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review 2015-12-20 21:28
Black Butler (vol. 18) by Yana Toboso, translated by Tomo Kimura
Black Butler, Vol. 18 - Tomo Kimura,Yana Toboso

Ciel learns that one of the prefects

killed Derrick because he's spent years lying and bullying other students and had even had the vice headmaster in his pocket. The other prefects covered up the murder in order to protect the school's reputation. Ciel tries and fails to capture the Undertaker with Sebastian's help, but Sebastian does destroy the zombies. Ciel reports his findings to the Queen, who has the prefects expelled.

(spoiler show)

Then we get a brief break with a story about Ciel marketing a new perfume before switching to the start of a new arc involving a “witch's curse” in Germany that's been killing people. This volume's bonus: Black Priest.

Oh dear. The Queen thinks having zombies as allies might be a good idea.

Meh. This volume was okay, I guess, but a bit of a letdown. The Undertaker's method for creating “almost human” zombies was a bit much. Grim Reapers can do just about anything, it seems.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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review 2015-12-20 21:23
Black Butler (vol. 17) by Yana Toboso, translated by Tomo Kimura
Black Butler, Vol. 17 - Tomo Kimura,Yana Toboso

Ciel and Blue House manage to win by using some dirty tactics (including one that was just plain cheating, but only Ciel and Sebastian knew the specifics). Sebastian tries to confront the Headmaster, but the man keeps escaping, indicating that he must have some sort of supernatural skills. Ciel gets an invite to the “Midnight Tea Party” and

finally sees Derrick Arden – Derrick has become a flesh-eating zombie like the ones in volume 12. And the Headmaster has been replaced by the Undertaker (who I had actually completely forgotten about).

(spoiler show)

This volume's bonus: Black Dispatch.

This volume was incredibly sports manga-ish, complete with over-the-top imagery, including two Excalibur references. I was surprised that Ciel cheated so little during the game. Bravo, I guess?

The author's note comic at the end was nice. Toboso discussed researching cricket, including asking the CEO of the Japan Cricket Association for a list of dirty cricket tactics. I'm sure that was a fun convo.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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review 2015-12-20 21:17
Black Butler (vol. 16) by Yana Toboso, translated by Tomo Kimura
Black Butler, Vol. 16 - Tomo Kimura,Yana Toboso

Ciel continues to try to find Derrick and the other students that were supposedly transferred from Red to Purple House, going so far as to start a fire at Purple House. However,

Derrick turns out not to be there, leaving Ciel with the Headmaster as his last hope. He learns that he has a chance to meet the Headmaster if he distinguishes himself at the big cricket tournament. Under Ciel's direction, Blue House uses both tricks and outright cheating (a bad meat pie) to beat Red House. Meanwhile, Green beats Purple (that combo gives me B5 flashbacks).

(spoiler show)

This volume's bonus: Black Quiz (basically, a Slumdog Millionaire/Black Butler crossover).

I do not understand cricket. And not even Toboso's diagrams were able to help me. But I did enjoy Toboso's attempts to capture the drama of sports manga in her cricket segments.

This arc has definitely snagged my interest. So far, it seems as though Derrick and the others may have been used for something nefarious.

One thing I loved about this volume was the flashback to Ciel's father, who used to be the prefect of Blue House. He looked like what I imagine Ciel will look like if he manages to live long enough to make it past puberty, and I'm sure he was just as devious as Ciel now is, considering that he used his cricket win to make Diederich his slave.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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review 2015-12-20 21:12
Black Butler (vol. 15) by Yana Toboso, translated by Tomo Kimura
Black Butler, Vol. 15 (Black Butler, #15) - Tomo Kimura,Yana Toboso

Ciel has been sent to Weston College to find Derrick Arden, son of Duke Clemens, cousin to the Queen, as well as other mysteriously missing students. He quickly realizes that the only way he'll be able to meet the headmaster is if he becomes the fag of one of the prefects. The best he can do is ingratiate himself with the fag of the fag of one of the prefects, with Sebastian's help, but

things go wrong when one fag, Cole, lies and makes Ciel late to an important gathering. Ciel invites Prince Soma to the college because he'll be in Cole's house, and Ciel is able to use Soma's info to get back at Cole and into the prefects' good graces.

(spoiler show)

This volume's bonus: Black Jockey.

This story arc and my American English clashed a bit – so much horror on my part when I initially misunderstood Ciel's plan, and even once I realized my misunderstanding, I still spent much of the volume flinching.

I do love Ciel when he's like this, sneaky as heck and willing to use whatever tools he has on hand to get his way. He made good use of Sebastian's skills (I adored Sebastian in his “housemaster” getup), and Prince Soma was like an eager puppy (with an elephant!). Soma is a walking stereotype, but he's a good counterpart to Ciel's seriousness.

I had forgotten how absolutely gorgeous Toboso's artwork can be. Clean, pretty, and delightfully easy to follow. After reading a few manga volumes with not-so-great artwork, this made me sigh in relief.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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review 2014-10-27 19:42
Murder is Bad Manners: A Wells and Wong Mystery
Murder Is Bad Manners: A Wells and Wong Mystery - Robin Stevens

This was so fun--I'm hoping it's the start to a new series!

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