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Brown Table Talk: Phantomhive Manor Murders Arc (LENGTHY)

Honestly, I do these on twitter… but since that 240 word count is kicking my ass, why not store the lengthy posts on here.

For today’s (Brown) Table Talk, we’ll be discussing the Phantomhive Manor Murders arc. Primarily: why this arc is hands down one of, if not, THE best storytelling arc in Kuro and why its underrepresentation is criminal.

If you’re new to Black Butler, thinking of checking out the manga, or wondered why fans praise this arc so much since it seemed so underwhelming, then hopefully a read through this can show you the manga’s potential and what makes it so great.

For the record, I’d like to state that I rank this arc top three of every Kuro arc we’ve gotten thus far (yes, including Blue Sect). This arc is such a key arc in the story and it’s sad that it’s one people find the “most boring” or irrelevant. So I’m gonna gush a bit and jot down every possible detail to explain why this is one of the most important arcs in the manga and how beautifully done it was (and why you shouldn’t hate on it so freely!), so without further ado:

1. The Study in Scarlet (brilliant parallels)

Up until this point, the narration of Kuro has been by the hand of Sebastian, the black butler himself. It explains the convenient hiding of the twin spoiler, the pedestal Ciel sits on, and it gives a great set up for the readers to see minimal stories that build up to the main plot (things that Ciel may not really have interest in, like the scandalous ending to chapter 28 for example). At the beginning of this arc, however, we’re met with a new character and are spoken to in first person, for the first time, through someone else’s eyes.

This already sets up a shift in the form of storytelling, showing us that we aren’t going to be attached to our protagonists for the remainder of this arc. In addition, it’s all written in past tense, letting the readers understand that this is a tale told from a later perspective. It’s a recounting, a retelling. Novel-like as it may be, it shouldn’t be read in the moment, and that alone separates it from the other arcs.

Of course, as we continue we come to find out our brilliant narrator is none other than Arthur Conan Doyle himself, esteemed (though not during the arc) novelist and creator of Sherlock Holmes. The works he describes in his brief self-introduction and the piece that caught Ciel’s attention was none other than “A Study In Scarlet,” Sherlock’s first written piece and appearance. True to what Doyle says in his conversation with Ciel, it wasn’t picked up so well upon its first publication, and Ciel wonders how “the people of the most advanced nation in the world doesn’t (don’t) understand the novelty of his (your) work.”

With guests like the renowned opera singer Irene Diaz and the lecherous drunk Georg Von Simens, Ciel creates a colorful cast to liven up the party and make it something he can work with. Something Arthur can work with. One of my favorite assumptions is that the plethora of Sherlock stories that were penned following ASIS were all somewhat inspired by the catastrophic events that took place at the manor. And Ciel, wanting there to at least be one more book in the Sherlock series, took it upon himself to give the writer something he couldn’t help but remember for as long as he lived.

He gave him Irene Diaz Adler, an opera singer who captivated the eyes of many and manages to win the heart of Holmes himself in future books.

He gave a nod to Enoch J. Drebber, the first victim in the Study in Scarlet case that, while probably a well-reformed gentleman when sober, was a predatory, selfish man when drunk who wouldn’t mind passing at even the female servants if they were in his vicinity. (Georg Von Simens you bastard.)

He even established his own personal self-insert by the end of their meeting, explaining in full-length how he and his butler orchestrated this brilliantly done crime and wouldn’t, couldn’t be caught. Moriarty could learn a thing or two from his ‘inspiration’ hmm?

But the Sherlock comparisons would be incomplete without the main man himself, wouldn’t you agree?

If you’ve read just the first two chapters of ASIS, you can clearly make out the similarities between Jeremy’s adoration of human observation and Sherlock’s keen detective skills. And, really, there are a dozen examples I could give you, but I’ll be nice and just show you the first two instances that appear in each of the works.

(if the quality of the panel is bad, VERY sorry! Check Kuroshitsuji Chapter 45, Page 8)

Of course, Yana created this arc to be as mystery-drama-esque as possible. We have the locked room murder scenario, the needle and thread deception method, the multiple motives and suspects, the scapegoat and cat and mouse chase, and let’s not forget the huge comparison with Sherlock’s work: the two parts.

