Black Butler (manga)



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

- Sebastian Michaelis

Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji in Japanese) 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 Loveless, at least toward the beginning. No, seriously.

Several anime adaptations have been made:
 * Black Butler, the original adaptation with plenty of Filler and an anime-original ending
 * Black Butler II, an anime-original continuation
 * Black Butler: Book of Circus, a faithful adaptation of the corresponding manga arc
 * Black Butler: Book of Murder, a two-episode OVA (forthcoming)

Japan also had stage musicals:
 * Kuroshitsuji: That Butler, Friendship
 * Kuroshitsuji: The Most Beautiful Death in the World: 1000 Souls and the Fallen Shinigami

There is also a Nintendo DS game called Kuroshitsuji: Phantom & Ghost. It is not available in English.

Character sheet is here.

This series contains examples of:
""White porcelain skin like a bisque doll, beautiful hair, big eyes like diamonds, a youthful body. I will become something else. It doesn't matter if my ugly wife leaves me. I will be beautiful with a beautiful life. I will be suitable for him.""
 * Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: The Dolls from the anime.
 * Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The P4 at Weston.
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: The table knives Sebastian uses as weapons.
 * Claude's knives in the second season apply as well.
 * And Charles Grey's sword.
 * Actor Allusion: Claude: "Yes, my lord."
 * Adaptation Distillation
 * Adorkable: Arthur from the murder mystery arc.
 * Grell in butler form counts as well.
 * Finnian.
 * And for a rare female example, Maylene.
 * Agent Peacock:  and Ciel is quite the dandy, both are badasses of the first order.
 * Alternate Continuity: Starting at episode 7, the anime no longer follows the manga.
 * Several of the cast's anime renditions are also quite different in character from their manga counterparts.
 * 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 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.
 * 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, Claude (sort of), Aleister Chambers, and various other characters in this and Toboso's other works.
 * Back From the Dead: The goal of the Phoenix Society, a group of medical professionals. Their debut attempt... isn't going very well.
 * Backup Twin: Edward Abberline in season 2 is the twin brother of Fred Abberline in season 1.
 * Badass: Sebastian. Ciel too, in a different way.
 * has proved himself to be this in the most recent manga chapters.
 * Badass Adorable/ Cute Bruiser:
 * Badass Family: The entire Middleford family.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: Sebastian does this against a chainsaw. He's one hell of a butler, all right.
 * Hannah pulls it off as well.
 * Ciel also performs one against Alois.
 * Battle Butler: Sebastian, of course. Also And Agni. Also:
 * And, which, amusingly enough, is actually Truth in Television.  completely destroyed one of the largest mills in the USA at one point.
 * And in the anime's second season, Claude Faustus of the Trancy Manor. And the Triplets..
 * There's also the Queen's butler, Charles Grey, who . The rest of her butlers probably also apply, though they haven't actually been seen in action yet.
 * The Beautiful Elite: Lampshaded with the Phantomhive family. To quote Ciel's Stalker with a Crush, :
 * And, which, amusingly enough, is actually Truth in Television.  completely destroyed one of the largest mills in the USA at one point.
 * And in the anime's second season, Claude Faustus of the Trancy Manor. And the Triplets..
 * There's also the Queen's butler, Charles Grey, who . The rest of her butlers probably also apply, though they haven't actually been seen in action yet.
 * The Beautiful Elite: Lampshaded with the Phantomhive family. To quote Ciel's Stalker with a Crush, :
 * The Beautiful Elite: Lampshaded with the Phantomhive family. To quote Ciel's Stalker with a Crush, :


 * Because Destiny Says So: In the manga, Ciel's goal is to torture and kill the people who killed his parents, though once this goal is complete, it is almost certain and an inescapable fate that Sebastian will eat his soul. In the anime, this is.
 * Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Ciel, depending on how much you consider him "evil".
 * 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, as well as Alois's mansion in the second season.
 * Bishie Sparkle: Sebastian has this as a superpower.
 * As does Finny.
 * Bishonen: 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 and Gray Morality: The protagonist is a 12/13 year-old boy who, at the age of 10, saw both parents murdered; he was subsequently abducted, tortured, and then almost used as a sacrifice in a Satanic ritual. The next most sympathetic group of characters are a circus troupe . While there are a number of "white" characters in the series, they are largely unaware of the kind of work that Phantomhive is involved with.
 * This moral ambiguity is somewhat subverted in the anime, wherein Ciel is much more cynical and less sympathetic as a character than his manga counterpart.
