#Circus Arc

[abybweisse]

Ch209, Spoilers part one

We see the circus arc through Snake's POV, starting around the time our earl and Sebastian are snooping around the tents.

Snake seems suspicious of the new circus troupe members, while Joker and Dagger seem to have accepted them.

He makes his report, based on observations and what his snakes tell him, though I have a feeling the snakes told him more information than he's passing on to Joker.

And here, below, I wonder if he's overhearing a discussion that the other first tier members didn't want him to hear?

Then the first tier members leave and don't return. Snake asks around the remaining troupe about their disappearance. The circus probably won't last much longer without the main attractions.

Whatever he learns, he decides to leave and find out earl and Sebastian. I don't know how he finds out where their manor is located. Then it's confronting them in the greenhouse.

A replay of our earl extending his hand and offering Snake a job there.

Snake accepting the offer.

Snake learning to read and write and do chores. Then the rude people on the ship...

...followed by our earl boosting his confidence.

As well as whatever Sebastian says there.

Part two in a moment or two.

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

Valan Luca will know no peace if he decides to stop in capitols on his touring circuit.

In Ebou Dar, he gets a look at the Empress, may she live forever, who is now his patron. Rescuing that strange woman with the boar-horse really had payed off. And it’s…that bald girl from the first time he left Ebou Dar, who used to torment Mat by calling him Toy. And her shadow. And Mat is there too, and the cheeky little scamp winks his remaining eye.

In Camelyn, he bows before the Queen- and seated on the throne is Morelin, his errant tightrope walker. She seems to find the look on his face funny. A few careful questions with servants reveals that the archer who had worked with the circus and left with her was Birgitte Silverbow herself, just as the woman had always claimed.

Eventually he ends up in Malkier, still rebuilding to a new height of glory. He stands at the center of the tent and in the booth reserved for the King and Queen he hears a familiar sniff. He turns to look and there she is, the beautiful, judgmental Nana. Woman of his dreams. Queen of the country, judging by her crown and holding hands with a solid looking man in the hadori, her familiar disapproving look in place.

He is never going to tour in a city again.

[eemoo1o-animoo]

This frame/panel makes my brain think things.

[midnight-in-town]

A tragic parallel between the F.O.L orphanage and Baron Kelvin’s workhouse

I wanted to point out that it’s interesting “the oldest siblings” of each group actually aren’t the ones getting their “fledging day” first. 

In fact, as we could see with this chapter, little Ginny who was scared of horses, something unbefitting of her aptitude as a Corgi, is the one who got a sudden “fledging day”. 

Thanks to this chapter, it’s also pretty obvious that “the oldest siblings” know where the other kids are sent, as indicated by Oliver’s and Artie’s scared reactions in this chapter.

The “oldest siblings” being aware of what’s going on also explains why Oliver sort of “protected” Daniel, when he conveyed to the adults that he didn’t fit in the Collie group. 

In other words, when the operation needs a kid (for blood or some other reason), it’s those who don’t fit in who get taken first so, Ginny aside, we should also definitely worry about Daniel but also Nick from the Pomeranian group.

Focusing a little bit on Artie, a Mastiff, who brought Daniel, a Collie, to his class and Oliver who interrupted Daniel talking about “fledging day”, it seems the “oldest siblings” are trying as hard as they can to protect the other kids from meeting a terrible fate. This also explains Theo’s helpful attitude with Ginny in the last chapter: 

However, despite Theo’s best efforts, the adults noticed that Ginny was not living up to her aptitudes as a Corgi and she’s now about to reach “fledging day”. ://

The “oldest siblings” also definitely know that Doll is probably the one who’s watching over the whole orphanage operation, as indicated by their reactions when Snake introduced himself as Doll’s acquaintance...

...And it’s very interesting, because I think it creates a parallel with Doll’s own situation, back when she was alive. 

After all, as a kid from Kelvin’s workhouse, when she joined Noah’s Ark, Doll began abducting kids with Joker and co to satisfy Kelvin’s madness but also to protect their younger siblings back at the orphanage. However, this was all for naught, as Kelvin had already killed those kids for his mad project, something our!Ciel discovered at the end of the arc.