The OVA is probably what exposed most people to this arc, not the manga. A clever nod that this OVA is split into two parts like ASIS could be a reach but also hey, what a cool, convenient one don’t you think?

The first part of the original novel involves the entire introduction to the crime, suspect list, and the follow-through of the suspect’s capture. (Spoiler) Sherlock meets Watson, is commissioned by Lestrade for help on Drebber’s murder, the innocent suspects are assumed and brought in for questioning meanwhile other murders occur that quickly eliminate them from suspicion, and Sherlock lets the Yard chase their tail while he gathers enough evidence to bring in Jefferson Hope, the rightful murderer, to justice.

Sound somewhat familiar?

While the second part of the OVA is not as cleanly cut as the novel itself, dipping in to Jeremy’s antics and using up more than half of the hour’s running time to let Ciel explain himself by means of answering Arthur’s questions, it does relate to the concept of the second half of the novel. Namely being, the explanation of the crime and how it relates to Hope as the murderer.

Remembering that this is still Black Butler and not strictly Sherlock fanfiction, there are some limits to what was revealed to Arthur (and therein, us). Unlike the complete backstory on Lucy, that would probably be replaced with Ciel’s backstory, we get Ciel’s explanation for the crime in the ways that related to his previous antics. We’re briefly turned back to Circus arc and how this entire scenario was a test of loyalty for the Queen, a chance at redemption, a way to keep his company succeeding and, above all, to introduce to someone of polite society his occupation as The Queen’s Watchdog. So, in some ways, this is backstory and crime-relation enough.

Let’s also remember that the second part of the novel is no longer narrated by Watson, therefore we aren’t in first person anymore. Similarly, Ciel’s crime explanation takes Arthur by surprise, and as he slams his fists down onto the table spilling his tea, he takes a step back and listens to the crime lord and his sidekick tell all without any impact to the story’s unfolding. When Arthur finally departs and we’re back in the present, Sebastian doesn’t assume his role as the narrator immediately, and we shift again in storytelling pattern to a somewhat third-person limited perspective. A simple little ending to the story and start of anew.

Of course, the lines seem to blur together here and things start fading away from parallels. Though, the clever ways Yana tied in these parallels into the work is enough to marvel at! For once, they weren’t just mentions of famous works of literature or direct copies of renowned plotlines. This arc was able to wonderfully wrap up decades of mystery cliches and implement them into its OWN universe in such a refreshing, careful way. It preserved Kuro’s own charm while tipping it’s hat to the godfather of detectives himself.

Real wonderful, if I do say so myself.

2. Dramatic Irony

Aside from the Sherlock parallels, I’ve gotta talk about how the arc carries itself. Let’s open with the concept of dramatic irony. Now even though we as readers don’t know what’s going to happen next, Ciel and his goons do (for the most part. The concept of double entendres aren’t exactly new to Kuro and neither is it’s habit of laying out all the facts and waiting until the end to present them all to you. To pull the rug from under your feet, if you will.

(Side note: Now would be a good time to pause and take a break. If you thought it was long before, we’re going IN now, folks.)

The first volume of the arc opens with a magnifying glass on the contents page, a Sherlock-themed color page, and the cover to chapter 38, the first chapter in the arc.

From here, we see a huge painting of Carmilla above the fireplace, the vampire tale that travels around throughout the arc as a possible reason for Phelps’ murder. Next to it, we have the image of a hansom cab trudging through the streets as various discussions within the arc mentions how it would be impossible for one to do so now. Adoring the fireplace there are smoking pipes, a magnifying glass, and other little trinkets that aren’t worth mentioning. Undoubtedly, these items next to an intrigued Doyle sitting across from Ciel, taking notes, already gives some intel on the mystery solving state of affairs the arc will encompass. Scanning out eyes down we see a brightly lit fire (which holds the remains of a poison bottle), a poker next to it, and Sebastian moments before setting off to complete whatever task it is Ciel asked of him (reminiscent of him being sent to tend the fires and being killed with the poker upon retrieving the glass shards).

