Sebastian rows Ciel to a strange deserted island and lays him down on a bench in an abandoned ruin. I was expecting something bloody and monstrous, but it turned out to be strangely tender and peaceful. But what caught me completely off-guard about the final sequence is how moving it was. This all reaches an inevitable climax at the end of the series when Ciel’s soul is indeed ripe enough for Sebastian’s tastes. Sebastian carries Ciel to his final resting place.

You see, Sebastian doesn’t just want any old soul: he wants one he has grown and nurtured until it’s just right to eat. Sebastian endeavours to melt his frostiness with a strange gentile touch, strange because every act of kindness his performs for Ciel is always tinged with that underlying feeling of hunger for the soul he is fattening up. Instead of playing with other children he attends business lunches and signs documents in his study. It seems that Ciel’s heart has been hardened by the early trauma he has had to endure, to the point at which he has completely abandoned his own childhood. Werewolf attacks, Jack the Ripper, child prostitution, royal ghosts, rogue angels… These are all dangerous missions that Ciel and Sebastian take on together through the first series.Īll the while, Sebastian attends to Ciel’s every whim and need with delicate precision to little to no expression of gratitude from his stoic master. As well as heading up the Phantomhive’s toy company (which is clearly intended to be ironic considering Ciel has no interest in childish pursuits) the young Earl must also fulfil his family duties as Queen Victoria’s ‘Guard Dog’ and protect the Queendom from ‘abnormal’ threats. Sebastian and the Phantomhive Mansion staff protect Ciel from harm.īut the path to attaining Ciel’s precious revenge isn’t a straight one.

That’s why for this post I decided to go with a death scene that I that I didn’t expect to make me as sad as it did, and also one that I never see come up on ‘saddest deaths in anime’ lists, and that’s Ciel Phantomhive’s death in the season one finale of Black Butler, or Kuroshitsuji. I was genuinely distraught by his death, especially as we get to know his wife and young daughter who are left behind, and considering how much he also takes care of everyone including Edward, Alphonse and Winry 😦Īs I’ve said before during this blog series, I’m a complete wimp – I cry very easily at nearly anything, from TV adverts to just watching the news sometimes. One of the saddest deaths I’ve ever seen in anime is the death of Maes Hughes in Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Click here to read the introduction, and click here to check out and support the campaign to help us fund the printing and distribution of our first collected volume of our manga-inspired comic series, Age of Revolution. This post is part of The 30 Day Anime Challenge Series alongside the Cosmic Anvil Kickstarter campaign.

Sad black butler season one