sugarcube and camembert

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[sugarcubeandcamembert]

Kagami finding out Adrien’s identity.

She would go through a minor crisis that she once dated Chat Noir before taking it upon herself to give Adrien advice from her mangas about being yourself, while simultaneously being fed up with his jokes and bits.

She psychoanalyzes him daily and tells him her findings. Her and Felix regularly discuss Why Adrien’s Like That over afternoon tea.

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there’s something so compelling about the way Félix and Adrien contrast each other in Strikeback.

Félix pretending to be Adrien with the dog miraculous, effectively fooling Ladybug herself while the real Adrien stands to the side with the CAT MIRACULOUS.

it’s such good irony and really shows the juxtaposition between how Adrien presents himself as Chat Noir vs as Adrien Agreste, because yeah it does seem like Adrien Agreste would be the polite and friendly temporary holder of the dog miraculous.

Ladybug/Mari completely misunderstands him, and so does Félix, even as the one deceiving Ladybug.

And it’s so heartbreaking as the audience to watch Adrien watch this scene as it unfolds, to realize in real time that maybe Nino was right. Maybe Chat Noir is annoying, and maybe the more tame version of him is the more digestible, palatable version of himself.

The identity he created for himself, free from the influence of public expectations and his father, isn’t always polite and friendly. He gets angry and jealous, he’s annoying (affectionate) and silly, reckless and outlandish. Even his character designs shows the difference, particularly his hair—meticulously styled as a civilian, messy and wild as a superhero.

In this moment you get a sense of how utterly alone he is. No one sees him for who he is, who all of him is, and he’s trapped in this dichotomy of himself that no one can break past.

And a lot of times it seems like his friends fall for the version of him that’s easy to love rather than the version of him that’s more authentic.

That’s how I interpret the lack of silliness from Chat Noir in later episodes/seasons compared to previous seasons. He’s dialing it back to try to make himself easier to love.

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also-this is not Marinette salt whatsoever!!! don’t take this to mean that! pretty much everyone in the show (not just Marinette) fails to see the full picture of Adrien. This is partly because he keeps himself so divided and doesn’t open up to others completely, which no one could blame him for as it’s basically a trauma response from being so repressed by his father and having to act in a certain way to please him.

Even after Gabriel’s gone he struggles to break out of this cycle. He’s been living this way for so long and it’s not going to change easily just because his father is not present anymore.

This all is to say that I don’t place any blame on Marinette for not seeing the full picture. Yes, I would love to see growth there and have her have to reckon with the fact that she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did post-reveal (like in Ephemeral), or even have her realize that pre-reveal. But Adrien is a good liar, and a good actor at that, so you can’t blame Marinette for taking him at face value, especially when every other character in the show makes the same mistake.

So yes I think for this to pay off narratively Marinette, and the other characters, need to realize eventually that they don’t actually know Adrien as well as they think. This could be via the Reveal or another way. And likewise Adrien hopefully will learn to trust others enough to be authentic with them and to feel safe enough to be himself and not hide behind facades. Basically this is all just character development I hope to see down the road in the show; fingers crossed we get it to some degree 🤞

[sugarcubeandcamembert]

Marinette trying to have a mental breakdown in peace when the kwamis were living in her room

[sugarcubeandcamembert]

there’s something so compelling about the way Félix and Adrien contrast each other in Strikeback.

Félix pretending to be Adrien with the dog miraculous, effectively fooling Ladybug herself while the real Adrien stands to the side with the CAT MIRACULOUS.

it’s such good irony and really shows the juxtaposition between how Adrien presents himself as Chat Noir vs as Adrien Agreste, because yeah it does seem like Adrien Agreste would be the polite and friendly temporary holder of the dog miraculous.

Ladybug/Mari completely misunderstands him, and so does Félix, even as the one deceiving Ladybug.

And it’s so heartbreaking as the audience to watch Adrien watch this scene as it unfolds, to realize in real time that maybe Nino was right. Maybe Chat Noir is annoying, and maybe the more tame version of him is the more digestible, palatable version of himself.

The identity he created for himself, free from the influence of public expectations and his father, isn’t always polite and friendly. He gets angry and jealous, he’s annoying (affectionate) and silly, reckless and outlandish. Even his character designs shows the difference, particularly his hair—meticulously styled as a civilian, messy and wild as a superhero.

In this moment you get a sense of how utterly alone he is. No one sees him for who he is, who all of him is, and he’s trapped in this dichotomy of himself that no one can break past.

And a lot of times it seems like his friends fall for the version of him that’s easy to love rather than the version of him that’s more authentic.

That’s how I interpret the lack of silliness from Chat Noir in later episodes/seasons compared to previous seasons. He’s dialing it back to try to make himself easier to love.

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