kanna-chan's cafe

kanna here! Wow, it’s been a while…a week, maybe? Two weeks? Whatever! Here’s Anime Monday #6: BLACK BUTLER!

Black Butler (黒執事) started out as a manga written and illustrated by Yana Toboso (枢やな). The manga was released on September 26, 2006. In July 2008, it was announced that an anime adaptation directed by Toshiya Shinohara (篠原敏哉) and produced by A-1 Pictures would be released. The first season of the adaptation premiered October 3, 2008, and continued for three seasons until September 12, 2014. And...

Well, before I give my opinion, how about some info on just what this anime is about?

The story revolves around Ciel Phantomhive, a twelve- (later thirteen) year-old boy who is the Earl of the Phantomhive family, the Queen’s watchdog (guard dog in the English dub), and owner of the Funtom Toy Company. In short: a nobleman who lives in the BIGGEST HOUSE I HAVE EVER SEEN. He's also a kid who entered into a contract with a demon. How? Well...

On the night of Ciel's tenth birthday, he was running through the house when he found his mother and father dead and the manor was burning down. He called for help, only to be attacked from behind by an unseen assailant and taken to...well, we don't really find out where, and quite frankly, I don't want to know. The details get pretty gruesome after this point. If there is anyone who is squeamish, skip ahead a bit. I’ll do my best not to make this too gruesome, but I make no promises.

Ciel gets traded around the London underworld as a slave and sex toy, before he was finally sold to a cult who planned to sacrifice him. They branded him and treated him like an animal. Just before the occult was about to sacrifice him, a demon appeared; having been summoned by Ciel’s hatred for his captors. The demon, later to be known as Sebastian, offered to save Ciel by forming a contract that made the demon vow to stay with and protect Ciel. A seal on Ciel’s right eye marks the contract


and the same seal is on Sebastian's left hand.


The more visible the seal was, the stronger the contract. There is another character that enters into a contract with a demon that has the seal of their contract on another place, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The rest of the contract stated that the demon would save Ciel and assist Ciel in carrying out his revenge on those who humiliated him, tortured him, killed his parents, and ultimately disgraced the Phantomhive name. Until the terms of the contract were fulfilled, the demon had to serve under the human and perform supplementary tasks like a butler.

What was Ciel's end of the contract? The demon would get to eat Ciel's soul once vengeance was served. I’m pretty sure everyone is aware of the connotations that this is has, so I’m not going to go into further detail on it. If you haven't figured it out...well...I'm sorry, but I really don't want to go into more detail. How can I give a hint? Um...look up the term "Faustian contract"? Read Dante's Inferno? I don't know...

After the rescue, Ciel returned to the mansion with the demon in tow. Ciel named the demon Sebastian. Sebastian took a human form of a tall man with black hair, reddish-brown eyes, white skin, and clad entirely in black (hence the anime’s title), and now serves as Ciel's butler.

So, there's the story. Let's get to the characters.

Ciel is twelve (later thirteen) in the anime. Although he acts mature for his age and has unusually high noble status for someone his age, he certainly displays some childlike qualities. He’s fond of sweets, enjoys games, and is extremely competitive. Ciel is also allergic to cats and is rather frail. Despite being so frail, he is pretty good at shooting. Ciel always carries a gun in order to defend himself and even has one under his pillow when sleeping.

In contrast to his childlike traits, he’s the executive chairman of the Funtom Company and exhibits business acumen and a great interest in management affairs; surprising for a twelve year old. His greed knows no bounds.

Throughout the series, Ciel displays signs of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). He seldom smiles, and actually admitted that he forgot how to smile happily. However, he does show genuine concern for those close to him. It shows that he’s more human and more caring than he’s willing to let on.

Sebastian is Ciel's butler. You might think that Sebastian just blindly follows Ciel’s orders by saying things like “Very good” or “Yes, my lord.” Well…you’d be wrong. See, the only way Sebastian actually has to do something (outside of being Ciel’s butler) is when Ciel shows the seal of the contract and says, “This is an order.” This is a job he is completely devoted to; following Ciel’s orders with incredible loyalty and swiftness. He likes to challenge Ciel through insults and irritates Ciel just to see his reaction.

What’s interesting is that Sebastian is actually a heartless and rather sadistic demon…with a cat fetish. Another interesting thing to note is that there is a HUGE pun throughout the series. Whenever Sebastian does something that the average human would be unable to believe, he tends to say, “I’m simply one hell of a butler.”

