The Benefit For The Otaku Everywhere: Black Bulter

As the Otaku, we must admit that both the anime and manga are more indispensable than anything else, when we enjoy our indoor time. We like different kinds of anime, such as Shotacon, Lolicon as well as Royal Sister Complex, etc. Therein, I’d like to repeat my love to Black Butler here. Although I prefer the TV version to the manga, it doesn’t matter. My Ciel is my Ciel, and Bulter Sebastian always stand by his side. Alright, I’m the Shotacon, and the Black Bulter or the Black Bulter related is exactly for my taste. It’s also for the Otaku everywhere, I guess.

If you don't know it yet, okay, let me say something briefly. This a story about a 12-year-old wealthy boy and his loyal servant. That boy called Ciel Phantomhive, whose parents died in a fire, lived on selling his soul to the devil. In fact, he did this for revenge. But to Sebastian, a masterful servant with supernatural speed, endurance, and skill, he is ever at Ciel’s side, ready to carry out the young master’s wishes. And whether Sebastian is called to save a dinner party gone awry or probe the dark secrets of London’s underbelly, there apparently is nothing Sebastian cannot do. He is just said as too good to be true.

Maybe all the Otaku would focus on the relationship between Sebastian and Ciel. However, it’s not about the typical heterosexual romance. Moreover, as for Sebastian’s gender and sexuality, it has always been controversial. One of the fans said: “I think in the fandom he's generally perceived as male, but personally I believe that Sebastian is unisex... or a lack of sex identification. Please note that sex is the biological fact and gender is whatever the individual associate themselves with, in short, gender is performative and is a social construct. I don't think demons are confined to social constructions made by humans, but I wonder if supernatural beings have their own social constructions - according to the example of Grell I think there is, or he could just be conforming to human social constructions regarding gender roles.”

While the other thinks that, “Sebastian is pansexual and pangendered considering that in mythology, demons are depicted as having fluid bodies and what-all, so what sense would it make for him to have any solid gender or sexual expression when his existence is a very fluid and changeable thing?”

Anyway, in terms of the influence of the Black Butler, the series have printed over ten million copies in Japan. And Japanese music distributor Recochoku has created an annual survey of which anime characters that people would like to marry. Sebastian Michaelis ranked ninth in the category "The Character I Want to Be My Groom". In addition to this, many fans like painting their favorite characters directly onto T-shirts and the custom shoes, so does Studio Shoe My Color’s designer, Seven.