The fact that Tanaka has been holding a tray full of tea for the past year real-time is a metaphor for all the secrets he holds within the story, the “tea” so to speak, which he is yet to serve but may be on the verge of doing so. In this essay I will
can i just say that the whole “who else knew about Ciel lying about his identity from the start” is totally the same situation as the blue miracle bullshit from the weston arc? Look, be it for Vincent
or Ciel
Tanaka, Frances and Seb (and UT but not present in the scenes) are never fooled 😀
Sensei you did it on purpose for the current arc, didn’t you? xD
*whispers* the ones who figured the thing out about the blue miracle and possibly also Ciel lying (still theoretical for Frances, I know) are also the most likely to already know about Seb not being human, just saying.
For UT it’s been confirmed for several arcs, but I proposed the idea before as far as Tanaka was concerned and I don’t think it’s that far-fetched considering he is obviously mysterious and very aware of tons of things we’d all like to know.
As for Frances, there is the whole lineage thing that’s vouching in her favor. [x][x]
Of course others might suspect it (like Lau who didn’t appear very surprised when it turned out Seb wasn’t dead after all) or will soon add the pieces together (Sieglinde for example), but Tanaka, UT and Frances remain the holy trinity of characters who are somehow connected to the main mystery aka “why must the Queen’s watchdogs die so young generation after generation” so
¯_(ツ)_/¯ maybe there is a pattern here.
can i just say that the whole “who else knew about Ciel lying about his identity from the start” is totally the same situation as the blue miracle bullshit from the weston arc? Look, be it for Vincent
or Ciel
Tanaka, Frances and Seb (and UT but not present in the scenes) are never fooled 😀
Sensei you did it on purpose for the current arc, didn’t you? xD
I love how people are joking that our!Ciel is The One Who Shall Not Be Named, when in reality
Claudia
is.
Because okay sure we know her name, unlike our!Ciel’s, but damn if we ever find out about anything else when it comes to her in the plot.
She’s looming behind the truth of a big part of the main plot, or at least that’s the impression Sensei is giving me (oh yeah I’ll bet you anything that she’s very significant), but no real mention yet about anything besides her name.
sensei when
our!Ciel we know everything about and we have followed but don’t know his name.
Claudia, we know her name but almost nothing else.
There are so many other characters that I want to know more about, like Francis, Undertaker, the Shinigami’s, Meyrin and Baldo. I want to know what makes them who they are!!!
Since Mey is Chinese, I’m guessing her arc will also be related to whatever Lau & Ran Mao’s arc we’ll be getting? Just guessing though.
As for the recurring Shinigamis, like Grell and the others, there is no guarantee but I’m guessing that when we learn about how the organization works exactly (and what’s up with those superiors), we might find out about some elements of their past.
Finally, for Frances, UT, Tanaka, Claudia and even Vincent I’m guessing this will be more or less addressed through the same discussions/answer moments and since this is main plot material, it can’t be helped that Sensei is taking her time.
I mean, we have Othello who made a comment that might be implying he met Claudia when she was a little girl 50 years ago + Othello knew UT as a Shinigami, so I think he’ll be doing the honors at some point during this arc, maybe giving Ciel a few answers, which will hopefully lead him to ask for more to anyone who might be aware of what UT did after his desertion.
These people, besides UT himself (in case he may not feel like talking, as we saw in ch141), are most likely Tanaka and Frances, that is at least what seems to be making the most sense (considering they also both knew Claudia) and anyway they are fishy too, at least as far as the current narrative goes.
=> Tanaka because he joined the Phantomhive family when Claudia was the Watchdog so he is bound to know quite a lot about her death and some circumstances behind Vincent’s death too…
So it’s not like Sensei can avoid to eventually answer all of this. TBH though, I just wish the pacing wasn’t so… slow.
I mean, I get building the plot and wanting to focus each volume around certain developments but :// well, this is killing me. 3 years on this arc and we still don’t know how the blood transfusions came to be, how real!Ciel is so perfectly undead and if UT is truly alone behind the sect. Amongst other things.
The hopes I have is that once we get past the chess game between the twins, we will find out about the Phantomhive family, Claudia and UT, but until we’re there, 20 pages/a month is haaaard because it’s making the wait so much longer.
I can’t blame Yana though: since Claudia was made to be so mysterious ever since volume 8, giving answers about her is very probably giving out big big hints towards the main plot and the target of Ciel’s revenge (to us and to Ciel himself), so she gotta build it up as much as she finds it necessary.
