sunshine_child Review of Black Butler

Black Butler (2008–2011)

supernatural anime with a mixture of drama and comedy

[9/10 · 12 March 2010]

This is a really good supernatural anime with a mix of drama and comedy. I started watching it out of boredom, but quickly got draw into it. The story revolves around about a boy of about 12 who is of noble heritage, Ciel and his butler Sebastian. As episodes go on you find out that Sebastian is in fact a demon, and Ciel made a contract with him, thus when the contract comes to a conclusion Sebastian will have his soul. But after watching a few episodes you get a feeling that Sebastian perhaps in some way cares for Ciel, who is his master fro duration of the contract and Sebastian bound to whatever he is told and to protect Ciel fro any harm. Sebastian is talented in many ways, he is strong, fast, smart and so on, for obvious reason he is a demon after all. He's catch phrase "I am one hell of the butler". The anime is set in the Victorian England, and there is a strong emphasis on English loving their tea time, which I found so fun because it is true. There are supernatural characters apart from the demon butler, such as the reaper and Devil/demon dog. The characters that bring humour to the series are the household servants of Ciel, Finny the gardener, Meirin the maid and Bardroy or Bard the cook, who seem to be clueless to the fact that Sebastian is a demon. There is also Elizabeth/Lizzy Ciels' fiancé who loves him very much and wants nothing but to make him happy. First impression, after a couple of episodes Ciel seemed like an arrogant brat, but after a while you begin to get a real feel of his character. He is a sad and angry boy, who not only lost both of his parents (and later in the show his aunt), but also gone through a lot. As they show a few glimpses that he was tortured profoundly in a some sort of ritual. SO a guess you begin to understand his anger and complete disregard for his own life, and the fact that in a wholehearted consumption of revenge he sold his sole in order to obtain the power necessary to find and carry out revenge on those who done him wrong. This gives the anime a dark note, and there are many sad moments, but nonetheless there are tones of comedy there, and I find it has great balance between them.