What’s behind Hawk Moth’s choice of victims?

Question

We know that Hawk Moth can akumatize anyone in the proper frame of mind. He also seems to focus on people around Marinette and Adrien’s school, which makes sense

since Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth.

However, is there any additional strategy behind his choice of victims? Presumably there are plenty of people in Paris in the right mental state, given that someone at Marinette’s school qualifies at least every few weeks.

Does Hawk Moth have a limited number of “charges” per time for his akumatization? Is he choosing his time to strike carefully?

Does he not have much time to Akumatize people while also managing his fashion business?

Answer 1

There are direct references in the show that Marinette and Adrien are often absent from school and often “go AWOL” on their friends, the inference being that they are saving Paris from other random Parisians who have been akumatized by Hawk Moth.

From a story-telling standpoint, I presume, the episodes focus on those around the two teens, rather than trying to introduce completely random Parisians every episode.

As to any specifics about how Hawk Moth chooses victims, the show only tells us that he targets those with strong negative feelings (he specifically gloats about this aspect almost every time).

As to his ability to akumatize people, we have only the general idea that a Miraculous’s special power can only be used once, after which the Kwami must separate from the host and eat food to recharge. It is probably safe to assume that Nooroo has this same limitation, but it is never specifically stated except for Tikki and Plagg.