#ch 124

[plague-of-insomnia]

Ch 124: The Butler, Transporting

Aka, Sebastian giving Agni one of the highest compliments he could give a human 😭😭

[kikyocaps]

[everytemari]

[everyonehappy]

[onepieceanimals]

We love him for it

[sunflowercider]

The Emperor: "Oh happy day, according to the intelligence network, my eldest son is returning home from the war!"

Rakiel at that exact same moment:

[plague-of-insomnia]

Interesting post! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like it.

As for how Ciel is different—ofc we cannot know yet exactly what this may mean, but I have my own theories.

I think Yana has shown consistently throughout the manga that as cold hearted and merciless as Ciel can be, he also has a big heart— he cares about people even if he doesn’t always want to admit it. He will often put others first ahead of himself. (Granted, he knows he has Sebastian protecting his life, but even so.)

For example, repeatedly in the Campania arc, Ciel puts others ahead— he sends Sebastian to check on the midfords, he stays behind to help Lizzy (even stripping off her frock to save her life), he tells Snake to go ahead—and later gives him his place on the life boat.

It would have been extraordinarily uncommon for a noble of his station in this time period to give a footman his place on the lifeboat. I’m kinda disappointed that we didn’t get to see Snake have to recall all the small kindnesses Ciel did for him at the end 😥.

I also firmly believe that Ciel tried to push Soma (Agni) away to protect him, which is what makes the attack and Agni’s death all the more heartbreaking.

Ciel claims he never considered Soma a friend. Perhaps that’s true; we do know that Soma was the one who entrenched himself in Ciel’s life. We also know he’s used Soma to his advantage (like in the Weston arc).

Still, I suspect part of why he immediately turns his back when saying this is because he wants to hide his face/not give Agni the chance to read anything beyond the surface. Sebastian, on the other hand, seems to suspect that Ciel’s lying, or at least not telling the full truth.

We also saw Ciel show kindness to Sieglinde. Sure, part of why he offered to let her come with them was national security; after all, she has powerful secrets and capabilities that would be dangerous to England and potentially beneficial to the Queen. So we could dismiss that as mere duty/strategy. (He tells Sebastian that she’s merely insurance, which offends the demon, but I don’t think Ciel intended it in quite the way that Sebastian took it. He claims he trusts Sebastian least of all— but I think Germany has made him doubt the queen and her motives.)

Despite this, Ciel warns Sieglinde about what to do/say when she meets with her majesty. He essentially advises her on how she can use the queen to her own benefit, and even calls her a friend. Granted, that word was probably thrown in as a manipulative tactic, but it doesn’t change the simple fact that Ciel did not need to do that.

Ofc it’s in his interest to have Sieglinde as an ally he can rely on, another piece to use when necessary, but I suspect that this was not motivated purely based on his own plans but because he genuinely wanted to give the naive Sieglinde the opportunity to protect herself from being used by the queen— perhaps because he’s feeling a bit used himself?

Now to go back to your examples of how Ciel has handled the estate— I think the difference between him and his twin could fill a whole long post on its own— but I think it’s also a crucial part of his character.

As I said before, Ciel may have selfish motives (revenge), and he may be willing to use and dispose of people to get what he wants—but he does care about human beings. Don’t forget that he went to the orphanage at the end of the circus arc, presumably with the intent of becoming their new patron.

Likewise, I think he doesn’t see the upkeep of the estate as a chore but a core part of his duty, as his father explains in that flashback. Likewise, Ciel doesn’t treat people, even the servants, like they’re beneath him. Remember how RC won’t even speak directly to them (except when giving orders/to Tanaka), but OC often asks Sebastian for advice, and speaks to the servants fairly often/casually, even taking them out to get them necessities (like Mey Rin’s glasses).

Yana has definitely set OC up to be a bit of a paradoxical character— but I think that’s why Sebastian finds him so intriguing. He can be both kind and cruel, selfish and philanthropic. Both light and dark.

