Black Butler

Set in an Victorian era London, lives the 13 year old Ciel Phantomhive as earl. He got this position after the Phantomhive manor was attacked and set on fire killing his parents and his dog, Sebastian. (The story contains many dark elements but let's not go into detail. Also, the anime shows it differently from manga). After much endurance, he unintentionally managed to summon a demon and formed a contract with him. Hence, the Faustian contract symbol on Ciel's right eye. After the formation of the contract, the demon reveals he will consume Ciel's soul as payment for helping him achieve his goal; revenge on those who brought down the House of Phantomhive. The demon then starts living as Ciel's Butler until Ciel could get his revenge. Ciel then names him Sebastian Michaelis, after his deceased pet dog.

The concept is very dark and interesting but the anime decided to take a different route from manga. While, it is still understandable and the storyline still remains as interesting, it's the characterization, that takes the beating. Few of the antagonists like Lau and Fallen Angel developed faster than we expected. It felt rushed. Interestingly, we hardly got to know anything about Elizabeth and Undertaker in this season despite the fact that Ciel's fate was shown in this season itself. It was not until Book of Atlantic, do we get to see their real motives. The anime contains the references of many European literature and it also briefly talked about Indian/Hindu mythology. Each of those references looked well researched and felt accurate. The kind of an action we see in the anime, doesn't look 100% satisfying. I felt the anime had a potential to have even more intensed climax and more powerful action scenes.

Is the anime recommendable? Only if you are not a manga reader. Is the manga recommendable? Maybe. I am certain that the manga content must be multiple times better than the anime version. Lastly, even though I was always okay with that, I feel the need to say this - Beware, this anime contains some indirect homosexual contents. If you are not comfortable with that, you can avoid watching this show.

This is by far one of the best series! It has mystery, drama, romance, comic relief and involves the supernatural world. I would give it more than 10 stars if possible! Every character is complex. Every so often viewers will want to cry, laugh and get angry at Ciel and Sebastian. Some of the characters (Finny, Bard, Mey-Rin and Lizzy) not only add comic relief, but also have stories on their own that they tell. I will defiantly be watching the next season. Oh yes, and if you are interested in finding out more about what happens to our faithful butler, Sebastian, the Queen's watchdog, Ciel and the rest of his gangly crew, the manga version is really, really good as well. If you ever have a chance, watch this because you will not regret it. At first it might seem a little weird, but after the second or third episode viewers will be hooked on the show and will want to see more of the adventures of the amazing duo, the butler and his master, Ciel and Sebastian!

I have watched this anime more than once and fell in love with season 1 and all the Ova's. Season 2 I have come to a pretty soild conclusion has nothing to do with Season 1 time frame at all; if season two does happen it happens about two years after season 1 ends. Coming to this conclusion also makes make believe that Season two just does not happen within the Black Butler timeline at all, it would cross paths with at least two other crimes that were being solved by Ciel at the time Season 2 would have also been taking place.

Beside the very confusing Season 2, this show was very good, I loved the characters and the animation was great even comparing it to some of todays animation shows and scenc done in them. The dynamic between the butler and master is good never really changes yet still improves ever season, this is one of my favorite parts about the show.

"Black Butler" started a bit disappointing. It was clear from the beginning, that the anime would walk in the footsteps of "Deathnotes". After some time, the typical anime plots (Faustian Pact, Lost Parents, Revenge, Friendship) are revealed but then the Victorian Age feeling gets much better and bigger attention. There's a ton of really well researched stuff and the tension rises as the main story unfolds.

The show is not as good as "Death Note" and has imho a lot of homosexual content in it, which is more or less openly shown. I assume it is, among other things, to attract more female and viewers. The funny thing is, that females are either shown as dolls, clumsy servants, killing machines or just some extras. While Walt Disney is getting really feminist lately, the Japanese have yet to invent better female - believable - anime characters.

Including all flaws - this is one of the best anime shows at the moment. A mixture of Steampunk, Gothic Horror and Crime. Not too violent and gory but at times very thrilling!

8/10

This show was and still is my all-time favorite anime, but it's not for everyone. It all depends on the person, so if you really want to know if it is good or bad, watch it for yourself and don't take someone's word for it (you might be missing out on something great!) This show will woo you if you give it the chance to! I must admit, I started the show and after the first 5 minutes, I turned it off because I was unimpressed. Later, I decided to give it another go. Best decision of my life. The characters, mainly Sebastian and Ciel, were really intriguing and had this captivating dynamic which made every situation, from funny to dramatic, entertaining. This is one of those shows that gets better as you watch and the ending is desirable. Watch at least the first 3 or 4 episodes before passing judgment!