Black Butler (manga)



"You see, I am simply one hell of a butler."

- Sebastian Michaelis

Kuroshitsuji (also known as Black Butler) is a Shounen manga and companion Anime series (although it's pretty obviously looking for a crossover Shoujo audience). Originally created by Toboso Yana.

The Phantomhive family is a respected and distinguished house in Victorian London. Despite a mysterious fire killing off the previous Lord and Lady Phantomhive, their 12-year old son, Ciel Phantomhive, has managed to both build a massive toy and candy company within 3 years, and serve the Queen as a major contributor to England's black-ops.

It really, really helps that Ciel made a literal Deal with the Devil to acquire a super butler: one Sebastian Michaelis, capable of dispatching The Mafia or other threats (including those of the supernatural variety) and then baking the perfect pastry. He has agreed to aid Ciel in all of his endeavors until Ciel "succeeds in all of his tasks". Then Ciel's soul belongs to him.

So Ciel leads a double-life, his service to the Queen combined with his own dark supernatural dealings, and maintaining the peace of the Phantomhive Mansion and its less than serious staff.

Mix and stir Hellsing and Count Cain with Rozen Maiden, at least toward the beginning. No, seriously.

Adaptations include:
Anime:
 * Kuroshitsuji (anime), the original adaptation with plenty of Filler and an anime-original ending. It ended up contradicting the manga on several points.
 * Kuroshitsuji II, an anime-original continuation.
 * Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus, a faithful adaptation of the corresponding manga arc.
 * Kuroshitsuji: Book of Murder, a two-episode OVA, another faithful adaptation of a manga arc.

Japan also had stage musicals:
 * Kuroshitsuji: That Butler, Friendship
 * Kuroshitsuji: The Most Beautiful Death in the World: 1000 Souls and the Fallen Shinigami
 * Kuroshitsuji: Lycoris that Blazes the Earth, which adapts the Jack the Ripper arc of the manga.

And there is a Japanese live-action movie:
 * Kuroshitsuji (live-action), which shifts the action to near future and replaces Ciel with a girl called Shiori, among other things.

And a video game:
 * Kuroshitsuji: Phantom & Ghost, a Nintendo DS game. It is not available in English.

Character sheet is here.


