Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler): Live-Action Movie!

Hello

An nyoung

Konnichiwa

Ni hao

I know this post is kind of late but better late than never right? Thursday I posted about the live-action movies of Death Note and I said that Fridays post would be along the same lines and I did not lie it's time for the live-action movie of Black Butler. If you saw my previous post on Black Butler you will know I really enjoy both the manga and anime of the series. Like many fans I was rather reluctant with the film as what made the manga interesting for me was changed. 

Released 2014 (I noticed it was showing at my local Cineworld but couldn't go as we were going away), the film was directed by Kentaro Otani and Keiichi Sato, one of the films main actors Hiro Muzushima also co-produced and was also credited as a co-screenwrter for the film, he is credited under his birth name Tomohiro Saito as the co-producer. This was also his first starring role in three years.

Originally set in 19th-century London in the manga, the film gave it a new time and place setting it in an unnamed eastern nation and in the year 2020, which for me was the main reason I was a little reluctant to watch it as I really liked and enjoyed it being set during the reign of Queen Victoria. The main change I saw more people complain about was the fact that Sebastian no longer held a contract with the head of the Phantomhive's, the one and only Ciel Phantomhive intead his gender was changed and Sebastian now held a contract with a girl called Genpo Shiori also known as Count Genpo Kiyoharu, this change didn't bother me as much as it had aspects that could be used from the past like pretending she was male to be the head of the household, my only problem with this is that while I am writing this remembering that it's set in the future shows that not many people think we will lose the male led world that we are in today, that the man will always be the one to be in control. 

There were a few other character changes with our red headed sharp shooter Mey-Rin now only been known as Rin and the only real household staff to be seen regular, I was gutted about this as I missed Finny and Baldroy, Tanaka is seen after the opening credits with his famous Japanese cup. Ciel's Aunt is also changed from the manga and anime and is no longer known as Madam Red as we lose her red hair, even her backstory is slightly different from the manga and anime.

The main goal of Shiori/Kiyoharu is the same as Ciel, she wants revenge on the people that murdered her parents and kidnapped her, like Ciel she is the Queens Watchdog and while trying to get revenge for her parents she has to complete her mission sent from the Queen, find and stop whoever is causing the appearance of mummified dead bodies, to which a a mysterious tarot card is always left behind with the body.

Mummified dead bodies of various dignitaries from around the world are being discovered, a mysterious tarot card left beside them at the scene. The world is headed towards chaos... Kiyoharu is the young head of the Genpo noble family, owners of a massive toy manufacturing enterprise. He also functions as a secret watchdog for the Queen, a service that his family has provided for generations. The Queen orders Kiyoharu to solve the mummification incidents, and he starts to investigate. He is supported by his perfect butler, Sebastian, who is actually a demon. Kiyoharu has been hiding his true female identity since his parents' tragic death 10 years earlier. In return for perfect service to his master in public and private, Sebastian will receive his master's soul after Kiyoharu achieves revenge for the murder of his parents. Who is really behind the serial mummification deaths? Will Kiyoharu finally find out who killed his/her parents?

Like often seen in the anime there are flashbacks to Kiyoharu's past when her parents were murdered and snippets of this is shown in the opening credits with it closing on Shiori and Sebastian's contract being created with him rescuing her, there are scenes that any Black Butler fan would associate with the manga and anime, like the start of the film when Sebastian rescues Shiori from a smuggler (different from the manga/anime), he is shown fighting with his signature cutlery weapon and is shown to play dead as in the manga and anime.

I'm not going to lie I didn't have high hopes for this film but I really enjoyed the plot and the acting from Hiro Mizushima, Ayame Goriki and Mizuki Yamamoto made it an even more enjoyable watch, the trailer did not do Hiro Mizushima justice as I couldn't decide whether i liked him as my favorite demon butler but after watching it I couldn't have picked a better actor to portray him. Mizuki Yamamoto played Rin really well and I couldn't help smile when she went from clumsy maid to bad ass protecter. Ayame Goriki pulled of head of the Genpo family better then I could have expected she proved she could be the lead in a big movie that is well known in the manga and anime world.

The film was released in Japan January 2014 and the film debuted at third place in it's opening weekend in the Japanese box office and grossed a total of $5,243,260 (in Japan).

Any one can get into this film as you don't have to know the story of the manga or the anime to know whats happening and by the end everything is explained, maybe it will even make you want to know how the story will end in the manga and just see how cunning both Ciel and Sebastian can be.

see you soon!