At F.O.L orphanage, the “oldest siblings” act similarly: they were probably told the sad truth behind this orphanage and they have no other way but to go along with it in order to survive, which makes them accomplices, while still trying as hard as they can to protect many of their fellow “siblings” so that they won’t get to their “fledging day” too quickly. 

It’s tragic really and, since they think Snake and Finny are Doll’s friends, they probably won’t trust them to help. :/ 

The single silver ray of hope I have is that Theo reminds Finny of someone: could be either twins or it could be a kid from Finny’s own tragic past from that scientific lab in Germany and, in that case, if Theo can eventually trust Finny, then maybe Finny and Snake will learn the truth and help save all these kids.

It would also make a beautiful parallel with Theo reading Fenian cycle... 

...since our Finny is indeed stronger than many others and could definitely help saving them. 

TL;DR Doll probably pushed the “oldest siblings” into the same situation that she experienced when she was alive: become accomplices in order to survive but also to protect innocent children, which is exactly how she lost herself and died. Here’s to hoping that Snake (who wasn’t a part of Noah’s Ark abduction ring) and Finny (who’s very strong) will be able to realize the truth in time, in order to help these children. 

[so-bitya]

So I finished my Book of Circus rewatch and I was impressed how well done it was?? (feels like it had a better budget than Book of the Atlantic 💀)

I love how this adaption was able to add so many original details, while also retelling older scenes like madame red's death. The anime does a fantastic job fleshing out the circus and getting across the tragedy of both what they were doing and what happened to them.

some of my favorite moments were:

madame red's death when explaining what the shinigamis are

jumbo playing the harmonica when ciel hears how they all grew up together. glad it was made into an emotional moment

extra scenes with doll! they're so good like how doll tells ciel he won't get hit and yelled at if he's at the circus. and no offense, but I didn't really get doll's heartbreak at ciel's betrayal until the anime, when she flashes back to all their scenes together 💔

how they show the circus members abducting children! really shows how ciel's missions are time-based and why he's so impatient most of the time, they're abucting children right under his nose

also that little girl they abducted is the same kid that gets sacrificed, and the girl who gives ciel oranges look just like her...

ciels nightmare about madam red. love how their showing he's still haunted by it.

there was also areally cool scene from his perspective running through hallway after discovering his dead parents, I hope they get this creative when it's time to animate the flashback arcs

I love the last scene with joker and the doctor as joker is nearly dying, saying he would have never accepted the prosthetics if he knew what they were, and the doctor asked him would he really, and joker flashes to a dream? of him picking up beast with two hands and he resigns to the fact he would as his eyes grow more lifeless, muah poetry 👌🏽

I will say I laughed a little at the end scene with the circus jumping around in the sky with the ribbon. I saw some meta about the ribbon a long time ago and how it could represent ciel's life or hope that's gone past his reach now... i think it would have been better if it was left open for interpretation? (but I understand how the adaptions feel the need to tie loose ends at the end of the story)

so all in all, amazing adaption, I can see why the fandom went feral when it dropped. I hope the current arc airing now, weston college will have time for their own creative moments.

[disneyprincessdxminatrix]

okay mood.

[funtomfactory]

Here is something for you all to enjoy

[ace-aro-taku]

Kuro 195: Summary & Thoughts

Summary:

Story time with Doll™

Her final image? Or the one Undertaker planted?

Circus was fucked without their muderers

Doll is England’s Orphan Kid™

SNAKE IN MOUTH

Snake has Multiple Personality Disorder via Snake Mode™

Finny to Snake: shut the fuck up Snake!

Mmmmm lemon deserts

Doll to Snake: shut the fuck up Snake!

Thoughts:

It was a fairly decent chapter but not a favorite or very enlightening.

This is really putting me on the fence if she really was killed or was taken by Undertaker. Doll being ‘alive’ is near perfect if she were a Bizarre Doll. But if so then why is R!Ciel still struggling?

