Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler in English) is an animated series made in Japan known as a anime. The anime is based on the manga (books) with the same name written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. Black Butler has since it's manga (2007) and anime release in October 2008 made a huge fan following. The series have printed and sold over ten million copies in Japan alone.
The first season was 24 episodes and because of it's huge success, it spanned a
second season which aired in 2010 spanning 12 episodes with two new main
characters.
On January 16, 2014, it was announced that Black Butler has been green-lit for a third anime adaptation. Unlike the previous seasons, the new series will be a remake of the original manga storyline, in the past the anime used both samples from the manga and new material that they made up themselves to make the content more suitable to video form instead of text. I can't wait to watch it to see how they decide to write and animate it.
It was in fact because of this, that I decided to re-watch the seasons once again. Though I really didn't need that much of a reason because this is one amazing anime, one of my favorites to be honest.
Now that you have some understanding about what it is, I'm going to tell you what it's about. I'm going to be skipping a lot of the filler and non essential bits to try to make it as clear as possible, while still spoling as little as possible. So without further ado here it is~
The story starts out in victoria-era London in the mansion own by illustrious Phantomhive earldom and it's young master Ciel Phantomhive aged 12. On the night of Ciel Phantomhives 10th birthday however, his parents were killed, a fire engulfed his mansion and he gets captured by a mysterious organization.
After a month of enduring excruciating torture Ciel returns to the now re-built mansion with a butler clad in black by the name of Sebastian Michaelis. To others is seems like Sebastian is simply the best butler in the world, from anticipating the young masters needs to carrying them out to the best of his highly capable abilities.
Little do they realize that Sebastian is actually a demon that Ciel has entered into a contract with promising the boy to help take out his revenge in exchange for his soul.
Until Ciels wish is fulfilled (revenge), Sebastian serves his rightful master as his butler. This is the rules of the Faustian contract (the contract which binds a demon to a human): They are to be the humans'
power and to protect the human for the sake of their demons'
aesthetics.
Their principles basically state that they must follow and obey
the orders their "master" gives, (i.e. the human they contracted with),
as long as the contract is still in effect.
Once the contract is completed and the human's wish is accomplished by
their demon, the human's soul is eaten by the demon resulting in the
human's death.
Now
despite the fact that this show’s plot is fairly dark, a majority of
this show is comedy, ranging to slapstick to satire. But the show DOES get very dramatic and has some very dark moments. I really like the variation they decided to give the show, I would have liked it to take itself a bit more serious at times but it doesn't really bother me that much.
One problem however is that for Ciel to take revenge he has to know who his kidnappers where and this he does not know. So the start of the show is mostly Ciel doing the queens dirtywork just like his father before him. The Phantomhives have been the guard dogs of the royal family for generations, taking on various cases that Queen Victoria provides them with. He does this because he thinks that if he does the same work his parents had done the assassins would eventually come back for him aswell, giving him the chance to take revenge.
One highlight of the dub is Sebastian’s catchphrase. In the original
Japanese anime the translation is “I am a butler to the end.” This is a play
on words, with the Japanese phrase being 私はあくまで執事ですから (romaji: Watashi wa akuma de shitsuji desu kara).
Those who are able to read romaji know that “akuma” means “demon,” but
adding the “de” makes the translation “to the end.” So the phrase can be
interpreted as “I am a butler to the end” or “I am a butler and a
demon.” FUNimation (the company who made the English dub/sub) played with this pun and made it work flawlessly in the
English versions, with the phrase becoming “I am simply one hell of a butler.” I
see what you did there FUNi, big props to you!
The show takes a smart advantage of the setting in Victorian London by intertwining history with this shows mythology. For example in the first few episodes (episode1-6) Ciel gets the task of tracking down the serial killer Jack the ripper which turns out to be a big twist for the story which was insanely well written and I just loved those episodes for so many reasons. There wasn't really even one episode I didn't enjoy, there was some parts of 2 episodes surrounding a hellhound that got a bit boring and didn't really live up the rest of the show but they were still good and in the end gave the show one of the bigger characters.
