Helllo <3 love your blogg, actually is one of my favorites. I was thinking in the recent development of the Blue Sect Arc and after scotland yard got mix up i wonder.. how the plot will moved forward, i mean i dont get the point of the threat of jail for OCiel :/ Yes of course he needs in one point reveal that all was a lie but i feel its been to rushed. idk i would like to hear your thoughts ! And what would you think will happen next.

Hi Anon and aww, thank you very much! ❤

To answer you, personally no I don’t feel that this is rushed at all. In fact I’d say the pace is rather slow (I mean the twin was introduced in the 26th volume) and I had expected our!Ciel to be framed for a while now.

As for what’s the point, it’s a chess game and UT & real!Ciel are the ones who initiated it from the moment they revealed themselves to Ciel. I agree they’re not the simplest characters to understand though, but I theorized about what they could be after here and here respectively! 🙂

Overall, I think the most important to keep in mind about this arc and the latest developments is that our!Ciel is supposed to be confronting all that he never did until now (in order to gain character development), which is something mainly illustrated by the return of his undead brother.

Rewinding the story

back

a little, try to remember why Ciel took on his brother’s identity in the first place and maybe it will make more sense. From the moment his bro died, our!Ciel became Vincent’s successor and the next Earl Phantomhive, so he had no real need to take his brother’s identity.

The reason he did it anyway is because…

he felt extremely guilty about not being the twin who died. It’s a condition called survivor’s guilt, because of the trauma induced by the horrible experience he lived through.

As such, he hates himself for having survived, even more after Seb made him believe that he had willingly sacrificed his brother’s soul into summoning him (which isn’t true, he never wanted any of this, it was an accident)…

and it’s all of this that led to his decision to take on his brother’s identity: because he wanted to make it as if real!Ciel was the one who had survived, both for himself and for what was left of his family (because

he saw himself as inferior to his twin brother and guilty, so he didn’t want to disappoint them).

This led onto the contract with Seb itself and -this is what may interest you about the latest development of the current arc- onto the fact that Ciel is looking at the contract as his own punishment for not having died instead of his brother:

And this, this mentality right here -that he is guilty and that Seb eating his soul will be his punishment for not having died instead of his brother- is what I believe needs to change for our!Ciel.

Hence the current arc and this face-off between brothers because, if there is any time when Ciel can reflect about his brother’s death from 4 years ago, especially when Lizzie and Soma (who are the closest to him) are also involved, it’s now with the current arc.

Basically, what I’d personally love to get from this arc is for our!Ciel to finally realize that people are happy he’s the one who came back (Lizzie, Ed), that they are happy to have met him during these 4 years (Soma, Sieglinde) and that’s he’s certainly not worthless compared to his brother.

Because, if our!Ciel gets this kind of positive development about himself, then later he may end up starting to question whether or not the terms of the contract are still something he agrees to.

And personally I’d love to see this type of conflict eventually happening between Seb and Ciel, because it’s just way more interesting narratively speaking than their highly functioning duo that exists ever since vol1, especially if Seb is truly supposed to be Kuroshitsuji’s main character (because main characters need to be challenged and to develop, be it in a good or bad way).

There you go Anon! I hope this makes sense? Honestly ever since this…

I’ve been waiting for a build up to an eventual conflict about the contract between Seb and Ciel. If it happens it will be way later though, if just because Ciel needs to get a better view of himself first if he’s to ever reflect back on the covenant he made with his butler.

That’s why Ciel having to confront what he decided 4 years ago and most of his behavior towards people who care about him is important right now. For me that’s mostly what the current arc is all about, with possibly some answers about the Phantomhive family and UT’s personal issues with them.