 * Black Comedy
 * Blind Without'Em:
 * Maylene has a particularly bad case of farsightedness. While this makes her, she is clumsy and generally incompetent as a maid.
 * All of the Shinigami are stated to be Blind Without'Em.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Alois.
 * Blue Eyes: Ciel (well, one of them, anyway) and Alois.
 * A Boy and His X: A boy and his demon butler.
 * Boy In A Box: Ciel in season 2.
 * Boarding School: Weston Academy.
 * Brains and Brawn: Subverted with Sebastian and Ciel. Although Sebastian is also smart like Ciel, he is the one who fights against their enemies while Ciel is usually played as The Chessmaster.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: In Kuroshitsuji II, Grell addresses the audience directly, saying that he looks forward to letters of encouragement.
 * The 3rd OVA from Kuroshitsuji II breaks it down completely. It's a documentary style episode where the characters are treated as actors in 2010 and talk about everything from their roles and behind the scenes to the filming process (complete with a green screen when they were practicing the Sebastian/Claude fight).
 * Yet another is the end of the 4th chapter in the manga. 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-'
 * Break the Cutie: Ciel, and in the anime's second season, Alois.
 * There's a few other characters too, such as Freckles from the circus arc.
 * Breather Episode
 * British Accents: What else did you expect the dub to do?
 * Broken Ace: Ciel.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Bard, Maylene, & Finnian, because of their OTHER jobs. Grell as well, in the case of the shinigami.
 * Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: All over the place in episode 20. Fitting, considering Lau's story and
 * Butterfly of Doom: Chaos Theory is mentioned when Ciel and Sebastian.
 * Butt Monkey: Abberline in season 2 episode 4.
 * Grell (anime only) & Viscount Druitt.
 * Came Back Wrong: Maggy, courtesy of Dr. Stoker.
 * Cannot Tell a Joke: Madame Red. We never get to hear the joke but the cast's reactions range from blank stares to confusion. Lau as well in the same scene.
 * Carrying a Cake: Elizabeth gets in this situation once. Sebastian carries cakes a lot too, but doesn't fall into the trope.
 * Cast of Snowflakes: Characters are easily distinguishable because no one looks exactly alike and ages can become extremely varied (especially in the circus and murder mystery arcs). And, what's more is that most of the characters have very detailed clothes (save the queen's three right-hand servants who all wear the same uniform); most notably Ciel who changes clothing every chapter.
 * Cat Scare: More accurately, fianceé scare.
 * Catch Phrase: Sebastian's favorite phrase, "I am a butler through and through" is a play on words in Japanese and can also mean "I am a butler and a demon". This is rendered as "I am one hell of a butler" in the subtitles and the dub. Also "Yes, my lord."
 * The Yen Press manga translation turns Sebastian's twin phrases into "I am merely a butler" and "I am a devil of a butler'' respectively.
 * Also "It is only natural that a servant of Phantomhive would be able to (do whatever impossible thing he just did)." Frequently overlooked because the subtitles translate it differently every damn time, but repeated often enough that Ciel eventually cuts him off when tries to say it.
 * Changed even further in the FUNimation subs for the second season. It's now "A Phantomhive butler who can't (do whatever impossible thing he just did) isn't worth his salt."
 * "It is only natural that a servant of Phantomhive would be able to (do X)", appears to be a catchphrase for Ciel's servants as a whole.
 * "I am the butler of the Phantomhive family. It goes without saying that such minor feats are within my repetoire/that I can handle something like this/etc."
 * "If I couldn't do this much at LEAST, well then what kind of butler would I be?"
 * Ciel seems to yell "Listen when others are talking/to what others are saying!!" Quite often. Usually to Lizzy or Lau.
 * Censor Shadow: In the Book of Circus anime 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.
 * Chainsaw Good: Wielded by . Yes, in Victorian England.
 * Chekhov's News: "Steiger Roze dies."
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Ciel, and in some cases, Sebastian.
 * Chessmaster: Ciel is definitely the main chess-master, but there are so many others in the series, especially Sebastian,.
 * Chess Motifs: Chess imagery is used frequently, especially in the last few episodes.
 * Chick Magnet: Sebastian -- in the anime, at least. Sebastian has been shown to be attractive to Ciel's aunt, three nuns (one of which he ), and an angel. Wow.
 * Children Are a Waste: A prostitute goes to a doctor to get an abortion with this as her excuse.
 * Chinese People: Lau, who as of manga chapter 16, doubles as a Pretty Freeloader.
 * Circus of Fear: An entire arc.
 * Co-Dragons: The queen's butlers from the manga seem to apply at certain times.
