Hello everyone from the west side of the planet (and if you're from the East I have a throne for you!)!
Welcome to the J-zone, Hikari 光 here is bringing you the first of many reviews on Japanese stuff. Nice to see you here.
So,
I've been a lot into Kuroshitsuji, although I thought it's not going to
be such a good story at the beginning. It had quite boring episode
structure, but then you start getting the story...
One of the
most popular stories, written by Yana Toboso, Kuroshitsuji, in translation known as Black butler, is about to meet its 3rd season of anime,
while live action movie has already hit cinemas. If you haven't seen the trailer yet WATCH IT:
A story about Ciel Phanotmhive, a 13-year-old
English earl; the Watchdog of Her Highness the queen of England and at the same time an orphan who sold his
soul to the demon.
I chose to make a
review on this story since it’s quite untypical and has combined some elements
one would think can never be put together.
At the
beginning of the manga, we meet Ciel Phantomhive, an arrogant, shrewd and
sagacious thirteen-year-old boy, who holds numerous exalted positions: the head
of the Phantomhive household, the chief manager of a
chain of Funtom companies, and the Queen's Watchdog. He is always in a company of his butler, Sebastian Michaelis,
that is, soon we find out, a demon. Two years ago, Ciel's parents were
murdered, the mansion burned down and he was kidnapped and enslaved by a cult.
Deeply traumatized, Ciel was
desperately searching for a way out, and since he has no faith in God he
accidently summoned a demon whom with he made a faustian contract (meaning the demon offered specific services and fulfilling Ciel’s wish in compensation
of consuming his soul that will result in his death.)
This story is interesting for a
couple of reasons. First of all, the way the story is told; we as an audience
support Ciel’s decision to make the deal, which normally no one would support.
Secondly, the terms of the deal are interesting as well; in this story, the
demon is totally willing to be subservient to Ciel for as long as it takes, and
he is faultlessly loyal to his master, staying by his side for the duration of
their agreement. There are no loopholes in their deal from out of which
Sebastian tries to sneak.
Furthermore, it is unusual for a
manga story to be told in a way that every detail is out of a great importance.
The story plot evolves thanks to the small discoveries or even the way someone said something. This makes
the story quite intelligent.
One thing that makes this story completely
fabulous is the cast. You’ve never seen such awesome cast displayed in the most
mindblowing of ways. For example, Ciel's clumsy and fragile maid is actually a
sniper shooter and not to even mention death goods out of which one uses
chainsaw as his death scythe and other a mower (can you imagine that?! no wait, let me show you:
and yes, he's a guy................ we think.
Author’s approach in making the point in this story is also rather untypical.
The morality of the actual decision to
sell a soul is never really dealt with in the series, nor is the theology in
which there are demons (evil) and death gods (neutral) with whom to barter and
converse but no complementary good supernatural force. And on the topic of morality,
we as the audience are generally inclined to root for the Sebastian, the amoral
demon butler, who will maim, seduce,
or kill anything that stands in the way of his master’s goal.
There are certainly some harsh truths
and brutal actions revealed over the course of the story, but that’s not
necessarily a bad thing – it’s nice to have an utilitarian antihero sometimes
rather than a typical just and gentile manga-boy-lead.
As for the character
development, you get surprised even here. Because of his proud non-hesitation
stance the audience gets the feeling that Ciel is faultless and quite
remarkable 10-year-old. Because he’s so advanced for his age we tend to never
doubt him, but he is a child and therefore
he learns and develops even more and at those moments we gain even greater
respect for him. It’s astonishing how this story shows this realistic dimension
of human nature. The Author is aware of what person would normally do and includes
it in the story.
Black Butler is really worthwhile manga. It has incredibly intense storyline,
awesome characters, wild philosophical dilemmas, and insanely beautiful art! At
the same time it's quite serious, but heartwarming story and on the top of that
it is insanely hilarious! This manga will make you change the point of view. It
will also give you a lot to think about, while its art will leave you
breathless.
