Problematic Fave: Black Butler
The premise of this manga and anime series is basically: “What if ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ but the butler was a demon, and the young master was a 13-year-old crime-solver?” Once a carefree young aristocrat, Ciel Phantomhive’s world came crashing down when, on his 10th birthday, his parents were killed and their mansion burned. He was sold to a cult who tried to sacrifice him to summon a demon. But the demon made a deal with Ciel instead: to aid and protect him until he can carry out his revenge. Once free, Ciel took up not only the leadership of the family business interests but the Phantomhive role as the queen’s ‘guard dog’, both investigating and hushing up crimes emerging from London’s literal and figurative underworlds. Sebastian proves to be a demon of many talents, to all appearances an impeccably polite and efficient butler – who just so happens to be able catch bullets or skewer a dozen thugs with silverware.
The resulting story is simultaneously very dark, frequently funny, and always emotionally affecting; the aesthetic is Victorian England filtered through Japanese goth style. Exactly my kind of thing, in other words! However, it does have some major issues, which I will discuss toward the end of this review.
Things that are great:
1) Sebastian Michaelis
I’m a sucker for demons who are “deep down, just a little bit, a good person”1: not just Crowley, but Vikram, Hua Cheng, Inuyasha.... The morality of the titular ‘Black Butler’, however, remains exceedingly enigmatic. Sebastian can be genuinely scary and sinister and he does have an actual contract on Ciel’s soul. At the same time, he is often nicer to Ciel and other humans than is strictly necessary. Sebastian says things that seem cruel and cynical…but more than half the time turn out to be exactly what the person needed to hear. As per the contract, he never lies to Ciel except through occasional omission. While he kills a lot of people, it is all in service of their missions. He doesn’t particularly like dogs, perhaps because Ciel named him after one or perhaps because that metaphor is turning out to be more accurate than he’d like, but is inordinately fond of cats.
At one point the manga states that demons don’t have a morality, they have an aesthetic - and Sebastian certainly has a distinctive one. He takes pride in doing everything with impeccable style, whether that is constructing a chocolate sculpture or wreaking creative destruction. His true form is never fully shown, but seems to involve red eyes, fangs, and some impressive high-heeled boots. (This fan-made video captures all of that really well). “One hell of a butler,” indeed.
All this tends to leads characters and fans to thirst for the demon, but while Sebastian once or twice uses sex to get information, he exhibits no more than his usual satisfaction in a job well done2 and never indulges otherwise. He even turns down (in the season 1 timeline) both the male and female forms of an angel who offers to rule the world with him and give him as many souls as he wants, which you’d think would be hitting the jackpot for a demon! Sebastian doesn’t have human tastebuds or hunger for food - making his skill in the kitchen even more impressive - so it would make sense if his other senses and desires were different as well. Now, I know this interpretation of Sebastian as asexual would disappoint a lot of fans. Believe me, I get it! But I think it A: is supported by the text and works well with his contradictory, enigmatic nature and B: makes some of the potentially iffy stuff about this series a bit better. In any case, there is clearly only one type of being the demon finds lovely enough (in a purely aesthetic sense) to distract him:
*Note: Manga panels read right to left, not left to right.
1. I think I like this more than the human “bad boy” trope because demons are supposed to be the embodiment of evil. So when one ends up being 90-100% a good guy it is just kind of delightful – the equivalent of a human shedding all their toxic societal conditioning - especially if they are also a little grumpy or in denial about it.
2. While rather smug about his ability to melt a human into a puddle, Sebastian in both cases remains entirely focused on interrogating and doesn’t even bother to take off his tailcoat and tie!
2) Ciel Phantomhive
Sebastian’s ‘young master’ is an interesting character as well. Ciel is tiny, adorable…and a stone-cold badass whose ruthlessness can even surprise a demon3. He is also a deeply tragic figure – a boy who has almost forgotten how to smile, who doesn’t know who he would be without his quietly simmering anger. His childhood still shows in his fondness for games and for sweets. Sebastian indulges the latter with various scrumptious-looking recipes, and also takes on a quasi-parental role, even when Ciel grumbles - not just making sure he doesn’t get killed, but ensuring he does his lessons and watching over him to keep nightmares at bay. Sebastian regularly comments on the extent to which humans are willing to use one another, but while Ciel says he is no different from the others and a supremely selfish person, he actually risks himself for others almost constantly...which means Sebastian gets a lot of practice doing the same.
