Black Butler 2 - Reviews

The second season of Kuroshitsuji was a fine season indeed. Overall, I’d give it a 9/10.  The anime was great! The action and plot kept me interested, the music and animation were most delightful, and the characters (though not the greatest) were good as well.

 The season starts off by tricking you into thinking that there will be new main characters, but it turns out that this is not the case. Due to that fact that it is sometimes difficult to have more than a few popular main characters, the new characters that were introduced in the second season were slightly more….irritatingly bothersome than returning characters. This made it difficult to ‘care for the character’ because you couldn’t really get close to them.  In fact, you were neither surprised, nor upset if one of those particular characters were killed off. I found this to be, in terms of character development, rather disenchanting. In favor of the newer characters, I can say that they did further the plot along pretty nicely. They may have been annoying to some degree, but at least they served a somewhat meaningful purpose.

I liked the songs they chose for the story. The beginning theme song didn’t really change, but I liked the ending themes. Not only were they catchy, they fit in pretty well with the flow of the story. Since we’re on the subject of sound, I’ll take a moment to mention the voice actors. I watched the entire thing subbed, (because this season hasn’t been dubbed yet) and I must say that I liked the voice actors in the Japanese cast. Their voices were pleasant to listen to; there weren’t any particularly shrill or raspy voices, unless you include the voice of what is supposed to sound like a bubbly, 12 year old girl.

I say the animation was one of my favorite things about this anime. The time period is set in the Victorian era, so the clothes they wore (which sort of resembled the Gothic Lolita style of clothing) and the way they spoke intrigued me. The colors they used were tastefully vibrant and the fluidity of the animation was definitely something to be praised. If nothing else, I would’ve continued watching just for that.

As for the storyline and the plot, I was utterly disappointed in the way it ended. It left my mouth agape, my brow furrowed, and my fists clenched. I was not pleased. Since the ending for season 2 wrapped up the entire series, I was hoping for a bit of a bigger bang, or at least some satisfaction in closure, but I got neither. I give it a 9/10 though because even after all of that, I’d still be willing to watch it a multitude of times. Something in the scattered bits of dark humor and the way the characters related to one another (i.e. Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship, and so forth) managed to enrapture me. I would recommend it to anyone who likes anime. Kuroshitsuji FTW!

*thumbs up*

 

~DragonB

I liked the first season a bit more than this one. The newest characters in this season where very much not liked by me. Alois was one of the characters that i disliked. He was a bit spoiled and seemed just mean. He was compared to Ciel in how his childhood was spent. Although they are a different in how they turned out. The ending was definately an interesting suprize.

^-^ watch and find out~

The first season of "Kuroshitsuji" ("Black Butler") was pretty damn cool. I don't normally like episodic shows, but the random escapades were balanced by enough serious arcs to make it work. Not to mention, the humor was chuckle-inducing, the darkness was great, the guys were h-o-t, and some of the characters were flamboyant and fabulous (I'm looking at you, Grell-sama).

And then they had to go and add some bitches and eff up the whole franchise.

Story: Little Blonde Slut and his demon butler, Sebastian 2.0, have a war to the death with our original protagonists. And a prostitute joins.

That's the overlying idea, but the poor pacing and inconsistent episodes (except for the final four) make for a weird series. Quite a few new characters are added, but the major ones are thoroughly unlikable. More on that later. The dark humor is practically thrown out the window, and most of the series feels tired.

Oh yeah, and (MINOR SPOILER ALERT!) Ciel loses his memory for some freaking reason. (END SPOILER!)

And then there is the ending of the series. Disappointing mindf*ck.

Animation: First and foremost, the oodles of eye candy is prominent and proud. Alois and his legs join the crowd, along with Claude and his... glasses? He looks like the love child of Sebastian and William. Unfortunately, mild ecchi joins the picture. In a series like this, it seems completely pointless. And guess what? It is.

