Skip to main content

Kuroshitsuji



Set in the Victorian era, the queen's watchdog Ciel Phantomhive is a name to be feared in underground London. The ten-year-old head of the Phantomhive household is just biding his time to exact revenge on the people who murdered his parents and put him through a humiliating torture afterwards. After his brief disappearance, Ciel reappears with a mysterious butler Sebastian Michaelis who seems to be capable of doing everything, even the most impossible tasks. The others are unaware however that Ciel and Sebastian formed a contract so the boy can accomplish his goals. With very few leads, Ciel's best hope to find the perpetrators is by solving crimes the investigators could not handle.


Members of the Phantomhive household; Ciel in front

This 24-episode series with a title like Black Butler might seem frivolous and a stuff for girls to squeal over, but it does have some interesting twists near the end. There is also a significant change in the overall mood when Ciel and Sebastian find some clues to the murderers of the Phantomhive. Kuroshitsuji is not without some bloody fights and grisly deaths; this is after all about a demon who wants to devour the soul of a troubled child out for bloody retribution. Sure, the fight scenes are not on par with most action series but if you want to see people die in a fight (not just become buddies later) then you won't get disappointed.


Ciel and Sebastian

It has some good mix of humor, action and mystery. The characters are not so hard to like. Just do not let a few enthusiastic fans discourage you before giving the series a try. If you're also into detective stuff, the series has a lot of episodes that involve solving crimes. There's one case involving Jack the Ripper. As for the accuracy of a Victorian-era setting, I cannot vouch for that (I'm no expert) although from the examples I've seen I think the series can fairly stand up to that scrutiny.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are always welcome! Please keep it clean.

Popular Posts

Deities and Mythical Beings of the Davao Tribes

Note: I don't claim to be an expert in the mythology and religion of the six tribes featured here. My source for this information is Fay-Cooper Cole's The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao. This entry is solely a list for future references. The deities and mythological creatures here are from Fay-Cooper Cole's The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao . This is a list of the gods, goddesses, and spirits/spirit classes of the Bagobo, Bila-an, Kulaman, Tagakaolo, Ata, and Mandaya. I retained the spelling of the names found in the book. For full accounts of the myths and customs of the tribes, I recommend reading the book. BAGOBO Eugpamolak Manobo/Manama/Kalayagan  - first and greatest creator whose home is in the sky. Offerings for him should be white. Tolus ka balakat - name means "dweller in the balakat"; loves blood but not the flesh of humans and is one of the three deities for whom the yearly sacrifice is made. Mandarangan and Darago - husba...
Read more entries»

An Analysis of the Enuma Elish (The Epic of Creation) or The Seven Tablets of Creation, A Babylonian Creation Myth

*Note: This was a term paper for a class. Since I don't know what grade the professor gave me (or of she even read the paper at all), I decided to post it here. The Enuma Elish is also called The Seven Tablets of Creation. It documents the Babylonian creation epic. It was recorded in seven clay tablets found at various locations including the infamous library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, discovered by Austen Henry Layard. The name of the hero of the epic varies depending on where the tablet is found. The most common version tells of Marduk as the hero. In other versions, the god of the city is considered the hero. Introduction The title of the epic is taken from its opening line “When in the height, heaven was not named...” The epic chronicles Marduk’s war against Tiamat. He leads the other gods against the old divinity who had turned against her children. Besides Marduk’s exploits, the epic also tells about the birth of the gods and goddesses and the creation of the universe....
Post a Comment
Read more entries»

The Ghost of Sparta: A Review of the God of War Series

Several adaptations of Greek Mythology in media have appeared over the years. Some were successful while the others have failed to represent the ancient Greeks. Among the most memorable I've encountered is this series. Not only was it able to illustrate the heroes, monsters and gods in myths, but also brought to the fore the often ignored question - what happens to the Greek pantheon after they defeated the Titans? It is unique because the hero in this game is not a hercules-achilles-jason clone. The protagonist is a minor figure in Greek mythology. Kratos (Cratos) is a servant of the gods and one of Zeus' children, which is close enough to the real version (Cratos is not a child of Zeus, but one of his servants along with Nike). And unlike most heroes, he does not carry weapons to save humanity. He seeks revenge to cleanse his past. The series began when he sought to kill Ares, the God of War.  He was finally able to kill Ares with the help of the other gods. The portrayal...
Post a Comment
Read more entries»

Literary Theory and Criticism

Note: This is my final paper for Adv. Literary Theory and Criticism, one of my classes in MA in Literature.  October 2015. I'm posting this here as a backup in case I lose my copy and I need a guide in the future. Literature is the soul of a civilization. It is the collection of dreams, ideas and experiences of a people. It is what separates us from animals. It is an examination of our aspirations, happiness, fears and sadness, ideas and opinions. As a student of literature, I have learned that to get the most out of a poem, short story, novel, play or film, I must go beyond simple reading and observation. To do this however, I have to answer first the question "how do we fully appreciate a literary piece?" This essay is divided into four sections, namely; what is literature for me; the literary theories and criticism; Heneral Luna: a film review using the poststructuralist approach; and what makes a good literature? In the first part, I will recall my experiences a...
Post a Comment
Read more entries»