Clearly she survived something, or Undertaker fixed her right up and threw her back into the Wild for her to wander.

Doll knows, that O!Ciel killed the Circus troupe, Snake thinks they disappeared.

Snake doesn’t know that O!Ciel killed the Circus troupe. Doll doesn’t know that Snake still thinks they’re alive. So this really confuses me a bit because if Doll is part of the R!Ciel club and was explained, I guess this would be a good ploy to get back at O!Ciel, but now it makes me wonder how it’ll go when Snake learns the real truth that O!Ciel killed them.

This whole panel is good, Snakes internal conflict, Doll having a feeling something is up, and Finny literally saying with his eyes for Snake to just shut the fuck up.

Sweets are also a huge key to the boys as it were the Twins favorites. I do think that Lemon flavored things are R!Ciel’s favorite while Chocolate is O!Ciel’s favorite.

I’m sensing Alice and Wonderland vibes with this scene because of everyone’s panic. The orphanage clearly runs on a strict script, rule set, or control in this so everyone is scrambling to correct any mistakes right away before being off with their heads.

R!Ciel still has some control over this place and I think too that if one person fucks up, then their blood will be used to keep him alive.

I wish however that Yana would stop bouncing around the bush and just get on with it. I get she’s a huge writer of the small details that’ll make a big impact later on, like a butterfly effect.

Please feel free to reblog and add on your thoughts!

[darkspellmaster]

Some thoughts about the recent Chapters of Kuroshitsuji and the FOL orphanage

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one that noticed this, and maybe I'm thinking too hard on the implications here, but...the servants of FOL all seem to be women, and also they sort of remind me very much of the Mothers from Promised Neverland.

However this could also be a call back to older shojo series with the leads being in orphanages where the maids or mother figures played a role in getting the girl in said story adopted into a well off family. Though I get the feeling that Yana-sensei is nodding to maybe the Promised Neverland.

One other thing so far...Previously with Mey-Rin and Ran Mao's arc there was no reaper and thus no deaths to be had or collected upon. If Doll is a BD, then, as with Baldroy's I would think we would have seen Grell or Othello, but neither has shown up yet. And if there isn't a Reaper, then wouldn't it stand to reason that Doll isn't a BD in this case?

[thisteaistoosweet]

A Ceil commission for a friend. <3

[eemoo1o-animoo]

Remember when Snake was posed as this sort of mini-boss in need of beating back in the Circus Arc.

[midnight-in-town]

Orphanage of livestock

Alrighty, buckle up guys, time for another very cringy theory. :D Big thanks to my friend @dorkshadows for all our discussions about the current arc; this arc is really making us wrack our brain for ideas. xD

To start, here's a reminder as to where we stand vis à vis bizarre dolls:

UT first used to edit those corpses' cinematic records with fake memories he made during the Campania arc, but it quickly changed during the Weston arc to "longing for the future"...

...which are "incomplete fragments that the dead crave about the future they were to have had". Since UT didn't explain anything new ever since, it's likely that the records are still being edited with this method in the current arc.

Then, with the blue sect arc, we were introduced to the use of blood transfusions as "fuel" for the bizarre dolls' longevity...

...and our!Ciel's side set out to crash these collect operations in order to weaken the Undertaker and real!Ciel's side.

Mey Rin's investigation confirmed the existence of one blood collect site...

and so did Bard's:

However, in Finny and Snake's investigation, while the orphanage did sort the children into 4 groups too, the elder siblings pointed out that...

...not only have they never any blood drawn from them, but the orphanage is rather forcing them to attend classes, in order to develop their "aptitude" based on the tests they took when they arrived. Most importantly, when Ginny fledged, the chief of staff said...

...that "the aptitude honed there will make contributions to the world" (as a child with Corgi aptitudes, Ginny's classes were about physical activities "like gymnastics or horse riding").

Investigating Ginny having fledged, that's when Finny, Snake and the elder siblings discovered yet another lab (very similar to the one in Sphere music hall) with evidence of blood collection, but also of organ collection.

