Black Butler

## Black Butler **Black Butler** (黒執事, *Kuroshitsuji*) is a 2008 anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures, adapted from Yana Toboso's manga. A gothic, darkly witty Victorian mystery-fantasy, the series became a global hit through its compelling central dynamic — the impossibly perfect demon butler Sebastian and his young, cold-eyed master Ciel — and its lush period aesthetic. It spawned multiple sequel seasons, OVAs, and films and remains one of A-1 Pictures' most enduring franchises. Ciel Phantomhive is a 13-year-old Earl in Victorian England, head of the Phantomhive household and unofficial handler of the queen's dirty work — investigating crimes too dark for public knowledge. He is also a boy who made a contract with a demon. After his parents were murdered and he was subjected to unimaginable cruelties in a ritual sacrifice, Ciel made a Faustian bargain: a demon would serve him faithfully, providing him the power to identify and destroy his parents' killers, in exchange for devouring Ciel's soul once revenge is achieved. The demon calls himself Sebastian Michaelis and presents as the perfect, unflappable butler — capable of anything, utterly devoted, and quietly terrifying beneath the impeccable manners. Together they navigate murders, conspiracies, and the Victorian underworld with sardonic wit and genuinely dark undertones.