First Impressions / Kuroshitsuji

Well, it seems party season is upon us again. What a chore. But I guess it’s hard to say no to the queen when she asks you to come take care of a tiny problem in London. So it’s off to Ciel’s London townhouse this week, but who knows? It could be nice and quiet without those four around. Just kidding. Ciel and Sebastian walk in to find Auntie Red and co. raiding his home looking for tea. Might I suggest looking in the kitchen?

So as it turns out, the tiny problem is a very nasty murderer nicknamed ‘Jack the Ripper.’ Ciel came quickly to London in order to investigate personally, because he’s worried about his fiancée. Honesty I don’t know why he’d bother worrying, all the victims were prostitutes, anyway… I knew there was a reason Ciel would put up with a girl as nerve-stretching as Elizabeth.

The whole troupe arrives at a recent crime scene searching for information and is quickly dismissed by Scotland Yard on the scene. That’s alright though because Ciel has his own secret informant: The Undertaker. No, not a pro-wrestler, but he does look a bit like a character out of Soul Eater. He’s definitely got some information that would help them on this case, but it comes at a price. All they have to do is make him laugh. Lau goes in for an awful pun, and Madam Red drops some heavy bleeping with a dirty joke, but still no good. Before we can test Ciel’s sense of humor, Sebastian steps in with a joke so hilarious we can only imagine what it must have been like behind closed doors. I’m a little jealous.

The Undertaker enlightens us with the fact that all the victims had something in common. They were all missing their female reproductive organs. This was done quickly and efficiently during the crime, so clearly it couldn’t have been done by a regular person, it must have been an expert. On the way back to the townhouse, the discussion turns to qualifying potential suspects. The suspect should a) have some medical or anatomical expertise, b) have no alibi for the night of the crime, and c) have some relationship with a cult or black magic because of the whole organ stealing business.

“But Sebastian,” one might point out, “It’s almost the end of the social season and all the doctors will be leaving town after tonight’s big party. It’ll take us weeks to investigate properly!” Sebastian drops a trademark line and gracefully hops out of the still-moving carriage. He compiles a full list of possible suspects from all over London according to the agreed upon qualifications, and arrives home before everyone else with enough time to prepare afternoon tea and greet everyone at the door. Grell, I hope you’re taking notes.

Well, tonight’s big party is the last chance to catch our culprit, who is the only person in all of London who matches all three criteria. Ciel arrives decked out in full loli drag, and I have to admit he is approaching obscene levels of cute, aside from the scowl, but who can blame him. Turns out a one-eyed brat with a handsome butler would be a dead give-away to his identity, so he arrives disguised as Madam Red’s niece. Is that even a great stretch of the imagination to figure out? I thought he was already her nephew and anyone who has the slightest awareness of a family as famous as his might realize the head of Phantomhive doesn’t have a sister… but I digress.

Sebastian accompanies him tonight not as his butler, but as his private tutor from the upper echelons of society. So, he’s pretty much the same as ever, although the glasses-look is making me slightly irrational. Ciel knows he only has this one chance, so he can’t waste the opportunity tonight. As they begin to look for their culprit, it occurs to him that he’d rather be caught dead than be seen like this by his fiancée, right before a haunting “KAWAIIIII” comes from the crowd right behind him. Elizabeth’s cuteness radar is in full swing and it doesn’t take her long to hone in on loli Ciel, so they manage a few evasive maneuvers before finding their guy: Viscount Druitt.

Private tutor Sebastian pulls Ciel into a waltz in order to get closer to Druitt on the dance floor. But Ciel has exceedingly poor stamina and drops out early, only to be approached by Druitt himself. He’s about as kimochi warui as they come, hitting on poor Ciel with all the suaveness that blonde hair and money can buy. Ciel’s worked so hard at becoming a proper ojousama for this one occasion, so he grins and bears it. Actually, he did a better job than I would have in the same situation. I always wondered why mace isn’t readily available in Japan. Ciel does a great job in flirting with the count before being timely escorted from the room during Sebastian’s grand magic trick. Did he really need to go so far to distract Elizabeth? Her weaknesses are simple enough to figure out, anything with frills and puppy ears would have been sufficient. Not that the mask wasn’t a nice touch.

Little Robin Ciel is quickly gassed and rendered helpless, where he endures a tongue–in–cheek yaoi dream of Sebastian helping him into his corset from earlier in the evening. He awakens to find himself blindfolded and tied up in a cage, ready to be auctioned off for a good time, or just for the parts, whatever your needs may be. With the auction beginning and the blindfold removed, a quick declaration of “Sebastian. I’m in here” makes efficient use of the contract to summon Sebastian and take out the entire crowd in the time it takes for a candle to flicker.

They discuss the contract a little between themselves here, which is fairly interesting. Sebastian suggests jokingly that Ciel is being kidnapped an awful lot lately, but he’s contractually obliged to save him when he calls, not that Ciel would run from the devil anyway. Neither is able to escape the other, so it’s not just a one-sided rescue machine. Sebastian is apparently unable to lie to Ciel as well, which means his investigations from earlier were 100% truthful, to the extent of the stipulations requested. He won’t go out of his way to act on his own and solve this case, but he will follow Ciel’s commands to the letter.

With the suspect apprehended and the police on their way, Ciel strikes a proud ojousama pose before being carried away princess style out the window. With one more near-miss of Elizabeth’s cuteness radar, things seem to be wrapped up quite easily until the next morning when a newspaper arrives, claiming that another gruesome murder happened last night during the midst of their dance party investigations.