 * Collector of the Strange: Ciel sure hangs around some interesting folks. Let's see, there's the demon Battle Butler, a Cordon Bleugh Chef who makes exploding food, a far-sighted housemaid, a bumbling gardener with super strength, a Cool Old Guy  , a Chinese man who owns an Opium Den and regularly hangs around a scantily-clad assassin, a curry-loving Indian prince, his Supreme Chef manservant and his Spoiled Sweet Genki Girl fiancée. Oh, and the snakeman. Don't forget the snakeman.
 * 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.
 * Combat Commentator: Viscount Druitt in Episode 7 of the second season. Because he would be a walking BLAM otherwise.
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Ciel, of the Villain Protagonist variety.
 * Cooking Duel: The curry contest in the Indian arc of the manga. Queen Victoria has the final word on it.
 * Crazy Prepared: Charles Phipps.
 * Creepy Child: Ciel seems to fit this trope. He's a cynical, jaded, and very driven 12-year-old (or 13, depending on how far you are in the series) who is a Chess Master and wise beyond his years. He has no qualms about getting involved in dangerous missions and will command his badass butler Sebastian to kill someone without a second thought. Then again, there's a reason why he is the way he is now.
 * Alois as well. And Luca.
 * Creepy Doll: In the manga Baron Kelvin gets really creepy with his doll decorations. There are also creepy dolls in the anime.
 * The Creepy Undertaker: The Undertaker. Need we say more?
 * Cricket: The focus of one sub-arc.
 * Cross Dresser: Ciel wasn't pleased with this plan.
 * In the OVA the Undertaker is very enthusiastic about wearing dresses for the Phantomhive production of Hamlet.
 * Alois also crossdresses in episode 5 of season 2.
 * Alan and Aberline also wear dresses for a scene in the second musical. Of course, Aberline didn't shave first, so it ends up looking especially creepy.
 * Cross-Dressing Voices: You may know Ciel's seiyuu to be that of Haruhi Fujioka. Happens in the English dub as well.
 * Alois may sound a little like Fate Testarossa when he's putting on his "sweet, innocent child" act.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
 * It's easy to forget that Grell started off as a highly incompetent butler to Madam Red who could not do anything right...
 * No wonder he keeps them around.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Whenever Sebastian gets to face an arbitrarily large group of mundane humans. Agni gets to stomp once too.
 * Cute and Psycho: Alois. Throughout the first episode of the new season he flips from sweet and innocent to Ax Crazy so many times, it could make someone dizzy.
 * Possibly Yandere for Claude -- much of what he does can be attributed to him trying to impress Claude.
 * Also Luca.
 * Dances and Balls: Ciel, being an aristocrat, attends these. One of the more memorable ones was when he had to crossdress while doing it.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: A good portion of the entire cast; most notably Ciel, Alois, and the circus crew.
 * The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Happened to Ciel.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Agni.
 * 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.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Ciel in the anime.
 * 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.
 * Deliberately Distressed Damsel:.
 * Demoted to Extra: Tanaka pretty much vanishes after episode 2 of season 2. He finally reappears for about 2 seconds during the finale, and gets no spoken lines.
 * 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 the clumsiness of Maylene and the other household staff. He never drops anything -- by accident, anyway -- because he's just that good of a Battle Butler.
 * Dissonant Serenity: Sebastian on occasion.
 * Damsel in Distress: Elizabeth..
 * 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.
 * The Doll Episode: One of the anime fillers.
 * Doppelganger: Sebastian bears a striking resemblance to . Coincidence?
 * Double Entendre: So many. Especially in the second season. Especially when Claude is having a conversation or talking to himself about Ciel.
 * Downer Ending: Both seasons of the anime end with this :
 * In season one,.
 * In season two,.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ciel, apparently, as Joker had to ask if Ciel was a boy.
 * Grell, in either form. Justified in that Grell does this on purpose because of her Transsexualism status.
 * Dynamic Entry: Ronald pulls this off in 53. Boom, headshot.
 * Dysfunction Junction
 * Eldritch Abomination:.
 * 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.
 * Engineered Public Confession:
 * Every Boy Is Cuter With Hair Decs: Finnian the gardener.
 * Evil Versus Evil
 * Evolving Credits: In season 1, the opening "Monochrome Kiss" switches to its second stanza halfway through. A few episodes later, the animation completely changes for the final arc.
 * Eye Scream: In the second season of the anime, . It's revealed later that.
 * 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.
 * Face Palm: Ciel in season 2 episode 3, when Sebastian has a moment of adoration over stray kitties and ignores the task at hand to do so. Really, every time Sebastian and cats are in the same frame/panel and Ciel is around.
