crack_van | But Demons Are an Earl's Best Friend*: A Kuroshitsuji Fandom Overview (with some spoilers)

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But Demons Are an Earl's Best Friend*: A Kuroshitsuji Fandom Overview (with some spoilers)

Once upon a time, in a universe only a few steps to the left of our own – the sort of universe where Queen Victoria rides out among her Londoners incognito, wearing steampunk goggles – there lived a little boy who had everything. His parents were handsome, clever, loving, and rich; he lived with them in a beautiful house; he was heir to his father's noble title; he himself was a pretty, sweet-tempered, intelligent child, doted on by strangers as well as by his own family.

Until his tenth birthday, when it all went to hell. The loving parents were murdered. The beautiful house was torched. He himself was abducted and sold to an underground society of gaudily sadistic, pedophiliac wannabe occultists. He was the tastiest of all their victims, so it was only natural that when they decided it would be fun to try to summon a demon, they chose him as the ceremonial sacrifice. This would prove to be, from their point of view, a terrible, terrible mistake.

A demon actually responded to the summons.¹ It . . . didn't like them very much.

It didn't like them at all, really.

The sacrifice, though? That was another matter entirely. After a month of captivity and abuse, our young hero was no longer sweet-tempered, nor even much of a child: he had become a creature of pure will and implacable hatred, with a mind sharpened to a razor edge. For the demon, it was love at first sight.² A very little while later the occultists were horribly dead, and the demon was carrying the boy out of the burning rubble in the shape of his new butler, bound to serve him until the day his revenge against those who destroyed his family was complete in exchange for his soul.

Welcome to Kuroshitsuji – in English, Black Butler – the story of the continuing adventures of the Earl Ciel Phantomhive³ and his demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis.⁴ You might reasonably expect, given that backstory, that the canon would be Faustian tragedy with a Gothic flavor, all melodrama and angst and eternal loss. You would be wrong. Kuroshitsuji is actually a contemporary black comedy in fancy dress, with occasional side trips into tragedy, murder mystery, slapstick, cooking show, and zombie apocalypse. Together Sebastian and Ciel will rule over the Victorian underworld in the Queen's name, fight crime, run a multinational business, enter and win curry contests, patronize the arts, attempt to manage the expectations of Ciel's surviving relatives, and oh yeah, fitfully and intermittently pursue Ciel's revenge. If nothing else comes up that needs their attention more urgently, like an unplanned visit from Ciel's fiancee or a crisis involving a production of Hamlet for charity. For those of us who tend to be fond of a certain flavor of witty, poised antagonist/villain it is also, in all its incarnations – manga, two anime series, two stage musicals, any number of OVAs – delicious, delicious id candy.

1. The sources

The Ur-canon is the manga by Toboso Yana, which debuted in October 2006 and is still very much in progress, with character and plot developments coming thick and fast in recent installments. The series to date has been collected into 13 volumes so far in the original Japanese. The English edition lags behind, with 8 licensed volumes available to date.⁵

There's also an anime adaptation, consisting of two series. Both series take advantage of the change of form to move in directions rather different from the manga, in terms of narrative form and emphasis ⁶ as well as in their storyline, which diverges radically from the manga after the first six episodes. This makes the animes somewhat controversial within the fandom; but the voice work is extraordinary (at least in the Japanese productions⁷), and standing on their own the animes are compelling enough to have reeled in viewers who have no knowledge of the manga at all. (I'm a reasonably critical reader/viewer, and despite a few flaws I am unembarrassed to admit to loving the adaptations.) All of the anime episodes, first and second season, are currently streaming free on Hulu, as well as being available via all the usual sources.⁸

The animes have been accompanied by a bouquet of OVAs, which showcase a sensibility among the creators that feels delightfully familiar. One gives us the backstory for a set of recurring minor characters; one is a riff on Alice in Wonderland; one is a straight-faced Making Of special feature, of the kind you would expect to find in any DVD set for a live-action film or series, in which our familiar characters appear as actors playing themselves and talk about the script, doing their own stunts (or not), and whether or not it's okay to film them without makeup. And that's just three of them; there are several more, all different from one another.

And if all that weren't enough, there have also been two live-action musicals. It can be difficult to track these down,⁹ but the second musical in particular, “The Most Beautiful Death in the World,” has had a strong impact on the fandom. Several of its characters, who appear nowhere else in the overall canon, have become fandom favorites, and their story has had a strong impact on how many fans see the canon universe.

