A Ladybug Inspired Interview
   With Thomas Astruc Creator of Miraculous Ladybug Written by Adele Owen
       Nearly six months ago I was given the great honor of interviewing Thomas Astruc. He was a joy to talk with and was very friendly and open about his new show Miraculous Ladybug. Now that San Diego Comic Con is winding down and many spoilers have come out from the panels, I thought it would be a good time to show the world the interview that I was given.
     Many things have kept me from writing the interview up; fear of writing it poorly, family issues, and just general low self-esteem. Yet something has changed this past weekend and I no longer wish to live in fear of my writing being looked down upon. I want people to read what I write and for that to happen I have to put my words on paper. If I lived in the Miraculous Ladybug universe I surely would have been akuma-tized and I definitely donât want that. So here I go.
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For fans of the show Miraculous Ladybug is all about Marinette and Adrien. Because of that, though I could have started with any number of questions, it only made sense to begin my interview with Mr. Astruc, with a question about the main heroine.
My first question was something that I personally wanted an answer to and I was not disappointed by what Mr. Astruc had to say.
âWhy did you choose the ethnicity that you did for Marinette?
âIt's a personal thing. A girl from Chinese origins inspired me for the character of Ladybug originally. And when I was building the universe around her, I was in a relationship with a girl from Chinese origin myself. So I wrote Marinette as if she was our virtual child. I really wanted to represent the diversity of France population. We are one of the nations with the highest rate of mixed couples, and that's something I feel very proud of.â
âSince you developed Marinette as a virtual daughter, would you say that Marinetteâs parents are shadows or representations of you and your partner?â
âCorrect.â
What a wonderful tribute to a person and city that he so clearly cares about. I must admit that when I finally had this information my heart skipped a beat. Â To create a character in honor of a feeling for a significant other, it made my heart fly.
With this new knowledge about the storyâs heroine under my belt I forged ahead to my next point of interest. It was no wonder that my next question would have to do with the villains of the show. Besides, who would Ladybug and Chat Noir be without their akumatized villains?
âHow do you come up with your villains? And who is your favorite villain from the show so far.â
âMiraculous is set in a universe bigger than what is shown in the series. It's called the Quantic Universe. The paradigm of this universe states that everything is nothing but a giant cloud of probabilities shaped by Ego (note the capital E). Therefore, each hero or villain must have powers directly linked to his personality or psychology. This psychological and emotional take is what makes it unique. You don't find this in DC or Marvel. Sometimes there are links (Batman), but most of the time isn't. What's the link between Peter Parker and a spider. Nothing. It's cool, but it's random. This can't happen in my universe. The power must always be linked to the Ego of the character. Ego is defined by the sum of the willpower, the desires, the personal history and the cultural imprint of each character. Therefore the nationality plays as well.
That's the base for building our characters. They must have a clear emotional story. And be representative of the environment they're living in. That's why Mime is my favorite villain. He couldn't be anything but French. And he couldn't have been created by no one but French people. See what the Pixar guys made in the Incredibles: they used a Mime as a super-villain, but gave him the power to make things explodes, hence his name, "Bomb Voyage". Fun pun. But character makes no sense. Ours is far more consistent. I looove him. Can't wait for him to come back.â
The Ego is part of the three things that make up the psyche as explained by Sigmund Freud. The Id, Ego, and Super-Ego are all important components that make up who we are as people. A simplified version from states, âThe id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. The super-ego can stop one from doing certain things that one's id may want to do.1â It can get a little more confusing than that so I encourage readerâs to do their own further research.
Yet to have villains based off of this trait, how original, how unique, how. . . simply miraculous! This is something that is rarely seen in superhero shows in western media and it is something that I am looking forward to seeing more of. Also, knowing that the Mime will be returning gets me eager to watch Season 2 as soon as possible. If youâve seen the episode âThe Mimeâ, youâll remember how difficult of a villain he was for Ladybug and Chat Noir to defeat.
