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Black Butler (manga)

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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.

Sebastian and Ciel.
You see, I am simply one hell of a butler.
—Sebastian Michaelis

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:

Character sheet is here.

Tropes used in Black Butler (manga) include:


  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: The table knives Sebastian uses as weapons. Also Charles Grey's sword and all the death scythes.
  • 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. Also happens to Ciel.
  • 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.
  • Badass Family: The entire Middleford family. Including Elizabeth.
  • Barehanded Blade Block: Sebastian does this against a chainsaw. He's one hell of a butler, all right.
  • The Baroness: Hilde. 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, as well as Alois's mansion in the second season.
  • 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.
  • Boom! Headshot!: Happens to Wendy when she is sniped by Mey-rin.
  • A Boy and His X: A boy and his demon butler.
  • 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 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 explain to Arthur why Siemens was killed and another guy was framed (basically they would've helped their respective countries become so powerful they'd overwhelm England).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster
  • Cheaters Never Prosper: Inverted. Underdogs can cheat too, and the Underdogs Never Lose trope is the one that ends up played straight in the cricket game, where Ciel's final dirty trick goes past just bending the rules when he switches the regulation ball with a slightly lighter one.
  • Chekhov's News: "Steiger Roze dies."
  • Chess Motifs: Chess imagery is used frequently, especially in the last few episodes.
  • Children Are a Waste: A prostitute goes to a doctor to get an abortion with this as her excuse. That doctor had lost her ability to have children thanks to an accident that killed her husband and nearly her as well. This was the last straw before she snapped and became Jack the Ripper.
  • 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 in the Indian arc of the manga. 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, otherwise known as mustard gas and sarin.
  • 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 Baron Kelvin. At first it looks like No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine, but as it goes on, we find out that Baron Kelvin is pretty much treating it as a date and is being genuinely nice in his own, sick way.
  • 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.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Used intentionally with the purpose of winning at a cricket game.
  • 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 Ciel's father. Word of God says that that's not a coincidence.
  • Double Entendre: So many. Especially in the second season. Especially when Claude is having a conversation or talking to himself about Ciel.
  • Down to the Last Play: Happens in the cricket tournament. Of course. Also played with in another game in the same sub-arc when the game is supposed to be nowhere near finished, but it's Joanne Harcourt's last throw. He says, "This is the end," and then, to his complete surprise, collapses when the poison a pie he ate earlier takes effect. His team chooses to forfeit the game.
  • 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 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 the German military.
  • 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: This is how Ciel ends up dealing with Maurice.
  • 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 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.
  • 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 and we see him throwing statues at Beast and Joker exclaiming "Found the Mice!"
    • In Chapter 54, we were given this cover art. Cue chapter 60: Undertaker dancing with one of the zombies in the exact same pose, making a speech about the beauty of his creations.
  • Four-Leaf Clover: An ironic one is seen in Joker's Cinematic Record flashback. It is probably significant that the characters don't notice the clover.
  • Frame-Up: In the Murder Arc, Ciel and Sebastian frame a blood diamond/arms smuggler for the death of a German ship builder who would've made his country's navy more powerful then it should've been at the time. Sebastian's death was just a "joke" by Victoria, who didn't like Ciel's "prank" of completely burning the last Big Bad and his unsuspecting henchmen and victims.
  • 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 a molecule, you get the chemical formula for sarin.
  • 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.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: The series' penchant for double entendres, especially in the second series.
  • The Glomp: Four person flying-tackle variety at the end of the Murder Arc, when Sebastian reveals to the rest of mansion that he is not dead.
  • Gratuitous English: Sebastian's "Yes, my lord."
  • 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 the entire workhouse was empty and abandoned, and had been for what looked like years, meaning the circus children had fought--and died--in vain can be aptly described as a BSOD. A very, very frightening one.
    • Ciel has one in chapter 41, after finding Sebastian's body. It was an act, but he did seem genuinely pleased about being able to smack Sebastian around a little.
    • Ciel has another one earlier in chapter 34, when Baron Kelvin made an exact replica of where he was held when imprisoned, complete with an altar for sacrificing and even two cages full of children. This leads him to burn down the entire building...including the children.
  • 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.
    • The horror gets worse when it turns out that they're hungering for people's souls.
  • Human Sacrifice: Ciel was used for this, but ended up making a deal with Sebastian instead.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: All the shinigami.
