Tonight, a new Miraculous Ladybug special aired on Disney Channel in the USA, entitled Miraculous World: Paris - Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir. Here's my review of the special!
The special, taking place in between the season 5 episodes Destruction and Jubilation, is about a parallel universe where the holder of the Butterfly miraculous, known as Betterfly, is a hero tasked with defeating the holders of the Ladybug and Cat miraculouses, known as Shadybug and Claw Noir. Betterfly seeks help from the main universe's Ladybug and Cat Noir, Marinette and Adrien, while Shadybug and Claw Noir wreck havoc in their universe and team up with Hawkmoth to get the miraculouses they need to make their lives better.
I'll admit, since the season 5 finale didn't have the best reception among the Miraculous fanbase due to the sidelining of Adrien's character, I didn't expect much from this special at first. But then, the clips started coming out, and I got intrigued. And then, the actual special premiered (about six weeks ago in France, and tonight in the US), and I absolutely fell in love with everything about it! The alternate characters of Gabriel/Betterfly, Marinette/Shadybug and Adrien/Claw Noir were very fleshed out, and from what little we got to know about the world they live in, it seemed very intriguing and awesome. I could write a whole essay about how deep that part of the lore got, but this isn't supposed to be a thematic analysis essay, so I might save that for my YouTube channel. But while the stars of the show were arguably the alternate characters, the main duo of Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir got a lot of character development as well, and it was rewarding to watch as a longtime viewer of Miraculous to see that character growth play out, especially with the interactions with their alternate selves from the parallel universe. The action sequences and animation were phenomenal, and I loved the fight choreography, creative uses of the powersets of the Ladybug and Cat miraculouses, and the alternate animation towards the end of the special... if you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Overall, I loved this special so much that I cosplayed alternate Marinette to Comic Con yesterday - even though no one knew who I was except my dad, it was worth it! It's my new favorite out of the three Miraculous one-hour specials, and it got only better on tonight's rewatch. I would rate this a 10/10 and recommend it to any Miraculous fans, but wouldn't recommend it for newcomers to the show due to having to watch all 5 seasons of the show and 2 other specials before you watch this one. But if you do want to get into Miraculous, all 5 seasons are on Disney+ and it comes on Disney Channel at least three times a day!