Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

The series is based on an original concept created by French animator, Thomas Astruc,[37] who was inspired by a meeting with a certain lady, Japanese anime, and "decades of comics binge reading".[38] In an interview with Nolife, Astruc said he was working as an animator on the show W.I.T.C.H. when he met a woman wearing a T-shirt with a ladybug on it. They began to share drawings, some of which were ladybug-themed. Astruc also noted that Marinette's hair was styled after the woman. They also worked on the cartoon A.T.O.M. around 2004–05. Astruc first drew Ladybug on sticky notes and remarked about how strong the Ladybug character was. He had had a couple of memories of seeing ladybug-themed superheroes in comics.[39]

Astruc had intended to make Ladybug a comic book series until he met Jeremy Zag, who loved the project and wanted to produce it as a cartoon; Zag was 25 at the time and not originally from the cartoon industry.[39]

In developing Cat Noir, Astruc said that ladybugs represented good luck, so it was natural to partner her with a black cat character with bad luck powers. Cat Noir was a tribute to comic characters, like Catwoman. So it was like having Catwoman and Spider-Man in the same show but reversed genders and roles.[39]

A character named Félix was originally going to have the role of Cat Noir,[40] but he was later scrapped in favor of Adrien Agreste because the creative team felt that Félix was a cliché of a male anime protagonist and that Adrien would allow them to tell more interesting stories.[41][42] In September 2015, Astruc indicated that he was open to revisiting the character of Félix,[43] but he abandoned it by February 2016, writing that the character was a poor idea.[44] Years later, in 2019, Félix was remade as Adrien's cousin and was renamed Félix Graham de Vanily.

In 2010, the show was announced at Cannes' MIPCOM with French production groups Univergroup Pictures and Onyx Films heading the project and working with Method Animation and Zagtoon. Aton Soumache of Onyx and Method[45] said that they want "to create a glamourous superhero character with a real European flair with Paris as [the] backdrop". The producers had also planned to animate it in stereoscopic 3D (currently, the show is produced using CGI animation).[37]

In the summer of June 2012, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., the famous Japanese animation studio branch owned & operated by Toei Company, Ltd. in Japan, was announced as a co-producer.[45] Two years before 2012, Toei Animation had released a PreCure film that was set in Paris, France and was very interested in expanding their international audience.[39] Even after the production moved to CGI animation, Toei still remained co-producer, with the executive producers from the company being credited.[46]

On 21 November 2012, a memorandum of understanding between Zagtoon, Method Animation, SAMG Animation and SK Broadband was announced: together, the companies would invest US$50 million through 2017 into five projects. The first of these projects was developed into Miraculous, which received an investment of $10 million. As a part of the deal, SK Broadband would have exclusive rights in South Korea for video on demand release, available to the subscribers of the company's IPTV platform B TV.[47][48]

When Toei Animation joined as a co-producer in the summer of June 2012, it was also announced that the show would be drawn in a colourful manga-like style.[45] Later in September, Zagtoon, Method, & Toei released a traditionally-animated promotional video for Miraculous Ladybug.[16][17] The video featured Marinette (in different clothes similar to the clothes in the current series) as Ladybug, and a (now-scrapped, later Adrien's cousin) different character named Félix as Cat Noir,[40] Marinette and Félix's Kwamis, Tikki and Plagg, Hawk Moth/Gabriel (without the mask and with a different outfit, look, and lair compared to the current series), and also the akumatized villains, The Mime and Mr. Pigeon. Their Miraculouses and their transformation sequences had a different look similar to the Miraculouses and the transformations in the current series. The demo song from the promotional music video was performed & composed by Noam, who would later compose music and perform songs for the current series.[10][49][50]

The whole anime concept was a complete success; but there were concerns about the marketability of traditional 2D animation and the difficulty in animating Ladybug's costume of red with black spots, as it caused some strobing effects.[39] Executive producer Jared Wolfson said that Zag wanted the animation to be cinematic and epic, unique and different, and said that they are continuing to partner with Toei as it brings in the Asian inspiration and that a 2D version of the show might be a potential product for future purposes.[51][52][53][54][55][56]

The aforementioned problem with 2D animation was resolved by moving to CGI animation; the switch also allowed for easier implementation of mobile camera angles.[39] SAMG Animation, a CGI animation studio located in South Korea which officially joined in the production in the fall of November 2012,[47][48] produced modeling and animation.[57] Zag latter recalled that SAMG was chosen for quality reasons in a video message he sent to a South Korean press conference held in 2015 by the Seoul-based company.[58] Astruc and assistant director, Wilfried Pain, instructed the animators not to improvise scenes so that they could keep things consistent and understandable.[39] Pain estimated about 350–400 shots are used in a typical 20-minute episode; with 10 panels per shot, that makes up to 4000 panels an episode.[39] Wolfson said that the show's animation brings dynamic camera angles and texturing.[51] A trailer with the new CGI-animated style was released in October 2013, a year later.[59]

On 22 January 2018, Zag posted on Instagram that the crew was working on season 4 and season 5.[60]

The concept for the show originally dealt with political themes, geared towards teens and young adults. However, after failing to gain traction with networks, it was retooled for a younger target audience.[61]^:40 Astruc said that he is delighted that the show is able to reach younger and older people.[39]

