Black Butler Chapter 112 Review: The Butler, Soloing

Every once in a while Black Butler will have a chapter that’s a total head-scratcher.  Now is one of those times. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though.  The last chapter that left me in a fit of giggles this extreme was the ‘THE PHOENIX’ thing from way back in the Compania arc.  It threw me for a loop to see the usually serious and dramatic butler and Earl doing this wacky pose and shouting “THE PHOENIX” at the top of their lungs.  This week I’m equally amused and baffled by the mysterious hooded cult figures dropping their robes and breaking out into what can only be described as a Victorian era pop performance.  Yeah, I don’t know what just happened either, but I like it!

The hooded figures appear to be the Perfects from the Weston arc, but let’s be real, I was too distracted by Ciel’s awesome school uniform and Sebastian in religious garb that I wouldn’t have been able to recognize them on sight alone.  Victorian fashion is a big thing for me, so it’s easy for me to get side tracked by ogling the incredible clothes our protagonists are wearing.  But I digress, the Perfects are somehow involved in this strange cult thing and are dancing around the stage singing like they are the 1890’s version of One Direction.  Right, good, let’s roll with this.  So far it’s odd, but I’m capable of parsing this together.

But then Sebastian re-enacted this performance and I laughed so hard I’m pretty sure I stopped breathing for a minute or so.  Brain cells may have died from a lack of oxygen.  It’s all very tragic.

Ciel’s and Edward’s faces say it all really.

It’s all actually quite clever, though.  The music is being used by the cult as some sort of propaganda among the lower classes of England.  As the poor in Victorian London have an extremely low literacy rate, a catchy song is the best way for the cult to spread their message.  People are singing the music in the streets and even our protagonists couldn’t quite get the music out of their head, even though they are very much aware that it’s being used as propaganda.  The method of making this point was all quite silly, but damn, it’s really smart, too.

Despite the strangeness of the chapter, it did all come back around and start tying all the loose threads together.  The bracelets, the stars, the cult, and Lizzie’s disappearance are all tumbling towards a conclusion at light speed and I don’t know how it’s all going to piece together.  With any luck, Lizzie will kick some serious ass along the way because kick ass Lizzie is the best kind of Lizzie there is.  The only way this chapter will disappoint me is if she turns out to be a damsel in distress and has no active part in her own rescue.  She’s way cooler than that and I want some more badassery to fangirl over.  Oh, and more cute outfits for Ciel, please and thank you.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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