azuresins

[azuresins]

Been reading your backlog and came across your post re: the Kuro live-action movie. This has nothing to do with anything, I just thought you might be amused to hear--- I actually really enjoy it! I watched it first a very long time ago as a gay little sixteen-year-old in the throes of obsession and despised it with my entire being because It Just Wasn't The Same, And Sebastian Wasn't Hot Enough. I rediscovered it accidentally a year and a half ago, and have watched it like four more times since, because actually the aesthetics are fucking fire and somehow? Even with a change of medium, time period, and master? That magnificent actor embodies the spirit of Sebastian perfectly. Even the cinematography is faithful, with the gratuitous/significant shots of his shoes (and the sudden cuts to Cute Cats). The fight scene witiin the first 15 minutes is genuinely perfect as a demon dance...

I also just really like the implication that this idiot demon can't leave well enough alone after Ciel's death and sets himself up as a literal family curse. Damn glutton.

If you ever want to discuss it in more depth, you'd be guaranteed an audience of me XD

I just wanted to take a moment to reply to your ask, I appreciate it. I'll probably ramble incoherently now, as one does... The Kuroshitsuji live action movie, when it is brought up, I find is usually brought up unfavorably... sadly for a lot of the reasons some enjoy it. It's nice to know that there were people who saw/rediscover it and appreciate it. I'll watch it any time anyone else is willing to watch it with me simply because I'm entertained and amused by it. And also, because even if it wasn't manga-accurate and something new, there were parallels of things that actually did happen in the manga -- and 'crumbs' of truth to the plot left for us to ponder about. The movie literally revealed twists in the manga before they happened whether anyone likes that or not, so I think it's meant to make anyone watching it go 'hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...' (and that was very a very smart thing to do) and watch it again. The reasons I personally consider it "...one of the most movies of all time! It is A movie! The MOST movie of all time, my friend!" if anyone asks me if it's GOOD though... How to say this (under a cut for length)...

It is definitely Kuroshitsuji inspired, I would say if you love Kuro and are open minded you might consider giving it a watch at least once. The Sebastian from the manga IS in it (whether the movie is canon or not I don't really give much thought). I appreciate the "this is set in the future!" and the "NEW contract NEW Master but with twists because we're in Japan and --" all the hoops people jumped through to make the movie happen. It took a lot, to make it happen at all.

Sadly, I don't think it was the Kuroshitsuji movie the majority of the fandom wanted, though. They wanted London, the real English countryside, they wanted the victorian time-period, they wanted the characters from the actual manga and they wanted them depicted as accurately as possible.

I truly think, however… on that note… people have extremely, astronomically high standards when it comes to Sebastian and his looks. It's not necessarily their fault, because he himself yabbers on-and-on about the butler aesthetics and demon aesthetics and he's a demon and we all know, demon's are good at seducing people (and Sebastian is) so it stands-to-reason a live action Sebastian would be unsettlingly good-looking.

But. To be honest I think a lot of people have different ideas in their head of what he looks like, so it's impossible to make everyone happy and present the "PERFECT" actor that everyone unanimously agrees was the best choice. It's hard to strike gold like that.

Being limited to primarily actors that are known in Japan, would make casting even more difficult. I think the actor did the best job he could have possibly done, with what he had to work with. A lot of fans at the time, especially in the west were really young (I was a teen reading / watching kuro once…) and without giving it much thought, a lot of public comments were echoing the 'he's just not right/not hot enough!', but a lot of us were very young at the time. Teenagers are allowed to be wrong (and often are…) And sincerely, I don't think anyone, any choice, would have been "hot enough."

If the movie came out now with today's standards I'm pretty sure the movie would have been "Cancelled" for. … Hmmmm (humming) (cough) iykyk.

At the end of the day…

There was virtually no way at the time, like, 0 chance, at all, that time-warner in the Japan division, would film an anime-live-action movie in England/London, hire a bunch of white actors, and make it an accurate period piece, and cough up the budget for that. There was just NO way. No chance. This was the best Kuroshitsuji Live Action movie we were going to get.

