So we're going the Feligami route, huh?

Disclaimer: I am well aware of the contents of the leaks. However, I will not discuss them in my posts out of respect for my fellow Miraculers that wish not to be spoiled. So, please, if you read this and are aware of the spoilers as well, refrain from discussing them. At the very least don’t do it on the notes. Please and thank you.

Before I say anything else, I want to first make it clear that this is in no way meant as an attack towards Feligami shippers. Just because I don't share your enthusiasm for the ship doesn't mean I'm going to declare war on its supporters. I just...I just need to get this out of my chest. Because I have so many feelings, and thoughts, and opinions regarding these two as a couple and its execution...and not necessarily of the good kind.

You might be thinking my main beef with Kagami and Félix dating may come from the fact that, morals aside, these two are too similar.

Both are intelligent, capable, well-educated kids from rich families who at first glance have a more dignified and serious vibe going on as opposed to Adrien's more laid-back rich kid energy. A perfectly crafted image of elegance and aloofness that underlies strong emotions, a mischievous side, and a warm heart (which in Félix's case sort of contradicts his gremlin child personality from previous seasons, but that's a topic for another day).

However, while that does play a part in my disinterest in the ship, it is actually the least of my concerns.

So please let me explain why I just can't help but roll my eyes at this development:

1. It's rushed and feels forced:

Leaving aside the obvious reality that it is that Félix has only been featured in 7 episodes in the entirety of the show (with his Multiplication appearance being important but minor), there is also the fact that these two have interacted thrice in all that time. 

With their first interaction back in Gabriel Agreste being reduced to giving a side-glance to each other. And not even a friendly one.

Truly, they are soulmates...

Now, the irony doesn’t escape me regarding the fact that some of the Love Square issues come precisely from the fact that it’s taken them too long for Adrienette to be canon. One of my personal issues with Feligami happens to be that their relationship came a tad too soon. 

Can you please explain to me how do we go from “I begrudgingly acknowledge your existence” to “I can’t stop thinking about you”? I’m sorry, but that is too much of a shoujo manga cliché even for Miraculous. 

Mainly because that was basically the kind of dynamic Marinette would have had with Félix had he remained Chat Noir and Astruc, being cognizant of this fact, chose to scrap him because of that.

Because at least Marinette crushing on Adrien after thinking he was a jerk comes from the fact that he went out of his way to apologise to her, make amends, and show he is truly kind at heart. Feligami just comes out of nowhere.

Moreover, their current relationship status also feels forced due to their previous interactions. I’m sorry, but let’s face it, nobody in their right mind would think falling for or even trusting Félix/Argos is a good idea. 

If my memory doesn’t fail me, in Multiplication Ladybug and Chat Noir declared Félix as a public enemy due to willingly betraying them and allying himself with Shadow Moth, which directly resulted in him getting the miraculouses and becoming Monarch. (I could be mistaken on this one, though)

And as former miraculous holder, someone who is aware of the fact that the power is granted by sentient beings whose fates are unknown to them, there is just no way Kagami would come to even consider trusting Argos. 

And don’t try to bring her friendship with Lila up because at least there she has the excuse of not being aware of the full extent of Lila’s maliciousness and manipulations. In Félix’s case, she is 100% aware of what he’s capable of. 

Hell, he literally snapped her loved ones out of existence! And regardless of how terrible Tomoe is, she is still Kagami’s mother and she loves her. Just how she adores Marinette who, to her knowledge, Félix almost killed for real.

And you expect me to believe she would just move past that? Please, don’t insult me like that.

As much as I love my girl Kagami, there really isn’t enough content between these two to justify either of them falling for the other. 

Which sort of leads us to my next point...

2. The implications behind the ship:

There are a lot of unfortunate implications between their interactions. The kind that makes this pairing becoming canon very questionable because it just wouldn’t bode well in any long-term relationship, let alone a real one. And this actually comes from both sides. 

But let’s start with Félix, okay?

Ah, yes. The ring close-up.

What was originally meant as a “mere” confirmation of the fact that Kagami is most likely a sentimonster as well (a shock in itself if you didn’t buy the Sentimonster Theory), has the unfortunate side effect of implying the main, or even sole, reason Félix ever developed a crush on her is because the two are sentimonsters...and that’s it. 

Which is a terrible thing to base an entirely relationship on, because it would mean that Félix isn’t in love with Kagami as her own person. Because, quite frankly, he barely knows her to really come to appreciate her as such. But rather, his interest is born from the fact that the two are one and the same. 

It just reads as Félix being desperate for companionship, instead of actively looking for Kagami’s companionship.

