This Anime’s on a Boat…with Zombies!: Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic
Greetings, ladies and
gentlemen! Welcome to October and the
first of some supernatural and horror-filled reviews. I know I meant to start off the month right
last week, but due to some certain circumstances, that obviously didn’t
happen. Still, I hope to get things
going with a fresh new review on a pretty new anime film and more or less of a
continuation on one of my favorite shows of all time. I can’t wait to get into this review, so
let’s get started on this week’s review on Black
Butler: Book of the Atlantic!
Seemingly picking up where Book of Murder left off (yes, I’m well
aware that I haven’t reviewed this yet), Ciel and Sebastian board on a cruise
ship called the Campania, which is headed to New York
City. They’re also met by some of the
other cannon characters like Elizabeth and her family, the Undertaker, as well
as the grim reaper Ronald Knox. However,
this cruise is more than a vacation.
Ciel and Sebastian are on the liner investigating a lucrative group
called the Aurora Society who have reportedly been conducting a series of
experiments involving human subjects, and have planned their next meeting on
the Campania. The two manage to sneak
into the meeting and witness the head of the experiments, Dr. Rian Stoker,
bring the corpse of a dead woman back to life.
This twisted experiment was meant to remedy a way of avoiding
death. However, the experiment turns
deadly as the woman starts to attack Aurora members. Ciel manages to escape and runs into
Elizabeth and Snake (a character introduced in Book of Circus and later becoming cannon after Book of Murder as he’s taken in by Ciel) while Sebastian stays
behind to fight off the awakened corpse as well as Ronald. Matters only get worse when it’s revealed
that the Society brought more corpses on board the ship. When they manage to find Dr. Stoker and
confront him about the experiment, the trio learns that one of the ship’s cargo
holds was full of the corpses that have now managed to escape and attack the
passengers and crew. On top of all of
that, the ship crashes into an iceberg and gradually begins to sink. Everyone on board tries to escape, but Ciel,
Elizabeth, and Sebastian get caught up in a fight with Ronald and Grell
Sutcliff (who joins in as the boat sinks).
Elizabeth even contributes in fighting off the corpses with her advanced
fencing skills. Eventually, Elizabeth
and Snake manage to escape the ship while Ciel and Sebastian stay behind to
find Stoker, who escaped during the fray.
Eventually finding him along with
the reapers and the Undertaker, it is revealed that the Aurora Society’s plan
was manipulated by the Undertaker, a retired grim reaper who wanted to use them
for experiments of his own musings. The
reapers and Sebastian fight him off as the ship continues to sink. In the process, Stoker dies and Sebastian
becomes gravely injured by the Undertaker.
As the Undertaker looks at Sebastian’s cinematic record (memories that
reapers can view of the dead), he and the audience get a full backstory of how
Sebastian and Ciel met and formed their contract and how the two helped each
other learn their duties as master and servant until Ciel is made an Earl. As the fight comes to a close, Ciel and
Sebastian barely escape with Ciel grabbing a string of lockets on the
Undertaker’s person. Unfortunately, the
two are met with more of the corpses that fell with the ship and Sebastian, for
the most part, spends the night fighting them off despite his severe injuries. By morning, they’re discovered and
rescue. In an end credit scene, the
reapers are rescued by their superior and Ciel and Sebastian are reunited with
the remaining passengers.
Yeah, looking back, I probably
should’ve reviewed the previous installment, Black Butler: Book of Murder, before I went into this film. But for what it’s worth, you actually could
have watched this film and not gotten entirely lost (that is, it you have some
knowledge of Black Butler
anyway). I had planned to review this
film for a while now, so it just happened this way. But focusing on this installment for now, I
give Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic an
8 out of 10. As someone who is a big fan
of the Black Butler franchise, the
film is more than satisfying, even considering this is meant to be a zombie
horror flick. I’ve never been fan of
zombies because I never saw them as frightening or intimidating, but the film didn’t
focus on that element too much. Besides
the obvious fact that the corpses are everywhere, you do get some exposition
from the Undertaker as he explains the creatures and why they act the way that
they do, but it’s not overpowering. You also have all the cannon characters
like Ciel, Sebastian, Elizabeth, Grell, and you even get a brief appearance
from Mey-Rin, Finny, Baldroy, and Tanaka in the beginning. There some familiar faces that any fan can
look forward to. But by far the best and
even unexpected part of the entire film was looking back at how Ciel and
Sebastian met. Though the scene took up
a good five to ten minutes of the film, it gives some great insight as to why
these two are as tight as they are. They
were there for each other and trained each other on how to act and behave. It was also nice to see that in the process
of that that Sebastian actually has a backbone and doesn’t entirely like Ciel’s
company. It’s a dynamic that’s never
really highlighted in the franchise and it was a pleasant surprise to see
that. What’s more, I love the special
effect used for Sebastian at the beginning of the scene. I’m not sure what it’s called, but it looked
really nice and it helped introduce Sebastian in a neat and mysterious
way. Like I said, if you’re a Black Butler fan, there’s a lot you’ll
love about this film. Still, I there was
one thing that I really couldn’t get around.
I admittedly didn’t find that much
wrong with the film. It created a new story
that helped further the plot of the franchise.
But if I had anything to complain about, why make this a movie? Book of
the Atlantic and its predecessor Book
of Murder condensed two different story arcs into either a two part OVA or
a film, but it seemed kind of ridiculous.
If Book of Circus could get a
thirteen episode run, why couldn’t these arcs get the same treatment? Plus, I feel like it seriously downgrades the
franchise and also causes some production problems. Now that the latest arc is a film, it would
be difficult for a new season to come out unless you did an entire film
series. I could understand that there
would be more money to play around with, but even then, it doesn’t make a whole
lot of sense. But like I said, I
definitely enjoyed the film and have more good things to say about it than
bad. And as I also mentioned, you’ll
definitely enjoy it if you’re a Black
Butler fan!
What else can I say about this
film? It’s one hell of a film for one
hell of a ride! The film is available on
DVD wherever anime is sold if you’re interested in hoping on board. And so that wraps up this week’s review. I’m well aware I dropped the ball on a
Talkative Thursday post, but don’t worry, that will be up this week
guaranteed! Till then, stay tuned for a
fresh new review next Sunday!
-Hanime on Anime
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