|
|
|
R2 DVD Reviews
|
|
Wednesday, 09 November 2011 00:00 |
|
Page 1 of 2
 I dunno. If I'd done a deal with the devil to promise my soul in exchange for the lifetime use of a demon, I'd probably do something other with him that make him my butler. Ciel Phantomhive, though, thinks that's the perfect use for one...
Ciel Phantomhive is the 12-year-old head of a noble family, and he quite literally has one hell of a butler: Sebastian Michaelis, a demon held under contract to Ciel to allow him to gain revenge on the killers of his parents - at the cost of his soul. Of course, using such a butler simply to keep house would be a waste of talent, so as well as running the family toy & sweets business, Ciel and Sebastian also carry out tasks for the Queen when required. If only the rest of Ciel's household staff were as reliable...
Maid Mey-Rin spends more time lusting after Sebastian than she does looking after the house. Gardener Finnian is right up there near the top of the "All-Time Greatest Anime Klutz" list. Old man Tanaka seems rather redundant with Sebastian around. Cook Baldroy... well, he does actually seem half-way competent, but you have to feel sorry for him, working with this lot. Ciel's family business is the Funtom toys & games company - not the sort of board games I'd give my kids, to be honest - but the main focus of his interest is in the unusual, the events and people that he and Sebastian are assigned to deal with.
The series starts off with a few episodes intended to introduce the cast, and the emphasis in these is firmly on slapstick comedy with a bit of a dark edge to it. Normally, that would be right up my alley, but I have to say thay here, it feels a little out of place here. The four 'minor' staff members are clearly here purely for comic relief, but Ciel and Sebastian are both presented as carrying an ominous air about them - they're both tainted with darkness, after all, and you damn well know it as soon as you see them. To see them both tolerating, or sometimes even getting involved in, the antics of the rest of the cast just doesn't feel quite right. All the comedy is also a rather misleading way to start the series off, as once it gets down to business the main storylines are definitely on the dark side.
Across this volume, we get three main story arcs: the first dealing with Jack the Ripper, and the show's take on who the culprit really was; the second about a run-down village where the locals, and their obsession with dogs, soon begin to cause problems; and the third sees Ciel's fiancée Lizzie kidnapped by a being who's been turning young girls into dolls. The first was probably the best of these - the Ripper's identity was a nice little twist, and the introduction of Grell, the rogue Grim Reaper whose actions earn him the wrath of his labour union (!?) was a nice touch - even though Grell him/herself (that's left a little vague) is a little over-the-top. It also sets out the show's intention to not hold back on the gore and violence when it's required by the story - although that in turn just makes the slapstick stand out even more like a sore thumb.
The story of Henry Barrymore and his dog-obsessed village is worth paying attention to, not because it's any good - I'd rate it lower than the comedy episodes, myself - but because it introduces two characters who are going to be important as the series goes on: downtrodden maid Angela, who later turns out to be something far more threatening, and demon hound Pluto, who can switch between his natural form (a ten-foot-high hellhound that you really wouldn't want to tangle with; and his human form, who is quite possibly the most annoying 'character' I've seen in quite some time. Human-form Pluto doesn't talk, he still arfs and makes other doggy noises; he walks around on all fours and naked, because that's what dogs do. I get the feeling that he's intended to be funny, but he really isn't.
Which brings us neatly to Lizzie, another character that some people would like to be knocked off for being too annoying - although I have to admit that I quite liked her. She's the exact opposite to Ciel - bright, cheerful, full of the joys of life and possessed with a fun little habit of redecorating the Phantomhive mansion in a style more appropriate to a 13-year-old girl. Yes, she plays to the slapstick side of the show that I've already complained about, but she's probably the one part of the show's humour that does actually work - and the closing arc of this set points out that, however much her antics may annoy Ciel from time to time, he does actually care for her. Although perhaps not as much as he cares for Sebastian.
The fun in Black Butler really comes when, as their investigation into whatever case they're dealing with comes to an end, Ciel inevitably allows Sebastian to cut loose and do when a demon does best. The action scenes are top-class stuff, great fun to watch and really very atmospheric. The scenes put around them... less so, sadly, particularly when it gets to the slapstick comedy. The end result is one of those shows that I really wanted to enjoy more than I did - I like the idea of having one hell of a butler, but it just doesn't quite hang together as well as it could. Worth checking out, but don't let the expectations get too high.
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
|
Reviews Archive 
