320https://i.ur.com/keOChYi.jpg Black Butler. Thinking about the name makes me think a lot about the history behind it and the amount of things that happens inside it which conveys an interesting and sometimes dull yet also a fun and intriguing experience especially when the arcs were able to spin longer chapters. It was always very exciting to look every 18th of the month a few years ago to see what other crazy thing was about to be introduced in this Victorian era story with a lot of individual characters. Black Butler has more or less made a name for itself for either the bad parts of it or the good parts of it. Though I believe most people know it through the bad parts of it which is regrettable because there are a lot of good things this series can offer. Hello. I am a normal user who hasnt really reviewed a lot of things in the past nor in the present and of course I am suffering from social anxiety which makes things definitely easier. As such if I delete this review dont complain to me about it I am simply trying to get by. Though I struggle with social settings I cant deny that there is some things I wanted to put my two cents on this piece of fiction. Ive been actively consuming Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler for almost 4 years now so Id like to think that some of my words do have worth lol. In any case Ill stop stalling for more characters in this review and actually do the thing. The Good Things: Story: 7.6/10 320https://i.ur.com/aFTfsKF.png This may be subjective though to be fair most human opinions are but I really liked the premise even if some people would claim it as cliche or predictable. The story introduces you to a boy who had to endure multiple traumatic events during a certain day and a certain month and during the time where he was held captive or as I should say child trafficked for a certain amount of time a demon was summoned. The deceptive demon took advantage of a childs despairing state well to be fair demons are supposed to be bastards. by offering a contract where the demon may have his soul and in exchange for the boys soul which the demon would be granted when he dies the boy wishes for power. A few years passed since then and they were able to establish themselves as nobles. The boy who is named Ciel Phantomhive acquires all of the statuses that human greed eternally yearns for power wealth and social status which was achieved under hard work and perseverance however none of this holds weight to his true goal. Under the years he was able to return and establish their places as nobles they have actually been searching and investigating London for those who were responsible for the tragic events that took place in his life. The acquaintances in his life may or not be involved in this and it is up to him and his butler to find out who was responsible so that he may bring justice upon his family name while the butler named Sebastian himself is surely looking forward to savoring the soul he will inevitably get to have as soon as his humanpartnerincrime dies. With a touch of supernatural yet realism as well there are mysteries behind Ciels past that he resolved himself to solve by frequently taking under the obligation of what Phantomhives do investigating the darker side of London that the Scotland yard themselves are incompetent of digging into any further than regular crimes. With arcs that are extremely different compared to one another that range from lockedroom mysteries to boats to schools it surely will make you pay attention to its settings at the very least even if the premise doesnt tickle your fancy. While this series is very plotdriven as everything that happens is usually if not most of the time relevant to the characters and the story I think it is difficult to enjoy without liking the characters. Speaking of characters... Characters: 7.9/10 620https://i.ur.com/sPdvtTM.jpg I really like a lot of the characters especially the ones important for the arcs which is something especially important to do well because the focus will mostly be on the new character introduced during the new arc. Yana Toboso is excellent at balancing stereotypes and complexity in characters. While they arent necessarily that thoughtprovoking or as I should say has the kind of characters that you could inspect and analyze as a scientist does with their test subjects they are still able to break out of the usual stereotypes you see very commonly in media. I think what Yana did very well was giving her characters their own philosophies regarding how they see life by letting them express it through their actions and words alone. Ciel does have a few philosophical dialogues and while they arent thoughtprovoking for me since they dont feel that insightful which feels more of an authors fault than a characteristic I do like that there is the effort being put to let us understand him a bit better. I dont think the dialogues are meant to be that deep so if you dont find yourself taking it seriously especially if its during the earlier arcs thats fine because I felt the same way as well and I dont doubt many felt that way. Black Butler is very characterfocused or rather it requires you to care about the characters to enjoy it so there is a good chance you wont like the series if you arent too fond of any characters. Chapter 95 spoilers below. What would you say if I said a vengeful boy on a path of nihilism was taken under the wings of fearsome angels and learned to destroy hope with their light? 