An nyoung 

Sayonara 

Zai Jian 

Bye 

Black Butler Anime

Hello 

An nyoung 

Konnichiwa 

Ni hao 

Today is the anime for yesterday's manga: Black Butler, as I said yesterday I watched the anime before reading the manga and the anime and manga differ in storyline but the entertainment still remains in both.

To be honest when I first watched the anime I didn't think I would get into it as much as I am now mainly because I couldn't get into the voices, I found the accents annoying but a few episodes in I got used to it and grew to love the characters mainly Sebastian like many other fans of this franchise, he's just utterly badass and swoon worthy. I said yesterday that I'd give more character info so here goes.

Season 1

Season 1 follows the manga to a certain point with a few episodes swapped around and the story told differently, as far as I am aware how season 1 ends doesn't feature in the manga. The first episode opens up with Ciel creating his contract with Sebastian, which then in turn you meet all the characters.

Ciel Phantomhive 

Known as the Earl Ciel Phantomhive he's a 13 year old boy that runs the funtom company and is the head of the Phantomhive house with his mother and father being murdered when their homes was burnt down. Ciel then kidnapped and tortured which makes him create his contract with the demon Sebastian. Ciel is always seem wearing a patch over his right eye that bears the pentagram that shows of his contract with Sebastian. Like previous Earls of the Phantomhive's Ciel is known as the Queen's guard dog and has the job of eliminating criminals of the underworld.

Sebastian Michaelis

Sebastian is a demon that makes contracts with humans with their souls as payment when the contract is completed. Sebastian takes his role as butler seriously and often shows concern for Ciel's safety and well being, he has a weakness and fondness for cats and tends to get distracted easily when he sees one. His choice of weapons is cutlery and he's skilled when it comes to fighting and beating his opponents and true to his demon form he's seen as manipulative, ruthless and sadistic. Sebastian also has a mark on his left hand that bides him to Ciel and whenever Ciel's mark is on show Sebastian is able to find his location. Sebastian's catchphrase is the anime is different from the manga, the manga he says he's one devil of a butler but the anime he says he's one hell of a butler.

The Phantomhive Servants:

Mey-Rin

Mey-Rin is the household maid and has visual acuity but Ciel gave her round spectacles which made her clumsy and prevents her from seeing things properly. She also has a crush on Sebastian with her blushing on occasion and being more clumsy in his presence. Sebastian hired her mainly to protect the Phantomhive estate as she is a professional sniper.

Finnian aka Finny

Finny is the household gardener and like Mey-Rin is rather clumsy and often ends up destroying the garden. Finny chose the job as gardener as he loves being outside after he was kept locked up inside while he was being experimented on, because of these experiments Finny has superhuman strength but tries to keep it at bay for fear of hurting people. Like Mey-Rin he also received a gift from Ciel a straw hat that he's often seen wearing. Finny was also hired to protect the Phantomhive estate with the use of his strength.

Baldroy aka Bard

Bard is the household cook and like Mey-Rin & Finny is not very good at his role as he tries to often rush the cooking process by using weapons like flamethrowers to cook the food and it often ends up inedible making Sebastian to rectify. Even though he's cooking skills are poor he is able to take control of any situation from his past experience being part or the military which led to his employment by Sebastian.

Tanaka

Tanaka is the household steward and is often seen drinking tea and in a super deformed form (bottom picture). Tanaka is an original member of the Phantomhive staff and worked with Ciel's father. He's very knowledgeable and often appears in his normal form when revealing facts etc. 

Grell Sutcliffe

Is a grim reaper and is first introduced as Madam Red's butler, he has a death scythe in the shape of a chainsaw and has a crush on Sebastian to Sebastian's dismay. Grell is cunning, flamboyant, ruthless, bloodthirsty and often sadistic. He's capable of fighting as an equal against Sebastian and he loves the colour Red.

I've seen in many places that Grell has been described as both male and female but to me he's make but likes to be feminine.

The Undertaker

The Undertaker is Ciel's go to person when it concerns corpses and needing information on the underworld, it is later revealed he is a former grim reaper that went rogue. He is also a funeral director and like Sebastian is both interested in humans and cares for Ciel.

Like most anime series' I watch Black Butler has some catchy and good opening and ending songs even the opening and ending credits keep you watching.

Season 1 Opening 

Ending 1

Ending 2

Season 2

Season 2 isn't part of the manga and follows a new storyline with new characters but with characters above returning but starts with a new household with Sebastian appearing to take back something that belongs to him. This series follows the story of Alois Trancy wanting to bring Sebastian by taking away Ciel from him.

