ElderKingpin
Post in the anime section, or die.
- Reaction score
- 134
Synopsis
Black Butler (??? Kuroshitsuji?) is a manga written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. Since its debut on September 16, 2006, it has been serialized in Square Enix's sh?nen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy. The series follows Sebastian Michaelis, a demonic butler who is bound by a supernatural contract to serve Ciel Phantomhive, the twelve-year-old head of the Phantomhive noble family, and in return Sebastian will obtain Ciel's soul when Ciel has finished all of his tasks including getting revenge on the people who killed his parents; after that Sebastian is then allowed to kill him and take his soul.
Main Characters
Sebastian Michaelis (???????????? Sebasuchan Mikaerisu?) is the attractive butler of the Phantomhive household and acts as Ciel's bodyguard. Sebastian's appearance is similar to that of Ciel's father; this has been revealed to be the cause of Ciel, who asked the demon to take the form of the previous Earl, Vincent Phantomhive. Of course, the similarity ends with his black hair and reddish eyes. Sebastian often describes himself through his catchphrase "I am simply one hell of a butler" (???????????? Watashi wa akuma de shitsuji desu kara?). The phrase plays on the word "demon" (??? akuma?) and the phrase "to the end" (???? aku made?). It can also translate to "I am a demon and a butler". In Funimation's English translation, this phrase becomes "I am a devilishly talented butler" or "I am one hell of a butler" which is, obviously, another play on his demonic origins.
Earl Ciel Phantomhive (???????????? Shieru Fantomuhaivu?) is the business-savvy, egotistical 12-year-old (13-year-old as of chapter 14) head of the English Phantomhive noble family, taking over after the deaths of his parents, Lord Vincent Phantomhive and Lady Rachel Phantomhive. He runs the Funtom Company, which manufactures toys and sweets, with the later addition of a food branch after winning a Royal Warrant. His right eye, which is usually covered with a black eye patch, bears a pentacle, the sign of the Faustian contract he made with the demon Sebastian. Sebastian says that the mark on Ciel is proof of their contract. He also says that demons mark their prey so that they can locate them
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There are several more recurring characters (about 5 or 6 more) that all contribute comedic relief to the anime. The episode starts off generally light hearted except episodes that continue the cases. It revolves around Ciel's work under Victoria solving crimes, that generally end up being supernatural, the anime gets pretty gruesome at some points, but it never shows the actual guts, just blood.
In my opinion, there is no single plot point that drives the entire story forward, it seems to be tiny tid bits of Ciel's life as he solves cases and they do not have too many relations to each other. The main problem I had with this anime was the accents, truly, British accents disturb me for some reason and I really do not like them, but I got over it. The anime is animated in the newer anime style, similar to HOTD. I think this anime has a lot of potential and I hope to finish up the English dubs (yes, dubs) The entire series is actually on netflix.