And speaking of things that just don’t bode well...Kagami’s side in all of this isn’t much better. 

Ever since she was first introduced as Adrien’s potential alternative love interest, or more accurately, ever since Frozer, Kagami has made it a point to let Adrien know she wishes he were more proactive and assertive, which sort of culminated with that harsh phone call from Risk. 

And would you look at that!

Aside from his more manipulative side, being more proactive and assertive than Adrien sort of is Félix’s deal! Looks like Kagami finally found her match after all...

Sigh...

All that would be fine and dandy if it weren’t for the fact that all of season 5 so far, and especially Protection, have shown Adrien finally taking measures to try and be more in control of his life. Which good for him! We all know he needed the character development. Unfortunately this also comes with the canon fact that his new personality also reignited the flame of Kagami’s love for him. Which, again, was the main conflict in Protection: 

Kagami trying to keep her own growing feelings and jealousy in check now that Adrien and Marinette are an item. 

And where does this leave Feligami at?

Well, coupled with the fact that for some weird reason the Fathoms and Agrestes couldn’t be bothered to give their children individual looks, that is to say, that Félix is a carbon copy of Adrien and that Kagami was once again in love with him (Adrien) because he was finally turning into the kind of person she always dreamed he would be...let’s just say it all feels as if Kagami is projecting her feelings for Adrien onto Félix, rather than learning to love him for who he is. 

And that is just not fair for either character. Because it feels as if neither Félix or Kagami are being loved for who they truly are, but for what the other wants them to be. Which is the wrong approach to any relationship.

4. Kagami deserves a girlfriend

5. Even though my previous point is (half) meant as a joke, given what’s happened in Pretension it still holds a certain weight. Mainly because what ultimately seems to endear Félix to Kagami is the fact that some of his mannerisms remind her of Marinette.

I'm not making this up. Félix suddenly acting like a mess around Kagami could not be any more of an obvious parallel to Marinette's own bouts of nervousness around Adrien throughout the show.

Let’s that sink in for a minute, okay?

You’re telling me, Kagami for the most part is justifiably and understandibly hostile towards Félix, but the moment he starts acting like Marinette her whole demeanour softens? You say that she cares for Marinette so much that anything that resembles her becomes an immediate soft spot for Kagami?? And I’m supposed to believe she’s falling for Félix instead of getting deadass gayer for Marinette each passing episode????

Now, if that’s not a comphet narrative when I see it...

Which, combined with my previous point about Kagami projecting her feelings for Adrien onto Félix, only gives further credibility to the popular “fanon” idea that Kagami is bi. Now, if you could just let her meet some nice girl from her fencing class and let her explore that side of herself in peace instead of forcing her into a nonsensical relationship, that’d be great. 

6. It just reinforces the show’s blatant amatonormativity

Believe it or not, this is actually my main beef with the pairing. This is what makes me grit my teeth and roll my eyes in annoyance.

I get it, I get it. 

“Miraculous takes a lot of inspiration from rom-coms”, “it’s a show based on magical girls; of course romance is important!”, “the Love Square is one of its main pillars, what did you expect?”

I know. 

However, and I cannot stress this enough, you do not need to be in a romantic relationship to be happy and fulfilled. Not only because of the existence of these wonderful groups of people called aromantics and aroace people, but even the most straight, cisgendered, hopeless romantic can be perfectly content single. 

Also, being in a relationship is just not something Kagami and Félix’s characters need. But the writers insist that being romantically involved with someone is the only viable happy ending for anyone.

In Kagami’s case, in my humble opinion, taking control of her life from her controlling and strict mother while working on building stronger platonic relationships with her friends would be a very satisfying way to conclude her character arc. Because as touching as it was to see everyone assuring Kagami that they love her in Perfection, aside from Marinette and Adrien the only person her age she’s been interacting with is Lila. 

Not exactly the image of honesty and genuine support one would expect in a friendship, huh?

Maybe it’s just me, but seeing the once lonely and socially awkwad Kagami aurrounded by people she’s actually friends with rather than kids that hang out with her by association (that is to say, they are either Mari or Adrien’s friends too and that day they just happen to be all together) would feel like we’ve come full circle. 

From the aloof and lonely girl that is only focused on being the best and making her family proud we met in Riposte...

...to the warm and happy girl who greatly values her social circle she’s slowly been turning into.

And as for Félix...

Well, truth be told, the show hasn’t really given us much to work with. But maybe a happy ending for him would be if aside from finally being free like he wants to be, he rekindles his relationship with Adrien. If the two really were close in the past, then it would be a pity to lose that. 

