Scale: (1 Creepy – 10 Most Worthy)
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| Indeed, the world is ending. |
Warning:
Those who have a fear of spiders, do not
read this review, or watch this series. There are spiders in it.
(╯°□°）╯︵
┻━┻
FUCK THIS SHIT. I DON’T WANT TO REVIEW THIS
ONE!
…
-sigh-
┬──┬◡ﾉ(° -°ﾉ)
-cough- Ahem. Sorry about that rant,
but I just went through the episodes again, and well… why me? (ι´Д｀)ﾉ
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| This looks promising. |
So here we are again (damn it) and
I’m finally getting around to
reviewing Kuroshitsuji II, for you
English speaking people, Black Butler,
Season II. The first one was a trip, but this one is a bigger one. Why?
Because of this creep:
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| Stay away from me. I have bug spray. |
He’s a fucking spider demon. Don’t believe me? Just take a look :
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| 'Sup? |
Yeah; he’s a creep; a big time creep, even. He surpasses even Alois, guys. He’s that fucking creepy. So, what exactly does the second season of Black Butler have in store for us? Well, take a look:
“Kuroshitsuji
II takes place in the second half of the 19th Century in England, where the
Trancy household resides. It is set one year and three months after the ending
of the first season. After the second episode, the series will mostly follow
Ciel and his servants, and the characters of the Phantomhive household,
including Elizabeth Midford. Ciel was presumed dead at the end of the first
series, but Sebastian had in fact never succeeded in taking Ciel's soul to
begin with. Nonetheless, Ciel has lost his memories, including those about
Angelina Durless's death, Grell, Soma and Agni, and Angela.” (Kuroshitsuji
Wiki)
Oh my god, they didn’t.
Sebastian must be pissed about the
fact that he lost his dinner. I mean, that soul was ripe, just brimming with
delicious spices and poor Sebastian must have been dying to sink his teeth on Ciel’s soul… only to have it be stolen,
retrieved, and reset to 0%.
Now, a thing
about the cast list: if there are certain characters missing (i.e. the comedic
people: Bardroy, Finni, Mey-Rin etc. etc.) is because I’ve already went over
them in the last review, and don’t
see a point in having them in this one; you hardly see any of them, really. If
there’s a character listed, it’s for reviewing. Several characters do come
back. Hint: The colour red.
Well, as long as I’ve tried to put it
off… it looks like the inevitable has come… hold on to your hats ladies and gents;
we’re off on another horrendous adventure!
The Cast:
Phantomhive Household:
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| I'm still here, bitch. |
Ciel Phantomhive in this season is still a brat with a
demon butler, too much wealth, and too much power. Although, in Kuroshitsuji II, he’s more determined to
get his hands on the murderer of his parents (Whom he believes to be Alois
Trancy) and will do nothing to stop it. In Episode 7, “Deathly Butler,” Ciel actually manages to gravely harm Alois. Holy shit kid, you’re 13! You shouldn’t be
messing with swords at that age, I don’t care if you’re the Earl of Phantomhive
or not! Well, pretty much, Ciel lost his memory, having it reset back to 0%,
and thinks that Alois is the one who murdered his parents and ruined his
childhood (boo hoo). However, that’s not the kicker. The kicker is that Ciel
actually turns into a demon at the end
of the series. Yeah, didn’t see that coming did you?
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| Surprised? |
So, Ciel Phantomhive does
not turn into a dinner for Sebastian. DAMN IT. I was hoping that would
happen! But eh, I will admit, I do feel bad for Sebastian, having to deal with
this brat for the rest of eternity (since y’know, Sebastian didn’t get his
dinner Ciel’s soul). Surprisingly, however, Ceil redeemed himself in this
season, and he’s a more likeable character now. I just wish he would stop being
so… I don’t know, pushy about his pride being wounded?
Score: 5.5 out of 10
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| Dinner. Obey me. |
Sebastian Michaelis or known to the fangirl base as
“Sebby-chan” (ugh… I want to delete those words so badly…) is the demon butler
for the Phantomhive estate. Don’t let his looks fool you, girls, he’s a devil.
He wants to nom on Ciel’s soul, which is how we all thought the first season
ended, but alas! We were wrong. He and Claude eventually settle onto an
agreement to… I guess the term I’m looking for is to “share” Ciel’s soul. Again, at the end of the series, since Ciel’s
turned into a devil spawn demon, I guess poor Sebastian here’s stuck
with the brat for eternity. However, he does seem more protective (since his
food was being threatened) of Ciel, and even mentions in Episode 10, “Zero Butler” that Claude “had his
grubby hands all over my dinner.” Goes to show that Sebastian does have a nice side, but that’s only
when his food is being threatened. Huh. I only gave him as a high rating as I
did (below) because I found it amusing that he went to such great lengths to
get his food, and in the end that dream was squashed.
