Kuroshitsuji 2 – First Episode Review

Episode Summary: After the suspicious death of his father, Alois Trancy became the head of the Trancy household, much to the chagrin of his uncle Arnold.  Arnold believes that Alois' past as a kidnapped child slave is nothing but a fraud, so the next time he comes for a visit, he brings a priest with him.  Alois plays his part perfectly, gaining the priest's trust while still toying with Arnold Trancy behind the scenes, finally sending him away with the money he was attempting to extort in the first place.  As he leaves, Alois and Claude, Alois' strangely-faithful and powerful butler, remark that there seems to be an incoming storm.

Once the rain begins to fall, there's a knock on the door of the mansion.  Alois is immediately smitten with the stranger standing at the doorstep, gazing longingly at the man's suitcase.  The gentleman offers a trade: if Alois will lead him beneath the mansion, then he'll allow him to see inside the suitcase.  Once they reach the basement and the man finds what he wants (a tin of mysterious, glowing tea), an opportunistic attack by Claude reveals the man's true identity.  He escapes with his prize, and uses it to awaken the secret he was hiding in his luggage.

Thoughts: Though I was never a fan of the first Kuroshitsuji series, I was curious when a second season was announced.  Curious, because I had heard from fans of the original series that it would be virtually impossible to continue the anime, it having concluded in the manner it did.  The solution revealed itself soon enough; the series would feature a new butler and master, thus relieving the storytellers from trying to talk their way out of a corner... or so we all thought.  It hasn't been a very well-kept secret, but those of you who avoid spoilers like the plague, please stop reading now: the first episode of Kuroshitsuji 2 turns out to be nothing more than an epic troll, because the stars of the original series, Ciel Phantomhive and his butler Sebastian both appear by the end of the episode.

What's disappointing about this is that this episode actually seemed like it had a dramatically different tone from what little I saw of season 1.  I mentioned not being much of a fan of the first season, and the reason for that was due to disappointment in how the series tried to juggle humor within a show that would have been much better if played straight.  I gathered that this was perhaps an attempt to offset some of the creepier and more horrific aspects of the series, but in my opinion it just seemed to sabotage itself.  This episode begins by introducing a terribly-abused character, and almost immediately paints him as a sadist.  The butler, Claude, is quiet and threatening.  Even an over-the-top scene where Claude uses his abilities to change the decor is more thrilling than silly, a testament to the character's demonic nature.  But as soon as Sebastian reveals himself, Alois seems like no more than a cackling, one-dimensional villain, and the fight between the two butlers goes down like so many other shounen scuffles.

In spite of this, there are some things to like about this episode.  I'm not ashamed to say that the episode was worth it for the animation; the aforementioned scene in which Claude tosses a banquet table into the air, changes the color scheme of the room, and sets the table with new place settings is very nicely animated.  The scene could have come across much goofier if the animators had skimped too much on the quality, but the way that it's portrayed makes it feel believable within the context of the series (even if it still elicits a few chuckles). The scene at breakfast establishes an effective visual relationship between Alois' fried egg and his maid's eye which he so cruelly destroyed.  I'm also a fan of the Victorian-era decor and costuming, though I must admit that, on the whole, the atmosphere of the series feels strangely modern in contrast with the period details, as if the characters simply live in some hidden-away, regal part of Europe during the modern day.  There's very good, vibrant use of color in many scenes, and every room in the Trancy mansion has a different, coordinated color scheme. The visuals aren't the only aspect of note, either; the first half of the episode does a good job of establishing Alois as a damaged, sadist little jerk.  He's imbued with the kind of dark cruelty that this franchise truly needs, and his abused past as well as his current two-faced personality and penchant for taking out his frustrations on his staff lend a much darker tone to this episode than my brief experience with the first season would have suggested. 

Which is precisely why the appearance of the series' star players in the second half completely diminishes the impact of  this episode.  When Sebastian and Ciel make their appearances (Ciel as nothing more than a body in a bag), Alois' dangerous nature becomes that of a one-dimensional villain character suddenly and without remorse on the part of the writers.  This is disappointing not only because there seems to be so much untapped potential represented in these now secondary characters, but because it reduces the episode to nothing more than fanservice; an elaborate "troll" (so much so that a friend of mine jokingly called the second season "Troll-shitsuji") meant to revert any previous anime-only story revelations to such a point as to make it relatively painless to allow the fan-favorite leads to return.  On one hand, I completely understand the desire to return the show to the formula that made it famous, but on the other I was admittedly excited to see an anime studio at least appear to try a creative approach with a sequel.  Now I don't feel obligated to even give them credit for trying and failing, since their ploy is so gratingly obvious at this point.

The show is pretty and its design sense is mostly sound, but once the next-episode preview rolls around it becomes clear that the creators aren't interesting in messing with their precious formula.  It's a safe bet that fans of season 1 will be happy to know that this season is mostly a direct continuation, but for viewers like me who were hoping for something a bit more inspired, season 2 of Kuroshitsuji has already proven itself to be mostly skippable.

Pros:

• There's some good animation work, particularly during the scene where Claude re-designs the dining room.
• The atmosphere, for the most part, maintains a good level of creepiness.

Cons:

• This episode is nothing more than trolling: most of its potential is wasted in a scheme to reintroduce the old main characters.

Recommended? Only for devoted fans of season one, otherwise no.  The first episode represents wasted potential and fan pandering rather than inspiration.