So, since this arc with Finny and Snake heavily parallels the circus arc, I was wondering if the purpose of dissecting these poor kids was similar to what Kelvin and the doc did with the kids they abducted:

In other words, whoever is behind this operation (UT is involved, but he might not be the only Shinigami deserter behind this) are maybe killing the kids to collect blood but also many different organs, so that they can probably upgrade their latest bizarre dolls (both in body and record).

Under read more for additional explanations/speculations:

1) the orphanage collects the children's organs to physically upgrade BDs ?

Most likely by grafting new organs or body parts (taken from the orphanage kids who fledged) on bizarre dolls who need them.

For example, considering the Polaris = Joker theory: back in the circus arc, Joker said:

and then Seb cut his second hand. Yet, when Polaris attacked Agni (who was quite strong), Agni noticed that...

...his opponent was very quick and strong. So if Polaris is indeed Joker, then it's likely BD!Joker has new strong arms.

Additionally, crack thought, but we witnessed both Doll and real!Ciel suddenly collapsing, which we automatically linked to needing more blood to keep on functioning, but if they really got new organs from those kids, then maybe...

...the issue we witnessed isn't anemia, but some sort of graft versus host disease? Or both lmao. (I'm totally reaching here)

2) the orphanage also collects the children's organs to gain more sponsors ?

Additionally to the Bizarre Dolls, these organs could be used to gain more sponsors, similarly to Bravat who used to provide blood transfusions to parliamentarians who suffered from kidney failure:

Only rich folks would have enough money to buy organs if they needed it, so they'd make good sponsors for this super expensive BD project.

Of course, the risk of graft v. host disease would be very high as well but, since Othello said "they learnt more than they ought to have" upon visiting the Sphere music hall's lab (ch125), maybe they figured out about how to make a successful graft, on top of blood types ? (Or, most likely, the ones running this clown show just don't care about their sponsors dying once they've gotten the money ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ exactly like Bravat who killed the parliamentarians)

3) the orphanage collects the children's organs for experimentation

This would explain why Finny finds a lot of similarities between this orphanage and the German lab by which he was experimented on for enhanced strength.

Additionally, this would explain Snake's weird comment on "orphanages being terrible places", if he too was also experimented on as a child (which is how and why he understands snakes) :

Lastly, back to the Polaris = Joker idea, Agni mentioned that Polaris had "unimaginable strength". As we know, Agni was one of the strongest characters, so for him to qualify his opponent as "unimaginably strong", it is likely that Polaris has some kind of enhanced strength.

So do they research about enhancing human (or bizarre doll) strength or longevity? Or is it research on cinematic records? Your guess is as good as mine but, as already proved with the circus arc, no one will miss these orphans...

...making this "the best recycling scheme" one can think of. T_T

4) the orphanage assigning orphans to classes based on aptitude tests is used to upgrade BD's records or lack of soul:

The kids are sorted into 4 groups based on the aptitude test they took. Literally quoting the manga:

Mastiff kids learn reading, writing and skills needed to be senior servants managing large manors

Corgi kids specialize in physical activities

Collie kids learn all the skills to make a living as a domestic servant and martial arts

Pomeranian kids (kids who scored the highest on the tests) study latin, maths and games

These orphans are told they are saved and then to envision their future based on their aptitude and what they're forced to learn in their respective classes. This is probably done so that they will develop very specific "longing for the future" which, again, are "incomplete fragments that the dead crave about the future they were to have had".

So, once they fledged and are killed, their "longing for the future" are probably extracted and used one way or another. Since the records are already edited, the goal behind this might be to create some sort of a soul substitute, as hinted by Jane in the Heathfield investigation arc:

and it sure would explain why the chief of staff said the aptitudes can contribute to the world:

That's why something like a change in the afternoon tea menu of the pomeranian kids (from lemon drizzle cake to lemon tart) would actually matter, because taste is probably one of the parameters that can influence the "shape of a soul" or something.

