Black Butler Season One
Classical Victorian Style Dark Fantasy Shounen
Black Butler Season 1 is a cult-classic shounen that came out way back in 2009. And even now, more than a decade later, it is still being watched by anime fans all around the world.
The anime is renowned for its Victorian art style, and more so, a grim storyline that the fans just can’t seem to get enough of. Black Butler is so distinguished that it’s considered a supernatural masterpiece of its time, despite the mess of a show it is, and has a vast dedicated fandom that is still going strong to this day.
Today, let’s take a look at this masterpiece of a show and see what makes it so unique.
To start things, Black Butler is set in the late 1800s Victorian Era, where the anime follows the life of a young boy, Ciel Phantomhive, and his mysterious butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Now Ciel leads the Noble Phantomhive household, as its Earl, despite his young age, is aided by his butler Sebastian and other members of the Phantomhive troupe.
As the Earl of Phantomhive, Ciel is tasked with carrying out the Queen’s direct orders and fulfilling her wishes that can’t be sought out through legal channels. But as fate might have it, Ciel has a tragic past. At the age of 10, he went through a mysterious event that killed his parents. However, Ciel somehow survived this ordeal and got contracted to a demon in exchange for his soul. Promptly seeking revenge, Ciel carries out investigations for the Queen with his devilish butler Sebastian in hopes of uncovering the true face of the murderers behind the Phantomhive massacre.
Now the premise of Black Butler is quite simple and seems generic at first glance. But Black Butler is more than just another historical shounen anime. It has excellent mystery elements, some of the best event progression in anime, and excellent character development that will make you fall in love with Black Butler, at least till the first half of the anime.
Yes, Black Butler is a great anime, till the first half of the show, after which the plot starts falling apart, and the anime gets jumbled up in weird anime-logic that gets more confusing the longer you think about it. But regardless of its crumpled storyline, what makes Black Butler genuinely stand out is its artwork.
From the first episode, Black Butler takes no qualms to establish itself as an eerie, grim fantasy anime with a dark theme. The anime takes liberty in making the audience feel uncomfortable, with a bleak sick undertone that is only countered by the humorous antics of some of the characters.
Nevertheless, the art and animation of Black Butler are just beautiful. The anime takes full advantage of the unique Victorian setting with gorgeous dresses, Fancy Victorian houses, and even subtle 1800s nuances to make the anime just eye-candy to look at.
The fighting animations, the light undertones during a pleasant scene, and grimy bold coloring in more serious events make Black Butler stand out, even a decade after its release.
The characters in Black Butler Season 1 are exceptionally well-thought-out with flush antics and good writing. They not only seem fun to hang out with but also are incredibly likable. And to add on top of this, they have great character designs that still look extremely good.
The anime has a wide range of characters, so let's just take a look at a few and see what their personalities have to offer.
Ciel Phantomhive:
The first character that we have in store for us is the star of our show, Ciel Phantomhive. Now Ciel, despite being 13 (Turns 14 later on,) has taken on the position of an Earl and is serving directly under the Queen's crown. He may look incredibly young, but he has a very sharp mind and is more than just mature enough to handle his estate and be taken seriously as a young Earl. But even so, Ciel is a child, so he is also very reliant on his Devilish butler for his needs.
Sebastian Michaelis:
Sebastian is an ancient—archaic demon who is contracted with Ciel. He has taken the form of a human, only to make Ciel more comfortable and can essentially do anything. Sebastian is one hell of a butler who takes care of Ciel as his primary guardian, protector, cook, and everything. He has taken an oath to help Ciel exact revenge on his parent's killer in exchange for his young soul.
Undertaker:
Undertaker is a mysterious man with a scarred face. He enjoys teasing Ciel and is known to provide Ciel with necessary information when he needs it. Undertaker likes to live and sleep in a coffin. He also has a unique way of talking with gestures and creepy giggles in between his sentences.
Angelina Durless:
Angelina Durless or more notoriously known as Madam Red, due to her red attire and red hair. She is the aunt of Ciel Phantomhive. She is also the widow of the late Baron Barnett and is known in the high society as the Queen. She is a doctor by trade and cares deeply for her nephew, Ciel. Although childless, she has told Ciel that she considers him her son and looks over him.
Sutcliff, Grell:
Grell is the flamboyant Butler of Madam Red. He comes across as a somewhat average person but is shown to have masochistic tendencies.
Black Butler is a definite 7/10 anime because of its bad and confusing story in its second half. The anime has excellent animation and even better character designs with beautiful Victorian-style attires that have made it incredibly popular in the fandom. If you like mystery shounen, with great art and a decent enough story, then Black Butler is the anime for you.
