Lau is so much more than he appears. Although he’s human, or at least he was born human, he has knowledge and even some control over supernatural creatures. Ran Mao was one of the first. Her pretty face hides a creature that is not human, but she would gladly use her strength and abilities to protect Lau. (An idea that is shared by @midnight-in-town.)
He’s very well of what is going on at the moment. He had never known Vincent. He had actually been drawn to Ciel because of Sebastian. Now he just smiles and watches everything unfold. He pretends to be ignorant so that everyone just drops their guard. Inwardly he laughs at Sebastian because the demon thinks he has everyone fooled. He also knew the truth about Grell and Undertaker. But he only smiles and watches.
It’s unclear of whether or not he’ll betray Ciel in the end. I think it will be whatever is most beneficial to him. He’ll let everyone else (Sebastian, Undertaker, the other shinigami, etc.) all while making sure things go his way. In the end, he’ll be the only one victorious while Sebastian is left wondering what just happened.
Just saying but if Lau is aware that Seb is a demon/supernatural being, something I hardly doubt…
If he’s able to disobey Ciel’s orders (Curry arc) and to possibly switch “sides” in case Ciel and him somehow stop getting along one day (foreshadowed after Red’s funerals?), that must mean he believes he or Ran Mao can hold their own against Seb in a fight (whether he’s right or wrong about this tho’, I can’t say).
Or maybe he just doesn’t care at all about surviving a fight against Ciel & Seb since he’s a gambler at heart? He’s hard to read through on this but at this point it would be a bit easy if UT was the only one who could fight back against Seb this far into the story.
Random Musing: What if Lau is the most aware character in the entire kuro universe? He knows Sebastian is a demon and everything that is happening. He’s just hanging out in the background and enjoying the show.
I’m pretty sure that’s actually the case lol, especially since:
he’s even more mysterious than UT at this point and that’s saying something
we don’t exactly know if Ran Mao is human in the first place [x] and personally that girl being referred to as Lau’s cat when Seb is Ciel’s dog feels like foreshadowing of a possible conflict in one of the next arcs [x].
his reaction towards the Jack the Ripper arc, Sebastian’s “death”/Pastor Jeremy’s arrival and the Murders at Manor arc etc, is unsettling to say the least since he never appeared particularly shocked, so it’s proof enough for me he’s way more aware of things than he pretends to be.
Besides, if I remember correctly, Yana-sensei once made a blog post saying that Lau basically didn’t really care about Seb because Ciel was the one he found interesting (and that’s kinda ominous since even UT is interested in Ciel but also in the contract with Seb) and in the character guidebook she also took the time to mention that his character originally wasn’t supposed to turn out the way he did, so that could mean even more surprises in the future.
TL;DR Lau is that guy for me, you know, the guy everyone laughs at/with while the focus currently solely is on UT for the antagonist side, which might not be a good thing at all considering he proved in the past he was really dangerous.
It’s not the first time it happened though, for example with Ran Mao’s eyes in different colored arts by Yana (from golden several times to black in the second artbook)
so in Violet’s case I’d go more for a mistake or a decided change to add contrast to Violet’s usual colors.
Not sure it’s a plot point, but it’s very nice readers noticed that in the first place. 🙂
Since the guidebook apparently wasn’t licensed in English and a few people were interested by trivia bits, here we go 🙂 It’s really nothing important, just small things here and there that I found worth mentioning or just nice/funny to know.
Oh and it stops at the circus arc.
About Sebastian:
What he apparently fears the most is a breach of the contract as well as Ciel’s death.
Humans don’t matter to him more than mere insects: he feels fondness and contempt for them because they suffer due to being weak.
When he first arrived to the manor, he used to have terrible tastes in tableware. Then he studied.
He was initially supposed to have a dog called “Cerberos” but Sensei made him prefer cats over dogs afterwards.
He loves cats because they’re capricious and unexpected.
What he appreciates more in cats is the quality of their fur.
“Even demons are fascinated by what is beautiful”.
About Ciel:
Sensei says that, under her pen, Ciel is a very masculine character, and that deep down she thinks he’s the same as Sebastian.
Apparently, he masters a lot of disciplines: it goes from languages to management and history, but also violin and painting.
He’s particularly good at French.
