Kuroshitsuji Kishuku Gakkou hen – Episode 11 Review (END)

「その執事、好投」 (Sono Shitsuji, Kassō)
“His Butler, Taking Flight”

This last episode was in some ways a review session, looking back briefly on the past 10 episodes, but especially on the plot line with the dinner party mystery. Ciel encouraging Soma to continue studying at Weston as his way of getting the prince out of his hair made me chuckle. Ciel and Sebastian learned you can’t judge a book by it’s cover- the prestigious school’s lessons apparently not up to snuff with the air-headed prince’s private education back home. That was a fun detail Toboso included, where Soma was in fine health during the cricket match because Agni slipped him his own chicken pie. It all comes together.

We didn’t stay in the past for too long, before launching right into a relaxing day on the town. Each servant’s request is pretty true to their personality, Mei Lin– a new pair of glasses, Snake- a satchel for his serpentine friends, Finny- a new hat, Baldo- an ecchi ‘zine (which quickly gets turned down).I loved the lingering shots on the exquisite Victorian detail, from the brocade lamps to the gorgeous tea ware. I also liked the little cameo the bookstore made.

The author, Arthur, I imagine is a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle, who did write some historical fiction in addition to the Sherlock Holmes everyone knows, though he did not write any tomes by the title of “Thomas Clarkson”. Thomas Clarkson was a real person, however, a British anti-slavery advocate in the early to mid-19th century and wrote books on abolition. Ciel’s disgruntled comment that Arthur would do better writing detective novels was a delightfully tongue in cheek jab. IRL, Doyle intended to kill Sherlock Holmes off in order to get on to writing other stories, but was forced to bring his detective back due to overwhelmingly popular demand.

We slide out of fluffy mode into some serious plot stuff for a moment when Sebastian makes a pit stop at Somerset house to pick up the results of his investigation into the Undertaker’s mourning jewelry. What he does find makes curiosity burn even hotter- Ciel’s grandmother’s hair is ensconced in one of the pendants. Which, makes sense given the Undertaker’s ties to the Phantomhives. But why her and not his grandfather?

We slip back into comic mode upon their visit to Harrods, where Sebastian has a field day with Ciel’s unicorn mascot for his new perfume line. I personally see nothing wrong with it, I think it’s cute in it’s own way. Though I do agree with Sebastian, a little market research can go a long way, especially if the one making said product does not belong to the target audience. I don’t see why he couldn’t have asked Lizzie for input, she’s plenty qualified on “capturing a maiden’s heart”.

The structure of the finale was initially a little disorienting, seeing as we just finished up the Weston arc, only to leap right back into a previous previous arc in the guise of various cameos from the murder mystery storyline (which doesn’t even have anything to do with the next arc). I was expecting them to use the 23 minutes to tie up anything with Weston (not that there was anything to tie up), but that was kept to a minimum. Once I got past that, it was nice to see old characters pop up here and there. Kuroshitsuji goes into full on goofy mode with Sebastian giving a lift to the actress Irene (we met her in the dinner mystery arc) in the guise of the unicorn mascot, taking the opportunity to distribute samples. I for one certainly delighted in every second of that bizarreness. And there we have one of history’s first commercial breaks in the pre-television era, whereby Ciel learns the powerful lesson of product placement and celebrity spokespeople in convincing the minds of the sheeples.

Looking back, overall, this was an enjoyable arc- one of the best ani-manga takes on a school arc. It helped that they didn’t rely on school tropes and really took things off in its own unique direction (what an epic cricket match that was). Sakamoto Maya really stole the show with her excellent work as Ciel, and the seiyuu showdown between Sakamoto and Horie Shun (Maurice) was a confrontation that will go down in my annals of great moments. It was a pleasant surprise that we got a preview of the next arc at the end there. I loved this arc in the manga and I’m hoping getting a sneak peek at the end means that it will be adapted eventually- it certainly should be.