But let's get more into detail with the main character Ciel Phantomhive.
Ciel is a rather short teenage boy with navy blue hair and has a slim and delicate body. Ciel typically dresses in a way that suits his noble standing, and has a very extensive and elegant wardrobe.
Ciel nearly always wears a black eyepatch with a single cord over his right eye; this is to hide the location of his Faustian Contract marking. When making the contract both the human and demon get a symbol permanently burned/scratched into them. Ciels marking is on his right eye and Sebastian's is on the top of his left hand.
This left Ciel with a purple right eye with a pentagram-like symbol on it with detailed rings around it. His left eye is a dark blue color.
Ciel also has a marking on the left side of his body from his time as a slave when he was abducted. In the manga, the mark is on his back and in the anime it's on his chest.
In the character of Ciel Phantomhive I see a little boy which life never offered any brakes to and as a result he was forced to mature much faster than he should have. His parents were killed when he was ten, and he was then abducted by a cult for a month and tortured. Just imagine that happening to a ten year old.
But then life gives him one single chance, he gets the chance to partner with Sebastian and he decides to go through with it and Sebastian pulls Ciel out of the hole that life put him in to take revenge. But this means that Ceil had to sacrifice everything his life could have been otherwise. His life, wasted, thrown away, all for revenge. Because of all this Ciel can come off as cold-hearted and rude at times but it is understandable because of all that he has been through.
A question you might get after knowing this may be: does he really think it was worth it? Well at the start of the show Ciel certainly think so, or at least claims to. But as it progresses he seems to get less and less sure.
I would also lie to get a little more in depth into our second lead, Sebastian Michaelis.
Sebastian takes on the appearance of a tall, handsome, youthful male
adult with black hair, red eyes, and pale skin that has a grayish tint.
He typically dresses in a very formal tuxedo/trailcoat with white gloves concealing the mark of his Faustian contract (the contract binding him with Ciel) on his left hand. He very occasionally removes these, mostly during fights.
Sebastian's demonic form has never been fully shown. Details of this
form include sharp claws, glowing fuchsia
irises, slitted pupils, and longer, sharper teeth, with dark black
wings. Prior to transforming, Sebastian said several times that his form is unpleasant to look at. Just looking at it has driven people, angles and other creatures to hysterics.
Despite
his appearance as a courteous and excellent servant, Sebastian is
actually quite heartless and sadistic, he expresses these traits in a
very passive and sarcastic manner.
He is ruthless when attacking others on Ciel's orders.
His diabolic nature is
also shown through his dark humor and inability to see good in much of
anyone. At times Sebastian can be indifferent, and he deliberately delays ensuring Ciel's well-being to tease him. Sebastian has also put Ciel's life in mild danger for his own amusement. He calls Ciel a "brat" who treats his workers rudely. However, despite all the troubles he goes through on a daily basis, he says that he does not dislike the butler lifestyle.
Sebastian often contemplates the behaviors and attitudes of human
beings. He finds humans in general to be "difficult creatures," but he
adds that their struggles and lofty goals make them interesting. He is
also intrigued about how insatiable they are, as they are willing to
"drag others down to get what they want, even in death."
He is also very polite. Especially to visitors of the Phantomhive mansion, this is to insure his masters honorable reputation isn't spotted.
A
big part of the comedy is supplied by the employees at the Phantomhive
manner, they're all very clumsy and manages to destroy countless
plates, burn and even blow up parts of the mansion. This made me very
confused at the start but I brushed it off and just thought that sense
it is in fact an anime some characters are made to be over the top and it wasn't like it was annoying or not funny. Maybe the
writers thought that the show needed some more comic relief to lighten up the dark storyline.
But after a few episodes some of them express some deep thoughts and
dialog that made me re-think that.
Most of all I was confused to why
Sebastian which lives to serve Ciel to the best of his abilitys would
employ these people and then keep them employed while they continue to
do such a bad job at nearly everything. I actually (to my surprise) got
my question answered near the end, delivered very well. On that note I just really have to say that I really like diversity of the cast. They managed to write interesting characters which all are different from one another and (almost) everyone get their own interesting backstorys. The cast even consists of different ethneties, this without making them stereotypes or looking down on them and it just made me really happy that they were able to do that in the right way.
