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In Victorian-era London, on the night of Ciel Phantomhive's tenth birthday a fire destroyed his manor and killed both of his parents. In a moment of death, Ciel strikes a deal with a demon; his soul in exchange for revenge. This demon becomes his butler and calls himself by name of Sebastian Michaelis, to protect and serve Ciel until the deal has been completed. One month after the fire Ciel returns from being missing, with his new butler Sebastian. Ceil is now the head of the Phantomhive corporation, handling all business affairs as well as the work as the Queen of England's guard dog and looking for his parents' murderers.
This anime OvertookTheManga at the time it was running and it officially departs from the canon material after the end of the Jack the Ripper storyline, which is the first major story arc from the manga. From that point on, it goes into a completely different direction (although a few elements from the manga like Agni and Soma are included).
The original anime series continued into a second season, called ''Black Butler II''. It follows Claude Faustus, and his master, Alois Trancy, with Sebastian and Ciel returning later.
'''This page deals with the 2008 series that diverged from the manga. For Yana Toboso's original manga and its direct anime adaptations, please see ''Manga.BlackButler''.'''
----
!!Provides examples of:
* TwelveEpisodeAnime: Season 2 is half the length of season 1, which has 24 episodes.
* AdaptationalJerkass: Claus, Ciel's Italian associate who visits him in the first chapter, gets hit with this on account of the first episode detailing what happens after dinner. Claus is a BitchInSheepsClothing who acts nice and cordial to Ciel in public, but behind closed doors he's a slimeball who wants to drain his pockets. Unfortunately for him, Ciel is aware of this and asks Sebastian to give him some [[DeadlyEuphemism Phantomhive hospitality]].
* AdaptationDrift: Only the first 9 episodes of the anime are adapted from the manga. The rest of the first and second seasons opt to tell their own story.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: A relatively minor one, but Grell's line where Grell claims to sympathizes with Madame Red's infertility [[spoiler:and motive for murdering prostitutes who came to her for abortions]] because Grell can't bear a child either, due to not having a uterus. This makes it sound like Grell's ''only'' reason for [[spoiler:going rogue to become Red's sidekick]] was that [[spoiler:Grell thought Red's viciousness was cute]].
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Anime Grell is more like a parody of the clumsy, bad-luck-magnet, demented, perverted, masochistic stalker Sarutobi from Gintama, while Manga Grell is a mostly serious, significantly less romantic, stone cold, blood-thirsty sadist. Also, in the anime, Grell has a crush on Undertaker but in the manga, Grell took an immediate disliking to him. The problem stems from Grell having an increased role in the anime and the animators having less material to work off of at the time, and she was thus flanderized.
** Similarly, while Soma and Agni always had shades of FunnyForeigner, manga Soma was also intelligent and aware and Agni picked up on more social cues. These traits are dropped in the anime, for more comic relief. This only applies to seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.
** ZigZagged with Lau, who originally looks to be more [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] and quirky, until [[spoiler: he betrays Ciel at the end of season 1]], at which point the audience gets reminded of the darker moments he had in the manga. Then in season 2, he goes back to being comic relief.
** Ciel himself in season 2 is far less proactive than his manga counterpart- or his season 1 counterpart, for that matter.
** Undertaker in the manga is a HiddenAgendaVillain and a DangerousDeserter from the Reaper corps. In the anime, he left the corps peacefully and serves more of a SpiritAdvisor role to Ciel, giving him advice when London is burning and helping navigate the reaper library.
* AlternateContinuity:
** The anime diverges from the manga in episode 7, before moving back to it in episodes 13-15. After this, the anime goes on its own path for the rest of season one and season two.
** Several of the cast's anime renditions are also quite different in character from their manga counterparts.
* AnimationBump: The second season has noticeably higher quality animation than the first, probably due to it both being made two years later and being only half the length of the first season. This is especially evident in the first episode of the second season when Claude is remaking the dining room to look like it did when the first Earl Trancy was alive and the animation is absolutely stunning.
* ArtificialHuman: Drocell. It's painfully obvious even before straw starts spilling out of his head.
* BackUpTwin: Edward Abberline in ''Kuroshitsuji II'' is the twin brother of Fred Abberline from the first season. However their personalities are quite a bit different [[spoiler:and Ciel doesn't remember Abberline's death anyway]] so he fails to make the connection.
* BurningRubber: In the ''Making Of'' OVA episode ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' style during Grell's introduction.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: All over the place in episode 20. Fitting, considering Lau's story and [[spoiler:the fatal blow to both the Phantomhive Company, which may or may not recover, and the deaths of Lau and Abberline]].
* ButtMonkey: Abberline in season 2 episode 4.
** Grell in the anime. Mostly averted in the manga.
* ChekhovsArmoury: There are more [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] in the anime than in the manga (unless you count the ChekhovsArmoury limited to the Murder arc), probably because the anime has had two seasons with different concluding plots, and there might be some [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] that have been shown in the manga but haven't been revealed as important yet.
