Animan

"Animan" is the seventeenth episode of the first season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. It aired on August 13, 2016 in the U.S.

Synopsis
While Marinette waits for Adrien at the zoo, the zookeeper gets akumatized into Animan, a shapeshifter who can take the form of any animal.

Plot
At the Collège Françoise Dupont courtyard, Marinette and Alya look through La Mode, a magazine Adrien models for. From a distance, Nino peeks at the girls. Adrien notices him eyeing Marinette and Nino admits to his friend that he has a huge crush on Marinette, but is too shy to go talk to her. Adrien encourages him to ask Marinette out to the zoo and see their new panther. Nino begins to walk over to her, but panics at the last minute and runs back to his best friend. Adrien smiles and assures his friend that he would be happy to help.

Alya and Marinette are on their way home after school, still admiring the pictures of Adrien in the magazine. Distracted, Marinette accidentally bumps into Nino and drops the periodical from her hands. Stiff as a board, Nino does not move at all, prompting Adrien to come out from behind him and apologizes on Nino's behalf. Marinette giggles at the sight of Adrien, but then realizes that her magazine--prominently featuring several pictures of Adrien--is in plain sight. Attempting to be a gentleman, Adrien also goes to pick it up, and they bump heads, cuing another apology from Adrien. Hoping to get Nino to open up, Adrien suggests that they do something together to make it up to them, but Nino remains frozen. Adrien ends up inviting the girl to the zoo at 4 that afternoon. In a trance, Marinette agrees, then shakes in her boots when Alya tells her that Adrien just asked her out. Believing that she is about to have her first date with Adrien, Marinette begs Alya for help. Across town, Nino has the same reaction when Adrien tells Nino that he and Marinette would be alone together in the zoo.

Marinette arrives at the zoo and takes a seat at a park bench. Using an earpiece and microphone, Alya intends to coach Marinette on what to say while Alya herself remains out of sight behind a tree. Marinette spots Max and Kim, who explain they came to see the new panther. Then Nino arrives, and Marinette is confused that Adrien is nowhere to be seen. Unbeknownst to her, Adrien is hiding in the bushes to coach Nino. However, Nino's nerves still get the better of him and he winds up agreeing with her suggestion to wait for Adrien to arrive, much to Adrien's annoyance.

Elsewhere in the zoo, Kim and Max are looking at the new panther as she eats her meat. Max tells Kim how fast the panther can go, to which doesn't impress him, making him say he could easily beat her. Otis, the zookeeper, is aggravated by the boy and tells him not to bother the animal. Still, Kim persists and taunts both the zookeeper boasting about winning his school's championship, even after Max points out that it would be much more likely for the panther to eat Kim. Once again, Otis tells Kim to stop bothering the animal, but Kim continues to mock the "poor tomcat" and her "cranky nanny" as he and Max walk away.

Meanwhile, Nino and Marinette continue to awkwardly wait for Adrien. Marinette asks if he's really arriving. Coached by Adrien, Nino replies back, "Yes, he is coming, but before I wanted to spend some time with you to-"--but cracks and then confesses that he has a crush on a girl but is afraid to tell her. Marinette assures him there is no need to worry. Nino begins to say "you" but at the last second changes it to "your friend Alya", prompting three loud "WHAT"s from Adrien, Marinette, and Alya herself. Marinette thinks this is great and offers to help get the two of them together, but Alya, who views Nino as a friend, is everything but happy with this development, and especially not with that her best friend is interested in trying to get them together.

From his lair, Hawk Moth senses Otis's annoyance with the overly competitive boy, and sends an akuma to the zookeeper's bracelet. He offers the man a chance to put Kim in his place. Once the zookeeper agrees, he becomes Animan, a shapeshifting villain who sets out after the boy. Animan releases the entire menagerie and, in the form of a panther, corners Kim and Max. He turns the tables on the boys, tauntingly saying that he will give them a head start in their race.

Back with Nino and Marinette, Alya again objects to Marinette arranging a date for her and Nino. Marinette tells her that he will be devastated if she were to refuse. However, before they could carry out any further, they spot Kim and Max running for their lives from the zoo animals, led by Animan. Marinette and Nino rush away, and once she is out of sight, Tikki scolds Marinette for not respecting Alya's wishes before transforming her into Ladybug. Elsewhere in the zoo, Plagg changes Adrien to Cat Noir. The heroes find Kim, cornered by Animan. They distract the panther long enough for Kim to flee, and Ladybug incapacitates him by tying him up in her yo-yo, but before they can take his bracelet, the animals he freed come to his aid and force them to retreat. Realizing that it would be too much of a hassle to get all of them back into their cages, the heroes split up. Spotting Nino and Alya running for their lives, Ladybug locks them in the empty gorilla habitat for their own safety while the animals are loose in the streets of Paris.

