Review for Black Butler: Series 1 - Part 2

Introduction

Extreme hyperbole by its definition often accompanies damp squibs, but in the case of Part 1 of Black Butler, it's fair to say that I'm the damp squib, not the show. Black Butler has a large and established fanbase; a loyal following that appreciates the adventures of a damaged young aristocrat and his elegant and devilish butler, as they go about their business of investigating the supernatural occurrences in Victorian Britain's criminal underworld. It's a blend of drama and comedy that, with animation from Aniplex, speaks of high production values, sharp writing, and a wonderful attention to detail. I'm just not the target audience. In fact, by releasing Black Butler on UK shores, Manga Entertainment continue to cater for the predominantly female anime fan demographic, a demographic that hasn't always been accounted for with UK anime. With that in mind, I prepare to give Black Butler a second chance.


Ciel Phantomhive was born into a life of privilege, scion of one of the most influential and powerful families in Britain. He's cultured, he's rich, he wants for nothing. Of course he was witness to the brutal murders of his parents, before he was abducted and tortured to the point where the only way that he could save his life was to make a deal with the devil. He sold his soul for a chance to find and mete out vengeance to his tormentors, which is why he is now constantly waited on, hand and foot, by the (literally) devilish butler Sebastian. The Phantomhives have been the watchdogs of the British Empire, and with Sebastian's aid, Ciel has taken on that mantle. Together, master and butler venture into England's underworld, to seek out and remove those who would do evil on England's green and pleasant land.


In this collection, Ciel and his satanic valet encounter an Indian prince and his divine manservant. Speaking of princes, there are a couple of ghostly ones in one of Ciel's properties, and he needs to arrange an eviction, or an exorcism. A mission to investigate and deal with a doomsday cult turns into something far more personal for Ciel. Then Ciel's company is implicated in a drug smuggling operation, and he's labelled an enemy of the state. Finally Ciel is drawn to Paris, where the truth about his parents' deaths will become clear, and the payment of his soul to Sebastian will finally become due.


Manga Entertainment present the concluding episodes of Black Butler across two discs thus.

Disc 1

13. His Butler, Freeloader
14. His Butler, Supremely Talented
15. His Butler, Competing
16. His Butler, in an Isolated Castle
17. His Butler, Offering
18. His Butler, Transmitted
19. His Butler. Imprisoned

Disc 2

20. His Butler, Escaping
21. His Butler, Engaging Servants
22. His Butler, Dissolution
23. His Butler, Up in Flames
24. His Butler, Fluent
Bonus Episode: His Butler, Performer

Picture

Black Butler gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, which courtesy of Madman Entertainment in Australia, comes to the UK in native PAL form with the requisite 4% speedup. The image is clear and sharp throughout, no problems with ghosting and the like, with only the smallest hint of aliasing along fine edges. The animation itself is fluid and vibrant, Black Butler is a decently budgeted show, and it certainly comes across on screen. The character designs are a mishmash of generic and stylised, certainly the more otherworldly characters make a greater impact on screen, but Black Butler is a show that exhibits the curious dichotomy of a comedy horror, taking the show to some quite dark places, before pulling back and delivering pure comic moments. Victorian England comes to anachronistic life with a pleasant and recognisable world design, albeit one with motorcars, electricity, and car phones. For a moment I thought I was watching D. Gray-Man.

Sound

You have the usual options of a DD 5.1 English track, or a DD 2.0 Japanese track, with translated subtitles and a signs only stream. The 5.1 upmix certainly makes for a pleasant surround experience, but as always I opted for the original Japanese track, which was more than adequate. Black Butler gets its music from Taku Iwasaki, and his score certainly elevates the show with its scope and grandiosity.


But then there's that dub. Let's put it in context. A UK company could make a show, with British actors, set in America, with everyone speaking in American accents. Depending on the quality of the actors, most of the UK audience would accept that show. But try selling that same show to the US… Black Butler is an anime show set in Victorian England, and Funimation have created a localised dub with accents, with a predominantly US cast, and for US audiences. You can hear it in the commentaries when they talk about giving the characters British accents and not English ones. For them, British accents amount to upper class, and cockernee. Sebastian and Ciel are tolerable, even enjoyable to listen to, but the supporting cast leave a lot to be desired, and when they start throwing in Irish and Italian accents my ears start to bleed. In this volume, I was particularly offended by some woeful Indian accents, many of which sounded Mexican. Hey, Khan in Star Trek 2! In an ideal world with loads of money in, it wouldn't just be Ghibli's Arriety that would get separate US and UK dubs.

