#but also marinette really deserved to have that non-romantic interest friend to know her situation

[hayaku14]

I can be upset that it wasn't Chat who found out first and ALSO be happy for Marinette because she NEEDED this. These two feelings can coexist gdi

[zoe-oneesama]

non scarlet lady question, how would you had written kagami and luka entering the show? What would you have them interact with the plot or how would they affect stuff?

This is gonna be long because I have a lot to say on both sides of this, so strap in.

Kagami:

Kagami’s intro episode was perfect (for HER) - she came in quick, every bit of screen time was dedicated to establishing her character, relationship with her mother, values, and personality. With one episode we knew who Kagami was: competitive, confident (almost cocky), an extreme fear/rejection of failing, perceptive. And a softeness was established with the way she was still willing to listen to Adrien at the end of the episode, completing her mini-arc about dealing with losing in the episode. 

On the romance side, while it was interesting (and I submit even necessary) to establish that Adrien is capable of looking at other girls through a romantic lens (or at least through a “Wow she’s pretty” lens), it ended up hurting the love square because while Kagami was able to capture Adrien’s attention immediately, nothing has made Adrien look at Marinette romantically no matter how subtle or not subtle she’s been. So for it’s intended purpose of bringing in a rival for the love square, Kagami’s episode failed. I mean, c’mon, does Marinette really need more opposition for Adrien?

My fix for this is that Adrien does react the same to Kagami - wow she’s pretty - but it makes him confront whether it’s okay to feel that way about other people when he loves Ladybug. He’d come to the conclusion that there’s no harm in looking at other people because he’s not in a relationship with Ladybug, so he looks at girls close to him differently. And I mean all of them, not just Marinette. He can still look at Kagami that way - she is on his fencing team and all - but it also makes him look at other girls like Chloe and Lila that are coming onto him strong and recognizing that fact (I mean tell me you didn’t groan in Onichan when Adrien insisted that none of these girls were into him) AND IT MAKES HIM LOOK AT MARINETTE. If we’re supposed to be invested in this couple, something has to give on all sides of the square.

Otherwise, the big fix for Kagami is just being consistent. She has 3 personalities and only one of them is any good. Obviously because Riposte was such a good episode for her character, that’s the personality I’d go with, especially because it’s the only one that at least justifies giving Marinette aNOTHER rival that’s interested in Adrien - because Riposte Kagami is NOT a bad person. So far the only real rivals Marinette has had are shrews that are only interested in Adrien as a trophy boyfriend. If Kagami is going to be into Adrien (and not say, Chat Noir) she needs to bring something new to the table by making Marinette confront a rival that she can’t convince herself that Adrien deserves better. They tried to do this, which is obvious because even when Marinette is “bad mouthing” Kagami she’s going on about how cool and amazing she is, but I know I wouldn’t be rooting for Adrien to end up with the Kagami in Animaestro that rubs being Adrien’s date in other people’s faces or the Kagami in Onichan who goes into a blind rage over a picture of a random girl kissing Adrien on the cheek. They need Kagami to be a good option and to be consistently a good option.

The alternative fix is to keep Kagami on her weird up and down hyperfixated/possessive personality but have her interested in Chat Noir. I’ve discussed before how this is the whole point of having rivals - to challenge the existing status quo and make a character rethink their feelings. By having someone interested in Chat - and potentially date Chat - Ladybug has to deal with whether she’s okay with that or not (and if the writers were worth their salary the answer would be “not”). However I’m not super into this fix because even without rivals, Ladybug has already had to rethink her feelings for Chat. It just seems…superfluous at this point. Maybe back when Kagami was being introduced, but now? Meh.

Luka:

Oh Luka, your episode was so low impact and all because you’re entirely entwined in Marinette and the writers just don’t give a fuck about her, and by extension, you. His intro episode was bogged down by Agreste Angst which he could never hope to compete with. It’s really telling that the introduction to Luka wasn’t his own akuma and wasn’t even devoted to him and his character like Kagami’s was. The writers are so married to the idea that nothing will ever shake Marinette’s love for Adrien that they approach people having crushes on her with absolutely zero ceremony. I guess it was too much to hope that because this one was going to stick around that they might care about him.

