LavaImpZ

people who constantly complain about how tired they are of sebastian’s new design are boring. yes, he looks more round now. yes, he looks softer. yes, the art style from the first volumes is not coming back. yes, he won’t have those narrow eyes and sharp chin anymore. how many times can you say the same thing and make edits about it? show me an author who doesn’t change their art style over the years, especially after 20 years. when i compare it to given, i forget how rough the art looked in the beginning because of how much kizu has improved.

i don’t know what would have to happen for sebastian x mei-rin and ciel x doll to become interesting to me. even when i try, i just don’t see it. to me, it’s like lukewarm water among delicious cold lemon lemonade on a hot day. a dried plum among juicy peaches. the air before a storm compared to a sea breeze. i’m not saying there’s anything wrong with liking them, but if there’s ever a day when i wake up and think “i’d like to read a fic about sebastian and mei-rin,” that means i’ve either been attacked by aliens and brainwashed, or replaced with some kind of experimental humanoid model. (not counting that one fic where sebastian sleeps with everyone, but i’m a slutbastian truther and that's an exception.)

And this is Yana we're talking about... the queen of playing the long game. It's hard to see it as anything other than intentional. You don't keep two major figures of the Reaper world, with all their parallels and completely opposite views, apart for that long unless you're saving something.

The impression I’m getting lately, especially with the recent reveals and backstories piling up left and right... it's only a matter of time before Claudia Phantomhive gets hinted at somewhere and somehow (alongside her backstory too, by the way... because we really need more context on her.)

|f we're talking purely canon and completely setting aside fan theories: There's not much to work with beyond a death date, her being Ciel's grandmother, and a single ambiguous panel where we're not even certain it's her back.

(The mourning locket is technically another detail, though it doesn't expand the canon information we already have here, so I'm not really factoring it in.)

If demon hunters (assuming this concept is actually being implemented into the manga) and the Phantomhive ancestry are being linked, she isn’t really optional to the narrative anymore… she’s likely part of the wider plot.

If the lineage concept starts opening up, you can’t just gloss over the grandparents like they aren’t carrying half the lore.

Not in the near chapters (I don't think), but if a hunter theory develops (ahead in future chapters), we might get more focus on previously unknown details about past Watchdogs. That’d be the perfect opportunity for Yana to drop more breadcrumbs about her backstory/identity/past.

What could those details imply about who they were, their past dealings, their missions, and how they carried them out?

Also, what I’m getting at here is that if the hunter theory includes the idea that they can kill demons because they themselves have some kind of supernatural ability (or what not), it could also pave the way for an explanation of Undertaker.

We’re not exactly starting from zero here (the groundwork is already there) when the story has already hinted that O!Ciel himself may be connected to abilities beyond those of a normal human.

Conveniently enough, the manga first brings up the whole "one foot in the grave" explanation, only for the very next panel to immediately steer readers toward the idea that O!Ciel’s ability to sense Grim Reapers may actually come from his lineage instead.

Ngl, that one manga page alone pushed the grandfather theory up to like 85% credibility for me lol

BUT! The real question is whether Yana was foreshadowing Undertaker specifically, or simply planting the idea that supernatural abilities already exist somewhere within the ancestry itself.

Which would make the lineage panel even more meaningful, especially now that we know demon hunters may exist within the lore.

The fact that the family tree is literally sitting in the background while lineage gets hinted at feels WAY too intentional. I'd put my hand in fire that Yana did that to keep readers guessing between Undertaker and other bloodline-related possibilities. She loves confusing us, doesn't she?

The author has a pattern of keeping things ambiguous and unresolved early on, only to revisit them much later with a significant reveal that reframes everything.

Now, back to UT and Claudia and their very suspicious possible union...

Why would a legendary grim reaper care about a normal human girl? Perhaps she had "abilities" that set her apart.

I know this may sound a bit contradictory, but keep in mind we still don’t know whether the supernatural powers/abilities come from further back in the bloodline rather than from him directly.

Dumb lil side note: That reveal panel (maybe in the future) where Ciel’s entire identity, and the only reason he exists at all, is reduced to a Grim Reaper and his grandmother having "fun" is going to be absolutely epic.

