100 Fun Facts About Black Butler

Who writes and illustrates the Black Butler manga?

Yana Toboso wrapped up a one-volume vampire story, Rust Blaster, in early 2006, launched Black Butler that September and has stayed with it for two decades.

What is Black Butler's Japanese title?

Kuroshitsuji's hero has a catchphrase built on a pun: 'akumade shitsuji' means 'simply a butler' but sounds just like 'a demon and a butler', hence the English 'one hell of a butler'.

In which magazine did Black Butler begin serialization in 2006?

Monthly GFantasy first ran it in September 2006; just over two years later the story had a collected edition, a drama CD and a television anime.

Which noble title does the young Ciel Phantomhive hold?

Earl is the title Ciel inherited as a child, after the attack that killed his parents; at twelve he is already head of the Phantomhive family.

What nickname describes Ciel's role solving crimes for the Crown?

The Queen's Watchdog deals with crimes the Crown wants kept quiet, by any means, which is why the Phantomhives are also called the 'Aristocrats of Evil'.

What does Sebastian receive in exchange for his service?

Ciel's soul is the price of the Faustian contract: Sebastian may consume it only once Ciel has taken revenge on those who destroyed his family.

In which era is Black Butler set?

Victorian London of the late 1880s is the setting, and the Queen herself is a character, sending Ciel his cases by letter.

Which studio produced the first Black Butler anime in 2008?

A-1 Pictures began by adapting the manga, then broke away partway through the first season and gave it an original ending.

Which band performed the first Black Butler anime's opening theme?

Sid released 'Monochrome no Kiss' as their first major-label single and saw it reach number four in Japan; the band returned six years later to open the third series.

Which 2014 anime series adapted the Noah's Ark arc?

Book of Circus dropped the first two seasons' original storyline and returned to the manga, sending Ciel and Sebastian undercover among a troupe of performers.

Which Black Butler story reached cinemas as an animated film in 2017?

Book of the Atlantic strands Ciel and Sebastian on a doomed ocean crossing among walking corpses; the original anime cast returned to voice it.

Which studio produced the fourth season, Public School Arc, in 2024?

CloverWorks revived the anime seven years after its last outing, a 2017 film, with a new director, Kenjirou Okada, and a new character designer.

What is the subtitle of the fifth anime season, aired in 2025?

Emerald Witch Arc sends Ciel and Sebastian to Germany, where the Queen wants to know why people who enter a 'werewolves' forest' keep dying.

Which publisher licensed the Black Butler manga in North America?

Yen Press ran the series in its Yen Plus magazine first; when the paperbacks followed in 2010, they became regulars on The New York Times manga best-seller list.

Which company publishes the Black Butler manga in Japan?

Square Enix is best known for video games such as Final Fantasy, yet its manga arm had over 36 million Black Butler copies in circulation by August 2025.

The attack that killed Ciel's parents fell on which day?

His tenth birthday, 14 December 1885, ended with his parents dead and the manor burned; Ciel himself was seized and sold to a cult.

Ciel named his demon butler after what?

The family's late dog, a black Borzoi called Sebastian, died in the attack on the manor, so the demon butler answers to a pet's name.

On which part of Ciel's body is the Faustian contract symbol placed?

His right eye carries the contract's pentagram, which is why he wears a black eye patch; Sebastian's matching mark is on the back of his left hand.

Which Phantomhive servant is a trained sniper posing as a maid?

Mey-Rin sees so well at a distance that she needs no scope, yet up close she is clumsy; she refuses to give up the round glasses Ciel gave her.

What is the Phantomhive estate's teenage gardener famous for?

Superhuman strength was forced on Finnian by experiments before he reached the manor, and he still wrecks the garden he loves by accident.

Which secret organization in Black Butler experiments with reanimated corpses?

The Aurora Society promises to conquer death, but its walking corpses are the work of Undertaker, a renegade Grim Reaper with old ties to the Phantomhives.

Whose body does Undertaker ultimately aim to revive?