 * Fake Brit: In the English dub, Elizabeth has a loud and rough accent when a lady of her high status would have a posh accent and be taught to speak more quietly, especially when in a party surrounded by strangers. In fact almost all of the Brits have accents vaguely reminiscent of a certain mischievous chimney-sweep.
 * Fan Service: So, so much.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: At the end of season 2 of the anime,
 * Flip Personality: and both souls dispute its control. You can see  is in charge because of the (not subtle) change in attitude and because the eye seal disappears.
 * Food Porn: Oh yes.
 * Foreign Language Theme: "I'm Alive!", the English ending theme.
 * Foreign Looking Font: Just look at the title in the page image.
 * Foreshadowing: In chapter 5 of the manga, Finny is throwing statues at mice that have attacked the mansion. Then cut to chapter 32
 * In Chapter 54, we were given this cover art. Cue chapter 60:.
 * Fork Fencing: Sebastian carries around a few forks and knives wherever he goes. He's pretty damn effective with them too. Killed an entire room of men with a handful of thrown dinner knives.
 * Frame-Up: In the Murder Arc, Ciel and Sebastian frame a for the death of.
 * Funny Foreigner: Indian prince Soma, and his ass-whooping manservant Agni.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: The series' penchant for double entendres, especially in the second series.
 * Ghost Amnesia: The ghost of King Edward has this in the anime.
 * The Glomp: Four person flying-tackle variety at the end of the Murder Arc, when Sebastian reveals to the rest of mansion.
 * Good Cop, Bad Cop: Abberline and his boss seem to fulfill this trope. The former pities Ciel after reading his background file and, in the anime, . On the other hand, his boss was very disappointed that the Queen wouldn't let him.
 * Gratuitous English: Sebastian's "Yes, my lord," and Claude's "Yes, your highness".
 * Also present in some of the background music. The phrase "excuse me for interrupting" is heard in the first episode when Sebastian.
 * Heroic BSOD: While Ciel's intentions for the circus children back at the workhouse might not be described as "heroic" so much as "self-serving with a side of philanthropy", Ciel's reaction in chapter 36 upon realizing that  can be aptly described as a BSOD. A very, very frightening one.
 * Ciel has one in.
 * Ciel has another one earlier in chapter 34,.
 * 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.
 * Historical In-Joke: In the manga, Queen Victoria has the occasional fit of tears that can be only alleviated by a servant (John Brown) with a Prince Albert puppet.
 * Horror Hunger: Maggy and the zombies in general.
 * Hot Amazon / Hot Chick with a Sword: The Marchioness of Middleford (Elizabeth's mother) met her husband by beating him in a fencing duel. Ranmao may also count.
 * Hot Shoujo Dad: Ciel's dad, Vincent Phantomhive.
 * Human Sacrifice: Ciel was used for this, but ended up making a deal with Sebastian instead.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal:, apparently. And all the shinigami.
 * I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Undertaker in the anime loves the feeling of the moisture leaving his body. Unbeknownst to Grell, who tosses him in salt and keeps him buried neck-down.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: "The/That Butler, ______."
 * Changed in the second season to just "_______ 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..
 * I Kiss Your Foot: Claude does this in Episode 10 of Season 2...and gets kicked in the face for it.
 * Image Song: Several characters get them for season 2, including Ronald Knox (who only appears once).
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Subverted..
 * Important Haircut: Soma gives one of these to Agni in the flashback in chapter 17.
 * Madam Red had one, too.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: . Wow. Really should have seen that coming.
 * Also, . Really should have seen that coming.
 * In Name Only: The anime diverged from the manga at episode 7, making it essentially a completely different series. Besides just the setting and characters, there are many major plot points, such as the terms of the contract between Ciel and Sebastian, that are also changed.
 * The characters are markedly different in personality between the two mediums. In the manga, Sebastian has a much wider range of emotions while he's always "cool" & rarely stressed in the anime. Ciel is darker and more mature, Soma is more childish. Grell is more competent, violent, serious, & less romantic in the manga. In the anime, Elizabeth has no dark side. Finally the anime has far more ecchi humor & significantly larger bustlines than in the manga.
 * Innocent Flower Girl: The only major anime-orginal addition to the story in the Book of Circus anime.
 * Innocent Innuendo: The corset scene.
 * I Owe You My Life: Ciel towards Sebastian, in a very literal sense.
 * Subverted in the anime, when.
 * The servant trio towards Ciel and Sebastian.
 * Agni towards Soma.