320https://i.ibb.co/GH1g4Rz/41.png Ciel is one of the few antiheroes in the shounen genre that usually doesnt get the main protagonist spot which makes his position in general more unique and his trauma is tackled in ways that I feel are realistic. I appreciate the amount of research Yana has done concerning PTSD since we dont get to see it a lot in shounen stories or even if they are they are usually not done in the way with how frustrating it is to have it and how sometimes it really is genuinely a struggle to deal with even if its a character main motivation for the way they are. We get to see a vulnerable side to our main protagonist a lot without it being insignificant to the story in any way and adds more to how much of a facade his tough persona is when in reality he is just a desperate child in search of bringing justice to those who put him through the events in his life. Spoilers regarding his trauma: Despite the events that have caused him to suffer in his life youd typically think that he wouldnt enact hurtful actions upon other people because he himself knows what its like to be at the bottom of a pit but you see Ciel is not that good of a person either. He doesnt define his past as a justification for his actions or the way he is but purely things that he selfishly wanted to do himself. I think thats what made me really like him and see how wellwritten he is in the manga because the anime adaptation specifically season 1 is the exact opposite of this and its disappointing. He is a child and he knows this and uses that to his full advantage while knowing that his past is not a justification for his moral code because he himself believes to do what is objectively correct yet at the same time being kind to those who he feels needs it. He is not unnecessarily kind nor is he recklessly cruel. Its not every day you see morally grey main characters who can use their past as a moral justification and yet dont use it to excuse their actions and instead fully acknowledges that they are greedy and not necessarily a great person but still do want to do the right thing when they have to and be cruel if the situation calls for it. Despite all of this he does still behave like a child because he is a child. He is still immature even if he is relatively good at strategy which is a good way of adding more to your character. If I delved more into any characters especially Ciel there would be spoilers but I really liked how well nuanced the main protagonist is. 220https://data.whicdn.com/images/311003336/original.png Human hearts are quite irksome you see. Unlike the flesh you cannot see or touch a human heart. And not even a devil or god can bind the heart of another in the truest sense of the word. I cant fault Sebastian for a lack of complexity when we base complex personalities on humans so it would make sense that human categorizations would not necessarily apply to supernatural beings like demons thus I will judge Sebastian off on that. An eternity of decades in life to which days are never limited while you are in a world where there are multiple living beings with limited days which you have no control upon. The kind of boredom that a demon will never be able to sate no matter how many talents you acquire due to the time you have or the amount of knowledge you bear from having too much free time. This should surprise no one with how flexible Sebastian is when you consider the amount of time he has far more than most should have. Human morale? Dichotomies of good and bad? That doesnt matter as far as he is concerned he is more interested in satisfying the kind of high standards he has gained through living for centuries. Thus giving him the standards of a demon equivalent of a human gourmet seeking a soul wrought with despair to selfishly consume and while doing so he wants to entertain himself. 