Black Butler, by Yana Toboso

I mentioned Black Butler in my post about Yen Press, and since it’s one of our new series here at Mooresville Public Library, I wanted to bring it up!

Black Butler is a supernatural adventure/dark comedy series, slanted towards girls but definitely not shojo. It’s set in Victorian England, specifically in the late 1880s--the time of Jack the Ripper. The main characters are Ciel Phantomhive, 12-year-old head of the Phantomhive earldom, and his butler Sebastian. While the Phantomhive family (such as it is, since Ciel is an only child and an orphan) heads a toy and candy empire, it’s also secretly the watchdog of England’s seedy underbelly for Queen Victoria. This means Ciel must track down any criminal threats that drift up from the underworld into polite society (like the aforementioned Jack the Ripper) and eliminate them. Ciel typically accomplishes this via Sebastian, who is not really your typical butler, on account of he is a demon.

Literally.

When Ciel’s family was murdered, he was kidnapped, and the anger and pain caused by his mistreatment at the hands of his captors summoned Sebastian. Ciel then entered into a Faustian compact, promising Sebastian that if the demon helped him avenge his family, he would have his soul in return. While hunting for the truth behind the murders, Ciel continues to fulfill the Phantomhive duties of destroying threats to the British crown, and Sebastian continues to obey his orders until the final day comes. (Funny as this manga is--and it is--there’s a reason I called the comedy dark. This is an older teen series.)

Black Butler is translated by (obviously) Yen Press. It’s currently ongoing, with 5 volumes available in English; we have the first four here at MPL! It’s also serialized in the magazine Yen Plus. In addition, there are two anime series, both complete. The first ran for 24 episodes from 2008 to 2009; and the second ran for 12 episodes in 2010. The first anime has been licensed and dubbed by Funimation as “Black Butler season 1,” but so far the second has not been brought over.