Overall Rating
Excellent
Story: 4
Dialogue: 5
Animation: 5
Entertainment: 4
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First things first; this is not actually an OVA but the second season of the Black Butler series, and can also be found under the archive “Kuroshitsuji 2” (link =>
http://anime-access.com/anime/K/Kuroshitsuji_2_%28TV%29).
Second; this season will not make sense if you have not either read the sourcing manga or seen the first season (Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler). This review is meant for those who have seen the first season or read at least part of the manga, and might contain spoilers for this series’ first season. Any proceeding happens on own responsibility.
Third, on to the review.
It’s surprising enough to see a sequel sprout from an anime that had perfect closure at the end of its first season; but not to make this sequel the failure of the year is even more amazing.
Granted; this season is highly different from the first. Although Ciel and Sebastian take the spotlight once again, this season overall is shorter and faster than the first, with an actual overarching plot. Where it is missing the gothic funniness of life between tiny dark mysteries, maids trying to clean the stairs’ handrail with shoe polish, transgender shinigami, and last but not least the Queen getting dragged into supernatural wars, the plot presenting itself is full of deceit, darkness, noble demons, violence, the inevitable mystery and suspense, and finally a bunch of plot twists.
That doesn’t mean it’s stuffed, though. Albeit paying attention well is required to catch onto details, if you do, it’s easy to get what’s going on; there’s no logical hiccups, and the pacing is quite well-done as well.
So, no change there? Guess again. There’s major changes from the first season—not only in pace, length, and feeling, but also in characters. Most of our crazy side characters people have come to love or hate during the first season make small, if any, appearances here. The new cast may be as amazing and original in psychological design, they may be darkly intriguing with fitting backgrounds, they may be as realistic as can be when there’s a bunch of demons involved; but they simply aren’t our crazily quirky sidekicks, a.k.a. cooks blowing up the kitchen because they thought dynamite might quicken the cooking process. Also, some of the new characters display various shades of sadism, and might be rather off-putting to those who watched the first season mainly for its humour.
That’s not meant as a complaint, however. Where sadism is pretty much off-limits for me, and some scenes did come across as rather cringe-worthy, I’m a sucker for psychology, and the psychological design once again is nothing short of amazing. I love the twists in the story, and I love the pacing as well. My biggest point of criticism is something entirely else--the end, namely, which was very much changed from the source material (aka manga).
No, the end isn’t open. No, it doesn’t even leave plot holes. It wraps up the whole series well as well. So what’s my problem? Mostly the character portrayal, as, for once, the end makes Ciel very much generic, and on the other hand, it gives off an odd BL impression. I’m not usually one to mind touches of BL, but seeing as I never saw that much-rumoured-about appeal before (no matter which implications can be read from the whole setup, all Sebastian is up to is eating Ciel’s soul -.-), it seemed rather out of character to me; and of course, those who mind it at all will be put off by the atmosphere. The whole season could easily have stuck to the manga if you ask me, but I won’t be changing that.
That’s not to say the plot can be scrapped. Its pacing and logic are without fail; it’s not hard to get into if you watched the first season and/or read the manga; and all new characters are intriguing and well designed in both visual and psychological aspects. Character backgrounds are fitting, and where the development is not overwhelming (what do you expect of twelve eps?), it exists and creates no further plot oddities. Character interaction in grand may be known from the first season, but is still intriguing. As for the dialogue, it certainly misses a lot of the first season’s humour, but is still solidly woven with no word to much. There’s no change in seiyuu in known characters either, so there’s basically no chance of getting confused.
Animation and art are the same as in the first season, and still stunning, if a little darker. The music to me sounds slightly less remarkable than that of the first season, but it fits well, and there’s no fault to be found in the sound effects. It might be noteworthy though that, where there’s far less violence than in the first season, the violence that is there can come across as rather sadistic. Sadism might make for psychological insight, but frankly said, the resulting scenes had me personally cringing at more than one point.
For the entertainment factor, there’s still comedic moments; but in grand, “Kuroshitsuji II” is much darker than the first season with a lot more insanity. Most of the gothic humour and horror, as well as most side characters from the first season, take a background seat. If you were put off by the first season’s dark humour, and only that, you might be able to enjoy this more; if you watched the first season for comedy, this one could get borderline in terms of being off-putting. Comedy aside, though, there’s a whole lot of suspense, mystery, plot twists, psychology, darkness, … in any case, enough to make it far from boring.
I was hesitant to watch this at first; but I can honestly say it was no letdown. Though the first season did an amazing job at making its darkness funny, I don’t mind further descents into unfunny darkness. I do wish they had stuck to the manga, especially concerning the somewhat-out-of-character end, but for what “Kuroshitsuji II” is, it is amazing. Short, fast-paced yet still complete, with intriguing character design, a suspenseful plot full of comparably unpredictable twists, no word or scene too much, and finally amazing visuals.
As such, I’d love to recommend this to any and all Black Butler lovers; however, “Black Butler II” is as different from its first season as a sequel can get, so I guess I’ll have to rephrase: Whoever watched the first season and does not mind a step further into the darkness of both Kuroshitsuji’s universe and human nature could give this a try. I personally like the plot and mystery and love the psychology in here, but the sadism (or “objectionable violence”) at times, as well as the to me personally not that fitting end, are factors to be counted in. Those put off by the comedy before might disagree with me, but I personally can’t help but like the first season that bit better.
Cheers.~
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