Ciel's older twin brother, the true heir, was sacrificed in the ritual that summoned Sebastian; the boy we follow took his name and title.

Which two anime-original characters star in Black Butler II?

Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus mirror the leads as a rival young noble and his demon butler; the manga's author designed both, yet neither appears in the manga.

Who voices Undertaker in the Japanese anime?

Junichi Suwabe also broke the news of a second season, posting it on his blog the day a fan event announced it in June 2009.

Who played Sebastian in the 2014 live-action Black Butler film?

Hiro Mizushima returned to the screen after three years away for the film, which moves the story to the year 2020 and gives Sebastian a new master in place of Ciel.

What was the first stage musical adaptation, staged in 2009, called?

Yuya Matsushita played Sebastian at Ikebukuro's Sunshine Theater.

The fifth musical, Tango on the Campania, adapts which manga arc?

Luxury Liner is the arc in which the dead walk aboard the liner Campania and Ciel's fiancée is revealed as a master of the sword.

On which console was the 2009 game Phantom & Ghost released?

Nintendo DS players got an original story rather than a retelling, and could switch between master and butler to see its scenes from both sides.

Which elite boarding school does Ciel infiltrate in the Public School arc?

Weston College is where the Queen sends Ciel, posing as a new pupil, to find out why her cousin's son and other students no longer come home.

What stage name is Ciel given when he goes undercover as a travelling performer?

Smile is the name the troupe's leader, Joker, gives him, to the annoyance of a boy who rarely does; Sebastian, performing beside him, is billed as Black.

Who voices Sebastian in the Japanese anime?

Daisuke Ono took over the role for the anime from Toshiyuki Morikawa, who had voiced Sebastian on the first drama CD a year earlier.

Which actress voices Ciel in the Japanese anime?

Maaya Sakamoto replaced Miyuki Sawashiro, who had voiced Ciel on the first drama CD, when the anime was cast in 2008.

What animal does Sebastian have a helpless fondness for?

Cats leave the otherwise unflappable demon helpless: he once hid more than a dozen in his wardrobe so that Ciel would not find out.

What is the surname of Ciel's demon butler, Sebastian?

Michaelis is the surname he goes by; the name Sebastian was Ciel's choice, given once the contract was sealed, so the demon answers to whatever his young master decided to call him.

What business does Ciel run?

Funtom Company makes toys and sweets; after beating a rival in a curry contest it won a Royal Warrant and moved into food as well.

What does Ciel's first name mean in French?

Sky is 'ciel' in French, a word that also means heaven: an ironic name for a boy who keeps a demon as his butler.

Which demon hound does the Phantomhive household take in during the first anime season?

Pluto is the beast behind the deadly legend of the village of Houndsworth; Sebastian despises dogs, yet he is the one Pluto listens to.

What does the household cook Baldroy use to prepare food?

Flamethrowers are Baldroy's way of cooking at a soldier's pace, and the results are usually charcoal; the same kitchen makes him deadly when the manor is attacked.

Which Phantomhive servant ends every sentence with the name of one of his pets?

Snake speaks only through the snakes draped over his shoulders, ending each remark 'says Oscar' or 'says Emily'; each one is named after a writer.

What is Tanaka, the elderly Japanese house steward, usually seen drinking from?

A tea cup rarely leaves Tanaka's hands: stabbed in the back defending Ciel during the attack, the old steward now does little work and is often drawn in miniature.

Which infamous killer did Madam Red and Grell secretly operate as?

Jack the Ripper turns out to be two people: a society doctor who kills her own patients and the Grim Reaper posing as her butler.

What is Grell Sutcliff's Death Scythe modeled after?

A chainsaw is Grell's version of the Death Scythe, a reaper's tool that only another scythe can stop; colleagues carry a lawnmower and a garden pruner.

Who was Madam Red before her marriage?

Angelina Dalles hated her red hair until the man she loved praised it; he married her sister, and red became her signature colour.

All Grim Reapers in Black Butler were once humans who did what?

