New City, New Adventures But Still Miraculous
2025 is the year of the ladybug—Miraculous Ladybug, that is.
Fans of Miraculous Corp’s iconic animated series have been getting more exciting content than ever with the brand-new Season Six. Though we may be leaving the past season’s ongoing arc behind and facing a bold, somewhat unclear adventure in Paris, it is proving to be a grand journey.
But Ladybug’s travels aren’t only confined to her home base of Paris. Over the years, fans have gotten to see other parts of the globe through the Miraculous lens—New York, London, and even Shanghai. Each time we watch Marinette enter a new city, we meet another stellar group of heroes and dangers. It makes the world of Miraculous feel bigger and more dynamic—and we are absolutely here for it.
It feels like we can go without saying that when we first heard another entry into the Miraculous World saga was coming, we were excited. Then, following the news that it was set in Tokyo and intended as an entry into the next Miraculous series? We were delighted and couldn’t wait to see what the creative team had in store for us.
Early spoiler alert: it might actually be the best Miraculous special to date. (And are we totally not-so-patiently waiting for when we can go back to Tokyo—yes, completely.)
While we don’t want to completely spoil the events of Miraculous World: Tokyo – Stellar Force—as it’s something you should be watching on November 28 on Disney Channel—we will be breaking down this new must-see post-holiday event. So there will be spoilers.
Feel like being surprised? Then bug out for now, get your spots on, and read after your viewing.
The Plot
Tokyo is in trouble—a new and unknown villain is putting the city and its citizens in danger, and their newly formed (and still yet unnamed) superhero team is in disharmony. Seemingly new to their fight, they are figuring out team dynamics, discovering how to fight, and trying to make things right for Tokyo after battle. It’s a lot, and it’s a urgent situation.
But theoretically, it’s none of Ladybug’s concern—her home is in Paris, she has her own team, and she has her own concerns, including her newly minted relationship with Adrien, who had to jet off to New York City.
While Marinette had planned to stay home in her pajamas and spend some time video calling her boyfriend, those plans are quickly thrown aside—even quicker than she can think to change—when Kagami enters her room and informs her that Tokyo needs her help. Marinette, being who she is, quickly finds herself jetting off to Tokyo with Kagami—who oddly stores a collection of her daily attire inside her mother’s private jet. It’s here that we learn why Tokyo is needing Ladybug’s help.
And unlike before, when Marinette found herself among other heroes, it’s made clear that this time the matter is far more sensitive and personal… but not for Marinette herself, rather for Kagami. Not only must Marinette find a way to help this new Tokyo team, but it’s also up to her to help Kagami break down some of her walls and stop holding back what has been weighing on her since she first left Tokyo.
The Characters
When we think of any of the seasons or even the previous specials that introduced us to new heroes, odds are we still find ourselves quickly circling back to our lead—Marinette.
And while this is rightfully so, Marinette is an amazing character, a strong hero, and an impactful leader who often has at least a sizable amount of the key plotlines centered around her. Yet in the case of Miraculous World: Tokyo – Stellar Force, we see her take a step back from the main spotlight and fill a more supportive role—one that this specific story needs.
Even without being the core focus of the story, Marinette is her absolute full self. We see her shine—from being able to transform Kagami’s clothing and her pajamas (yes, she basically only has those as her main clothing here) to being the warm and supportive friend and mentor.
We get a lot of really sweet and heartwarming moments from her. In addition, we also get some really great comedic moments from her as well; perhaps her time with Cat Noir has made some impact on her after all. I am sure she would never want to let him know that, of course.
As great as her moments are, in Tokyo it’s honestly Kagami who shines miraculously. Since her introduction into the series, Kagami has always been a great character, and many fans do greatly adore her. Given that the events of the first five seasons are more focused on characterization centric to the first story arc and Kagami’s relation to Adrien, we had gotten a nice amount of background on her.
The cast of Miraculous has never felt flat or one-dimensional, and in season six we are seeing them even more fleshed out than ever. But the amount of backstory, internal conflict, growth, and development that Kagami receives in this special is astonishing. It may not have been something fans specifically asked for, but now that we have it, it’s hard to imagine it never being included. Especially since these events occur before the events of season six.