The reason why I think people are so frustrated with it, was because those specific restrictions in the budget make the changes to the dynamic and setting super obvious, and they tried to make-it-work. I think I personally would have liked it a lot more, if it didn't feel like a bastardized re-hashing of the Jack the Ripper Arc.

If it were an entirely original struggle and if everything that was happening was the result of the past, and I do mean everything, I think the movie would have done better… …HELL even if the story had more to do with actions Tanaka took in the past, as a means for why the Phantomhives descendants are in modern day Japan now, as a starting point-- if he was the reason they moved to Japan to begin with, if Tanaka for example like buried the phantomhive ring somewhere in his homeland and it was worth like 200 billion dollars by modern day standards-- and someone thought Shiori's family knew where it was hidden, that her family had it and were secretly still involved with underground society, moved-wealth and were responsible for some sort of misfortune that actually had nothing to do with them, and thus, they were massacred and everyone except Shiori perished and THAT'S how Sebastian was summoned and the story moves from there… and she didn't even know who the fuck the Phantomhives were or anything about her family history and was like "What the fuck is even happening right now who the HELL is CIEL Phantomhive T_T" that might have been more interesting, to me. …But it's not really like that.

In the end I still appreciate the effort and as I said I still watch the movie, I think I just wished it were a bit different. I'll say something REALLY controversial, I like the Live Action Movie Better than any of the musicals. 💀

I think if Yana really wanted to try again at something live action, she could. I don't know if it would be a good idea, but she probably could. She's got that Disney money, now.

[azuresins]

Another observation...

Finnian the gardener and the moonlight being the lightsource of the white light he runs towards, is very interesting, it makes sense both times we see him with the moon in these pivotal moments. It's associated once, with the first time he ever mets Our!Ciel and Sebastian... So, it makes sense we see it again, in the woods as he's running with Sieglinde... However. Narratively, the moon being associated with Finny does not make sense. Plants can not grow at night. It contrasts with his new identity, it contrasts even with the scene he received his new name. It being nighttime, and moonlight is also sending a discreet message because time and time again within the story the moon is associated with secrecy, and also with deceit, and 'what's happening has double meanings here it might not be what it seems' and it being nighttime was a conscious choice. ... And on that note, almost every single pivotal moment between Our!Ciel and Sebastian is associated with sunlight, morning, and the coming dawn. I've said it once I'll say it again, sunlight is important between these two. -Sebastian getting his name from him, there's a Sunrise. -March 17th, getting earldom back and Sebastian bowing before him, sunlight/morning, walks into the sunlight. -Burying Mary Kelly and the 'when lies become truth' bit, there's the sun. -Book of Atlantic, oh look, it ends with another sunrise... -Emerald Witch Arc has probably the biggest sunrise "good Morning Master" moment so far in the series, yet... -Earl Ciel escaping jail with Sebastian and the servant reunion, sunrise! There's more that I've missed, that's the thing as if six critical and crucial moments weren't enough. Sunlight (light in general) isn't an easy thing to covey in artwork unless it's done with purpose. Sun sun sun sun sun sun sun sun sun sun again, and again, and again, and again. The series starts with "Good Morning, Master" and the sunrise. And of course. This is a conscious choice, it took effort to make sure it was there.

Thinking about Finny running into the moonlight in his 'I'm Finnian' moment ... And thinking about Our!Ciel running toward Sebastian in the liminal space as he was trying to snap out of the effect of the mustard gas. Thinking about the white blinding light and how the word "Finn/Fionn" means white/gold but more-so in relation to light and the sun... Thinking about how he described the hero in the story being as "strong as stag" and could "run as fast as a hare" -- and how similar aesthetically both those scenes were. Thinking about different meanings behind "strength" and how often we ever see our!Ciel run toward... anything, in that way... Thinking about Our!Ciel only able to break the 'spell' the mustard gas had him under until he remembered his own worth... Thinking about how the hero Fionn is associated with Morning and literally waking up, and how often Morning and sunrises are important and significant in Kuro... Thinking about how often Our!Ciel has been associated with the sun and yellow/white light, especially in the more recent years in various artworks and imagery... It's one of those things that's so impossible to be ignored...