I noticed this time that on disc 1, between 18:05 and 18:15 into the runtime, that the subtitles were out of sync by one caption.

Extras

The discs get the usual presentation of static menus and jacket pictures.

Disc 1's sole extra is the audio commentary that accompanies episode 16. Josh Grelle (Edward), and ADR Engineer Kevin Leasure talk about the process of recording the dub for the show, with the usual copious Funimation backslapping. It becomes harder to take when you don't share their opinion of the dub, confirmed when they talk about their limit of two British accents, 'normal' and cockney. I had to switch the commentary off early, as they started to drop some whopping spoilers for the end of the series, which I hadn't seen at that point.


Disc 2 has the textless credit sequences for the show.

You'll also find the Bonus Episode: His Butler, Performer accessible from the extras menu, or the episode select menu.

The commentary on this disc accompanies episode 21, His Butler, Engaging Servants and as you would guess, this time it's the Phantomhive staff that provide the comments. Bardroy, Meirin and Finny, a.k.a. Ian Sinclair, Monica Rial, and Jason Liebrecht. The thing is that they do so in character. Which is why I turned it off after 3 minutes, skipping forward to make sure that they did indeed carry the 'fun' through to the end credits. Yeesh!

Conclusion

Part 1 of Black Butler was interesting. Its premise of a child of the aristocracy, damaged and orphaned after a hellish torment, making a deal with the devil to obtain revenge against his assailants was intriguing. The set-up of a somewhat bratty and obnoxious, but likeable young boy and his elegant, perfect, impeccable devil of a butler certainly appealed, and following a somewhat predictable start, the show took some surprisingly unexpected twists and turns into the dark side, revealing that nothing was sacred in its world, none of the characters safe and predictable. But that had to be balanced with an extreme sense of humour that may not be to all tastes, compounded by the Phantomhive staff, a quartet of absurd maids and servants, soon joined by a human watchdog. There was the emphasis on elegance and perfection, with Sebastian's etiquette and manners making the lengthy speeches in Ouran High School Host Club seem uncultured. And finally there was the obvious appeal to the female demographic, the close relationship between butler and young master of the sort that would inspire countless fan-fics and doujin fan comics that would make anyone blush. You can see why I was so on the fence when it came to Part 1 of Black Butler.


I was expecting more of the same from Part 2. To my surprise, I got more, much more. Part 2 of Black Butler is where the story takes precedence, where the elegance and etiquette, the long smouldering looks between Ciel and Sebastian fade into the background, and most importantly, where the absurd comedy of the first part is dialled down more and more as the episodes progress. And if those dark moments in part 1 were the sort of thing that perked you up in an otherwise run of the mill anime series, you'll be glad to know that in comparison to the bleak and nihilistic tone that this second part takes, the first half was like a day at the funfair. Black Butler Part 2 is in a whole different league to part 1, and makes sitting through that collection's more trivial episodes feel worthwhile.


It's not an immediate change though, in fact the first story in the collection can be seen as quite frivolous and comic, when Ciel and Sebastian have to deal with an Indian Prince and his own, divine butler, a servant that is practically a match for Sebastian in unearthly abilities. Prince Soma and Agni are in the UK to find a member of Soma's household, his nursemaid Mina. Soma is a privileged scion of Indian royalty, and his bratty and presumptive air soon sees him taking advantage of Ciel's hospitality. He also provides something of a mirror to Ciel; an idea of what life might have been like without his personal tragedy. It boils down to a curry-making contest at the Royal Exhibition at Crystal Palace, where none other than Queen Victoria will be in attendance. This three-episode story is still very much played for laughs, although thankfully Ciel's staff aren't a major part of it. There are still some interesting comments on colonialism and aristocratic arrogance though.


There's a further mirror for Ciel in the next stand-alone episode, which sees him encounter the ghosts of the princes in one of his new properties. Playing with a dark element of actual history, it posits a brutal end for Edward V and his brother Richard that again mirrors the tragedy inflicted on Ciel. Back in the 15th Century, Edward was king of England for 2 months at the age of 15, but his uncle, later Richard III, had him and his brother removed to the Tower of London and locked away, ostensibly for their safety, but where they later disappeared, presumed murdered. For Ciel to take ownership of his new castle, he has to help the restless spirits move on, but finds an arrogant young prince who no longer harbours any feeling of revenge for those that harmed him, merely a need to protect his younger brother.