We see Kagami foster her bond with Felix, her conflicting emotions regarding returning to Tokyo after a year away, and the uncertainty, apprehensiveness, and nervousness of seeing her former classmates again—especially Kazuno. We see her internally struggle with these emotions, handle them head-on, and ultimately overcome them.
In the end, we are able to see her let go of the past, grow, and even change. Something that also becomes visible in her physical appearance as she stops wearing her former school’s uniform (though she keeps the color palette—perhaps to remind her of her past) and cuts her hair. The latter is a huge marker of transformation, letting go, and change in Japanese media.
Though it’s unlikely that Kagami’s growth stops here, we see a complete story of who Kagami was and who she is striving to be, as she reconciles with her former life and classmates in Tokyo.
While we do get to see Kagami’s grandmother, the bulk of the new characters are a dozen of Kagami’s former classmates from Kano Academy. While we do get scenes showing all members of this new superhero team, and some insight into the class group chat they communicate in (and never thought to remove Kagami from), we don’t necessarily get a ton of moments to focus on each individual member of this group.
Thanks to Kagami’s recollections to Marinette, we are quickly made aware that they are a group of international students, all variously athletically gifted—perhaps making them more prime candidates to become Tokyo’s newest superheroes.
It certainly makes things around this new large ensemble crew more interesting and meeting them all more exciting. Given how the story does focus greatly on Kagami and her interpersonal conflicts, we only really see five members of the group get a larger amount of focus than the others: Miki, Kazuno, Mayotte, Pili, and Yu Lu. Outside of a few scenes and battles, the largest takeaway is how new they still are as heroes and how they are all aware of Ladybug and all the Paris heroes.
As these characters will have plenty of time to shine and develop in their series, the special opts to focus on the new series’ new leads, and also the characters Kagami has the most conflict around—Miki and Kazuno.
Miki, who possesses the Leo Fragment of the Stellar Matrix, is a very stark contrast to Kagami. She is bold, competitive, and has a lot of natural leadership qualities along with her headstrong nature. Though she enjoys challenges such as the one she presented to Kagami on her first day of school, she wants to earn her victories. While being an admirable personality, some of her less favorable qualities lead to a grander ego and assurance that lead to complications in battle. She seems to favor the approach of “attack now, ask questions later.”
Despite being a character that could quickly become bigger than life, and even a personality type that some would lean into being a more antihero or villain, Miki is honestly presented as being fairly well-balanced and likable—jagged edges and all. While Miki is bold, Kazuno feels like a yin to her yang, acting as a stark contrast.
Kazuno is in some ways presented as almost a boy-next-door archetype. He is kind, friendly, smart, and caring. While he is warm and has a flair for dancing, he can be seen to be a bit of a klutz despite his athleticism. He has a keen eye and all the makings of a true strategist.
After the fallout between him and Kagami, he loses heart and becomes more reserved, pulling back from those around him. This results in not only his desire to dance vanishing, but even his confidence diminishing. This ends up impacting his team, as he keeps pulling away from others and closing himself off. Despite all his challenges, he is in the end able to find his way back to himself.
As Stellar Force leans into star signs, we can see some traces of those character traits within the characters we have gotten, and it feels like a fresh way to approach Miraculous’ pre-established pattern of having yin and yang leads while keeping things fresh. Just seeing the differences and similarities between our new leading duo is really exciting, as it looks to hold a great deal of promise for strong character chemistry as they work through their feelings for one another and grow along the way.
The World Expanding
There are many things that make Miraculous unique and vibrant, including how the creative team takes the city and transforms it from a backdrop into a living, breathing element of the plot. Due to this talent, we not only feel the impact and heartbeat of wherever we find ourselves along with the cast, but we also feel a little at home, with a layer of familiarity and comfort as we understand the pace of life there.
And this skill shines in Stellar Force. While the events of the story unfold over a short timeline and we don’t get to venture extensively around Tokyo, Miraculous Corp goes all out, making this Tokyo feel lived-in and dynamic. From including aspects of Japanese culture, such as the small details of no shoes inside the home, the rituals of Japanese bathing, and the festival culture we see at the end portion of the special, it all feels very authentic to the Japanese culture many love and adore.
This level of attention doesn’t always happen with Western productions that aren’t created in or typically set in Japan. For English-speaking audiences, all dialogue is naturally in English, yet there is a cute scene where Tikki uses her abilities to help Marinette understand Japanese.
