Black Butler (黒執事, Kuroshitsuji?) is a manga written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. Since its debut on September 16, 2006, it has been serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy.
The series follows Sebastian Michaelis, a demonic butler who is bound by a supernatural contract to serve Ciel Phantomhive, the thirteen-year-old head of the Phantomhive noble family and the business-savvy owner of the Funtom company, a toy manufacturer. In return, when Sebastian has helped Ciel finish all of his tasks, including avenging his parents' deaths, Sebastian will be allowed to consume his soul. It was announced in July 2008 that an anime adaption, directed by Toshiya Shinohara and produced by A-1 Pictures, was expected. It premiered in October 2008, and has since ended with 24 episodes. The second season aired in 2010 spanning 12 episodes with two new main characters, Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus. The series has been licensed by Yen Press in North America and published in Yen Plus' August 2009 issue for the magazine's first anniversary.
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or butler:
“We are all androgynous, not only because we are all born of a woman impregnated by the seed of a man but because each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other—male in female, female in male, white in black and black in white. We are a part of each other. Many of my countrymen appear to find this fact exceedingly inconvenient and even unfair, and so, very often, do I. But none of us can do anything about it.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“Because of that great nobleness of hers
The fire that stirs about her, when she stirs,
Burns but more clearly.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)