 * It Got Worse: And the ending theme illustrates it, from Super-Deformed Sebastian performing chores, to normal Sebastian rowing a prone Ciel in a bed of white roses on a boat on the river Styx.
 * There's also when Ciel's.
 * Jack the Ripper: The villain of one of the early arcs.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: Ciel.
 * The Jeeves: Just as supernaturally competent, but whereas he was "heaven sent", Sebastian is "one hell of a butler".
 * There's an interesting parallel in the respite chapter 37, when Sebastian has particularly strong views on a red tie.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot
 * Kick the Dog: In the first episode of the second season, Alois stabs his maid in the eye with his hand. For daring to look her master in the eye while serving him. The nerve of her.
 * Kill the Cutie: All of the, and from the murder mystery arc. Also,.
 * Kissing Cousins: Ciel is engaged to Elizabeth, who is his cousin. This was rather common in the Victorian Era.
 * Knife Nut (and Fork Nut): Sebastian throws the Phantomhive household's silver cutlery around with abnormal speed and precision.
 * Claude uses the Trancy's gold silverware as weapons as well.
 * Kudzu Plot
 * Lady of War:
 * Frances Middleford as well.
 * Large Ham: The Viscount, good god.
 * Lecherous Licking: In episode 5 of season 2, a disguised Alois licks Ciel's ear.
 * Light Is Not Good: You know something's wrong when the demon butler is easier to see as heroic than the angel in the series.
 * Locked Room Mystery: The Murder Mystery arc.
 * Lost Him in a Card Game: In season 1, Ciel loses a game of chess, and Sebastian, to the ghost of King Edward and his little brother Richard. Their contract isn't broken over a silly game of chess, and Sebastian soon returns when it's most beneficial.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Under any other circumstances, Ciel would not go anywhere near the big, creepy castle without Sebastian. Unless, of course, Elizabeth has gone missing and he has every belief that she is in there and in trouble. Then he'll do anything. Including giving Grell pretty much permission to rape Sebastian in exchange for backup. Not crazy enough for you? How about
 * In the manga, Ciel throws himself in front of a bear without a second thought to protect Elizabeth. This act also shows Elizabeth's mother, Frances Midford, that Ciel is more worthy of being her daughter's future husband than she had originally given him credit for. Still, that could be considered more heroic than crazy, since Ciel knows that if he is in danger of getting hurt, Sebastian can easily save him.
 * Madness Mantra:
 * 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.
 * The Masquerade: Subverted in that.
 * Meaningful Name: Phantomhive. Explicitly pointed out by the plot.
 * Dr. Stoker and the Karnstein Hospital.
 * Medium Awareness: Season 2, Episode 6. Hannah plays this weird instrument that causes intense physical pain in anyone who hears it. So, Agni tries to free Maylene, Finny, and Bard from the effects by way of Pressure Point attacks. It works...but now their voices are out of sync with their lip movements. And it actually is too, if you watch closely.
 * Mental World: Appears in different versions in the anime and the manga.
 * Mexican Standoff: Between.
 * Morality Pet: Sebastian has his cat friends (and possibly Ciel himself depending on character interpretation--whether he genuinely cares about Ciel or if he wants nothing more than to eat his soul), Ciel has his household staff and Elizabeth.
 * Moral Myopia:
 * Ms. Fanservice:
 * Hannah, in the second season, appears half-naked in several occasions, with Clothing Damage to the point of improbability. Due the female fanbase, and possibly her role as a servile abuse victim, considered to be by many people Fan Disservice.
 * Ran Mao from the manga and the first season of the anime is also an example, bearing cat ear-like Odango, showing off a lot of leg, being extremely flexible, and generally being very touchy-feely.
 * Mugging the Monster: Subverted and then almost immediately double-subverted. Curb Stomp Battle ensues.
 * Multiple Demographic Appeal: Boy howdy. It has 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 Trust a Trailer: Parodied Up to Eleven in the fourth Black Butler II OVA, featuring the characters as actors. The last portion of the episode features a mock trailer for the season...consisting almost entirely of events that never happened. It gets just a little ridiculous when we see Lau and Ran-Mao show up in a UFO, and it pretty much snowballs from there.
 * Nice Guy: Arthur Conan Doyle.
 * Nice to the Waiter: While Ciel's house staff are usually more trouble than their worth, he always treats them kindly (or as kind as Ciel can be). Lampshaded several times by the staff themselves. Alois Trancy on the other hand... not so much.
 * No Badass to His Valet: Sebastian towards Ciel and vice-versa.
 * In the anime's 2nd season, Claude towards Alois.
 * No Guy Wants an Amazon:.