I love this because Claudia #1 master confirmed yay! but also because “I have served this family for two generations so I don’t really care who is the head of the family amongst you fighting siblings, I’m just here to keep an eye over all of you and watch the fort”.
I love this because it’s like “you’re all Phantomhives as regards me”, by UT in ch131 and the two men are definitely foiling each other. They have been here since Claudia’s time and she could very well be the reason they decided they’d stay for the following generations.
So not only do I truly wonder what kind of an awesome woman she was (but that’s not new), but I guess neither Tanaka nor UT will be the ones who will put an end to this chess game between the twins because they’re not on either side.
hey i just gotta add quickly that
UT and Tanaka both knew that our!Ciel was lying about his identity,
they both know stuff about the P family that they’ve been more or less not telling our!Ciel
they both knew Claudia and Vincent
and they seem to care about both twins (unless the rcmt is a thing and Tanaka is just pretending)
The last character who could be fitting the exact same criteria (with a remaining question mark on the first) has been missing for a while but her children and her husband are (supposedly) coming home with “the truth”.
Unlike Tanaka and UT though, I wonder if Frances might really stay a neutral party?
First of all, there is Lizzie’s sorrow that might motivate her to do something/anything, especially if she already knew about our!Ciel lying and feels bad about not telling her daughter, which led to the current arc in a way.
Secondly, considering the comic relief around her character, I’d say her not getting along with UT could be a real thing and in that case she has no reason to go along with whatever plan he supports/be as neutral as he and Tanaka are?
Not really a post, but dorky-chan and I were discussing about this at some point this summer and wondering about if Tanaka wouldn’t actually end up being a reference to a famous Japanese samurai of the 1800s-1900s.
Think about it: Queen Victoria, John Brown, Arthur Conan Doyle, even probably Othello (Ronald Knox => Father Knox’s decalogue; Grell Sutcliff => Sutcliff being the name of a real serial killer), etc, most of them are references.
So when it comes to Tanaka who’s incredibly strong in both sword
and physical fighting style
when he’s also quite old, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to think that he may be a reference to a historical Japanese figure, especially when the second half of the 1800s was the switch between the Edo and Meiji eras.
And also especially since his name “Tanaka” is in fact extremely… common for a last name in Japan (think “Tanaka Taro”).
I’m unfortunately really not good at history, even less so with Japan’s history, so I am not very knowledgeable about any historical figure Tanaka could represent. Some of you might though (I’m thinking @banana-that-dislikes-carrot and @hitsugikuro in particular maybe, since both of you offered great inputs about Japan’s situation when Claudia was the Watchdog? [x][x]).
Something to think about in any case. He’s just way too mysterious, just like his very first mistress.
Thank you for the tag,
So, I can’t really think of any Japanese Samurai Off the top of my head who left Japan, even though Commador Perry ended Satoku in 1854, it was still difficult to leave Japan but not as difficult as before. (Japan is an island and you need-a boat to get anywhere Off the island, so by having a boat the easier it is to leave)
But here are a few official chances that “Tanaka” may have come,
1862- First Japanese Embassy to Europe 38 Japanese Samurai and Officials toured Europe to make trade agreements. Many in this Delegation would become major leaders in the Meiji Era, but I did not find anything about anyone staying behind. This is 4 years before Claudia died, so if someone did break away from this delegation then the timing would fit, Vincent would be 11 years old and that would be early enough to give Tanaka a history with Vincent. A long stretch of Identifying a historical person would be 柴田 剛中 (Shibata Takenaka, later Sadataro.)
Picture of Shibata in Perussia.
Shibata was the leader of the delegation, he was responsible for negotiating trade agreements and military training agreements. Shibata could speak English so When he visited London Shibata met with Queen Victoria and received a pair of Binoculars from her. The real Shibata did not stay in England, but this is Kuroshitsuji, anything can happen. Regarding Military and Fighting skill, he was not affiliated with any Samurai Clan (He was orphaned at age 10) but since he became an official it can be assumed that he was part of a Samurai Class and had some sort of training.
Fun fact; the Shibata Clan that was dissolved in the early Edo period had a family crest that looked like this:
Two birds, Kinda like Tanaka’s Sword.
Which parallels the Phantomhive Crest.
I can’t find an official source linking Shibata Takenaka to the Shibata Clan though. Also too bad I couldn’t find a better picture of the tsuba of his sword.
Also, regarding his name ( 柴田 剛中 )by taking away the 柴 & 剛 from his name and you would get (田中 )Tanaka. I don’t think this is the most reliable reason (LOL) but out of everyone in the delegation, his name is the closest to 田中 Tanaka.