Two of my favorite characters (besides the main leads Ciel and Sebastian) are the two grim reapers that come in quite early in the show. Grim Reapers are supernatural,
divine beings that are in charge of deciding whether a soul is to live
on or to die. Each Grim Reaper have their own death scythe, these are unique to each individual.
However, the death scythes can be modified, so
long as the proper papers are filed to the General Affairs Department. It is against the rules to modify or even use a Death Scythe without permission.
A slash from a Death Scythe severs the link between a human's memory and
his or her soul, and it is how they officially end an individual's
life. Death scythes are notoriously known for being able to cut through anything, including any other Grim Reapers and one's self.
However this isn't the case when multiple death scythes are
involved; a death scythe cannot cut through another death scythe.
One of the two grim reapers that I am talking about is named Undertaker. Undertaker has been a grim reaper for a very long time and is looked up on by nearly everyone of the other grim reapers. Undertaker's death scythe
is a silver, long and curving blade fastened at an angle with a
miniature skeleton, whose skull is wrapped in spiky wires, to an all sceleton handle. Undertaker is a very mysterious and intelligent character, despite his comedical and light-hearted shell when he gets frustrated the situation can turn very dark and you really understand in those moments how much power he actually has. It is not made entirely clear but it is hinted at that he can predict the future, at least to some extent. He very rarely tells people about their future but when he do it is most oftenly not good news.
The other one is called Grell Sutchliff. Grell has specially modified his death scythe
to operate like a chainsaw, because he says the average Death Scythe is
old-fashioned; he claims that his is of first-rate quality.
He later gets it taken away for braking the rules that grim reapers work by.
Because of that he still need to do some work he instead gets two new smaller weapons, these however are very hard to work with and not at all what he is used to.
As a grim reaper, Grell is over-the-top, flamboyant, and outspoken, he has a massive crush on Sebastian, despite the latter's repulsion. Furthermore, he is a ruthless, bloodthirsty individual that is willing to kill his own ''friends'' once he loses interest in them. In his personal view, human
relations are not of great significance, and hence he does not
understand a human's reluctance in killing another he or she cares
about; instead, he dismisses it as meaningless emotions that hinder and
obscure one's goal.
Grell is very fond of using double-entendres and incorporating
plays in his speech. He often puts things in terms of theater, referring
to a characters death as the "falling of curtains," and comparing his conflicting Grim Reaper and demon relationship with Sebastian to the famous play, Romeo and Juliet.
One of the big reasons why I enjoy those two characters so much besides their personalities are how extremely gorgeous they're drawn and animated. This show is just mind blowing pretty, all of the different costumes and places are just so gorgeous and detailed that I can't do it justice with words. The people that have drawn and animated this are extremely skilled and I am so jealous of their capabilities. I would happily give one of my arms to be able to draw that good, it was very rarely I noticed any slip-ups or lazy animating/drawings. The show has because it's an anime some over the top cutesy shots (google pictures of chibi for greater understanding) but it's almost always used for comedic effect and I just find it charming and/or cute.
Since this show comes in both an English dubbed version and a Japanese one with English subtitles you get to chose which version of the show you want to see.
I'm sure if you look hard enough in the deep corners of the internet that you could find it with perhaps Spanish, German or some other popular language's subtitles too, but since these are the only two official versions out I'm only counting them in.
I chose to watch the Japanese one with English subtitles, mostly because I find listening and watching an English show would be a tad bit to easy for me to feel good about having it take up a big part of my English lessons. Also if I get to both watch, listen and read at the same time I get to pay full attention to the show and not try to do something else or get distracted. I find it very easy to multitask so that might have happened if I had watched the English version.
Besides, if you listen and read two different languages at the same time you usually snap up single words or perhaps a sentence in one of them and thus train yourself further than you might have done if only reading or hearing. I find Japanese very interesting so I definitely wouldn't mind learning more of it, I only know a handful of sentences and a few words but I hope I get to learn more as time goes by.
