The Remarkable Butler Anime I Never Thought I'd Like

7/5/2018

Synopsis

Ciel Phantomhive is the most powerful boy in all of England, but he bears the scars of unspeakable suffering. Forced to watch as his beloved parents were brutally murdered, Ciel was subsequently abducted and violently tortured.

Desperate to end his suffering, the boy traded his own soul for a chance at vengeance, casting his lot with the one person on whom he could depend: Sebastian, a demon Butler summoned from the very pits of hell. Together, they’ll prowl the darkest alleys of London on a mission to snuff out those who would do evil.

My Interpretation of the Synopsis

I actually found an official synopsis that I like. Still, I need the practice so here goes:

Ten year old Ciel Phantomhive remains the last of an aristocratic family known as Queen Victoria’s Guarddog. After watching his family and home burned, Ciel is captured by cultists then sold and marked with the brand known as a “Noble Beast”. After a month of torture, Ciel summons Sebastian Michaelis, a powerful demon and signs a contract to extract revenge on the people who wronged him in exchange for his soul.

Main Characters

I don't list ALL the characters, just the ones I find important, sexy or deserving. They are the ones that left an impression on me and therefore are on my blog. Each character has a unique memory for me and I've included an image or a gif under their "offical" visual rendering by the artist -- Yana Toboso.

Ciel Phantomhive

Guarddog. Aristocratic patriot. Thirteen-year-old boy.

Ciel is haughty and arrogant. But the scars of torture, humiliation and branded with a mark on his belly as "Noble Beast" make me want to forgive his perpetual boredom with "adults".

He suspects his life will be short because of the pact he's made with Sebastian to consume his soul in exchange for revenge.

Ciel is cabable, but take away Sebastian from him and he only gets enough respect as you would expect for any twelve-year-old.

His wealthy upbringing hampers his reality but the kid is driven and has a mind for solving crimes.

Sebastian Michaelis

Demon. Butler. Soul eating pedophile.

The theme for Sebastian is that he's one hell of a butler.

You could say that. I say his undertones with Ceil make me uncomfortable at times. But he's a demon. I wouldn't really expect much less.

Sebastian intrigues me because he goes from condescending to proud at being Ceil's servant. He calls him Bocha (meaning little master) and I've learned that term is patronizing. Then he bows and acts amazed at Ceil's conviction, determination and ultimate sacrifice to see those who did him wrong dead.

For Sebastian, Ceil's blood is the best he's ever tasted. I guess enough to make him wait years to eat him. Hell maybe Ceil's like wine─he gets better with age.

At least I wouldn't get the heebie jeebies if he waited till Ceil was eighteen to eat him. :)

Sometimes I wonder if the innuendo is innuendo for something other than sex.

Resident Characters

These are what I call "fluff" support. They only serve as comedic relief and plot realization for what is very dark fantasy. I'd almost call it Gothic. These are the characters that live with Ciel & Sebastian in a large mansion. They aren't so bad as to not serve any other purpose without their own motivations but those motivations are to be loyal to Ceil & Sebastian.

"Finny" Finnigan

Finnian, usually referred to as Finny, is one of the most adorable of the group of shenanigan makers and is the household gardener of German descent.

Every time he tends to the garden, it is destroyed through an accident caused by his clumsiness.

He is portrayed as an innocent, optimistic character who loves his work, but is dubbed an idiot by Sebastian for destroying everything he touches in spite of being warned to take caution beforehand.

Finnian displays feats of superhuman strength, which he tries to suppress for fear of hurting others and risk of sabotaging his work.

The sequence, S-012, is tattooed on the nape of his neck and is usually covered by his straw hat, which was given to him by Ciel. Ciel bestowed Finny's name after Fionn mac Cumhaill from Fenian Cycle when he came into his employment.

He works as a gardener to spend as much time as possible outside, because prior for working for Ciel, he was an experiment subject that was kept locked up and forced to kill his friends.

Mey-Rin

Mey-Rin is the household maid of Chinese descent. Mey-Rin has extreme binocular acuity, which means she can see things really far away like looking through binoculars, and was given a pair of round glasses by Ciel, which she cherishes and refuses to give up.

The glasses limit Mey-Rin's eyesight and prevent her from viewing objects correctly at close-range, which causes her to be clumsy when doing her chores; however, Sebastian believes her main problem is her intelligence and not her eyesight.

She has a crush on Sebastian as she blushes whenever she is in his presence and is even clumsier when Sebastian is watching.

She is rather superstitious, but admits to having a soft spot for scary stories. Mey-Rin is a professional sniper and due to her sharp binocular vision, she does not require a scope to aid her.

She is also physically fit as she can use a sniper rifle like a handgun and keeps hundreds loaded at once to decrease reload time.

Baldroy "Chef"

Baldroy (also spelled as Bardroy), usually referred to as Baldo or Bard, is the household cook of American descent.

He rarely produces anything edible as he uses weaponry such as flamethrowers to cook, believing that cooking is an art requiring explosions.

Sebastian believes anything he creates is made up of charcoal and carcinogens.

Baldroy pursues cooking to learn how to slow down, as he states cooking takes patience to master, which was something he was not used to during his years in the military.

When he was a soldier, his entire platoon was wiped out, leaving him as the only survivor.

Sebastian discovered Baldroy on the battlefield after his comrades had fallen and offered him employment.