 * Air Vent Escape: Used to escape
 * Alternate History: Type X, currently still not hugely different from the real history, but showing definite signs of divergence.
 * Anachronism Stew: Quite a few examples. The intentionality or not of their occurrence is unclear.
 * What are The Mafia, dressed in modern clothing doing in Victorian England? Not to mention cell phones. (The anime at least attempted to retrograde their tech somewhat.)
 * There's also the television and video games. In Victorian England.
 * Sebastian appears to wear latex gloves when he works in the kitchen.
 * Let's not forget about a certain shinigami using a chainsaw, the cook using flame throwers or the modern washing machine in the Phantomhive Manor. Recently in the manga, only shinigami have out-of-place artifacts (for instance, this guy's "strange watch" and odd glasses).
 * Ciel's pierced ears were extremely uncommon for the nobility back then. And his father had them as well.
 * The clothing isn't modest enough. Both Victorian and Edwardian fashions were very modest; exposed legs and cleavage would have been obscene. Maylene's bathing suit would have been scandalous and Yana Toboso gave up even trying with the ladies' costume party and Ciel in Wonderland costumes. Also, Elizabeth's fashion sense sometimes sinks into 18th century territory.
 * Angst Coma: Happens to a lot of children in the background.
 * Arranged Marriage: Ciel is only 12 years old, yet he is already engaged to his cousin Elizabeth.
 * Art Evolution
 * Author Appeal: Understandable, considering the author was once a Yaoi Hentai mangaka, but:
 * Nearly every single male character being an outright Bishounen.
 * Yana Toboso also has a thing for suave, gentlemanly characters, as seen by Sebastian, Aleister Chambers, and various other characters in this and Toboso's other works.
 * Back From the Dead: The goal of the Phoenix Society.
 * Badass Family: The entire Midford family.
 * The Baroness: She is the milder, fervently militaristic version of the trope.
 * Sebastian can be seen to count too, despite being male and one of the main characters. Those stiletto heels... Within the trope he belongs to the less mild sadist/sexpot subtype.
 * Battle Butler: A recurring character type. Sebastian, Agni, etc. fall into this category.
 * The Beautiful Elite: Lampshaded with the Phantomhive family.
 * Beneath the Mask: Ciel, Sebastian, and various other people hide significant parts of themselves from the public eye.
 * Big Fancy House: The Phantomhive manor definitely qualifies. The Midford manor is even fancier.
 * Bishounen: Ciel and Sebastian are the most obvious. There's also... pretty much a good majority of the male cast, save for Baron Kelvin, Georg von Siemens, Jumbo, Lord Arthur Randall, Azzurro Vanel, Fred Abberline, Tanaka, Damian, and Doctor. Basically, any male character under the age of 45.
 * Black Comedy
 * Blind Without'Em: All the Shinigami are like this, but they can also develop senses beyond just sight,
 * Body Motifs: Eyes. Eye injury, strange-looking eyes, and covered eyes play a large role.
 * Also hands.
 * Boom! Headshot!: Happens to
 * Boarding School: Weston College.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall As Sebastian goes to answer Ciel's call, he opens the door, then looks back at the reader, putting a finger to his lips and goes 'Shh-'
 * Breather Episode: One is there between every manga arc.
 * Butterfly of Doom: Chaos Theory is mentioned when Ciel and Sebastian.
 * Came Back Wrong: Maggy, courtesy of Dr. Stoker.
 * Carrying a Cake: Elizabeth gets in this situation once. Sebastian carries cakes a lot too, but doesn't fall into the trope.
 * Cat Scare: More accurately, fianceé scare.
 * Catch Phrase: There are several:
 * Sebastian: "I'm one hell of a butler."
 * Yen Press doesn't bother to retain the Japanese pun and translates the catch phrase as "I am but a butler" or "I am a demon and a butler" depending on the context.
 * Sebastian: "Yes, my lord."
 * Agni: "Jo agya." (The equivalent of "Yes, my lord" in Hindi.)
 * Wolfram: "Ja." ("Yes" in German.)
 * Sebastian: "It is only natural that a servant of Phantomhive would be able to (do whatever impossible thing he just did)."
 * Sebastian: "If I couldn't do this much at least, well then what kind of butler would I be?"
 * Cerebus Rollercoaster: Sometimes they're playing cricket. Other times they're burning children alive.
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Inverted. Underdogs can cheat too, and the Underdogs Never Lose trope is the one that ends up played straight
 * Chekhov's Armoury: Many tiny things turn out to be important later, as befits a Jigsaw Puzzle Plot. One particularly extreme example is how a character wearing a certain type of shoes in an early chapter is subtle foreshadowing for a major surprise twist that takes place many arcs later.
 * Chekhov's News: "Steiger Roze dies."
 * Chess Motifs
 * Children Are a Waste: A prostitute goes to a doctor to get an abortion with this as her excuse.
 * Circus of Fear: Used as what is meant to be light entertainment by the host.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: The Weston prefects: Redmond of Scarlet Fox House, Greenhill of Green Lion House, Bluer of Sapphire Owl House, and Violet of Violet Wolf House.
 * Cooking Duel: The curry contest. Queen Victoria has the final word on it.
 * Creepy Doll: In the manga Baron Kelvin gets really creepy with his doll decorations. There are also creepy dolls in the anime.
 * Cricket: The focus of one sub-arc.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Whenever Sebastian gets to face an arbitrarily large group of mundane humans. Agni gets to stomp once too.
 * Dances and Balls: Ciel, being an aristocrat, attends these. One of the more memorable ones was when he had to be disguised as a girl while doing it.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: A good portion of the entire cast, most notably Ciel.
 * David Versus Goliath: In the final Cricket match, not only are the players in the opposite team more skilled, but they are also noticeably taller and more muscular.
 * Deadly Gas: The miasma,
 * Deal with the Devil: While Sebastian has a morbid sense of humor that he only shows to his enemies and Ciel, he has been rather honorable and faithful to even the spirit of his side of the bargain.
