With the devil appearing to be on the victim list, will the solution to the mystery have to come from a man of God?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yana Toboso
Translation/Adaptation: Tomo Kimura
What They Say
With his royally sanctioned dinner party a shambles and a murderer on the loose, Earl Ciel Phantomhive is a veritable prisoner in his own home, alongside those of his guests who still live. And in the most shocking of turns, the young earl now finds himself without his indispensible manservant, Sebastian. But as the mystery deepens, there arrives upon the young earl’s doorstep an odd vicar, wearing an insolent smile and an Inverness cape that flaps and splashes behind him… Is this mysterious thirteenth guest the perpetrator of the crimes that have bloodied the halls of Phantomhive Manor?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The chaos in the Phantomhive manor has grown almost beyond control as third victim in an increasingly high body count is discovered in the form of the body of the young shipping heir Mister Phelps who has been found dead by the rest of the party goers when he didn’t turn up for the meal the next day. With a suspect list that now shows that no one person could have committed all three murders as all save one person have an absence of an alibi for at least one of the crimes, the task of trying to puzzle out all the events is turned over to the only member who has a full set of alibis- the young novelist Arthur.
Even Arthur’s powers of observation have their limits though and panic and desperation is beginning to overcome some of the people of the manor as the clues aren’t adding up and fear and suspicion of who may be next starts to cloud judgments. With so little to go on conclusion jumping seems to be the theme of the day and given the presence of a locked room mystery has people jumping at shadows which when added to the presence of a pair of puncture marks on Mister Phelps’ neck have some speculating that a vampire may be behind all of this as hysteria starts to rear its head.
With things spiraling and the young Arthur having reached the level of his abilities fortune smiles upon the group as the devilishly skilled Sebastian seems to have laid out things the night before as if predicting his demise from the days meals to summoning help that no one who knows the set up for the series would see coming. In the midst of the torrential storm the group suddenly finds themselves entertaining a 13th guest as a Vicar Jeremy Rathbone appears as if sent by God (though it seems it was actually a demon who summoned him) and he has an uncanny ability to follow the smallest threads and make impossible yet amazingly accurate to the facts on hand leaps of logic, though his insight seems a bit too keen to some and he has an odd mannerism about him that makes one wonder if perhaps he is not what he appears to be. But if that is the case then just who is he really and is it possible he more dangerous than the murderer in the mansion- or is it possible he was the architect of all of the events in the first place?
Taking a break from the normal progression of events can be a double edged sword for a series- while it gives the opportunity to showcase the cast in a new light and add a new facet to the characters if they are taken too far out of the norm it can create a disconnect with the parts of characters the audience has come to know and love. In addition to that, murder mystery stories add their own risk to the mix as not only does one have to carefully balance the characters and their relationships in this unusual setting the story itself- from the crime to the solution0 have to be both interesting enough to keep the reader’s attention but also weave a tale where they are trying to follow along, either in trying to solve the mystery or just in resonance with the reactions of members of the cast as they do it and the more spectacular and unusual things that are added the harder it is to do so and keep the characters and their reactions relatable.
In Black Butler’s latest arc, the story looks to be walking a tightrope at times as the pace of the mystery has thrown off its usual timing more than a little and the introduction of Vicar Jeremy adds its own confusion to the mix as well. In order to combat this discord somewhat (or perhaps keep it from becoming too obvious to the reader why they may be feeling some disconnect with events) the story switches to a rather fast paced tale where the Vicar Jeremy is often bursting from one room to another finding observations that were missed previously which in turn can lead the cast to making connections they overlooked before. This is the part where the volume shines as it feels almost like the author is channeling the high powered antics of Tim Curry at the end of Clue and it helps negate somewhat the eventual solution to the puzzle which contains both pieces that the audience had been introduced to earlier but also relies on information there is no way the audience could have known which can be a major deal breaker in presenting a credible mystery and which leaves a feeling of a bit of a letdown when pausing to look back at the volume (and arc) as a whole.
Really the only other downside here is that the book ends before the audience gets the final run through of events (and it did in Japan as well) so the final cap to this adventure is put off until the next volume and the stretch over 3 volumes (and the time between them) maybe the biggest detriment to this arc as it breaks up the train of continuity and it may be difficult to easily transition back into the events as they currently stand over the course of however many months. Still fans of the series will get a kick out of these new looks at some familiar characters so the trip isn’t wasted, but it certainly isn’t a place I’d recommend to new fans to just pick up and see if they enjoy the series either.
In Summary
With a murderer on the loose and Ciel’s trump card looking like he is out of the game for good, Black Butler 10 gives the appearance that the Queen’s Dog may have finally met his match as death stalks the corridors of his own castle. Will Ceil and the talented if not polished Arthur be able to catch the culprit behind the murders or will they be doomed to be next in line unless they get lucky and find a new hole card that can help solve this bloody who-done-it?
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: July 24th, 2012
MSRP: $11.99
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