Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「MAISIE」 by (Cö shu Nie feat. HYDE)
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「その執事、探訪」 (Sono Shitsuji, Tanbou)
“His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”
Kuroshitsuji kicks things off with the perfect, creepy mood of a horror tale. The misty forest, ignored warnings of a wild-looking crone, the suspenseful close up of a werewolf in the woods, followed by mysterious deaths. And so, our screens are graced yet again with another stylish entry in the premiere books. (Boy, were the OP and ED visually pleasing). I must say, I enjoy the closeups of the glassware, tea cups, and other furnishings. That was one feature in the manga that the mangaka put a lot of attention into, so it’s nice to see that continue to be transferred over to the anime, as it was in the previous season as well.
Our first re-introduction to our favorite butler-master pair is a humorous scene of Sebastian (Ono Daisuke) trying to tutor the hopeless Ciel (Sakamoto Maaya) in German. With fruitless results- what was coming out of Ciel’s mouth sounded anything but German, even if he was reading directly off the page. I’m with Ciel on the challenges of pronunciation there though- I once had a German speaking friend try to get me to repeat after her in German, but the pronunciation was just too difficult, and the results predictably disastrous.
Ciel’s insistent referral to a certain German acquaintance as “you know who” piques the interest, channeling Voldemort “he who must not be named” energy. Though I suspect given Ciel’s personality, rather than being a dangerous threat to humankind, Ciel’s acquaintance might be more of a personal annoyance on the level of Lizzie or Lau.
Usually it’s English that gets the embarrassing Japanglish treatment, but this time, German dialects get a turn, when a local starts speaking at a befuddled Ciel. Seriously, just get a fluent speaker. Regardless, Sebastian understands and acts as Ciel’s personal Babel Fish. In typical horror story fashion, the locals tell their spine-chilling tale and refuse to take the outside inquisitors to the scene of the crime. Not that that’s any impediment for a rich boy who can just buy the carriage off of him. While much of the story sounds hardly believable- a curse, the survivor yapping on about werewolves, it can be determined that the locus of all the happenings are on a legendary forest where supposedly a bunch of persecuted witches fled and made their abode. The authorities, notably, are not dismissing it as a simple curse, and rather treat it like a potentially transmissible illness, carrying him away to quarantine. Well, either that, or experimentation or silencing. If anything, the authorities’ involvement supports the Queen’s fear of it spreading to England’s shores if not nipped in the bud- if it were just random accidents and old wives’ tales, they wouldn’t have stepped in like that. They may even know something about the forest they don’t want getting out to the public.
Ciel is not underestimating the danger either- bringing his trusty servants along for the business trip, something which the crew remarks as unusual. I gotta say, I love Tanaka in the background with that happy grin on in his face, meanwhile all the other servants are scared practically shitless by the drive through the “Werewolves’ Forest”. He’s like a little breath of spring air.
As scientifically minded as both I and Ciel are and thus disposed to dismiss the “curse” bit out of hand, Sebastian brings up a very good point. In a universe where a devil serves as his butler and a grim reaper as his informant, curses can also exist. But who knows, maybe there is a simple scientific explanation to it, like minerals beneath the ground messing with the compass. One thing for sure is that nothing is safe or off the table here. The exchange between Sebastian and Ciel was incredibly fascinating. Sebastian arguing that even the bond between him and Ciel is a curse of sorts, and Ciel countering that the so-called witches didn’t actually have magic. Both sides make valid points. I agree with Sebastian, it is strange that Ciel doesn’t believe in curses, what with his less than immaculate personal history. However, I can’t help but also agree with Ciel that given the history of “witch” hunts and “witches” who were just regular women, a cursed forest is also hard to believe. In this series, nothing is as simple as it seems on the surface. While Sebastian says he’s met witches, which Ciel tongue in cheek asks was at the summoning of a Witches’ Sabbath, his description of them call into question the distinction between “magic” or “devil worship” and “debauchery”. The closest thing to what one may think of as witches may actually be evil, greedy individuals willing to exchange their soul for the world, because, as Sebastian points out, his kind rarely show up on a whim. So, I guess no room for good witches like Glinda or Kiki in this universe.
After making it through the forest, the group is met with hostility from the inhabitants- surprise surprise. So far, everything seemingly matches up with the rumors. The angry welcome committee are all women– wearing antique clothing no less. Witches? The strange medallions are suspicious- a cult, devil summoners, or something else? There does appear to be at least one male inhabitant- a gent by the name of Wolfram (Kobayashi Chikahiro), who looks to be the caretaker of Sullivan (Kugimiya Rie), the leader of the village, though she is still but a child, in size at least. Fortuitously, Sullivan offers the strangers shelter for the night, as the forest under darkness is prime werewolf roaming time. This is too good an opportunity for some snooping around, which is no doubt what Sebastian and Ciel were aiming for. On the flip side, I don’t see the hosts letting Ciel and company leave so freely after this. I mean, if they didn’t leave anyone else alive or sane after stepping even one foot in the forest, why should they let people who’ve gotten all the way to the village leave unscathed?
An Emerald Castle, witches, werewolves- this arc very much channels Wizard of Oz meets The Wolf Man. (Which is rather convenient timing I suppose, given that Wicked just released in Japan and is all the rage now). The introduction of Sullivan presents what may be an interesting character comparison to Ciel. From their age and apparent responsibility on their young shoulders, they have some pretty big points of responsibility at first glance, which will make quite the character study. All in all, it was a fine premiere on par with what we saw last season. I want to give a particular mention to the OP and ED, which are both stellar. Watching them, what kept crossing my mind was “This, this is art, and part of why I love anime”. I’m going forwards with continued high hopes for an excellent adaptation of what was a great arc in the manga.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「WALTZ」 by (Ryugujo)