Because of this wealth of sources, it's more accurate to talk about Kuroshitsuji as a collection of related canons than as one single internally-consistent canon with multiple adaptations and source materials. There are characters in the manga that never appear in either anime series, and vice versa; the endings of the anime series aren't intended to harmonize with the events of the manga; the plot and some of the characters from the second musical have been enormously influential within the fandom, but appear nowhere in the manga or either anime series. (This is a wonderful thing for writers, of course: it makes for an open universe that allows for speculation and development in any number of directions. And it eliminates potential concerns about being Jossed: with all those official AUs, why not assume another one if you need to?) The illustrations below are mostly from the anime, but for the sake of clarity (and of keeping this below novel length) I've avoided discussion of characters who appear only in either the manga or the first anime series. The one exception is the second anime series, which has a number of major characters who appear nowhere else, and which is important enough in the fandom to call for its own section.

2. The story and characters

Our story proper begins some two and a half years after Ciel's parents' murder. Ciel is now fully established in his father's place: governing his own households, running a growing business empire, and -- perhaps most crucially -- performing certain covert services for the Crown. By long tradition, the head of the Phantomhive family serves the monarchy as its proxy in the criminal underworld. As the Queen's Guard Dog, Ciel is the shadow ruler of that underworld, charged with responsibility for general oversight, with solving certain classes of crime and enforcing judgements upon those he deems guilty under the rules of that underworld, and when necessary with protecting the royal family's own misdeeds from coming to light. He takes his instructions from the Queen herself, and can overrule even Scotland Yard at need. And if that weren't enough to keep him busy, he has also taken personal control of the family business, and expanded it significantly during the few years since his father's death.

He's supposed to be pursuing his revenge, yes. But you can see where he might have trouble finding the time. And after all, it's not as if his demon seems to be in any particular rush.

Dramatis Personae

A. The Principals

Ciel, Lord Phantomhive

"That's not a child," Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Arthur Randall will tell one of his subordinates, late in the first anime series. "That's a demon." He's wrong, of course -- at least, semi-wrong, technically speaking.¹⁰ But you can see his point: Ciel is no ordinary 13-year-old. His success in his various roles would be impossible without his deadly and unstoppable butler, but it would be equally impossible without the qualities of mind and will Ciel brings to their partnership. His combination of extraordinary intelligence, intuition, precocious strategic sense, and ruthlessness more than compensate for his nominal age. Everyone in the underworld treats him as an adult -- or at least, everyone who survives for long does. And it's not because of his name or title.

He doesn't always wear the fetish gear. He doesn't have to. He's plenty scary without it.

Sebastian Michaelis

He is, of course, one hell of a butler. And very, very pretty, at least in his human form.¹¹

Theoretically, at least, Sebastian is in this for the promise of Ciel's soul. In the Kuroshitsuji cosmology human souls are food for demons: Sebastian's interest is in dinner, not damnation. Still, his ultimate goal is Ciel's destruction, which you would think would make for a certain tension in their relationship. But it doesn't: partly, no doubt, because Ciel knows it and isn't pretending otherwise; but also partly because Sebastian himself is in no hurry to complete the contract. One of the core conceits of the Kuro universe is that demons are driven not by any theoretical concern for good or evil, or by any senses of loyalty or honor, but rather by an overmastering sense of aesthetics -- in effect, demons are artists. Sebastian is fascinated by Ciel, and by his own role as Ciel's butler and chess piece; and his fascination plays out in what amounts to a giant, long-term work of performance art. (By the middle of the first anime series, Ciel is plainly giving Sebastian orders for the pleasure of seeing what he'll do with them: it's always wittier and far more elaborate than anything necessity would dictate.) It's obvious that he's having almost too much fun: for now at least, Ciel as master, collaborator, and partner is more appealing than Ciel as dinner.

For now. Presumably a time could come when he feels otherwise, but we haven't reached it yet.

B. At the Manor: Friends, Visitors, and Staff

One of Sebastian's first acts in Ciel's service was to rebuild the Phantomhive manor. (He did it in a matter of a few minutes, while Ciel was distracted by the graves of his parents, replicating it down to the scratches in the stone of the facade and the books in the very extensive library.) You need a staff to run a house of this size, and Ciel has one.

Or at least, he has Meirin (or Maylene, depending on your translation), Finny, and Bard: housemaid, gardener, and cook, respectively. They mean well and work hard, but they are very, very bad at being a maid, a gardener, and a cook: Meirin is so farsighted that she's effectively blind, and is always crashing into things and breaking them when she's not polishing the woodwork with shoe polish; Finny has been known to destroy the garden by overenthusiastic use of herbicides; and Bard is convinced that there's a good way to do the cooking with a flamethrower.

