Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, At School”: Back To School [Review]

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School” is the first time in a very long while in which we get to see Ciel and Sebastian again. And honestly, they do not disappoint. Not only does this first episode have an excellent story courtesy of Yana Toboso’s manga, but it even has feature-length anime film levels of animation to go with it. Just like how tea goes well with a splash of milk in it. Honestly, this is well worth the wait for over seven years for any new Black Butler animation.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”: Details

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School” is the very first episode of season 4 of the Black Butler anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the dark fantasy and even darker comedy (sometimes the other way around) manga of the same name by Yana Toboso (Disney Twisted-Wonderland). Normally, it’s A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online, Lycoris Recoil, Solo Leveling) that’s the studio behind this anime. This time though, the studio behind season 4 is CloverWorks (HoriMiya, My Dress-Up Darling, Spy x Family).

Alas, there is no word on who specifically is behind Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”. However, we do know that Kenjirou Okada is the director behind this newest season of the anime as a whole. Hiroyuki Yoshino is the writer, with Yumi Shimizu responsible for character design. Ryo Kawasaki composes the music.

Speaking of music: the opening theme music for this anime as a whole is “Fanatic Parade – The Parade of Battlers” by otoha. Meanwhile, “Shokuzai” (Atonement) by SID is the ending theme music for the same.

Voice Cast

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School” features the voices of Maaya Sakamoto (Brina Palencia in English dub) as Ciel Phantomhive and Daisuke Ono (J. Michael Tatum in English dub) as Sebastian Michaelis. The voice actors for the Prefects of Weston College consist of Toshiki Watanabe as Edgar Redmond, Junya Enoki as Lawrence Bluewer, Shunsuke Takeuchi as Herman Greenhill, and Tatsumuru Tachibana as Gregory Violet. Other notable voice roles for this episode include Shōya Ishige as Clayton and Haruka Shiraishi as McMillan.

When and Where to Watch

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School” made its airing and streaming debut on April 13, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this entire latest season of the anime only on Crunchyroll.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”: Synopsis

Alas, Black Butler -Public School Arc- is an ongoing anime. In fact, Ep. 1 only just premiered two days ago as of this writing. Thus, you will all be getting the official synopsis for this episode from Crunchyroll instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can check it out below:

Ciel begins attending England’s prestigious Weston College. This insular school values tradition, is bound by strict discipline, and is ruled by the prefects of its four boarding houses, collectively known as “P4”.

As for the official synopsis for the anime as a whole? Well, Crunchyroll has that too. You can check that out as well below:

Ciel Phantomhive is the most powerful boy in all of England, but he bears the scars of unspeakable suffering. Forced to watch as his beloved parents were brutally murdered, Ciel was subsequently abducted and violently tortured. Desperate to end his suffering, the boy traded his own soul for a chance at vengeance, casting his lot with the one person on whom he could depend: Sebastian, a demon Butler summoned from the very pits of hell. Together, they’ll prowl the darkest alleys of London on a mission to snuff out those who would do evil.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”: The Good

Wow, where to even start with Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”? Okay, let’s go with the story, because it is magnificent. Yana Toboso really knows how to write a story, especially with her magnum opus here. On the one hand, it’s a very dark and creepy fantasy and supernatural story. On the other hand, it’s also a story chockful of the most ridiculous comedy ever made. Comedy that also surprises you by springing out in the most random places possible. You just cannot anticipate when the comedy will arrive, and thus, it always gets a chuckle out of you at least. It’s this blend of dark fantasy seriousness and dark comedy hilarity that makes Black Butler great.

It’s not just the story though. The animation of this latest season is just absolutely gorgeous. It’s feature-length anime film levels of quality here. It even beats Solo Leveling, in my opinion. Don’t believe me? Then watch that scene where Sebastian pours a dash of milk to a cup of tea, and see that milk bloom into it as it swirls around just like milk realistically would. That’s how highly detailed that animation is. Just as in previous seasons of the anime, I might add.

Then of course, there’s the music. Ryo Kawasaki did a marvelous job with that creepy and dark music, along with the absurd stuff we hear during the funny bits. It’s that combination of greatness that’s what makes this anime the best of this season so far.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”: The Bad

Honestly, there’s not a whole lot I can criticize about Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, at School”. True, there’s not a whole lot of action in this first episode for action junkies to enjoy, although there is still some. Fans of the manga though will realize that there’s a lot more action incoming later in this arc, so just be patient and await that action with increasing amounts of glee. Or if you can’t, then there’s always anime like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba to enjoy.