Noms, denied.
Score: 4.5 out of 10
Overall Score: 5 out of
10
Hey, it looks like the pair actually got a legit 5/10! That’s
a rarity, but the Shinigamis still have you beat. Sorry Phantomhive household,
you weren’t good enough.
The Shinigamis:
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| A Reaper of Death ☆ © Grell Sutcliff |
Grell Sutcliff hey, the red reaper is back~ Hurrah!
Grell this time serves as an actual
character and does have a -somewhat- bigger role in this season. This time, he
teams up with Sebastian to help get his dinner back get Ciel back from
Claude, and serves as a “plot mover.” In Episode 3, “Wench Butler,” Grell shows up and Ciel has a flashback to Madam
Red (when he saw the coat) and calls him a freak. However, in Episodes 10 and
11, “Zero Butler” and “Crossroads Butler,”
Grell actually pulls his weight around and helps out after Sebastian pretty
much… seduced the Shinigami into
helping him (oh my god, I shuddered when I typed that). So his previous 9.5
rating actually went down another .5 because he got seduced (ugh…) into helping
the demon butler, when he could’ve sat back and watched the outcome.
Score: 9 out of 10
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| Dude, I totally forgot my line. |
Ronald Knox has a grand total of 20 lines in the
entire season, and shows up in one episode, that being Episode 9, “Hollow Butler.” The only reason why
I’m reviewing this character because, hey, new guy! Ronald Knox is apparently
one of Grell’s apprentices (I share you pain, dude, I share your pain…), and
thinks that he needs to change his line. He’s caught in a battle between
William T. Spears and Sebastian, and eventually gives up the chase due to the
fact that William got his glasses knocked off his face. Oh, and his death scythe?
It’s a freaking lawn mower. Also, did you notice that every Shinigami’s death scythe had to do with gardening tools?
I kid you not; lookit:
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| Are they specialized in gardening or landscaping? |
Anyways, back to the review. Ronald is an okay character; I
haven’t seen much of him to give him an accurate score, even if he’s one of Grell’s apprentices.
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| No, not even a grin will help out your score. Nice try though. |
Score: 8.5 out of 10
Overall Score: 8.8 out
of 10
Tsk, tsk, Shinigami’s. You’re down a couple of points from
before… granted that I only reviewed two of you, but there’s honestly no point
in reviewing the others because A) I don’t think the Undertaker shows up (don’t
quote me on that, and for you people who nit-pick, I will ignore you) and B) we’ve
already established that William’s obsessed with not getting overtime.
Trancy Household:
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| Creepy and you know it. |
Alois Trancy, the earl of the Trancy household.
This kid may look like he’s 14, but not only does he looks like he’s younger,
he’s a fucking creeper. I mean, seriously. In episodes 5 and 6, “Beacon Butler,” and “Bedwed Butler” he
has Hannah strip and takes on her clothes instead. Not only that, but in the first episode of the entire season he
gouged her eye out. Tell me this kid isn’t crazy. I dare you audience, I
dare you. Gaaah this kid gives me the creeps; which is pretty sad because
honestly, he isn’t bad looking. If he wasn’t so psychohappy, overall creepy, and
demanding all the time, I might consider giving him a higher rating; but… god
this kid…
Also, a fun fact about Alois: his real name is Jim Macken;
meaning, he isn’t of pureblood of the line. He inherited the title when the
previous head of the family (a pedo) named him the heir before he passed away.
Good lord… no wonder this kid is fucked up!
Score: 3.5 out of 10
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| Can't see without my glasses |
Claude Faustus, the demon butler of the Trancy
Household. Remember the guy at the beginning? Yeah; that’s him: the creeper;
the spider demon. Instead of silver knives, he fights with gold knives. Instead
of cats (like Bassie), Claude here likes canaries. What is he, a D*sney
princess? I mean, I honestly think he’s a legit stalker. -sigh-
Anyways, Claude here strikes up a bargain with Sebastian to
get Alois’s soul, while Bassie gets Ciel’s, only the plan backfires and he ends
up lusting for Ciel’s soul instead. He only used Alois as a tool to get Ciel
(meanwhile, the psychohappy child is wondering why Claude doesn’t love him and
freaking out over that). Eventually, the pair (Sebastian and Claude) duke it
out, and lo behold, Claude is mortally (er… demonally…? Is that even a word)
wounded, and eventually dies. Thank god. Overall, Claude could be a really good
demon antagonist if he just weren’t so… weird.