So it's kind of a good thing that their nominal jobs aren't actually what they were hired for. We'll eventually learn that they're all very good at their real jobs.

They're all Sebastian and Ciel's hires; only one servant remains from his parent's days. That one is the previous Phantomhive butler, Tanaka. Tanaka-san is now the steward, and a gentleman of considerable dignity and competence -- at least, when he's Real Tanaka. Most of the time he . . . isn't.¹²

Fortunately, Ciel's friends, visitors, and surviving family don't seem to notice that there's anything particularly odd about how the Manor is run. (Possibly they're too dazed from the effect of Sebastian's presence: it's canon that practically everyone who so much as glances at him will henceforth have trouble keeping their hands off him. He handles this with surprising equanimity.) Frequent visitors include surviving members of Ciel's family -- two aunts, one on his father's side and one on his mother's side, and his cousin Elizabeth -- and a variety of underworld figures.

Lady Elizabeth Middleford

Ciel's fiancee, and also his first cousin; it's a family arrangement. The two were childhood playmates, and she's still in mourning for the happy, open, loving Ciel who vanished forever when the family was destroyed. Lizzy has a kind heart, taste that would make a grown person weep, and a will of iron. You might not share her fondness for pink bonnets, but you'd be wrong to underestimate her in any way. There was a time when fandom in general apparently disliked her, and not merely for being a potential canon love interest for Ciel; but recent developments have confirmed what was hinted all along, which is that she's far more complicated and interesting -- and way cooler -- than first acquaintance with her might make you think.

There remains some disagreement within fandom about the extent to which she is or might be a true romantic interest for Ciel. It's indisputable that he cares deeply for her, but much less clear that the attachment is at all romantic in nature on his side. On hers, by contrast, the matter is perfectly clear: she is deeply in love with him, even if she hasn't entirely reconciled herself to the New Ciel.

Her mother, the Marchioness Middleford, appears only in the manga. She's Ciel's paternal aunt, and the only person we will ever meet whom Sebastian and Ciel are afraid of.

Angelina Durless, Madam Red

A lady of fashion, sought after everywhere for her beauty and wit. She's a practicing surgeon, and she maintains some familiarity with the London underworld. She is Ciel's aunt on his mother's side, and thinks of Ciel practically as her own child -- enough so that she's perfectly capable of going to his London house when he isn't there, inviting herself in, and making a wreck of the place trying to find the tea.

Grell Sutcliffe

Madam Red's butler, who goes almost everywhere with her. A popular and important character, but everything else about Grell is a spoiler.

Lao and Ran Mao

Lau is the London director of a Chinese trading firm; he has both legal business interests and significant underworld connections. He shares Madam Red's inclination to invite himself into Ciel's houses, and Ciel in return treats him with the annoyed forbearance of quasi-family. His position is to some extent dependent on Ciel's patronage, and he passes information on to Ciel and occasionally acts for him. He pretends to know more than he does; but he knows a great deal. He's more or less inseparable from Ran Mao.

Ran Mao is probably not Lau's sister, even though he introduces her that way. Don't be misled by what she wears, or the way she sits on his lap (or poses on a banister, either). If you even think about touching her without an invitation, you're making a very bad mistake.

C. In London

Ciel and Sebastian's work for the Queen takes them to London more than Ciel, who dislikes crowds and parties, would prefer. You can't really blame him: the place is full of people anyone would want to avoid, all of whom he has to deal with in the course of his work.

Undertaker

An informant of Ciel's, and of his father's before him. He knows anything there is to know about any death that takes place in London, and will tell you about it for a price; unfortunately for most people who'd like to consult him, that price is a good laugh. The Undertaker is almost certainly more dangerous than he appears to be, but he has an obvious fondness for Ciel and Sebastian. (As he should, since Sebastian is just about the only person who can reliably make him laugh.)

He loves his job, doesn't understand why anyone wouldn't love it as much as he does, and is always offering Ciel a nice nap in one of his custom coffins. Fandom loves him, and well we should.

Sir Arthur Randall

Head of Scotland Yard. Ciel's role as the Queen's Guard Dog means that he and Sebastian often have to deal with Sir Arthur, to the distinct displeasure of all three. It's never clear precisely why Sir Arthur hates Ciel, but it's very clear that he does, and that a certain amount of that hatred is very personal indeed.

