Black Butler: Book of Circus

By: Robert Murphy

Recently we were given to opportunity to see a part of the Black Butler story line that was excluded from the first season of the show, Black Butler: Book of Circus. Ciel Phantomhive and his devilish butler Sebastian Michaelis return once again and the Queen has a need for her guard dogs legendary skills in solving a spree of recent kidnappings. For some reason wherever a famous traveling circus goes, children have gone missing afterwards and Ciel is ordered to find out what is happening and see whether or not the famous cast of Noah's Ark Circus are responsible for the recent disappearances. 

If some of you don't know, a couple of the cases that Ciel works on for the Queen are not included in the the first season of the show which isn't an uncommon thing seeing as bits and pieces of the manga are often excluded in the anime adaptations for any number or reasons. The good news is Black Butler gets the chance to tell one of it's story arcs here in Book of Circus. We see a new side to Ciel and Sebastian this time around as the two go undercover and work for the Noah's Ark Circus that they are investigating. Sebastian gets to show off some more of his supernatural skills here as he tries to make a good name for himself inside of the circus. This surprises and stuns our new cast of characters, the first string members of Noah's Circus who are insanely skilled in their craft but are practically debunked in an instant by Sebastian. Joker and his crew are all great additions to the cast and kinda work along the same principal as Ciel's servants and what I mean by that is they're quirky and a fun loving bunch but can get into some ridiculous moments without it making you sigh at the way they're acting. 

What Book of Circus does the best though in my mind is it gets into some of the more intimate details of Ciel's past and the events that led to him meeting Sebastian. Ciel doesn't often speak of it but he was found and tortured by an unknown organization of British nobles after his parents were killed and his family home burned to the ground. The binding contract between Ciel and Sebastian will come to an end when Ciel gets revenge on these people. It was always such an intriguing aspect to the show and I always wanted to know more about it and unlike the first season of Black Butler, Book of Circus doesn't exclude Ciel's father and his workings as the former Queen's guard dog. We see a good bit of him as the story progresses this time around and we learn more about the people who captured Ciel as the case leads him back down to his unpleasant past. 

What is unfortunate about the show though is just how short it's turned out to be, at only ten episodes you can't really call Book of Circus a significant series. I know that it is only one story arc series and it was bound to be short but there was a little more of the story that could have been included with one of the characters from the circus in particular, Snake. Snake is one of the circuses first stringers but is somewhat separate from the original group that we follow in this story because he doesn't grow up with the other members. He also becomes a part of Ciel's storyline later on more than any other character from Book of Circus and should really have his story told. We also get introduced to some un-named servants of the Queen who are never fully explained either. What could of worked out well for something like this is story arc style season would be if they included all the arcs that have been left out of the show so far and made that into a season or at the least the subsequent cases that followed after the Noah's Arc Circus case closes.

I'm not entirely sure if we are in for more season's like Black Butler: Book of Circus or not, there are definitely some new story elements that were added near the end of this series that would suggest we may get more but I'm just speculating. What we did get from Book of Circus was a deeper look into Ciel and his past, many of the cases he works serve to unravel who he is as a character more and more and I love that about Black Butler. Like I said though I hope that there are more releases like this one on there way for the show and hopefully if this does well it will. 

Good:

- A great new cast as well as the return of some of Black Butlers all star cast

- A deeper look into Ciel's past and some of the dealings that his father had as well

- The same wit and humor is still very much present 

Bad:

- A short season with only 10 episodes, one of which is an introductory style episode where Sebastian shows off his demon powers

- Left out some details that I would have liked to see done with the character Snake. 

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10