#roi singe

[zoe-oneesama]

It's Party Time!

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[dawwn-art]

Kim's design in my AU

In this AU the Miraculers are between 17 and 19 years old, I still haven't decided.

[vanchinini]

Is…Ryuko backing out of this one?

[spittyfishy]

So Sleeping Syren came out

Spoilers and critique ahead so if that’s not your cup of tea no worries and see you later! But now—

Regards ques-ce-que il a fait a ma pauvre garçon

This show man, ugh. After the Ivan focused episode came out and was actually good I was so hyped hoping to see the other classmates get the spotlight, and then, they do this to Kim.

I thought after Derision they were done trying to make Kim look bad, but alas. Now we have Sleeping Syren. And it wasn’t without its okay moments, but great Hera they did him dirty.

The writers clearly hate Kim, I don’t know why but they’ve been on a character assasination mission with him since, well let’s be real here Syren. When they decided ‘you know what how about he just be the swim guy’, any attempt to make him a real and fun character was thrown out the window. And it’s only got worse from there.

So we have an episode focused on the guy the writers hate and are actively trying to get all the fans to hate, and a girl who has thus far had speaking lines in mayyybe three episodes? Who gave that the okay? Ondine’s fine, I’d be glad for her to get real development, but it would have to not go hand in hand with more of the Kim shmere campaign.

I don’t think it should be a controversial opinion but, it’s okay to have not kissed someone in the 11th grade? In my high school friend group only two people dated anyone (and they dated each other) which is like, fine and normal? There’s lots of other things to focus on at that age. So the fact that almost everyone in the main cast are in a relationship I don’t think is necessarily the norm. I get how it could make Ondine feel pressured to move things along between her and Kim, but there’s also literally nothing wrong with Kim not being ready for that.

And even before the bullies started messing with him he clearly didn’t want to kiss, so they should have explained to us the audience why.

If the show had any sense of continuity then they could have easily tied this to the events of Dark Cupid. Like, the last time Kim tried to do something super romantic for someone it went so spectacularly wrong that he ended up akumarized, so it makes sense this time around he’d go for a lighter more jovial approach, and it seems like up till this point Ondine wasn’t communicating that that wasn’t enough for her, and so Kim probably thought he was going to get a great grade in boyfriend.

And the last time Ondine was akumatized it was also because she wasn’t communicating her feelings and then got upset when Kim didn’t pick up on what she wasn’t telling him. And they’ve allegedly been dating since the events of Syren (despite that barely getting more than a passing mention once in a blue moon) so she should know by now that the writers made Kim dumb as a post and she needs to tell him directly.

I’m not taking the new trio of bullies into account much because A: it seems like Kim and Ondine had these issues in their relationship already. B: the new bullies suck. Their character models are so ugly, they’ve shown up out of the blue, Zoé simply hasn’t gotten enough focus to make problems from her past compelling, and this last one probably only bothers me but like (and slight tangent here)

How are these three fluent enough in French to attend a French high school? They’re supposed to be from New York, and from what I gather the US doesn’t have that many French immersion schools. I know the English dub has the characters speaking English but it’s a French show set in France full of French characters, THEY'D ALL BE SPEAKING FRENCH! I don’t get the focus on New York, it’s gotten a whole special, four characters that lived there full time now in Paris, and like for what? (This is why the New York special should have been the Québec special in this essay I will—)

But anyway, the thing that Kim got gaslit into believing (which yeah super gullible but that’s on the writers being lazy) was that if he and Ondine kissed they would both go into anaphylactic shock. Both of them. I’m anaphylactic to a lot of stuff, like A Lot of stuff, and it’s not something to be taken lightly. For those that don’t know your throat swells up to the point where you can not breath and then you die. It’s the bodies self-destruct sequence. And before you go it’s itchy red hives all over you and intense nausea and the ensuing panic that goes along with it.

When I was dating my girlfriend if they’d recently eaten something I was allergic to, we couldn't kiss. Literally, I’m not joking. As much as the show is playing it off as this ridiculous over reaction, I actually do live like that. Plenty of people with allergies do.

While I get that that part wasn’t the only thing the characters were upset with Kim about, trying not to send your girlfriend and yourself into anaphylactic shock is a perfectly fine reason not to kiss someone.

And also, just not wanting to kiss someone is a good enough reason not to kiss them.

