Kuroshitsuji: A Spoiler-Free Introduction

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Hi! I'm Phoebe, and I'm back to drive the Van for my new-ish crush, the manga (and anime, and musical) series Kuroshitsuji. Since it's never been featured here before -- it's a tiny fandom in LJ terms, despite being fairly large and active in its home jurisdictions -- I have the excellent good fortune to be able to write the Fandom Overview for the series.

There's just one tiny problem. A crucial part of the entire premise of the series is a big, gaudy spoiler. Trying to give you any sense of the series without giving it away is difficult verging upon impossible; but if you haven't already been spoiled for it, via fannish osmosis or incautious fic consumption, and you're someone who would appreciate the series as it deserves, I would be sad to ruin it for you. So if you've managed to avoid knowing anything about Kuroshitsuji beyond what I tell you here, my advice will be to put this down, avert your eyes from the spoilery full overview that will follow this, and read the first four chapters of the manga. (It's licensed in English, and available from all the usual sources; if you can't wait for the physical book to arrive, you can probably find places to read online while you wait for the order.) And stay away from all fanworks until you have: the very first fic you look at, no matter what it is, will contain the key spoiler.

Here's what you need to know to decide whether it's worth your trouble. Kuroshitsuji -- Black Butler, in English -- is about the life and adventures of Ciel, Lord Phantomhive, a Victorian earl who is, semi-secretly, the ruler of the Empire's criminal underground, intervening in it as necessary to protect the Queen's interests. At the same time, he manages his own legitimate business interests and does his best to also manage the expectations of his aunts and his fiancee.

He's not quite thirteen years old when the series begins, but the underworld treats him as an adult, and a dangerous one, and they're not wrong. That's him in the picture, along with the person who helps make it all possible: his remarkably gifted butler, Sebastian Michaelis.

The series overall is more dark comedy than gothic melodrama -- in Western terms, think more John Wilmot than Charles Dickens, more Congreve than Bronte. If you need to admire your protagonists' moral values, this probably isn't a series for you. But if you often find yourself preferring the antagonists or villains in other series to the protagonists, and wishing you could see more of them, there's a good chance you'll love it. And if you're in a position to read it spoiler-free, I envy you.

I'd burble on at you about it right now, but that would defeat the whole point. Go, read. And then we'll talk.