Frederick Abberline

One of Sir Arthur's subordinates, and a genuinely good and decent human being. Ciel rolls his eyes at him; Sebastian, who is normally no worse than amused by any human, hates him; and Undertaker loves him for being an unfailing source of laughter.

Prince Soma

Soma is the 26th son of the Prince of Bengal. He first came to London on the trail of the abductor of his childhood nurse/governess, and for reasons not worth exploring invited himself to stay at Ciel's London house. After a while it became apparent that nothing was going to convince him to leave, and Ciel offered him a position as caretaker. Sweet-natured, well-meaning, and fundamentally clueless, Soma sees himself as Ciel's best friend and adopted older brother. Ciel sees him, in return, as a confounded but basically harmless nuisance.

Agni

Soma's follower, and the competent member of the pair. You might think of Soma and Agni as a sort of mirror!verse version of Ciel and Sebastian: Agni, who possesses the "right hand of Kali," is as dangerous as Sebastian in many ways, but he is kind, generous, loving, and determined to make life better for everyone around him while being a perfect companion and servant to his prince. To Sebastian's continuing bemusement, Agni considers him his friend; to his stunned admiration, Agni is able to enlist the help of Meirin, Finny and Bard in household tasks without their assistance ever leading to disaster. It is characteristic of Agni that he hasn't noticed that Sebastian might be evil, and would likely disbelieve it if anyone told him.

All of these people annoy Ciel in their own special ways. But none is quite so annoying as our last Londoner:

Alistair, Viscount Druitt

Aesthete, bon vivant, physician, and general dashing gentleman-about-town, beloved by the haut bourgeoisie for his artistic sensibilities and his generous willingness to act as a judge for civic events like the City of London's ice-carving contest. Also, a serial murderer and known principal in a human trafficing operation; he's been arrested for it at least once, but was freed almost immediately without being charged as a result of his wealth and connections.

Ciel hates him the way you hate mosquitoes at a picnic. In most series he'd be a dangerous antagonist. In Kuro he's comic relief.

D. At the Shinigami Dispatch Society

William T. Spears

Ciel's work, as well as his history, guarantees that every so often he's going to need to investigate a murder or two. So it was probably inevitable that sooner or later he would encounter members of the Shinigami Dispatch Society -- the Reapers,¹³ or Gods of Death. It's the job of the shinigami to collect the souls of those who are scheduled to die, and they also have the right and power to make a preliminary examination and judgement of those on the death list. In some instances, they have the authority to extend the life of a person on that list, but usually their task is simply to review the life record and to make sure that each soul is safely collected. Since demons eat souls, shinigami consider demons their natural enemies; and of course, part of the job is ensuring that a soul they're trying to collect isn't eaten by a demon instead.

William T. Spears is a manager of the Dispatch Society, and one Ciel and Sebastian encounter fairly often. He evidently has no power to interfere with Ciel and Sebastian's contract, and it appears that the existence of that contract prevents Sebastian from trying to eat any random souls that might cross his path. Nevertheless, the mutual hostility is palpable.

There are other shinigami who will be important in both the manga and the anime, but none who can be discussed without serious spoilers.

E. At the Trancy Manor

The Trancy household belongs entirely to the second anime series; not only will we not meet them in the manga or the first series, it's far from clear that they even exist in the universe of either one. But they and their story arc are prominent in the fandom, enough to warrant at least some introduction.

Alois Trancy

Like Ciel, Alois is the orphaned heir of a house that traditionally serves the Crown in certain covert roles; unlike Ciel, he doesn't appear to do any actual work. He also has a demon butler, acquired in circumstances of some desperation.

Alois is obsessed with destroying Ciel and Sebastian, for reasons that may or may not be entirely his own, and that he may or may not fully understand. He's more obviously damaged than Ciel is, and has fewer internal resources with which to compensate for that damage: he's vicious in a way Ciel isn't, erratic, unstable, easily frightened, and desperate to be loved: particularly by his butler, Claude Faustus.

Alois is much more recognizably a child than Ciel ever is, and that, along with his vulnerability, is a part of his appeal to the nontrivial segment of the of the fandom that loves him.

Claude Faustus

Alois's demon butler, and an old enemy of Sebastian's. His contract with Alois is different in crucial ways from Sebastian's contract with Ciel: Claude is apparently bound to serve Alois only for as long as he derives pleasure from it, and the two have nothing like Sebastian and Ciel's partnership or sense of mutual understanding. It can be difficult to remember that Sebastian is, ultimately, a threat to Ciel; it's impossible not to be aware of Claude as a threat to Alois.

