InAnimete: Part 13 - Black Butler

Well, I took last week off due to sleep irregularities spurred by late-night (early morning, really) game releases and the fact I was playing said games for most of the week. Oh, and family, friends, life, watching anime, etc. Life'll just get you sometimes.  And then Christmas happened, and even though I don't celebrate it, it was a chance to catch up with family and time got away from me. That said, let's dive into the Victorian demonic-horror of Black Butler.

I don't really know what I think of Black Butler. It wasn't out right bad, but it lacked the pace and character development for me to really class it as "good". It went strange places, emotionally, thematically and occasionally geographically. Despite this, it was still generally difficult for me to become overly invested in it. I don't know. I'll get to the weaknesses of the characters further in the discussion, but this anime went strange places. They weren't bold new places - they're pretty standard for anime - with conspiracy, betrayal and the occult being major elements. Straight after Chrono Crusade, which had a ton of heart and earnestness, while still being genuinely horrifying, tackled a lot of the same ideas? A lot of this came off as cheap and underthought. I'll try to explain as we go on.

Mr. Black Butler (aka Sebastian Michaelis) himself, looking vaguely unhappy. As usual.

Let me try to give the plot in a nutshell: Ciel Phantomhive*, the son of the Phantomhive family, is left desperate after his parents are killed and his mansion is torched. He makes a pact with a demon (specifically the nominal Black Butler himself) to get revenge for his family in exchange for his soul/life (they're pretty much the same thing according to this show). When Ciel gets revenge, Butler (not to be confused with the Artemis Fowl character) gets the soul.

It also just so happens that the Phantonhives are the hereditary dogsbodies of the royal family, taking care of every and any concern of her majesty (this is her majesty, just to make things clear). Ciel and Butler are in the perfect position to investigate the death of the previous Phantomhive heads. There's also a cast of amusingly incompetent servants, racial stereotypes and classism. Spoilers start here folks, so let's get going.

Characters:


Ciel Phantomhive:

Yes, he has an eye patch. Because anime.

Well, there's nothing more stereotypically anime then a creepy kid (although, admittedly, more often a girl) so why not make one the main character? Ciel spends an equal amount of time juggling his family toy business (?), lusting for revenge, dealing with Butler, and solving mysteries. I'll be honest: none of these are particularly interesting. Ciel is much more plot element than character most of the time.

The issue with creepy kids is that there isn't much they can really do. They're good for a one-off or to provide a contrast with child-like adults (played by the Phantomhive servants, I guess), but unless you're going to launch a Daria-level in-depth exploration of what life is like for a kid like this, they don't have an arc. They're able and intelligent from day 1, and unless the show takes a little of this ability or intelligence away, there's not much left to do. The arc of Black Butler is to strip Ciel of everything he has. His remaining family, his friends, his wealth, his title, his independence, his connections, and when he ends up Orwellian, even his Butler is taken away. His fiancee is always there, but Ciel was an arsehole to her, so everyone's better off if he leaves the poor girl the hell alone.

Let's jump to the ultimate spoiler. I'm sorry to say it, but Ciel dies. Yeah, that's the end of the series. Ciel is essentially killed by Butler in a scene that could literally not be more homoerotic if it tried. This is an interesting conclusion to Ciel's arc. Thematically you could say it all fits - what else could he lose? His life and his soul. He ceases to be in every way. I applaud it for fulfilling the promise outlined in the first episode. That said, there's also a problem. It feels like less of a character arc and more of a steady drop. Ciel never was going up. It was a plunge from the death of his parents all the way to his own death. He didn't really learn anything, except that he couldn't trust anyone, and judging by his behaviour he already knew that. It feels like he never actively achieved anything. Butler did all the heavy lifting. It just kinda...sucked.

Despite the amount of time spent with Ciel, at no point did I ever really feel like he WASN'T the bratty little arsehole who thought he was smarter than everyone else. He seems to hate everyone, and his arc validates his distrust. Paltry specks of humanity break through here and there, but they constantly feel more like distractions from the main gist of the show than attempts at real characterisation. Ciel wasn't really a show-stealer for me.

Butler (Sebastian Michaelis):

There is a lot of violin in this show. For some reason.

Butler is a strange character. He's filled with menace and the aura of a figure suppressing their urges (specifically killing everyone), but despite being put in an endless series of embarrassing or petty situations he is still always portrayed as stable and in control. He kinda irks me.