What did this episode do for setting up Luka’s character? A lot of things are vague or lack depth. Luka meditates. Why? Does he have sensory issues? Is it a warm up before performing? Does he have problems dealing with emotional outbursts? Does he just think it’s cool? Luka is into guitar and Jagged Stone. Does he want to pursue that professionally? Is it for fun? Why is his band made up of his sister’s friends and not his own? Does that make it Juleka’s pet project and not his? There’s just so many questions where there weren’t any with Kagami. 

That’s not entirely bad - they could flesh out these things in later episodes. Except this is Marinette’s love interest so he doesn’t get other episodes. Aside from his akuma episode, he’s nearly background dressing when he’s granted the honor of showing up and he’s nearly always doing what he’s always doing - playing guitar and doling out advice. When Luka’s onscreen it’s almost always for someone else. And it was only until very recently that that someone else wasn’t Marinette.

So how to fix Luka’s intro episode. I’d like it to be focused on Luka, and even to an extent Juleka, and their relationship with their mom. To do this we need to establish in earlier episodes about the chaotic nature of Juleka’s homelife, some offhand remarks about their boat being so messy or Rose asking where Juleka’s house is parked this week. Start setting up that Juleka’s home is unconventional and a bit insane and also start setting up how Juleka feels about it (does she think it’s rad as hell or does she yearn for some normalcy). This helps us not have to devote time to setting up Juleka’s House AND Juleka’s Mom AND Juleka’s Brother in the same episode and instead we can focus on the dyamic between the three Couffaines. 

This is where we have Juleka and Luka’s relationship established, and Juleka and Anarka’s relationship, and Luka and Anarka’s relationship. Maybe have a big three way fight - maybe Juleka’s trying to show off the cool side of her weird living situation but Anarka’s not putting on the best of impressions by being extra messy and arguing with police and maybe Luka pipes in that this is why he’s too embarrassed to bring his own friends over and Juleka is stuck between trying to defend her mom but she’s also pretty embarrassed by her mom in this moment at least and Anarka’s extreme personality can’t take insubordination so she goes off to sulk (and gets akumatized).

Then between the fight and everyone storming off, Marinette is the one trying to mediate and by virtue of being kind AND a third party is the only one the siblings are willing to be fully open with - Juleka admits that she does think her mom is super cool and her house is super cool but she sometimes can’t help but wish things were toned down so that she felt more secure (and that her mom might not go to jail at any minute). Luke admits his mom doesn’t really embarrass him but it’s tiring when people talk badly about his family and he wishes she could be more responsible to set a better example for Juleka.

And obviously save a little MORE time for Luka’s side of things since we haven’t had seasons worth of him dropping hints about his home life, and ALSO for the romance part. Marinette’s patience warms Luka up to him, because “if I had more friends willing to listen, like you, I don’t think I’d worry what people thought so much”. Or something. Luka being vulnerable with Marinette is what attracts her to him and her willingness to listen and not judge him is what attracts him to her. 

The akuma can go pretty much the same, with Marinette impressing Luka with her Ladybug-ness peaking through. Just include some more concern between the siblings - even when they fight they still love each other. At the resolution, we have the Couffaines coming together, apologizing for letting their emotions cloud their real feelings and being honest with each other. “Mom, I love living on a boat and going where ever we want, but maybe when my friends are over could you try NOT getting arrested?” “Aye aye, I see yer point, I suppose it wouldn’t be a total breach of liberty to at least hear authority out.”

Good…start Anarka?

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY when Adrien does show up, Luka is being sweet on Marinette, to the point where she nearly doesn’t notice his arrival. Adrien takes note of the lack of attention from Marinette and is bothered by it, even though he doesn’t know why or automatically equate it to her talking to another guy. 

THE WHOLE POINT of rivals is to change up the status quo. Adrien needs to be effected by Luka, he needs to feel like he’s losing out on something or needs to see Marinette as a romantic potential, if only by virtue of someone else taking notice in her and KEEPING notice in her I’m totally not bitter about how many guys who crush on Marinette just stop after one episode. 

Thanks for reading my essay, those are my fixes. Kagami needs to narrow down on which personality she wants, Adrien needs to wake the fuck up and see Marinette as a potential date, Luka needs attention from the writers. And I need a strong drink because it’ll probably be the Series Finale before any one of these things come to pass.