3. Several times Sebastian says something along the lines of: “Are you sure? You know if I follow that order it can’t be undone, right?”
3) The diverse crew of Phantomhive associates
Besides Sebastian, Phantomhive manor has four servants: venerable Japanese steward Tanaka, bespectacled Chinese maid Meilin*, the American chef Bard, and deceptively strong German gardener, Finney. All but Tanaka initially appear to be spectacularly bad at their jobs – Bard keeps trying to cook things with a flame-thrower, for example. It turns out that Sebastian did not hire them for their domestic skills…although he probably regrets that every time he has to fix their mistakes! They are later joined by a footman who talks to snakes. The Phantomhive servants are spectacularly loyal, seeing Sebastian and Ciel as stern but generous benefactors who gave them a home and family. Other reliable allies include the spoiled young Indian prince Soma and his khansama Agni. Agni is probably the only mortal who can go toe-to-toe with Sebastian in a fight and once competed with him in a curry competition. He is apparently also the first person ever to call the demon “friend”. The laid-back Lau, representative of a Chinese trading company and underworld boss, and his beautiful but deadly sister(?) Lan Mao* are less trustworthy but still frequently useful associates.
*Spellings of these names in translations vary, but since “l” is more common than “r” in Chinese names, I suspect these versions are more correct than “Mey-rin” and “Ran Mao”.
4. The Shinigami (Reapers)
Being a fan of ‘Deathnote’, I was rather delighted to see that this tale also includes Death Gods. The Shinigami are neither of heaven nor hell; their job is to collect the souls of the dead – in this story they’ve branched out from the classic scythe to other gardening implements. The creepy Undertaker is retired and, as his name suggests, runs a coffin shop while also serving as an informant. Bureaucratic, pole-pruner-wielding William despises demons, who like to eat souls and therefore generate extra paperwork for the Shinigami. The cheerful, efficient Ronald (not pictured below) uses a lawnmower. And, last but far from least, the flamboyant, red-haired, chainsaw-wielding Grell is a chaotic force who sometimes generates cases, sometimes helps solve them, and has a huge crush on Sebastian!
5. Artwork: fights, fashion, and food
The illustrations/animation is skilled and stylish. The fight scenes are creative and thrilling, the fashions and character designs memorable. And while loving depictions of food are common in anime and manga, considering that this series is working with much-maligned British cuisine it is very impressive how mouthwatering each and every one of Sebastian’s culinary efforts looks.
Things that are problematic
Of course, some might say the whole premise of bloody gothic series about a child selling his soul to a demon is problematic. But if we accept that that is the point…
1) Treatment of Grell Sutcliff
I actually really like Grell as a character. She has an exuberant personality and colorful sense of style (long red coat and hair, cute skull-trimmed librarian glasses, and of course her chainsaw scythe) that contrasts nicely with the more dour and serious characters in their grey and black wardrobes. But she’s introduced to us as (sigh) a transgender serial killer, and the other characters constantly misgender her and treat her as weird and creepy. She does hit on “Sebas-chan” excessively4, but especially considering that none of these characters are “normal” and that demons (and angels, in the show) probably don’t have a fixed gender this attitude doesn’t fit the logic of the universe. It fits real-world transphobia, though, which makes it kind of hard to watch/read. The more recent issues of the manga do seem to be correcting for this, though, with not only fewer insults to Grell but also having a young Meilin - dressed as a boy - be described by Sebastian as “biologically-speaking, female” (he’s not assuming gender identity based on scent alone). The prospect of seeing our favorite ‘Primadonna girl’ get more respect is great!
4. At one point in the ‘Circus’ arc Grell jealously watches the life record of a human Sebastian seduced, wondering if he’d like her better if she looked more like that buxom curly-haired girl. Ironically, that was not Sebastian’s first choice for how to get information; William wouldn’t let him leave the circus to go to the library without Ciel as chaperone! I could just picture Sebastian going: “(Sigh). FINE. I guess I’m doing this the demon way, then.”
