Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”: Wolf Hunting Abroad [Review]

The first episode of the new season of the anime starring our favorite young lord and his demonic butler kicks off with Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”. This time, Ciel and Sebastian are headed abroad to Germany to solve a series of very strange deaths. It’s a mystery that leads them and the rest of the Phantomhive manor cast to go on a wolf hunt, of all things. Except this time, they’re hunting werewolves.

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”: Details

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork” is the first episode of the new season of the dark comedy and darker fantasy/supernatural anime adaptation of Black Butler. This latest season comes directly after the Public School Arc. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Yana Toboso (Rust Blaster, Disney Twisted-Wonderland). CloverWorks (Spy x Family, Bocchi the Rock!, The Elusive Samurai) is the animation studio behind the anime. Crunchyroll is the company licensing the anime for its global release.

Production Crew

Alas, we don’t know who specifically is behind Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”.

As for Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- as a whole though: we do know that Kenjirou Okada is the director, with Hiroyuki Yoshino as the writer. Yoshito Ito is the producer. Yumi Shimazu is the character designer. Ryo Kawasaki is the composer behind music.

Speaking of music: the opening theme song for Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- is “MAISIE” by Cö shu Nie feat. HYDE. Meanwhile, “WALTZ” by RYUGUJO is the ending theme song for the same.

Voice Cast

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork” features the voices of Maaya Sakamoto (Brina Palencia in English dub) as Ciel Phantomhive, Daisuke Ono (J. Michael Tatum in English dub) as Sebastian, Rie Kugimiya (English dub voice unknown) as Sieglinde Sullivan, and Chikahiro Kobayashi (English dub voice unknown) as Wolfram Geltzer.

The Phantomhive manor voice cast consists of Hiroki Tōchi (Ian Sinclair in English dub) as Baldroy, Yūki Kaji (Jason Liebrecht in English dub) as Finnian, Emiri Katō (Monica Rial in English dub) as Mey-Rin, Takuma Terashima (Spike Spencer in English dub) as Snake, and Shunji Fujimura (R. Bruce Elliott in English dub) as Tanaka.

When and Where to Watch

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on April 5, 2025. 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 -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”: Synopsis

Alas, Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- has only just begun its debut. In fact, Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork” only just made its streaming debut two days ago as of this writing. Thus, here’s the official synopsis from Crunchyroll to give you an idea of what’s going on without too much in the way of spoilers below:

“Sebastian and Ciel begin investigating a series of suspicious deaths in Germany at the Queen’s request.”

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”: The Good

Wow, I don’t even know where to begin with Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”. Honestly, I would say that the story is the best part. After all, it’s the same story by Yana Toboso that made this arc one of the best in the manga. A lot of it has to do with the fact that this time, Ciel is in a foreign land where he doesn’t even speak the local language. It brings him out of his home field advantage, and puts him in a new and unfamiliar setting along with the rest of the cast, making their dark fantasy adventures in Germany all the more fun to watch.

Oh, and of course, the animation from CloverWorks continues to dazzle and amaze to no end. Their animation team continues to ensure that this anime has feature-length anime film levels of animation quality just as the Public School Arc did. You can especially see that level of detail emerge in the food. This is not a food-centric anime, and yet the food all looks absolutely amazing. The bread has gaps and bubbles in it like real bread has, and the fruit has that shiny sheen to it that only washed fruit can have. It really makes you want to take a bite out of the screen, really.

Lastly, Ryo Kawasaki gives us some marvelous music in this episode. That music helps set the atmosphere of dark fantasy, especially in the dark werewolf-infested forest. That along with the opening and ending songs makes this entire premiere such a joy to watch.

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork”: The Bad

Alas, action junkies might find Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 1 “His Butler, Doing Fieldwork” just a bit lacking. There is horror action in the form of a fox hunt into the cursed forest, and there is the threat of violence, but there is not much actual action. That will come in the later parts of the arc. To tide you over until then, might I recommend watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, and/or Solo Leveling? Those anime should have more than enough action to keep you occupied until Black Butler gets around to it.

What do you all think of this first episode of the new season of Black Butler? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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