kanna-chan's cafe

Hey guys, kanna here. I am SO SORRY for the late update. You try balancing two online classes and 22 hours a week of volunteer work. As much as I love my volunteer work, it's not easy balancing everything!

Anyway, enough of my ranting. On June 14, I saw Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic. This movie was in theaters for all of TWO DAYS: June 12 (subbed) and June 14 (dubbed). Anyway, the length of time that these anime movies are in theaters for is the one thing about them I can't stand. I mean, I was lucky to see Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale when it came out, because it was only in theaters for ONE NIGHT.

So, ranting aside, let's talk about where this takes place in the manga. This movie is set during the Luxury Liner arc of the manga, which is the sixth arc of the manga. Personally, this was one of my favorite arcs of the manga, so I couldn't wait to see how well it would translate into anime.

Enough of that. Let's board the Titani--I mean, the Campania--and go on an adventure! This is Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic!

NOTE: FULL SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

NOTE 2: YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE SEEN BOOK OF CIRCUS AND BOOK OF MURDER BEFORE WATCHING BOOK OF THE ATLANTIC

Anyway, this movie takes place where the OVA, Book of Murder, left off.

After the Phantomhive servants (Tanaka, Mey-Rin, Baldroy, and Finney) see Sebastian, Snake (he was first introduced in Book of Circus, then we see him again in Book of Murder), and Ciel off on an ocean-liner, the S.S. Campania. We get a bit of exposition through a flashback, where Lau tells Ciel and Sebastian about a secret society bringing people back from the dead. We also learn that Ciel's fiancee (apparently, it was common for noble children to be betrothed to each other in the 1800s...just go with it), Elizabeth "Lizzie" Midford, and her family are going on a cruise on the same ship the same week that Ciel and Sebastian were planning to go.

So Ciel, Sebastian, and Snake board the Titani--I mean, the Campania--and the plot thickens as the three try to infiltrate the Aurora Society while keeping the passengers, Lizzie, and her family in the dark as to what's going on. Snake is asked to keep Lizzie and her family at bay while Sebastian and Ciel go (in disguise) to a meeting of the Aurora Society, which leads to one of the two funniest scenes in the film:


Seriously, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. It's just...so ridiculous that it's funny.

There is another hilarious scene, but I'll get to it later.

Anyway, after that bit of *stifles laughter* hilarity takes place, we see what the Aurora Society was originally meeting about: bringing a corpse back to life. The leader of the Aurora Society, a man named Rian Stoker, wants to...wait a minute. Stoker? As in Bram Stoker? As in the guy who wrote Dracula?

Um...I think Yana Toboso, the author of the manga, got her horror authors mixed up. This movie seems to be going with a Frankenstein theme, and Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley, not Bram Stoker. I'm honestly not sure what to say about this. It's not a good thing, it's not a bad thing, it kinda just...is.

Getting back to the plot: Stoker presents his breakthrough in medicine, called "Absolute Salvation." This medicine was created by the Aurora Society, and they want to use it to bring people back from the dead. Stoker figures a demonstration is in order, so he brings out a corpse that could seriously be Frankenstein's bride (she's dressed in white, the markings are the same...everything) and uses his medicine to bring her back to life. The medicine seems to work...for all of two seconds.

Anyway, this corpse-brought-back was named Margaret Connor. And she attacks her mother and takes out a good chunk of her shoulder before moving on to her father. They are both killed as Margaret continues her rampage on the audience in attendance.

The audience manages to escape, and Sebastian throws knives at the walking corpse. These seem to have no effect...until a FREAKING LAWNMOWER COMES OUT OF NOWHERE AND DESTROYS HER HEAD!

I'm not joking. A FREAKING LAWNMOWER.

Anyway, this lawnmower is actually a Death Scythe that belongs to a Grim Reaper named Ronald Knox. And, believe it or not, we actually have seen him before. He was briefly in episode four of Book of Circus.

Getting back to the movie: Ronald Knox reveals that the Bizarre Dolls (that's what the manga calls them, so that's what I'll be calling them) can be killed by having their heads cut off or ripped to shreds. Oh, and did I mention the AMAZING entrance our dear Ronald makes? No? Well, take a look at this:


So Ciel and Sebastian have to team up with Ronald Knox and our favorite transgender female Grim Reaper, Grell, to discover how these Bizarre Dolls are created and stop it. And before you say it, yes, Ronald and Grell do share a funny scene. It's probably the funniest scene in the whole movie. I mean...the animators had the opportunity, and they freaking went for it. I couldn't find the clip with sound, but if you put the song, "My Heart Will Go On," to the .gif I'm about to post, it should speak for itself: Black Butler meets Titanic

Speaking of Ronald Knox and Grell, they actually do provide quite a bit of the comedic relief, whether in combat or not. The .gif that FUNimation posted on giphy is a perfect example of this, as the two parody a famous scene from another movie about an infamous ship (can you guess which one?). And while we're on the subject of the Grim Reapers, we learn that there's a Grim Reaper that has been in the midst of everything for a long time. I won't say who because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will give a hint: he takes humor as payment.

We get quite a bit of character development, particularly from Ciel's fiancee, Elizabeth. She goes from being this cute, petite, innocent girl to...HOLY FRICK SHE HAS TWO SWORDS AND IS KILLING BIZARRE DOLLS LEFT AND RIGHT! Seriously. This is the most badass you will ever see Elizabeth Midford. It's pretty incredible to watch.

So, rating: 10/10

Why: The animation is stellar. While it's not on the level of Madoka Magica (I don't know if anything could be on par with Madoka Magica's animation), it's truly incredible. You can ignore the random bits of CGI scattered around the movie. They're not necessary.

The fight scenes are some of the best parts of the film, and FUNimation did an amazing job of keeping the characters in character in the English dub. The voice acting is great, which I would expect nothing less from the original actors returning to their roles.

The other thing that I liked was that even if you weren't familiar with the anime, this was still something you could enjoy. I saw it with someone who wasn't familiar with the anime at all, and I think she liked it more than she cares to admit. Think Titanic meets zombies. It's surprisingly a pretty good combo.

With the way the film ends, you would expect a sequel. I'm hopeful there will be one. If it's not Black Butler's fourth season, maybe an OVA? Or another movie?

Next Anime Monday: Thoughts on the Second Half of Attack on Titan