But no. 

Instead, the show just has to reinforce the idea that the only way you can possibly be happy is by being in a romantic relationship. Never mind if they have neglected that subplot for so long it just comes completely out of the blue and feels unearned. 

I love Miraculous, I love the Love Square, and I am a shipper first and a person second, but this is ridiculous and a huge disservice to all parties involved.

André, Tomoe, and Gabriel should form an Obnoxious Shipper Club or something. And only because they will 100% tear each other apart in their Adrigami Vs Adrienette ship wars and I think we, as a society, collectively deserve that.

Something I love about Miraculous Ladybug as a fandom is how the writers tried to present Kagami to us like, "Here's Marinette's new love rival and Adrien's alternative love interest", and we, as intellectuals, went like, "Thanks for the character, but she's a lesbian and Adrien's love rival for Marinette's love."

Galaxy brain energy going on here.

In Rocketear I can totally picture Nino reacting angrily at Ladybug for trying to stop him from destroying Chat Noir going like:

Another parallel between Luka and Kagami comes from the true reasons why their relationships with Marinette and Adrien, respectively; didn't work out in the end.

As @kisilinramblings pointed out, both Kagami and Luka have trust issues, though Luka still relied on others whereas Kagami gave up on everyone. But while Luka still has a strong support network even without Marinette, Kagami is alone.

This aspect of their characters is reflected on the reason why they had to break up with Adrien and Marinette. Luka was hurt because he felt Marinette didn't trust him. Whereas Kagami broke up with Adrien because she couldn't fully trust him.

This is something that most likely stems from their respective upbringings.

Since Luka grew up in an... Unconventional family, he probably grew used to always being there for each other. For him, teamwork, communication and mutual trust are everything. Which is why he probably shoulders its lack thereof by himself. He probably fears there is a problem with him if Marinette can't be fully open with him. Keep in mind how he immediately tried to assure her that he wouldn't be jealous if she still loved Adrien.

Kagami, par contrast, despite her mother's monitoring and smothering, has been raised to depend on no one but herself. To her, her sense of self-preservation always comes first. So when Adrien showed signs of not being fully trustworthy, she chose to close herself off in order to prevent any further pain.

Luka was looking for someone who would depend on him, while Kagami was looking for the one person she could depend on.

It's really discouraging the way modern cartoons handle love triangles. And for one I'm not even thinking about the jealousy and unnecessary pining, I'm talking about the way the relationship ends.

So we all know it's pretty common place to have one of the main characters end up dating a secondary or supporting character before they start dating the other main character, who usually hurts over their unrequited feelings even more until they meet someone else they have an interest in.

But, would you look at that? Their crush suddenly isn't unrequited! And just as the object of their affections has entered a relationship. My, can you believe such coincidence????

Sigh.

And this is when my problem starts.

These relationships (which we all knew were never meant to last but, hey, it doesn't hurt to put in a little effort) break up because the protagonist spends more time thinking about the other lead than they do their actual partner.

And to add insult to the injury, it's not even them who break things off, knowing they're being unfair to their partner. It's their partner who knows they're not high in their list of priorities and decide to break things off. Usually with a lot more tact and care than the lead deserves.

And I mean, if you're going to do that, why bother writing the relationship?

There are many more reasons why two people would break up. Like, have them realise that they weren't what each wanted all along. Or have then growing distant, but believably so. Or have one of them having to move to go after their dreams. Or something!

This is something that Regular Show actually did very well. Even with all the craziness, the break ups were believable.

It's just... At this point "serious" love rivals are such a waste of time. They're meant to fail in the end!

Orange and Peppermint

After breaking up with Adrien for his lies, Kagami is in need of someone she can trust to confide her feelings in. She needs a friend who understands what she's going through; she needs Marinette.

I keep seeing people saying Kagami was a queen for ending things with Adrien the way she did while Luka needs more self-respect.

Could we please stop with that?

Kagami and Luka are foils and vastly different characters. They both ended things in the way that best fit their character.

Luka was never going to break up like Kagami would, and Kagami was never going to break up the way Luka would.

And each one's way of breaking up is still perfectly valid.

Kagami is a queen for ending things when she thought she wasn't getting what she deserved, and Luka is an angel for being so understanding even in such sad circumstances.

Both are valid and well-rounded characters.

The end.

Who wants me to write a post-Lies one-shot were Kagami opens up about her break up with Adrien to Marinette and they talk about their feelings for him as the good friends they are?

I'm actually surprised Adrigami ended on a worse note than Lukanette.