Some impressively made and worn costumes from the worlds of comics, anime, manga, video games, film and pop culture.
One of my favorites:
Ciel Phantomhive...nice!
Ciel wasn't the only Black Butler character in the portraits; scroll through to see a very impressive Sebastian. Also worthy of note: an awesome Alucard from Van Helsing.
These folks may have spent $1000 worth of time (and maybe even a lot of cash) on their cosplay gear, but I still respect their singular efforts to impress. Much more impressive to me than that ready-to-wear Akira jacket. These are some talented fans!
And Llanos is one talented photographer as well. I love how he isolated the images from the busy backgrounds of the convention floors in order to highlight the characters, and the people who play them.
I watched the anime for Black Butler a while ago, and I thought it was really great. I know that Yana Toboso did the character designs for the show, and it follows much of what I've read in the manga. I should like them both equally, but I think the manga is superior.
Firstly, Yana Toboso's illustrations are lovely. The panel layouts are inventive and seamless. Often when I'm reading manga, I flip back in order to catch something I missed, but with Black Butler, I flip back to examine a scene and its drawings and to ask myself why did the mangaka choose to show this or that to lead up to this or that? The characters are always in motion and nothing seems wasted, not a facial expression, a movement, an artifact.
Secondly, there is something lighter about the manga. Ciel and in Sebastian seem more gentle and more affectionate despite their contract.
Thirdly, the story lines are also imbued with this gentleness.
For instance, the curry cooking contest featured in Volume 5 and in the anime are different. The queen is funnier in the manga; no one gets possessed by an errant chef's evil curry. The story focuses on Agni and how far he will go to serve Prince Soma, well, what great curry he will cook. It lingers on Soma's desire to mature. And, these characters, who I really adore, actually stick around in London, after their story is complete.
Volume 6 diverges from the anime altogether and follows Ciel, Sebastian and one of the reapers to the circus to investigate missing children. All of the original members of the circus are amputees, with custom made prosthetic from a workhouse they were all conscripted to as kids.
Sebastian is terribly adorable in this story line, as he can't stay away from the trained tiger. And, Ciel seems more vulnerable.
If you're not reading this series yet, I suggest you get started!
Can someone please invent me a time machine or give me a Hermioniesque time turner? Where the heck did the day go? I really am burning the midnight oil.
Maybe if I keep a little vengeance in my heart, like this kid, I'll have the strength to go on.
Your soul is in no way as delicious as mine!
Except I have nothing to avenge. I just felt like gratuitously posting a picture of Ciel Phantomhive whose very mention drives traffic to our little blog!
One day, maybe I will be as cool as him and drive some traffic of my own.
I first heard about Yano Toboso's Black Butler while I was enrolled in Japanese classes in San Francisco. One of my very junior little otaku classmates told me she thought I would love it, and she wasn't wrong.
Set in an alternative Victorian London, Black Butler features a 13-year-old protagonist, Lord Earl Ciel Phantomhive, a mature for his years, orphan who heads the family business, who keeps deep ties to the underworld and an allegiance to the queen. Ciel lives in a manor with a number of attendants, most notably a butler of amazing talent: Sebastian.
It's not long before we learn that Sebastian is actually a demon who has a pact with Ceil. Ceil needs his help to avenge his parents' deaths and his own humiliation at the hands of an evil group of a**holes and in payment, he will give his soul to Sebastian.
It's an interesting relationship. It's not master and servant, though it can seem that way. Ciel orders Sebastian around. Sebastian follows orders. Sebastian is loyal to Ciel, and he protects the crap out of him, but it's not love or fidelity that binds them. It's the promise of a tasty soul, which Sebastian is willing to wait for. After all, he's immortal. And, he knows that Ciel's soul is going to taste really good, so full of hate and thoughts of cruel revenge for someone so young. Sebastian may seem tender, but he doesn't have feelings, not in the way humans might experience them.
The main plot, of course, is that with Sebastian's help, Ciel will seek his revenge, but there are plenty of subplots to keep the viewer's interest. Whether they are hunting down Jack the Ripper or engaged in a Queen's favorite curry cooking contest, the characters and plot are engaging.
The art is great. I have to say, Ciel looks adorable in a dress:
This show has been the inspiration for many a cosplayer, I'm sure. Truth be told, with such fun fashion, I might be convinced to to dress up as a character from this show!
So, will Ciel get his revenge? Will Sebastian get his tasty treat? Watch and find out!