Although, the tap dancing moves in the first episode, “Clawed Butler” was pretty sweet.
You gotta love that dancing.
Score: -100 1
out of 10
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| Ran Mao is better than you. |
Hannah Annafeloz is the maid for the Trancy household.
Timid, shy, and afraid of Alois, you find out that in the first episode, her
eye’s gouged out. After that, she follows whatever Alois tells her (in fear)
and pretty much is used for fanservicing. She can use weapons pretty well, and
you’d think she was human… until Episode 7, “Deathly
Butler,” in which she’s a human sheathe for a demon sword.
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| What. |
Yup, so technically, Hannah isn’t human. She’s a demon. Great;
another one of you creeps.
So yeah, Hannah is a demon, who made a contract with Alois’s
brother (Luka) and ate his soul; because Luka’s one wish was to “make his brother
[Alois] happy.”
-sigh-
I wonder when I can flip the table again… (ι´Д｀)ﾉ
Score: 2.5 out of 10
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| Who was who again...? |
The Triplets are demon butlers. What, does Alois
have an entire staff just of demons? Good lord kid. :T Well, anyways, the
triplets names are Cantebury, Thompson, and Timber. Don’t ask me which is
which, because well, they’re triplets. They’re followers of Hannah Annafeloz,
for whatever reason. Not much is known about them, but all I know is that they’re
triplets, demons, and the fact that you
never hear them talk.
Never.
That said I’m kinda glad that I can’t figure out what they’re
saying. I probably don’t want to know.
Score: 5 out of 10
Overall Score: 3 out of
10
Huh, Alois Trancy, you have more creepy people than I’d like
to admit. Perhaps you need to take a page out of the Phantomhive household and have
only one demon around?
Animation:
Kuroshitsuji II depended heavily on the CGI, but
other than that, there was nothing wrong with it. The animation seemed
flawless, there was little to no mix ups, save for Episode 10, “Zero Butler” where Ciel’s gloves went mysteriously
disappearing during the zoomed out parts of the garden. Other than that, I
can’t think of anything else to say about the animation. A lot of the voice
actors came back (with some new ones, obviously) to voice the characters. J.
Michael Tatum, why did you have that random sigh during the preview of Episode “Terrorist Butler”? Do you
realise that you sent one of my friends into a fangirl fanatic that we had to
give her two ice packs to cool her down?!
Overall Score: 6.5 out
of 10
Plot:
Anyways, Kuroshitsuji II has twelve (12) episodes along with six (6) OVAs
(Original Video Animations) to boot. Not bad, considering Kuroshitsuji I had 26 episodes, but no OVAs. This season is darker,
creepier, and all around fast paced. There’s no slow build up to a great
conflict, the viewer instantaneously dives into the story, starting off with
Alois Trancy (listed above under Trancy Household) making a pact with
Claude Faustus (the creeper). Thus, we now have two brats toting around demon
butlers.
Wonderful
The plot, again, is set during the
Victorian time period, but has its moderations. There are times where the plot
does get a little lighter so the viewer has time to breathe and not drown in
all the serious business that’s going down. In the end, Kuroshitsuji II ended on a good note, if not bittersweet. It wasn’t
as slow paced as Kuroshitsuji I,
which is a good thing if you don’t like slow paced anime, and it kept me on the
edge of my seat. All in all, this series is worth watching.
However:
Before watching Kuroshitsuji II, you might want to go and watch Kuroshitsuji I so you could get a
general idea of what is going on. I had a friend who did that (not naming
names) and she was thoroughly confused until she went back and watched the
first season. Then everything in Kuroshitsuji
II made sense.
The only problem I have is the fact
that it’s rather… not creepy, per se, but there was a lot of fanservice. That I
could’ve done without (we have Ran Mao, why add in Hannah A-1 Pictures?); and
it knocked the rating down a peg.
Overall Score: 9.5 out
of 10
Setting:
Victorian
Era, with moderations, and a huge dosage of creepiness. Not all that
spectacular.
Overall Score: 5 out of
10
Sources:
Some Images found on Google
Kuroshitsuji © Yana Toboso
Video found on YouTube (please support the official release!)
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| Anyone reminded of Umineko? |
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