Manga
The manga that were hits in Japan in the 2000s.
2000S HITS
About
In Victorian era Europe, a young boy loses everything he once held near and dear to a vicious plot. In his moment of death, he strikes a deal with a demon: his soul, in exchange for revenge. Ciel Phantomhive is now the head of the Phantomhive corporation, handling all business affairs as well as the underground work for the Queen of England. His new partner is a demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis, whose prowess as a butler is only surpassed by his strength as a demon. The story follows the two along with their other servants, as they work to unravel the plot behind Ciel's parents' murder, and the horrendous tragedies that befell Ciel in the month directly after.
Character analysis
Ciel inherited his family's business and title after a horrific tragedy destroyed his childhood, and he made a demonic contract specifically to hunt down everyone responsible, fully intending to pay with his soul once it's done.
Sebastian serves Ciel with flawless, almost superhuman competence at every household task and dangerous mission alike, and his polite, composed exterior barely conceals that he's simply waiting, patiently, to collect on their contract once Ciel's revenge is complete.
Grell's over-the-top, theatrical personality and open infatuation with Sebastian make them one of the series' most consistently chaotic presences, veering between comic relief and genuine, unpredictable danger.
Elizabeth remembers Ciel from before his family's tragedy and keeps trying to coax the warmer, happier boy she used to know back out from under his cold exterior, often unaware of just how much of his old self is actually gone.
Undertaker runs his funeral business with an eerie cheerfulness and a habit of trading information only for something that genuinely makes him laugh, making him one of the story's most reliably strange and quietly important sources of clues.
Status evaluation
Elaborate Victorian gothic character and costume designs are a genre highlight, rich with detail.
The revenge-and-demonic-contract premise provides a strong hook, with episodic mysteries filling out the main arc.
Grell's antics and the household servants' chaos provide some comic relief against an otherwise dark tone.
Ciel's trauma and his contract with Sebastian add real emotional weight beneath the gothic mystery plotting.
Demons, death gods, and grim mysteries give the series consistent gothic horror atmosphere.
Violence and dark subject matter are shown fairly directly, fitting its gothic mystery tone.
A mix of standalone mysteries and an ongoing demonic-contract plot takes some tracking.
This figure has not been verified against a current source and should be treated as approximate.
“A child noble hiring a demon as the world's most competent butler, purely so he can get revenge before paying up his soul, is gothic mystery at its most delicious.”