Each episode takes around 3 months to write, from scratch to final validation of broadcasters.[62] Assistant director, Wilfried Pain, said that each episode is composed of two parts: a sitcom aspect where the characters have to speak for themselves, and an action element where the camera is always moving.[39]

The music & songs was done by Noam Kaniel, who had also worked on action superhero shows such as X-Men, Code Lyoko, W.I.T.C.H., Fantastic Four, Power Rangers, Digimon Fusion and Glitter Force.[51][63] The theme song was written by Kaniel and Zag. The English lyrics were done by Alain Garcia and performed by Wendy Child and Cash Callaway.[64] The French version was performed by Marily and Noam (Noam Kaniel).[65]

Astruc representatives have said that the show has reached over 120 countries.[39] Disney Channel has broadcasting rights in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Japan and Latin America are able to broadcast the series with participation from the Walt Disney Company France: specifically, it acquired cable and satellite television rights in Europe, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and free-to-air rights in Spain, Germany, Russia and Turkey.[2][66]

South Korea was the first country to premiere Ladybug, with girl group Fiestar to sing its translated theme song. It aired on 1 September 2015 on EBS1[21] and ran for 13 episodes until November 2015, with repeats through February 2016, and the second half of the season began airing on 1 March 2016. SK Broadband, having participated in the production, provided the episodes on video on demand exclusively to subscribers of their IPTV platform B TV, about a half-hour following the South Korean broadcast of each one on EBS1.[47][67] Disney Channel in South Korea has also aired the series as of 7 December 2015.[68]

In France, the series premiered on 19 October 2015 on the Tfou programming block on TF1.[20]

Season 2 premiered with a Christmas special in December, 2016[69] with further new episodes in France on TF1's TFOU block on 26 October 2017[70] [71] and other channels throughout Europe.[72] Netflix began streaming the series, starting with the Christmas special, on 20 December 2016.[73]

In the United States, the series originally debuted on Nickelodeon on December 6, 2015.[74][75][76] The show aired on KidsClick from July 3, 2017 to March 29, 2019, and that run on TV was ended on March 31, 2019 due to low ratings.[77][78] On April 8, 2019, Disney Channel acquired the rights to broadcast the first two seasons with the third season being aired starting June 1st, 2020 and ending December 5th with the episode Chris Master. Disney USA later acquired the exclusive rights to stream the series & tv specials on their service, Disney+. Disney Channel will air these seasons and specials first. [79]

In Canada, the show premiered in French on 9 January 2016 on Télé-Québec, a provincial public service television network in Quebec.[80] The series was broadcast in English on Family Channel starting on November 1, 2016.[81]

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the show premiered on 30 January 2016 on Disney Channel[22][82] and premiered in February 2017 on Pop.[83]

In New Zealand, the show premiered on 27 April 2016 on TVNZ's TV2.[84]

In Japan, Disney Channel streamed the episode "Stormy Weather" through its mobile application on 1 July 2018 before the official premiere on 23 July of the same year.[85][86][87][88][89]

The world premiere of season 3 was in Spain on Disney Channel on 1 December 2018.[90][91] In France, on TFOU, it premiered on 14 April 2019.[31][32]

It also aired in India on Disney Channel. Season 1 was premeried in June 2019 in English and also dubbing in Hindi both languages and season 2 was premeried on Disney International HD on August 2019 but only in English language. Season 2 is since came late having Hindi dub language on Disney Channel in December 2020 on Disney Channel and Hungama TV.

Among the free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasters in the Republic of Ireland, Raidió Teilifís Éireann premiered the show in 2021 on RTÉ2's teenage programming block,

Kimberly Cooper, a blog writer who has contributed to news media such as The Huffington Post,[94] wrote that the show has inspired teens and adults to create and propagate Miraculous remixes and liked that the show featured multiracial characters as with the film Big Hero 6, which had won an Oscar. She "quickly realized there was a far cooler and broader Miraculous movement underway".[95] Caitlin Donovan of the entertainment website, Epicstream, listed it as one of her top 10 animated series of 2015. She wrote that, "The characters are so charming that the tropey aspects of the show are merely a lot of fun, rather than irritating." with creative fights and good CGI animation. She wrote that, "Marinette is an adorable lead who is genuinely awkward as a civilian, but confident as a superhero, which makes for an interesting contrast."[96] Ella Anders of BSCKids wrote that the show stands out because of "how it meshes both the magical girl and superhero genera together".[97] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times described the show as "clever, romantic, fun, the way some of us prefer our superhero stories". He found the characters to "have the look of extruded plastic common to CGI cartoons", but "within these limits the design is lovely and the animation elegant, and a lot of work has gone into the staging and execution of the action scenes".[1]

The North American Precis Syndicate called the show "authentic and aspirational – a story of today's modern everygirl superhero who comes to life. The series, about a young girl who taps into her superhero powers and innocent optimism to save Paris from the evil Hawk Moth, will no doubt inspire today's youth to try to save the day, each and every day in their own way."[98] Andrea Reiher of Zap2It wrote that the "storylines are rich with family, friends, adventure, intrigue, villains, creativity and more, delivering themes that are relatable and relevant to kids and preteens" and anticipated it would be a huge hit on Nickelodeon.[99]

Several media reviewers have anticipated Miraculous-brand toys to be among the hot superheroine properties for 2016.[100][101] Zag has partnered with Bandai to release Miraculous-based toys as well as deals to make Miraculous-brand clothing and other merchandise.[2][51]