 * Death by Origin Story: Ciel's parents.
 * Deceased Parents Are the Best: Ciel's parents, of course.
 * Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: The dinner scene with . At first it looks like No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine, but as it goes on, we find out that.
 * Disguised in Drag: They've managed to get Ciel into a dress in the manga, the anime, and the musical.
 * In the second musical, this gets taken Up to Eleven with at least half the male characters running around an opera "disguised" in dresses. Including Abberline, mustache and all.
 * Dish Dash: Sebastian frequently ends up catching falling dishware, food, and other items due to Mey-rin's clumsiness as a maid.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Used intentionally with the purpose of
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The infamous corset scene. Which has popped up in pretty much every version! The manga, the anime, and the (second) musical, of all places.
 * Chapter 34 pulled a bit of this too.
 * Doppelganger: Sebastian bears a striking resemblance to . Word of God says that that's not a coincidence.
 * Double Entendre: So many. Especially by Sieglinde.
 * Down to the Last Play: Happens in the cricket tournament. Of course. Also played with in another game in the same sub-arc when
 * Driving Question: Who is the proper target of Ciel's revenge?
 * Dynamic Entry: Ronald pulls this off in 53. Boom! Headshot!
 * Early Installment Weirdness: Ciel is quite a bit more immature in the first chapter than he is anywhere else.
 * Also, the worst of the Anachronism Stew in the first few chapters is quietly forgotten with the exception of the telephone and a small reference to the television later on.
 * Elaborate Underground Base: Belongs to
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita: The show has renewed an interest in this style in Japan and there's a line of clothing directly based on what the characters wear.
 * Empty Eyes
 * Engineered Public Confession:
 * Evil Versus Evil
 * Eye Scream Ciel getting the seal in his eye was very painful, at least in the manga, based on his scream. Blood is seen dripping from the eye afterwards.
 * Fan Disservice: One particular scene comes to mind: Sebastian and Ciel bathing together. Naked. With skins touching. That's not so romantic.
 * Fan Service: So, so much.
 * Flower Motifs: There are plenty.
 * Ciel himself has connections to many flowers:
 * White roses may represent how Sebastian sees Ciel or Ciel's innocence.
 * Baby blue eyes in the anime may be meant to represent Ciel's true self.
 * On various covers Ciel can be seen wearing black roses. Those may represent the darkness in his heart.
 * There is also the connection to his house flower the blue gentian, a flower that is an omen of death if picked.
 * In the second anime we see Sebastian and Ciel on a dreamlike field of white and midnight blue roses.
 * Both Ciel and Vincent compare Madam Red to the "lycoris that blazes the earth".
 * The pairing of Irene Diaz and the lily-of-the-valley contains much symbolism.
 * In addition to the obvious Easter connection, the yellow narcissus can also be seen to represent Elizabeth and/or the relationship between her and Ciel.
 * Ciel and Snake share a significant event in a hothouse full of pretty flowers that are both medicinal and poisonous.
 * The straw hats with the assorted colorful flowers can be seen to represent triumph and happiness.
 * There is some very interesting symbolism at a funeral involving wind-carried red rose petals overshadowing the more ordinary white lilies. Is that a wedding or a funeral?
 * Food Porn: There are many lovingly drawn, labeled shots of Sebastian's cookery.
 * Foot Chase with a Side Order of Chef: Beast and Dagger escape to the kitchen of the Phantomhive manor.
 * Foreign Looking Font: The Japanese logo uses something that looks like the old-fashioned blackletter font.
 * Foreshadowing: Found all over. One of the defining features of the series is the number of surprise revelations, and those tend to be foreshadowed, however subtly. Behind the Mask is a major theme, and any named character is susceptible to having Hidden Depths.
 * Four-Leaf Clover: An ironic one is seen in flashback. It is probably significant that the characters don't notice the clover.
 * Frame-Up: In the Murder Arc, Ciel and Sebastian frame a for the death of.
 * Gender Blender Name: Joanne Harcourt is a boy. Joanne was actually a name used by men in the Victorian times.
 * Genius Bonus: If you translate the Theban letters and interpret the magic circle as representing
 * Genius Book Club: Joanne Harcourt and Vincent Phantomhive are shown to read Hegel and Aristotle, respectively.
 * German Dialects: Make an appearance during the trip to Germany and even foreshadow the plot.
 * The Glomp: Four person flying-tackle variety at the end of the Murder Arc, when Sebastian reveals to the rest of mansion.
 * Gratuitous English: Sebastian's "Yes, my lord."
 * Historical Fantasy sliding towards outright Alternate History as Plausible Deniability gradually erodes during the course of the story and also other changes accrue. Major newspaper headlines have already been affected, and the trend only seems to continue. We may be watching the Butterfly Effect in action.
 * Horror Hunger: The zombies.
 * The horror gets worse when it turns out that they're
 * Human Sacrifice: Ciel was used for this, but ended up making a deal with Sebastian instead.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: "The/That Butler, ______."
 * Ignorance Is Bliss: Ciel tells Snake that his missing friends' whereabouts were unknown, that he is looking for them and that staying with Ciel will be the fastest way to see them again..
 * Imperial Germany: Becomes important to the plot later on.
 * Incest Subtext: Edward is much too attached to Elizabeth. This becomes obviouos when he starts talking about her perfection and how he can't really see anyone else when she is present, apparently not realizing how abnormal that is.
 * Innocent Innuendo: The infamous corset scene.
 * Insert Grenade Here: Happens to a German tank.