Sorry for rambling, as with everything it’s just my take on the subject but I hope this wasn’t too hard to understand. Thank you again for the kind words and have a lovely day ahead Anon! :3

phaasmaoftarth:

meganphntmgrl:

meganphntmgrl:

do you ever think about how weird it is that the moral of Frankenstein is kind of less just “graverobbing is weird and creepy” and more “take some fucking responsibility if you’re going to do so”

“if you’re going to create a large corpse son, you better be ready to love him”

hi ducky! do you think you could translate yana latest tweet about guns and the police (i think thats what its about) :0

akumadeenglish:

sorry for the delay in replying!

source: yana’s tweets from 2018/08/04

rough translation:

From Victorian era through to modern times, the British police doesn’t carry guns (though afaik Northern Ireland does) because apparently they think that “no gun should be pointed at citizens”. This is awesome. Hence, in Kuroshitsuji, too, Abberline as well as the other officers don’t carry guns. On the other hand, the Watchdog who is supposed to do things that the police can’t, shoots without hesitation. –Toboso

Lately, I regret that I didn’t elaborate more on the struggles of Abberline and the police, as well as the outrageous behaviour of the Queen’s watchdog [when it comes to investigation]. The reason why Commissioner Randall despises the Phantomhives so much is that he can’t stand their arrogance, acting as though they are above the law (though it’s for the sake of the early solution of the crime). –Toboso

As was the case with JTR arc and Blue Sect arc, it must be really frustrating to the police how – while they are investigating legally and peacefully – the Phantomhives catch the criminal by using immoral methods and firing the gun like mad… –Toboso

Basically, Ciel is only called upon either when the case has already claimed a lot of victims or when there are still too many uncertainties that the police can’t start investigating. That’s why the Phantomhives aren’t welcomed [by the police]. If I was called “incompetent” by some cheater who comes late and doesn’t even follow the rules at all, I’d punch him. But unlike me, Randall and Abberline act like proper adults [when they meet OC at a crime scene]… –Toboso

Bonus: if anyone’s interested, here’s a bbc article on this issue

rationalkuroshitsuji:

(I’d been looking for an excuse to play with LucidChart.)

The cleverest part of this company is the continuous loop around:
people attend
common blood > aristocrats
money > lavish music hall
free food > people attend

This makes the music hall self-sustaining, and it also makes it a little clearer why Ciel’s plan to disrupt the hall worked. Drawing people away from the hall decreased the total blood output, which decreased Sirius blood available, which increased the number of corpses and decreased the amount of blood available for the aristocrats. The whole cycle breaks down at that point.

If this is an interesting format, I’ll take requests for diagramming other story arcs too. I like doing this because it forces me to highlight pieces where we don’t know how they fit in yet.

What UT could be after

Basically I think that one possibility for this arc, as far as our!Ciel is concerned, is that UT (with real!Ciel) is trying to get rid of the two dangers constantly lurking around our!Ciel.

You heard the man, he doesn’t want to lose more Phantomhives

and that definitely includes our!Ciel (he even said that he made no difference between the twins, in ch131).

To protect our!Ciel tho’, he gotta eliminate the Watchdog duty that’s like a collar Ciel will hang himself with at some point:

and that’s where the dead twin (and first heir) getting his title back could be useful since he’s already dead. So even if Victoria gets to him (since personally I think she’s the big bad), no can end like Vincent and Claudia.

The second danger is Seb

and that could be why Bravat (who was most likely speaking for UT) literally said he could offer help in dealing with Seb during his fortune telling.

Maybe that’s even what the whole framing thing is supposed to lead to. Somehow.

So I don’t know for sure, but it seems UT hasn’t lost his mind and still hasn’t reached his goal, as himself told Othello

and I think that is true, just like Sensei implying that he’s actually not a villain after ch131 came out.

Obviously the whole scheme is super complex, but if UT is after besting the Queen and a hungry demon in one go for our!Ciel’s sake, then he has to have no limit, including using people like Bravat who had a sad life or the S4 and then throwing them away.

midnight-in-town:

I’m currently highly confused and torn between what matters the most to real!Ciel.

Until now, I always thought it was his little brother (because of the flashback mainly), but now in the current arc, I’m wondering if all he cares about might not be the “Earl Phantomhive” title. Not for what it represents about the Watchdog duty necessarily, but more because he was Vincent’s heir and so it’s his.

If that’s the case, that means he definitely lied about not being angry or pissed off about our!Ciel’s lie.

So I reread the whole flashback to try and getter a better understanding of the twin’s rather new character (since he was technically introduced in ch129).

The fact he’s dead is not helping, but

if we’re considering that real!Ciel is still mentally ten years old, despite UT making him “grow up” to match as our!Ciel’s twin, then maybe…

that’s all what the latest chapters are about. It’s a chess game, because what real!Ciel cares about is playing again with his little brother, like they used to, since it’s “the most fun of all”.