Like plain and simple, that’s enough. The episode has them kiss at the end, but you can’t convince me Kim wasn’t pressured into that. Ondine yelled at him, he saw her talking with the girls so he knew they knew what was going on, Ladybug excluded and then got mad at him, and Ondine got akumatized because he wouldn’t kiss her. It’s good Ondine was more understanding at the end of the episode, but the bit where Kim asks how long he’s allowed to take to be ready is so sad?? He sounds so unsure of himself which is rare for a character like Kim, and I honestly wish they left it at Ondine saying as long as he needs if they can just be together.

That’s a sweet moment, the making out in the cafeteria less so.

Now on to Marinette. I wish any of the characters had learned anything at all from the many many many many failed attempts at setting up Marinette and Adrian to have clued in that doing the same to Ondine and Kim was a bad call. But they didn’t and Marinette kept pushing. Eventually even the other girls started saying Ondine should cut her losses and look for a partner that’ll be better for her. And Marinette wouldn’t have it, she just kept saying Ondine should try harder.

And this is the same Marinette we’re supposed to believe got year long lasting dating trauma from the same Kim?? (Derision making the rest of the show worse once again) It really doesn’t make sense. And then she gets mad at Kim for being dumb and mean when she knew he had always been kinda dumb and kind of mean?

And okay yeah the line “I should have never given someone like Kim the miraculous!” What? She so didn’t?? Kim is one of only three holders that Fu chose. The other two being Marinette and Adrian. And as bad of a guardian as Fu proved to be, if we’re agreeing he picked the right cat and ladybug then odds are he picked the right monkey!

Yeah Ladybug let him keep the miraculous, but she also let Felix keep a miraculous so I really don’t think she should be giving Kim any amount of grief if Mass Murder McGee over there gets to stay on the team.

And why use screen time on all the other heroes helping civilians if the miraculous cure is going to fix that anyway? Ladybug even says it doesn’t matter if Ivan got turned because she’ll fix it anyhow. It does nothing but make Kim feel bad and Marinette look petty.

I will give credit where credit is due, the aqua power up suits looked good. And I liked Princess Syrens design, it is quite pretty. I think I do still prefer the first Syren design but they’re clearly meant to convey different types of counters so that’s fine. The giant water Princess Syren (btw that’s her name in the French dub rather than Sleeping Syren) on top of the dome was also cool looking. It reminded me of Ryukomori which was one of the stand out Akumas from season 5.

Other than that, I personally didn’t find many more positives. I don’t love the new animation style, I think both Kim and Roi Singe looked better before. Ondine definitely got a glow up though she looked very pretty this episode.

But yeah, the Kim Ondine ship is a mess, and I don’t trust the writers anymore than I can throw them to be able to do anything that would actually make me ship it. Especially after this episode, the only thing they have in common is that they both swim. And a lot of people in Paris can swim.

There are plenty of fish in the sea.

[landofanimes]

Chinese Zodiac Miraculous Holders

[matt0044]

Hey, guys, y'all know Dersion wasn't about "excusing" Marinette's behavior, right?

Like it was Marinette experiencing latent trauma over the last time she had gotten close to boy she liked. One that's linked to how she often self-sabotages herself around Adrien.

The reason it began to get worse was because of how closer she'd gotten to him AND them going to the pool in a perfect storm of emotional turmoil.

And Believe it or not, trauma works in erratic ways that affect people differently without a one-size-fits-all even for how symptoms arise.

Also... Chloe WAS that bad in Season 1 and before, considering how she was an active tormentor of Marinette with how Origins Part 1 had her bemoaning another year with her.

Bare in mind how in Season 1 alone, how she'd often incite Akumatizations despite the establish threat of Hawk Moth. A running theme that Alix riffed on in Season 2.

Hell, with Kim, it's clear Marinette held no hard feelings towards him down the line as he was Chloe's pawn in that moment. Odds are that she's met others like him. I'd also say that Master Fu's endorsement of him as the Monkey Holder probably helped down the road.

And, most importantly, it's one thing to identify a mental problem you have but it's a WHOLE other thing to full over come it. Old habits die hard with some still trudging along like zombies.

Add in learning that your boyfriend's father is your arch-nemesis AND seeing him die as his life-force is wished away to the assistant he totally loved (GabeNath FTW), well, those old habits were probably wished back to life by Gimmi itself.

I feel like... this fandom gets too caught up in beefing it with Astruc that they think this episode was meant to appease them when, most likely, it was about Marinette overcoming a hurdle to be close to Adrien with her limitations at least lessened.

[ace-aussie-asshole]

Princesse Syren/Sleeping Syren Opinions:

Spoilers, duh.

Also TW: Consent issues and harassment.