** Ciel's brand is a symbol used by the underlings of his parent's killer.
** [[spoiler:Pluto's collar]] is a mind-control device.
** Unlike in the manga, Ciel's ring has actual plot importance in both seasons, albeit for two different reasons. First, it [[spoiler:marks him as a target for an insane Doll maker]] as a PlotDeviceAllAlong. Then, it [[spoiler:houses his soul, prompting his memory loss and the entire second season]].
*** In the latter season, it becomes a ChekhovsBoomerang and/or a ChekhovsSkill, since a different ring is later used [[spoiler:to store Aloise’s soul]] the same way Ciel’s ring was used. The effect lasts much longer (in terms of screen time, at least) and plays an even more crucial role in the plot than the first example does.
** ChekhovsGag: Before we see Finny fight, there's a scene where he deals with his sadness by running through the forest and barreling down all the trees in his path without stopping or so much as flinching.
*** In the third episode, Grell accidentally makes skull-shaped topiary out of EVERY bush in the manor. "His" repeated suicide attempts also count.
** ChekhovsGunman: Ash is first seen as Queen Victoria's nameless escort/servant during the Curry Contest.
*** [[spoiler:Lau]], the comic relief and exposition character, eventually becomes a formidable villain.
** ChekhovsGift: Although the gift is never given, the ring that Lizzy plans to give to Ciel to replace the one she broke.
** ChekhovMIA: Zigzagged, as the character is [[spoiler:technically]] shown, but the audience doesn't get to see the face[[note]]Or any skin, for that matter[[/note]] or hear the voice of [[spoiler:Queen Victoria]] in a scene where the manga included it.
** ChekhovsSkill: Agni failed to hit Sebastian’s pressure points when they fought (or Sebastian negated their effects), but later he uses pressure points to snap people out of hypnosis.
* ChickMagnet:Sebastian has been shown to be attractive to Ciel's aunt, three nuns, and an ''angel''.
* CombatCommentator: Viscount Druitt in Episode 7 of the second season. He would be a walking BigLippedAlligatorMoment otherwise.
* CruelTwistEnding: Both seasons of the anime have one of these:
** In season one, [[spoiler:Ciel has finally achieved his revenge, bringing down the mad FallenAngel who slew his parents, destroying the twisted puppet-Queen Victoria she commanded, and stopping her plans for genocide of the human race. However, he has been seriously wounded and, furthermore, it's time to pay the piper; his last words before losing consciousness are to tell Sebastian to make it as painful as possible, even as Sebastian leans in to devour Ciel's soul at last]].
** In season two, [[spoiler:Alois's spiteful last wish results in Ciel turning into a demon, meaning Sebastian cannot eat his soul. The two will be together forever, and Sebastian's pledge has trapped him in eternal service to Ciel, something that the proud demon is ''not'' happy about. Ciel, having no further purpose in the human world, sends out cards about his death to all his allies, gives his mansion to his former servants, and our last sight is of him and Sebastian implicitly plunging back into Hell together]].
* CuteAndPsycho: Alois. Throughout the first episode of the new season he flips from sweet and innocent to AxCrazy so many times, it could make someone dizzy.
* DemotedToExtra: Tanaka pretty much vanishes after episode 2 of season 2. He finally reappears for about 2 seconds during the finale, and gets no spoken lines.
* DespairEventHorizon: Ciel, if his indifference to Sebastian's inevitable consumption of his soul once he finishes his RoaringRampageOfRevenge is any indication.
* DiminishingVillainThreat: In the anime, while she was never exactly a menacing character, [[spoiler:Grell the Shinigami went from being one half of Jack the Ripper and the murderer of Ciel's Aunt Red to a non-threatening goofball with safety scissors and a [[InLoveWithYourCarnage crush on Sebastian]]]].
** The same can be said about the residents of the town in episode 7 of season 1. At first, they're [[spoiler:chaining people to walls to be mauled by dogs and following all sorts of weird, creepy rituals]]. Later, Sebastian and Ciel come across them...in swimsuits, doing some kind of organized exercise routine.
** Viscount Druitt is also a prime example, at least in the anime. Goes from trying to sell a cross-dressed Ciel as a SexSlave to being a mere [[CampStraight campy]] lover of blue shrimp, curry, and erotic ice sculptures.
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Sebastian's true form, although not so much in the manga. He takes his true form to combat Angela/Ash at the end of season 1. We never see it (aside from a pair of thigh or knee high leather high-heeled boots and a cascade of black feathers) but from Angela/Ash's VillainousBSOD reaction, and Sebastian not wanting Ciel to see it, it seems Sebastian's true form is beyond our capacity to handle]].
* EvolvingCredits: In season 1, the opening "Monochrome Kiss" switches to its second stanza halfway through. A few episodes later, the animation completely changes for the final arc.