The heroes return to where they left the panther, only to find no sign of him. This confuses Ladybug, knowing her wire is impossible to break. They decide that for the time being, the best course of action would be to find Kim. They eventually spot the boy, once again cornered by the panther, on top of a bridge. Cat Noir tells Kim to run, but not before planting a tracking device on him. Ladybug again ties Animan up in her yo-yo, but he simply turns himself into a bald eagle and flies off in Kim's direction. Cat Noir uses the tracking device he planted on the boy to find him desparately begging for help from the owners of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. Recognizing that their foe probably has a good sense of smell, Ladybug asks to see Kim's sweatband. She places it on a railing and sprays herself and her partner with a deodorant to hide their own scents. Sure enough, Animan--now in the form of a ladybug--flies to where the heroes placed the sweatband. Ladybug traps him in a tissue box, but he changes back into a panther and chases the heroes into an empty bus with the doors locked.

The duo struggles to fight him as he changes into a variety of animals, gradually getting slower each time. Ladybug figures that the transformations must be tiring him out. Cat Noir activates his Cataclysm to make the bus go haywire. The doors are wide enough to give the heroes a chance to escape, but not a tired grizzly bear. At first, it seems that he has successfully been worn out, but just as they are about to take the bracelet from the sleeping panther, he transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, and, as usual, is confused by the object--this time, a car jack. She leaves it aside and realizes that her partner could use his cat-like agility to climb on top of the dinosaur and distract him while she uses her yo-yo to tie him up for good.

The Tyrannosaur has been defeated, but Ladybug is still confused why the Lucky Charm would provide her with something they did not need. However, when Cat goes over to retrieve the bracelet, he just narrowly avoids being chopped in half by Animan's massive teeth. Understanding at once, Ladybug charges at the T-Rex and Cat Noir is horrified as he watches the villain apparently swallow her whole. He prepares to attack, but is relieved when he sees his Lady, safe and sound. She uses the car jack to open the dinosaur's mouth too wide to do them any harm while she retrieves the bracelet and cleanses the akuma.

Ladybug throws the car jack into the sky, which repairs all of the damage done by the fight, returns the animals to their cages in the zoo, and turns Otis back into himself. She prepares to bump fists with her partner, but he is too relieved that she is all right that he embraces her before realizing that his transformation is about to wear off.

From his lair, Hawk Moth vows that he will get Ladybug and Cat Noir someday. Ladybug returns home and a very exhausted Marinette crashes onto her bed before getting a call from Alya. Realizing that she left her friend at the zoo--and, as Tikki points out, locked her in a cage with Nino as Ladybug--Marinette apologizes to her best friend on the phone before catching up to her in front of the bakery storefront. The girls reconcile as Nino joins them, offering cookies. Nino comes clean to Marinette and admits that he used to have a crush on her before spending so much time with Alya. Funnily enough, Alya and Nino were locked in the same cage all afternoon and realized that they had a great deal in common. Alya also admits that she told Nino that Marinette had feelings for another boy, but did not tell him who it was, but tells her that while she was helping Marinette at the zoo, Nino was being coached by Adrien. Nino offers to talk to the "mystery guy", but Alya keeps him in line. Marinette giggles and the end title card appears--Marinette imagining Alya and Nino smiling at each other in the gorilla habitat.

Major characters

 * Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
 * Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
 * Hawk Moth
 * Tikki
 * Plagg
 * Akuma
 * Alya Césaire
 * Nino Lahiffe
 * Otis/Animan
 * Lê Chiến Kim

Minor characters

 * Max Kanté
 * Théo Barbot
 * Sabine Cheng
 * Tom Dupain
 * Nadja Chamack
 * Master Fu (background)
 * André Bourgeois
 * Various zoo animals
 * Civilians

Trivia

 * This episode was the 16th to air in France, the 13th on TéléQuébec, the 4th episode of season 2 in Korea, and the 17th to air in Australia
 * The title for the Korean version is "Runaway Zoo".
 * At the beginning of the episode, Alya and Marinette can be seen reading the horoscope section of a magazine. Marinette reads to Alya, "Lion, your heart will roar," implying that one of the girls is a Leo, placing her birthday sometime between 23 July and 22 August.
 * In the scene where Marinette recalls accidentally walking into the boys' bathroom, Théo Barbot can be seen drying his hands.
 * It is revealed in this episode that Nino has a crush on Marinette but has changed since Ladybug locked him and Alya together in a cage during the fight.
 * The episode references many movies with dinosaurs and Kaiju destroying a city, such as Jurrasic Park and Jumanji.
 * What happened between Alya and Nino while they were stuck in the cage will be seen in upcoming comics.

Errors

 * When Kim first runs into the bakery, the outer window on the right-hand side is backwards.
 * The bus where Cat Noir and Ladybug attempt to trap Animan has a board of Mireille and Aurore in some of the shots.
 * Cat Noir's right wristband is missing after he jumps away from Animan.

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