Sense the show takes place in victoria-era London I suppose it would make more sense if you watched it in English considering that, well they do in fact talk English in that. Most of the English talking cast has in fact English accents which is a very nice touch made by FUNimation. But I didn't really care for the English voice actors, of course some of them where good, J Micheal Tatum for example does an excellent job providing Sebastian with his voice (even though I much rather prefer Daisuke Ono).
But Ciels voice-actor Brina Palencia was just very disappointing and considering that he's the main character that's a pretty big problem. Granted she got his attitude and acting right but her voice is just to feminine to sound like a 12 year old boy.
It's not unusual for women to voice younger boys, it's actually quite common. One of the best examples is Ash from Pokémon who is a 12 year old boy and has gotten his voice from women in both the English and Japanese series.
Besides, in this case the Japanese voice actors just seem to catch the characters personalites and quirks much better than the English ones do.
Another
aspect of the show is it's music, the music fits the show perfectly. It
is mostly orchestral pieces except the opening sequence which is more
of a traditional anime opening with the fast-pace pop song which is
meant to get you excited to see the show.
Link to the opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Qmy0CEFO4
I was unable to find one with subtitles (most probably because of copyright reasons). The opening comes in 2 different animations (they make a new one for both the ending and opening about halfway through the show, it's sort of an anime tradition) but if you want to watch the first part with subtitles I've put the website where I watched the episodes in the sources so just click on it if you want to see that (It starts about minute in). They actually don't change the song so the subtitles would be the same for both the youtube link and episode link.
If you where to watch an episode I've set the link to start at episode 5 which is one of my favorites so if you feel like watching one just press play and enjoy c: (I highly recommend it). And perhaps the episode after to get a good understanding of the aftermaths and meaning it had.
All of these traits coming together just simply makes this a masterpiece. Everything is just so well made and you can tell people put down loads of thought and work into making this. This show has very high replay value, it constantly gives the viewer new story elements and information that you can ponder about and thus you could change how you viewed some particular scene or episode.
I didn't really think the author/writers wanted to convey a message with this show, I think they where more just trying to tell a complex story and then you get to take out what you want from it. The show has a wide range of places and characters all with different backstorys that can make you change how you view another character. So there's a lot of different things that you could take from this show.
The plot is of course centered around revenge but it doesn't dumb it down to make the message a cheesy ''don't seek out revenge, turn the other cheek''. You actually grow sympathy to Ciel from all that he has been through, even though that's not what he wants people to do.
You actually want Ciel to take out his revenge and not loose his hate towards the people who did this to him. He just shouldn't, it would be dumb of him. Mostly because that's what he has litteleraly devoted his life to.
In one of Ciels lower moments in the show one character almost tortured Ciel to death and tamptured with his memories and brain to make him forgive the people who did all the horrable things to him.
But he still stood his ground with a simple but powerful and equally depressing sentence:
''I will not give up my hate, without it I would be nothing''.
So it depends from person to person what you take from it.
Oh and also I would like to apologize for this becoming such a long text which you are forced to read and grade especially if it became uninteresting or just plain boring to you. Even though it is your job to do so I can see this text becoming a bit more work than perhaps expected.
I just really wanted to do the show justice, a lot of anime and manga get's looked down on for being not what people are used to and therefore get's permanently labeled as strange or dumb. Regardless of the show being so or not.
Yes there is dumb/pointless manga and anime but there is also so much amazing and well written shows and content that it's simply a shame that it all get's put over one comb and judged as if everything is exactly the same. And that is not what I wanted to happen to Kuroshitsuji just because of me being unable to explain it in the right way. I was also given a lot of time to review something that I really enjoy and therefore got a chance to really shine at something which I hope I managed to do to some extent. So I hope that I managed to do an at least somewhat entertaining or thought provoking review/plot summary.
Sources:
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/tv-shows/Black-Butler/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Butler
http://animewaffles.tv/Mobile-Kuroshitsuji-S1-Black-Butler-S1-Episode-5-English-Subbed-4186 (used to watch all of the episodes)