** Of a sort, in season 2: with episode one the opening involves only the Trancy household, and then switches back and forth between that and the usual Ciel/Sebastian-centric opening as the series goes on, depending on the episode's focus.
* {{Facepalm}}: Ciel in season 2 episode 3, when Sebastian has a moment of adoration over stray kitties and ignores the task at hand to do so. Really, every time Sebastian and cats are in the same frame/panel and Ciel is around.
* FlipPersonality: [[spoiler:Alois' soul ends up in Ciel's body]] and both souls dispute its control. You can see [[spoiler:Alois]] is in charge because of the (not subtle) change in attitude and because the eye seal disappears.
* FoodPorn: In episode 14, when Ciel is discussing entering in the curry contest, it shows a hyper-realistic shrimp curry in the background behind Sebastian.
* ForeignLanguageTheme: "I'm Alive!", the English ending theme. The vocalist, Meredith Brooks, is a native English speaker.
* GeckoEnding: The ending of the first season of the anime was made into this retroactively. Season 1 ends with [[spoiler:Sebastian leaning down to devour Ciel's soul]] and later into season 2 we find out [[spoiler:that immediately after the screen fades to black he realized something was wrong and Ciel's soul was already gone, stolen by Claude]].
* GhostAmnesia: The ghost of King Edward has this in the anime.
* GoodCopBadCop: Abberline and his boss seem to fulfill this trope. The former pities Ciel after reading his background file and, in the anime, [[spoiler:eventually dies for him in a HeroicSacrifice]]. On the other hand, his boss was very disappointed that the Queen wouldn't let him [[spoiler: torture Ciel after they arrested him for the Lady Blanc incident]].
* HairColorSpoiler: [[spoiler: Ash has purple eyes and white hair. Who else has white hair and purple eyes? Angela. Angela is an angel. Therefore, when TheReveal happened, it wasn't much of a surprise.]]
* HappyBirthdayToYou: The English dub for one of the season 2 [=OVAs=] couldn't use the song itself so it used a different birthday song. %%Don't say which episode as it's an in-universe spoiler surprise too.
* IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn: Undertaker in the anime loves the feeling of the moisture leaving his body. Unbeknownst to Grell, who tosses him in salt and keeps him buried neck-down.
* IKissYourFoot: Claude does this [[spoiler:to Ciel]] in Episode 10 of Season 2...and gets kicked in the face for it.
* ImageSong: Several characters get them for season 2, including Ronald Knox (who only appears ''once'').
* ImAHumanitarian: Subverted. [[spoiler:In the first episode, Sebastian borrows a page from ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' in dealing with a CorruptCorporateExecutive. However, he is later seen alive, though injured]].
* InfallibleBabble: “The white dog is a good dog, a good dog good. The black dog is a bad dog, a bad dog bad.” At first, it looks like a MadnessMantra used to control superstitious townspeople, but it turns out [[spoiler:there really was a hell hound, and the person who was controlling him was using him to punish those she deemed wicked]].
* KickTheDog: In the first episode of the second season, Alois stabs his maid in the eye with his hand. For daring to look her master in the eye while serving him. ''[[DisproportionateRetribution The nerve of her]].''
* LecherousLicking: In episode 5 of season 2, a disguised Alois licks Ciel's ear.
* LightIsNotGood: You know something's wrong when the demon butler is easier to see as heroic than the angel in the series.
* LostHimInACardGame: In season 1, Ciel loses a game of chess, and Sebastian, to the ghost of King Edward and his little brother Richard. Their contract isn't broken over a silly game of chess, and Sebastian soon returns when it's most beneficial.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Under any other circumstances, Ciel would not go anywhere near the big, creepy castle without Sebastian. Unless, of course, Elizabeth has gone missing and he has every belief that she is in there and in trouble. Then he'll do anything. Including giving Grell pretty much permission to sexually assault Sebastian in exchange for backup. Not crazy enough for you? How about [[spoiler: after he realizes all the girls in the castle are living dolls, he ditches Grell in order to run deeper? And ''still'' keeps looking for Elizabeth after being told he was next to be turned into a doll?]]
* MediumAwareness: Season 2, Episode 6. Hannah plays this weird instrument that [[BrownNote causes intense physical pain]] in anyone who hears it. So, Agni tries to free Mey-Rin, Finny, and Bard from the effects by way of PressurePoint attacks. It works...but now their voices are out of sync with their lip movements. And it actually is too, if you watch closely.