While terrible at cooking, he is shown to be capable of taking advantage of his surroundings, such as using fine flour to create an explosion.

Due to his experience as a soldier, he takes command over the servants when Ciel and Sebastian are away from the manor. Like Finnian and Mey-Rin, he provides much of the comic relief in the series.

Tanaka

Tanaka is the house steward of Japanese descent. He was present when Ciel's parents were killed and was stabbed in the back trying to protect Ciel. As a result, he rarely talks or does any work, but is always seen participating in the other servants' antics.

Sebastian seems to respect him the most out of all the staff. He is usually seen drinking from a Japanese tea cup and commonly seen as a chibi.

Despite his appearance, Tanaka is capable of killing intruders effortlessly.

Prior to Sebastian's appointment as Ciel's butler, Tanaka served as the head butler of the Phantomhive household for Ciel's father.

He is very loyal and kind to Ciel, and is strict when it comes to his duties.

Unlike the other servants, Tanaka is perceptive in Sebastian's actions, as well for the reasons behind them. I suspect Tanaka helped Sebastian on how to become a "real" butler.

When Sebastian is apparently 'murdered', Ciel appoints Tanaka as the head butler again, a position he fulfills nearly as well as Sebastian.

During the Emerald Witch Arc, Tanaka showed skill in slicing bullets fired at him with a sword, silently closing in his target; however, he admits that at his age, he cannot keep up such strenuous activity for long.

Supporting Characters

Grell Sutcliff

Grell (also spelled as Grelle) Sutcliff is a Grim Reaper who initially worked as Madam Red's butler (Ciel's aunt).

Grell and Madam Red formed a partnership in which they killed prostitutes. Grell wields a Death Scythe in the form of a chainsaw thus the chainsaw you see on the cover.

After killing Madam Red when she refused to kill Ciel, Grell dons her red coat for the rest of the series.

Grell is attracted to Sebastian (much to Sebastian's dismay) and other characters in the series, especially William T. Spears.

Grell is rather cunning, flamboyant, ruthless, bloodthirsty, jealous, gender confused and somewhat sadistic.

As a Grim Reaper, Grell is a capable fighter and is able fight equally against Sebastian (Though Sebastian holds his own).

Sebastian probably tolerates Grell because of his skill as a reaper who is an awesome fighter. But Grell can be duped by Sebastian when the demon pours on even a little charm.

The Undertaker

This sexy as hell former Grim Reaper and funeral director in London is the most dangerous of them all.

His identity as a rogue Grim Reaper was not revealed until later within the series, where he admitted that he was behind the resurrection of corpses known as the Bizarre Dolls.

Upon having his true nature exposed, Undertaker takes a more antagonistic role within the series. Prior to this, he acted as an informant to the Phantomhive family for many years.

Unlike the other Grim Reapers, he does not seem to require the need of glasses.

Like Sebastian, Undertaker has a fixation on humans, as well as the fundamentals of life.

Despite his eccentric & comical personality, Undertaker is a manipulative, ruthless, and enigmatic individual.

However, he has shown to care for Ciel deeply, as well as for the Phantomhive family. He was willing to kill Sebastian because he believes that Sebastian is making Ciel miserable, and also revived his twin brother in secret.

Honorable Mentions

Pluto

Pluto was a large demon hound that terrorizes the town of Houndsworth until Sebastian tamed him and brought him to the Phantomhive estate.

He was able to breathe fire, walked through barriers and shape-shifted into a human.

As a human, he retained his dog-like behavior. Although Sebastian hates dogs, Pluto took a liking to him and only listened to Sebastian's orders.

When Ash used him to set fire to the estate and burn London, Ciel ordered his staff to kill Pluto.

There are a shit-load of other characters. Some were mentioned, but I'm sticking with the main band of protagonists I loved. Otherwise this would be a Wikipedia entry, not a review.

My Review

Way back in 2006 I saw this manga in a Barnes & Noble and picked it up with a bit of interest. At that time I flipped through the book and felt the scenes a little more pedophilia-ish for my liking and set the manga down.

Fast forward a few years to the anime. I watched the first episode and I realized too late that this was the manga I did not want to read. But I was hooked on Ceil & Sebastian. Had I understood Sebastian was a demon from hell way back when I *might* have powered through the molestation undertones of a twelve-year-old boy. I do love fantasy & Syfy. I guess enough to look past a distasteful theme running in the background.

But the relationship between Sebastian and Ceil is interesting. Take this scene snapshot for example.

Ceil is clearly distrustful of the fiend while subconsciously knowing Sebastian is his savior, his servant, his teacher, his protector and ultimately his destruction.

Sebastian on the other hand whispers intel, knowledge and secrets while starving for Ceil's blood. He's a patient devil. A winged terror. A hungry demon. But he has moments of conflict when Ceil does show him trust. Ultimately, Sebastian wants his cake and eat it too.

Here is another great example of their relationship...

One theory is Sebastian has gone insane in the quest for Ciel's soul. I find that interesting because Ceil is the master that taught Sebastian patience, decorum and manners.

You might think a young boy has nothing to give but because of his horrible past Ceil is well beyond his age. I still don't condone Sebastian's sexual undertones to a minor but I do like the series.

I Would Recommend This to Fans of:

Demons

master/servant relationships

yaoi

Those who like Pedophilia themes