Watching Miraculous 6: "Mr. Pigeon"

S1E06: Mr. Pigeon

"A pigeon? What am I supposed to do with this?"

The one with ...oh, where would I even begin?

Derby hats. Not pronounced "Derby", nor even "derby", but instead "d-er-by". And if like me you're British, they're bowler hats anyway. Clear? Excellent. Anyway, in this episode an illegal feeder of pigeons is akumatised, turns his servant flock into planes and a sleigh, gets them to threaten our heroes with a hail of... well, let's say guano... says, "Roo rooloo!" a lot and is generally very strange. Also, Cat Noir in a police cap whistling La Marseillaise is apparently a dead ringer for a real officer. I know I try to be silly in these posts, but what actually happens here is pretty much unimprovable. Meanwhile, Chloé is ever more annoying, Sabrina is ever more downtrodden – and, almost at the last moment, Marinette remembers her "I am really dense" requirement by not linking Cat Noir being allergic to feathers and Adrien being allergic to those same feathers. Really, though, it's all about the pigeons, including Mr. of that ilk. Watching this episode for the first time is something of a rite of passage for Miraculous fans. Watching it for about the fifth time still is!

Quote: Marinette: "A cake derby hat, stylish and tasty!" I see no flaws in this plan.

Next up, "Rogercop". Early Instalment Weirdness? Don't be silly. It doesn't stop being weird with this show.

Watching Miraculous 5: "Timebreaker"

S1E05: Timebreaker

"Be confused. Be very confused."

The one with the Eiffel Tower cake

Marinette's parents are about to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. What a nice, normal thing for a couple. Shame this is Miraculous Paris, then. We properly meet Alix here, as she's given a remarkable watch that is clearly absolutely definitely not going to have any deeper significance in any future episode, oh no indeed. Meanwhile, Ladybug takes up the hotly contested "I'm an idiot" baton by misusing her powers to dash across town with a banner she forgot about. Oh, and Alya's valiant attempt to win back Idiot of the Day by not even trying to look after the watch properly. Chloé scoots in and causes the watch to get broken, thus winning Jerk of the Day though. As usual. Then the day is – natch – interrupted by weird Hawk Moth-related akuma stuff. Timebreaker is a nasty villain, and when she gets Cat Noir it's an early heart-in-mouth moment for the series. Then Hawk Moth gets a cheesy line ("Or should I say double villain?") and we're back to silliness. Though the final battle is a great one. Overall, probably my favourite episode thus far.

Quote: Kim: "You're no match for me. My neck is bigger than your thigh!" I... well... no. I got nothin'.

Next up, "Mr. Pigeon". Anyone who has seen this knows of the glory that this episode contains! Anyone who hasn't... is in for a treat.

Watching Miraculous 4: "Lady Wifi"

Easter is out of the way, so let's get cracking and return to Paris!

S1E04: Lady Wifi

"Does this show make any sense, M'Lady?"

The one with Ladybug's magic mask

In this episode, we discover that Chloé is Ladybug. What? No, thankfully that's just Alya being idiotic as she jumps to erroneous conclusions. Again. We do however discover that Chloé cosplays as Ladybug when she thinks no-one's looking. I'm not sure that's much better, really. We get our first extended school scenes, including its ideal-for-bullies outdoor staircases. Alya gets akumatised to the eponymous Lady Wifi – and in truth the episode works better than you'd expect from such a cringy premise. This show can do that. Sometimes. Cat Noir joins the growing "I am an idiot" crowd by pushing Ladybug to reveal her true identity. Meanwhile, Ladybug herself uses a microwave to jam all the phone signals. Handwaving away that Lady Wifi surely wouldn't be stopped by jamming 4G signals. Unless Paris has some bizarre integrated tech. No, me neither, but let's roll with it. As with many early S1 episodes, this is really very silly but also a good deal of fun. It's not a bad deal.

Quote: M. Damocles: "I'm sorry Chloé, but there's no school policy on invasion of privacy." Or on much else, by the looks of that place...

Next up, "Timebreaker". As opposed to "Timewaster", which would probably be my superhero name.

Watching Miraculous 3: "The Pharaoh"

My neighbours – who are good people, I must here stress – have decided that a nice sunny afternoon is a lovely time to do various noisy DIY things in their back gardens. Instead of quiet fantasies of how nice it would be if they experienced a sudden power cut lasting, ooh, three weeks or so I am instead watching the next episode of Miraculous for your delight and delectation. So...

S1E03: The Pharaoh

"But I thought Cushion Cat would protect me!"

The one with mummies. Lots of mummies.

