[rec/review] Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler
I am by no means the first person to watch, read, or otherwise care about this manga, Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler, but I do have this to say about it:
It is really damned pretty.
Also kind of cracked out.
In short and with absolutely no spoilers, the main thing this series has going for it is the artwork, which is very pretty. (Alas, as is typical with pretty series with no point, its anime is low-budget and thus not nearly as pretty.) The story itself plays a backdrop to the two main characters, Ciel Phantomhive and the star of the show, his butler Sebastian - it's very character-driven, by which I mean Plot? What Plot? Who Needs Plot, There Are Pretty Men Everywhere.
and now, a brief review! wheee. This is a review of chapters 1-14 of the manga. Spoilers accordingly.
The Premise: Set in late 19th century England during the Victorian era, the story centers around the exemplary butler of the Phantomhive heir. The Phantomhive family owns a prominent confectionary/toy company by the same name, from which they get their wealth. Secretly they are also the 'attack dog of the Queen', a family which devotes their lives to protecting the secrets of the British Crown and dealing with the dark underbelly of evil where the police cannot go. The only Phantomhive left is a 12-year-old boy named Ciel, and he works together with his extraordinarily talented butler Sebastian to complete his duty and accomplish other, undisclosed goals. But naturally, there's more to it ...
The Super Pretty Show:
I can't say the artwork in Kuroshitsuji is especially unique. I'm not qualified to make a thorough judgement of it, but I feel like I've seen similar artwork elsewhere - lesser known BL dramas, for one, but in particular Vampire Knights has a similar style. It makes for some lovely stills, and I have to give the artist credit for adapting the style for action sequences, most of which I can actually follow instead of sitting around scratching my head at a panel going "Wait, where the hell is his head?"
Accurate anatomy is a bit secondary to remaining pretty, but I have to say that it's really nice to see a main character with proper posture (Sebastian).
I love the clothing designs, very lolita/a bit gothic to reflect the intended time period (Victorian age). It's enough to make a girl want to cosplay. Cough.
How To Be Less Cliche Than You Initially Appear
The main characters are, along with the artwork, the best feature of this manga. While initially they come across as boring, and immediately after that extremely cliche, by chapter 14 I actually rather liked them. Sebastian is the main character of this series (as the title suggests), and by extension his employer Ciel Phantomhive is the secondary main character.
This is a perfect setup for a BL drama, and it's heavily implied in some ways, but ... it's very WEIRD.
Sebastian (The Butler): Sebastian is the main character of the series. He is excellent at everything - cooking, cleaning, organization, right down to flower arranging. He virtually runs the Phantomhive household by himself (which begs the question of why Ciel keeps around his three incompetent servants that work under Sebastian). He refers to himself as 'one hell of a butler' or more accurately translated 'A demon of a butler/A demon and a butler', which is a really bad pun because Sebastian is, in fact, a demon.
Yes. A demon. At this point you are probably smacking your head.
Sebastian is bound to Ciel Phantomhive via a contract, the details of which are undisclosed. In any case, he is bound to be always at Ciel's side, to protect his life and serve him utterly, and in exchange Ciel owes Sebastian his soul. Sebastian posesses inhuman strength, speed, smell, etc. and he regularly rescues Ciel from danger. While outwardly Sebastian is the perfect servant, inwardly he is largely disdainful of everyone around him (although he is extremely partial to cats). He has reason to despise the three incompetent 'helping' hands, but he is even somewhat critical of the boy he is supposedly devoted to. He finds humans and their traditions odd although he is willing to play along, and he almost seems to take joy in his butler-y duties.
Outwardly, Sebastian extolls devotion and caring for Ciel ... most of the time. But he has, in order, praised the sight of Ciel in pitiful condition and held captive, willfully misinterpreted Ciel's orders, and mocked Ciel for his situation and attitude with cutting, lying words. Considering that this manga is portrayed, especially by its splash pages, as borderline BL, I was surprised by the nature of his private relationship with Ciel.
Ciel Phantomhive: Ciel is a 12-year-old boy who initally comes off as a spoiled brat for Sebastian to play servant to. As the inheritor of a large fortune, he is quite pampered, with servants to attend to everything in his household and private tutors for his lessons. He likes sweets, hates to lose any competition, and doesn't like being told what to do. He is sarcastic and clever, but cold-hearted. On the other hand, for a 12-year-old he has a lot of responsibilities - he runs and owns a company, after all, and as the last standing member of his family he is the only 'watchdog of the Crown' left.
His family was almost entirely killed off when he was around ten years old (except for an aunt). Ciel disappeared for a month at the time and returned with Sebastian in tow, having made a contract with the demon that scarred his right eye (hence the eyepatch).
