Black Butler ★★★★

Ciel with his demon contract

Black Butler takes place in England with a wealthy and very young Lord Ciel Phantomhive. After his parents are murdered in a fire and disappearing for a month, he returns with his extremely loyal butler, Sebastian Michaelis. 

Sebastian with his demon contract

During that month of absence Ciel has formed a contract with Sebastian, who is actually a demon. Demons form contracts with humans to fulfill their wish, and in return, the demon eats the human's soul. Their contract is shown by the contract seal on Sebastian's left hand and Ciel's left eye.

Finny, Mei Rin, and Bard

Sebastian also hires a gardener (Finny), a maid (Mei Rin), and a cook (Bard), though none of them are good at their jobs. They mostly act as comedic relief throughout the anime. They were hired by Sebastian for protection since, Finny is extremely strong, Mei Rin is an experienced sniper, and Bard has an amazing sense of intuition.

Chibi Tanaka drinking Tea

Tanaka was the old butler and doesn't really do anything in the anime. Though he is always present, usually in chibi (short) form. He's also always shown drinking tea.



After his parents' untimely death, Ciel has taken over the Phantomhive household as well as the company. The Phantomhives have been known as the Queen of England's watchdog and thus, Ciel is made to investigate different cases around the country. 

Many of these cases involve death reapers, angels, or even other demons. The first case that Ciel investigates is the mysterious case of Jack the Ripper. The anime takes a few cases and applies them to the anime with a few twists and turns. 

As it turns out Jack the Ripper is the work of Ciel's aunt, Madam Red, and a reaper by the name of Grell Sutcliff. Grell is obsessed with the color red and also becomes obsessed with Sebastian while fighting him. 

Undertaker and Grell

Another interesting character that comes in handy when Ciel is in need of information is a man that goes by the name of Undertaker. You find out a bit more about him later on throughout the series but he is definitely an interesting character with a lot of fans. 

Lau

Ciel also sometimes goes to Lau who is a Chinese noblemen that is head of an opium den.  He's not extremely important but does play a few key roles in a few arcs.

Throughout the anime Ciel and Sebastian solve murders and mysteries around the country; however, they also run into problems with other demons, angels, and reapers. 

Alois with his contract

The second season mostly has to do with another young Lord, Alois, and his butler, Claude Faustus who is
also a demon. Alois and Claude are exact opposites of Ciel and Sebastian. Alois is very emotional while Ciel is rather stoic. Claude can be rather random in his movements and is rather emotionless while Sebastian is very precise and purposeful in his movements and gets upset rather quickly.

Claude with his demon contract

Season two starts off with Claude Faustus, another demon stealing Ciel's soul from Sebastian. From there it becomes a battle between Sebastian and Claude for Ciel's soul. However, Alois, is upset that everyone seems to want Ciel's soul, so Alois and Ciel are also constantly fighting each other. 


When Alois was little he had a younger brother, Luka, who made a contract with a demon by the name of Hannah Anafeloz. Hannah had of course, eaten Luka's soul, however Alois thought that his death was cause by Sebastian. 

Alois finds out the truth when he makes a contract with Hannah and makes a new wish, for no one to get Ciel's soul, thus turning Ciel into a demon at the end of season two. While all of this is happening, Alois is stuck inside Ciel's body and Hannah tells Sebastian and Claude that they have to fight to the death for Ciel's soul. 

Alois's seal with Hannah while in Ciel's body

Hannah Anafeloz

Ciel as a demon

Sebastian wins but unfortunately, he is to remain Ciel's butler forever since Ciel is now a demon. 

Overall the anime was pretty good. It had some interesting and funny characters, some mystery, a lot of fighting, and some good twists. The second season was okay, but the first season was better. 

Snake

The anime completely diverted from the manga. For one thing, Alois isn't even in the manga and instead they go forward with a circus arc with new characters such as Snake.

Lau smoking with Ran Mao

A few things I did not like about the anime was that it was extremely racist. For instance, with Lau, he is almost always shown with his eyes shut, he generally has a bunch of girls hanging on him like concubines, and he's usually smoking (opium probably). Also in the beginning they show Italians as being in mafias, selling drugs, and only wanting money. 

Ciel is also supposed to be betrothed to a Lady named Elizabeth Middleford (Lizzie) but he pretty much just acts like she's some annoying girl and pushes her aside. I also hate how much Lizzie tries gain his affection, though I understand her just trying to make him happy as her betrothed. 

Anime Lizzie vs. Manga Lizzie

In the manga however she is shown to actually be able to stand her own against a hoard of zombies, but in the anime she's shown to be helpless and pathetic.


As a note the manga was supposedly written to be a yaoi (male male relationship) so there are some scenes in which the characters get a bit closer and more intimate than they probably should be in a normal setting.