I was discussing this in the server but I feel like sharing it here too.
I don’t feel like we talk about the umbrella scene enough regarding Adrien’s point of view and that’s a crime! People argue about whether the feelings he develops for Marinette are romantic or platonic in this moment but I believe that isn’t important.
What’s important is how he’s opened his heart to this stranger who assumed the worst of him and in return created a unique, unbreakable connection that he’s always dreamed of having. A friend! It was at this moment that he opened up his heart to Marinette and kept it open, evident in how he’s always tried to initiate conversation with her or interact with her with baby steps. The admiration he has of her starts from the umbrella scene and hasn’t stopped growing since that day.
I feel like it’s really beautiful.
And I wish more people in the fandom appreciated it too.
You absolutely cannot sit here and tell me Ladybug hasn’t loved Cat Noir and Adrien hasn’t loved Marinette since day one.
These feelings aren’t new. They just got stronger over time and it took them ages to figure out what they’ve been feeling.
Notice how Ladybug stutters and gets clumsy when she first talks to Cat Noir. Mirrors how she stutters and gets extra clumsy around Adrien.
Also notice how sweetly she says “oh!you’re quite the jokester aren’t you?” and looks at him fondly while he’s hanging upside down, making his silly pun.
And, then she looks at him so dreamily when he gives her encouragement. Don’t forget Cat Noir is the one who helped give her the confidence to take on her role as Ladybug.
And you can never forget the faces Adrien makes during the umbrella scene. He stares at her so lovingly and laughs at her (when he claimed one time after this that no one can make him laugh the way his mom did).
Then when they split off, he looks back and gets blushy.
This was all in the origin episodes, taking place on the day they first met and then the day following that. It took these two four seasons to 100% understand the feelings they have for each other’s other identities.
It was a frustrating few years, but we love them. How could you not.
forget the hair i just watched a literal fanfic come to life yesterday i went through my old pinterest board and rediscovered a post saying like what if post reveal or smth its raining and mari pulls out the umbrella adrien gave her and hes all oh you still have that and she says ofc and then they share it and it closes one them and minus the reveal part but plus a lot of blushing and stuttering, that is exactly what i just saw
Just watched the movie. Overall, I'm pretty mixed on it. There were some things I thought it did well and others I thought it was pretty poor at, especially with how the constraints of its runtime meant it couldn't build relationships as well. Ultimately, I prefer the show, though the movie definitely had some things going for it.
More details below the break, warning there will be SPOILERS below.
What I liked about the movie:
It had some really nice music and song sequences, they were my favorite part of the movie! I thought the singing was top-notch, and I loved the visuals they brought out for them, even if it was clearly non-diagetic most of the time. I adore musicals and sadly there haven't been enough of them lately.
The movie was more consistent with its tone and theming than the show usually is. Granted, that's a LOT easier to do in a single movie than in a show spanning 100+ episodes over seven years. They really leaned into the "Marinette has low self-confidence and just considers herself a useless mess who causes disasters all the time, so she needs to learn that she IS capable and heroic."
This movie BELONGED to Ladynoir, specifically with the song sequences with both of them, I adored them singing duets and dancing together.
ADRIEN GOT TO FIND OUT GABRIEL WAS HAWK MOTH AND REALLY REACT TO IT. Gabriel gave a genuine, heartfelt apology for everything, and gave up when he realized he'd been hurting his son. Since this version of Gabriel had only been avoiding Adrien out of grief and hadn't seemed to ever go out of his way to hurt him or subjugate him, Adrien forgiving him worked, I thought. This version of Gabriel jives nicely with most Gabenath fics I've read.
---
What I didn't like about the movie:
While I enjoyed the song sequences the most, they did feel kind of jarring with the rest of the movie, especially since Marinette and Adrien had different voice actors for the singing parts.
Adrien's and Marinette's relationship was barely developed in the Adrienette dynamic. I was actually surprised when Ladybug told Chat that her heart belonged to someone else, given that she'd only had like, two scenes with him as a civilian? And neither one was THAT meaningful. The library scene was nowhere NEAR the level of the umbrella scene.
This movie had beautiful music... for the singing parts. But then they tried to bring out the opening chords of "Careless Whisper" for some bits that were supposed to be romantic and... yeah no, that didn't work at all. It felt like a parody. The show uses its OST WAY better, especially "In The Rain".
While this movie emphasized the Ladynoir dynamic, it didn't actually work for me? It was nice to see them sparring, but I didn't like their actual interactions - mostly because of how Chat was portrayed.
Which leads to a point about Chat: he got done dirty here, with his over-the-top bravado getting to the point of arrogance and it even seeming like he was putting Ladybug down sometimes, with him calling her a "sidekick" several times (which Plagg joined in on for some reason) and a watermelon and while that seems to have been in order to show how his and Ladybug's relationship strengthened and became more playful over time, the shortened length of the movie didn't really allow that to be conveyed well. He was mostly just annoying, and it didn't feel like he actually got to do much in fights. We didn't get to follow him much so there wasn't much reason to get attached to Adrien, either.
Were the fart scenes with Plagg really necessary?
---
Overall I'm happy I watched it, but I wouldn't call it the definitive version of Miraculous by any means. For all its flaws and foibles, I far prefer the show, with the relationships and characters its built, and the creative, intelligent superhero fights it showcases. Just watched the movie wouldn't have gotten me into Miraculous's world, but the show entranced me after only two episodes.
it's been 8 years since the iconic adrienette umbrella scene- where everything began, where marinette fell in love, where adrien finally had another new friend (aside from nino & plagg)...
and yet we never had a scene of adrienette dancing together under the rain.