 * No Hero to His Valet: Sebastian towards Ciel, as he actually knows the full details in that Ciel will do anything for the queen, as well as Ciel's goal of revenge, along with his willingness to kill innocent people if he deems it necessary. Most people who don't know him personally treat Ciel as either a "hero" or someone to look up to because of how successful he is as a 13-year-old who runs a well-known company. There are some others besides Sebastian that know he is "the queen's dog", though they do not seem to know all of the details.
 * Non-Human Sidekick: Sebastian and Claude.
 * 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.
 * Obviously Evil: Episode 2 is a great example. Who could be the bad guy? Ciel? Madame Red? The two dignified looking British guys? Or the Italian with the facial scars, who dresses like Tony Montana?
 * Of Corsets Sexy: The corset scene, combined with Innocent Innuendo. Later on, Beast wears some sexy outfits for the circus performances.
 * Even coffins have corsets!
 * Elizabeth gets some of this, too, in chapter 58.
 * Old-Timey Bathing Suit: In episode 7.
 * One-Winged Angel
 * [[Orphan's Ordeal]: Ciel has shades of it too, especially in the manga.
 * Our Angels Are Different
 * Our Zombies Are Different: Type M/O.
 * Overtook the Manga
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Everyone who watched the first episode of season 2 probably noticed pretty quickly that the stranger visiting Alois and Claude in the middle of the night is . In addition,.
 * Parental Abandonment:.
 * Parental Incest: . The very first scene of Season 2 gives us the blink-you'll-miss-it visual of Alois getting out of a bed in which an old man is sleeping before the much more noticeable bruised-butt shot. Alois only mentions his father during his clearly false innocent moments, otherwise freaking out at the mention of him, stating hysterically that he "got rid of all the old man's things". The numbers of when he was "saved" from his kidnapping experience, when his father is stated to have died, and when he contracted Claude all match up.
 * Pet the Dog: Sebastian will kill without mercy and betrays very little emotion, but he adores and has a huge soft spot for cats. . Also it's not a case of Cats Are Mean, but a case of cats-are-too-nice-not-to-love-even-for-a-demon.
 * Pillow Pistol: Ciel almost shoots Sebastian with one of these.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Lots.
 * Playground Song: During an arc in the anime, Drocell the puppet-working-for-a-serial-killer keeps playing and singing London Bridge is Falling Down. His prey is young, beautiful girls that he turns into living dolls; the song is used to control said dolls and determine what materials to construct them from. Despite being male, he's kind enough to make an exception for Ciel.
 * The anime seems to love the song "London Bridge is Falling Down". The tune shows up all over the place.
 * Also, the Noah's Ark Circus arc of the manga has Joker singing Tom, the Piper's Son as he makes his way to his "father's" office. In fact, most of that family references the song.
 * Please Wake Up: Ciel when because it ended up being.
 * Alois to in season 2.
 * Plot Tailored to the Party: Subverted in episode 4 of season 2. It turns out that every passenger on the train had a Chekhov's Skill that when combined can avert the disaster at hand...but Sebastian can do everything by himself.
 * Powered by a Forsaken Child: Those wonderful prosthetic limbs that the Noah's Ark Circus kids have? Made from.
 * Precocious Crush: When Madame Red was around Ciel's age, she fell in love with a slightly older man..
 * Protectorate: Ciel's bumbling normal servants. A chef, apparently imported from America, who likes using heavy artillery on food, a Dojikko maid, a napping steward, and a gardener who mixes up "weed killer" and "fertilizer". It takes all of the powers of Hell for Sebastian to prevent them from daily blowing the mansion up. Also, Elizabeth.
 * Psychotic Smirk: Not a Big Bad (though quite the Villain Protagonist), but Sebastian does this a lot. And nearly every time he , though Arthur seems to be the only one to notice this.
 * In season 2 episode 10, gives off a rather disturbing smirk when climbing up the giant thorny clock tower thing.
 * Ciel gives off a slight psychotic smirk in chapter 49 the manga after he.
 * 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.
 * Ravens and Crows: Sebastian is shown as either a raven or a crow in the anime's prelude, and is often shown with the black Corvid feathers around him, even in the manga.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Anyone notice what colour rings Ciel and Alois have?
 * 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.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Grell, of all people, pulls this one off in the newest OVA.
 * Security Blanket: There is a specific pillow that Ciel cannot sleep without..
 * Serial Killer:.
 * Servile Snarker: Sebastian.
 * Shallow Love Interest: Elizabeth. in chapter 57, where it's shown that.
 * Shinigami: Interestingly, most are of the Psychopomp variety, but evil ones kill for pleasure. There's even a Celestial Bureaucracy of them.
