Line #15 Recap/MiraculousLadybugS02E05Riposte


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ripostechallengeadrien.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:I'm taking you up on your offer of a decisive match!]]
3
4	->''"Riposte. I am Hawk Moth. I'm giving you a second chance to prove that ''you'' are the best fencer of all. But in return, you must bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous."''
5	-->--'''Hawk Moth'''
6
7	A new student, Kagami Tsurugi, shows up to Adrien's fencing class. But when Marinette makes the wrong call, the new girl gets Akumatized into Riposte, and seeks a rematch with Adrien!
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10
11	* AmbiguousSituation: Who really won the final hit in Adrien and Kagami's fencing match is never confirmed. While Adrien expresses the opinion that Kagami got it first and Hawk Moth claims her victory was "stolen" from her, the actual hit happens so quickly that the viewers are left just as unsure as Marinette.
12	* AmusingInjuries: Mr D'Argencourt is trampled over by his students on a staircase and then hit by a cart full of books and smashed against the wall. But don't worry. He's perfectly fine in the next scene.
13	%%* AudibleSharpness: When Kagami takes her fencing sword back from Adrien, it makes this noise. %%What noise? Is it saying the phrase "audible sharpness"?
14	* ArtisticLicenseSports: While the episode initially presents sabre fencing in a fairly accurate manner, it's soon cast aside after Adrien and Kagami begin their bout.
15	** When Marinette declares that she was sure that Adrien had struck first after D'Argencourt calls a simultané, one of the teacher's students tells her that in fencing, you never question the referee. While the sport does put strong emphasis on respecting the referee's decisions, there is still an appeals process for when fencers disagree, though they risk being carded if it's believed they are abusing this system to unfairly affect the referee's decision.
16	** D'Argencourt makes no attempt to intervene when Kagami tackles Adrien off the mat and into a pole, even though bodily contact (known as a corps à corps) is illegal and at the very least requires halting the bout. Kagami's actions also would qualify at minimum as jostling her opponent, a group 1 offense that results in a yellow warning card the first time and a red card that awards the point to the opponent on subsequent offenses. Moreover, since she deliberately rammed into Adrien, who seemed slightly disoriented after hitting the pillar, her actions could arguably also count as dangerous, violent, or vindictive action, a group 2 offense that gives the fencer a red card on the first offense, with the point going to the opponent.
17	** After leaving the fencing piste, Adrien and Kagami are allowed to continue their bout throughout the school and into the library. In RealLife, fencers are expected to stay on the mat, and retreating off your end of the fencing strip ends the bout with the point going to your opponent.
18	** As touched upon in {{Flynning}}, even ignoring how a bout is confined to the fencing strip, many of Adrien and Kagami's actions throughout their bout should've been carded as being disorderly fencing or abnormal fencing action. They also committed various other offenses, such as turning their backs to their opponents and crossing their feet (the latter is allowed in foil and épée, but not sabre, the discipline D'Argencourt's team practices).
19	** Adrien correctly explains at the end of his bout with Marinette that in sabre fencing, it's possible for a player to touch second and still win the bout if they have priority (right of way), hence why Marinette got the point even though he touched first. However, when Kagami and Adrien's bout concludes in the library, none of the characters care about anything other than which player struck first, with there being no mention of priority at all.
20	*** In fact, the fight quickly gives up any pretense of being a proper sabre one, switching to an épée-like style, [[RuleOfCool the most spectacular of the three armes (as touching anywhere is fair game in it)]].
21	** Kagami stabs her foil into the ground while leaving after being declared the loser. This would likely be against fencing regulations, which put strict emphasis on sportsmanship and etiquette and are known for prohibiting anything that could be seen as excessive brutality. Fencers have been disqualified from tournaments just for throwing their equipment at the ground in frustration.
22	* BigNo: Ladybug does this when Riposte cuts apart the sarcophagus she hid Adrien in. He's since transformed and left it.
23	* BilingualBonus: Kagami Tsurugi's name can be translated as 'Mirror' (Kagami) 'Blade' (Tsurugi). Fitting for a fencer, and even more so for an akuma named after a technique where you mirror then counter an opponent.
24	* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: Kagami plants her her sabre in the ground as she leaves, which is doubly impressive considering the blunted tip is supposed to prevent people from doing exactly this. Later, at the Louvre, Ladybug is disarmed of Kagami's sabre and it gets stuck in a nearby painting.
25	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The French version has Riposte calling Ladybug "my Lady," whereas the English just uses her name.
26	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Kagami is the sole fencer to sport a red attire. This makes her fight with Adrien easier to follow for the audience, as who is who is always clear.
27	* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: After Adrien agrees to Kagami's suggestion of disconnecting themselves from the electronic scoring machines, Marinette asks how they're supposed to tell who touched first without the machines. One of the members of the fencing team dismisses her concerns and tells her they'll just have to watch the bout closely, and nobody else seems to protest. Then, when Adrien and Kagami leave the mat and continue their match throughout the school, Marinette questions if this is really what fencing is all about, to which D'Argencourt insists it is. Finally, her opinion that Adrien won in his final bout against Kagami is portrayed as incorrect; Adrien thinks Kagami struck first and later outright says Marinette made a bad call.
28	* CovertPervert: When Marinette is fencing with Adrien, he tells her to touch him (as in, with the sabre). Marinette's flustered expression makes it clear she was thinking of a different kind of touching.
29	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Downplayed. Hawk Moth, who is really Gabriel, akumatizes someone with a grudge against Adrien, but when Riposte directly endangers Adrien, Hawk Moth orders her to get Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses before taking her revenge. Rarely has Hawk Moth been so insistent that his villains honor their end first.