 * It Got Worse: Ciel's backstory, culminating in a Deal with the Devil.
 * Jack the Ripper: The villain of one of the early arcs.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot
 * Kill the Cutie: All of the, and from the murder mystery arc.
 * Kissing Cousins: Ciel is engaged to Elizabeth, who is his cousin. This was rather common in the Victorian Era.
 * Lady and Knight: Ciel and Sebastian's subtype is an all-male version of the dark lady and black knight.
 * Sieglinde and Wolfram are a bright lady and white knight.
 * Locked Room Mystery: The Murder Mystery arc.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: Those well-dressed people in black-feathered domino masks, found around demon summoning rituals and illegal slave auctions, situations where it pays to avoid getting recognized.
 * Meaningful Name: Dr. Stoker and the Karnstein Hospital.
 * Mental World
 * Mexican Standoff: Between.
 * Mood Whiplash: All the time. In what is possibly the most extreme example, the story goes from some of its funniest comedy ever, involving a cavalcade of sex jokes, to some of its most frightening horror ever, involving, with only a few pages in the interim.
 * Mugging the Monster: Subverted and then almost immediately double-subverted. Curb Stomp Battle ensues.
 * Multiple Demographic Appeal: There are a number of Seinen themes (villain protagonists, child abuse, violence and gore, etc.), an art style not unlike that of a Shoujo series and a lot of subtext, but is published in a Shonen magazine - though the themes of a Deal with the Devil, as well as the style of action, are not foreign to the Shonen genre.
 * Mystery Arc: Specifically the Mansion Murder Mystery arc, though the entire series could be considered one of these.
 * Mythology Gag: Chapter 39 is pretty much a running one, mix and stir Shout-Out:
 * Arthur does not think that A Study In Scarlet will be very popular, and doesn't think he'll ever write the character again.
 * Sebastian is so full of grace that he could appear in an Oscar Wilde novel.
 * Real Life people such as Patrick Phelps and Idol Singer Irene Diaz are among the guests, counting as a Genius Bonus, but the Myth Gag happens to be Irene and her producer dancing together.
 * Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Demonstrated by Sebastian, of course, can bring some knives to a gun fight and win effortlessly, but most people aren't Nigh Invulnerable.
 * Not Using the Z Word: No one utters the word "zombie". Their creator refers to them as his "bizarre dolls", while everyone else talks about "moving corpses". This makes sense, as the concept of a zombie had not yet entered the popular culture in the Victorian times.
 * Obnoxious In-Laws: In the manga, Lizzie's brother Edward really doesn't like Ciel taking his sister's attention away from him.
 * Of Corset Hurts: Ciel doesn't enjoy having to put on a corset.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Beast wears some sexy outfits for the circus performances.
 * Still later on, we see coffins with corsets, a sure sign that the person responsible isn't quite right in the head.
 * One-Gender School: Weston College only admits boys.
 * Only the Knowledgable May Pass: The Aurora Society uses a combination of this and "Only the Rich May Pass".
 * Orphan's Ordeal: Ciel has shades of it.
 * Our Zombies Are Different: Type C/O.
 * Passing Notes in Class: An unusual case in that it's a teacher secretly passing a note to a student.
 * Pillow Pistol: Ciel almost shoots Sebastian with one of these.]
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Lots.
 * Playground Song Tom, the Piper's Son in the Circus Arc.
 * Please Wake Up: Ciel when because it ended up being.
 * Then Ciel later on in a much darker version when
 * Purely Aesthetic Era: Despite all the painstaking historical research, the creators sometimes just throw accuracy to the wind. Mobile phone? Check. Modern motorized chainsaw? Check. To be fair, the modern motorized chainsaw is a supernatural weapon wielded by a death god who may or may not be constrained to series-current technology.
 * Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Zombies turn out to be very vulnerable to headshots and headstabs.
 * Running Gag: Sebastian and his obsession with cats. And then, Ciel's (both hateful and allergic) reactions to said cats.
 * Scooby-Doo Hoax: A very elaborate one in one arc.
 * Sex for Solace: The rationalization Sebastian used to seduce
 * Shinigami: Of the psychopomp variety. There's even a Celestial Bureaucracy of them.
 * Shout-Out: Father Jeremy Rathbone who shows up in chapter 45. Share the first name of Jeremy Brett who played the detective in the Granada TV series (as well being an almost dead - no pun intended - ringer for said actor), and surname of Basil Rathbone, another Holmes actor from the 1940s. And then he proceeds to pull the deduction technique on Arthur, who mentions the father resembling Professor Bell, whom the real Sir Arthur based Holmes off of.
 * 's killer could be a reference to another Sherlock Holmes story, The Speckled Band.
 * Sebastian sends a secret note via snowy owl.
 * seems to be named after another English serial killer,.
 * The dress that Ciel uses at the opening image of chapter 8 is exactly the same that Katrina uses in the last scenes of Sleepy Hollow.
 * Grell acts out a reference to the famous "I'm the king of the world" scene from Titanic
 * The story after the totally-not-Titanic arc takes place in an exclusive academy that has four houses with a color/animal/personality theme: Red Fox/highborn; Sapphire Owl/academic; Purple Wolf/artistic; Green Lion/athletic.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Grell(e) Sutcliff(e).
 * Ran Mao, Lan Mao, Ran-Mao, Lan-Mao, Ranmao...
 * Maylene, May-Rin, Mey-Rin, Mei-Rin, Mey-rin...
 * Rudger, Rudgar, Ludger...
 * Madam Red: Angelina Dalles vs. Angelina Durless. (Madame Red is just wrong though, as she isn't French.)
 * It might be easier to list the people without small or large name issues. Of the more important characters: Tanaka, William T. Spears, Ronald Knox, Agni. On the other hand, several other characters have multiple options for one name or nickname and/or multiple names where the spelling is inconsistent. Some name issues are common, others rather rare.


