Sebastian Michaelis is the "Black Butler" referred to in the title. He is a demonic butler who is bound by a supernatural contract to serve a 12-year-old boy named Ciel Phantomhive. Ciel is the head of the Phantomhive family, a Victorian era family that owns a toy and candy empire. As part of the contract, Sebastian will obtain Ciel's soul when Ciel finishes all the tasks he needs to do. One of Ciel's tasks includes taking revenge on the people who killed his parents when arsonists set fire to his family’s mansion on his 10th birthday.
However, Sebastian is not the only servant who works for Ciel Phantomhive. Baldroy, who is usually referred to as Bard, is a chef of American descent. Unfortunately, he rarely makes anything edible, since he insists on using a flamethrower to cook. Finnian, who is known as Finny, is a gardener; however, whenever Finny goes to tend the garden, he usually ends up accidentally destroying it through his clumsiness. Mey-Rin is a clumsy maid, who keeps wearing cracked glasses. Mey-Rin also has developed a crush on Sebastian. Tanaka is the house steward who served under Ciel's father. Tanaka was present when Ciel's parents were murdered; as a result, he rarely talks or works. He is usually seen drinking from a Japanese tea cup.
When FUNimation released Black Butler, they gave the series a TV-MA rating. While I haven't seen anything visually that would necessarily make this unacceptable for younger viewers, I think this rating is given more due to some of the story elements and context in the series. With that in mind, I would tend to agree with FUNimation's rating. This series definitely has a bit of a "dark side" to it, even with the comic relief provided by some of the other servants in the household. With the TV-MA rating, I can only recommend Black Butler to anime viewers who are 18 years of age and older.
| Black Butler | 36 + 7 OVAs | 2008-2011 | Toshiya Shinohara | A-1 Pictures | FUNimation Entertainment |
