Yesterday there was a brief discussion on
kuroshitsuji that left me completely incapable of studying for my Anthropology midterm okay, well, not really. About the latest arc, of course, and who the murderer is/isn't. Which got me thinking about the butlers Phantomhive, and some other semi-related subjects.
Ever since this arc started, I've become a broken record on one particular subject: Ciel planned this whole thing. And I'm ecstatic about that, because I absolutely adore magnificent-bastard!Ciel. There's something ludicrously badass about inviting people to your mansion to murder them/frighten them out of their wits and then invite an author so that he can publish the whole thing. That's my theory, anyway. It's all Ciel's plan. As for the emotional breakdown in Chapter 41--yes, it was very emotive and dramatic in its own way. A tad too dramatic, if you know what I'm saying. And it's a bit of a reach for me to believe Ciel would crumble like that in front of so many people. I mean, it's a far cry from his anguished, 'I'm a human being' at the end of the Circus arc with only Sebastian as his witness to a reaction like that in a room full of strangers.
Ever since chapter 42, I've been thinking that Tanaka is Sebastian in disguise. Because while it would be awesome if Tanaka could do all these awesome, amazing, distinctly un-Tanaka-ish things, I'm still not 100% sure that it's true. I mean, if anyone's a mysterious character it's Tanaka. He's been stabbed with no apparent repercussions or health concerns afterwards (at his age!), he has that whole Distinct Character Design change whenever the situation is particularly dire...I don't know. While I would love it if he had a more conspicuous role and there was another badass ninja butler walking the halls of Phantomhive manor, I'm not buying it.
And something else I've just been dying to talk about it that damn pin Ciel took away from Sebastian's "corpse" (Does anybody really believe he's dead?) I can't help but think it plays some sort of important role here. I mean, in 41/42 (I'm terrible with numbers) there were three whole panels dedicated to the removal of the thing. There was that whole spiel about the locked room right after the first murder, and I remember how they said the lock could be picked with a pin. Maybe that magical butler's key to the entire household is just to mislead us. Was it ever seen before this arc? Besides, keys are so easily stolen. It just seems too convenient.
(Then again, Lau's sleeve needle could also have been used to pick the lock, and we've always known that Lau's a shady character. Hmm...but anyway, back to the pin.)
So Ciel removes Sebastian's pin and all us fangirls are supposed to cry at that moment, I suppose, and does--what? Gives it to Tanaka. Tanaka, who has been put in charge by both Ciel and Sebastian. Tanaka, who immediately takes of the situation in a manner eerily befitting another Phantomhive butler. And is it just me, or does he seem to be drawn along the same lines as well? Am I the only one who sees a weird resemblance? It's probably just because I'm looking for one.
Speaking of strange resemblances to Sebastian, let's talk about Vincent Phantomhive and their resemblance. They could pass for identical twins, if Frances Middleford ever got her hands on a pair of scissors and Mr. Michaelis ever got contacts. And I've always wondered, how the heck did that happen?
When Sebastian assumed his human guise, did he choose to look like Ciel's father, just to freak him out? A constant reminder of the torment he suffered and the ensuing contract? To rile the surge of vengeful spite lurking within Ciel? To never enable him to forget his parents? Merely to gauge what his newest master would do? Or did Ciel ask him to assume the form, along the same lines--to fuel his desire for revenge for the real parents he loved and lost (particulary his father, whom he was close to). At his woobiest, then perhaps Ciel asked him to resemble for unconscious, or at least unsaid, sentimental reasons--the desire for a reminder of his father that was more than the comfort a picture could give, or something like that.
I tend to believe that Sebastian went ahead and did it himself, maybe as part of an experiment to see how Ciel would react, and that's why Ciel dubbed him Sebastian--he was angered by the very sight of him, he named him for the family dog (ouch), perhaps to distance himself from Sebastian, place him lower than himself, always inferior, and in doing so, distance Sebastian from his memory of his father.
Of course, this deviates from the anime, where you see Vincent as well as the formation of the contract, and Ciel names him Sebastian before he sees his physical form. If that's the case, then it's more or less the same thing, but in reverse, savvy?
Changed the color of my layout because I finished re-reading the Harry Potter series and now pink just reminds me of Umbridge. Changed userpics as well, because I'm a userpic whore. La la la, blue is just as good~
Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day today :D
Hope you all have a good one~