Preview

Way to pin the wrong guy, Sebastian. Despite all their “wasted” efforts, (getting that creepy guy off the streets was a contribution to society, no doubt) this episode wasn’t entirely filler, either. This case isn’t over, and I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of things next week. Ciel and Sebastian’s contract conversation was pretty revealing as well. If Sebastian didn’t lie, and the one possible suspect in all of London isn’t the real killer, then who is? It’s time to go back to the beginning and take a second look at the qualifications. Certainly, no human should be capable of the murders according to Sebastian’s research.

I’m actually fairly impressed with what a great job Ciel did regarding the whole becoming a trap fiasco. He looked amazing, and he suffered the count’s groping and flirtation pretty professionally for a 12 year old boy, “ne?” Good thing he didn’t test the goods before putting them out on the market. I’m not the biggest fan of Elizabeth, but I think the fact that someone as bitter and dark as Ciel can put up with her attests for his maturity, or patience at the very least. Cynicism aside, if Ciel hadn’t shown up stealing all the pedo’s attention, Elizabeth could have become the next victim instead. Still, last week’s character introduction was a bitter pill in comparison to this episode. (Please, take her.)

I thought this episode continued doing a great job with the balance of humor and darkness. The black market kidnappings and murders among comedy fantasies and yaoi jokes were all very nice. The fabulousness continues, and I’m glad the preview didn’t let out anymore hints than necessary.

Next Week: The investigation continues, complete with a dark rainy London night and a chainsaw wielding enemy. I thought it was Jack the “Ripper.”

-Trillian

63 Comments

  2. This anime looks interesting based from the pictures and the story has a mystery feel to it. I’ll try to download episodes 1-3 so that I can understand it better.

    Thanks for the summary, Trillian! Much appreciated.

    (n_n)v

    Eri
    Reply

  11. This anime reminds me slightly of Full Metal Panic! and that’s a really really bad thing. I hate shows with completely contradictory themes. Who the hell wants to watch a show that’s supposed to be primarily dark and brooding but is also full of slapstick comedy? They both ruin each other.

    blind_assassin
    Reply

  27. wow, that was the most interesting review and summary, may i add, on episode 4 i’ve read so far. I laughed heartily with the way you mixed your storytelling and commentary. You’re quite the pleaser, actually ^^

    This episode is really made of pure win. I love ciel’s trap look and sebastian remains to be amazing, butler and tutor-style. The twist in the end was executed pretty well, with the right BGM (or lack) and sebastian’s ominous look. Overall an excellent episode. I’m looking forward to your summaries, they’re very fun to read ^^ Keep it up trillian!!

    eipu
    Reply

  32. youcanstillbesaved:
    While I appreciate that you feel I have a lot of personality in my butt (*silence*), this is probably the wrong way to go about getting that across.

    In retrospect, my blogging style was probably more akin to Omni’s (since I was often mistaken for him), but Trillian seems to be weaving impressions into the summary itself — something I purposely chose not to do in lieu of a longer impressions section.

    Personally, I think Trillian’s style is an interesting spin on things, which makes you read the summary in the process. On the plus side, it adds personal touches throughout, making things more amusing. On the slightly negative side, it kind of scatters the impressions throughout, instead of consolidating everything in one place for a more coherent train of thought. Also, if people just wanted to know what happened in an episode, it’s a bit harder to just get the simple facts across.

    However, it by no means warrants a “FAIL” comment so let’s not try to discourage Trillian shall we?

    -divine

    divine
    Reply

  34. youcanstillbesaved:
    what about you shut up. He gives his time and effort, and he’s blogging for all of us. He’s making a good effort and let’s just hope that he can be some time in here and help Omni like Jaalin and Divine did

    pach
    Reply

  35. YOUCANSTILLBESAVED:

    Trillian’s summary HAS personality. And i honestly love his/her blogging style. It’s enjoyable and quite frankly a breath of fresh air from the way the other bloggers here at randomcuriosity do their posts (not that i’m criticizing any of them). It’s like getting inside his/her thoughts while watching this episode, with the often sarcastic, real and objective comments he/she throws here and there. It’s different from Omni and Divine’s in a sense that his/her summaries come across very naturally, without “blogging is serious business” written all over it. I enjoy the whole mood of the post. But well i guess, different strokes for different folks. It would have been more convincing though if you’ve cited reasons why you found this particular post a failure. Because frankly, plainly saying trillian’s copying omni’s style isn’t going to get people to agree with u.

    eipu
    Reply

  41. @ divine

    sorry! i almost missed the sarcasm ^^ But really, you’re an amazing blogger, it’s too bad you had to quit. I hope you’re doing well now ^^

    @ trillian

    episode 5 is even better ^^ i can’t wait to read your thoughts about it ^^

    eipu
    Reply

  45. Thanks for all the positive comments! And Espada/Divine are right – I will gladly accept constructive criticism, since I’ve never done this kind of thing before. I won’t always weave quite so many thoughts into the summary itself, but the slightly sarcastic spin will probably stay. I couldn’t pull it out if I tried ;(

    Trillian
    Reply

  47. Very good blogging Trillian! My only comment is that there are a bit too much Japanese terms like ojou-sama and kawai that some readers might not understand. But in truth it does give the writing a sense of style. 🙂

    Giantrouble
    Reply

  55. @ Blist and others who haven’t watched episode 5

    episode 5 was already subbed by someone in the kuroshitsuji lj community, you have to be a member though to get access to it. The quality of the subs was good if you’re wondering ^^

    eipu
    Reply

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