Not only are Marinette’s reactions and expressions priceless, but it is actually very cool to see her speak in that language during those moments, showing that everything in-universe is actually happening in Japanese—not English or Marinette’s native tongue of French. Even more appreciably, it sounds like Marinette’s voice actor, Christina Vee (legendary voice actor of many anime titles), is performing these lines. You can always truly count on Miraculous Corp to not neglect those details and to recognize the impact they make.
Romance
Given that the main flagship series is set in the one and only City of Love, romance has always been a core pillar of anything Miraculous, even if it is more subdued. Typically, when we think about the Miraculous World specials, romance is not one of the first elements we consider amid the setting, new characters, and powers.
But romance acts as a strong anchor here and is the actual catalyst for the entire plot, along with the ever-popular fiction staple of unresolved, unrequited love—which, again, is another big Miraculous hallmark. While we do get some fresh Marinette-and-Adrien cute moments, the love in question is all around Kagami—a character we don’t quickly associate with romance.
The story starts with a sweet moment between her and Felix and then ends with her being more forthcoming with her feelings and their relationship. It is a glorious way to make the story clean from a narrative point of view, without closing things off or boxing them in. We are never left wondering what their relationship is after the events of the fifth season. If anything, we are more assured that this may be the makings of the single strongest canon relationship. We even get to see how strong and defined Kagami’s feelings for Felix are.
Even to the point where she feels a greater urge to formally resolve her lingering and formerly unresolved feelings for Kazuno before she dives even deeper into her relationship with Felix. At the same time, we see that her feelings for Kazuno are still there—but not in a way that would cross any trust or boundaries with Felix. Rather, they exist in that first-love-and-friendship way that tends to stay with someone during the early dating years.
Unlike Marinette and Adrien, Kazuno was the first non-familiar connection Kagami ever had. He became her friend when she had never had one and showed her what being a teen would be like, dancing at arcade games. These are cherished memories for someone who had been isolated and locked away from a world she had never been able to see or understand.
This makes things more emotionally complex for Kagami, who we know hadn’t received much emotional support. While she was quickly growing deeply attached and developing feelings, she wasn’t at that time fully understanding what it all meant. But before she could even sort them out, she was quickly relocated to Paris.
Only adding to her emotional challenges, Kagami was overwhelmed with her preexisting feelings and at a loss for how to say goodbye while being emotionally sensitive and mature toward Kazuno. Not only did this deeply impact their direct relationship, but each individual as well. It wasn’t until much of the events of past seasons that Kagami was able to unpack her own emotions and face her past, confessing her actual truth. This allowed her to release old emotions and move forward.
Despite a lot of strong teenage emotions swirling between Kagami and Kazuno, there is another layer creating the actual first Miraculous love triangle—that of Miki and Kazuno. Unlike other romances we have seen, these two are fully into one another without any question, and their long-harbored feelings are mutual. Yet, while Miki is fully aware of her own feelings for Kazuno and that they are reciprocated, she is perfectly fine waiting until he is ready to take the first step to pursue anything romantic.
But it’s not due to any obliviousness that Kazuno hasn’t acted, rather because he is a long-time friend of Miki and wants to respect her values, he has not advanced their bond. Because of this, we are seeing a different romantic dynamic than before, as it’s not a matter of if they will be able to come together, but how and when. This comes with its own unique complications, making for a very interesting watch and payoff.
The Stellar Force
New specials mean the world and heroes of Miraculous expand. In Miraculous World: New York – United Heroez, fans were surprised to learn that there were other powers, beings, and forces outside of the Miraculous and the Miracle Box that lend people powers, abilities, and transformations.
In Miraculous World: Tokyo – Stellar Force, we see that these powers don’t only come from things already existing on Earth—but also from space. In this case, something known as the Stellar Matrix: a currently unknown entity that has been broken into twelve Fragments representing the twelve astrological signs.
Fragments are now in the possession of a group of classmates from Kano Academy. Each Fragment holder is paired with a Sprite, a robotic-like being similar to a Kwami, which allows the holder to transform into a hero of their designated constellation. Similar to the Miraculous holders, each Fragment holder sports a wristband housing their Sprite, allowing them to transform and become a hero of the name of their affiliated star sign.