Took their own lives: becoming a Grim Reaper is the punishment, and they must watch over other people's deaths until they are forgiven.

What business does Lau, the Phantomhives' Chinese contact, run?

An opium den in London's East End is Lau's base; behind the constant smile he is a senior figure in a Shanghai crime syndicate.

Prince Soma is the twenty-sixth child of which ruler?

The Raja of Bengal had little time for his twenty-sixth child, so Soma was raised by a servant, Mina, and came to England to find her.

What is Elizabeth Midford's nickname?

Lizzie is a fencing prodigy who hid her skill for years after hearing her betrothed say that strong wives frightened him.

Which Black Butler family head leads the British Knights?

Alexis Leon Midford, Elizabeth's father, puts on a stern, silent front as head of the British Knights, but unlike his strict wife he is openly affectionate.

Where is Alois Trancy's contract mark located?

On his tongue: Alois, born Jim Macken, carries the seal of the demon he summoned to avenge his younger brother Luka.

Which Disney mobile game did the manga's creator design characters for?

Twisted-Wonderland, launched in Japan in 2020, is set at a school for characters modelled on Disney villains; she also wrote its main story.

Which real author turns up in Black Butler as a banquet guest during the Phantomhive manor murders?

Arthur Conan Doyle is drawn as an aspiring young writer whose stories Ciel admires, and the mystery is told through his eyes. Sebastian finally frightens him into keeping the household's secrets.

The doomed voyage of the ship Campania in Black Butler is modelled on which real maritime disaster?

The Titanic is the template: on her maiden voyage to New York the Campania scrapes an iceberg and floods, while reanimated corpses overrun the decks.

Which video game company also publishes the Black Butler manga in Japan?

Square Enix runs a manga arm beside its role-playing games, and it has collected the story into book volumes since February 2007.

At the top of which Paris landmark does the Queen confront Ciel in the first Black Butler anime?

The Eiffel Tower is where the Queen reveals that she has been granted her youth again, during Ciel's trip to the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

Which Shakespeare tragedy does the Phantomhive household stage for charity in a Black Butler OVA?

Hamlet goes ahead with the staff as its cast because a shipwreck strands the hired actors, leaving Sebastian under orders to make the play a success anyway.

Which dish does Sebastian hide inside a doughnut to win a Royal Warrant contest in Black Butler?

Curry sealed inside a bun looked like a mistake to the judges, who rejected it on sight. The Queen then gave it first prize because it was made with children in mind.

Which household items does Sebastian wield as weapons to rescue the kidnapped Ciel in Black Butler?

Silverware is all he needs: armed with nothing else, he cuts down a drug dealer's whole gang and returns home with Ciel only slightly late for dinner.

Posing as which relative of Madam Red does Ciel attend Viscount Druitt's party in Black Butler?

Her niece is the cover story, so Ciel attends dressed as a girl and later wakes to find himself up for sale at the Viscount's secret auction.

In Black Butler, Commissioner Randall resents Ciel taking over the cases of which police force?

Scotland Yard keeps seeing its inquiries passed to a boy, and its commissioner despises the Phantomhive methods while staying loyal to the Queen who allows them.

What does the company run by Ciel Phantomhive in Black Butler chiefly manufacture?

Toys and sweets are the firm's trade, a cheerful front for a boy who polices the underworld, and a food branch was added after it won a Royal Warrant.

Which noble title does Ciel Phantomhive hold as the young head of his family in Black Butler?

Earl is the rank he inherited after his tenth birthday, when his parents died, and with it came his father's secret duty of tackling crimes that worry the Queen.

Besides being his cousin, what is Elizabeth to Ciel Phantomhive throughout the Black Butler story?

His fiancée Elizabeth is the daughter of his father's sister, and she dotes on Ciel while longing to see him happy again.

Which profession did Madam Red take up against her parents' wishes in Black Butler?

A doctor at the Royal London Hospital, she earned her medical licence despite the family's objections and kept working after a carriage accident killed her husband.

