Black Butler


 * "There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who steal and those who are stolen from."


 * &mdash;Ciel, Earl of Phantomhive

Black Butler ("Kuroshitsuji" in Japanese) is a famous manga and anime series created by Yana Toboso. It's notable for appealing to the shojo manga crowd despite technically being a shonen series.

The anime adaptation diverges from the original manga fairly early on, to the point where everything after the Curry Contest arc and all of season two is anime-original material. (Season three, "Book of Circus", is a more faithful adaptation of the infamous Noah's Ark Circus plotline.)

Basic Plot and Themes
Black Butler takes place in an alternate Victorian England where demons and other supernatural beings exist and can be summoned (or not). When a human summons and contracts with a demon, his or her wish comes at the price of the human's soul once the wish is fulfilled.

Two years before the story starts, Ciel Phantomhive had the worst tenth birthday ever bar none: His house burned down with both his beloved parents inside, then a mysterious cult captured him and used him for an unspecified dark ritual. In his desperation, he summoned and contracted with the demon Sebastian. Now Earl, he leads a double life as the head of a highly successful toy and candy company and a royal double agent searching for the people behind his parents' murder; Sebastian follows and serves him at every step.

Black Butler is about humanity: What drives it, what's at its core, its flaws and foibles. It's not generally a very positive outlook, but the series' memorable cast and moments of ludicrous awesomeness and bizarre comedy, sometimes within pages/seconds of each other, keep its fans interested. (As does the Campania-load of ship teasing, but let's not go there.)

Ciel Phantomhive
Main character and probably the darkest anti-hero this side of Batman. Despite being only 13, Ciel is a master manipulator&mdash;often using his childish looks to get people to drop their guard&mdash;and shrewd businessman.

Sebastian Michaelis
Ciel's preternaturally level-headed butler/chef/hitman/whatever the plot needs him to be this chapter. He's the brawn to Ciel's brains (though no slouch in that department, either) and by far the most popular character both in and out of universe. Sebastian fangirls tend to forget, however, that he's not only an open sociopath/psychopath by human standards (by demon standards he's normal), but also several hundred years older than all of them, if his comment about starting the Black Death is any indication.

Grell Sutcliffe
A Grim Reaper originally introduced as another character's shy, incompetent, suicidal butler. She tends to get the comic relief role in the anime; the manga treats her more seriously. In both incarnations, she is flamboyant, over-the-top violent, and one of a very few characters capable of unnerving Sebastian. Some speculate that Grell's all-consuming infatuation with him (and/or fellow Grim Reaper William T. Spears) is a none-too-subtle jab at real-life fangirls.

(In this canon, Grim Reapers are responsible for collecting the souls of the dead

IMPORTANT NOTE: Grell has all but confirmed that she is male-to-female transgender. (In an early arc, she empathized with her future partner in crime due to their shared infertility; Grell because she was assigned male at birth, the other woman due to an emergency hysterectomy.) Since English doesn't have a gender-neutral pronoun the way Japanese does, please refer to Grell as "she" when her name comes up.

In Fanfiction
As is often true in anime continua, fangirls (and fanboys so inclined) tend to think most of the cast members are hot. What makes the Black Butler fandom's reaction different is that the main protagonist a) is likely younger than them at 13 and b) looks a few years younger. Furthermore, Ciel is most commonly paired with either Sebastian or his canon fiancee (and cousin), Elizabeth Midford.

Sebastian and the Grim Reapers shown thus far are also prime Lust Objects, being shipped with each other, myriad OCs, and even the reader. Modern AUs are also popular, this being a period piece and all.

In the PPC
There are currently no agents from the Black Butler continuum.

Minis in this continuum are known as Continuity Cats.

Agents are advised to avoid fighting demons, Grim Reapers, or angels if at all possible, as all three species are notoriously difficult to even injure.

Missions in This Continuum

 * Mission Two: "The Agents, Cleaning" - Agents Chris and Ami Seeker (DF), with Trainees Miguel Correa and Violet Rose Greenfield
 * The agents, and two new recruits, travel to Victorian London to take care of some business involving a young earl and an assassin.