#NO ONE KNOWS WHO SHE IS I HAVE LIKE 1 KURO MOOT

[apheliia]

grell my queen i don't think you are even going to stand a chance 😰🙏

[chibimyumi]

Kuro 161 Summary & Thoughts

その執事、執拗： 狩るか、飼うか? That Butler, Tenacious: To hunt or to keep?

In the previous chapter (160) we see what Rin had been trained for at last; big target assassinations. She failed at her mission and made Sebastian spill the tea. But now chapter 161 will spill... even more tea.

“Failure of a mission means death, there is no time to think, I gotta run,” Rin reasons and runs for her miserable life. It is but a simple phrase, but it adequately sums up the ways of the underground society she belongs to.

Back in the Phantomhive manor O!Ciel is understandably distraught. Sebastian however seems too amused to be bothered by such an assault on his master even though he only narrowly managed to prevent it seconds ago. I do not blame Sebastian for his peculiar priorities however.

As he claims, he cannot sense the presence of humans within the possible range of shooting, nor were his demon ears able to hear the sound of the trigger being pulled. So who or what could possibly have been able to handle a rifle and aim for his master’s little head with such astonishing accuracy and skill? Quite impressive indeed. As discussed previously in S&S Kuro 158, Rin did indeed turn out to impress Sebastian enough to spare her life.

However amused, the butler’s duty never ends. Hastily Sebastian washes and dresses his master with such astonishing speed, I bet even the dirt on the boy’s body had not noticed they were made to leave.

Without further ado Sebastian excuses himself, and the hunt is on!

Within all normal common sense, Rin believes to have secured enough distance between herself and the Phantomhive manor to be in safety. Despite her logical judgement however, she cannot help but be overcome by paranoia and check her surroundings. This shows just how much knowledge and fear Rin has gotten in her during her profession as assassin.

Then, almost like in a Looney Toons series, a figure bolting from afar leaving a train of dust and smoke behind itself approaches. The figure’s steps leave a loud train of ‘doh doh doh doh...” sounds like an overly aggressive rain dance performed by a seagullzilla. Surely the unsuspecting worms underneath the ground would at least pop out their heads to check what kind of weather would be responsible for this monstrous rainfall.

Seagullzilla’s face is now in sight, and Rin identifies it to be the butler of the household. She is shocked, but allowing the shock to sink in is a luxury that she does not have on her hands, so she decides to finish her pursuer and takes aim.

With great ease and a smile on his face, Sebastian dodges all the bullets headed for him. We know that the demon is very confident about his speed, and now even more so that he estimated to have enough time to first wash and dress his master, seat him at a table, and still be able to catch the assassin. This is yet another reminder of how terrifying our Trash Demon™ is, and that if anyone were to try escape him, they would merely have a snowflake’s chance in Hell.

Only a second ago, Sebastian was still so far away from Rin that she could take immaculate aim for the target’s vitals. Rin probably only had the time to blink, and suddenly the butler has already appeared right in front of her with apparent murderous intent.

Murderous intent indeed, but it was not her life the butler was after, but the man named Pigeon behind her who was about to silence Rin for her failure.

Again Rin does not get the time to ponder about the meaning of all that had happened, and she is already engulfed by Sebastian’s black miasma. “At last we meet.”

“Young master, pardon my insolence, but I have caught you an owl.” Sebastian has brought his prey in really not unlike a tied animal. Rin is pinned against the floor with only her hands tied back. Presumably, even Rin knew why her captor did not bother tying her feet, as any attempt to flee would prove to be moot.

“Haku of the Qing Syndicate keeps an incredibly skilled sniper named ‘Owl’ who is after my life...... it appears that this intel was correct,” the young Earl says. This catches Rin’s immediate attention and she makes the educated guess that there must be a traitor within the Syndicate. “K-kill me! Torturing me will only make your floor dirty!” Rin quickly pleads.

“Torture? Oh I will do no such inefficient thing,” Sebastian scoffs with a ridiculing smile. As it appears, the demon disagrees and looks down on torture. As discussed in this post and this post, Sebastian is indeed not unnecessarily ‘actively’ cruel; he simply does not care about the well-being of anyone he is not interested in. Or in the least, Sebastian is not cruel in a physical way (when it comes to psychological torment though, his cruelty is without peers, of course).

It is very interesting to see how the image of demons most people have is that they would resort to cruel behaviours like impaling or skinning people alive. To Sebastian who 1. is only interested in the soul of a human rather than their flesh, and 2. does not have a physical body of his own but is simply an embodiment of his mind, naturally psychological torture is so much more meaningful.

Though not entirely related to the current chapter, this bit does give a nice little insight of Sebastian’s personality. Thought for later!

Returning to the main case; clearly somebody with accurate information had informed O!Ciel of ‘Owl’s’ existence and the Qing Syndicate’s agenda. Who is this ‘traitor’? The first person to pop up in my mind was Lau, but is this instinct correct? Not very likely, but not impossible. It also entirely depends on whether Lau already knew O!Ciel or not.

