The absolutely gut wrenching finale is here – this episode is all about twisting the knife.
What could have been, what was – that’s what this is all about. There is something about pondering what could have been and ruminating about an avoidable tragedy that is frightful upsetting to me. The Noah’s circus troupe are all great people that really just loved and cared for each other. They were like a small family together. But they lived long enough to see themselves become the villains of their own story – villains that preyed upon children not unlike them before Baron Kelvin took them in. In a way what happened to them is karma, but I can’t help but tear up a bit when I watch this episode’s epilogue. This is what they really were. This is what they became. This is a true tragedy – the loss of life – yet, the loss of life that matters.
The true villain of this story is the twisted Baron Kelvin, whose malice shaped Joker and the others into becoming the demons we knew them to be. But even as demons, their true personalities shone through. Beast’s innocent love of Joker and Joker’s geniune caring for all his family shone through absolutely, even in the bitter end. You can consider the culmination of this when you consider the contrast between Doll as a child and the Doll that rushed to kill Ciel.
I didn’t anticipate that I’d be ruminating about the Noah’s arc circus troupe this entire post, but I feel it’s necessary. This show really knows how to ramp up the pathos.
Let me speak a little about the beautiful ED sequence at the end of this episode. The walk to the manor to find that the Baron had long abandoned it and that their world they were fighting so hard to protect had been long gone was nothing but a further knife in the coffin. As you see the visage of the fallen troupe in the afterlife you’re reminded of who they truly were – a hardworking, loving family that cared for each other and wanted nothing other than to survive. All of this in a field long forgotten, by a small family who will all but be forgotten by London.
Ciel would make for an interesting character study. With no pretentions, he doesn’t claim to be better than any other human. He considers himself the same as the others – a human warped by malice and fighting for self preservation. The only difference is that he won this battle.
Ciel lets out a laugh as he realizes what they fought for was long gone – that was it. This is what Kuroshitsuji has always been about – life, love, family, loss, tragedy. The cycle goes on. Certainly one of the darker moments I can recall in any anime I’ve watched thus far. Sebastian is nothing but an observer in this great tragedy.
Rest in peace, Noah’s Arc Troupe. A happy family, a loving family – may they be reunited in the afterlife.
