While of late I've gladly dipped my toes into anime, I couldn't tell you anything about 'Black butler,' nor Toboso Yana's manga; it hasn't entered my purview at all until now. It was specifically the premise that drew me into this film, promising a mix of horror, science fiction, adventure, and action, with touches of humor and the playfulness that is characteristic to much of the medium. Encountering this franchise for the first time I can't speak to 'Book of the Atlantic' as an adaptation, nor specifically to where it fits among the other material, but I don't think that's fully necessary in this case anyway. This feature is broadly enjoyable on its own merits, and one needn't have prior knowledge of the series to have a good time.
That doesn't mean that it isn't without flaws. I'll grant that though the film is fairly accessible all on its own, it's also written in a manner assumes viewers already know the characters on hand and the lore they're connected to. That's fine; I would assume no less. It does seem to me, however, that this adaptation works extra hard to toss in a slew of established characters, giving everyone including secondary supporting or recurring figures a reason to all be at the same place at the same time. These characters may be interesting in and of themselves (for example, I love the concept of Snake), but smashing them all together is plainly questionable; imagine if there was an arc of 'Xena: Warrior princess' that involved every single recurring character. Further accentuating the point, secondary characters are simply given too much emphasis in many scenes, becoming somewhat overbearing along with the playfulness and humor that adjoins the core genre flavors. I think an adaptation should be smart enough to weave in such elements more sparingly, focusing on the substance of the story even if that means leaving some bits out. Such an overabundance of characters also lends to the matter of pacing in this flick, which I plainly feel is a tad too brisk for its own good, diminishing the impact of beats, scenes, and ideas.
Yet while I take issue in part with Yoshino Hiroyuki's screenplay, and Abe Noriyuki's direction, we get what we came for. The action sequences are fluid and exciting, and some are especially delightful; the moment one supporting character reveals their hidden skills is a blast. With a plot that involves the dead rising, the horror is strong in these 100 minutes even as it mixes with the more frivolous and indulgent aspects, and the creature designs, blood, and gore are freely showcased. Where the levity relies not on grandiosity or immoderation, but instead on actual wit, the movie really does earn some laughs. While the overall narrative is relatively light and nothing that will stick in one's memory, it's compelling, engaging, and entertaining all the same, and meanwhile the scene writing is marvelously robust and flavorful, for better and for worse. To all these same ends, the animation is reliably fantastic, as if we'd expect any less from Japanese studios. Every background and environment is filled with superb detail, and likewise all active facets including characters, weapons, action, effects, and so on. Where 3D digital rendering is employed in addition to the predominant 2D style it looks great as embellishment and augmentation, and there's nice consideration throughout for perspective, lighting, and shading. Why, at some points the visual experience is altogether beautiful.
Mitsuda Yasunori's original music is a welcome, adept complement for the proceedings at all turns, and much the same verbiage could be applied to the voice cast in bringing their characters to life. By and large 'Book of the Atlantic' is terrifically well made by all the high standards of modern anime, and that this saga further takes cues from the tragedy of the Titanic just makes it all the richer. I still just wish that the direction and particularly the writing were more thoughtful. As another example, a length sequence breaks from the active plot to delve into the history of chief characters Ciel and Sebastian; while that background is excellent in and of itself, it does serve in some measure to break up the momentum of the picture for an extra long while. Still, for all the criticism one may reasonably level, I don't think there's much arguing that the sum total is far better than not. This 'Black butler' tale is dark and fun just as we'd hope with such a swirl of genres, and even as I find faults there's a lot to like here. When all is said and done it's not something one needs to go out of their way to see, but I recognize the skill and intelligence that went into 'Book of the Atlantic,' and so long as none of the factors I hammered on are a major obstacle, I think it's well worth checking out.