How is this a pun? Well, in Japanese, Sebastian’s actual catchphrase is “Watashi wa aku made shitsuji desukara” (わたしわあくまで執事ですから). This is a kanji pun, and a very clever pun at that. In Japanese, the word for “demon” or “devil” is “akuma” (あくま). However, the phrase that is used is aku made (あくまで), which means “to the end.” So what Sebastian is literally saying has many variations, but the most common translation is “I am a demon and a butler.” However, other translations are “I’m a demon butler to the end” or “I’m just one hell of a butler.” He says the last one in the English dub, which is one of the absolute best translations I’ve seen carry over to an English dub. Kudos to Funimation, the dubbing company responsible for the English dub of Black Butler!

Other characters!

We have the Phantomhive servants: Baldroy the cook, Mey-Rin the maid, Finnian (or Finny) the gardener, and Tanaka, the butler before Sebastian.

You might notice something interesting about the Phantomhive servants. While they’re mainly there for comic relief, they actually do have character. They aren’t just comic relief for the sake of comic relief. They’re people with histories and personalities. Their roles as servants of the mansion are actually a cover for their real roles: they protect the mansion. And holy frick, are they badass at it.

Finnian has super strength; Mey-Rin has binocular acuity and can shoot a sniper rifle from a really far distance WITHOUT A SCOPE and still not miss, and Baldroy (insert-info-here). Tanaka can put up one heck of a fight…or so we’ve interpreted from the third season, Book of Circus. All his fight scenes are off screen. If that’s the case, I’m not really sure why he’s there. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I can see he helps with comic relief in very subtle ways. But what’s the point of having him there? All he does it just sit around and drink tea. It’s not until the third season where we actually see him DO SOMETHING.

The first season is the best, in my personal opinion. It’s actually weird for me to say that. If there is a show I really like that has multiple seasons, it isn’t usually until the end of the first season and the start of the second that I really start to get invested in it. But something about the first season just made me enjoy it.

The second season was…not great. To be fair, though, it wasn’t even based off of the manga. It was just something that the writers of the anime came up with because the show was super-popular.

The third season was the first season to get a name. This was Book of Circus, and believe it or not, it’s actually my second-favorite season. This was based off the Book of Circus arc from the manga, and the writers did not disappoint.

So…rating?

I’d give this…9 out of 10.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE BLACK BUTLER. It’s amazingly well-written, the characters are entertaining, and if you haven’t read the manga before watching it, then you are in for A TON of twists and turns. It’s fairly dark, so the fact that there are bits of humor (fairly subtle bits) in it makes it watchable. It’s not 100% depressing. The music is great, the characters are interesting, and they actually acknowledge the never-ending list of supporting characters. The supporting characters are given actual character. They’re not just background characters.

The only reason it gets 9 out of 10 is because of the second season. I have yet to meet one person who actually said that they liked the second season. Why didn’t a lot of people like it? Well, to be honest…it seemed like a bad fanfic. Too much fan-service, the characters were way too two-dimensional, and it just seemed like they shoved all the characters together. It was as if the writers said, “This show is really popular! Screw source material; let’s make our own series!” You do NOT need to watch this to see Book of Circus. In fact, this is one of those shows where you can watch the first season, skip a season, and then watch the next one.

Now I know I said that the second season wasn’t great partly because it wasn’t based off of the manga. Well…Black Butler had A TON of OVA, as well as a new OVA that was released into Japanese theaters recently, and is now on its way to DVD. The specials and the OVA don’t really connect to anything, but they are entertaining and definitely worth watching. There is one that has to do with the second season, but I really would not recommend it. It’s not very good (much like the second season).

Let's talk supporting characters!

Grell, or Grell Sutcliff, is a Grim Reaper. He…she…I’m pretty sure Grell is a guy, but it’s a little hard to say. Grell reminds me a lot of Jakotsu from Inuyasha. Why? Well, while Jakotsu’s gender is debatable (I’ve heard different things, but most people seem to be convinced that Jakotsu is a guy, so we’ll just go with that), Grell might be the first transgender character I’ve seen in an anime. Wow. I’m not sure what the climate is like for the LGBTQ community in Japan, so I’m honestly not sure what to say. I mean, I give the writers credit for working with Grell’s character, but I honestly have no idea how well Grell was received in Japan.

Moving on with Grell, who I will be referring to with the use of male pronouns, because that’s how most websites talk about Grell.