420https://i.ibb.co/wSRHLjc/21.png This man is actually pretty silly. Okay so youd probably think he would be the serious demon stereotype strict etc. Well yes but actually no. This side of him gets balanced with oddly... human moments? Like this guy proceeds to fondle a cats paw whenever possible. Never have I ever been so pleasantly surprised with a characters gap moe. Its difficult to dislike Sebastian because he is a demon. Maybe if he was a human I would hold him accountable but sometimes the things he does are actually better when in reference to him as a demon butler because they dont have any human values to begin with theyre not confined by human standards so of course hes going to be terrible. Yet he is so... much more tolerable than other characters and I theorize it is because we dont have to hold him accountable at all because we cant expect demons to really have a form of accountability to begin with. I found this to be oddly... the genius of Toboso. The child wants to put on a serious front while the adult is moreso inclined to be childish. This is what makes the dynamic between them so much fun and why I thrive from seeing Sebastian interact with other characters in general but especially Ciel because they may as well kill each other at any given second and end the contract yet choose to banter. 420https://i.ibb.co/VSdsC5F/25.png His character feels pretty twodimensional preatlantic arc but after youknow happens in BoA it made me realize that he has already developed his character and that this was meant to be not known until later on in the series. It makes you realize just how long Sebastian has lived and how the reason he is flawless is that he has lived long enough to refine anything of himself that he does not like. Teaching himself every skill adjusting the cooking to his young masters preferences learning about etiquette... its hard to empathize with characters when you dont get to see their development directly so it made me realize that we were purposely alienated from him because we are dealing with Ciels perspective not his. Ciel himself feels alienated from his frenemy friend/enemy so yes we dont know anything about Sebastian at all. He is shrouded in mystery because Ciel doesnt know him well to begin with. This was made so that the audience could identify and empathize with Ciel more. And honestly? It was very effective when we got to see their past indepth in Book of Atlantic and how they learned to essentially get along with each other. It made me realize that so many things are purposely hidden from the audience until it is shown later on so the weight in the dialogues of the early volumes is actually very heavy because they already have had been involved with each other years before the story started for us at Volume 1. Wow I had a lot to say about him. Ah. Well feel free to skip my Sebastian text if you do not care because to be quite frank I have not structured these sentences at all. Visual Art Style: 10/10 820https://i.ur.com/3msASlu.png If you havent noticed yet this manga has been under work since 2006 which is insane. During the time period and now the art style has vastly improved and reading it is honestly looking at an art gallery. Its wonderful and detailed and the amount of research put into it is great. While it wasnt very impressive during the early arcs you start to really notice the artistic improvement in the book of murder arc is not just the anatomy but the perspective and architectural building in general. This amount of detail in her background is something readers of the manga may take for granted a little too much and the way she captures complex emotions without words is incredible. 420https://64.media.tumblr.com/2340ca0285f845c7aeef9be9a96d27b5/tumblrinlinepc43y8mkQd1vecwm9540.jpg 420https://i.ur.com/J4KG5xn.png 420https://i.ur.com/0yF4N2w.jpg To put it into words Yana has become very much skilled in portraying emotions that are not so commonly displayed or brought up. I find that to be a very strong aspect of both her art style and artistic skills. The Bad Things: 320https://i.ur.com/nTUCUQs.jpg Story Sometimes I feel like the comedy is sometimes misplaced in situations that are deemed serious. Dont get me wrong the comedy can be great in BB when the timing is right but I sometimes feel like comedy shouldnt be in scenes where fighting is necessary I guess. This doesnt occur too often though and it is not a serious detriment to me so it is more of a nitpick than an actual flaw to me. As for actual flaws I cant really see anything that would deter me from reading but the early chapters pacing were kind of bad to be honest. There was a huge lack of consistency momentum and the characters seemed to be pretty twodimensional in the earlier arcs and I honestly had a hard time taking anyone seriously because of the way it was paced. Thankfully Yana does improve her storytelling techniques and changes the narrator quite often these days which is very fun to experience compared to how the story was narrated a long time ago. In short the faults that would deter me from reading were refined around the book of murder arc and it continued to get better so I have no complaints regarding the writing and the characters. EDIT 2022: Alright fine. I reread the first few volumes and I may have changed my opinion about it being bad. It just didnt set the expectations right for firsttime readers but you can still find it enjoyable because Jesus the amount of foreshadowing in these volumes that get brought up 100 chapters later... Well planned Yana Toboso. Well played. You had me fooled. You brilliant story writer. I still think the first few volumes dont