* MoralMyopia: [[spoiler:It seems that, to Ash/Angela, everyone but themselves is impure. When they [[WouldHurtAChild kill]] [[ThePurge indiscriminately]], [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood alters ]] [[FakeMemories memories]] and [[ReallyGetsAround bangs pretty much anything]] ([[BestialityIsDepraved including Pluto]]), it's all good. But [[ChildrenAreInnocent little girls who might someday]] [[GrowingUpSucks become impure adults]]? [[LivingDollCollector Make 'em into dolls]]. Does an [[UndyingLoyalty undyingly loyal]] BattleButler [[CreepyDoll Mannequinn]] dare break? [[YouHaveFailedMe Dump it]]. [[{{Cult}} Cultists]] [[PathOfInspiration who followed your every word]]? [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness All useless.]] [[{{Yandere}} The otherwise loyal queen]] [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable who dares cling to her husband's body]]? [[DyingAlone Leave her to die]]. [[VillainProtagonist That kid]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge that wants revenge]] [[StartOfDarkness because you personally ruined his life]]? [[PunctuatedForEmphasis SNUFF HIM OUT]]!]]
* NeverTrustATrailer: Parodied in the fourth Black Butler II OVA, featuring the characters as actors. The last portion of the episode features a mock trailer for the season...consisting almost entirely of events that never happened. It gets just a ''little'' ridiculous when we see Lau and Ran-Mao show up in a UFO, and it pretty much snowballs from there.
* OldTimeyBathingSuit: Episode 7 is a BeachEpisode where the Phantomhive servants put on swimsuits accurate to the Victorian era that the series takes place in.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: In the anime, the BigBad is one who's very screwed up, [[spoiler: fusing males and females together in one body, killing their loyal cultists when they have no more use for him, extremely perverted, mind-rapes the boy trying to avenge the parent they killed, having a minion turning little girls into dolls and then disposing of it once he's useless and setting the stage for a possible world war in the future]].
* PaperThinDisguise: Everyone who watched the first episode of season 2 probably noticed pretty quickly that the stranger visiting Alois and Claude in the middle of the night is [[spoiler:Sebastian Michaelis]]. In addition, [[spoiler:Claude's disguise on the train. One wonders if the butlers are aware of what the word ''"disguise"'' actually means]].
* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Subverted]]. The ''very first scene'' of Season 2 gives us the blink-you'll-miss-it visual of Alois getting out of a bed in which an old man is sleeping before the much more noticeable bruised-butt shot. Alois only mentions his father during his [[TheFakeCutie clearly false]] innocent moments, otherwise freaking out at the mention of him, stating hysterically that he "got rid of all the old man's things". The numbers of when he was "saved" from his kidnapping experience, when his father is stated to have died, and when he contracted Claude all match up. [[spoiler:The sexual abuse is confirmed in episode 8--along with the fact that it wasn't ParentalIncest, because the Earl Trancy wasn't actually Alois's father]] .
* PetTheDog: In the first season of the anime, Ciel occasionally shows that he's not ''completely'' heartless, and despite mocking Abberline [[spoiler:and his StupidSacrifice]], he is shown to have sent toys to his pregnant wife [[spoiler:after his death]].
* PlotTailoredToTheParty: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], and somewhat [[ParodiedTrope parodied]] in episode 4 of season 2. It turns out that every passenger on the train had a ChekhovsSkill that when combined can avert the disaster at hand...but Sebastian can do everything by himself.
* RedOniBlueOni: There's the calculating Ciel and the flamboyant Alois. The gem in Ciel's ring is blue and the one in Alois' ring is red.
* SarcasticConfession: When Sebastian is being interrogated by the police they tell him to confess, and he admits that he was responsible for the Black Death. Since this was [[HistoricalInJoke 500 years ago]] they assume he's pulling their legs.
* SetBehindTheScenes: The Season 2 OVA episode "The Making of Black Butler II" shows the "filming" of the season and what goes into making the show, depicting the characters as either AnimatedActors, crewmembers, or both.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', in one of the extras. [[OffTheRails At least, that's what they were originally trying to perform]].
* SpoilerOpening: Season 1's opening can be considered a variation of this. It does show what will happen, but in somewhat of a metaphorical way that you usually won't understand until you finish the season.
* StayingAlive: [[spoiler: Sebastian, Ciel and even Lau and Ran Mao]] at the start of season 2.
* StealthPun: In one episode in the first season the rest of the staff are trying (and failing hard) to get a photograph of Sebastian. They plan ways to set up the shot and distract Sebastian on a scale model of the house marking Sebastian's position with the figure of a black sheep, which is Kuro Hitsuji in Japanese.
* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler: Abberline's]] death was definitely a TearJerker, but there was no reason he had to jump in front of Ciel instead of just pushing him out of the way, therefore keeping them both alive.
* TakeAThirdOption: In the anime, [[spoiler:Ciel becomes a demon to avoid having his soul devoured. However, Alois unwittingly made the choice for him]].
** May be worth mentioning that Ciel seemed to have nothing against having his soul eaten.
* UnflinchingWalk: [[http://i51.tinypic.com/2u4lw90.png Sebastian in episode 2 of the first season.]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The first season's BigBad's EvilPlan is to [[spoiler: burn down London for purification.]]
* VerbalTic: [[ArtificialHuman Drocell's]] "I reasoned" in the anime. In certain versions, he actually says 'So I thought to myself'.