If I didn’t mention the books (hint of the mystery novellas), or the pattern of Ciel’s attire, then it’s probably because I didn’t find it necessary to point out. There’s already so much shown here that plays in to the unfolding of the arc, from the planning of the murder to the revelation of Charles Grey’s intent, and yet you wouldn’t be able to tell its importance without knowing the outcomes of the arc. This is so much like Kuro’s story itself.

And it is the first time this method of storytelling is emphasized.

At the beginning of the arc, we’re introduced to a diamond company’s owner being somehow killed, as illustrated in the paper. Towards the end of the arc, we come to find out that Woodley was behind the murder, and his involvement with black merchants made this problem one the Watchdog had to deal with. After learning Ciel invited him as a scapegoat, we turn and look back towards the beginning of the arc and all throughout, just to see how he reacted towards the whole situation knowing he was already guilty of a murder that occurred not too long ago.

All of this ensues with Ciel and Lau’s sly commentary, subtly jabbing at Woodley through means of talking between the lines. Lau cleverly describes the situation that led Woodley to murder his true victim in the first place, even sneaking in how he wouldn’t know anything of that and what he said should just be a passing thought. A warning in disguise. Woodley, if you act out now, your big secret will definitely be revealed, and in front of Charles Grey nonetheless.

Ciel slips in the comment of his Funtom toy company being what defaults him as a suspect, utter drivel! It all comes right back to bite Woodley in the ass when his diamond trading company becomes his defaulting since they do business in Africa, the origins of the Black Mamba that killed Phelps.

The art of speaking under the wraps have never been so clever within the manga like it was in this arc. Little details like Charles Grey’s attention when Jeremy revealed the details of the crime down to Jeremy and Ciel’s stolen glances at the mentions of examining Sebastian’s dead body with a crowd, they were all significant to help piece together the bigger picture.

Not to mention the circle back to Ciel and Grey’s cautious bickering when Ciel successfully passed the Queen’s test. “Here’s the chains you used on me when you labeled me a suspect, why not use it to keep hold of the rat I captured that’ll clear our names, my good man Earl Charles Grey.”

It’s conniving, underhanded, and so skilfully done that it shines light on the type of person Ciel really is. It is important to note that this is his punishment bestowed on him by the Queen for lying to her. For keeping something from her.

A bit of trouble he got into not too long ago was, as his brother puts it, him torching “everything to escape the torment of the past.” The ending of Circus arc, and the experience of living in that tent to begin with, had reverted Ciel back to his normal self. He became a boy who was weak and cowardly, and relived trauma that broke his very spirit. In all ways of the world, this punishment, this arc, was one of the most evil primarily because it was his first redemption.

Something worth mentioning is how little of Ciel we’ve seen up until this point. As many like to say, the Earl was something of a starfish in the beginning of the story. Circus arc was the first time we’ve really got to see him move independently and was arguably the first time we met Ciel as a character. With the Phantomhive Manor Murders arc directly following this, it makes sense to elaborate a bit more on our master, and what better way to do it than by viewing him through the eyes of someone inferior, who respects him greatly?

To a bunch of people who look up to him and to someone who believes he’ll catch the boy once and for all, murders arc shows the full capability of Ciel’s cunning and how he can clean up one of his messes himself. How great he and Sebastian work as a team, and also how much they hate each other despite relying on one another.

3. Reflections (What Do You Mean THIS is All Of Kuro)

And while the relationship growth between Sebastian and Ciel in this arc is important, it is much better saved for another discussion. Mainly because this isn’t the point of the arc. The one thing anyone should grasp from murders arc is that it is a telling of the entire series all in one, placed strategically after we’ve grown familiar with our superb demon and when we were just slapped in the face with the true story of our child Earl. Everything is laid out casually and the truth is written for everyone to see, but deceptions and rereads follow suit, and it’s something that’ll catch you when you’re least expecting it.

