Review of Black Butler

Where to begin with such an interesting, heart-wrenching, emotional, hilarious, and macabre anime such as this? Well, not on any plane that Kuroshitsuji stands on. Those descriptions are saved for other anime that actually live up to those qualities. A while ago, I heard about Kuroshitsuji, A.K.A. Black Butler, kicking up a storm for most of the younger viewers in the anime audience. This does not include the entirety of the audience, just a large portion of it. I became interested in it, seeing as how somewhat lurid, supernatural animes are very interesting when done correctly. Before investigating further upon the animation, I read a fewvolumes into the manga. I enjoyed the art style and found the characters to be quite complex and entertaining in their own little quirks. Of course, it was only a first impression, and with that assumption, I took to the hills and decided to watch the series in its entirety.

Kuroshitsuji is about a young boy known as Ciel Phantomhive makes a contract at the age of ten with a demon, who is known in the series as Sebastian (`dem cliché Victorian names). Sebastian has agreed to serve as Ciel`s butler in exchange for his soul, doing Ciel`s bidding in any way his master desires. Earl Ciel Phantomhive, better known as the Queen`s guard-dog, as he does what the queen requests him to, owns his own toy company, which is very well-known and quite successful. The first & second seasons take place when Ciel is twelve (later thirteen), and play out in a Victorian London setting where Ciel and Sebastian go off to solve various cases every so often when the show feels like it acquires progression (and I use the term `solving cases` very loosely) and all the while, causing antics while interacting with a variety of different characters.

The story, to me, at least, sounded like an original one, and although the rest of this review will be bashing the anime in most of its entirety, I will give Black Butler credit where it is due. The idea of master and butler, with the servant having power over the situation at all times, and in a Victorian setting, is quite engaging. Not to mention that it wasn’t a badly written anime. The pacing wasn’t absolutely appalling, and the anime set itself up at a good pace from the beginning. Kuroshitusji knew where it wanted to go, and it went there at a reasonable pace. This applies more to the first season than the second season, but it`s not something that takes away from the story itself.

I shall also not pass up the opportunity to praise the soundtrack. The orchestral music is phenomenal, and fits very well within the setting. The orchestra is incredible, and even now, I`ll still listen to the soundtrack from time to time. Personally, I think the soundtrack of the second season is better than the first, as you can tell the sound directors really put their all into the second season. Not to mention that both the first and second season were pretty well animated. Nothing was distracting, animation wise, and the setting was well done. It wasn’t anything truly special, but it was something that I noticed.

While I give it originality points for story, as I mentioned pacing earlier, and how Black Butler knew where it wanted to go, it did go, but only whenever the show felt like actually progressing the story-line. Most episodes were filler or useless, and while the beginning fillers entertained me, some of the yaoi and over-used anime tropes were quite prominent in almost all filler episodes. I could skip complaining about fillers in a review such as this, but because there were so many, it cannot possibly be looked over so easily. Most fillers were for either fan-service or comedic relief, which seemed a bit odd for me to see. The show had been taking itself quite seriously in the beginning episodes, and when there was just so much `ha-ha, look at this funny trope that`s been used before!` seen in this anime, it made me re-think that maybe this show was meant for pleasing its fans. The show tried to take itself seriously again, but then slipped back into dumb clichés and moments which were just plain annoying.

The characters can be split up into two categories: those that are important to the story itself, and those that are there just to be there. The characters to help thicken the plot are the obvious, main two characters. There`s also another character who fits into this category, but as to not spoil the series, I will not say the character`s name. It`s a shame the all the rest of the characters in the series (besides the antagonist, of course) were just there to be there. Whether it be for hilarity factor, or to give some form of information to the main characters and the audience, with everything in-between, the rest of the characters in the series besides Ciel and Sebastian are completely forgettable. Grell, a very flamboyant character in Kuroshitsuji, is not at all forgettable, although I wish he was.

Ciel was given some character development in both series, but not much. He was still a cocky bastard all the way to the end, and the only depth he was given was his tragic backstory. Sebastian, a very delightful character in the series, can still be seen as a 2D figure rather than the full three dimensional product with his entire character being interesting. He has a few clichés involving the `perfect being who can do anything` type of trope, that follow along with many other supernatural beings of all genres. While I agree that he was the most interesting character of the series, and brought life to most of the show, the only type of character development he got was in season two, which is so often over-looked.

Overall, the only reason I truly enjoyed the show for what it was was because of the characters and a few of the witty fillers brought into the show. I didn’t enjoy the amount of effort put into the show beforehand to try to portray this mysterious and supernatural setting, while it later ended in too many silly fillers to count. Sure, it`s a good show for fan-service for a more female audience, but that`s basically it.

If you`re a newcomer to anime, and want something to watch, I might suggest Black Butler to you. But, if you`re one who`s somewhat experienced in watching Japanese animation, skip it.

There`s a reason they call Kuroshittytsuji.

Rate: 6/10