* VillainousFaceHold: In Episode 20, Angela has Sebastian chained to a wall and uses the handle of her whip to lift Sebastian's chin up so that she can see his face while she mocks him.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever ''did'' happen to [[spoiler:the real Alois Trancy]] is never addressed.
----
This anime OvertookTheManga at the time it was running and it officially departs from the canon material after the end of the Jack the Ripper storyline, which is the first major story arc from the manga. From that point on, it goes into a completely different direction (although a few elements from the manga like Agni and Soma are included).
The original anime series continued into a second season, called ''Black Butler II''. It follows Claude Faustus, and his master, Alois Trancy, with Sebastian and Ciel returning later.
'''This page deals with the 2008 series that diverged from the manga. For Yana Toboso's original manga and its direct anime adaptations, please see ''Manga.BlackButler''.'''
----
!!Provides examples of:
* TwelveEpisodeAnime: Season 2 is half the length of season 1, which has 24 episodes.
* AdaptationalJerkass: Claus, Ciel's Italian associate who visits him in the first chapter, gets hit with this on account of the first episode detailing what happens after dinner. Claus is a BitchInSheepsClothing who acts nice and cordial to Ciel in public, but behind closed doors he's a slimeball who wants to drain his pockets. Unfortunately for him, Ciel is aware of this and asks Sebastian to give him some [[DeadlyEuphemism Phantomhive hospitality]].
* AdaptationDrift: Only the first 9 episodes of the anime are adapted from the manga. The rest of the first and second seasons opt to tell their own story.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: A relatively minor one, but Grell's line where Grell claims to sympathizes with Madame Red's infertility [[spoiler:and motive for murdering prostitutes who came to her for abortions]] because Grell can't bear a child either, due to not having a uterus. This makes it sound like Grell's ''only'' reason for [[spoiler:going rogue to become Red's sidekick]] was that [[spoiler:Grell thought Red's viciousness was cute]].
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Anime Grell is more like a parody of the clumsy, bad-luck-magnet, demented, perverted, masochistic stalker Sarutobi from Gintama, while Manga Grell is a mostly serious, significantly less romantic, stone cold, blood-thirsty sadist. Also, in the anime, Grell has a crush on Undertaker but in the manga, Grell took an immediate disliking to him. The problem stems from Grell having an increased role in the anime and the animators having less material to work off of at the time, and she was thus flanderized.
** Similarly, while Soma and Agni always had shades of FunnyForeigner, manga Soma was also intelligent and aware and Agni picked up on more social cues. These traits are dropped in the anime, for more comic relief. This only applies to seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.
** ZigZagged with Lau, who originally looks to be more [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] and quirky, until [[spoiler: he betrays Ciel at the end of season 1]], at which point the audience gets reminded of the darker moments he had in the manga. Then in season 2, he goes back to being comic relief.
** Ciel himself in season 2 is far less proactive than his manga counterpart- or his season 1 counterpart, for that matter.
** Undertaker in the manga is a HiddenAgendaVillain and a DangerousDeserter from the Reaper corps. In the anime, he left the corps peacefully and serves more of a SpiritAdvisor role to Ciel, giving him advice when London is burning and helping navigate the reaper library.
* AlternateContinuity:
** The anime diverges from the manga in episode 7, before moving back to it in episodes 13-15. After this, the anime goes on its own path for the rest of season one and season two.
** Several of the cast's anime renditions are also quite different in character from their manga counterparts.
* AnimationBump: The second season has noticeably higher quality animation than the first, probably due to it both being made two years later and being only half the length of the first season. This is especially evident in the first episode of the second season when Claude is remaking the dining room to look like it did when the first Earl Trancy was alive and the animation is absolutely stunning.
* ArtificialHuman: Drocell. It's painfully obvious even before straw starts spilling out of his head.
* BackUpTwin: Edward Abberline in ''Kuroshitsuji II'' is the twin brother of Fred Abberline from the first season. However their personalities are quite a bit different [[spoiler:and Ciel doesn't remember Abberline's death anyway]] so he fails to make the connection.
* BurningRubber: In the ''Making Of'' OVA episode ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' style during Grell's introduction.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: All over the place in episode 20. Fitting, considering Lau's story and [[spoiler:the fatal blow to both the Phantomhive Company, which may or may not recover, and the deaths of Lau and Abberline]].
* ButtMonkey: Abberline in season 2 episode 4.
** Grell in the anime. Mostly averted in the manga.
* ChekhovsArmoury: There are more [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] in the anime than in the manga (unless you count the ChekhovsArmoury limited to the Murder arc), probably because the anime has had two seasons with different concluding plots, and there might be some [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] that have been shown in the manga but haven't been revealed as important yet.
