Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Black Butler: Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

No, it isn't Benson.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 23, 2012

What do you give a young boy, a mega-rich heir to a toy fortune, who has everything? Why, a Faustian bargain of sorts with a demonic butler, of course! It’s hard to know what some fundamentalists might think of a series like Black Butler, an anime which traffics in occult symbolism and outright Satanic imagery at least some of the time, while simultaneously treading a much more innocent and carefree sort of content that actually emphasizes the comic mayhem with regard to some of the supporting characters. It’s an odd stew, to be sure, but Black Butler is stylish and often suave, much like Sebastian Michaelis. Sebastian is not exactly an obsequious servant catering to his master’s every whim. His master is Ciel Phantomhive, an adolescent boy whose parents have died, leaving him heir to a giant fortune, something that has only stoked Ciel’s already rather healthy ego. Black Butler is kind of an unusual enterprise for an anime series, not really because of its “devilish” content (which truth be told is a feature in several other mangas and animes), but more due to its setting, the Victorian era, something which plays into the overall Gothic feeling of the series very well, and which also creates some good opportunities for appealing design elements. The relationship between Sebastian and Ciel is odd, to say the least, and elements of it are revealed in some unexpected ways as the series moves through its first season. Ciel is a character who might be seen as having escaped from the fire directly into the frying pan by forging a bargain with Sebastian, one which ultimately may spell his very demise.

Victorian England might seem like an odd place to set an anime, but for the world of Black Butler, it turns out to be a very interesting and even smart choice. As has recently been utilized to great moody effect in films like the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes reboot, late 19th century London was awash in closet occultists, including such legendary figures as Aleister Crowley (and his poetic “nemesis”, William Butler Yeats), many of whom joined “secret societies” like The Golden Dawn to further their exploration of what in Crowley’s spelling was termed “Magick”. There was certainly a Satanic element to at least some of these explorations (though Crowley of course probably took it—as he did most things —to extremes not condoned by the very polite uppercrust Britishers who were perhaps more naïve in their examinations of ritual and long ago tradition). Black Butler plays on this sort of nascent consciousness rather well, though of course it focuses solely on the relationship between Sebastian and Ciel, forever bound together by Ciel’s invocation of a demonic protector to help keep him safe.

The series does work in various actual historical figures into its stew, including “cameos” (so to speak) of people as disparate as Jack the Ripper and Queen Victoria herself. Black Butler also exists simultaneously on at least a couple of levels. There’s the more dramatic story of the symbiotic relationship between Ciel and Sebastian (one which admittedly does have some comedic elements as well), a story which slowly reveals itself and comes to a rather disturbing conclusion (though one which is evidently sidestepped rather conveniently for the series’ second season). Alongside this more occult oriented fare is a somewhat traditional set of buffoonish supporting players, the other servants in the Phantomhive household, all three of whom are played almost strictly for laughs. It adds up to a somewhat disjointed tone some of the time, but what’s actually surprising here is how well it ends up working more often than not.

Black Butler has a nicely distinctive look, one that is steeped in the mysterious fog of London and which also incorporates some great looking spooky CGI elements into the mix. Spectral beings float on harbor walls, angels explode into light and repeatedly morph between male and female versions of themselves (one of the really smart things about this series, especially if you know something about Hebrew etymology), and the entire style of the show is very distinctive and sharp looking. The occult element may indeed be troubling for more conservative viewers, but it lends Black Butler a really unique ambience that sets it apart, even from other similarly themed “dark” anime outings.

Black Butler: Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Butler: The Complete First Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a very distinctive looking series which pops quite nicely across the three Blu-ray discs of this first season. Colors are nicely saturated, though because of the mist shrouded ambience of the show, the look of the series can sometimes be quite diffuse. Backgrounds also tend to be rendered in a sort of quasi-Impressionistic way a lot of time, adding to a somewhat soft appearance. The series does have some very nice CGI elements which add to its supernatural ambience and have a nicely 3D quality a lot of the time. While character designs aren't especially innovative, line detail is acceptably sharp and some elements of the designs—like Ciel's glowing pentagram infused eye—look fantastic in this high definition presentation.

Black Butler: Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Butler: The Complete First Season features two lossless audio options, an English dub delivered via a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix and the original Japanese language track delivered via a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix. For the record, this is one of a very few FUNimation Entertainment releases where the audio options can't be toggled through via the Audio button on your remote. Instead each must be accessed separately via the Setup Menu. There are also no optional subtitles on this release—they are part and parcel of the Japanese language track and cannot be turned on otherwise. Both of these mixes have their own charms, though most will probably want to opt for the English language track for a couple of reasons. First of all, the voice actors all do creditable if not outstanding British dialects, helping to properly locate the series in its time and place. Second of all, this particular English dub features a number of people not normally associated with FUNimation English dubs, and so there's a greater variety here than is often the case with FUNimation releases. Fidelity is excellent on both of the tracks, though as seems to be the case more often than not, the English dub features a much more aggressive low end (and not just because of the 5.1 element). Surround activity is well handled in the 5.1 mix, and the series' appealing music sounds great on this track.

Black Butler: Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 1 Commentary features Colleen Clinkenbeard, line producer, and Brina Palencia, who voices Ciel. Most of this commentary deals with trying to get the British accents down right and some of the other voice actors involved, many of whom were not in the usual FUNimation stable of performers.


• Episode 7 Commentary features Ian Sinclair, director of the series and voice actor for Baldroy, as well as J. Michael Tatum, who voices Sebastian. This was the first episode that Sinclair directed and he talks about having to "find his voice", directorially speaking. Tatum concentrates more on character, but the two also joke (per typical FUNimation commentary procedure) about a variety of subjects.


• Episode 16 Commentary features Josh Grelle, voice of Edward, and Kevin Leasure, ADR Engineer for this episode. Greeley talks about having to master the British dialect for his role, and Leisure talks about joining the FUNimation team with this project.


• Episode 21 Commentary features Ian Sinclair, Monica Rial and Jason Liebrecht all in character. This might have been funny for a few minutes, but it's pretty unbearable for an entire commentary, especially since all three tend to yell over each other and nothing can be heard, which doesn't even address the thick Cockney accents they all utilize.


• The Story Thus Far With Narration from Tanaka (HD; 23:58) is a kind of fun overview of the entire first season. This contains little snippets from episodes edited together to give a decent idea of several major plot arcs.


• Bonus Episode: His Butler, Performer (HD; 26:38) is an OVA that originally aired at the end of the first season of Black Butler. Sebastian has to stage a performance of Hamlet when a troupe of actors is delayed due to a shipwreck.


• Textless Opening Song - Monochrome Kiss (HD; 1:30)


• Textless Closing Song - I'm Alive (HD; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Song - Lacrimosa (HD; 1:32)


• Musician Profile is a text based supplement giving biographical background on Becca.


• Trailers for other FUNimation Releases

Black Butler: Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Butler is an odd little series, one which walks a rather strange tightrope between occult, "dark" (figuratively and literally) elements and, on the other hand, almost slapstick Three Stooges-esque comedy. The weird thing is, the series works more often than not, despite some outright disturbing elements and a relationship between Ciel and Sebastian that seems doomed from the get go. The series has a very distinctive look, a look which supports its unusual setting, and this Blu-ray offers that look with a great high definition presentation. Good supplements and superb audio also help to make this release Highly recommended.