“After all, I am simply one hell of a butler.”
One day in 2008, I sit in my room on my shitty old HP dv8000 laptop. For the first time in a long time, I browse the “Fall anime” list and look up what I can pick out to watch. “Ooh, Mouryou no Hako. That sounds interesting!” Mouryou is probably one of the greatest shows that nobody ever talks about, but that’s a different story for a different time. “Hmm, Kuroshitsuji? It DOES have a cool opening, that obviously has a correlation with how great a show it is! (please realize this is sarcasm)” I get attached. I get addicted. Episode 8 comes out and as luck turns out, I have school off that day. The next episode? Nowhere to be seen. This was an age before simulcasts – shinsen subs was my only hope. Weeks went by. Eventually another sub group began to churn them out thankfully. But I’ll never forget the addiction that was born that day.
Kuroshitsuji – Book of Circus is essentially a love letter written personally for me – picking up from roughly episode 15 in the original anime, it takes over the story from the point it diverted (Also retroactively retconning non-canon elements such as Asche, Pluto, the queen’s identity) and somehow turning a blind eye to the stuff that was left out (Lang’s creepiness to the guy who defied Ciel at the end of the curry contest). That’s ok because we have an imagination!…YOU have an imagination!
This episode? Fantastic. I was grinning like an idiot because it was like seeing long lost friends again. Here I was with Ciel and Sebastian, enjoying their antics, remembering what it was like following these guys day to day back in college. Even after seeing over 200 series, it hasn’t changed me – I still love this show.
What else is notable? So much. The animation quality is leaps and bounds better than what was shown previously. Art style seems to match the manga a bit better. Action is fluid. Soundtrack is notable. My only hope is that they release an edited version of the first season’s first 15 episodes removing non-canon elements and episodes to better match this season. Release it in a box set and consider me fucking sold.
