late to the analysis party but idc

hey listen I just wanted to point something out: Kagami was not the first one to call Adrien a clown.

EXHIBIT A:

In Reflektdoll, Adrien doesn't know that Ladybug likes his jokes yet, and he still jokes around. Granted, that has a lot more to do with the persona he puts on as Chat Noir and the beautiful unspoken fact that is the Ladynoir Trust Bond™️ but I think it also sheds a light on the role of Adrigami in Adrien's understanding of himself.

In some of the discussions I read in the fandom's analysis, they argued Kagami being unable to accept that Adrien's clownery is a fundamental part of him was one of the most compelling reasons why they needed to break up, because her shutting him down immediately would ultimately inhibit Adrien's natural character just in the same way other people in his life suppress and trigger other parts of his personality. This challenge would be exacerbated because his 'being a clown' (a.k.a. being Chat Noir) is the combination of traits or 'mask', if you will, that he prefers. It's his self-perceived starting point to further develop his personality as he grows older.

While I don't think that it was Kagami's intention to shut down Adrien (because at the end of the day she was trying to help him come out of his shell), I think it was an interesting parallel to the way Marinette, both as herself and as Ladybug, react to Adrien's different trait combinations. Kagami reacts by immediately voicing her own expectations of Adrien when he lets his guard down and "clowns" around her. Marinette, on the other hand, while I'm sure she would be surprised to see him act like that, gives us no reason to believe she would question it. There have been plenty of times where he has "fooled around" and/or let his guard down with her being present ("Oh no, what a knightmare", "Chinese translator at your service *bows down like Chat*", "are you lying? *smug smile*" the umbrella scene, for all that's holy) and her only reaction is to assimilate it because she is aware she does not know Adrien as well as she would like. In fact, I have more reason to believe she shows to be more surprised when she learns something new about Chat than Adrien, because her perception is that she knows Chat very well. Which brings me to my next point:

Ladybug, while she acts like she is annoyed by Chat's jokes, we come to learn that's actually what she likes best about him. Acting annoyed is more her own attempt at performing her own Ladybug persona, and the strategy she takes to banter back with him, which is why I think Chat actually kept fooling around her (and also because that's the personality he has chosen for Chat).

Speaking of Chat, let's consider that in Frozer, Adrien tells Plagg he thinks things won't work out with Kagami because it's not the target that is the problem, it's him. "I must not have the right technique," he tells Plagg, thinking that the way he behaves around Ladybug must be the issue. But then he goes on and not only does he change target, but also strategy, by leaning more into the traits that he does not associate with Chat Noir. In all the Adrigami episodes we see him display a certain degree of silliness with Kagami, but his being sweet, gentle, and sensitive is more prominent: things that you see Chat Noir hardly ever being in seasons 1 through 3.

And oh, what sweet irony, when the moment he integrates his more foolish side into what he presents of himself to Kagami, he is met with immediate disbelief on her part. I bet ya this poor boy had all the evidence he needed in that moment to explain why things "never" worked out with Ladybug. She didn't like the clownery, and neither does Kagami, in his perspective. Which makes it all the sweeter when you realize that right after Kagami refused to believe his being a clown was really him, thus proving his theory, he learns the truth:

Ladybug actually loves that about him, and he had been wrong all along.