 * Shotacon: is revealed to have fallen in love and become a Stalker with a Crush towards Ciel when Ciel was seven. Not to mention how he  ...
 * Also, Nina Hopkins. She is the one behind the designs and clothes Ciel always wears and has said that she only has interest in girls... and boys under 15.
 * The most famous example has to be all the interest Ciel gets not just from Sebastian, but various other adult men.
 * It bears mentioning that the manga and anime themselves features a few too many loving pans of Ciel's prepubescent body for the comfort of some viewers,
 * In the second series of the anime, the late Earl abducted young boys,, as sex slaves.
 * Shout-Out: Episode 7 has a few nods to the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.
 * 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 in Chapter 47 could be a reference to another Sherlock Holmes story, The Speckled Band.
 * In the manga Sebastian sends a secret note via snowy owl.
 * According to one of the early manga chapters, apparently the pets in Hell are Xenomorphs.
 * seems to be named after another English serial killer,.
 * Sebastian's line to Claude "We meet again, Claude" is the polite, as one would expect of a butler, form of "We meet again, Cloud" uttered by Sephiroth in Advent Children. Even better as Claude and Cloud share a VA. Square-Enix self-shout.
 * 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.
 * Chapter 52 has Dr. Stoker, his subject Maggy whose body was covered in stitches, and after being knifed by Sebastian she bends into a backwards crabwalk. The whole thing takes place on a big ship from the White Star Line.
 * The anime has the famous painting The Isle of the Dead, by Arnold Böcklin.
 * 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.
 * Shown Their Work: There are a lot of accurate references to areas in London as well as references to things like Fortnum and Mason.
 * To the point that some rather obscure things are brought up that seem, at a glance, to be examples of Purely Aesthetic Era, but when you dig a little further, turn out to fit fairly well into that time period.
 * Madame Red's profession? The London School of Medicine for Women was established in 1874. It's quite likely that Madame Red graduated from it.
 * Plastic surgery? It can be traced back to Ancient Egypt.
 * Ronald's lawn mower scythe? Besides the theory that shinigami are otherworldly and thus a walking Anachronism Stew, the first lawnmower was invented in 1830, and the design sounds similar to Ronald's.
 * Not only London, the flour explosion that Bard references in Chapter 33? Happened in Minneapolis in 1878.
 * And the idea of mobile phones? The first wireless phone call was made in 1880. Obviously not with the compact technology shown, but it is slightly more probable than might think.
 * Show Within a Show: Hamlet, in one of the extras. At least that is what they were originally trying to perform.
 * Sidekick Ex Machina
 * Sissy Villain: Grelle, Grelle, Grelle.
 * Charles Grey and Alois may also qualify.
 * Slasher Smile: Grelle.
 * Slouch of Villainy: Ciel. He slouches when he's about to do something particularly nasty, and unless he is standing up, almost gives orders to Sebastian exclusively in this pose. Also, he does it in almost all the official art (note the image at the top of the page).
 * Sociopathic Hero: Sebastian, being a demon, shows no mercy towards his master's enemies.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Grell(e) Sutcliff(e).
 * Ran Mao vs. Lan Mao.
 * Maylene, May-Rin, Mey-Rin, Mei-Rin...
 * Madam Red: Angelina Dalles vs. Angelina Durless. (Madame Red is just wrong though, as she isn't French.)
 * Spoiler Opening: Season 1's opening can be considered a variation of this. It does show what will happen, but in somewhat of a metaphorical way that you usually won't understand until you finish the season.
 * Spot of Tea: Lots. This is Victorian London, after all.
 * Staying Alive:  at the start of season 2.
 * Stealth Pun: In one episode in the first season the rest of the staff are trying (and failing hard) to get a photograph of Sebastian. They plan ways to set up the shot and distract Sebastian on a scale model of the house marking Sebastian's position with the figure of a black sheep, which is Kuro Hitsuji in Japanese.
 * Straight Man and Wise Guy: Ciel and Sebastian.
 * Stupid Sacrifice:  death was definitely a Tear Jerker, but there was no reason he had to jump in front of Ciel instead of just pushing him out of the way, therefore keeping them both alive.
 * Super-Deformed: The first ending has the characters portrayed in this style.
 * Tanaka, to the point of it being a Lampshaded, Running Gag.
 * Super Strength:.
 * Sympathetic Murderer: So many examples.
 * Take a Third Option: In the anime,.
 * Teen Genius: Ciel. Though his character adds up with the Child Prodigy trope more, he's 13, so technically a teen.