That said, it would only apply to Undertaker if the grandfather theory proves to be accurate.😝

Phantomhive bloodline + possible supernatural traits = Undertaker connection or another source? Only time will tell.

All in all, if Yana starts pulling on the Claudia thread, Cedric's is likely around the corner too.

But of course, this is all just speculation, not fact. Oh great Yana, I really do wonder what you have in store for us.

This is a series where everyone has at least three secrets, a traumatic backstory, and half the cast is secretly hiding supernatural identities, so the manga has basically conditioned me to expect hidden identity reveals at every turn.

At this point, I fully expect it to hit us with an Irene Diaz-level reveal à la Grell Sutcliff, where the whole drinking perilla leaf juice to stay young explanation turns out to be complete nonsense because she simply cannot age… because she’s one of them.

It sounds fake (even if we saw the liquid) in the exact same way every suspiciously convenient explanation in this series sounds fake right before the author drops an identity reveal that changes absolutely everything.

I used to blame GFantasy for the slow paced chapter, and was patient with the story because we get very short chapters, but the addition of new characters and the way we jump to new questions every chapter without any resolve is driving me insane. It doesn't help the lack of focus on characters and storylines that have not been touched in years.

I am obviously not done with Black Butler and i will take my time and talk about it here and then but right now the current fraction of the story is making me loose an intrest that I love so much.

This is no way to disrespect Yana or her masterclass writing, I deeply love her work and have for years, but thats exactly why I take this piece of work so seriously.

I genuienly hope we get answers in future chapters instead of more questions, it's getting tiring instead of exciting.

Does Modri... not remember Lady Anna's face anymore?

More under the cut. Spoilers for Kuroshitsuji up to chapter 225!

I’m still not fully convinced though now we have a contract symbol… if it truly has been Sebastian this whole time, then why hide the face?

Why couldn’t have just been shown outright at the start of this mini arc? It just bothers me its dancing around the obvious.

Majority of the fans are hard core its Sebastian while a smaller portion says its not. With Yana’s foreshadowing way back in volume 1 its something she’s done. She did the same in Book of Circus for the twins.

So why not just say it outright. This whole reveal now just feels so anticlimactic like the shock was never there. All this teasing “is it sebastian or is it not?” has ruined the reveal for me honestly.

I think I would’ve enjoyed it better if the truth was revealed at the beginning instead of being dragged out like this.

Oh so all these little details of his animal parts, the black goop isn’t enough? Okay fine, what about his contract symbol? Is that enough to tell you it’s Sebastian??

I’ve never felt more frustrated and slightly disappointed in a reveal of a secret. I keep wanting to wait and see but all we get is more evidence and no answer.

Maybe he his Sebastian, okay we get it. Just tell us already. Stop dragging it out.

Yana, we love you, and I’ve been into your series for the past 10 years. I’ve been here long enough to know she also likes to drag stuff out. Some for the good some just to extend the series…

there is a whole category of words that aren’t bad… they’re just quietly draining the life out of your prose while you’re not looking

like:

just, really, very, kind of, sort of, maybe

(the little gremlins that sneak in and soften everything until nothing hits like you want it to)

and the classic:

was, were, had, is, are

(not evil—but stack too many and suddenly your sentence is lying face down in the mud)

then you’ve got the camera-distance offenders:

“she saw”

“he noticed”

“she felt”

congrats, you just moved your reader three feet away from the moment for no reason

like instead of:

she felt the cold air against her skin

just let the air hit her. let the reader feel it without the narrator narrating it

—

also watch for the “I don’t trust my own writing” phrases:

I think

it seemed

as if

in a way

pick a lane. commit. the sentence will survive, I promise

—

and my personal favorite flavor of nonsense:

there was

it was

there were

these are the beige paint of writing. technically fine. emotionally devastating

—

and then:

then

suddenly

after that

if everything is sudden, nothing is

—

plus the ones that pretend to add intensity but actually do nothing:

completely

totally

absolutely

if the word needs backup singers, it’s probably not pulling its weight

—

and PLEASE:

nodded his head

shrugged his shoulders

sat down

what else was he going to nod. his elbow???

—

none of these are banned. use them when they earn it

but if your writing ever feels flat, distant, or like it’s not hitting the way you want?

start here. prune the filler. tighten the verbs. pull the camera closer