whole Time!

This is exactly what I have been thinking this whole time!

they literally spell it out for you in the kagami art scene but everyone is watching it with kagami hating goggles and instead of seeing the scene for what it is

- kagami asking for adrien to be himself and him first striking a model pose which she rejects and then him striking a chat noir pose which she also rejects and then pushes him to find the in-between -

we get dumbass takes like uwu she doesn’t like his real self

like no? that was very much not what the scene was about?

adrien poses like a model because that’s what he thinks other people want him to be

adrien poses like chat noir which is what he thinks he wants to be/is an aggrandized version of what he wants to be

and adrien the person is somewhere in the uncertain in-between. chat noir’s swagger is just as much an act as adrien’s poise and the moments of doubt and uncertainty and shyness and cunning that peek through that is his fucking character so don’t sit here and tell me true selves this and true selves that ya’ll are wild and clearly watching a different show

So I watched the English dub of Rocketear. It really stands out how Adrien says that he “played the charming kitty cat one too many times”. That whole thing IS an act, an act he enjoys, but an act nonetheless.

Ever since Rocketear, when I see people talking about the Ladynoir conflict, I don’t see enough people pointing out that Rena Furtive’s existence would be basically impossible for Ladybug to explain to Chat Noir without it coming across as “I just don’t trust you”

The thing is, the Gang of Secrets reveal would already hurt him enough— especially knowing how he reacted to the fact Rena Rouge and Carapace know each other’s identities. We know it hurts him to realize that identities weren’t as important as everyone was making them out to be, and that he was really the only person really beholden to the rule. It sucks. It feels like he was lied to. 

However, Ladybug can try to explain that! When Chat Noir discovers that someone knows her identity, she could, theoretically, explain clearly to Chat Noir that “I was having breakdowns every day, Chat. I wasn’t doing well. I was scared and I was losing all my civilian friends. I was crying and my best friend was there. I was crying and I broke down and it wasn’t planned. I blurted out my identity. She’s been helping me give excuses in my civilian life for why I’m so flaky with being Ladybug and the Guardian. It never came up and it was never relevant to what was going on, so I didn’t tell you because I was scared to, because I knew it’d hurt you. I’m really sorry.” And you know what? I think it’d still hurt him. Maybe a lot. But if Ladybug chooses her words carefully, I think Chat Noir can understand that Ladybug was scared and stressed, and he can understand that she needed someone specifically from her civilian life for that. And I think he would forgive her.

But…. guys. Guys. How on earth would she explain Rena Furtive to him in a way that sounds reasonable? That she not only gave a miraculous to someone else permanently, but that she didn’t tell him? That this person is secretly acting as their third partner for every battle and patrol, and that she actively hides it from him? That the reason for his poor performance in future battles might be because she is literally Hiding what the plan is from him so he doesn’t notice the illusions?

There’s no coming back from that. You can make the argument that who Ladybug tells her identity to isn’t necessarily Chat Noir’s business…. but you can’t make the argument that someone secretly watching them and joining them in battle and patrols isn’t his business, or that it’s not his business to know that there are illusions on the battlefield that he’s fighting in. That’s absolutely his business. And while Ladybug can say “It was a private matter, so that’s why I didn’t tell you that I told someone my identity”, she can’t say the same about Rena Furtive. Because that’s not a private matter. And it’s not something she just chose to omit— it’s something she chose to actively hide from him.

Now, we know the reason she’s doing this. She’s doing it because of Chat Blanc, because she’s literally traumatized by visions of herself and all the citizens of Paris turned to ash. She’s doing it because she’s afraid of a timeline that has long since passed, of an endgame that she never really learned the trigger to. All she knows about Chat Blanc was that Chat Noir found out more about her and then the world ended. We don’t know exactly her reasoning for keeping Rena Furtive from Chat Noir, but I think it’s because she knows it’ll hurt him, and she knows a hurt Chat Noir could become an akumatized Chat Noir. 