If we are looking for a historical figure that can reflect Tanaka I would like to recommend Shibata. Unfortunately, I cannot think of a historical reason why he would stay and help Claudia, but I think he would be a good historical base.
But~ Shibata Also brought 3 retainers/relatives with him on his trip, The 3 retainers were not included on the official delegation so their names were never publically released. One who has been named (But I still can’t find his name lol) and the other two were never named for “Privacy”.(Alternatively, the word can be translated to Espionage) SO, Tanaka could also be one of the two who was never named. They could have been ninja or samurai from the Shibata clan who was the secret service to the delegation, protecting them from outside harm. Their names were never disclosed so I can’t figure out who they were, what they were doing and if they came back with him.
But random musing, I hope Yana would someday confirm if he is based on a Real Figure. She has mentioned that the visual of Tanaka is based off on Shunji Fujimura;
@midnight-in-town I hope I was able to answer your question! Feel free to ask me for sources and more detail!
FUN FACT: By 1884 there were 264 Japanese Citizens who were officials and students in the UK.
Not really a post, but dorky-chan and I were discussing about this at some point this summer and wondering about if Tanaka wouldn’t actually end up being a reference to a famous Japanese samurai of the 1800s-1900s.
Think about it: Queen Victoria, John Brown, Arthur Conan Doyle, even probably Othello (Ronald Knox => Father Knox’s decalogue; Grell Sutcliff => Sutcliff being the name of a real serial killer), etc, most of them are references.
So when it comes to Tanaka who’s incredibly strong in both sword
and physical fighting style
when he’s also quite old, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to think that he may be a reference to a historical Japanese figure, especially when the second half of the 1800s was the switch between the Edo and Meiji eras.
And also especially since his name “Tanaka” is in fact extremely… common for a last name in Japan (think “Tanaka Taro”).
I’m unfortunately really not good at history, even less so with Japan’s history, so I am not very knowledgeable about any historical figure Tanaka could represent. Some of you might though (I’m thinking @banana-that-dislikes-carrot and @hitsugikuro in particular maybe, since both of you offered great inputs about Japan’s situation when Claudia was the Watchdog? [x][x]).
Something to think about in any case. He’s just way too mysterious, just like his very first mistress.
Hi Anon! Haha yes, I saw some funny posts about real!Ciel basically not really looking forward to seeing his aunt again and, even if it’s just supposed to be humor, personally I think this may not be so far-fetched. 🙂
We already know real!Ciel finds her scary after all…
and she did say to our!Ciel…
even if it turned out that Seb is the one who took that bear down. xD So she’s definitely not strong enough to beat a demon, but still, when it comes to more thoughtful games, I think her nephews possibly have got nothing on her.
There is this trope in manga, that Sensei even referred to in the past, which is about how children are influenced both by their blood as well as by who raised them: so the reason the twins are twisted boys is because Vincent was also like that + because, in our!Ciel’s case, Seb also took on his education.
It doesn’t mean that they don’t have any good sides (our!Ciel was mentioned to be kinder than most of his family several times), it’s just one way to explain why they can also act terribly and drastically.
As siblings, Vincent and Frances were brought up together (Tanaka, according to Sensei in that same post,
probably
being the one who looked after them after Claudia’s death), so since Vincent had a few twisted and evil parts, it’s easy to bet that Frances might have inherited/developed some too (especially since she possibly used to be her brother’s spare). xD
And marrying Alexis wouldn’t have erased that, at least I don’t think so [x][x]. In fact, Sensei might have even hinted at this before…
because Frances thinking she’s getting old in ch14 (chill bae tho’, you’re in your mid 30s) isn’t really about not aiming properly. Rather it’s because the thought of her daughter in danger made her way more emotional/hesitating than her younger self used to be.
My interpretation of this line might be wrong of course, but anyway being a Phantomhive is not about being physically strong like Frances is, that’s just bonus, rather this is about being cunning and ruthless. And Vincent was, the twins are, Claudia probably was too, additionally even Tanaka and UT are, so Frances must be as well.
No way marrying into the Midford family would have erased the whole education and way of thinking she had half of her life, at least I hope not, because I am a big fan of Sensei’s characterizations and I wouldn’t want to change my mind on this. xD
Sorry for rambling Anon, it’s just to say that Frances’ absence is indeed weird and I would understand real!Ciel (or even UT) being suspicious/worried about Frances being eventually bad news, just like our!Ciel himself.
I hope this makes sense, thanks for passing by and have a nice weekend! ^3^
midnight-in-town 