** Ciel's brand is a symbol used by the underlings of his parent's killer.
** [[spoiler:Pluto's collar]] is a mind-control device.
** Unlike in the manga, Ciel's ring has actual plot importance in both seasons, albeit for two different reasons. First, it [[spoiler:marks him as a target for an insane Doll maker]] as a PlotDeviceAllAlong. Then, it [[spoiler:houses his soul, prompting his memory loss and the entire second season]].
*** In the latter season, it becomes a ChekhovsBoomerang and/or a ChekhovsSkill, since a different ring is later used [[spoiler:to store Aloise’s soul]] the same way Ciel’s ring was used. The effect lasts much longer (in terms of screen time, at least) and plays an even more crucial role in the plot than the first example does.
** ChekhovsGag: Before we see Finny fight, there's a scene where he deals with his sadness by running through the forest and barreling down all the trees in his path without stopping or so much as flinching.
*** In the third episode, Grell accidentally makes skull-shaped topiary out of EVERY bush in the manor. "His" repeated suicide attempts also count.
** ChekhovsGunman: Ash is first seen as Queen Victoria's nameless escort/servant during the Curry Contest.
*** [[spoiler:Lau]], the comic relief and exposition character, eventually becomes a formidable villain.
** ChekhovsGift: Although the gift is never given, the ring that Lizzy plans to give to Ciel to replace the one she broke.
** ChekhovMIA: Zigzagged, as the character is [[spoiler:technically]] shown, but the audience doesn't get to see the face[[note]]Or any skin, for that matter[[/note]] or hear the voice of [[spoiler:Queen Victoria]] in a scene where the manga included it.
** ChekhovsSkill: Agni failed to hit Sebastian’s pressure points when they fought (or Sebastian negated their effects), but later he uses pressure points to snap people out of hypnosis.
* ChickMagnet:Sebastian has been shown to be attractive to Ciel's aunt, three nuns, and an ''angel''.
* CombatCommentator: Viscount Druitt in Episode 7 of the second season. He would be a walking BigLippedAlligatorMoment otherwise.
* CruelTwistEnding: Both seasons of the anime have one of these:
** In season one, [[spoiler:Ciel has finally achieved his revenge, bringing down the mad FallenAngel who slew his parents, destroying the twisted puppet-Queen Victoria she commanded, and stopping her plans for genocide of the human race. However, he has been seriously wounded and, furthermore, it's time to pay the piper; his last words before losing consciousness are to tell Sebastian to make it as painful as possible, even as Sebastian leans in to devour Ciel's soul at last]].
** In season two, [[spoiler:Alois's spiteful last wish results in Ciel turning into a demon, meaning Sebastian cannot eat his soul. The two will be together forever, and Sebastian's pledge has trapped him in eternal service to Ciel, something that the proud demon is ''not'' happy about. Ciel, having no further purpose in the human world, sends out cards about his death to all his allies, gives his mansion to his former servants, and our last sight is of him and Sebastian implicitly plunging back into Hell together]].
* CuteAndPsycho: Alois. Throughout the first episode of the new season he flips from sweet and innocent to AxCrazy so many times, it could make someone dizzy.
* DemotedToExtra: Tanaka pretty much vanishes after episode 2 of season 2. He finally reappears for about 2 seconds during the finale, and gets no spoken lines.
* DespairEventHorizon: Ciel, if his indifference to Sebastian's inevitable consumption of his soul once he finishes his RoaringRampageOfRevenge is any indication.
* DiminishingVillainThreat: In the anime, while she was never exactly a menacing character, [[spoiler:Grell the Shinigami went from being one half of Jack the Ripper and the murderer of Ciel's Aunt Red to a non-threatening goofball with safety scissors and a [[InLoveWithYourCarnage crush on Sebastian]]]].
** The same can be said about the residents of the town in episode 7 of season 1. At first, they're [[spoiler:chaining people to walls to be mauled by dogs and following all sorts of weird, creepy rituals]]. Later, Sebastian and Ciel come across them...in swimsuits, doing some kind of organized exercise routine.
** Viscount Druitt is also a prime example, at least in the anime. Goes from trying to sell a cross-dressed Ciel as a SexSlave to being a mere [[CampStraight campy]] lover of blue shrimp, curry, and erotic ice sculptures.
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Sebastian's true form, although not so much in the manga. He takes his true form to combat Angela/Ash at the end of season 1. We never see it (aside from a pair of thigh or knee high leather high-heeled boots and a cascade of black feathers) but from Angela/Ash's VillainousBSOD reaction, and Sebastian not wanting Ciel to see it, it seems Sebastian's true form is beyond our capacity to handle]].
* EvolvingCredits: In season 1, the opening "Monochrome Kiss" switches to its second stanza halfway through. A few episodes later, the animation completely changes for the final arc.
** Of a sort, in season 2: with episode one the opening involves only the Trancy household, and then switches back and forth between that and the usual Ciel/Sebastian-centric opening as the series goes on, depending on the episode's focus.
* {{Facepalm}}: Ciel in season 2 episode 3, when Sebastian has a moment of adoration over stray kitties and ignores the task at hand to do so. Really, every time Sebastian and cats are in the same frame/panel and Ciel is around.