…. However. “I kept this secret from you because I was afraid it’d upset you and akumatize you” doesn’t sound like a great excuse. It really doesn’t. It sounds like an excuse, and there’s an underlying admission of distrust there with “I don’t think you’d be able to resist akumatization”. And that… sucks. The best she could do to explain herself in a way he’d forgive her is to explain the whole Chat Blanc scenario in detail to him, but that would hurt him even more! Chat Noir already gave up his miraculous when he accidentally killed an android— how is he gonna feel if he finds out that, if he has a bad day, he could kill everyone on earth?

When people treat the Ladynoir conflict like “if Chat Noir just told Ladybug that he was upset, she’d explain everything and then it’d be okay!” I think they’re missing a substantial part of the conflict. Because Chat Noir can’t tell Ladybug that Rena Furtive upsets him when he doesn’t know about it. And if he DID find out and confront Ladybug about it, there’s nothing she could say to make him feel trusted as a partner.

All this is a LARGE part of the reason why I prefer to watch Miraculous Ladybug in the original French dub with accurately translated English subtitles.

Dialogue can mean one thing in a language but carry a slightly different meaning in another if the words are changed enough or if they decide to go with another meaning of the dialogue that essentially means the same thing but can lose the original dialogue's subtlety/subtext.

(Of course this is all dependant on what the message of the og dialogue was trying to convey and the language its being translated into)

It is what the characters were originally meant to be saying (the most canon dub imo) and it sounds REALLY good (best dub w/best dialogue imo).

I originally started watching the show in English and though I like it a lot, I would personally like to first watch the episodes in French first with accurate translations in the subtitles (like translating it word for word & keeping the integrity of the dialogue).

I could go on (and I kind if had) but this is the general gist of my opinion.

Can I just… talk for a moment… about how much I love how, if you know them well, words don’t have synonyms?

English, for example, is a fantastic disaster. It has so many words for things that are basically the same, and I find there’s few joys in writing like finding the right word for a sentence. Hunting down that peculiar word with particular meaning that fits in seamlessly in a structure, so the story flows on by without any bumps or leaks.

Like how a shout is typically about volume, while a yell carries an angry edge and a holler carries a mocking one. A scream has shrillness, a roar has ferocity, and a screech has outrage. 

This is not to say that a yell cannot be happy or a holler cannot be complimentary, or that they cannot share these traits, but they are different words with different connotations. I love choosing the right one for a sentence, not only for its meanings but for how it sounds when read aloud. (Do I want sounds that slide together, peaceful and seamless, or something that jolts the reader with its contrast? Snap!)

I love how many words for human habitats there are. I love how cottage sounds quaint and cabin sounds rustic. I love steadiness of house, the elegance of residence, the stateliness of manor, and tired stubbornness of shack. I love how a dwelling is different to a den.

And I love how none of them can really touch the possessive warmness of all the connotations of home.

Words are great.

Adrien has been locked up in his home for nearly his whole life where all the decisions have been made for him!

You don't think maybe he wants to go out and explore the world, do something, work at something for himself? To be OUT THERE, working/helping/doing good?

He already enjoys going out and helping people as cat noir, plus we know that he has a natural instinct to help others so I don't believe he'd be content just sitting around while others are in need.

I hate when people do this, believing Marinette should become the breadwinner of the family and Adrien the househusband simply for the sake of inverting gender tropes.

Both characters have been shown to want to be out in the world, one of the things they have in common is that they're not going to sit around or run away when there is danger.

idk why but it kinda rubs me the wrong way when people say adrien is gonna be a household husband??

don't you think he deserves to find himself, his true passion and be happy with his work alongside feeling useful?

I for the most part feel very much the same. I truly started to like his character in season 4.

There were moments before where I cringed and became annoyed at his "cringy musician self" and music metaphors, like in previous seasons. At least this season the metaphors weren't that bad (and were in character) and were useful, like in wishmaker.

Plus I felt Luka in season 4 was the Luka they were trying have in previous seasons. I like him now.

Like I said, I actually started to like Luka this season and before that I was slightly annoyed/lukewarm about him

I apologize if I sounded confusing.

Master! Apprentice! Heartborne, 7th Seeker! ("Wishmaker")

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