accurately represent the capabilities of the writer but God does the quality still hold after all this time. If you read the entire manga remember what they revealed in the later arcs I honestly recommend that you reread it because youll just be going backandforth going Wait that was a foreshadow? Wait this dialogue had actual relevance? Its like youll constantly be learning new things even after rereading. Miscellaneous issues I should address the elephant in the room though and it is what causes people to not really engage with the series. Allegedly there was supposed to be a romance between Ciel and Sebastian which is A Incorrect and has no basis nor sources B Would be pretty weird and not at all what the story is about. There are uncomfortable moments in BB sometimes honestly and it bothers me a lot when these moments arent necessary especially if it involves Ciel when hes still 13 even now. Manga spoilers: Adaptation The 2008 adaptations of BB honestly are torture to watch because I know that there is actually better writing viable which is the manga and the way the characters are portrayed and how the plot just doesnt make sense kind of kills me on the inside. Watch the 2008 adaptations if you like watching garbage occasionally just know that the seasons 1 and 2 are heavily noncanonical and wont make sense. They kind of veered off the main storyline because at the time the manga was only about 20 chapters long so the most they could adapt was the curry arc at the time though now theres about 170 chapters. 420https://i.ibb.co/zGhyVGp/Sebastian.gif Thank you A1 pictures for doing him justice. There is my dude. You gave him so much drip. If you are planning to follow the story but want to watch it adapted at least read the first arcs until the circus arc is introduced which should be about 1620 chapters into the manga. Then you can watch the Book of Circus adaptation as it is very well done. The Book of Murder is something I have no complaints about either and is well done too. 420https://i.ibb.co/xM5k0sw/Titanic.gif I love me some Titanic references. I only think Book of the Atlantic falls short since the budget doesnt seem to be as good as the previous entries and the CGI zombies made me want to die whenever I saw them. Book of Atlantic also skips over an important scene/flashback so if you can at least read the Atlantic arc in the manga first and then watch the movie if you want to. The movie takes away things more than it does add in my personal opinion. A1 pictures staff may have had to rush for the deadline of the movie who knows. Its probably worth watching for people who already like the series a lot. I know I really enjoyed it despite some of the initial difficulties I had watching it and the soundtrack... I bow down to the soundtrack lords. The animation was also really pretty. 420https://i.ibb.co/6trJ4Wt/Drip2.gif 420https://i.ibb.co/9VZTVND/Drip1.gif THIS SCENE IS THE PINNACLE OF THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY. The order of arcs as far as the anime has adapted currently not counting season 1 is as follows: Book of Circus TV Book of Murder OVA and then Book of Atlantic Movie. If they are going to adapt another arc Im pretty sure the next arc is going to be the school arc. In short watch the adaption for animation read the manga for lore. Personally I recommend reading the mangas first volumes until they introduce you to the circus arc. At that point you can watch Book of Circus and then continue. When youre done with Book of Atlantic you can resume the manga reading. Continue the read on chapter 66 which is directly after the movie. Volume 14. Demographic It is factual that anyone can enjoy this if theyd like to but despite the fact that BB gets published in a shounen magazine I think women would be more likely to enjoy this story just to be clear Im not a woman. This might be due to the fact that the men in BB are conventionally attractive and also gets to star in the main storyline more however this shouldnt be an issue to begin with. I do think the demographic Yana Toboso was aiming for was wrong because I cant really imagine BB being the same as other shounen mangas. I think they are too vastly different. So I should say this as a preface that you shouldnt go in expecting BB to be a regular shounen or anything. If anything Id say the demographic is more josei/shoujo than it is shounen. But despite it all... ..I hope you can find it in yourself to give reading BB a try because it is certainly an experience one cant repeat again. If you like what I have described so far then you can give it a try Just a warning that it is very dark and CSA is implied at some point Not explicitly shown but if it makes you uncomfortable please be careful. There is loads of other stuff but in the end I like the story despite the flaws it has. Goodbye for now other than for the upcoming edits for this review in the future. 320https://i.ibb.co/1LHHqZ8/10.png Let us pray that Ciel will grow taller when the manga finishes.