âWill viewers be able to see more of the Quantic Universe in the show? Or will the show stay focused on Ladybug and Chat Noir? Or is that something you would say, âNo Spoilersâ too?â
I donât know but I hope so. This universe doesn't belong to me anymore. It'll depend on Zag.
Since the San Diego Comic Con Panel it seems that the answer to this question is now a resounding âYesâ! With the new comics coming out, along with the rumor of a cross over episode, it seems that fans will get to see more of the Quantic Universe.
âWho is your favorite character from the show and why?â
âI love them all. But there certainly are two characters we enjoy playing with more than others: ChloĂŠ and Jagged Stone. Because, they are sooooo over the top.â
To find out that Chloe and Jagged Stone are his two favorite characters to work with was surprising for me. I had anticipated that he would have chosen Marinette and Adrien, or even Alya and Nino. With character discussion out of the way it was time for some of my harder questions to come out. Questions that I wasnât even sure Mr. Astruc would be able to answer for me.
âWhat do you hope fans gain from watching Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir?â
âWhen I was a kid, I was a huge fan of capes comics. They were full of role models. I wasn't looking for characters I could relate to, but characters who would inspire me: how to be a good person? How to be strong? There were simple rules in it. Protect people, never kill, always stand for values... I still read a lot of comics but don't enjoy them so much anymore. Everything is so dark and grim. I think most of people in this industry don't realize that they're losing the essence of what makes real super-heroes. I had a discussion with a former Marvel exec few years ago, as I showed him what I wrote for the foundations of Quantic Universe. We had the same findings. There aren't any super-heroes anymore, but people with super-powers, which is something completely different.
I mean... Nowadays, in the comic books, Wolverine is a member of the Avengers. But given the number of people he killed, this guy should be rotting in jail for centuries! As for the first issue of the new 52 reboot of Justice League or the Man of Steel movie, they make Superman kill!
Sorry, but I like my favorite characters cheesy with red trunks. Why? Because they're heroes. With this universe, I try to make relatable characters, but who are also heroes. I think boys and girls needs heroes to grow up. Not warriors or princesses. As Miyazaki says, or responsibility as artists is to tell stories that will tell kids that this world is worth living in. I hope we achieve this with Miraculous.â
âTo tell kids that this world is worth living in.â
I must admit that this quote, coming from two of my favorite people, Miyazaki and Astruc, struck me hard to the core. It is the feeling that I have been trying to wrap my mind around since the moment I picked up a pen to start writing stories. I had to agree with Mr. Astruc that comics and superheroes in general have become dark and gritty. Some could say that they have gotten to the point of being frightening, but isnât the world frightening enough? Superheroes are supposed to offer hope and light for a brighter future; Miraculous Ladybug offers just that. Mr. Astruc, I do believe that you are achieving that with your show.
I was getting closer to the harder questions that I wanted answers to. I didnât want to pull any of my punches, but instead jumped right into the thick of things by asking about some of the back work that fans normally donât see.
 âThere are many companies working to make Miraculous a hit, how has working with them all been? Have there been any artistic differences while planning the show?â
âMost of movies or series nowadays are made in many different countries. But this one has been incredibly challenging for a simple reason: this show is not like any other, because it's an author's show. Everybody had his own vision of what Miraculous should be. And they tried to make it happen their way. Like Toei. That's human. You want to do it how you know how to do it.
I had to remain strong, because most of the time, everybody wanted to twist Miraculous and I had to say "Sorry but no, you don't see what this show can be, you have to trust me on this".
But who am I to be trusted? I'm a nobody in front of the execs of Toei or Bandai. Luckily, I always had the support of JĂŠrĂŠmy Zag and the help of Sebastien Thibaudeau.
Our motto was: listen to their complaints, but never listen to their solutions. Solutions had to come from us. Even if we had the most powerful partners in front of us who were inclined to apply the recipes they master on our show. In the end, this show is 99% truthful to what I had in mind.â
When you say, âLike Toei,â do you mean by their first representation of Adrien? From what Iâve seen of Filex he was a stereotypical Japanese male love interest, whereas Adrien is more than that, and Adrien shows how people should be treated, because his character is so kind-hearted. Jeremy Zag is the CEO of Zagtoon. But who is Sebastien Thibaudeau?