I think the best thing about this arc’s story pacing was that it follows the pacing of the series to a T, and it happens directly after we get our first real taste of what Kuro can be. We start off unknowing, waltzing into another case despite not knowing where it’ll take us. All the signs are surrounding us but we don’t see it yet, the perpetrator, the motive, the direction things will go, we can’t notice it. We think we have it all figured out in the end, and we’re on a high, just for one little detail to go unnoticed, and we’re then deers caught in the headlights of the major plot twist that’s been there the whole time. And, unlike any other arc, things unfold in one burst of information without any time to breathe, only it doesn’t just recount a methodology or someone’s intent, it carefully explains motive and every single step used to conceal and hide away.

Similar to the road the actual series rides on, no?

I like to view this arc as Yana’s response to the shitload of information she threw at us in Circus arc. A breather that was more dangerous because it was calm. A “now that I’ve shown you what this series entails, now I’ll show you the patterns it’ll continue to take and what you’re really in for.”

The parallels within the arc and the remainder of the manga explain my thoughts better than I can, so let’s take a look at what runs through my brain when I try to formulate my thoughts, yeah?

Framing Ciel for murder seems to be a reoccurring theme here, presented in only these two arcs. Let’s not forget the significance of Charles Grey’s chains as previously mentioned above, being passed between him and Ciel like a token of victory.

These next pictures can’t do compilations, they need light of their own:

Testing suspicions.

And the best part:

Revelations!

Now, I do want to point out that the OVA did a pretty solid job at capturing chapter 129′s reveal with the placement of Arthur and where Ciel stood, but it was just the team going off of Yana’s original drawings.

There’s parallels between Sebastian and Ciel’s information relay to Arthur in these exact spots and Elizabeth’s descent from the stairs pointing to o!Ciel down below, but since these sorta have the same vibe (of de-masking an illusion) I’m going with these.

Of course, let’s not forget the choice words that often appear within the arc to signify getting at a bigger picture. If Jeremy’s words in the panels above already didn’t mean something to you, maybe these key phrases might!

Because of course, speaking in riddles and obscure fashions are something of a statement in the manga but hey, I’m not complaining. I’m making a whole post about it.

Vague allusions to the twin theory appear all throughout the manga following Circus arc, our first formal introduction to the twins, so it’s no surprise Yana was pushing out every line she possibly could in this arc to let us know what’s coming.

Even so, mentions of someone who “ought not to exist” and who may “already be closer than we think” could refer to both R!Ciel and Undertaker respectively. A character who shouldn’t be alive and an enemy who had been a primary source of information from the get go, someone we could all trust, someone we never thought would betray us the way they did, because they were so close.

The biggest telling of the series end point had to have been Jeremy and Sebastian, though. The brilliant, most in-our-face method of deception that was shown to us. And it isn’t just the parallels to the twin reveal, but the fact that what got Arthur was possibilities that “Sebastian wasn’t dead.” That he had been under everyone’s noses, masquerading as someone else the entire time. Being the deception, the obvious fact. It was a plain hint to future events that left no response in the end, just Arthur running away alive, paralyzed by fear, and not another word spoken of the matter until years after the events.

It left the door open for me to sit here, writing this, and not be able to tell you how it could answer any possible outcome of the Blue Revenge arc. It doesn’t give us anything to go off of, unlike when Finny and the servants ran out into the pouring rain just to help Ciel solve this case (very reminiscent of their devotion to him and how they’ll blindly follow him into anything, like traveling across England to complete missions for him). There were always tell-tale signs that were brilliantly woven into this arc but it stopped where it needed to, kept us on our toes all the while.

4. Small Details (and other minuscule details)

While all of Kuro has obvious factors that play into their own respective arcs, I just want to point out some of my favorites that were in this one. Just some things I don’t see spoken about often.

Ciel’s dressing change! I adore how this arc starts immediately after Nina’s debut appearance, where she designs an entire wardrobe for Ciel following the servants’ destruction of the manor (and therein, his closet). It just means Nina custom designed this grotesque all-black piece on the right. But let’s get into discussing.

Ciel dons this plaid three-piece suit complete with bows on his shoes and a stripped bow tied off to the side and big on his collar. The look is warm, and inviting. Most importantly, however, it takes on the pattern made popular by Sherlock himself. The anime portrays this suit to be green, although the manga gives no indication of color. Light brown could be assumed, but the main factor is: it’s not black.