I am very confused by how Kimdine are one of the longest lasting couples in this show, and yet canonically they haven't kissed yet. Like, canonically, Julerose, Marcaniel, Feligami and Adrinette have all kissed BEFORE Kimdine. Chlobrina have canonically kissed! (Off screen, but we all know what Super Penguino is meant to be a metaphor for). And when I think back to the whole thing about Adrinette's intimacy, it did always feel a little bit more like it was about sex than like, actual kissing, and they just said kissing because it's a kids show. More on that later.

I noticed Ondine really didn't seem that bothered by the lack of kissing at first, because when Kim does the "I got your nose" bit, she laughs and happily chases him. So, she's clearly fond of his jokester behaviour and thinks it's endearing. She really didn't seem to have that much of an issue with the lack of kissing until she heard her friends talking about their partners. At least as far as I've interpreted. Like yeah, it was something she wanted and she tried to start up, but she didn't really seem offended when Kim didn't do it. So, I do wonder if it was just a poorly executed metaphor for comparing your relationship to other peoples.

Now, obviously, Kim is being a dingbat in this episode. Laughing at her poem and getting upset that he lost the flippers and not because he offended her? It's borderline character assassination at this point. He wasn't this terrible in earlier seasons. But also, why are these boys even bothered? Like, why do they care what happens with Kim and Ondine? Why are they so Goddamn invested in the lives of random classmates? And also, what even was the Pocky thing? He grabbed the chocolate stick out of her mouth and ate it? It was in HER mouth?? But kissing is too far? Just, what?????

Eventually, Kim is told some lie about germs and this is where I was kinda like "hey, is this episode another case of being about sex but it's using the first kiss instead because family friendly?" Because, Kim is told a lie about bacteria, basically, essentially he's being told that being intimate with tall swimmers can involve certain bacterial problems, including warts. Warts I tell you! Very much feels like an order of bad sex education with a entree, main and dessert of "you have sex, you get diseases, you die". I also don't think I would have overly minded if culture played a role in this. Because Kim is a Korean character, and that's something that's fairly easy to miss because it doesn't play much of a role in defining who he is. Korean culture is very modest, and I understand his dads are gay and already break that mould, plus they live in France, but I don't know, a cultural aspect would have been an interesting way to discuss things. Especially since it's not super clear that Kim is Korean until you really pay attention.

Anyway, things get ... uh ... uncomfortable? It feels like Kimdine really just cannot communicate their feelings to each other. Instead of outright telling him "hey I want to kiss and it upsets me that you don't seem to want to, can we talk about why?" Ondine is just putting on flavoured lipsticks and dancing around her feelings. And Kim isn't really communicating to her why he doesn't want to either, because even I as the viewer who is getting his perspective, cannot for the life of me figure out why he doesn't want to. Obviously if it is a metaphor for sex, he doesn't need a reason, but the metaphor isn't clear and I feel like just a brief mention of "hey, Kim's finally in a serious relationship and he's unsure how to handle this new situation" or "Kim's culture is very modest so he's just not thinking about it" or "Kim has had poor sex education and is just really nervous about intimacy" would suffice. But we get none of that, so he comes off as a jerk.

But what Ondine does makes me super uncomfortable. Essentially, what we get next is a scene of her using her physical strength to overpower him and then berate him for not kissing her. He's curled up on the ground against a wall with her standing over him shouting and he looks scared. Like, Ondine, my girl, what the fuck? That is in no way, shape or form how you handle that situation. You do not try to pressure your partner into kissing you when they're clearly uncomfortable. And he flat out tells her why he doesn't want to now, and yeah, it's kinda dumb, but the underlying thing being said is basically "I'm nervous about germs and therefore don't want to be intimate" and it's really just written so poorly. I feel like Miraculous wants to have serious discussions surrounding boundaries, consent and healthy sex but it's just not doing it well. The only time they arguably cover it well is with the Marichat kiss and/or the Adrinette pool date. And there have been previous issues in that whole ship with consent and boundaries. Like, I'm sorry, I have such a hard time taking their attempts at consent talk seriously when episodes like Le Dislocoeur/Dark Cupid and Zombizou exist.

It's also yet another example of a consent issue/assault attempt not impacting the characters, plot or relationships at all, really. Like, that's why I don't personally take the "Felix attempted to assault Ladybug" thing seriously. Because you can replace that scene with a hug and it changes nothing about how the rest of the story unfolds. Legitimately, Marinette doesn't feel any discomfort around him, and it also doesn't make sense for a character whose whole thing is reclaiming his own bodily autonomy. If the writers don't want to do a sincere attempt at covering sexual assault, I'm honestly not going to give a fuck when the characters try. Again, this is not helped by the fact that Ladybug canonically assaults Chat Noir in Le Disloceour/Dark Cupid and Zombizou is an entire episode of mind controlled sexual assault zombies controlled by their akumitised teacher. Also, Theo could be brought up. He's already canonically a creepo but we're not going to use him for the sexual assault metaphors? When they finally do an episode about consent that has lasting consequences, then I'll start taking them more seriously, but until then, I'm not giving the credit for covering a topic when they continue to do it so poorly.