With their transformations, they are able to unlock additional physical abilities and attack methods to help fight against Kaiju-infected people who are transformed into monsters, assisting Modeler and The Supreme in capturing all twelve of the Stellar Matrix. While each Fragment holder is able to fight alone in battle, if needed, they can together unlock a Super Sentai-inspired robot to fight larger and stronger opponents.
Unlike the Miraculous holders, they aren’t currently dependent on a single person to act as a finisher and revert victims and collateral damage back to normal. Rather, it is an act that requires all twelve members. As the story is set sometime after they receive their powers, we aren’t ever given full context on the how, what, when, and why behind the Stellar Matrix or why there is a looming threat now present over Tokyo and this group of friends. Despite this, we are given fairly good context on some of the basic workings of their powers, even though they remain in their infancy.
While you can quickly see the similarities between the Fragments and the Miraculous, there are also stark contrasts presented very quickly. With the Miraculous, we see more intersective aspects that drive each holder and their Kwami, along with more individualized powers and appearances. However, the Stellar Force comes across as more unified and uniform, similar to many popular Japanese-based heroes. The most striking difference is that the Stellar Force seems far less focused on keeping their identities secret.
With each hero form, every member of the Stellar Force can conceal their faces, yet we often see them move their masks away during fights, allowing their identities to potentially become exposed. Perhaps they aren’t concerned with exposure, or some kind of magic effect protects them—or because their adversaries are under mind control, it doesn’t matter as much. Because there seems to be less focus on secrets, it continues to change the pre-established Miraculous formula and raises even greater questions about the Stellar Matrix.
Including the new villain, Modeler, who seeks the Matrix for his own desires. Though we don’t know much about him outside of the fact that he seems willing to get his own hands dirty to achieve his objective. The more alarming factor is that he isn’t alone, but rather appears to work under someone else—The Supreme, the same unknown being who already made its presence known during the London special and was responsible for Shadybug and Claw Noir.
While both Ladybug and the Stellar Force may be unaware, a deeper and darker danger hangs over all their heads. It’s guaranteed they will have to come together with the rest of the Miraculous holders at some point to end things once and for all.
Miraculous Stellar Force
It’s no secret that this year, fans of Miraculous Ladybug have been treated to non-stop great content. With Season Six and now the long-awaited new entry into the Miraculous World series, the excitement is only growing—and Miraculous World: Tokyo – Stellar Force delivers.
Not only does Stellar Force give Kagami a heartfelt arc, but it also offers remarkable character development and storytelling. With clever use of the dual animation styles of Miraculous Ladybug, combined with the new art style of Stellar Force, we get a visual representation of the passage of time as we follow Kagami and her former classmates’ growth.
As the first spin-off in the world of Miraculous, Miraculous World: Tokyo – Stellar Force proves itself a force to watch. A new city, new mission, new powers, and a returning danger show that Paris isn’t the only city in need of heroics. A fact that is doubled-down on with the final and jaw-dropping scene of the special.
The introduction of the Stellar Force team and the mysterious Stellar Matrix not only expands the lore of this world, but also sets the stage for thrilling future stories, while keeping the same themes present throughout Miraculous.
With its Japanese roots and nods to classic Super Sentai, combined with the flair of early-2000s action and superhero series, Stellar Force reinvents the Miraculous formula while maintaining its foundation and heart.
Driven by Kagami’s personal attachments and growth, Stellar Force not only sets the stage for a new team of heroes, but also gives new life to one of our most beloved existing ones. With fresh dangers emerging in Tokyo, their journey is only beginning as they navigate teamwork, friendship, and all the complications of being a teenager — all while saving the world. Inspired by their Miraculous predecessors and the legacy of classic teen heroes, Stellar Force is already carving out its own path. And it’s one we can’t wait to see unfold.
Miraculous World: Tokyo- Stellar Force reinforces the heart and principles of everything that has come before. But creates something new and dramatic that proves this world has a lot more to offer than anyone may have ever expected.
We absolutely adore it and cannot wait to see what happens next. Be sure to catch Miraculous World: Tokyo – Stellar Force on Disney Channel, November 28th and November 30th on Disney XD before arriving on Disney+ on February 27th, 2026.
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