Butler is a demon (I think) spirit summoned by Ciel in order to get revenge, at the expense of Ciel's soul upon completion. Butler is a teacher/father/servant/love-interest and more to Ciel, and fuck, the goddamn show is named after him. Kinda tricky to avoid the fact that he is the star attraction of the show. Sadly, I think he falls in the category of many mysterious, sexy, controlling heroes, villains or anti-heroes.

That problem is the fact he doesn't have any goddamn personality. He just...exists. He gets a thrill from making Ciel uncomfortable, he takes his job seriously and he's a demon with superhuman abilities. He's just there. I really don't have much to say about him. Despite Ciel's occasional attempt to find out more about him, Butler is never given even a flake of a backstory. He is meant to be carried by his personality and character alone, which he barely has. I do understand his purpose though.

For one, Butler humanises Ciel by comparison. Ciel appears to be a controlling sociopath, but Butler puts him to shame. Ciel's aforementioned rare moments of humanity, which are truly underwhelming, appear to be humanitarian acts on a level equivalent of a good Samaritan, compared to the soul-suckingly laser-focus of Butler. The few acts of Ciel to make him more nuanced seem particularly interesting when you consider Butler is his only company most of the time.

I also feel a need to mention the fact that Butler is sexualised...a lot. I can't say it really bothered me. My main problem (of many) with characters being sexualised for nothing but fanservice is that it often comes at the cost of character development or nuanced personalities. Take, for example, the fact that in a lot of anime (and not just anime, by any means) goes out of its way to infantilise female characters in order to make them more appealing to male viewership, by making them less intimidating and easier to understand. Take, for example, the nurse from High School of the Dead or Misa Amane from Death Note.

The nurse made goddamn bouncing noises every time she walked, for fucks sake, and acted as a child in a stressful situation. Did she never get medical education? Wouldn't that have kinda covered "stressful situations?!". Misa Amane was the only named female character not part of the Yagami family who doesn't promptly die and the cherry that makes Death Note the most misogynistic anime I have ever seen. She is obsessive and possessive in inappropriate situations, and requires her boyfriend to order her around to do anything. Both of these characters are clearly designed for teenagers to masturbate to, and I will need a hell of a lot of convincing to even consider otherwise.

These characters gain no personality through their sexualisation and infantilisation is a byproduct of this. Their sexualisation is never used to explore how they view themselves, or as something the consciously choose to do. It clips their personality to make them more attractive to men. Butler is sexualised in a much different way, and other than...a particular episode...it doesn't get in the way of the plot. A fair measure of this is if you showed Death Note or HSoTD to kids (which you should not do), the sexualisation of female characters would be impossible for even them to ignore. Black Butler? I doubt they'd pick it up...other than the...nun incident which we will not talk about. Not because spoilers, but because it makes so little sense that I don't even know what I could possible say about it.

OK, I went way off topic, but to round up: I get Butler. I get his role in the show, I get how he is used and how he shapes and progresses the plot. He represents the savvy investor, keen to ensure his investment pays off. I understand why he exists, and I don't have a problem with how much attention is payed to him. At the same time, I feel a lot of potential characterisation of Butler is missed. Other mythological or supernatural characters that surround the plot of the show have vivid and memorable personalities. Why did Butler have to be so boring?

Abberline:

Abberline is on the right, the one which doesn't look like Shaggy aged 38.

Abberline is an interesting character, and largely by virtue of the media in which he appears. There's a long tradition of the "incorruptibles", enforcers of justice who will always reject any concept of bribery or attempted corruption, in pretty much every location and historical era, real or imagined. History gives us figures like Eliot Ness and Emile Zola and fiction has never lacked in their Poirots and even, in many ways, Holmeses. Holmes is actually a good example: being incorruptible doesn't mean you aren't an arsehole or that you believe that justice is always morally objective.

Abberline isn't necessarily a subtle subversion of the cliches surrounding the straight-laced cop. In something like A. C. Doyle, or even in Poe's Dupin, a policeman who believes he is doing right in the Victorian era wouldn't even be a named character, just a cliche. But considering the stark bleakness of Black Butler in the form of the main characters, Abberline really feels like a man from another anime. He'd fit into Emma much more easily. Abberline does what he knows deep down is good, and believes that both the ends and the means should better his fellow man.

His existence in this show is fascinating. It shows, at least a little, that the writers didn't want this show to just be Phantomhive vs. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, evil vs. evil. They gave a little light to a world in the form of Abberline to show that there is still hope, when all the fighting is over. Well, that WOULD have been the case if Abberline had survived.

