Learn More About Me: My Favorite Anime

Posted on July 20, 2018    Posted by Athena Scalzi      8 Comments

One thing about me you should know is that I love anime. If you’ve seen any of my “What You Should Be Watching” posts, you’ll know that I love cartoons, too. Anything animated! Artists are amazing! But that’s a separate thing entirely.

So today I’m going to tell you about my all-time favorite anime, Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji). It was the first anime I ever watched, when I was twelve, and only because my friend recommended it so highly that I couldn’t resist. Also, it was on Netflix at the time so I didn’t really have an excuse not to watch it. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. I had never watched anime before, not even Dragon Ball Z or Yu-Gi-Oh! when I was growing up.

Despite my skepticism, I watched it. And I absolutely loved it. My twelve year old mind was blown. It was like a cartoon, but so much darker and violent. A little bit about Black Butler, it’s about a thirteen year old noble boy named Ciel Phantomhive in late 1800s England whose parents were murdered, so he forms a contract with a demon in order to get revenge on the people responsible. The demon poses as Ciel’s butler and together they solve mysteries, bust illegal drug gangs, find Jack the Ripper, etc., all while Ciel runs the company his parents left him in charge of and tries to maintain his appearance as a normal noble.

Black Butler is one of those “mainstream” anime, the kind that has merch in Hot Topic and F.Y.E, and you’re guaranteed to see at least a dozen Ciel cosplayers at any anime convention. Like I said, it was on Netflix at some point, so you know it’s pretty popular. Not only is the show popular, but the manga has sold around 25 million copies.

It has so many awesome elements to it. It’s action-packed, mostly because Ciel orders his demon to massacre the bad guys, but there’s more to it than just pure violence. Although, to be fair, it is pretty dark. I mean the whole premise is that a child who has lost everything sells his soul just to avenge his parents. The only person in his life who protects him and takes care of him is eventually going to devour his soul. So, yeah, it gets heavy sometimes, but it’s also really funny at times! The characters each have their own unique personalities, you’re sure to have a definite favorite. Another great thing about it being so popular is that the English dub actually has really good voice acting, and the demon, Sebastian, is played by one of my favorite voice actors, J. Michael Tatum.

One of the best things about Black Butler is the art. Though, this can’t really be applied to the first two seasons. The art is truly extraordinary in season three and the two following films, but the first two seasons are just average. I’m sure this is due to animation budget, as the show made more and more money after it got popular and whatnot. But the difference really is stunning.

I think my favorite part, though, without a doubt, is Sebastian. The greatest anime demon of all time. I just want to a take a moment to appreciate all of THIS:

Anyways, one thing you should know about Black Butler is that even though it’s my favorite anime, it has a ton of flaws. Like the second season. The ENTIRE second season. It’s terrible, and I hate it. Basically, they stopped following the manga and did something completely different for the second season, and then when the third season came out, it was back to following the manga and acted like the second season never happened. So, yeah, season two is basically not canon and like, never happened. There’s also a lot of episodes in season one that are different from the manga, and the second half of season one is basically as nonexistent as season two, canonically speaking. So, if you’re going to watch Black Butler, I recommend to stop watching season one after episode 15, and then immediately go to season three. However, if you want to stick strictly to how the manga goes, then you should watch episodes 1-6, and 13-15, and then onto season three.

I know that’s like, really confusing, but if you watch past episode 15 or any of season two, you will more than likely just be confused and unhappy; I know I sure was. And season three plus the two movies are so worth it! They are amazing.

To top off this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite Black Butler AMVs. I’ve actually posted one before to show where I first heard a song I recommended, but I’m going to post it again because it is a killer AMV! Of course, these AMVs contain spoilers, but they’re cool to watch if you don’t care about spoilers.

So, while this anime might not be the best anime in existence, and it certainly has its flaws, it is still my favorite and has a very special place in my heart. I’ve seen dozens of anime, and it remains #1, and Sebastian is still my favorite character of all time.

If you get around to watching this anime, let me know what you think! If you’ve seen it before, do you have a favorite character or a favorite opening? Openings are like, a key factor in any anime. Anyways, have a great day!