Story: 5
Kusoshitsuji has a pretty interesting concept: A young boy (10 at the time) makes a deal with a demon in order to get revenge on the people who destroyed his family. I love dark, twisted plotlines alot, so this manga instantly stood out to me for that reason. However, the way it lays out the story is detrimental to the overall value. Toboso is not a good storyteller. The main story is told in bits and pieces through individual arcs whose subplots have little to do with the main characters and their objective. And lately it seems that these sub plots are getting more and more cliched. It honestly seems like the author is running out of inspiration. For someone like me, who is dying to find out more about Ciel and Sebastian, it's fairly frustrating to be fed only tidbits each arc. So while I love the main story, it's presentation weighs the score down.
Art: 10
The art in Kuroshitsuji is simply gorgeous. It's very detailed and the artist is good at blending beauty with the macabre. The style is very gothic and suits the setting and atmosphere of the story well. The character designs are all rather interesting and with the amount of bishies to be found, it's every fangirl's dream.
Character: 7
I love morally ambiguous characters. And this series is full of them, Ciel being the prime example. He's a horrible person. He's cold, uncaring, manipulative, and does some pretty despicable things. However, you can't help but sympathize with him, since it's not really his fault. His current personality was shaped by the cruel events that led him to make a contract with a demon. At the age of 12, he took up the duty of leader of the Phantomhive family, and struggles to appear as an adult despite his young age and small stature. And throughout the story, he seems to struggle between his humanity and his objective. Sebastian is a rather flat character, but we don't know much about him and his motivations. Lizzy, whom I initially hated with a passion and still rather dislike, is revealed to have a lot more depth than previously suspected. And many of the side characters have a lot of depth to them as well, although there are those that are flat, such as the servants, which seems to exist for the sole purpose of comic relief and to showcase the extent of Ciel's ability to manipulate people.
Enjoyment: 8
I really love reading this series. Even though the slow pace can be incredibly frustrating, the individual arcs are interesting for the most part. And there are plenty of bishies, so that's an added bonus for the fangirls. Kuroshitsuji is a pretty entertaining read.
Overall, this gets a 7 from me.