* FlipPersonality: [[spoiler:Alois' soul ends up in Ciel's body]] and both souls dispute its control. You can see [[spoiler:Alois]] is in charge because of the (not subtle) change in attitude and because the eye seal disappears.
* FoodPorn: In episode 14, when Ciel is discussing entering in the curry contest, it shows a hyper-realistic shrimp curry in the background behind Sebastian.
* ForeignLanguageTheme: "I'm Alive!", the English ending theme. The vocalist, Meredith Brooks, is a native English speaker.
* GeckoEnding: The ending of the first season of the anime was made into this retroactively. Season 1 ends with [[spoiler:Sebastian leaning down to devour Ciel's soul]] and later into season 2 we find out [[spoiler:that immediately after the screen fades to black he realized something was wrong and Ciel's soul was already gone, stolen by Claude]].
* GhostAmnesia: The ghost of King Edward has this in the anime.
* GoodCopBadCop: Abberline and his boss seem to fulfill this trope. The former pities Ciel after reading his background file and, in the anime, [[spoiler:eventually dies for him in a HeroicSacrifice]]. On the other hand, his boss was very disappointed that the Queen wouldn't let him [[spoiler: torture Ciel after they arrested him for the Lady Blanc incident]].
* HairColorSpoiler: [[spoiler: Ash has purple eyes and white hair. Who else has white hair and purple eyes? Angela. Angela is an angel. Therefore, when TheReveal happened, it wasn't much of a surprise.]]
* HappyBirthdayToYou: The English dub for one of the season 2 [=OVAs=] couldn't use the song itself so it used a different birthday song. %%Don't say which episode as it's an in-universe spoiler surprise too.
* IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn: Undertaker in the anime loves the feeling of the moisture leaving his body. Unbeknownst to Grell, who tosses him in salt and keeps him buried neck-down.
* IKissYourFoot: Claude does this [[spoiler:to Ciel]] in Episode 10 of Season 2...and gets kicked in the face for it.
* ImageSong: Several characters get them for season 2, including Ronald Knox (who only appears ''once'').
* ImAHumanitarian: Subverted. [[spoiler:In the first episode, Sebastian borrows a page from ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' in dealing with a CorruptCorporateExecutive. However, he is later seen alive, though injured]].
* InfallibleBabble: “The white dog is a good dog, a good dog good. The black dog is a bad dog, a bad dog bad.” At first, it looks like a MadnessMantra used to control superstitious townspeople, but it turns out [[spoiler:there really was a hell hound, and the person who was controlling him was using him to punish those she deemed wicked]].
* KickTheDog: In the first episode of the second season, Alois stabs his maid in the eye with his hand. For daring to look her master in the eye while serving him. ''[[DisproportionateRetribution The nerve of her]].''
* LecherousLicking: In episode 5 of season 2, a disguised Alois licks Ciel's ear.
* LightIsNotGood: You know something's wrong when the demon butler is easier to see as heroic than the angel in the series.
* LostHimInACardGame: In season 1, Ciel loses a game of chess, and Sebastian, to the ghost of King Edward and his little brother Richard. Their contract isn't broken over a silly game of chess, and Sebastian soon returns when it's most beneficial.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Under any other circumstances, Ciel would not go anywhere near the big, creepy castle without Sebastian. Unless, of course, Elizabeth has gone missing and he has every belief that she is in there and in trouble. Then he'll do anything. Including giving Grell pretty much permission to sexually assault Sebastian in exchange for backup. Not crazy enough for you? How about [[spoiler: after he realizes all the girls in the castle are living dolls, he ditches Grell in order to run deeper? And ''still'' keeps looking for Elizabeth after being told he was next to be turned into a doll?]]
* MediumAwareness: Season 2, Episode 6. Hannah plays this weird instrument that [[BrownNote causes intense physical pain]] in anyone who hears it. So, Agni tries to free Mey-Rin, Finny, and Bard from the effects by way of PressurePoint attacks. It works...but now their voices are out of sync with their lip movements. And it actually is too, if you watch closely.
* MoralMyopia: [[spoiler:It seems that, to Ash/Angela, everyone but themselves is impure. When they [[WouldHurtAChild kill]] [[ThePurge indiscriminately]], [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood alters ]] [[FakeMemories memories]] and [[ReallyGetsAround bangs pretty much anything]] ([[BestialityIsDepraved including Pluto]]), it's all good. But [[ChildrenAreInnocent little girls who might someday]] [[GrowingUpSucks become impure adults]]? [[LivingDollCollector Make 'em into dolls]]. Does an [[UndyingLoyalty undyingly loyal]] BattleButler [[CreepyDoll Mannequinn]] dare break? [[YouHaveFailedMe Dump it]]. [[{{Cult}} Cultists]] [[PathOfInspiration who followed your every word]]? [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness All useless.]] [[{{Yandere}} The otherwise loyal queen]] [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable who dares cling to her husband's body]]? [[DyingAlone Leave her to die]]. [[VillainProtagonist That kid]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge that wants revenge]] [[StartOfDarkness because you personally ruined his life]]? [[PunctuatedForEmphasis SNUFF HIM OUT]]!]]
