Premiere Date
18-07-2025
With how often the licensing for anime localizations expires, even the most beloved shows can be hard to track down on streaming services, to say nothing of physical releases on DVD or Blu-ray.A-1 Pictures' sensational adaptation ofBlack Butleris one such example, but just in time for the new season, Crunchyroll has made the show easier than ever to binge.
Based on the still-ongoing manga series by Yana Toboso from 2006,Black Butlerwas first adapted in 2008 by director Toshiya Shinohara and received two sequels, several OVAs, and a feature film. The story follows Ciel Phantomhive, a young Earl in Victorian England who makes a contract with the demon Sebastian to help him find those who murdered his parents and tormented him.
Crunchyroll is the New Home for Black Butler
On Friday, April 12,Crunchyroll added over 50 episodesof the series to its platform after years of each of the seasons going in and out of various streaming platforms that had licensed it. Naturally, both the Japanese version and the iconic English dub, starring Brina Palencia as Ciel and J Michael Tatum as Sebastian, are available. Additionally, the Spanish and Portuguese dubs and subs are also available.
A Brief History of the Black Butler Anime
Half of those 50 episodes belong to Season 1, the smash hit that answered manga fans' prayers and created many new fans in the process. It also, like many manga adaptations from the 2000s, diverged from the source material as soon as it caught up, resulting in an anime-original end to the season that tied up everything in a neat bow. However, since the anime was such a hit,Aniplex couldn’t pass up the chanceto create a sequel.
Season 2 came out in 2010, so there wasn’t nearly enough time for the manga to produce enough for a canon sequel. Instead, its 12 episodes would labor to continue from what was effectively a definitive ending, an exercise that was not without some success in terms of creativity. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save it from being a divisive successor, but it’s a chapter in the series' history worth remembering.
As a bonus, Crunchyroll has also added all six of Season 2’s OVAs, from “Ciel in Wonderland” to “Welcome to the Phantomhives,” and even the fourth-wall-breaking “The Making of Black Butler II.” These were some fun and well-received additions that fans might recall from the home video releases, and it’s niceto see them added alongside the series proper.
Black Butler’s First Return from Death
The newly releasedPublic School Arcis not the first timeBlack Butlerhas made a long-awaited return. The last of the additions to Crunchyroll’s catalog is 2014’sBook of Circus, the third season that eschewed all the anime-original content before it and resumed where the manga left off. 10 episodes in length, this season is regarded by many as the best of the bunch and the standard for a truly great adaptation of the series.
Is There Anything Still Missing?
Before Crunchyroll added these three seasons, the only part of the franchise in their catalog was 2017’sBook of the Atlantic,the series' first feature filmand the last entry from A-1 Pictures. As of right now, though, the only part of the series that is missing from Crunchyroll is 2015’sBook of Murder, a two-episode OVA. A small caveat, but compared to the lack of consolidation before now, two missing episodes seem a small price to pay.
Onto the Next Arc
Saturday, April 13 marked the premiere of the fourth season ofBlack Butler, and for the first time, A-1 Pictures is not the studio producing it. Director Kenjirou Okada, the director ofMarch Comes in Like a Lion, will be helmingBlack Butler: Public School Arcat CloverWorks, the makers ofSpy x FamilyandBocchi the Rock. For now, the series seems in good hands, and hopefully, this new season can capture the same black magic that made the show so appealing.