  • 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. The reader knows that they were all killed by Ciel's staff when they tried to ambush Ciel's mansion.
  • Imperial Germany: Becomes important to the plot later on.
  • Important Haircut: Soma gives one of these to Agni in the flashback in chapter 17.
    • Madam Red had one, too.
  • 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 corset scene.
  • Insert Grenade Here: Happens to a German tank.
  • I Owe You My Life: Ciel towards Sebastian, in a very literal sense.
    • The servant trio towards Ciel and Sebastian.
    • Agni towards Soma.
  • It Got Worse When Ciel's parents were killed. Afterward, his house was burnt down, and he was sold to a religious cult who tried to use him as a sacrifice until Ciel accidentally summoned Sebastian, and then chose to give up his soul in return for Sebastian's help at getting revenge.
  • Jack the Ripper: The villain of one of the early arcs.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot
  • Kill the Cutie: All of the main circus crew (except for Snake) and the kidnapped children from the circus arc, and Phelps from the murder mystery arc. Also, Alois.
  • Kissing Cousins: Ciel is engaged to Elizabeth, who is his cousin. This was rather common in the Victorian Era.
  • Kudzu Plot
  • Lady and Knight: Ciel and Sebastian's subtype is an all-male version of the dark lady and black knight.
  • Like Cannot Cut Like: A death scythe can cut through anything except another death scythe.
  • Lima Syndrome: Affects Wolfram.
  • Locked Room Mystery: The Murder Mystery arc.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: 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.
  • 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: Appears in different versions in the anime and the manga.
  • Mexican Standoff: Between Ciel, Joker, Sebastian and Baron Kelvin.
  • Mood Whiplash
  • Mugging the Monster: Subverted and then almost immediately double-subverted. Surely those ragged Indian thugs trying to rob Ciel have no chance against Sebastian. Right? Right. Then the new characters Soma and Agni enter the scene and side with their countrymen. Agni actually knows how to fight. And then rather quickly Soma figures out that he was siding with robbers and orders Agni to switch sides. 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:
  • Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Demonstrated by the circus crew with their failed attack on the Phantomhive Manor. 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 Corsets Sexy: The corset scene, combined with Innocent Innuendo. Later on, Beast wears some sexy outfits for the circus performances.
  • One-Gender School: Weston Academy 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 , especially in the manga.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Type C/O. They hunger for souls and are able to sense where souls can be found. Initially the zombies seem to have been created with science, but it turns out that magic was responsible after all.
  • Parental Abandonment: The whole first tier circus crew had been abandoned by their parents due to their various disabilities.
  • 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 Sebastian died, and Ciel kept repeating things like, "Sleeping on the floor doesn't look that comfortable to me," and "Get up". Subverted because it ended up being a fake death, which Ciel was aware of the entire time.
    • Then Ciel later on in a much darker version when Sebastian died. Ciel first behaved like in the previous case but when Sebastian stayed dead, Ciel showed himself overwhelmed by grief. Subverted again, as it was a fake death again and Ciel was aware of it the entire time again. The emotional outburst shows his skills as an actor.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Those wonderful prosthetic limbs that the Noah's Ark Circus kids have? Made from the bones of children murdered by Baron Kelvin and the doctor.
  • 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.
    • Only bumbling when it comes to the servant part. As one of the manga chapters demonstrated, they weren't hired for their ability to take care of the house under normal circumstances. But during an attack...
    • Elizabeth is actually quite capable of taking care of herself. She just didn't want Ciel to see that side of her.
  • 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 Beast. He did it to gain information.
  • Shinigami: Of the psychopomp variety. There's even a Celestial Bureaucracy of them.
  • Shotacon: Baron Kelvin 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 kidnapped all those children for his amusement...
    • 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,
  • 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.
  • Shown Their Work: There are a lot of accurate references to areas in London as well as references to things like Fortnum and Mason.
  • Sidekick Ex Machina
  • 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 name issues. Of the more important characters: Sebastian Michaelis, Tanaka, William T. Spears, Ronald Knox, Agni. On the other hand, several other characters have multiple options for one name and/or multiple names where the spelling is inconsistent.
  • Spot of Tea: Lots. This is Victorian London, 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: Bard's little speech is interrupted by Dagger and Beast.
  • 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. The second season of the anime goes all out and puts a different tarot card in the eye catches of every episode, all major arcana.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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, Ciel accomplishes his team's victory by a combination of underhanded tactics, unsportsmanlike play, and outright cheating, in addition to the usual hard work and raising the team spirit. Oh, and there was also that little poisoning incident.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Lots. This series takes place in Victorian era Britain. What did you expect?
  • 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 in volume 8 of the Manga, when Sebastian asked Ciel why he never brought up that he had asthma.
  • 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.
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