| Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler of A-1 Pictures One awesome gothic crack series! Story had potential but turned out to suck pretty badly. At least the main character made up for many of the flaws. He's indeed one hell of a butler!  Rating: C OKAY! Not that great but isn't bad either! Favoritism: 7.5 hearts out of 10 |  |
If it was just a story of the ordinary lives of a rich person and his butler, this would have been boring. However, this series added some dark fantasy elements by making the butler a demon. That made him extraordinary! He was invincible, thus a perfect bodyguard. This makes the series not typical, because you could expect the impossible and bizarre to something supposedly historically normal. What's more amazing is that the butler is not just there for fighting, but he actually does butler duties . . . and he does his responsibilities splendidly too. Totally inhumane, but still wonderful.
His master is no ordinary person either. He's just a child but his thinking is already so deep and his past had been so dark and painful. He acts colds and merciless, but overall not really a bad person.
There had been nice character developments on the two main characters, but with the rest they weren't handled that well (aside from a few, but with the majority, still done horrible). The servants had been the most annoying characters in the series, but they actually weren't that bad . . . however, their development was just done too late and in a rush. The same goes to Elizabeth, and her servant for some reason only appeared in later episodes. Grell had been interesting, but after the big fight he just became a pathetic gay freak. Will should have gotten a big role, but he just stayed as a minor character in the end. Undertaker had been lovable from beginning to end but . . . that revelation about his true identity . . . though it makes sense . . . it's just so . . . POOF! It's like they only made him that way for the convenience of the story progress.
Speaking of the story, it had so much potential but it just had to add so many ridiculous and nonsensical stuff. There were also too many WTF moments and events that just happen all of a sudden just to make something happen or make things more confusing. I am lazy to mention story flaws one by one, but overall it had been really bad . . . it's disappointing because it had so much potential.
The angel and demon thing was the worst part of the series I think. And I am okay with the reversal of roles (Demon being on the good side, Angel being on the bad side) but why the hell is there only ONE angel and ONE demon in the series? A fallen angel becoming something like a fanatic nazi is okay but it's just TOO ODD that there are no other angels stopping him and the demon who don't really give a damn got involved and ended up as the hero of the day is just . . . WHAT THE HELL?
Despite the many headaches this series has given me, it at least had been so awesome in other ways. First is the music; it's so wonderful and fits the series so much and it pleases my ears so much. Second is the animation; art is really great, as expected from Aniplex. Scenes/Moments, whether action or drama, were presented really well. Those fights were so bloody badass! Third is the staff; voice actors, directors, and everyone (maybe except the writers)! They are so talented and did a very good job on this series. Lastly, it's Sebastian; he's simply one hell of a butler.
Aside from those I like it the historical and cultural aspects in this series. The gothic and underground society stuff had been cool too. I also really love the chess analogies between the characters.
The story was horribly disappointing, but I had to admit that I had enjoyed watching it. I guess I could be counted as one of those fan masochists out there. Haha! Well, I hope only the anime fillers made this series bad, because the manga doesn't seem to be heading the same direction, and I hope it'll remain that way. So if you want to save yourself from headaches, read the manga instead. But if you're alright with that and want to enjoy animated Kuroshitsuji awesomeness, the anime isn't that bad. :-)
