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