* NeverTrustATrailer: Parodied in the fourth Black Butler II OVA, featuring the characters as actors. The last portion of the episode features a mock trailer for the season...consisting almost entirely of events that never happened. It gets just a ''little'' ridiculous when we see Lau and Ran-Mao show up in a UFO, and it pretty much snowballs from there.
* OldTimeyBathingSuit: Episode 7 is a BeachEpisode where the Phantomhive servants put on swimsuits accurate to the Victorian era that the series takes place in.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: In the anime, the BigBad is one who's very screwed up, [[spoiler: fusing males and females together in one body, killing their loyal cultists when they have no more use for him, extremely perverted, mind-rapes the boy trying to avenge the parent they killed, having a minion turning little girls into dolls and then disposing of it once he's useless and setting the stage for a possible world war in the future]].
* PaperThinDisguise: Everyone who watched the first episode of season 2 probably noticed pretty quickly that the stranger visiting Alois and Claude in the middle of the night is [[spoiler:Sebastian Michaelis]]. In addition, [[spoiler:Claude's disguise on the train. One wonders if the butlers are aware of what the word ''"disguise"'' actually means]].
* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Subverted]]. The ''very first scene'' of Season 2 gives us the blink-you'll-miss-it visual of Alois getting out of a bed in which an old man is sleeping before the much more noticeable bruised-butt shot. Alois only mentions his father during his [[TheFakeCutie clearly false]] innocent moments, otherwise freaking out at the mention of him, stating hysterically that he "got rid of all the old man's things". The numbers of when he was "saved" from his kidnapping experience, when his father is stated to have died, and when he contracted Claude all match up. [[spoiler:The sexual abuse is confirmed in episode 8--along with the fact that it wasn't ParentalIncest, because the Earl Trancy wasn't actually Alois's father]] .
* PetTheDog: In the first season of the anime, Ciel occasionally shows that he's not ''completely'' heartless, and despite mocking Abberline [[spoiler:and his StupidSacrifice]], he is shown to have sent toys to his pregnant wife [[spoiler:after his death]].
* PlotTailoredToTheParty: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], and somewhat [[ParodiedTrope parodied]] in episode 4 of season 2. It turns out that every passenger on the train had a ChekhovsSkill that when combined can avert the disaster at hand...but Sebastian can do everything by himself.
* RedOniBlueOni: There's the calculating Ciel and the flamboyant Alois. The gem in Ciel's ring is blue and the one in Alois' ring is red.
* SarcasticConfession: When Sebastian is being interrogated by the police they tell him to confess, and he admits that he was responsible for the Black Death. Since this was [[HistoricalInJoke 500 years ago]] they assume he's pulling their legs.
* SetBehindTheScenes: The Season 2 OVA episode "The Making of Black Butler II" shows the "filming" of the season and what goes into making the show, depicting the characters as either AnimatedActors, crewmembers, or both.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', in one of the extras. [[OffTheRails At least, that's what they were originally trying to perform]].
* SpoilerOpening: Season 1's opening can be considered a variation of this. It does show what will happen, but in somewhat of a metaphorical way that you usually won't understand until you finish the season.
* StayingAlive: [[spoiler: Sebastian, Ciel and even Lau and Ran Mao]] at the start of season 2.
* StealthPun: In one episode in the first season the rest of the staff are trying (and failing hard) to get a photograph of Sebastian. They plan ways to set up the shot and distract Sebastian on a scale model of the house marking Sebastian's position with the figure of a black sheep, which is Kuro Hitsuji in Japanese.
* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler: Abberline's]] death was definitely a TearJerker, but there was no reason he had to jump in front of Ciel instead of just pushing him out of the way, therefore keeping them both alive.
* TakeAThirdOption: In the anime, [[spoiler:Ciel becomes a demon to avoid having his soul devoured. However, Alois unwittingly made the choice for him]].
** May be worth mentioning that Ciel seemed to have nothing against having his soul eaten.
* UnflinchingWalk: [[http://i51.tinypic.com/2u4lw90.png Sebastian in episode 2 of the first season.]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The first season's BigBad's EvilPlan is to [[spoiler: burn down London for purification.]]
* VerbalTic: [[ArtificialHuman Drocell's]] "I reasoned" in the anime. In certain versions, he actually says 'So I thought to myself'.
* VillainousFaceHold: In Episode 20, Angela has Sebastian chained to a wall and uses the handle of her whip to lift Sebastian's chin up so that she can see his face while she mocks him.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever ''did'' happen to [[spoiler:the real Alois Trancy]] is never addressed.
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