While Ciel relies heavily on Sebastian for his home comfort and his duties to the Crown, his relationship with the demon is in many ways antagonistic. He is the only person to know Sebastian's true nature. When Sebastian mocks him he responds in a disdainful or cold manner. Although Ciel trusts Sebastian with his life, it is not because he believes Sebastian cares for him, but rather because he knows that Sebastian is bound to protect him by contract: he seems to have reason to believe that Sebastian literally cannot die as long as Ciel lives, and thus he holds no regard for even Sebastian's wellbeing.
Ciel seems to have a well-hidden part of himself that is deeply caring - which may be why he keeps around those three servants - but he dismisses any compliments by listing selfish reasons for doing anything that might appear nice. When he's not scheming plans to protect the Crown, he's very quiet, although he has been known to make some beautiful speeches when it's called for.
Elizabeth (Ciel's fiancee): Elizabeth, or Lizi, is engaged to Ciel and seems to be around his age. She's overexuberant and loooooooooves cute things to an extraordinary degree. At first I just thought she was annoying (Ciel certainly seems to find her so), but in a later chapter she expresses how she wants to help Ciel to Sebastian. Her sentiment is so sweet and her self-awareness (and awareness of Ciel's moods) is so great that I found I suddenly liked her.
Ciel may just be humoring her moods, but he was also willing to protect her life with his own. I-I kind of ship it.
The Three Musketeers: Aka The Three Incompetent Servants. The cook, maid, and gardener, whose names I can't even be bothered to remember, are token characters that are meant to be comic relief by being TERRIBLE AT THEIR JOBS. If they improved even a little bit then I would like them more, but as it is they're just walking disaster areas that make Sebastian look like a god by comparison. Boring.
There are other characters that appear more frequently in the anime than in the manga (Lady Ann and Grell and the Undertaker, for instance), but since they are one-arc characters in the manga I'll leave that alone.
And now for a character backdrop: PLOT? No.
There's ... not much in the way of plot to this series. Well, there is plot, but it's written entirely to show off the aspects of the main characters (particularly Sebastian and Ciel). There's some hints of an overarching storyline but it's wrapped up in Ciel's incredibly cliched past, so I'm sure it, too, will be incredibly cliche. Plot twists are no surprise, I actually called Sebastian as a supernatural being before he was announced as a demon, and they played the crossdressing card waaaaay too early.
Oh well, can't have everything.
OVERALL: 6/10: It's a fun series to sit down and read. The eyecandy is fantastic, especially for a closet goth/loli fan like me, and the character relationships have an intriguing note, but there's not much to bite into.
It is really damned pretty.
Also kind of cracked out.
In short and with absolutely no spoilers, the main thing this series has going for it is the artwork, which is very pretty. (Alas, as is typical with pretty series with no point, its anime is low-budget and thus not nearly as pretty.) The story itself plays a backdrop to the two main characters, Ciel Phantomhive and the star of the show, his butler Sebastian - it's very character-driven, by which I mean Plot? What Plot? Who Needs Plot, There Are Pretty Men Everywhere.
and now, a brief review! wheee. This is a review of chapters 1-14 of the manga. Spoilers accordingly.
The Premise: Set in late 19th century England during the Victorian era, the story centers around the exemplary butler of the Phantomhive heir. The Phantomhive family owns a prominent confectionary/toy company by the same name, from which they get their wealth. Secretly they are also the 'attack dog of the Queen', a family which devotes their lives to protecting the secrets of the British Crown and dealing with the dark underbelly of evil where the police cannot go. The only Phantomhive left is a 12-year-old boy named Ciel, and he works together with his extraordinarily talented butler Sebastian to complete his duty and accomplish other, undisclosed goals. But naturally, there's more to it ...
The Super Pretty Show:
I can't say the artwork in Kuroshitsuji is especially unique. I'm not qualified to make a thorough judgement of it, but I feel like I've seen similar artwork elsewhere - lesser known BL dramas, for one, but in particular Vampire Knights has a similar style. It makes for some lovely stills, and I have to give the artist credit for adapting the style for action sequences, most of which I can actually follow instead of sitting around scratching my head at a panel going "Wait, where the hell is his head?"
Accurate anatomy is a bit secondary to remaining pretty, but I have to say that it's really nice to see a main character with proper posture (Sebastian).
I love the clothing designs, very lolita/a bit gothic to reflect the intended time period (Victorian age). It's enough to make a girl want to cosplay. Cough.
How To Be Less Cliche Than You Initially Appear
The main characters are, along with the artwork, the best feature of this manga. While initially they come across as boring, and immediately after that extremely cliche, by chapter 14 I actually rather liked them. Sebastian is the main character of this series (as the title suggests), and by extension his employer Ciel Phantomhive is the secondary main character.
This is a perfect setup for a BL drama, and it's heavily implied in some ways, but ... it's very WEIRD.
