Kuroshitsuji

Black Butler

Original Creator: Yana Toboso

Production by: A-1 Pictures Inc, Aniplex, Mainichi Broadcasting, Yomiuri TV

Adapted from a manga

OAVs: one

Movies: none

Live-action: none

Second Season-sequel 

Genre: supernatural, mystery, historical, comedy, steam punk

Number of Episodes: 24

ANN's Plot Summary: "One of the noble families of England - Phantomhive, has a butler, Sebastian Michaels. He has unquestionably perfect knowledge, manners, talent with materials. martial arts and much more. But for some reason, he serves a 12 year old master..."

My Ranking: 3

My Rating: PG-13

okay so i admit that this series had me a bit creeped out at some parts, it can be a bit disturbing or unnerving and also there is a tremendous amount of blood soooooo........yeah. i wouldn't quite rate it R but its an almost. also there is really only one episode that evokes something aherm. so yeah, borderline for this one.

My Review: My first thoughts on this series were quite simple really. "why on earth do i like this?". Yep. It's one of those series. Really there are some awesome qualities to this anime but it falls short on many levels because of the way its presented. While the manga itself is not all that long the anime does give off the feeling that's its been squished to accommodate a 24 ep time slot. So, while Kuroshitsuji has the potential to be great it does fall into the category of unreasonable adoration.

First what I liked about this series was the art. The old english historia with the steam punk style is really appealing. Also, all the dark tones with very smooth strokes add to the creepy coolness. Just coming from reading a vampire series I felt it to be between Vampire Knight and Le Chevelier D'eon, but almost not quite.....heh.

The art style aside the plot itself was really interesting and enticing. On the other hand, kuroshitsuji had a very interesting way of presenting it. The series had a habit of changing plot style a little to much. As if it couldn't decide. For instance it seemed at first like a simple by episode mystery series, but then it decided oh no wait those filler seeming eps actually hold important stuff and all the minor characters are actually main characters. Oh, and this all makes sense why? So yeah. It was not a very smooth ride. So while at the same time feeling like a series that was crunched on time it seemed full of fillers....eh? But the negatives aside I found the idea of the story itself cool.

Also, while the characters seem to have only the potential for cameo roles they are all extremely well put together. All of them are awesome in there own way. And not to let the darkness get you down the personalities of the characters really liven up the series and make it enjoyable. Really the characters are a big part of what makes peeps like the series with the weird plot pattern. They are just plain cool. And might I say quite funny, for yes, this series has a large sense of humor.

With all its ups and downs, while being both cool, fun, and weird, I have to admit this series almost had me in tears the last episode. For its actually really sad, but in a kinda good way. So the entire series you can enjoy but you always have in the back of your mind the knowledge of what will inevitably happen and you always hope there will be someway around it and you feel there should be, but in the end you just have to watch the sadness built up from the beginning come out. So in a way this makes kuroshitsuji come full circle to actually being clever. All in all, this series is unpredictable but you'll love it no matter what your brain is telling you, and that, you gotta admit, is kinda cool.

Comparison: there is a wide range of opinions on the contrast between the manga and anime. a lot supporting the idea that the anime completely butchered the series and others saying it was awesome in its own way. so....i cant give an honest opinion. i can only say the manga has more story arcs and also its still going on.

the anime and manga are licensed: the manga by Yen Press and the anime by Funimation. The anime was subbed by a combo of A-Thryst, Roonery, and Shinsen. there may be others but these are the main ones. honestly the subs for this series are a bit of a mess. but thanks for trying guys.

Sample Vid: okay for a good spoiler-free preview just watch the op of the series. but if you want a pretty cool amv and don't care about spoilers here it is. i am now in love with this song and all vocaloid for that matter.