Alois Trancy 

Alois takes on the role of the head of the Trancy manor and is led by a lie by his butler that Sebastian was the demon his brother made a contract with which caused his death making Alois wanting to obtain Ciel to make Sebastian suffer. Like Ciel Alois has a horrific past with the opening seen showing him waking up in bed with the real Earl Trancy, he is seen battered and bruised when he makes his contract. His contract mark is located on his tongue.

Claude Faustus

Like Sebastian Claude is a demon butler and it's shown early on that he and Sebastian don't get along with Claude telling Alois that Sebastian was the demon that killed his brother and destroyed his village. Claude is very manipulative and will go to any extreme to get what he wants.

Hannah Annafellows 

Hannah is also a demon and acts as the Trancy maid and at the start is seem having her left eye gouged out by Alois for looking at him directly, she always shoes loyalty to Alois and reveals that she cares deeply for him. She is skilled in battle and is able to pull weapons out of nowhere.

Thompson, Timber & Cantebury 

As you can see they are triplets and also demons and are skilled with household chores. They are always shown to be quiet and only ever seen communicating with each other using gestures and hushed whispering. Even though they obey the orders that Claude gives then they are in fact Hannah's subordinates.

Season 2 also has some catching opening and ending songs with the credits also being eye catching. 

Season 2 opening 

Ending 1

Ending 2

To this day Black Butler is one of my favourite Anime's and is one of the Anime's I can watch on repeat and restart ones it's finished, some girls fantasize about Dracula but for me it's the demon butler Sebastian. I can't recommend this anime enough.

You see it's one hell of an anime.

See you soon! 

An nyoung 

Sayonara 

Zai Jian 

Bye 

Manga Madness: Black Butler

Hello 

An nyoung 

Konnichiwa

Ni hao 

It's another Manga Madness and this week it's Black Butler also known as Kuroshitsuji. After seeing a lot of people Cosplay characters of Black Butler I decided to give it a go and begun with the anime but more on that tomorrow all I will say is that it was good enough for me to decide to read the manga.

Written and illustrated by Yana Toboso it follows the young Earl Ciel Phantomhive and his exquisite butler Sebastian Michaelis. Ciel witnesses the murder of his parents and he himself is then kidnapped and tortured, Sebastian appears and forms a contract with Ciel to help him get revenge for his parents and also to protect him while he plays the role of the Queen's guard dog, as you may have guessed there is something I'm not telling you about Sebastian; he's a demon and when his contract with Ciel is fulfilled he gets to devour Ciel's soul.

The series is set in London during the Victorian Era and one of the stories that caught my eye was they included Jack The Ripper into the story (many of my friends know that this part of history interests me) even though they keep the victims true to history like all stories with Jack The Ripper the killer is changed to fit the plot and even though I've revealed one person from this section in my pictures I kept the other behind for you to find out for yourself, I never saw it coming.

So far 21 volumes have been released and the manga is still on going but as of yet I only have 6 volumes (I've only read 3 so far) and so far there's nothing I can fault them for the story and illustrations are amazing, I love that each volume has an alternate cover and name behind the real cover and each volume has a picture that shows the characters that are introduced in that volume, check out tomorrow's anime post for more character info.

Volume 1

Inside cover

Black Host

Back cover

Mey-Rin, Finnian, Baldroy, Ciel,

Sebastian & Tanaka

Contents

Sebastian's choice of weapons

Volume 2

Inside cover

Black Doctor 

Back cover

Grell Sutcliffe, Madam Red, Lau, Ciel,

Sebastian & The Undertaker

Contents 

Sebastian's weakness 

Ciel dressed as a girl 

Volume 3

Inside cover

Black Ninja 

Back cover

William T. Spears, Grell Sutcliffe,

Ciel & Sebastian

Contents 

Volume 4

Inside cover

Black Racer

Back cover 

Agni, Prince Soma, Ciel &

Sebastian 

Contents

Volume 5

Inside cover 

Black Chef

Back cover

Fred Abberline, Arthur Randall, Ciel,

Sebastian, Lau & Ran-Mao 

Contents 

Volume 6

Inside cover 

Black Golfer

Back cover 

I only know Ciel & Sebastian 

not read this far

Contents 

I suggest even if you don't read manga but have an interest in all thinks dark for example: Vampires, demons and monsters then check out Black Butler and you could be pleasantly surprised.

You see it's one devil of a manga.

See you soon! 

An nyoung 

Sayonara 

Zai Jian 

Bye