Ciel is keeping the Phantomhive ring as a reminder of what happened to his parents and the shame he experienced during that one month.
The guidebook confirms Ciel was sad to lose Madam Red.
Ciel actually tells himself at least once a day that he wants to kill Sebastian because of things his butler says or does. (lmao)
When it comes to sports, Ciel is only good at horse riding.
“The existence of a family controlling the underworld is some kind of an urban legend some people don’t believe in.”
About the servants:
Yana-sensei confirms she intends to show readers how all the servants came to work for Ciel. We already know about Finny and Snake, but that means we should get to know about Bard’s and Mey Rin’s pasts at some point.
80% of what Bard cooks is burnt to ashes while the remaining 20% are toxic.
Initially Mey Rin was written to be Chinese (and you could say it was confirmed she is, thanks to ch120).
Mey Rin is actually only clumsy when they have guests at the manor, because she shows too much zeal. Otherwise she works properly.
Finny loves fried food.
Tanaka’s position as servant is higher than Sebastian’s; he’s the intendant.
Tanaka is the perfect model of an English butler, despite him being Japanese ^^
Bard is the one who gets up the most early because he’s the cook, then Mey Rin and Finny get up approximately at the same time.
About Elizabeth and Frances:
“Elizabeth’s excessive behavior also comes from the fact that, despite being young, she worries about Ciel.”
Elizabeth finds her mother to be strict but also gentle and having allure. She admires her and wishes to become like her: Frances is to her an ideal mother.
Frances is one of the few humans capable of giving Sebastian cold sweat.
Frances is referred as “England’s strongest aristocrat” in the guidebook. Her “superhuman strength” is also mentioned in another paragraph, as well as the fact her strength of character is why Sebastian chose her as a role model Ciel should follow.
It’s explicitly said twice in the manga already but the guidebook mentions that Frances is Vincent’s younger sister.
Apparently Grell started to work for Madam Red because the wish to have children is something they have in common.
Will is Grell’s favorite.
Angelina’s issues started mainly because she was overwhelmed by jealousy, on top of all that she went through (losing her husband, her baby and Vincent and Rachel’s death).
It’s mentioned 3 times that Sensei sees Madam Red also as a masculine character (she fits the Anego type -> a way to call the wife of a Yakuza leader or a woman being the head of her own gang).
About Lau and Ran-Mao:
Lau’s charm is all thanks to his indolence. Sensei added a note in the guidebook saying “maybe he’s the strongest character of the manga (laugh)”, because of scenes like the one with Sebastian and the magic trick (during the Jack the Ripper arc).
Lau’s character also takes the cake for most unexpected change between the very beginning of the story and the moment the guidebook was written and it’s all thanks to how the actor Yusa Koji voiced him. Yana took inspiration from how his voice actor played carefree!Lau.
The fact Lau introduces Ran Mao as his sister when they’re not blood related asks for a big “who is she really?” in the guidebook.
From the way Ran Mao punished Harold West Jobbs and Mina, it’s easy to guess that she has a huge strength.
On the original sketches, Ran Mao was written to be 17 years old.
About Soma and Agni:
“It’s because Soma is Agni’s God that he can enter “samadhi” and use a superhuman strength”.
Cooking is Agni’s hobby, though he also likes calm, reading, meditation and praying.
Soma’s charm is mostly due to his spontaneity.
In case you hadn’t noticed, since the curry arc, Soma is scared of Sebastian lol.
Fun fact: while Ciel doesn’t really care about choosing his clothes and leaves it to Sebastian, Soma chooses by himself what he wears every day.
Initially Soma’s mother was supposed to be English, then Yana-sensei decided she would be Indian.
Lau isn’t interested in Sebastian at all and doesn’t even remember his name (source: X)
Kouji Yusa, who is Lau’s voice actor in the anime, had a lot of influence on Lau’s characterization. At the time Lau made an appearance for the first time in chapter 3, Yana hadn’t yet decided on what kind of character he is, but then she listened to the Kuroshitsuji drama CD and was inspired by Yusa Kouji’s performance as Lau. (source: character guide)
Ranmao:
158cm tall
accodring to the little notes on Ranmao’s page in the character guide, she used to show her bare legs, but ever since she was scolded by Ciel, she has started wearing overknee socks.
Hope you enjoyed 😉
midnight-in-town 