[e] The series focuses on two Parisian teenagers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, who transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively, to protect the city from supervillains.

Prior to its debut in France on 19 October 2015 on TF1 / TFX's TFOU block,[d][15] the series was first shown in South Korea on 1 September 2015 on EBS1.

The series spawned a media franchise with several products tied to it, including various comic books, novels, and video games.

The series takes place in modern-day Paris and revolves around the adventures of two teenagers,[17][18] Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste.

Their main enemy is the supervillain Hawk Moth, whose secret identity, unknown to the heroes, is Adrien's father, Gabriel Agreste.

He is sometimes aided by his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur, who uses the Peacock Miraculous to create sentimonsters, magical lifeforms with a seemingly endless variety of forms and abilities.

At the end of the fourth season, Gabriel, adopting the new supervillain name "Monarch", gains control of almost all of the Miraculous, leaving Ladybug and Cat Noir once again as the only two heroes.

Adrien eventually lets go of his crush on Ladybug and instead falls in love with Marinette, leading to them starting a romantic relationship (still ignorant of each other's secret identities).

[needs update] 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[37] said that they want "to create a glamorous superhero character with a real European flair with Paris as [the] backdrop."

[37] Two years before 2012, Toei Animation had released a Pretty Cure film that was set in Paris, France, and was interested in expanding their international audience.

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.

[41] When Toei Animation and its European division joined as co-producers in the summer of June 2012, it was also announced that the show would be drawn in a colorful manga-like style.

[31] 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.

[53] Zag later 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.

[59] While the show is marketed as a Western superhero narrative, its thematic base is the Japanese mahō shōjo (magical girl) genre, with its focus on transformation sequences, a school cast, the gathering of a team of heroes, animal friends, and end-of-episode collages.

[61] 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.

Kaniel has also worked on action superhero shows such as She-Ra, M.A.S.K, X-Men, Code Lyoko, W.I.T.C.H., Fantastic Four, Power Rangers, Digimon Fusion and Glitter Force.

Since The Walt Disney Company owns TV channels and a streaming service in France, they finance the series through their French division which gives Disney the broadcasting rights in the United States, and in select European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African regions, where the series airs on Disney-owned channels or Disney+.

She wrote that "the characters are so charming that the tropey aspects of the show are merely a lot of fun, rather than irritating" and commended the fight sequences and 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.

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.

"[101] 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.

Ryan Lewis of CBR.com portrays a negative view of the show's primary conflict between the two main protagonists: They know each other outside of crime-fighting but somehow never recognize each other's superhero identities.