Yeah, spoilers and etc, but Abberline dies protecting Ciel. It's not a cheap death, necessarily. Abberline died protecting someone he believed was fighting for good. He didn't save Ciel because he thought he was an innocent child. He didn't do it accidentally. He purposefully died to help a fellow force for good, albeit a slightly more morally ambiguous route to a better world. Also, Abberline was never gonna survive to the end in this show.

Abberline: subverting a grimdark story by being a cliche from another genre. Also, about the only non-comedic working class character, so there's a solid reason I like him.

Phantomhive Staff:

 

The Maid (Mey-Rin) and The Chef (Baldroy) on the left. Wearing the usual expressions of dealing with Ciel.

The three members of the Phantomhive staff are The Maid (Mey-Rin), The Chef (Baldroy) and The Gardener (Finnian). They really are a fantastic source of levity. While not particularly good, unlike Abberline, they aren't particularly evil, unlike their master. Instead they're just inept. And thank god for that.

Without the presence of the staff, who often supply the B-Plot, this anime would be dangerously close to a pretentious, up its own arse attempt at telling a super-serious story about a person who sells their soul. And I have more than enough anime like that, thank you very much (cough*CodeGeassDeathNoteDarkerThanBlackMyHIMEChronoCrusadeVampireKnightGeminioftheMeteor PandoraHearts*cough). The staff are all individuals in how the fuck everything up. The Maid is constantly nervous and scared of angering her employers. The Chef is a fan of a Vietnam War-style approach to cooking. The Gardener acts like a small child and is liable to simply get distracted. They all are unique in how they bring humour into the series.

The truth, however, is that they are respectively a sniper, a soldier and an escaped science-experiment who have all been hired by Butler to protect the mansion and its residents, which they are always capable of doing. Their histories raise questions though. I The Maid, as woman sniper in the Victorian era isn't that questionable, although my knowledge on how advanced a sniper rifle was at that point is lacking. The Chef is from what war? He's implied to be American, despite the fact he is pictured wearing a red coat, so I'm curious exactly what war he's a veteran of.

The Gardener may raise the most questions, though. What country was conducting these experiments? What exactly did they do? How did he manage to escape, if they were aware of his strength? Why is he so childish? Is he actually a child, or is that a side-effect? Exactly what kind of science was employed in these experiments? And, actually, for all three: Why did they actually join the mansion? I get The Chef and The Gardener were in tight spots, but The Maid was probably making good money. Meh. It was probably answered, but I've just forgotten. It's been a few months.

Conclusions:

The Gardener (Finnian), as professional as ever.

I can't say I particularly love or hate Black Butler. It certainly has its high points, and I would never accuse it of being forgettable. The issue is that I feel it's more functional than really making a statement. Both of the main characters seem to be designed to get through the plot as fast as possible. Minimal time is given to characterisation or depth, and things tend to just happen without making Ciel and Butler question themselves. The villain is a little too blatant (and did you really need to use the supernatural to make Queen Victoria evil? There is so much to work with with that woman. You needed her to be a mass murderer? WHYYYY?!) and it just so happens that the extreme methods Ciel and Butler were using were exactly what the situation needed. I also didn't get around to talking about the Chinese and Indian side characters but...well, they're there and you don't need to be told what culture they're meant to be from, to say the least.

Black Butler isn't bad, but it's been done better. More drama and more emphasis put into the supernatural side of things? Look at Chrono Crusade. More humour? Look into Pandora Hearts. A better protagonist? Try Artemis Fowl (books, not an anime. Yet). Want everything Black Butler has, but horribly written, with horrible characters, no sense of humour and blatantly misogynistic? Then Death Note is the anime for you! Hope I helped!

Next time, which will hopefully be next week, I'll tackle the unlikely gem of Chobits. Prepare for totally-not-sexbot drama.

Anyway, cheers for reading, and have a happy new year from Red Television.
H. Rourke


*I didn't want to take up too much space in the post itself, but "Phantomhive"? Ahahah ahahahah hahahaha ahahha ahahahaha ahahaha ahahahahahahaha hahahahahaha ahahahahahah hahaha ahhahaha ahahahaha ahahahah AHHAHAHAHAH AHAHHAHAHA HAHAHAHA HAAHHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHahHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Who the fuck thought that sounded good? Seriously? It's not even wacky enough to be a pun or something. It's just a pissweak attempt at a creepy sounding surname. It's like if the Smoking Man from X-Files was called Johnny Alienhide. Actually, that would have been awesome.