Mysteries abound in “Black Butler: Public School Arc”
“Now I can show you my true nature.” In Britain during the 19th century, a demon signs itself into a contract with a young boy. The disappearance of a fifth-year student prompts the Queen to send her watchdog to reveal the mysteries surrounding Weston College, Britain’s most prestigious public school. Ciel Phantomhive and his loyal butler, Sebastian Michaelis embark to uncover the secrets of the college.
Mysteries like these can be found in “Black Butler: Public School Arc,” a sequel to the earlier season, “Black Butler: Book of Circus.” This season is adventure-packed with many well-developed characters, and it follows the source material, “Black Butler” by Yana Toboso. However, the ending is anti-climatic and immediately follows up with a new section about the next season. This season is animated by CloverWorks. It can be watched on a paid subscription on Crunchyroll.
“Black Butler” is a long and ongoing series. Despite its impressive length, the progression is extremely slow and has been ongoing for years. The first season starts with Ciel and Sebastian investigating cases for Queen Victoria in Britain. The duo met after Ciel’s family manor burned down, taking with it his parents. He and his twin were captured and under the mercy of a cult. Eventually, he signed a contract with a demon to save himself and for vengeance on those who wronged him. He makes it out alive and becomes the head of the Phantomhive family. The Phantomhive Family has worked under the Queen for generations and Ciel takes the helm. This position leads him to many uncovered mysteries, cases, and supernatural occurrences. While this is great, the animation studio often makes cuts in the animation. There aren’t many scenes unique to the anime, and it’s hardly different from the manga.
“A Phantomhive butler who can’t do this much isn’t worth his salt.”
“Black Butler” covers a lot of scenarios in 19th century Britain through Ciel and Sebastian. There are multiple cases. But in the fourth and most recent season, the series covers a simple “who did it” scenario to build up suspense and continue the story’s goal of forming a strong antagonist. This story arc is a firm start to creating the true evil within the villain. Much isn’t revealed about him, such as his name until the climax of the story. The story could have been developed better because this story arc is unique in that it is about a school, a long-term case spread over a lengthier time compared to cases that are only a few days or hours long.
However, in the fourth season it covers Ciel and Sebastian’s goal to enter Weston College to find the missing fifth-year student, Derek Arden. The duo goes through multiple situations, such as enrolling Ciel, finding out the true suspect of the entire situation, and figuring out the final question, “Who did it?”