Which weapon does Elizabeth wield with hidden skill aboard the sinking Campania in Black Butler?

A sword in her grip clears a corridor of the walking dead, and she admits that she hid her talent so Ciel would still find her cute.

Which symbol forms the contract mark that binds Ciel and Sebastian together in Black Butler?

A pentagram marks them both, and whenever Ciel uncovers his copy Sebastian can trace him anywhere, which is how the kidnapped boy keeps being found.

What kind of being is Ash, the Queen's attendant and main villain of the first Black Butler anime?

An angel with two personas, Ash also appears as the maid Angela, and the pair turn out to be one being bent on purging anyone it calls unclean.

What was Baldroy, the Phantomhive cook in Black Butler, before Sebastian recruited him?

A soldier whose whole platoon was wiped out, he was found by Sebastian on the battlefield as the lone survivor and offered a job.

Which sport does Ciel play at Weston College to win tea with the principal in Black Butler?

Cricket decides it, since the tournament's most impressive player is invited to tea, and Ciel's side wins its opening match after Sebastian poisons the opposition.

In which country is the Werewolves' Forest that the Queen sends Ciel to investigate in Black Butler?

Germany hides the village of Wolfsschlucht, whose child ruler Sieglinde Sullivan was being tricked into building a chemical weapon for the state.

On which frozen river do Ciel and Sebastian join an ice-sculpting contest in the Black Butler anime?

The Thames hosts a festival on its ice, and Sebastian carves a model of Noah's Ark there in a bid to win a ring set with a slice of blue diamond.

Which demon hound does Sebastian reluctantly take in and train during the first Black Butler anime?

Pluto can take human form, and he takes a liking to Sebastian even though the fastidious servant openly dislikes dogs.

Which rock band performed Monochrome no Kiss, the opening theme of the first Black Butler anime?

Sid made the song its major-label debut single in 2008, and the band came back with new themes for later Black Butler seasons and the 2017 film.

Which actor, also Tenya Iida in My Hero Academia, voices Sebastian in the English Black Butler dub?

J. Michael Tatum counts the unflappable servant among his notable parts, alongside Kyoya Ootori in Ouran High School Host Club and Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan.

Which actress, also Tony Tony Chopper in One Piece, voices Ciel in the English Black Butler dub?

Brina Palencia was drawn to anime by Dragon Ball Z while studying music at the University of North Texas, where she graduated in 2006.

Finnian in the Black Butler anime shares his Japanese voice actor with which Attack on Titan hero?

Eren Yeager and the Phantomhive gardener are both voiced by Yuki Kaji, who joined Black Butler in 2008, five years before Attack on Titan began.

Ronald Knox, a Grim Reaper in Black Butler, wields a Death Scythe modelled on which garden tool?

A lawnmower is his weapon, and aboard the Campania he uses it to crush the skull of the first reanimated corpse after ordinary blows fail to stop her.

In Black Butler, what does Undertaker call the reanimated corpses that overrun the Campania?

Bizarre Dolls are his own creations, a secret he admits only once his green eyes are uncovered and mark him out as a Grim Reaper.

In Black Butler, what do Grim Reapers call the memories that play back when a Death Scythe cuts?

Cinematic Record is the term, shown as a strip of film, and Undertaker animates his walking corpses by splicing false footage onto the end of one.

Which servant of Prince Soma can match Sebastian in a duel despite being human in Black Butler?

Agni was a nobleman condemned to hang until the prince gave him a new name and life, and that devotion gives him a prowess that startles even Ciel.

Where on his own body does Sebastian carry the matching contract mark in Black Butler?

His left hand bears the seal, and it lets him find his young master wherever Ciel's own mark is exposed, while Ciel in turn can summon him and give orders.

Which chronic condition did Ciel Phantomhive inherit from his mother in Black Butler?

Asthma runs from mother to son, and one of Ciel's attacks is among the rare moments when Sebastian shows real worry for him.

Which gift from Ciel does Finnian wear over the code tattooed on his neck in Black Butler?