The next two episodes take us back into Ciel's past, the events that shaped him, and caused him to make the deal with Sebastian to ensure his revenge. The cult that has sprung up around Preston, as most cults do, is looking to bring about the end of the world. It's doing this most literally by rewriting people's pasts, by erasing their sins. This involves the reapers, including Grell Sutcliff, as the cinematic records that hold a person's life (for playback in the seconds before their imminent demise), are being stolen from the reaper library. By erasing Ciel's record, it is hoped that he'll forget the past that motivated his search for vengeance, and the bond between him and Sebastian will be sundered. But the people behind the cult, the figure motivating all this is in fact intimately involved with the murder of Ciel's parents, and finally Ciel will have the clues that will let him know just who to lavish his vengeance upon.


It gets even darker in the next two episodes, with a corpse floating in the Thames leading Ciel to an investigation that will offer more revelations in his search for the truth, betrayal from those he considered close allies, and the sacrifice of an innocent that will makes him rethink his pact with Sebastian and his thirst for revenge. It turns out that the very people that he is supposed to serve, for whom he trawls the underworld putting his life on the line, are the very ones who caused the tragedy in his life, and are intent on reshaping the world for their own devices. Not only are Ciel's loyalties torn by this revelation, but he also gets a cruel reminder of Sebastian's infernal nature, the fact that he is there for Ciel's soul only, and that all other considerations are merely secondary.


It's at this point that I thought that we'd take a step backward, as the series takes a hiatus from the main storyline with an episode devoted to the servants of the Phantomhive household. The servants, Mei-rin, Finny and Baldo aren't my favourite characters, too often the comic relief, but this diversion is quite interesting, as it shows us the pasts of these characters, that they were hired for more than just their goofy interludes, that they have a genuine purpose in the Phantomhive household beyond just sheer clumsiness. It turns out that the light, comic relief had dark origins of their own.


The final three episodes take us to the conclusion of the story, with Ciel finally discovering the figures behind his tragedy, and setting about enacting his revenge. But when push comes to shove, his resolve wavers, and there forms a rift between him and Sebastian. He has to spend some time in the wilderness, bereft of his butler and having to rely on his own wits to reaffirm his commitment. It's when he returns to London from Paris that he realises just how high the stakes are. But when it comes down to it, it's all a decision as to whether he takes his revenge or not, whether Sebastian takes his soul or not. The conclusion of the show may not appeal to all depending on where your sympathies lie, and your hopes for a second season, but it is effectively done, and poetically realised.


The conclusion of the collection is with an OVA episode set midway through these episodes, and as you would expect, it plays it completely for laughs, leaving the series on a jovial note. Then again, its story of the Phantomhive household performing a play for charity takes on greater meaning when Sebastian suggests Hamlet for the performance. Drafting in the usual suspects as actors, and training them up provide much of the laughs, but there's no denying the parallels between the vengeful Prince of Denmark seeking to appease his father's spirit, and Ciel's own desire to avenge his parents. There's an added twist in the narrative knife, as the children watching the play, as children are wont to do, aren't happy with the Bard's original conclusion, and demand that Ciel opt for a rather happier path.


Another thing that I really appreciated this time around was the sheer attention to detail that the creators put in. Sure there were anachronisms and historical flubs, but there was also a passion for the source material that really shone through, a way of using history and the setting of the period to the show's benefit. What I thought would be comedy, clichéd Indians turned out to be anything but, with more than a nod paid to Indian culture and history, while the use of the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace as a venue for the great curry cook-off was very appropriate. The same goes for the use of the princes in the tower as source for the stand-alone episode, the use of the tea clipper, The Cutty Sark, mention of the opium trade, the world fair at Paris and the Eiffel Tower, indeed Tower Bridge under construction as the story comes to its conclusion. Little moments of authenticity and attention to detail like this made this show twice as intriguing.


I didn't think much of the first half of Black Butler, as its strong points were almost outweighed by its weaknesses. There's none of that in the concluding half though, as the strength of the story really shines through. I can certainly see with this collection why Black Butler has such a devoted following, and this selection of episodes makes the show one to look out for when it comes to 2011 anime.