Alois adores Claude; no one else, including members of his own household, can stand him. --Well, no one besides the fans, that is.

Hannah Anafeloz

Alois' maid, and like so many characters in this series, more than she appears to be. Alois hates her, and his behavior toward her is unforgivable; somehow she manages to forgive him anyway. Anything more would be a spoiler; but her role in the series is pivotal.

3. The Fandom

There used to be an active fandom on LJ, but there was evidently some sort of implosion perhaps a year ago, and the central fandom comm was deleted by the mod without giving anyone a chance to back up any of the content posted there. I have no information at all about precisely what happened, or why, but as best I can tell since then the portion of the fandom that writes fic and makes art has been tiny, fragmented, and fairly inactive. There is apparently a more active RP community, and I hear rumors of an active fandom in other portions of the net, though I haven't found much of anything myself. Still, some things can be gathered from the occasional LJ discussions, from postings on ff.net, and from the body of work that can still be easily located.

Most of the fic I've seen has focused on shipping, on fixes for the ending of the first or second anime series, or both.¹⁴ The fandom would be a natural for plotty genfic with supernatural elements, or so you'd think, but if there's a cache of it out there anywhere I have yet to find it. So most of what follows focuses on shipping and shipper wars: it's a lot of what's out there to be found.

*A kiss on the hand may be quite continental . . .

As you would expect, the juggernaut pairing is and has always been Sebastian and Ciel. It's easy to see why: I'm not sure I have ever seen any other two characters who so obviously adore each other. Ciel's age is of course an issue for most Western fans, and despite the intimacy of their relationship in other respects, that relationship in canon doesn't read (to me, at least) as anything sexual in nature yet -- rather, it has the feel of something that's likely to become sexual at some point in the future, as Ciel matures. And indeed, the usual solution to the issue is to set anything that involves a physical relationship between the two some years in the future: Ciel may be underage now, but time will cure that.

As you would also expect, there's a considerable segment of fandom that is absolutely revolted by the mere suggestion of shipping these two. As best I understand it, the argument on this side is that Ciel is a traumatized child, that Sebastian is a predator just waiting to destroy him, that the thought of any romantic relationship, let alone sexual relationship, between these two is disgusting; and that while it may be more disgusting if you set it within the canon timeframe, its essential awfulness is not something that time or age will cure. Besides, this side of the argument goes, it's likely that Ciel is a rape victim with significant trauma around any sexual activity with anyone, and it's wrong to gloss over issues like that. Furthermore, he has a fiancee. Which is to say, a canon relationship with a woman. Which is to say he's straight, straight, straight.

Me, I ship them like a burning thing that burns. With the heat of a million blue-violet stars. But I'm not going to tell you that you have to. What's that line? I report; you decide?

Sebastian/Grell is also extremely popular, for reasons that will be clear to anyone who knows the canon. And Sebastian/William has its supporters. But Sebastian is surprisingly hard to pair with anyone else, at least for long: canon tells us he's almost universally desirable, but it also tells us that he's less likely to return anyone's desire than demons' general reputation would suggest. He'll use sex as a tool when the occasion presents itself, but in canon he's always turning other offers down, with every appearance of fastidious distaste.

When Ciel isn't paired with Sebastian, he's usually paired with Lizzy; there's also a smallish but productive group of Ciel/Alois partisans.

The shinigami have developed what's practically an independent fandom of their own, and it's been quite active recently. This group of characters is interesting, quirky, less cold and perhaps alienating than the demons and their contractors; and has besides the considerable advantage of avoiding the age problem. I'd say more, but again, there are issues with spoilers.

I've mentioned fixes for the endings of the anime series, which constitute practically a subgenre of their own. These can be fascinating: the canon leaves huge questions of cosmology, of theology, and of the precise meanings of both series endings open to interpretation, and it's a tribute to the impact of those endings that the drive among writers to play with what happens next is so strong. I've called these fix-it fics, but that's not really accurate: it implies that there was something unsatisfactory about those endings that fandom felt driven to correct.

The drivenness is real, but with the first series in particular it seems to be generally agreed that the ending was absolutely right, so that it felt both shocking and completely inevitable. I haven't seen a reaction yet that wasn't admiring. It's just that what's artistically and aesthetically right isn't always the place you want to end up. In this case, the fix-its feel almost like flowers flung at a stage when the final curtain comes down: tributes rather than complaints about how it all came out.