Previously in chapter 159, Sebastian delivered a letter from his master’s “dearest”. Was this letter just another one of Queen Victoria’s to send her Watchdog on a mission? Or was this the letter sent by “the traitor”? Judging from the way the letter is wax-sealed, it seems more likely the sender is a person of acknowledged social standing, so the probability of a mafia member to have sent this is somewhat lower. Still, this does not rule the possibility out entirely.

Again, this is material for future speculation and revelation.

After Sebastian makes clear that he will not do anything like torture, he instead proposes something rather outlandish. His proposal is something readers like you and I have known for at least 14 years (waow...this manga is 14 years old now...), but to O!Ciel and Rin, it is something beyond their wildest expectations. “Instead, won’t you come work for the Phantomhive family?”

“What do you mean, Sebastian!?” The boy protests. “I meant my words in a literal sense,” the butler replies. “To speak entirely honestly, we have a severe staff shortage in this household. We just had to be employed be a bizarre master who just seems hell-bent on not employing new servants. If what occurred today were to happen again, Finny would simply not be equipped to handle the situation. Owl’s eyes seem to be especially efficient for far distances, they could prove to be effective in keeping watch in security.”

The young master does not seem to be convinced, and understandably so because the candidate the butler has his eyes on had indeed just made an attempt to murder him.

Sebastian assures his master that there is no need for worry as the assassination attempt has failed. He explains that failure in the underground society is not ever met with toleration. Once someone fails, they shall only be chased to the end of the world and live a life of a fugitive. Rather than being a fugitive for the foreseeable future,  Sebastian proposes to Owl that starting a new life as a servant to the household would be a win-win situation for the both of them.

“Besides, Young Master, did you not say you wanted one maid in appearance alone before?”

“A maid?” the young Earl repeats in puzzlement. “Indeed. “Owl” is... from a human biological point of view, a woman.”

For many years Rin has lived as a man to protect herself from danger. The 19th century was especially unfair to person viewed as women, indeed. Though the butler exposed her secrets in an unacceptable manner, could it be that this also liberated her from having to live hiding true self from the world?

Regardless, I bet that in the next chapter, we shall find out whether Rin views this ‘exposure’ only as sexual harassment and undue exposure, or whether there is also a sense of relief mixed within.

[knuckle]

1) not shocked disappointed. I understand first of all that 1) Oda wants a diverse multiethnic, multinational crew. 2) Those are places not races. Brook is listed as Austria because of an affiliation with classic instruments like violin and piano, not because Oda thinks he is a cracker. Also Emily Rudd is not Swedish so - moot point? 3) The show added diversity in other areas. Villains with no indication of being so are people of color now. Nami's sister with a Japanese name isn't white. Why can't the girl with an Asian name be played by like any kind of person of color who actually has the range to be silly and unhinged? To Oda's credit, I think he does care about diversity in general, and he's been steadfast in insisting Usopp is black (against some really nasty antiblackness domestically), but he isn't going to care as much about Japanese representation in his works when he is the racial majority where he comes from, but Netflix showrunners should have cared considering that this is an American show.

Nami is not a chill girl boss. She would never order water at a restaurant where she doesn't have to pay.

Compare this to the dinner scene in the live action where she was in a bad mood the whole time for no reason and getting annoyed any time someone teased her, told of Sanji in a stern, cool girl boss way, and generally sat there while everyone else was goofing:

She also would never constantly roll her eyes at the rest of the crew over shit that doesn't matter. She thinks things are funny, in a way were she will laugh at them instead of being too cool to do it. She is sarcastic in the same way that Usopp is, when someone's being especially oblivious to common sense, not in an all-knowing girl boss way. if you honestly think black widow and Nami have the same personality I have no idea what else to say

Netflix creator even described her as an "older sister surrounded by younger brothers" - Nami is decidedly not their babysitter in the manga. the original 5 are all within two years old of each other & Nami is in the middle & nobody is a designated crew babysitter

Also on note for your tags. The lack of Japaneseness in One Piece IS disappointing. It's okay to have keep cultural relics like Japanese names of characters (Nami, Kuro, Sanji, and Nojiko). It's even okay for Koby and Garp to play go. But including a wide landscape of Japanese people who are maybe at least half as numerous as the white characters? Nope. Possibly including mixed Japanese actors rather than just going for white people to symbolize the meeting of cultures, diversity, and the author's constant use of Japanese fashion, food, and language? Nope. The show is intentionally less Asian/Japanese - with so few Japanese people it feels more like how Firefly used Chinese cultural influences and Mandarin while mostly leaving out Chinese people in main roles. It's great to have Zoro but why does it have to be only Zoro?

I watched the one piece live action. verdict so far: Zoro and Koby are literally perfect. Luffy's actor is fine but they made him very anxious in an almost-Usopp way kind of constantly and it doesn't fit with Luffy in the manga. Sanji and Usopp both have moments where they embody the characters but a really bad script is hindering them. Worst casting by FAR is Nami (closely followed by Garp). They turned Nami into a chill girl boss character who lectures the boys with sarcastic quips and I want to rip my hair out. All of her lines are delivered as if she is Natasha Romanov or Ana Taylor Joy in The Menu. Also for the ridiculous budget, SO MUCH is tell not show. With horrible dialogue to match.

Anyway RIP Nami I'm sorry they girlbossified you into a generic western mom friend.