Alya's mildly worrying devotion to her Ladyblog appears for the first time here. So does the Louvre. And so too does the confusion about these kids' ages: Alya says a book is for tenth-graders (age 15 or so), the original French has them a year younger. French wins, bien sûr. Meanwhile, in the museum, a "priceless historical object" is sitting around in the open. More of a concern is the villain, though, actually a pretty good one. "Tut, give me time!" as we've all said from, well, time to time. In an exciting new development, in this episode it's Alya being an idiot. She calls up Ladybug to casually mention that she, Alya, is the sacrificial offering to the Sun God Ra. She's a bit annoyed when rejected in favour of Ladybug. A first hint of something bigger going on, too, with the revelation that Ladybugs have existed for 5,000 years – and that Tikki has watched over all of them. Whether she's seen another with Marinette's utter denseness is an interesting point. Still, easily the best episode of the three so far. You know, this show might turn out okay!

Quote: Hawk Moth: "There's nothing wrong with living out a fantasy. Especially when I can make it a reality." MC Hawk Moth freestyling like a boss there.

Next up, "Lady Wifi". I suppose that's like Lady Gaga but with more data security issues.

Watching Miraculous 2: "The Bubbler"

Hello there, everyone, it's me again. You were expecting maybe Federico da Montefeltro or Catherine the Great? Sorry to disappoint if so. Anyway...

S1E02: The Bubbler

I mean, I had to include at least one unironic "Pound it!"

The one with birthday Camembert

And today we get to meet Chloé. Oh joy. Oh what bounteous rapture. Poor downtrodden Sabrina. Let's hope she gets her own back... eventually. Meanwhile, Marinette is still being an idiot and Alya is getting rather fed up. Who can blame her? We get to see Adrien's fortress-like house near the Eiffel Tower (natch), and this brings us to Party Animal Nino. After being snapped at by Dear Ol' Monsieur Agreste, he gets akumatised. That means "no more adults [and] total freedom", because he's put them in bubbles and sent them off to outer space. Obviously. Amazingly, akumatised Nino sometimes manages to speak several entire sentences without adding "dude", which just underlines Hawk Moth's power level. He also says, "Let's get this party started!" so clearly he can even channel Pinkie Pie. Now that's impressive. At the party are a bunch of kids who are presumably Marinette's schoolfriends, though not one of them seems to have a name yet. We find out that some of Ladybug's powers are time-limited, though her Powers of Convenient Exposition are not. The "kids need adults" moral (spoken verbatim by Ladybug) is clunky, and the scarf thing is not very interesting, but oh well. Not a great episode, but again it did enough to keep me watching.

Quote: Alya to Marinette: "Urgh... girl, girl, girl." We know the feeling, Alya.

Next up, "The Pharaoh". Will Adrien strike a pose on a Cadillac?

Watching Miraculous 1: "Stormy Weather"

If by some miracle there's anyone here who was around two years ago, you'll remember that I started a rewatch series. I'm doing that again now, but this time I want to keep it going for more than four or five posts! In fact, my intent is to rewatch all the main-series episodes, and probably the main specials (eg the Christmas musical) as well. A word of advice, though: don't expect me to take this show too seriously! Right, off we go...

S1E01: Stormy Weather

Paris is not renowned for its residents' parking skills

The one with feline night vision 

Well, isn't this exciting? A brand new cartoon show! I wonder what it will be like. Anyway, this opening episode makes a reasonably good fist of setting a tone and grabbing its viewers' attention, though there are one or two spots (Spots! Geddit?) where you can tell the production team are still finding their way a bit. There's a lot of stuff in the opening credits that intrigues – not least "Who are all those characters? And the little flying creatures?" A nice catchy tune and the very prominent Eiffel Tower makes it clear we'll be in Paris. Makes a change from Kansas, I suppose.

So, we have a girl called Marinette (who wants to be a fashion designer) who really fancies a boy named Adrien from her class (who is a famous model. What is this, Sweet Valley High?) but is too embarrassed to tell him. Her best friend Alya apparently exists to tell her she's an idiot, at which she clearly has some experience. Marinette is also superhero Ladybug and Adrien is superhero Cat Noir, but despite their powers they are both too brainless to recognise each other's voices. Well, that's an excellent sign, then. Oh, and the boy makes terrible puns. Clearly beating this butterfly-fondling Hawk Moth character will be a doddle. Right?

Oh yeah, this episode's actual story... weather. Nothing that original, but it's mildly amusing and watchable, at least. I suppose this episode really just serves to show us how akumatisation, lucky charms etc work. Serviceable as an opener.

Quote: Marinette: "I love hamsters!" Unusual choice of sandwich filling, M...

Next up, "The Bubbler". That should go with a pop.

Hey look, I still exist!

It's almost two years since I wrote anything on this blog, but you know what? I'd rather like to have another go at a rewatch of at least the main-series episodes, plus the major specials like the Christmas one and the New York one. If I actually get round to it, you should expect the not-taking-this-too-seriously tone I used in my previous reviews. I mean, at heart this show is silly, and I think I should celebrate that!

Heaven knows when (or even whether) I'll get to see Season 4 over here in the good ol' U of K, but I'll try to cross that bridge when I come to it.