2) Indulgence of Sebastian x Ciel shipping
Look, I love a good gay romance but Ciel is an actual child! Fortunately, the “sexy but asexual demon” theory (or even the “Sebastian might be a monster, but not THAT much of a monster” reading) means that you absolutely don’t have to accept this as a real thing! Most likely the only part of Ciel that Sebastian desires is his soul. Which is not great, obviously, but since having your soul eaten just means non-existence…it could be worse. For Ciel, Sebastian is the closest thing to a parent he has left. Their relationship is not exactly healthy, but it still provides more kindness and comfort than either think they deserve. Adding romance to that, even if Ciel were older, would probably just tip it further in the toxic direction. The best barometer of canonical intent is probably Grell: If Sebastian turns the seduction on anyone else she is always this close to murder, but she barely seems to notice Ciel exists.
So you could say the prevalence of this idea is just fans being weird…but there are the oddly romantic lyrics of the anime’s opening credits, and the cover and between-chapter art frequently has Ciel looking more like a swooning maiden or overall girlier than normal:
There’s also a few in-text moments, such as the infamous corset scene – which I won’t link, but basically it tricks you into thinking something dirty is happening until the “camera” pulls back to reveal Sebastian is just helping Ciel into a corset for an undercover op. The creators were actively encouraging this thinking and, as well-drawn as the art is, I kept wishing they would stop. It’s especially disturbing considering some hints that are dropped about the nature of the abuse Ciel experienced during his captivity with the cult. But, again, there has thankfully been less of that in recent issues!
3) Portrayal of female characters
Considering that the manga series has a female author – Yana Toboso - and a large proportion of female fans, it is kind of surprising how sparse, one-dimensional, and frequently problematic the female characters are compared to the male ones in the earlier adventures. For instance, Ciel and Sebastian investigate the Jack the Ripper case and find that the murderer is an infertile woman – aided by Grell, who can’t have babies either - who is upset that the sex workers had abortions. Just…yikes. Lan Mao’s over-sexualization coupled with her maybe-incestuous relationship with Lau and the fact that she barely talks make her uncomfortable to watch as well. Queen Victoria’s extravagant grief over Prince Albert is a bit over-played and she is given strangely child-like qualities in both anime and manga (though in very different ways).
It gets better from ‘Book of Murder’ on, though. Queen Victoria gains proper dignity and strategic abilities. Lan Mao and Meilin get a cool lady-assassin team-up. Ciel’s fiancé5 Lizzie starts out as a rather spoiled young girl who overdoes the cuteness, but it turns out she has reasons for that and is secretly a skilled swordswoman. She gets that from her mother, Lady Francis, who is basically a Victorian Atalanta. There are also more female manga-only characters that initially also had some serious issues but have become much more appealing over time. For instance, the fantastically talented clearly-a-lesbian tailor Nina used to exhibit some pervy/predatory tendencies, but her characterization lately focuses more on her fashion skills. There is a “green witch” with bound feet who is a “lord” in her own right…and was apparently been allowed to read some far-too-adult books, as she thought she had to seduce Ciel and Sebastian to get them on her side6. However, she becomes a helpful-mad-scientist for the crew (remaining a bit cheeky but not disturbingly so), which is unusual and quite a nice touch.
5. Yeah, yeah, I know…but they are aristocrats. The match was arranged by their parents when they were quite young, and Lizzie at least seems keen to stick with it. She likes Ciel, and her “crouching airhead, hidden badass” act is very much about trying to bring back his lost smile while also protecting him from any further harm.
6. Which doesn’t work, of course, since Ciel is still young enough to consider kissing gross, and Sebastian is...Sebastian. The three cooperate quite well once they get over THAT awkward hurdle.