Add UT who definitely wants Seb out of the picture because of the contract and that could lead to the current situation with calling Scotland Yard over and framing our!Ciel (and thus Seb, as his butler).

If the game in itself isn’t what’s motivating real!Ciel to go against his little brother then…

…another explanation is that, because he was supposed to be Vincent’s heir and even if he loves his brother, the title and everything that’s related to this position

(including, Lizzie, as his fiancée)

are his and he wants them back from our!Ciel.

For example, the attack on Soma & Agni could either be a sign of real!Ciel’s jealousy towards Soma and his relationship to our!Ciel, just like it could be a twisted way to punish our!Ciel for taking the ring from him (as the message on the wall specified).

The thing is, real!Ciel as a BD went through the same process as the BDs from the Campania and Weston arcs. So being obsessed with the few parts of his life he clang to until he was sacrificed (going back home, being Vincent’s heir, being with his little brother, etc) could be what’s going on.

Last possibility is that the target of UT & real!Ciel’s plan using Scotland Yard is only Sebastian…

…because clearly neither real!Ciel or UT particularly like him, while they both showed previously that they didn’t necessarily wish harm on our!Ciel.

I don’t know how framing Ciel would lead to only Seb being arrested or getting out of the way though, especially since there is no way a prison would hold Seb back, but UT at least must have something in mind?

TL;DR I can’t be sure but seeing the flashback, I think real!Ciel should (logically) still care about his little brother, just like UT seems to care about at least saving Ciel from the contract. In other words, the only enemy for real!Ciel and UT should be Seb.

So framing our!Ciel is either a way to get to Sebastian/the contract or simply a twisted game between brothers because “it’s fun” (+ UT could be fond of seeing the twins play “like they used to” since he’s lost into the idea that bringing the dead back is

👌

Edit: more here.

A chess game between brothers

darkspellmaster:

midnight-in-town:

midnight-in-town:

midnight-in-town:

That’s all it is: real!Ciel is using his pawns against his brother’s in a real lively chess game. I’m a bit iffy as to what the twin ultimately wants, but let’s save that for later.

It’s a chess game and our!Ciel stepped right up to it in ch129 when he came back to the manor…

and he definitely had a late start because of the shock and confusion when realizing that his older brother is back and Lord Sirius, the blue star of the blue sect, but…

I’m sure he’ll manage to recover. 🙂 Because Ciel has people he can use against his brother too.

Without already mentioning that Abberline and probably Edward will end up on his side (Ed because he already accused Ciel wrongly in the Weston arc and came to regret it + he and Ciel investigated most of the arc together), Violet, Sieglinde and even Soma have several ways to yell bullshit about our!Ciel being the mastermind behind the sect:

For Violet, it’s a question of motivation and wanting to pay Ciel back for helping him several times + saving his life in ch125.

For Soma, he’ll first need to hear about our!Ciel having a twin brother to connect the dots and realize that his friend didn’t kill Agni

and for Sieglinde, it’s just about friendship, considering all that Ciel did for her in the past and how she’s the one who analyzed the blood samples for him.

Obviously Lizzie knows on the truth on this matter too, she knows who the real Lord Sirius is, but her heart is being held hostage by real!Ciel’s side right now so she’s a major pawn to use against our!Ciel for the moment,

but it could change because her love for our!Ciel makes her a wild card.

You only have to see how sad and empty she looks in the whole chapter: she’s not siding with real!Ciel out of a 100% heartfelt choice.

The servants will side with our!Ciel, who is their master, out of devotion, but they have no idea as to what’s really going on unfortunately. Except for Tanaka, who probably saw it coming (’how’ is still the question) but who’s as tied as Lizzie I’d say, seeing how sad he also looks.

So yep: chess game. Brother vs brother, Seb vs UT, Grell and Othello probably being confused af and Mama Midford hopefully still missing for a reason

(maybe Alexis telling her what happened will trigger something?). Can’t wait :))

Heyyyyy, you know who else is missing and could be considered a chess pawn for our!Ciel’s side? Lau. And Ran Mao additionally, I guess.

Not that Lau showed up in the arc so far, so the probability that he’ll play a role isn’t that high obviously, but still, Sensei said before that, even though Lau is busy running his own business while following the Watchdog’s rules, he’s mostly “interested in our!Ciel”.

