With all that out of the way let's dive in.
Story : This show takes place after the first Kuroshitsuji (and I'm guessing this makes Kuroshitsuji II irelevant ) but not having watched it wont detract much as there is exposition to fill in the blanks for new viewers , Old viewers are of course in context and can enjoy the triumphant return of the franchise and also know what to expect. Now the story adapts the Circus of Noah Arc from the manga in which Ciel (who is the Queen's "guard dog" ) is tasked with solving the mystery of serial children abductions occurring all over England,
the aforementioned circus being the prime suspect since all of the abductions take place when the circus is in town. From there the story takes the usual approach, Ciel & Sebastian gather intel, identify the target and then proceed to the climactic resolution of the conflict, wrapping everything up (which usually involves their adversaries clashing with the Phantomhive household). Overall the story was enjoyable, it featured most of the things we love about the series and illustrated a rather heavy subject.which I will expand on in the character section
Characters : the characters in Book Of Circus are intriguing and enjoyable for the most part, in Book of circus all the Human members of the cast become illustrations of human suffering in the forms of corruption , despair and more than anything Damage as almost ALL humans that appear in Book of Circus are damaged to some extent, often in more than one ways.
All of them are also tragic characters, the circus troupe is comprised of likable (for the most part) characters who began as outcasts, with no family home or money, many of them missing limbs and struggling just to stay alive , however, even with those hardships behind them their new lives are far from peaceful. Then in our main Duo, Sebastian the Demon butler himself and Ciel Phantomhive the young Earl/demon contract holder, as well as his usual entourage make up the "protagonist" cast.
What surprised me in book of circus is that we get a really good glimpse inside Ciel's psyche and we are reminded that out of all the characters introduced in Kuroshitsuji, Ciel is the most tragic and possibly the most damaged character, his contrast with the rest of the cast and of course with Sebastian's character (who is quite frankly just enjoying himself completely untouched by all the destruction and mayhem occuring everywhere around him) magnifies the impact of that fact. Some of the more quirky and unique recurring characters make a return in Book of circus but their screentime is minimal, overall while the characters are not perfect they are refreshing from what you see in most anime , development is decent for the amount of episodes given and unless you are one of the most elite of elitists you 'll be satisfied.
Art & Music : art maintains this show's beautiful aesthetics and sets the tone perfectly , character designs are elaborate and detailed backgrounds are appropriate and direction is also upper tier , there are some minor bits of censoring but that's to be expected with any televised release , music is also very fitting with the opening theme in particular being one of the best in the series
Overall I give Book Of Circus 7/10 , fans of the series are sure to enjoy it and new viewers can get a good taste of what the Black Butler franchise has to offer