4) An extremely painful-to-read cultural misunderstanding
There’s a storyline in the manga that takes place in a fancy school. The author seems to have learned that, in old-time British public schools, “f*g” referred to a younger student acting as an older one’s servant. The term gets used over and over and over, which is jarring not just for the obvious reason - especially given the somewhat homoerotic vibe of the series – but also because even in context that isn’t something you would aspire to be called. I’ve never seen a British author describe this system as anything but a sort of institutionalized bullying. It seems to have been highly exploitative: at best in a “shine my shoes or I’ll smack you” way, at worst in a way that probably gave rise to the word’s current usage. I suspect the misunderstanding of this as a “brotherly” relationship, something you’d compete for, occurred because mentor-like pairings of older and younger students are a staple of Japanese school stories (AKA “notice me, sempai!”). Also, having students clean the school is considered part of everyone’s collective responsibility to maintain a pleasant environment. But even so, I have never been happier to have the focus of a story switch to sports (“Oh, thank God – yes, please explain cricket to me instead!”).
5) Somewhat inconsistent social commentary
This bit isn’t too bad, but since such commentary is something I notice in stories it bugged me a little that I couldn’t quite tell what this tale was trying to say about Victorian society. It is mainly an issue with the first season of the anime, which seemed to be trying to frame 19th century London as some kind of land of opportunity and the Queen as having egalitarian ideals. The corresponding manga, however, don’t go that far, and the police commissioner even describes Ciel’s role as covering up the evils committed by the crown. ‘Book of Circus’ leans into the reality of Victorian class dynamics more, especially depicting the hopeless position of someone like a disabled street urchin – and how much they might be willing to do for a benefactor. And then the commentary is dropped for a while, only to reappear in the music-hall arc of the manga. There, a venue without class distinctions is suspicious, the Funtom company gets into manufacturing pop idols, and the police have been finding oddly perfect corpses, but…
How to read/watch ‘Black Butler’
There are several ways to experience this story, or perhaps I should say family of stories. The manga series is still ongoing, with at least 172 issues. That was a bit daunting, so I started with Season 1 of the anime, which tells a compact story in 25 twenty-minute episodes, before diving into the rest. The anime writers had the ‘Game of Thrones’ problem of an unfinished series to adapt. So the first season follows the manga up to episode 13, with the next 12 being developed independently to wrap up the story. It does so quite well – the end of Ciel and Sebastian’s arc is melancholic but feels satisfying. However, the rest of the plot is a bit rushed and certain threads get dropped entirely: what was the deal with the guy turning children into dolls, for instance?
Well, that was a distorted and compressed reference to an arc that is the focus of ‘Black Butler: Book of Circus’ which re-starts the story after episode 13. Ciel and Sebastian infiltrate a circus that seems to be associated with a rash of child abductions. The story is gripping, with each of the 10 episodes ending on a cliff-hanger. The case brings Ciel face to face again with his own traumas. And, alas, when two “found families” of misfits with hidden murder skills go up against one another, the results can’t be anything but tragic. In the ‘Black Butler: Book of Murder’ movie, Ciel has to host a guest on Queen Victoria’s orders to regain her trust after submitting a suspicious-sounding report on the previous mystery. He invites a young Arthur Conan Doyle6 to the party, so of course the guest turns up murdered in his locked room. Sebastian is the next to apparently get killed7. But, of course, demons don’t die so easily! In the ‘Black Butler: Book of Atlantic’ movie, Ciel and Sebastian board a ‘Titanic’-like ocean liner to investigate an organization that is claiming to be able to bring patients back to life. Lizzie and her family were already planning to travel on the ship, and though Ciel won’t admit it half of his motive in pursuing the case is to see that nothing happens to them. The two investigators run into some old acquaintances as the story turns into “zombies on the Titanic”:
6. The writer – hilariously accurately - makes a mental note that Sebastian looks like a character out of an Oscar Wilde novel. He also picks up a lot of inspiration for the Holmes stories: Old Tanaka’s baritsu martial arts, using a snake as a murder weapon, etc.
7. The reactions of the Phantomhive residents to Sebastian’s supposed death (and “miraculous recovery” – sadly left out of the anime) really tug the heartstrings. I wonder if the demon was surprised to have inspired such affection. Ciel is in on it, though, and the two take the opportunity to play a series of pranks on each other.