4. Resources

As I mentioned above, there aren't all that many; the mysterious fandom meltdown left a few comms still up and running, but they're all pretty quiet now, and it appears that the serious links and resources were mostly lost when the main comm went down. But at least some fanworks are linked on a semi-regular basis at

phantomhive, and you can find occasional discussion, along with many, many sales posts, at

kuroshitsuji.

¹Which is probably a foreseeable risk if you go around summoning demons; but somehow no one ever seems to prepare for it.

²The sort of love you or I might have for strawberries or chocolate, perhaps, but love nevertheless.

³Look, it's a manga/anime canon in an alt-European setting, okay? Silly-sounding names go with the territory. At least Toboso has an explanation for this one.

⁴Ciel gave him the name when their contract was formed; and it says something about Ciel that he chose it. How many ten-year-olds would name their demon after an Inquisitor of the Dominican order who's remembered in occultist circles for having produced a catalogue of demons? – Yes, I know it was also Ciel's dog's name, but I'm not sure that diminishes the point. Which is that he named his demon Sebastian Michaelis, OMG.

⁵Which means that for those of us who don't read Japanese, avoiding spoilers for the manga arcs generally means following chapter scanlations as they're posted online, or getting hold of the Japanese releases and getting your Japanese-reading friends to tell you what's going on.

⁶The first series has the overall narrative structure of a Western courtship novel, while the manga to date is something of a picaresque adventure. And the second series is perhaps best understood as an officially-made and beautifully produced fix-it fic for the first series: it's both a direct sequel and clearly marked as taking place in a universe one step over from that of the first series, as if to signal to the audience that it is intended as only one of many possible stories about what happened next.

⁷The first series is available in English dub as well as in licensed and fansubbed Japanese releases. The licensed release can be found streaming on Hulu, as well as from all the other usual sources. I strongly recommend the Japanese over the English version, although the dub is better than in many series and does have its partisans; this is a case where both the actors' (or directors') choices and the translation of the script significantly alter the characterizations of the lead characters. For more details on the nature of those changes and their impact, check out Kaigou's brilliant and evidence-filled post here.

⁸1. The first four are available in English dub as well as the Japanese. I'm telling you, though, don't go there. More generally: Kuroshitsuji presents us with one of those annoying instances where fan releases are in some ways better than the official versions -- the translations are in some critical places more accurate and more idiomatic. Since I believe in supporting the official releases and thus the series creators, my advice is to see these episodes via a licensed release, whether on Hulu or in some other form. But seeing the unofficial versions as well can be interesting and enlightening.

⁹Although as of this writing, you may be able to find the second musical on YouTube. Thank you, anonymous person on f_fa who caught this and passed the tip along.

¹⁰Technically speaking, it seems likely that Ciel is an emancipated minor -- that is, that steps have been taken to alter his legal status to that of an adult for most purposes. Twelve is ridiculously young for emancipation, but both anime and manga suggest, if obliquely, that the Crown has made special arrangements for him.

¹¹We don't actually know what he looks like in his true form; all we have are hints and suggestions. But to the fandom's eternal delight, we do know that in his demon form he wears hooker boots, with evil spike heels that taper to a needle point. Wears them, and can fight in them.

At one point in the anime he claims that his true form is repellent to human eyes, but I think we all agree that he's lying.

¹²Yeah, I don't know either. If anyone does know what's up with Tanaka, I wish you'd tell me. Here he is in not-real form:

¹³As Reapers, they naturally work with scythes -- which, in this universe, are modeled on garden tools. There's an OVA where they're raising money by selling them directly to the public.

¹⁴Okay, not really. Most of the fic I've found is either a high school AU or a romance between Sebastian or Ciel and an original character; I've also seen a fairish array of time travel fics where an OC lands in the canon universe (or vice versa), rentboy fics, and similar standards. I'm filtering those out for our purposes; I look at ff.net so you don't have to.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is a great overview, and I'm really looking forward to your recs! I've seen the first anime and have read only the first volume of the manga, and really don't know where to start with fic, so this is wonderful.

Thanks! As I'm sure you'll have guessed, I'm all too happy to have the chance to try to lure you deeper into the fandom. I know for a fact that I've seen at least one lightweight but rather charming crossover with Good Omens; I'll have to see whether I can find it again and link it. Because featured small fandoms don't have limits on their recs slots. Heh.

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