Correct. And Sebastien is the script editor of the series. He supervises the writers.
To stand up to Toei and Bandai! How much cooler does a person get? Yet something he said hit me again, because truly it seems that Mr. Astruc is filled with wisdom, âListen to their complaints, but never listen to their solutions. Solutions had to come from us.â
Listen but never back down, come up with the solution yourself. Ladybug/Marinette comes up with her own solutions; she will listen to advice and then forge her own path. Perhaps we all need to do that a little bit more. Staying true to your vision is hard, even harder when there are powerful people in front of you. But if Mr. Astruc can do it and Marinette can do it, I believe that we all can do it. Sebastien Thibaudeau, if youâre reading this, I have some great ideas if youâre in need of a new writer.
 Is there anything else you would like to add about the show?
âWell nothing more to add, except once more that I loved your paper :-) (in reference to my original review that I wrote2)
Oh speaking of breaking the stereotypes... Us vs Europe : Â ChloĂŠ is your typical alpha blonde rich bitch. But she's not popular at all. Kim is the Asian guy. But he's not your typical hard working nerd. He's the jock. The nerd is Max, the black guy. Reversed US stereotypes. Marinette's father is happy to welcome his daughter's crush. He's not waving the shotgun. And so on...
I mean, I can't recall a single show in which the teen girl is allowed to have a male friend in her room. American show I mean. In France it's common. Maybe we're a lot more liberal here. I don't realize how this kind of scene is perceived by viewers all over the world. For us it's very innocent. But maybe in other countries it may seem very inappropriate Maybe that's also why people love this show. There's a freedom scent.
I don't know. It's so natural for us French. But judging by reactions of viewers, maybe there's more to it than what I imagined in first place. "Why the parents wouldn't allow us to have boyfriends ?â
IDK, it's really got me thinking recently I receive a lot of message saying that the show changed their life. First I thought, come on, this is just a cartoon. But I wondered if maybe there's more to it.â
âMiraculous Ladybug doesn't only break strong stereotypes but it also breaks the mold for many set ideas that people have in different countries. âNo boys in the room" Why not? "Girls can't be superhero's or smart" Why, not? Obviously we can be. Show us that we can be. Miraculous shows us that we can be. I think that is why people love it so much. Mari is so much more than Ladybug, a superhero that saves Paris, she is a strong, intelligent young women, who is not afraid to stand tall. And she can stand tall on her own two feet without someone pushing her to do so.â
âExactly! I'm so fed up with the "princess" model... "Princess" is a convenient way to teach girls that they have to remain under the control of a king and a queen, and are promised to a prince. Time will tell if we managed to make things evolve.â
 Mr. Astruc has done the extraordinaryâcreating a character to honor a feeling for someone he cares for, standing up to the executives of Toei and Bandai, and breaking stereotypes in a kids television show in such a way that it is smooth and flawless. I am eager to see what else Mr. Astruc brings to Miraculous Ladybug later on down the series.
At the end of my interview with Mr. Astruc, I came out of it with more questions but also with plenty of answers to hold me over until the second season hits the screen. I never would have imagined that I would get to have an interview with the creator of one of my favorite TV shows and I feel luckier than a ladybug that I was able to speak to him. Looking back on my interview with him I wish I had asked more questions. He was wonderful to talk with and could tell that he cares, not only for the show that he created, but for his fans as well.
While Season 2 is still in progress you viewers can catch the episodes here in the US online on Nickelodeonâs website3 as well as new episodes starting next month.
  1. Snowden, Ruth (2006). Teach Yourself Freud. McGraw-Hill. pp. 105â107. ISBN 978-0-07-147274-6.
2. http://writing-is-my-sword.tumblr.com/post/138613080087/ladybug-review
3.http://www.nick.com/miraculous-series/episodes/