 * Spot of Tea: Lots. This is England, after all.
 * Story Arc: The overall narrative is divided into many semi-independent story arcs. These arcs can be quite different from each other in tone and even genre.
 * Sympathetic Murderer: So many examples.
 * Talk to the Fist: little speech is interrupted by
 * Tampering with Food and Drink: A meat pie gets switched with another, poisonous meat pie.
 * Tarot Motifs: Subtle tarot motifs, not limited to the major arcana and apparently even involving reversed cards, can be found in the manga.
 * That's an Order: When Ciel really means it, he likes to add - depending on the translation - "this is an order" or "I command you" to his orders to Sebastian. This may or may not add an element of magical compulsion.
 * There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: According to Ciel, the types are those who steal and those who are stolen from.
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: This Japanese mainstay appears in the Phantomhive garden as a part of a temporary Japanese theme.
 * Town with a Dark Secret: Wolfsschluss.
 * True Companions: Ciel's house staff trio, and also the circus crew.
 * Uberwald: The Cursed Forest in Germany near the Czech border.
 * Underdogs Never Lose: In the sub-arc centered around cricket. In a subversion,
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2 is one way to interpret Ciel and Sebastian's relationship.
 * Weird Moon: The moon, when visible, is always either full or an unrealistic sickle.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Curry, candy, getting fitted for outfits, Easter egg hunts...
 * Whole Costume Reference: The dress Ciel wears to the party is the famous dress from My Fair Lady.
 * You Didn't Ask: Ciel's reply to Sebastian when he asked Ciel why he never brought up that.
 * Your Soul Is Mine

Book of Circus

 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sebastian addresses the viewer a few times to explain things about the backstory, such as the identities of Soma and Agni.
 * Censor Shadow: A very out-of-place black shadow keeps covering certain character's severed arm even though it is not particularly more gory than other things that were left uncensored.
 * Innocent Flower Girl: The only major anime-orginal addition to the main story.
 * Intoxication Ensues: From a bouquet of paper flowers.
 * Mushroom Samba: The world undergoes a radical change to a bright and happy dreamland in a scene that is played for horror.

Book of Murder

 * Gratuitous French: The brief conversation Ciel and Sebastian have in translated French in the manga is spoken in actual French in the anime. For a loose definition of "actual".
 * Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Native French speakers say that the part that is supposed to be in French is incomprehensible because the accent is so bad. Even someone unfamiliar with French can recognize the language as not-French based on how it sounds. Arthur's amusement from overhearing the discussion gets a new, unintended interpretation in the anime.
 * OVA: Made of two episodes of nearly an hour each.