There are 4 groups in the orphanage; in the previous investigations that mostly meant 4 blood types, but this time it might mostly mean 4 star lords:

Mastiff kids for used for Polaris, who defines himself as a butler (he's not real!Ciel's butler tho++) (Joker?)

obviously Pomeranian kids are used for Sirius (real!Ciel)

For Canopus and Vega, it's a bit trickier, but I propose Corgi kids for Vega/Layla, despite her probably being high born, because she worked as a nurse helping veterans with rehabilitation, which looked like this :

This leaves Collie kids for Canopus...

even if Canopus' true identity is really the least obvious one right now. FYI, some Japanese speaking fans have discussed that Canopus is the maid Jane and she indeed worked as a maid and knew how to fight, so it fits (I personally have another theory in mind for Jane, but Canopus!Jane definitely has some basis). If not Jane (or Doll, like some fans keep saying), Canopus can still appear during Seb & Ciel's investigation, so we'll just keep these details about Collie kids in mind.

I'm sure the truth behind Snake & Finny's investigation, as well as the next one with Ciel and Seb, will provide us with more hints about how the bizarre dolls and, more specifically, the star lords are becoming more and more perfect. So far this post is what I can guess with what we were given.

TL;DR in many possible ways, the ones behind this arc (besides UT, I mean) are preying on these poor kids and making use of every parts of them (blood, organs and maybe even their longing for the future).

That's why giving them mistletoe when they reach fledging day is so ironic...

...because they really suck every "nutrient" possible from these kids until they die.

Not gonna lie, it doesn't look good at all for Theo. He's headed straight for real!Ciel... ://

Kudos if you read all that, I hope it was as clear as possible! As always, thoughts in comments or reblogs are welcome! :D

[so-bitya]

giving vincent brown eyes was one of the best decisions that the anime did

[bluepandadraws-log]

The Amazing Digital COMIC #28-Sleepover

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[maelicgrn]

FNAF FANART?? IN OUR TIME AND YEAR OF 2024? HELL YEAH

[lena-in-her-mind-palace]

It is so, so important to me that people understand that Tim didn't figure out the bats because Dick was a "Show off". Like yes, Dick Grayson is the most flamboyant, dramatic ass man you will ever meet.

But the quadruple somersault? There's no way that was because dick was just showing off. Because you're telling me Bruce Wayne, who's so committed to hiding his identity that he literally acts like a completely different person out of the mask in public just to ward suspicion, would miss the fact that Robin regularly uses the flying Grayson's trademark move? There's literally no way.

In the comics we see Tim explain his deductive process to Dick and Alfred and they're both surprised impressed whatever. We don't see him explain it to Bruce. I think Bruce would be surprised and shocked that a 9 year old was able to put the pieces together but I don't think he'd be surprised that the quadruple somersault gave it away.

So if Bruce was possibly aware of such an obvious give away, why let it continue?

I'll tell you why.

It really comes down to the physics

So Dick was 9 when he started out right? That means the most he'd have likely weighed was 43kgs or roughly 95lbs in freedom units.

But Dick and both of his parents are gymnasts who tend to be smaller. So he was likely less than that.

In physics, rotating objects build up angular momentum (this is how bikes stay up right for example). The more rotation, the more momentum. And objects with less mass build up that momentum much faster than those that are heavier.

Robin constantly has to fight people who are nearly 3 times his size. I teach 8 year olds, they're tiny. A quadruple somersault for a small boy that weighs less than a hundred pounds is a brutal weapon. Especially if you add in the acceleration from gravity as he drops in from above.

And I can guarantee you this logic tracks because Dick literally utilizes this idea, without the somersault, in the 2009 teen titans cartoon.

Yeah, that's right. We're talking about the infamous knee drop.

Like it is borderline savage. Add in a quadruple somersault and the resulting force is nearly fatal. It's likely the main reason Batman would ever allow him to do it with the cape on.

Also, Dick landing feet first on the penguin in the first image probably gave the guy severe back issues