This suit is worn throughout the dinner party on the first night of the arc, only changing when Ciel goes to bed. He remains in his nightshirt all the way through the middle of the next day, where he awakens to find Sebastian’s dead body. From here on out, he dons a black suit complete with a skull rosary-shaped pin at his pocket. Unlike the chapter cover, Ciel wears no gloves or frilly shirt in the manga itself. But this suit, which hilariously enough Tanaka dressed him in, is reminiscent of mourning, as wearig black was in this era. He’s dressed in this from head to toe, with a simple bow tied at the center of his collar, and he wears his suit jacket buttoned up completely (where it’s opened in the first outfit). Not to mention there’s a big black bow tied towards his waist, and nowhere else.

Mourning wear following Sebastian’s death is actually a bit of a surprise, as Tanaka informs (and as Ciel somewhat alludes to back in Indian Butler arc) that the death of a mere servant is nothing an Earl should lose his composure over. More than anything, however, I really do enjoy how this is the only time Ciel wears a completely black entourage decorated with skull ornaments and it’s all for the murders arc. The arc that, surprisingly, is pretty tame and light hearted compared to the others involving death (which is all but one). The black suit’s effect is more than just mourning wear, as it sets the mood for the dismal atmosphere surrounding the arc and the incoming set of events.

And hey, while we’re on the topic of mourning wear… why not take a peek at what Lizzie and Soma wear as they turn their backs on Ciel.

Of course there are the effective uses of rain and lightning, something I adore when used properly, and used properly in this arc they were!

I think cliches were absolutely what Yana was going for, and its just so very like her to take cliches and turn them completely on their head, or just present them in ways so fitting that it doesn’t even bother you that they’re cliches.

My point shown here exactly.

The use of lightning cracking down and unfathomable rain storms, monsoons even, were seen of this degree only in the Blue Cult arc as well, near the death of Agni to R!Ciel’s reveal. I think it sets the tone for dismay wonderfully, and to do so during the arc most similar to Blue Cult makes me view them with the same matter of importance. It gives me the same feel.

5. Conclusion

If you’ve made it this far, all I have to say is thank you.

Knowing me on twitter, which a majority of the people who’ll read this do, I never shut up about how fantastic this arc is. From the amazing parallels to Sherlock to the absolute dedication Yana had in keeping things confined to the old English murder-mystery drama, I think this was undoubtedly one of the most clean cut arcs Kuro has to offer.

I say time and time again that you probably won’t appreciate this arc unless you have a firm understanding of the series and have read it all the way through, at least until chapter 150. There are multiple layers to loving this arc and seeing its full craft, in my opinion. The biggest indicators of this has got to be the way it represents the full story as a whole.

Something I beg you to keep in mind when viewing this arc is where its placed, as well. Though I mentioned it before, I can’t stress enough how genius it was to throw it in right after the chaotic ending that was Circus arc. Kuro’s pattern of having explosive arcs followed by mellow arcs give such a good breather for the reader and for this to encompass so much into it, to tell so much about who Ciel presents himself to be, to finally address the big reveal and contain so much (that I couldn’t fit everything in here) really is something you gotta marvel at.

Phantomhive Manor Murders arc may not be your favorite, at least not at first glance. But hopefully from reading this, you’ll be able to look back at it with a fresh mind and pay closer attention to key details. You’ll feel like a detective yourself, discerning clues and piecing together bits of information that help relay the bigger picture!

If you’re a fan of Sherlock, you’ll love the arc. If you’re a new fan of Kuro, you’ll probably understand it better. And if you’re trying to rediscover your love for the series, then hopefully this horrifically long tangent helped you ignite that fire in your heart for this fantastic work all over again.

(i’m mainly yelling on twitter and handle a majority of my asks on there, but my curiouscat’s always open for suggestions…. suggestions i’ll get to now that this months-old-ask is finally out of the way.)

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #ciel phantomhive #sebastian michaelis #meyrin #kuroshitsuji finny #bardroy #baldroy #grell sutcliff #book of murder #phantomhive manor murders #this is literally.y favourite arc #i love the way you write

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