Episode 12 Final – Black Butler – 黒執事 (Kuroshitsuji)
My god, this had to be one of the most ridiculous yet great final episodes ever. The ending twist which ends up keeping Ciel alive, and with Sebastian, totally makes the end of the first season totally redundant. Interestingly enough, though, it also renders the entire happenings of the first season virtually worthless; considering how Ciel now seems to have no attachments to his emotions, even with regards to his servants and his own fiance, Elizabeth.
The plot this time around had Claude and Sebastian fight to the death using a cursed blade pulled out from Hannah’s gut. I pretty much already knew there was no way the creators would kill off Sebastian, so by default I wasn’t surprised when Claude lost and died.
What did COMPLETELY surprise me was how the creators managed to prolong the relationship between Ciel and Sebastian. Alois, in a brilliant last move, decides to leave behind a eternal form of torture for our poor Sebastian; Alois manages to get Hanna to turn the revived Ciel into a demon.
The implications there are tremendous; because Sebastian can only eat human souls, Ciel’s now demon soul is completely off limits. And due to Ciel’s earlier command that Sebastian “is forever his butler until Sebastian eats up his soul”, Sebastian is in a real mess. Now that Sebastian physically can’t eat Ciel’s soul, and that Ciel has obtained immortality through his demon transformation, Sebastian is essentially stuck as a Butler for the rest of eternity.
For those fangirls out there, knowing that Ciel and Sebastian will be together forever must be quite pleasing. I, for one, thought it was a brilliant way of giving an eternal punishment to Sebastian, and considering how Alois disliked Sebastian, I guess that’s quite fitting.
The one other thing about this episode is that, after Hanna’s death amidst the collapsing island, the portrayal of the new Ciel was quite different from what I had expected. His cold demeanor towards everybody he knew was truly a stark contrast to the more softhearted Ciel we were familiar with in the past.
The card declaring Ciel Phantomhive’s death really makes a lot of sense, considering how it seems like his “human self” died when he was transformed into a demon. He pretty much left behind all emotions, lost his sense of taste, and had even lost any sort of attachment to his memories of the past.
He pretty much left all the people he knew in a cruel, heartless manner, which is very reflective of his now demon nature. In a way, Ciel Phantomhive has now truly passed away, and I personally thought this ending was very well thought out. A very intriguing, yet dark, but overall awesome, way of ending this series.
Overall Enjoyment: 4.7/5
Final Impressions
When I first started the second season to this series, I was honestly expecting a completely different show. I had expected a relatively serious and intriguing main plot, interspersed with some ridiculously boring filler like the first season. And in a way, it did turn out like that.
The first episode really got you interested in the series, but the next few filler-level episodes were so boring you were left wondering “what happened to this series?!?!”
After the first few troll filler episodes, though, the plot got seriously dark, intricate, yet at the same time both emotion evoking and powerful. I honestly was on the verge of dropping this series, that is, until I saw the later episodes to this series.
They really included some great, interesting characters in this season Kuroshitsuji, with Alois and Claude being a welcomed addition to the Kuroshitsuji cast. Of course, Ciel and Sebastian’s relationship may have been interesting, but it was mainly Alois that stole away the show with his psychopathic, crazy love starved, tragic personality.
The characters and the plot were both great draws to this show, with the consistently good animation and fight scenes an additional plus. Overall, this show was full of tons of surprises, making it a truly fun, yet somewhat odd, show to watch.
Production Quality: 8.5/10
Characters: 8.5/10
Story: 8.5/10
Overall Score: 8.5/10
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 
i found this final espiodeofthe season very devastating,because i always thought that sebastian was going to get ciel’s soul , but it was’nt that way .
i found the part where it sowed that ciel’s human self died, was saddening , i cried .
i think that sebastian is great ,because of his promise to ciel eternally .
I found the ending itself to be kind of a bittersweet, tragic yet fitting end. It had a very mature feeling to it, with the ending being a twist on the stereotypical “happily ever after” ending. The way in which it unfolded was pretty genius in my opinion, and while it is saddening to know what happened to Ciel, remember that he was originally supposed to be dead in the first place…
it’s not a “promise” per say. it’s like an order that won’t have an ending
I love this episode. I didn’t like Alois at all… then I did… now I’m not so sure because of how he treated everyone (including Hannah), but now I understand why because everyone (including Luka) died and he didn’t know about the contract Hannah had with him. I wish Luka was still alive so that could fix alot of things… but it wouldn’t matter because Alois is long gone (:'(). Now I feel sorry for Sebastian because he dosn’t get his soul because Ciel is now a demon. Grr!! Why does this have to be ADDIDCTING!!!!
This show had a rather complex set of characters, and I have to say, I think it all fit together quite well by the very end. Especially the end with Alois, Sebastian, and Ciel. Quite the unexpected, yet rather fitting, ending for this series.
i cried for hours after I finished this series all-together.
i always thought that there would be some kind of loophole so that Ciel and Sebastian could stay together and be happy.
this ending really made me sad for both of them cuz Sebastian can’t see his “old” master and Ciel would have to live without ever finding some kind of happiness.
this ending was a tragic and heart wrenching one.
Haha, well this is supposedly very different from the manga. Nevertheless, it’s a really bittersweet finale. I personally think it was a very fitting end for Ciel and Sebastian considering their relationship.
very true
those two were meant to be tied together somehow since the beginning of the entire thing
now the demon just can’t escape from his “master”
it’s not a “promise” per say. it’s like an order that won’t have an ending