Undying Seb doesn’t seem to faze or interest him so much, so he’s…

…hanging around our!Ciel mostly for his own enjoyment of things.

So I’d say he’d (knowingly) rather play the part of the pawn to our!Ciel’s side of the chess game over real!Ciel’s anyday (if real!Ciel is to become the Watchdog for a short time after our!Ciel’s arrest), because he always bets on our!Ciel to provide him with a lot of amusement.

Ran Mao will follow Lau, but she too seems to like Ciel a lot anyway…

…so that’s two more people that our!Ciel could use wisely against his brother.

In fact, friendly reminder that Lau is the most mysterious character of the whole cast as of right now (and that’s really saying something), so having our!Ciel owing him could be rather interesting for a future arc focusing more on Lau. :))

And one last thing, about missing characters…

Frances Midford, irrelevant to this arc? I don’t think so. 😀

Since real!Ciel is the one who started this chess game rather strongly, the odds that our!Ciel will overcome his brother at the end are even better considering what Frances taught our!Ciel (a tactic he used for the last 4 years for his revenge actually).

I’m in for this type of games, guys. It’s gonna get wilder. :))

Are we forgetting The other peices? The two Charles, John Brown and the Queen. You honestly think she’ll sit by as this is going on and screwing with her watch dog?

And one price that can help Lizzy is Paula.

And we haven’t seem the other Lords yet. Nor the killer.

@darkspellmaster I was keeping this for another post but since you added on: I agree with you this arc is far from being over.

However, I think Ciel is def going to be arrested and the Queen won’t be of any help. The Double Charles were probably told about the dead lords from the Parliament as of ch126, but are they truly supposed to believe Ciel is innocent?

After all, they know as first-hand witnesses what he’s ready to do to solve a case, with the example of the circus arc, so this doesn’t sound helpful.

I’d love to make a more detailed post on this after Monday but, basically, this arc sounds a lot like the end of “Kuro the manga Part 1” as in, our!Ciel is facing all that he ever did wrong in Kuro.

Lying about his identity? His bro is coming back.
Pushing Liz and Soma away from him? Now they’re hurt and doubting him and so he’s hurt too.
Using Ed for murder? The Weston arc had gotten them closer but now Ed may need some time to truly be sure he’s innocent.
Needing the Double Charles’ testimony? As I said, after the circus arc, he can’t count on them.
Needing the Queen’s help? Well, he already messed up 3 times in a year (curry arc, circus arc and green witch arc) so after ch108, it’s not certain the Queen would care to help, especially since she’s also very interested in Bizarre dolls.

It goes on and on and on. 🙂 Honestly, the only people truly on our!Ciel’s side at the moment are Sebastian (because of the contract) and maybe Tanaka and Frances, if they both knew about him lying about his identity beforehand.
And also maybe Lau because he never knew the twin and seeks entertainment from Ciel, but like, that makes the list very small for now. xD

Everyone else is shaken by the news and the accusations about our!Ciel being the Blue Sect’s mastermind are adding to the confusion and doubts surrounding him. That’s what Seb meant by “well played”.

Anyway, since this arc is about confrontation, I think it is eventually supposed to end on our!Ciel learning to rely on the characters besides Sebastian who will accept to believe in him (I made a list in the first post).
For now, the situation is confusing so he has trouble gathering his pawns for the counterattack, but ultimately most characters are bound to turn away from the twin because ~~he’s a nutcase~~ the ones who cared about “Ciel Phantomhive” since the start of Kuroshitsuji care about who our!Ciel truly is.

So ultimately it’s all about what UT said in ch35:

Because it’s literally what’s happening and maybe that’s actually why UT made sure the arc would unfold that way. He doesn’t want Ciel to lose his soul to Seb, that much at least seems clear, so this arc could be one way to make sure it doesn’t happen as @frederickabberline explained here, or so UT thinks.

That’s what I refer to as a possible “end of part 1” for the manga: once we’ll be done with this arc, once Ciel realizes he’s supposed to be living for himself, surrounded by people who care about the real him (and not because he assumed his bro’s identity), then we’ll move on to the whole problematic surrounding the contract and whether or not our!Ciel eventually wants to break away from it.