[azuresins]

Thinking about Finny running into the moonlight in his 'I'm Finnian' moment ... And thinking about Our!Ciel running toward Sebastian in the liminal space as he was trying to snap out of the effect of the mustard gas. Thinking about the white blinding light and how the word "Finn/Fionn" means white/gold but more-so in relation to light and the sun... Thinking about how he described the hero in the story being as "strong as stag" and could "run as fast as a hare" -- and how similar aesthetically both those scenes were. Thinking about different meanings behind "strength" and how often we ever see our!Ciel run toward... anything, in that way... Thinking about Our!Ciel only able to break the 'spell' the mustard gas had him under until he remembered his own worth... Thinking about how the hero Fionn is associated with Morning and literally waking up, and how often Morning and sunrises are important and significant in Kuro... Thinking about how often Our!Ciel has been associated with the sun and yellow/white light, especially in the more recent years in various artworks and imagery... It's one of those things that's so impossible to be ignored...

[azuresins]

MMM (spoiler talk for ch 215

I'm glad that it's looking more like the less obvious option, he's likely a causality of a former contract...if he IS a doll of some sort maybe he was a sacrifice. That or worshipping Sebastian in some way came at a very high cost to him, that much is clear. ... It's not even a secret that it was R!Ciel's blood that spawned Sebastian into existence, it's interesting that the thwarted ex thought that Sebastian would respond to his blood. ...Especially because it looks like most of it was transfusion-blood, how much of it was even "his" own.... ? ... Hmm. Interesting. There's still a chance he has something to do with the cult that tortured the twins, too... It's not like the cult just showed up recently. It's not like that cult only existed for a single month with the sole purpose to kill the twins... or that the twins were the only ones who died (or were supposed to) during failed summoning attempts. We the readers have no idea of it's origins or how old of a cult it actually is. How many failed sacrifices there were in total...? ... how much did this cult evolve over the years...? ... how many rituals even were there, was child sacrifice the only one...? Maybe there were other rituals involved in worshipping the demon, some only to do with blood? ...Hm. Things that make you think. Honestly this chapter was amazing. It had everything. I was honestly half-expecting Modri to whip the knife out and use it to cut off his own clothes though, lmfao. Super interested in seeing the rest of that tattoo around his neck.... it looks aesthetically a little. Familiar.

mmm.. (spoiler talk for ch 214)

lmfao she's not wrapping this up at all. "The ending is soon!!" ... (drops new character) At least...I'm pretty sure the implication here is it's a doll of either a former Master we're dealing with, or a causality of a former contract. Or, There's a chance he has something to do with the cult that tortured the twins... Maybe a devoted follower who felt betrayed, or something... I do not think we have seen this character before... Comic/Manga 101 if it were a character we have seen before, she'd make the face much more recognizable for a cliffhanger like this. It seems due to the nature of the set-up Sebastian is going to get more agency (a drop) temporarily, and because of who he ran into, we might get a glimpse of either: 1.) some of what he was like before Earl Ciel. or, 2.) he's going to be tested, in some way, by this character Either way. I am so locked in, but I think it would be very interesting if he turned out to be a former Master. *Alternatively, maybe he's putting some shit into Sebastian's head like "Actually it was really me who summoned you :( " or something. But the most pressing matter.... how am I going to be normal for four more weeks? How? ... ...

[azuresins]

lower I get the higher I'll climb and I will wonder why I got dark only to shine

[azuresins]

Abandoning your revenge is a breach of our contract.

[azuresins]

For my own sake.

[azuresins]

[azuresins]

At the manor ✨

[azuresins]

Kuroshitsuji S5 | Ep4 | I made up my mind on that the day you gave me my name.

[azuresins]

Talking about the recent episode...

I audibly gasped when I saw the color chosen for the Fenian Cycle, it's such a good choice to make it gold... I love the way they did that scene... I know we're going to get more of it later but just the glimpse of it... The way the entire room is also gold in a surreal way in Finny's memory... The way the sun is shining on Earl Ciel... They did a lot more story-telling with color and additional visual alone. It's good. Almost too good.