A straw hat hangs over the tattoo S-012, a relic of the years he spent locked away as a test subject before Ciel took him in.

Lau, who runs a trading firm's British branch in Black Butler, also heads which city's mafia?

Shanghai is home to the Qing Bang, or Green Gang, the syndicate he leads from behind the polite front of the Kong-Rong company.

At Weston College in Black Butler, which animal is paired with Sapphire in the name of a dormitory?

Owl completes Sapphire Owl, the house whose prefect was once Ciel's own father, long before the boy enrolled to look into missing students.

Which stage name is Ciel given when he joins the Noah's Ark troupe undercover in Black Butler?

Smile is an ironic name for a boy who rarely does, and one former troupe member still calls him by it after joining his household staff.

In a two-part Black Butler OVA based on a Lewis Carroll story, which character does Undertaker play?

The Mad Hatter presides over a tea party with two other reapers as his guests, in a story that has Ciel chasing a rabbit-eared Sebastian down a hole.

The 2014 live-action Black Butler film swaps the manga's England for which setting?

A future Eastern nation, never named and dated to 2020, replaces London, and its heir is a young woman who presents herself as male to keep the family fortune.

In the first Black Butler anime, Ciel plays chess against the ghost of which murdered boy king?

Edward V haunts Ludlow Castle with his younger sibling four centuries after their deaths, and he wins the game and claims Sebastian as his prize.

Which group formed by composer Yuki Kajiura sang Lacrimosa for the first Black Butler anime?

Kalafina took over the closing credits from episode 14, and the group later returned to the franchise with an ending song for one episode of the sequel.

Which Japanese rock star features on Maisie, the opening theme of the 2025 Black Butler season?

Hyde, lead vocalist of L'Arc-en-Ciel since 1991, appears as a guest on the song, which is credited to the group Cö shu Nie.

Which singer played Sebastian in early Black Butler musicals and sang the anime ending theme Bird?

Yuya Matsushita made his stage debut in the role in 2009, and Bird served as the ending theme of the second season the following year.

Which sinister nickname do the Phantomhives carry in Black Butler for policing the underworld?

Aristocrats of Evil is the name for a family that answers only to the Queen and removes whatever troubles her by any means necessary.

Which vampire-school manga did the creator of Black Butler publish in a single volume in 2006?

Rust Blaster ran for only six chapters, pairing a vampire with a human classmate who claims to know when the world will end.

In Black Butler, Sebastian fakes his death during the manor murders and returns disguised as what?

A clergyman called Father Jeremy Rathbone arrives to examine the three corpses and sets a trap, and only afterwards does a suspicious guest work out who he is.

Ciel named the gardener Finnian in Black Butler after a hero from which country's mythology?

Ireland supplied the name: Fionn mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna warrior bands in the Fenian Cycle, lent it to the boy when he entered Ciel's service.

What destroyed the original Phantomhive manor on the night Ciel's parents died in Black Butler?

A fire levelled the house three years before the story opens, and the manor Ciel lives in afterwards is an exact replica of the one that burned.

Nina Hopkins, known in Black Butler for radical views on fashion, serves Ciel's household as what?

A tailor to Ciel, Elizabeth and the staff, she is loud and dramatic but highly skilled, and she has little time for the male servants she dresses.

Which actress plays the heir who poses as a boy in the 2014 live-action Black Butler film?

Ayame Goriki plays a new lead written in place of Ciel, an orphaned woman who hides her sex because the family fortune passes only to men.

Which venue hides a blood-collecting cult that Ciel probes in the Blue Cult arc of Black Butler?

Sphere Music Hall wins such devoted crowds that the Queen suspects a cult, and Ciel fights back by opening a music hall of his own.

Grell Sutcliff in the Black Butler anime shares a Japanese voice actor with which Code Geass character?

Lelouch Lamperouge and the flamboyant reaper are both voiced by Jun Fukuyama, whose other parts include Koro-sensei in Assassination Classroom.