WWHCurrent Anime & Manga Blog: Past Animes Review: Kuroshitsuji / 黒執事

Monday, August 29, 2011

Past Animes Review: Kuroshitsuji / 黒執事

I am bored here… (No PUN intended)

As you have noticed (or will notice) I am the type of person who hates to watch ongoing animes (So I will leave it to DarrenW and MedusaS)… It pisses me off when I have to wait for the next episode. I will feel like strangling someone especially if the anime or manga stops at a cliffhanger. Then I get bored (hence my name) and I will do random stuff or sleep. Zzz. I love to watch short animes. It gives me a sense of pride that I can finish one anime in 6 hours :D (My record)

Anyways… Let’s start with: “Kuroshitsuji” AKA “Black Butler” 黒執事 !

This did not come out as early as Ouran. The first episode was released in October 2008 and there are 24 episodes in total. WARNING! This anime is quite gory and bloody, full of fighting scenes. If this is not your cup of tea, please refrain from watching it…

The story is set in the Victorian era London (with mansions, horse carriages and everything…) Protagonist #1 is Sebastian Michaelis, a butler who serves Protagonist #2 Lord Earl Ciel Phantomhive. Ciel is a 12 year old orphan whose parents are murdered in a fire on his 10^th birthday. He is the head of the Phantomhive family and owns a candy and toy manufacturing company, Funtom Company. He also serves the Queen as her “Guard Dog”. Sebastian is a demon who is bounded by a contract with Ciel. Ciel, in order to avenge his parents’ death, exchanged his soul for the service of Sebastian.

The sign for their bond is a star polygon which is on Sebastian’s hand and in Ciel’s eye. SPOILER: It is mentioned in episode 4 that the closer the mark is to the eye, the stronger the bond will be. However, this also makes the demon easier to track down the human to get his soul. (Actually, IDK if this is considered a spoiler. HAHAHA)

CHARACTERS (the interesting ones, since there is wayyyyy too many)

<-- Ciel. KAWAII!!! XD

--> Sebastian

<-- Finnian, the gardener for Phantomhive family. The background was supposed to be the garden, but he put too much fertilizers. (O_o)

--> Baldroy, the cook for the Phantomhive family. He loves using explosions and the results of his cooking are 80 percent charcoal and 20 percent broken dishes. (According to the manga)

<-- Mey-Rin, maid of Phantomhive family. She is extremely clumsy and short-sighted.

The 3 servants are more of a hindrance than help for Sebastian. In the anime, they serve as a comical relieve.

--> Tanaka (ojichan in the middle) is the steward of the Phantomhive family. His notable quote: “Ho, ho, ho…”

Side note: For those who do not understand Chinese, the words in the picture means “sense of normalcy”. Please don’t ask me why there are Chinese words in a Japanese anime. IDK.

--> Ciel’s fiancée and cousin, Lady Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford. She loves kawaii things. Not to be biased or anything, but I don’t like her. She broke Ciel’s ring and annoys him… (She annoys me too)

Plot: Err… Haha. It’s actually quite cliché… Victorian era, mansions, servants, maids and a bunch of ridiculous people… sounds familiar? The fresh part is the contract with the demon. Usually you see animes with exorcists trying to exterminate demons. (Hint for next review) It’s rare to see humans working with (a better word in Ciel’s case is “using”) demons.

Kawaii version of them together :D

Theme: Comedy, Tragedy, (oxymoron… I know) Mystery, Supernatural, Bloody. Lessons learnt are: what goes around comes around. There is an action-reaction thing going on. And don’t have contacts with demons!

Atmosphere: The first few episodes are more light-hearted. However, towards the end it just gets darker, more violent, and bloodier. *Evil grin*

Okay, the rating thingy (purely my views):

*[SCORE PENDING]

By the way, Kuroshitsuji 2 was out in July 2010 and completed. There are 12 episodes in total. I will not be doing a review for Kuro2 as I stopped 15 minutes into the 1^st episode. The protagonists changed, and one of them is SUPER GAY (no offence intended)!!!

Ciel and Sebastian are featured too, but at the very end. So, for a wholesome conclusion to the anime, please watch the two animes. (I have a big mouth otaku friend… So I know the ending without actually watching it :D) BTW, the anime and characters are based on the manga but the storyline is quite different.

There are also 5 OVAs.

DUN HAV PV LINK!! T_T

ENJOY!!! I like the animation and it’s an awesome English song: D (In my opinion) Song is I’m Alive by Becca.