Grell is just...I guess you could say he's the anime version of Nicholas Cage (good G-d, I never thought I'd say that). Grell is over-the-top, flamboyant, and extremely outspoken. He has a bit of a thing for Sebastian. Okay, a bit might be an understatement. I mean, Grell calls Sebastian "Sebas-chan" in the original Japanese ("Bassy" in the English dub), tends to talk a lot about kissing Sebastian (usually involving tongue), and…well, the list goes on. Anyway, Grell, although more than a little creepy at times, is still pretty funny. I think it’s his creepiness that makes him funny. I don't really know how to explain it.

Let's talk about Lau (劉) and Ran-Mao (藍猫) next. The reason I'm talking about both at once is because one is never seen without the other. Lau is a Chinese nobleman, leader of an opium den, and the head of the British branch of the Shanghai trading company, "Kong-Rong." In reality, however, he is head of the Shanghai Mafia Qing Bang (青棒 means Green Gang).

Lau is a bit of a...player, you might say. He keeps A LOT of women around him all the time, including his personal assassin, Ran-Mao. This is strange, as Lau often refers to Ran-Mao as his sister, even though they aren't related by blood. While I don't have a problem with him thinking of someone as a sibling, can someone please tell me who would do something like this


with their sister? Even if they AREN'T related by blood, the girl is still being referred to as the guy's SISTER. I'm sorry, but there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with this picture.

Aside from his slightly (okay, a little more than slightly) perverted side, Lau's personality is very...um...I'm not really sure how to describe it. He tends to act like he knows what people are talking about, only for him to later ask things along the lines of, "So, what are we talking about?”

Ran-Mao is his personal assassin, and there really isn't much I can say about her. She doesn't say much (if anything at all). She's emotionless, loyal to Lau, and…that's pretty much it. I guess you could say she's one of Lau's...servants, in a sense, but...remember that picture? Do I really need to show it again?

*shudders*

There are loads of other supporting characters. There’s Soma and Agni, Elizabeth, Madam Red…the list goes on. However, the ones I’ve listed are who we’ve seen the most of throughout the anime. Not that these characters aren't important, but if I talked about every single character, I'd have to split this into PARTS so people wouldn't die of boredom.

Now, Black Butler has quite a few OVA, as I’ve already mentioned. They don’t really have much of anything to do with the series as a whole, so if you want to skip them, you can. However, there was one particular OVA that is definitely worth watching. What is it? Well…this OVA is called Black Butler: Book of Murder (黒執事・殺人の書). This OVA was released as two parts and adapted the fifth arc of the manga known as the “Phantomhive Manor Murders.”

Unlike the rest of the OVA for this anime, both parts of Book of Murder were screened in Japanese movie theaters in 2014. The parts were titled Black Butler: Book of Murder Part 1 and Part 2, respectively. DVDs were released in 2015, and you should be able to find both parts with English subtitles on YouTube, Dailymotion, and the like.

Book of Murder is set after Book of Circus, the third season, so while it’s not absolutely required that you watch the third season before watching this OVA, I would strongly recommend it. They reference Book of Circus quite a bit in this OVA, and you’ll probably enjoy it more if you understand those references.

So, what’s this about? Well before I say anything else, Book of Murder seems like something straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. I’m not joking. I saw the first part of the OVA and thought, “This is straight out of an Agatha Christie novel.” Which one? Well…it’s difficult to say. My first thought was that it reminded me of And Then There Were None, though. So…maybe that one?

The story is set in early spring of 1889. At the Queen’s request, Earl Ciel Phantomhive hosts an extravagant banquet attended by several people who would be considered “upper class.” Among these is a struggling writer, and you’ll never guess who it is. Can you figure it out? Well…it’s SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. As in the guy who wrote the Sherlock Holmes books. Of course, it’s not that clear in the OVA that it’s him, but there are a few references that it’s him if you’ve read the Sherlock Holmes books and paid attention to the writing style and how he talks in the anime.

Anyway, at the peak of the dinner party, a murder transpires, and the only person without an alibi at the time of the incident is Ciel Phantomhive. A storm rages outside and the death toll continues to climb. Escape proves to be impossible as the sanity of the guests is put to the ultimate test. They all have to work together to solve the mystery before more people are killed. Unfortunately, not even our favorite demon butler is safe from this nightmare.

I won’t rate the OVA, but I will say that it’s definitely pretty good. I’ve seen both parts twice so far, and am planning on watching them a third time with a friend who has yet to see both parts.

In the meantime, check the anime out, and read the manga.

Next Anime Monday: Puella Madoka Magica (and Rebellion)

Until next time, guys!