Just my opinion as always, but I hope it helps 🙂

frederickabberline:

When it comes to the 143 spoilers, the line that really struck me right away is, having found out that OCiel is not the real Ciel, Abberline says when addressing him: “Earl Phantomhive- no… Mr Phantomhive”

The reason it struck me is to do with the contract. My followers should all know how much I like parallels between season 1 and the manga, and what this line suggests is that, as in season 1, having been framed for crimes he did not commit (though this time with extra crimes he really has committed, that is, identity theft, added on top) and having the earldom taken from him (though this time having the title awarded to someone else, that is, RCiel), OC is going to lose his current method and angle of revenge

Being arrested, which might end with him jailed, and having his title taken, he’s in no position to play that waiting game anymore. He’s not The Legit earl, he’s just some nobleman’s kid with no influence other than a sweets and toys company, so he’s not the prime target for the people who attacked the Phantomhive household anymore. And that’s what the contract revolves around, the assumption that he will be worth targeting, as a symbol of the household.

This means that, possibly, the contract may be nullified (this would line up with what Undertaker wants, no?) (Of course it would only be temporarily nullified depending on OC’s behaviour and decisions, as in the anime), but unlike season 1, in order for OC to get his status back, RCiel will have to die again (Undertaker likely is not anticipating this outcome). At which point OC may rightfully regain the title as the younger brother, if he regains it at all. But so long as RCiel is even vaguely alive, the title belongs to him.

I am curious why you think Lizzy is going along with OC’s arrest for the Blue Sector when she knows it’s not his fault? I feel like I understand all her other motivations but this. Love the blog!

skania:

Hello there anon!! Thank you so much for the fantastic question! Honestly, this to me is also the mystery right now.

For now, I can think of a few possibilities. Lizzy may have been:

Lied to (perhaps they told her that Ciel’s method is just giving O!Ciel a little “slap on the wrist” so he will learn his lesson, and that it’s for everyone’s best interest if she plays along.)

Menaced (sure Ciel is being nice now, but we don’t actually know how he behaves when all the eyes aren’t turned on him. He may have actually told Lizzy that if she doesn’t play nice, Ciel would have to use harsher methods to put his little brother in his place.)

Manipulated (Ciel could have played the Victim Card™ and painted O!Ciel as a selfish and jealous kid who didn’t think twice to take his place, in order to make all this look like he’s simply teaching O!Ciel a hard earned lesson and that they’ll help him later because Ciel wouldn’t leave his little brother alone.)

Brainwashed (we don’t know what exactly went down during the weeks Lizzy spent on that cult, and she spent a ridiculous amount of time there. It’s not out of the question that they could have done something so that Lizzy will be more docile.)

I’m not a fan of Lizzy being brainwashed because I want her upcoming confrontation with O!Ciel to be genuine, so the brainwashing would be the least of my favorite options (though I believe her expressions this chapter do potentially raise that question). However, Lizzy being Lied to and Manipulated seem like safe bets (even if Ciel’s methods to do so aren’t the same I’ve listed above).

Plus, the cover is so, so interesting!

Lizzy’s got her eyes closed (which could be read as the scene being too painful for her to watch; but that to me represents the fact that she doesn’t have the whole truth. She is being lead on.)

Yet, she’s crying from a single eye. Her right eye. Aka, the eye that O!Ciel lost and that effectively physically differentiates him from his twin.

She’s got her hands up in a prayer. So she is basically wishing for something.

Also, I’m not necessarily a fan of the “Astre” theory but if his name turns out to be star related… this cover will gain another whole layer of meaning.

Other tidbits that caught my eye:

Afficher davantage

Previously on Black Butler…

kurotwins:

Our Ciel: Let’s assess… Government officials and many civilians are dead from illegal blood transfusions, Blavat is still at large, Violet is in the hospital, the rest of the Starlight Four are on the run, a butler is dead, Soma probably wants to kill me, I just had to relive the worst trauma of my life, my dead twin brother whose identify I stole has been brought back to life by a rogue reaper, 2 more reapers have shown up, Scotland Yard has shown up, the Midfords have shown up, Lizzie is against me, my brother is being super creepy, everyone and their dog is in my entrance hall, and my window is broken. What’s next? Undertaker’s going to tell me he’s my grandpa?

Undertaker: Yeeeaaahhh, about that…