30	* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: During their rooftop battle, Ladybug attacks Riposte with her yoyo, and gets the chimney behind the villainess instead. Riposte is ready to attack her when Ladybug yanks her weapon and causes most of the chimney to fall on Riposte, restraining her for a while.
31	* FailedASpotCheck: PlayedWith. Marinette notices Cat Noir's injury, but in the heat of the moment, doesn't connect it to the injury Adrien suffered earlier.
32	* {{Flynning}}: While showing an accurate description of real, Olympic-level fencing at the beginning (fittingly, since it's a fencing class), the rest of the battles have a heavy dose of acrobatics. Lampshaded by Marinette, who asks if this is still considered fencing once Kagami and Adrien begin flynning for good. D'Argencourt eagerly answers that it is.
33	* FollowThatCar: Adrien orders his driver to follow Kagami's car. The Gorilla grunts but doesn't dispute the order.
34	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Kagami first suggests fencing without the electronic scoring machines, Marinette wonders how they'll even be able to tell who won without the machines. Sure enough, after Kagami and Adrien conclude their bout in the library, nobody is able to tell for certain which of them got the point.
35	* FreezeFrameBonus: When Adrien tackles Ladybug away from Riposte's attack, he braces her head with his right hand to protect her from whiplash.
36	* FreudianSlip: Marinette tells Adrien "Nice to fencing, I'm totally into you." Then she realizes her mistake and corrects herself.
37	* GameBreakingInjury: Adrien injures his ankle shortly after Riposte first attacks him, so Ladybug must protect him for most of the episode as he can't even move quickly enough to find a hiding spot and transform; once he does, he's still injured, limiting his effectiveness as Cat Noir.
38	* JustFriends: When Kagami asks about Adrien's relationship with Marinette, this is his response. She doesn't seem entirely convinced, while Marinette was hoping for more. Tikki assures her that it's a good start.
39	* LoveAtFirstSight: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. Adrien is very obviously impressed by Kagami's good looks [[DramaticUnmask when she removes her fencing mask]], and [[LoveBubbles the visuals]] [[ShakingHerHairLoose match this]]. He later shows interest towards her, develops a proper crush, acts on it and [[RomanticFalseLead dates her for some time]]. But he ultimately never gets over his infatuation with Ladybug, and the [[PortmanteauCoupleName Adrigami]] falls apart.
40	* LoveBubbles: We see Kagami [[DramaticUnmask unmasking]] from Adrien's perspective. She's surrounded by said LoveBubbles [[AnimeTropes over a pink background]] while [[ShakingHerHairLoose shaking her hair in slow-motion]].
41	* MonumentalDamage: The Louvre pyramid gets its top cut off by Riposte.
42	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Marinette nervously declares Adrien the winner of his match with Kagami when she's the only witness, even though Adrien is convinced he was hit first, which renders Kagami vulnerable to Hawk Moth's akuma since she hates losing. In Marinette's defense, she was put on the spot, is still new to the sport, and admits upfront that she can't be sure, and D'Argencourt ignores both this and Adrien's opinion to rule him the winner, seemingly out of a bias against Kagami's insolent behavior.
43	* PlotHole: Even though Adrien had explained to Marinette that striking your opponent first doesn't determine who gets the point as much as priority does, for Adrien and Kagami's bout, everyone treats it as if the winner is based solely on who struck first and never even asks about who had priority. While it's understandable for Marinette to make this mistake since she's still new to the sport, it makes no sense that Kagami, D'Argencourt, and even Adrien himself, all of whom are experts at fencing, would forget such an important rule.
44	* ProperlyParanoid: After multiple villainous attacks, Paris now has Akuma Alert protocols, calmly yet quickly evacuating the civilians from the places where Ladybug and Cat are fighting, or about to fight, an akuma, minimizing the risk of people getting injured or mind-controlled.
45	* RightInFrontOfMe: At the beginning of the fencing trials, Marinette asks her masked adversary if he knows where Adrien is and describes him as "tall, blonde, nice, super handsome." The fencer removes his mask, revealing that he is, of course, Adrien.
46	-->'''Adrien''': Thanks for the compliment!
47	* RuleOfCool: Adrien and Kagami's fencing fight quickly delves into this, despite [[OnlySaneMan Marinette]]'s repeated questionning and [[LampshadeHanging Lampshading]].
48	* SamusIsAGirl: Before she removes her mask, Kagami is referred as "he" by characters in the English version ([[FailedASpotCheck despite the clearly feminine figure and voice, and the pink sword.]]) In the [[LostInTranslation original French version]], everyone knows she's a girl.
49	* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: Kagami's family has this mindset, which is why she's so disappointed about losing to Adrien.
50	* ShakingHerHairLoose: Romantic variant. Kagami does this after removing her mask and Adrien is positively impressed by her looks.
51	* SoreLoser: Downplayed with Kagami, who is polite about losing but is still upset enough about it to be akumatized.
52	* TraineeFromHell: Downplayed and PlayedForLaughs with the fenching teacher Mr. D'Agencourt and his students. He infects them with his enthusiasm to watch the duel between Adrien and Kagami. Unfortunately for him, they don't pay attention to him anymore — first, he is trampled over by his students, then hit by a cart full of books and smashed against the wall due to Adrien and Kagami's very acrobatic dueling style, but he only obtains AmusingInjuries and is fine right afterwards.

Context Recap / MiraculousLadybugS02E05Riposte