Having a sequel to season 1 is unexpected, since the ending of that seemed quite final. And, indeed, initially ‘Black Butler II’ seems to be following a new demon butler and ‘young master’: the very hateable Claude and Alois. But then in the middle of a storm a man who can only be Sebastian turns up on their doorstep, with something in his trunk he’s willing to take a knife to the chest to protect. The concept of having another demon borrowing Sebastian’s approach for more obviously nefarious purposes is an interesting one; I only wish the execution was better. As it is, the pacing is strange and confusing, the characterization and powers slightly odd, and the over-sexualization of characters get rather gross. Fortunately, since it is a completely different timeline from the manga one can treat it as an odd fever dream!
In between, I was reading the manga (you can sample fan translations here). The occasional translation errors are more bothersome in that form, since you don’t have tone of voice or action to compensate, but the story is still addictive. ‘Book of Atlantic’ ended at chapter 65, but that’s just a little over a third of the way into the full run so far. The further adventures of the "Queen's Watchdog" and his butler include:
- Infiltrating an elite school with four color-coded houses. Unexpectedly, the best part is Ciel helping the nerdy Blue House win a cricket match by strategy and trickery – in order to get close to the mysterious school president to find out about missing students.
- Investigating a cursed forest in Germany said to be inhabited by witches, where the treatment for a werewolf encounter triggers Ciel’s PTSD to such an extent he won’t let any adult near him. This causes quite a dilemma for the Phantomhive crew, until Sebastian resorts to desperate measures. The relationship between Sieglinde and Wolfram echoes and illuminates that of Ciel and Sebastian in interesting ways. Halfway through the story takes a turn from fantasy into sci-fi, which works quite well.
- Visiting a music-hall that has captured the heart of Lizzie. A fortune-teller somehow determines at a glance that Sebastian is not human8 and he gets kicked out. Ciel gets put to sleep and his blood extracted – which seems related to the “beautiful corpses” that are turning up, a subject being investigated by a new “forensic Shinigami” character as well as the police. The Phantomhive crew decide to fight fire with fire to break the enchantment, opening a music hall across the street, with their own anachronistic pop idol band.
- Being framed for murder by a brother returned from the dead. Ciel’s flashbacks in the German arc hinted at a twist to how he came to summon the demon. The full story reveals how properly demonic Sebastian was/can be. We see how the situation brings out latent strength and cunning in Ciel, who makes exactly the right wishes to ensure a reliable demon helper and – while claiming to live only for revenge – actually manages to fulfill his own childhood dream while also taking on the responsibilities everyone thought he’d be too frail for. The impressive number of allies who stick with Ciel and Sebastian when they go on the run testifies to the faith and gratitude they’ve inspired.
This ongoing storyline makes one suspect that Sebastian’s motivations have shifted over time. While Ciel’s insistence on carrying out his revenge himself means that Sebastian can’t just get it over with his own way, the demon also never seems to prod or manipulate him into spending more time investigating his own family’s case. Even though Shinigami several times point out that Sebastian must be ravenous, not having eaten a soul in over three years, he isn’t in a hurry. I suspect that, even if it is true that he doesn’t have the emotional range to love humans (and I’m not convinced that he doesn’t somewhat value their affection for him), Sebastian is enjoying life on earth and his partnership with Ciel. After all, he can observe the humans he finds so interesting at close range, has frequent sanctioned opportunities to use his demonic skills, gets to develop other talents like cooking…and has cats to play with, of course!
8. Specifically, that he has no protecting star: he is a black hole that swallows stars.
Overall recommendation:
If, like me, you enjoy comics like ‘Sandman’ or ‘Hellblazer’, anime like ‘Deathnote’, films like ‘Nightmare before Christmas’ or ‘Betelgeuse’ and/or the original Sherlock Holmes stories, you will probably enjoy ‘Black Butler’. You do have to endure some cringe-inducing elements early on, but I’ve been pleased to see that these are on the decline while the overall storytelling and richness of character backstories is improving. I’ll be looking out for future installments! Do be aware that although I didn’t include such images here there is a fair amount of blood and death, as well as other potentially triggering content – though I have seen comments that the way PTSD is represented within the story itself is frequently relatable.