 * Ten Little Murder Victims: The premise of the Murder Mystery arc.
 * 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
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: This Japanese mainstay is an item in the Phantomhive garden, despite its being in Victorian England.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: Alois and Claude from the anime's second season.
 * Those Two Guys: Soma and Agni.
 * Three Amigos: Finnian, Bard, and Maylene.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In the anime's second season, thanks to, Ciel.
 * Too Kinky to Torture: Sebastian (in episode 20, anyway), Grell, and The Undertaker.
 * Town with a Dark Secret: Wolfschluss.
 * Trauma Conga Line: Ciel may count as type B, though we are first introduced to him as an already cynical, messed up kid, rather than having him shown slowly developing into a villain.
 * Troll:
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Ciel.
 * Alois as well. For the whole first episode, he goes from acting completely innocent to downright crazy within a few seconds, and switches back and forth between the two personas. Not to mention how he acts as if he is trying to seduce any male character within five feet of him. Which is, sadly, Truth in Television. Many childhood sexual abuse victims end up acting like this, because their trauma never allowed them to develop healthy ways of interacting with adults.
 * True Companions: Ciel's house staff trio, and also the circus crew.
 * Twelve-Episode Anime: Season 2 is half the length of season 1.
 * Uberwald: The Cursed Forest in Germany near the Czech border.
 * Underdogs Never Lose: In the sub-arc centered around cricket. In a subversion,
 * Unflinching Walk: Sebastian in episode 2 of the first season.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Lots. This series takes place in Victorian era Britain. What did you expect?
 * Utopia Justifies the Means:  for purification? Okaaay.
 * Verbal Tic: Drocell's "I reasoned" in the anime.
 * Villain Protagonist: In most stories, the amoral demon and his bitter, driven master would be undeniable antagonists, especially given how little they hesitate about . Given how sympathetically they're portrayed,  comes as a bit of a shock.
 * Alois and Claude are much worse than Ciel and Sebastian.
 * Villain Decay:
 * In the anime, while he was never exactly a menacing character, went from  to a non-threatening goofball with safety scissors and a crush on Sebastian.
 * The same could also be said about the residents of the town in episode 7 of season 1. At first, they're . Later, Sebastian and Ciel come across them...in swimsuits, doing some kind of organized exercise routine
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2 is one way to interpret Ciel and Sebastian's relationship.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Curry, candy, getting fitted for outfits, Easter, egg hunts...
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: So whatever did happen to ?
 * When He Smiles: Ciel.
 * Whip It Good: In Episode 20 of the first season, pleases all the fangirls by whipping Sebastian.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Charles Grey, one of the queen's butlers. Although some may argue that it appears to be light grey.
 * Ash as well.
 * Whole Costume Reference: The dress Ciel wears to the party is the famous dress from My Fair Lady.
 * Wicked Cultured: Ciel and Sebastian.
 * Yandere: In the anime,  Of the worst sort.
 * Also: Grell. The anime seems to play it as (attempted) Black Comedy Rape, but in the manga, Grell comes off as just plain demented for Madame Red and then Sebastian.
 * Baron Kelvin for Ciel.
 * Undertaker possibly for Ciel. He already had considerable subtext towards Ciel and in chapter 64.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: Maylene.
 * You Didn't Ask: Ciel's reply to Sebastian in volume 8 of the Manga, when Sebastian asked Ciel why he never brought up that.
 * Young Future Famous People: Arthur, a supporting character in the murder arc, is really Arthur Conan Doyle at the very beginning of his writing career.
 * Your Soul Is Mine
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The new earl in Kuroshitsuji II, Alois Trancy, has some Grade A Zettai Ryouiki in the first episode. Mind you, he's wearing knickerbockers, not a skirt.
 * Maylene in  comes to mind as well.
 * Also: Grell. The anime seems to play it as (attempted) Black Comedy Rape, but in the manga, Grell comes off as just plain demented for Madame Red and then Sebastian.
 * Baron Kelvin for Ciel.
 * Undertaker possibly for Ciel. He already had considerable subtext towards Ciel and in chapter 64.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: Maylene.
 * You Didn't Ask: Ciel's reply to Sebastian in volume 8 of the Manga, when Sebastian asked Ciel why he never brought up that.
 * Young Future Famous People: Arthur, a supporting character in the murder arc, is really Arthur Conan Doyle at the very beginning of his writing career.
 * Your Soul Is Mine
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The new earl in Kuroshitsuji II, Alois Trancy, has some Grade A Zettai Ryouiki in the first episode. Mind you, he's wearing knickerbockers, not a skirt.
 * Maylene in  comes to mind as well.