Review: Kuroshitsuji (anime)

[it's not BL, okay!!]

[WARNING: This review may contain spoilers!]

[WARNING 2: Sebastian fangirls GO AWAY!]

I finished this a long time ago. but I'm bored and I feel like writing reviews. So I picked Kuroshitsuji because I see everyone is obsessed about Sebastian, and I wanted to know what's so great about him. Then there's a shota that I'm attracted to, so I bought the anime before reading the manga. As I suspected, though it is not officially BL, but there are hints. *wink*

Oh yeah, this is Square-Enix's production! My fave game company.
Set in the Victorian era, this is a story about a 12 year old boy who lost his parents in a fire. He made a Faustian contract with a demon who serves him as a (combat) butler. Somehow this brat called Ciel Phantomhive got his riches back after he makes a deal with the demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Ironically he's named after a real life Sebastian Michaelis, a French inquistor who compiled a hierarchy of demons in Hell. Ciel is a sour-faced boy with an eye-patch, an have enough intelligence to manage a toy and candy company. But he's completely useless in combat so he goes SEBASTIAN, I CHOOSE YOU to protect him from pedophiles. But Sebastian doesn't mind being treated like a pokemon because it's his job anyway... until Ciel finds the murderer of his parents....
PROTAGONISTS PLEASE...

1. Sebastian Michaelis

Dontcha? Oh everybody does except for me :). Sebastian is overrated. His perfection is awesome but it's a turn off because he's a demon and he can do all the house chores impossibly fast. Faster than vampires! Every girl dreams of getting into his pants, including Maylene the maid, but you can obviously see how he condemns clumsy and imperfect people. Yup, the very moment he shoos the other servants away and do everything himself, I know I can never love him (I've met somebody who does all the work without discussing with his subordinates - i didn't like that leadership). And I wonder why you want a boyfriend like this hehehehehe.... unless you make a Faustian contract with him, he'll defend you with his life (?)... but it's not sincerely because it's what he has to do!

2. Ciel Phantomhive

 

Is it me, or are child geniuses overrated? Like his predecessors, he serves the Queen. But unlike his predecessors, he has a bodyguard. He treats him like a chess piece, and other people he knows are his chess pieces including his aunt. So he doesn't mind sacrificing his pieces until he attains his goals. Like Lelouch who's unathletic, but Lelouch has more pawns. Oh yea, one of Ciel's eyes is cursed too! Dammit, weird eye power is overrated too. He has an a fiancee who's complete opposite of him and annoys him with her girlish decorations (these b1tches just HAVE to exist). But poor Elizabeth just wants to cheer him up even though she's oblivious about what's really going on in his life.

3. Servants of the Phantomhive Household
Well at first I thought that the servants are useless, because Sebastian practically did everything the servants cannot do. He's an attention whore, so what can we do about it? But later in the anime (and manga) you'll find out what's their actual purpose.
- Tanaka. Issit me or are butlers always named Tanaka and Sebastian? Maybe the japanese butlers are Tanaka descendants... hmm. Anyways, he's the house steward, and used to be a butler serving under Ciel's late parents. But he got stabbed and can't do anything much... but he still can kick ass.

[From left: Maylene, Bardroy and Finnian]

- Bardroy. The cook. He cooks with flamethrowers and bombs. Go eat some black things if you leave him be. He's an American, and he's a bomb expert who can use whatever he finds in the kitchen to ward off intruders.
- Finnian. The gardener, who kills of flowers instead of giving them life. He was actually a super soldier of some sort about 500 years before Allelujah's time, so he has super strength in spite of his girlish looks.
- Maylene. The clumsy maid with a cracked pair of glasses. She refused to change them because it's the first present her master gave. But the truth is, she's a far-sighted sniper. You should see how she use hundreds of rifles to decrease the reload time.
***
Unfortunately, like any other anime adapted from a manga, it does not follow the real storyline much. At first, it did, until it reached the middle, where suddenly the plot got f*cked up at the point where everyone is fed with curry bread. Some characters that only appear once in the manga, became re-occuring characters. I'm okay with that because I love them (although they're lamer than Sebastian) - Grell Sutcliffe and Viscount of Druitt... both are rather gay-ish but they amuse me.

[yes I do, Grell!!]
In fact, the anime is gay-er than the manga. There's this dog-man called Pluto (only available in the anime) and he's often seen naked begging for Sebastian's affections. Fanservice much? I nosebled. Yeah... not to forget Grell's pansexuality that is misintepreted as lustful homosexual (not that I mind heh).
Towards the end, it becomes an angel and demon feud. Guess who won lol.
Adding up to the weirdness, it's the Queen Victoria's preserverence of youth and death god's realm (at least we get to see European's Soul Society). Suddenly Lau, the incestuous President of the British Branch of a Chinese trading company got his true purpose revealed when the manga didn't conclude anything about him yet. And the Undertaker's true self is revealed! Then it is revealed how useless Ciel is without Sebastian. And then the mission of the two protagonist seem to be complete, but then I heard the second season is coming. I really hope they don't f*ck it up anymore, cos I do want to see the Noah's Ark Circus.
Somebody please tell me if the Victorian butlers are really capable of being bodyguards too!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention another butler and his bratty lord. But this butler is more like a bodyguard who can do chores like cooking curry. They're good looking fellahs from India. Most likely ancestors of Bollywood actors. I suppose this is one of the three encounters of the name 'Soma' (other than Persona series and Gundam 00) - he's a cheery prince that claims to be Ciel's friend. In my opinion, his servant Agni is a hell lot better than Sebastian. (but why Indian youth always get white hair? Take a look at Lakshata in Code Geass and that Indian mercanary in Bladestorm video game). Although he's human, he can rival with Sebastian's skills. And he doesn't pretend to be nice, and he's at least genuinely helpful to the Phantomhive servants - something Sebastian failed to do (the story is about him, the black butler, of course he deserves all the limelight lol).

[Agni says, "DONTCHA wish you boyfriend was RAW like me?"]

So what do I think overall? The animation is pretty for a manga based anime. I'm happy with the exact adaptation in the first half until the sudden alteration of plotline in the middle of the episode. more supernatural stuff dominated the series, and I think the manga makes more sense. I'm really glad that that Maaya Sakamoto plays Ciel; I'm always amazed by how she can use husky voice and sing like a woman as well.
My favourite song is the second ED, Lacrimosa by Kalafina.
btw don't get me wrong. I love the manga, just not satisfied with the anime. And I may have offended Sebastian fangirls here - oi i told u to go away, didn't I? *points at the top* Sorry but... I fangirl too. It's just that I'm not the kind of person who shuts one eye to one's weakness(es) especially when s/he is so-called perfect (direct translation of a Malay phrase + pun intended). now now... don't get angry. Here' have a motivator~