Animation is same as last season (okay), except for a few wonderful scenes portraying Claude's bullet-dodging, unicorn-birthing, cake-baking dance-offs. Those have fantastic animation. (That was a joke, by the way.)

Sound: The Gazette's "Shiver" is a cool OP song, but it's not super memorable or anything. No complaints on that or the ED song, but neither is great. Insert music and noise is completely forgettable. Voice acting is, once again, practically spot-on. Ono Daisuke voice is as sexy as always, Sakamoto Maaya is good, and most other seiyuu are as good. Claude and Alois have fantastic seiyuu. My one complaint? The godly Fukuyama Jun doesn't get to do as much work. I have not listened to the dub.

Characters: Oh, sweetpotatopiealamodemmmthatsoundsgooddarnnowsohungrygimmefoodporfavor.

This will not go well, will it?

(No development, and the bitchy characters are dislikable. Even with the backstories.)

Characters: Man with glasses: Claude Faustus; boy with blonde hair: Alois Trancy; boy with blue suit: Ciel Phantomhive; man-who-really-looks-like-Claude-but-isn't-wearing-glasses: Sebastian Michaelis.

Claude Faustus: Aforementioned Sebastian 2.0, this guy has the personality of a drab old paint chip. His only defining feature? He's a total douchebag.

Alois Trancy: I think I'll spend some time writing a lovely little poem for this young man. I'm sorry because I'm no good at poetry, but here's my attempt at spelling out his name.

Annoying.

Leggy (Yeah... I can't think of anything...).

O rly? Who invited YOU to the franchise?

Imbecile!

SLUT!

Tongue, as in, DAT TONGUE.

Rippin' out yo' eyeballs...

A bitch.

Not nice.

C... c-cannot say this word...

Y U NO LEAVE?!?!?!?

Booyah! Seriously, though. I believe (was it Cassiesheepgirl? Argh, I don't remember) put it best--you want to punch him.

Ciel Phantomhive: He's in my review of the first series, but this time around, he is... different.

Sebastian Michaelis: Mr. Yes My Lordo is treated as a bit of a joke this time around. Sorry to say it, Sebby fangirls, but it's true.

Hannah Annafellows: Her sizable... dirty pillows ("Carrie" reference? Seriously, NND?)... are used to their full extent, and she is treated like a whoring masochist. Yay. I surrender.

Grell Sutcliffe: Unfortunately, he spends the whole damn series trying to snap candid shots of, ahem, Sebas-chan.

Those three people: Three clones. They have less personality than Claude.

Ronald and William: These two shinigami are perhaps the saving grace of this show. They hardly appear, but manage to wedge in some much-needed humor.

Everyone else: Who the heck cares?

Overall: Far inferior to the second series, "Kuroshitsuji II" is one of those sequels you just want to shove out of a window. Get rid of this, and you have a superior prequel without a crappy sequel to weigh it down.

While I thought the underlying concept of this season was interesting, I found its presentation to be terrible. All exposition was delayed until the last two episodes, and the story before that was consequently mostly confusing, but in a frustrating way rather than a good, dramatic way. A lot of the plot devices felt extremely contrived, and a decent premise was wasted. It felt as if the writers didn't really know where the story was going until the last minute. Definitely didn't live up to the first season. I did enjoy the final resolution though, even if the path there wasn't too great. There were also a couple of major plot events in the first season that seemed to be completely discarded, beyond that which was explanable by Ciels memory loss (dont worry that's not really a spoiler).

when I watched the first anime, it had everything for me. All questions answered. Closure. 

The second season, I have to say, really is something else. Sure it was out of nowhere but still. The two new characters, Claude and Alois are well written. Alois’ backstory is so twisted and elaborate that it caught me off guard. I haven’t cried for an anime in quite a while. Alois’ death scene had me in tears. 

Sebastian and Ciel and all the others, still amazing and consistent. 

In conclusion, great season, would recommend if you like something darker for a change.