[azuresins]

What he says: I'm fine What he means: Cú Chulainn and Fionn mac Cumhaill are probably two of the most prominent Irish warriors within Irish mythology. Sometimes, they are mistaken for one another. Many scholars draw comparisons on the two. What I find so interesting is that, specific to Irish myth that predates christian influence, is that Cú Chulainn's soul is accounted for. His story ends, with the Morrigan (who was obsessed/in love with him) taking his soul. But it is not so, for Fionn... Fionn, who declared not only the Morrigan his enemy, but all the gods and demigods who live in Tir Na Nog and dwell there. He is not, to this day, said to be dead... Just asleep. He hated the supernatural world so much that he found a way to evade death itself, and would not let the Morrigan (or god forbid her butler Fear Dorcha, the one responsible for Fionn's hatred) claim his soul. It doesn't shock me much that our!Ciel is so heavily drawn to the Fenian Cycle, it just makes me wonder what translation and version of the mythos he was given... If the Morrigan was described as 'the fairy queen,' or, if she was described as 'The Phantom Goddess, Queen of Demons'. If Tir Na Nog was described as 'Fairy World' or 'The Realm of the Dead and Supernatural.' ...Context matters... The boy doesn't believe in Santa clause or GOD anymore... but he has sentiment and reverence for this book...? It's a little beyond a fun bedtime story... it's important as fuck.

[azuresins]

Can we talk about these two images! Hand offerings.

So in the recent Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler Chapter, there was an interesting image of both Doll and O!Ciel holding out their hands to Snake.

What's interesting to me is the choice of hands being held out and why they're important.

In the image, because of the way we're looking at it it seems like Ciel is offering his left hand and Doll her right.

The Right hand meaning = a place of honor and status, the favored hand of god, as well as the rational, conscious and logical, as well as aggressive and anxious, and connected to the idea of benevolent white magic.

The Left hand meaning = the hand of judgement, weakness, decay, death. Connected to intuition and also dark magic.

Thus one would think, oh it's implying that taking Ciel's hand means he was shaking the wrong hand.

But this would be WRONG!

We're looking at it from Snake's POV. So in reality...

Ciel is holding out his RIGHT HAND, while Doll is holding out the LEFT HAND.

We see this again with Doll in another shot from Chapter 208 a bit later in Snake's memory.

In both cases Doll is holding out the left hand to Snake, indicating that the offering is a less then ideal one. As we see, Snake witnesses them taking the kids, but he doesn't say a thing or question it, and it's the same later on during the Circus arc.

O!Ciel on the other hand gave him his right hand, showing trust and that he was being honest even though he was lying. What he told Snake was what he wanted to do, let them go, let the Circus people leave, because in the end even he knew they were victims. He could have easily had Sebastian kill them all there at the circus.

But he didn't, his goal was Kelvin. So he gave Snake a story to give him hope (as he said "say a lie enough and it becomes real (or the truth)").

It's interesting to note that even though the circus crew was friendly with Snake, getting him a costume, and other things, we've seen that he still was an outsider. He was kept in his own tent, away from the others. He was still being put on display, even though it was in a circus, it's still being put on display.

OCiel and the servants on the other hand, made him part of their group. He went with them, they all road in the same cart. On the Campania Ciel even told him he doesn't care what others think of who he associates with.

We also see in the naming of Snake by Joker that it's so very different than Ciel giving Finny his name.

For Snake, Joker just calls him what he looks like. Dagger even asks why, and Joker says he's bad at naming. Jumbo gives better consideration to naming the snakes than Joker did in naming Snake.

O!Ciel on the other hand takes the time to consider a name for Finny, and gives him not only the name of his favorite hero, from his favorite book, one that holds a lot of significance to him both now and in the past, but (if you hold to the theory that O!Ciel's real name is Finnian) then he's giving Finny his NAME. He's sharing a huge part of himself with Finny.

(You can also point out that Ciel doesn't call Mey-Rin Owl, he only calls her by her real name, showing that he respects her as her own individual person.)

To me that image, I think, is showing readers that there's more connections and a deeper bond with O!Ciel and the Phantomhive Servants, with Snake than he had with the circus, even though he thinks there is a strong bond there.

