Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, or as it’s more commonly referred to, Miraculous Ladybug is a French animated children’s TV show about the misadventures of the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir. Now at its 5th season, the show has progressed quite far in terms of character and relationship development, but not far enough. Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste are a prime example of the frustration that comes from the will-they-won’t-they trope in media.  

Ever since the show first debuted on September 1st of 2015, it has been obvious that Marinette and Adrien were meant to be together. Unfortunately for the fans, they have made frustratingly slow progress in their relationship. Misunderstanding after misunderstanding have kept these two apart for ages.  

One of the things in the way of their relationship is the infamous love square. Both Marinette and Adrien are superheroes in charge of keeping the city of Paris safe. Marinette is known as Ladybug and Adrien is Cat Noir. This is where it gets messy.  

Adrien is in love with Ladybug, who is Marinette, but he does not know that. Marinette is in love with Adrien and has no idea that he is Cat Noir. As Adrien, he is a Ladybug fanboy, but as Cat Noir, he constantly flirts with her, hoping to win her over. Marinette, on the other hand, is one of Adrien’s closest friends and is obsessed with him (somehow Adrien is completely oblivious to her feelings, which makes it even more frustrating). As Ladybug, she hides it better but still shows a lot of favoritism towards him by prioritizing saving him over others and trusting him to help her on some missions.  

In other words, they are in love with each other, but have no idea. The problem with this, though, is the lengths the writers go to in order to keep them apart. They have been teasing the fans for years, showing nice (and not-so-nice, let’s be real) moments between the two before messing it up through the use of misunderstandings, amnesia, and the convoluted story behind it all. Logic is thrown out the window when plot is involved in their romance. Calling it a “slow burn” would be an understatement. It is an active volcano: highly volatile and has been burning for eons. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, get ready for the love hexagon that was brought on by the introduction of two characters: Luka and Kagami. I’ll spare you the details, but Luka dated Marinette at roughly the same time Kagami dated Adrien and were happy for a good chunk of season 3. Then they broke up. The end.  

I have yet to catch up on season 5, but hopefully fifth season’s the charm. At this point I’m just tired and enjoying this show for the chaotic and confusing trainwreck it is.