Sebastian (The Butler): Sebastian is the main character of the series. He is excellent at everything - cooking, cleaning, organization, right down to flower arranging. He virtually runs the Phantomhive household by himself (which begs the question of why Ciel keeps around his three incompetent servants that work under Sebastian). He refers to himself as 'one hell of a butler' or more accurately translated 'A demon of a butler/A demon and a butler', which is a really bad pun because Sebastian is, in fact, a demon.
Yes. A demon. At this point you are probably smacking your head.
Sebastian is bound to Ciel Phantomhive via a contract, the details of which are undisclosed. In any case, he is bound to be always at Ciel's side, to protect his life and serve him utterly, and in exchange Ciel owes Sebastian his soul. Sebastian posesses inhuman strength, speed, smell, etc. and he regularly rescues Ciel from danger. While outwardly Sebastian is the perfect servant, inwardly he is largely disdainful of everyone around him (although he is extremely partial to cats). He has reason to despise the three incompetent 'helping' hands, but he is even somewhat critical of the boy he is supposedly devoted to. He finds humans and their traditions odd although he is willing to play along, and he almost seems to take joy in his butler-y duties.
Outwardly, Sebastian extolls devotion and caring for Ciel ... most of the time. But he has, in order, praised the sight of Ciel in pitiful condition and held captive, willfully misinterpreted Ciel's orders, and mocked Ciel for his situation and attitude with cutting, lying words. Considering that this manga is portrayed, especially by its splash pages, as borderline BL, I was surprised by the nature of his private relationship with Ciel.
Ciel Phantomhive: Ciel is a 12-year-old boy who initally comes off as a spoiled brat for Sebastian to play servant to. As the inheritor of a large fortune, he is quite pampered, with servants to attend to everything in his household and private tutors for his lessons. He likes sweets, hates to lose any competition, and doesn't like being told what to do. He is sarcastic and clever, but cold-hearted. On the other hand, for a 12-year-old he has a lot of responsibilities - he runs and owns a company, after all, and as the last standing member of his family he is the only 'watchdog of the Crown' left.
His family was almost entirely killed off when he was around ten years old (except for an aunt). Ciel disappeared for a month at the time and returned with Sebastian in tow, having made a contract with the demon that scarred his right eye (hence the eyepatch).
While Ciel relies heavily on Sebastian for his home comfort and his duties to the Crown, his relationship with the demon is in many ways antagonistic. He is the only person to know Sebastian's true nature. When Sebastian mocks him he responds in a disdainful or cold manner. Although Ciel trusts Sebastian with his life, it is not because he believes Sebastian cares for him, but rather because he knows that Sebastian is bound to protect him by contract: he seems to have reason to believe that Sebastian literally cannot die as long as Ciel lives, and thus he holds no regard for even Sebastian's wellbeing.
Ciel seems to have a well-hidden part of himself that is deeply caring - which may be why he keeps around those three servants - but he dismisses any compliments by listing selfish reasons for doing anything that might appear nice. When he's not scheming plans to protect the Crown, he's very quiet, although he has been known to make some beautiful speeches when it's called for.
Elizabeth (Ciel's fiancee): Elizabeth, or Lizi, is engaged to Ciel and seems to be around his age. She's overexuberant and loooooooooves cute things to an extraordinary degree. At first I just thought she was annoying (Ciel certainly seems to find her so), but in a later chapter she expresses how she wants to help Ciel to Sebastian. Her sentiment is so sweet and her self-awareness (and awareness of Ciel's moods) is so great that I found I suddenly liked her.
Ciel may just be humoring her moods, but he was also willing to protect her life with his own. I-I kind of ship it.
The Three Musketeers: Aka The Three Incompetent Servants. The cook, maid, and gardener, whose names I can't even be bothered to remember, are token characters that are meant to be comic relief by being TERRIBLE AT THEIR JOBS. If they improved even a little bit then I would like them more, but as it is they're just walking disaster areas that make Sebastian look like a god by comparison. Boring.
There are other characters that appear more frequently in the anime than in the manga (Lady Ann and Grell and the Undertaker, for instance), but since they are one-arc characters in the manga I'll leave that alone.
And now for a character backdrop: PLOT? No.
There's ... not much in the way of plot to this series. Well, there is plot, but it's written entirely to show off the aspects of the main characters (particularly Sebastian and Ciel). There's some hints of an overarching storyline but it's wrapped up in Ciel's incredibly cliched past, so I'm sure it, too, will be incredibly cliche. Plot twists are no surprise, I actually called Sebastian as a supernatural being before he was announced as a demon, and they played the crossdressing card waaaaay too early.
Oh well, can't have everything.
OVERALL: 6/10: It's a fun series to sit down and read. The eyecandy is fantastic, especially for a closet goth/loli fan like me, and the character relationships have an intriguing note, but there's not much to bite into.