[azuresins]

mmm.. (spoiler talk for ch 214)

lmfao she's not wrapping this up at all. "The ending is soon!!" ... (drops new character) At least...I'm pretty sure the implication here is it's a doll of either a former Master we're dealing with, or a causality of a former contract. Or, There's a chance he has something to do with the cult that tortured the twins... Maybe a devoted follower who felt betrayed, or something... I do not think we have seen this character before... Comic/Manga 101 if it were a character we have seen before, she'd make the face much more recognizable for a cliffhanger like this. It seems due to the nature of the set-up Sebastian is going to get more agency (a drop) temporarily, and because of who he ran into, we might get a glimpse of either: 1.) some of what he was like before Earl Ciel. or, 2.) he's going to be tested, in some way, by this character Either way. I am so locked in, but I think it would be very interesting if he turned out to be a former Master. *Alternatively, maybe he's putting some shit into Sebastian's head like "Actually it was really me who summoned you :( " or something. But the most pressing matter.... how am I going to be normal for four more weeks? How? ... ...

[azuresins]

There's a lot of increasing references in canon material toward gold/white and the sun, specifically toward our!Ciel lately… There's probably a very good reason for that….

[azuresins]

Sometimes I think there's a little bit of confusion as to why the Phantomhive family and whoever holds the watchdog position in particular, is referred to as "The Aristocrats of Evil." It's stated the position is "Evil" because their job isn't just to "solve dark cases and do whatever the current king/queen says" even if that comes with the job. The reason the job was created was to COVER UP the royal family's scandals, crimes and shortcomings and to protect the royal family's reputation... by any means necessary.

That's why it's considered evil. ...The Phantomhives can't exactly opt out of this. It's a birthright. They inherited this. Generations of Phantomhives didn't exactly have the ability to "decide" it was "Do this, or the family loses its status, money, and estate." No Phantomhive who inherited this had an actual choice in this matter that we know of so far, until there was Our!Ciel. He willingly chose it, or at least he felt he willingly chose it. Which is why the appearance of The Fenian Cycle and any hint of Vincent being disloyal to "English Tradition" is such a big deal and more people should be paying attention. I think most people agree John Brown and the Queen are the enemy. It's the why. I firmly believe Vincent was planning on betraying the Queen or at the very least someone was suspecting it of him, I am sure, and Ireland's plight and the way Queen Victoria was treating common people bothered him and likely bothered Rachel as well. I don't think they were being punished for being 'evil'... I think they were punished for the opposite, and being seen as a threat. Is it that hard to believe at some point a Phantomhive might have dared to say "I actually don't want to DO this anymore and I want something better for my kids?" I'll die on this hill.

[azuresins]

Random but if you ever want a good laugh... Go to any given clip, old or no, for any kuroshitsuji content, that's been put out by Funimation/crunchyroll on youtube (or where ever else), and read the synopsis... Going through the latest...

"Ciel Phantomhive is the most powerful boy in all of England,..." Twin's name aside, I'm not sure this is a true statement (in either case but it's clear they mean main-character twin). If it is, god, that's depressing considering he had all his shit stolen and is technically homeless in canon. Maybe because he has Sebastian at his side and that's the 'power' they're talking about, but even then. Meh. Are the children Royal Family that poorly protected? ...Doubtful. "...but he bears the scars of unspeakable suffering..." True! "Forced to watch as his beloved parents were brutally murdered,..." ...half-truth, he was not forced to watch. They were brutally murdered and he found the bodies. "Ciel was subsequently abducted and violently tortured. ..." True! "Desperate to end his suffering, the boy traded his own soul for a chance at vengeance," Technically true. "...casting his lot with the one person on whom he could depend: Sebastian, a demon Butler summoned from the very pits of hell." Technically true. "...Together, they’ll prowl the darkest alleys of London on a mission to snuff out those who would do evil." (car crash noise) What the fuck? ... lmfao I love it. *chefs kiss* It reminds me of a kid who bullshat their assignment when they didn't do the required reading. They got the spirit, they tried.