So I think when people say OC is different I think this is what they mean. He’s not purely conniving or cruel but has a true core of genuine humanity— which is lacking in most humans in this series.

a short analysis on the theme of kindness in kuro, in defence of the morally reprehensible protagonists.

i previously spoke about sebastian pulling a "not like other humans" line on ciel but the things he's actually saying in this chapter are crazy...

chapter no's and pages in alt text!!

media illiterate (most kuro fandom antis') logic is that ^this guy's^ the big bad villain of kuro, there's so much to analyse about the theme of kindness and humanity in kuro but ultimately people are blind to it because sebaciel are not the kind, happy-go-lucky type of protags many people are used to and people struggle to purify them. there are so many people in this story "more innocent" than them and less morally grey which makes them look like worse people but the fact is that they are the "worse" in a world full of the "worst". they're there to show you how despicable humanity can be but they have their moments of 'good' (otherwise they'd be lacking in likability), especially moments like this can be quite odd in this story about corruption and evil because in those pages, these two do not seem like the deplorable, manipulative and conniving characters we often see them as. this moment reminds me of another very dear chapter to me which two volumes comes after this.

this is such an interesting part of the manga (it's why the blue cult arc is my favourite arc of the manga despite all the popstar/idol shenanigans that threw a lot of people off). the way these two behave in this arc is not normal, they do not need to go above and beyond for these people. it is not necessary for sebastian to go this far for ciel AND his tenants (who it is important to note he has no contractual obligation to care for, especially not to the extent of giving them the "time of their lives") and it is certainly not normal the way ciel treats these people with zero contempt even when they 'disrespect' him as a noble. these two are genuinely weird for their time, blue cult arc also gives us an unforgettable seb moment (link).

this chapter also serves as part of the transition between the blue cult arc and the blue memory arc which is also...

one of the most intriguing parts of the manga... what's interesting here is that ciel HAS kept his tenants happy as proven by the halloween chapter (the page below from this same chapter talks of infrastructure needs having to be met and we read that ciel has fixed the roads since becoming earl and even an old donkey can transport milk from across them- that's how good the quality of the roads are). however, what i want to focus on is undertaker previously saying ciel, despite having phantomhive blood is not like his predecessors. in fact, the flashback chapter shows he's not even like his own identical twin brother!

i really wonder what exactly undertaker meant by saying that right as ciel saves joanne in the school arc and also what vincent was thinking about his sons in this flashback sequence. did vincent think o!ciel is different too? and what is it that makes him so odd? or rather, what makes him an exception in the phantomhive family? i look forward to whatever yana has in store for us and hope to see where these wonderful characters with such bizarre morality (or lack there of) end up.

i will talk about this theme more in the future but if anyone has something specific to add, please do. and even if it's not too detailed or you're unsure, feel free to tell me what you think about the use of 'good' and 'evil' for the main characters of kuro overall! some things to consider:

fundamentally why are ciel and sebastian the way they are? and more importantly, do you think yana intended either of them to be read as strictly "evil"? a lot of people make the case of the fandom purifying them but i never see that these days, usually it's only ciel that's sanitised of all sin and sebastian that is demonised (although occasionally both are demonised as solely "bad guys"). i joke about them being narcissistic and not the nicest people (which is something i genuinely believe) but i do not think they are the root of all evil; which is a take you can have without absolving them of any and all misdeed they may have committed. i think what i'm really getting at is that sebastian is not ""evil""? and he's not innocent either. but he's a force for "good" in the story. he works for the phantomhive estate and the people living on that land more devotedly than a demon with a 3-clause contract with the master of the land should and he shouldn't be excluded from the phantomfam and only seen as horrible/evil but nor should he be solely seen as a silly little cat loving parent. and you don't need to ship sebaciel to see him this way, just read the source material with your eyes peeled, really think about what sebastian does and says. he's so interesting and he's so much more than the fandom makes him out to be. but interpret him however you want, i guess.

[every-monkey-d-luffy]

[noots-scans-official]

sorry for the wait!

me & staff are really busy lately 😔

[every-nami]

[zhaleqjj]

i just realized that canonically hualian is the red string of fate and beefleaf is a dead knot

[fruity-blogs]

The Enemy:

The opposition:

[libradrien]

Natsu actually tried to read Lucy’s book but couldn’t understand some of the more complex words at first so Whenever they were just hanging out in Lucy’s apartment and Lucy was reading a book, Natsu would make her read aloud while also reading the words with her over her shoulder so he could get better at reading. Then when he felt confident enough he started reading Lucy’s book on his own and would also start making random references to it and Lucy’s like ??? How do you know that. And of course when she finds out what he’s been up too she is both incredibly flustered but also very touched <3

[everytemari]

[onepieceanimals]

[blconnoisseur]

This is the funniest coming out sequence