Overall, I understand Ondine's break down, she's upset because he boyfriend won't kiss her and doesn't seem to take their relationship seriously, and when she finally does just flat out say how she feels it's met with an excuse of germs. Which, coming from a guy who spends half his time in public pools, definitely has to hurt. But yeah, don't fucking harass a man into kissing you. It's even worse if this episode is meant to be a metaphor for sex, because that turns the seen into her overpowering him, literally throwing him onto the ground and cornering him against a wall, and then trying to do THAT with him? When he's clearly uncomfortable? My God, they're both so bad for each other and I feel like they both need to find different people. And honestly, I don't blame Kim for avoiding kissing her if this is something she's done before. It's just a bad metaphor and they feel like that mutually toxic high school couple that you know damn well will never make it because they refuse to communicate their feelings. So, if that's a thing you do take more seriously in Miraculous, then you can care about that, but honestly I'm bored of their half-assed attempts.

Now, Marinette says she regrets making Kim a miraculous holder, as much as I really don't want to defend the dingbat jerkwad that is Le Chien Kim, I think she's wrong. Kim is arguably one of the MOST responsible miraculous holders, somehow! And the way the episode unfolds proves this! He sees that Ladybug has called a team of supers and also specifically excluded him, and instead of getting upset, transforming anyway and causing a ruckus, he decides he's just going to go as Kim and try to save his girlfriend without superpowers. Like, he respects that he's not been called on for this mission but he wants to help so he just goes as himself! He's following orders and respecting Ladybug's authority! And no one knows who he is either. He's kept that shit under lock and key, something Ladybug herself has done an awful job of doing. Like, yeah, he sucks, he's an awful boyfriend that doesn't take his girlfriends emotions seriously, but that has nothing to do with his capabilities as a superhero? He's somehow literally so much more responsible with his miraculous than most of the main heroes??

Anyway, Kim transforms into Roi Singe/King Monkey and saves the day, not by kissing her. Which, I think is fair enough. Ondine isn't actually in the place to consent and neither is Kim, really. Ondine is unconscious and being controlled by Chrysalis, and Kim would only be kissing her because he felt like he had to. Neither of them would come away from that situation feeling good, so I'm glad they don't do that.

Kimdine eventually do communicate their feelings and kiss, and Kim finds out he actually likes kissing his girlfriend and becomes unbearably affectionate. His worst crime is now overzealous PDA. (I'm joking). Overall, I think Kim is a dickhead, I think Ondine needs to study up on healthy communication, and I feel like it's a poorly executed metaphor for poor sex education. But, I did still enjoy the episode for what it was. I enjoyed the glimpse into how Marinette's interpersonal relationships might lead to biases that shape how she treats the supers, I like the idea of using Kimdine for an episode about poor communication in a relationship, I just wish it was handled better. Like, my preferred scenario would be an episode where Kim's reasoning for not wanting intimacy is better explained, he's not so much of a dumbass, and Ondine is way less pushy about it. I feel like there are just a few slight adjustments you can make to fix the episode for me, and make the Kimdine ship a little more likeable. Because I am currently not rooting for them. Ondine deserves a partner that will listen to her and take her more seriously, and Kim deserves a break from dating to maybe sort himself out and figure out what the actual root problem is. Because even with his crush on Chloe, it didn't feel like an earnest and serious relationship, because I really can't imagine him being much better with her.

Who knows, maybe Kim will discover he's also queer and actually should date Max, the ace king that definitely won't pressure him into anything intimate (being slightly humorous), and Ondine will find herself a partner that appreciates her properly. But you know, as is, I can't see myself rooting for this ship, they're both pretty bad for each other, even when we ignore the obvious consent issues going on when Ondine confronts Kim.

You may have your own opinions, you might be a viewer who cares a little more about the SA in MLB than me (I'll say, as a sexual harassment survivor, it's honestly just really upsetting that they won't take the subject seriously, but everyone will have their own opinions) and as a result, you can't forgive Ondine. Maybe you hate seeing shitty boyfriends depicted as superheroes and you hope Kim loses his miraculous. IDK, that's up to you, but these were just my opinions.

[m31k0void]

Basically that one meme;

This will happen at some point in the AU. It fits Kim's vibes.