BY ROWAN RAVERTY

STAFF WRITER

Has this distance learning gotten too boring for you? Need some action in your life? Want to leave your house and travel? Getting tired of those FRIENDS reruns and need something new to watch? Well, have I got a show for you!

Miraculous Ladybug is a 3D animated show about two superheroes named Ladybug and Cat Noir. These partners in crime work together to protect the city from the evil Hawkmoth who wants to have their miraculouses. A miraculous is a piece of jewelry that holds the power of our heroes and villains. The power is found in these magical creatures called kwamiis. Each kwamii represents a different animal and holds a special ability. The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses are the strongest, holding the power of creation and destruction. They belong to our protagonists.

The holder of the Ladybug Miraculous is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She is voiced by Christina Vee, who has also voiced Sailor Mars in the Sailor Moon franchise. Marinette is half French from her father’s side and half Chinese from her mother’s side. She’s a kind, clumsy girl who wants to be a fashion designer. Her kwamii friend is Tikki, who’s very kind and cheerful and supports Marinette. When Marinette is Ladybug, she becomes a lot more confident. Her weapon is a yo-yo, and her special power is called Lucky Charm. She can summon a random idea and use it to stop the villain. She has no clue what the item will be. She also has a big crush on her classmate, Adrian, and gets all flustered when she tries to talk to him.

And the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous is Adrien Agreste. He is voiced by Bryce Papenbrook, who also voices Makoto Neagi and Nagito Komeada in the Danganronpa franchise. Adrien’s the son of a famous fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste. His mom, Emilie Agreste, was a famous actress; she mysteriously disappeared before the events of the series. Adrien is a charismatic, friendly, encouraging, supportive, and innocent cinnamon roll. He is innocent because his father kept him in the house for so long. Well, until he got miraculous and then he was able to get a sense of freedom away from his scheduled life. His kwamii friend is named Plagg. He’s a mischievous little bean who likes to get into trouble. He’s also a big fan of cheese- the stinkier the better. When Adrian becomes Cat Noir, he has freedom. No more being controlled by his father! He’s more optimistic and has a thing for saying cat puns. He also likes flirting with Ladybug because he loves her.

That’s right, there’s a love square in this show, and it gets very aggravating at times. Marinette likes Adrian, but he likes Ladybug and doesn’t know that she’s Marinette. And Marinette has no clue that Adrian was flirting with her this whole time as Cat Noir. 

Now, in season 2, they did introduce two new love interests for both Marinette and Adrian. First is Luka Couffaine, a sweet guitarist who has Marinette question if her life will be with him or Adrian. He’s very supportive of her, saying that he’s always there for her if Adrian declines her. Kagami Tsurugi, a Japanese girl who’s a part of Adrian’s fencing team, likes him. They spend a lot of time together due to their parents being friends. She knows of Marinette’s crush on Adrian, but believes Adrian has a crush on Marinette. Adrien also has two other girls in the series that have crushes on him, but he doesn’t like them in that way. Chloe Bourgeois is the daughter of the Mayor of Paris, Adrian’s first ever friend, and Marinette’s bully. There’s also Lila Rossi who I really don’t like because she’s a liar and has a respect/works for Hawkmoth.

Speaking of Hawkmoth, he’s the series’ main antagonist. Now, I can’t say much about him because if I do, I have to spoil so much of the fun mystery of the series. So, I can only say a few things. First, he’s voiced by Keith Silverstien, who also voiced Gantetsu and Kimimaro Kaguya in the Naruto series. He holds the Butterfly Miraculous. I know, how can butterflies be evil? Well, he can turn butterflies into akumas, which translates to demons, to control people to be supervillains. This is only when someone is upset/angry/willing to be under his control. That’s called akumatization. Only Ladybug has the power to turn the akuma back into a butterfly. His kwamii is named Nuroo, a shy little purple butterfly boy who I just wanna hug.

My god, I did it! A review! This is great! Now, this isn’t everything I wanted to talk about. If I did talk about it, well, I’d just spoil the whole series. So, go watch this fun series; it’s on Netflix. There’s also a Christmas Special and an episode special where they go to New York! And the original characters you can make! The possibilities are endless. Now, go and binge-watch this amazing piece of work!

BY LOGAN SCHLOSSER

STAFF WRITER

Today I have the pleasure of talking to you about my favorite game to waste time. The game that I am talking about here is Downwell. I can describe this game as a rapid-paced experience; and this a game can last  anywhere from one minute to thirty. The description I would also give this game would be “randomly-generated-fun”. I would give this game this description because your game experience is legitimately different every single time. The enemies are randomly spawned, same with the levels you experience! So, with the introduction out of the way, lets get more in depth with this game!

Alright, so I feel because this is a video game, I should be talking about the actual gameplay first. So in this game, as the name suggests, you are legitimately falling down a well! The main mechanic of this game is the gun boots that are strapped to your feet as you descend. These boots have many different upgrade abilities and mechanics as you travel fast down the well. On the mechanics side, you have a certain amount of ammo you can use, but it will reload once you land on a solid object. You will use these spectacular boots to traverse the well—mostly because they will allow you to slow fall and not just plummet into all of the enemies that will try to take your health away. Speaking of heath, you only have four hit points as you travel down, but these can be refilled as you travel down the well. You also have the ability to change the type of shots your boots shoot by picking up little upgrade modules. Now, each of these will usually contain an ammo upgrade or a health refill. But more importantly, they will always change how your boots function, making the game so much more fun! Lastly, as you destroy the enemies that are below you by stepping on them, they will always drop some sort of currency. This currency can be used in the shops that you will find occasionally to purchase health upgrades and ammo upgrades! Now, because I don’t wanna spoil too much of the game, let’s move onto the next paragraph.

Well, as I like to do in the reviews I write, I will be talking about the art style. I feel as though the art style of a game will really pull it together. Even if the gameplay is fun, I feel a game can only be good if you pair that with a good art style. This game’s art style is what would be described as 8-bit. The game also has a two-color color palette that can be changed as you progress through the game, so what can motivate you to continue playing the game is to unlock more color palettes, as well as this simple graphic design. You do not need the most powerful hardware in the business to play this comfortably, so that makes the game a lot more opening to new players hoping to join the PC gaming community

Anyways, there is so much more I would like to tell you about this game, but I don’t wanna spoil the experience that you can have with this game. So if my review made you want to pick up a copy of Downwell, I gladly recommend you do.