Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” is yet another masterful adaptation of Yana Toboso’s manga. This time, mostly for the Game of Thrones-like political intrigue taking place in this episode. Which is absolutely hilarious when you remember that Weston College is supposed to be just a prestigious British public school.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise”: Details

Black Butler -Public School Arc- NA key visual.
Admittedly, this is one fancy school.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” is the second episode (you can read a review of Ep. 1 here) of season 4 of the Black Butler anime series, immediately following the 2017 anime film Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic. 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. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” at the time of this writing, just like with the previous episode. 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. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” 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, Haruka Shiraishi as McMillan, Seiichiro Yamashita as Edward Midford, and Shinnosuke Tokudome as Joanne Harcourt.

When and Where to Watch

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on April 20, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll.  In fact, you can watch this entire latest season of the anime, along with all previous seasons and even the Book of the Atlantic anime film, only on Crunchyroll.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise”: Synopsis

Yeah, these students won’t know what hit them when Ciel pulls that smile out.

Alas, Black Butler -Public School Arc- is still an ongoing anime. In fact, Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” only just premiered three days ago at the time 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 builds his reputation within the school in order to get close to the P4. His success grants him the opportunity to participate in an exclusive gathering reserved only for prefects and their drudges. However, this meeting doesn’t go as expected.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise”: The Good

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 "His Butler, in Disguise" screenshot showing Sebastian helping Ciel with his coat.
At least the bit of good news here is Sebastian…at least, for Ciel it is.

As a fan of Yana Toboso’s manga ever since Vol. 1 made its debut all the way back in September 16, 2006; I can confidently say that Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise” lives up to that manga to the fullest.

Not least of which is the story, which remains perfectly faithful to Yana Toboso’s work. Some might say that this is a trivial thing to note. However, as someone who has watched numerous directors try and fail to adapt a written work to a more visual media, to me, a perfect adaptation is no small matter. There’s no director attempting to put their spin on the story, believing in their hubris that they can improve on it. No, there is only Yana Toboso putting Ciel and Sebastian in a public school situation here. With that splendid blend of thriller and mystery that fans have come to know and love.

And of course, the other big reason as to why this anime is so great is the animation. Seriously, CloverWorks seems adamant to give this episode just as high an animation quality as the previous episode. At times, I would swear I was watching live-action footage, and I could only tell that it was very high quality animation with a close look. The food and drink especially deserves a special mention. When even a mere cup of tea has the most realistic tea physics and appearance of any anime I’ve seen yet, you know that the studio spent of a lot of their budget on it alone.

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise”: The Bad

Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 "His Butler, in Disguise" screenshot showing Maurice Cole's angelic face.
Amazing what the face of an angel can hide.

Honestly, there’s not a thing I can think of to criticize Black Butler -Public School Arc- Ep. 2 “His Butler, in Disguise”. Maybe it’s because I’m such a Black Butler fan, but everything about this episode is just perfection in anime form. My only complaint is a rather farcical one of “I need more”. Which soon, we will get that “more”.