Kuroshitsuji chapter 39.
Clue: Black Butler Style
I normally don’t do manga chapter posts, but I figured what the heck. I do read manga online, at least Black Butler. For anyone who cares, Yen Press is releasing volume one in January, which I will push over old ladies to get my hands on.
So, as anyone who keeps up with this series knows, nothing has really been happening after the Circus Arc ended. Well, there was that previous chapter with all of Arthur’s foreshadowing to future plot events, but to really advance the plot. The previous few chapters were all fluff chapters, and while I do appreciate the break in seriousness, I really wanted to move on to the next arc. I was fooled, by the very misleading splash page, that this would be another fluff chapter as well. Thankfully it wasn’t.
Cast:
A bunch of arc-centric characters show up. This new cast (and there are a ton) are Georg von Siemens, that strange femine German guy we saw in chapter 37 (I think), Carl Woodley, Patrick Phelps, Grimsby Keane, Irene Diaz, and Arthur (whose introduction was technically last chapter). The regular cast, Ciel and his crew, are there, as well as, surprisingly, Lau and Ranmao. God, that’s a ton of people. Thankfully, it looks like most of them will be gone before the chapters over, anyway.
Plot:
Ciel decides to have a party, for reasons not disclosed (I assume they will be told later, if he had any). He invites lots of famous people in the business world, chats with them a bit, and goes to bed early. The chapter actually focuses more on Arthur (who is better than Ciel, anyway), and his thoughts of the various socialites littering the party. A fight breaks out between Georg and Grimsby over Irene, and Grimsby, being an idiot, decides to make it violent by hurling a wine bottle at Georg. Sebestian saves the day with a flamboyant cover-up and Georg passes out in a deunken stupor. He is carried to one of the rooms, and some hours later many of the guests rush to his room as the sound of someone’s screams echoes throught the halls. Sebestian kicks open the door CSI style, and the guests see Georg lying in a chair…with a big stab wound in his chest. Apparently this is a prelude to a big murder mystery, as the foreshadowing at the end of the chapter tells us.
Did I menton the entire time there is a storm raging outside?
Thoughts:
Firstly, I hate the sudden influx of new characters. I had a hard enough time keeping track of the regular cast, now there’s all these new people? It’s like Umineko all over again. By the end of this arc, I’ll be identifying each character by their screams. In fact, a lot of the characters are pretty forgettable, but maybe that can be attributed to the fact that two of them are middle aged men, one of them’s a gay (no one in Victorian England who has eyeshadow and sparkly hair has a girlfriend) movie director, a wimp, an annoyingly naive chick, and Arthur. Okay, Arthur can be excluded.
That’s basically the highlight of this chapter’s characters: Arthur. He kicked William off the top spot of my favorite characters. He’s just so…not awesome, it makes him appealing. Not to say that he’s a wimp, no that award goes to Patrick, he speaks French, doesn’t freak out at the sight of muder, and he’s an author. Totally awesome. There’s just..not enough words in the English language to describe my love for Arthur. And he’s guarenteed survival, due to the narration he provided us last chapter as a flashback.
I was disappointed as to the lack of Ciel in this chapter. We get a few shots of him (one of which was fairly perverted), and we learn that he speaks French. There is even less shots of Sebestian, who gets one full page spread (just one? Really Yana?) and maybe a headshot here or there. Like I said, most of this chapter takes place from Arthur’s point of view. Not that there’s really anything wrong with that, but there is a significant lack of eyecandy.
This chapter wasn’t as enthrolling as the chapters I remember from earlier arc beginners. Maybe I’m just tiring of reading Kuroshitsuji, or it was just the amount of filler chapters before, but I just really wanted to skip to the end to see what would happen. Thankfully, the next arc looks like it’ll have my interest, as we get a murder myster, Umineko style. Murder mysteries are always good, though I can’t stop making references to Clue in my head. They both took place in Victorian England, Georg reminds me of Colonel Mustard, and both casts of characters were rich socialites. Unlike Clue, though, it looks like we’ll get to see multiple characters die. Which is always a good thing.
Things I want to see next time:
Arthur fanservice, and more Ronald. I mean, what’s with Yana giving a preview of a shinigami that’s possibly even gayer than Grell, and then not useing him. He had so better be the cause of someone’s death. Keep the look out for a possible lawn-mower victim, and cross your fingers.
