The Black Butler name feels infamous, its legacy going back to 2006 and the first issue of Yana Toboso’s manga. In the 2000s, the story was dominated by the Victorian-era story of Ciel Phantomhive and his demon butler, Sebastian, bound together by a contract fuelled with revenge. This arc was greatly helped by the explosive debut of the anime in 2008. For anyone who, like me, was beginning their anime journey at the time, you know how Black Butler had fans in an absolute chokehold. I believe it’s one of the most formative pieces of media I’ve consumed.
And now, after almost ten years since the finale of Season 3, Black Butler has finally returned. The series has returned to its manga roots by adapting its Public School Arc, which sees Ciel enrol in the prestigious Weston College to investigate the mysterious disappearance of several students.
I had the pleasure of speaking to the voice actors for the series’ English dub, Brina Palencia (Ciel Phantomhive) and J. Michael Tatum (Sebastian Michaelis) about what it was like to return as such beloved characters.
Kotaku AU: Watching the latest season feels like coming home, being such a longtime fan of Black Butler. I was wondering what it’s like for you, coming back to these roles? Is it like riding a bike? Or do you have to give yourself time to settle back into the voices?
Brina: I definitely felt like I needed to settle back in, especially [with] regards to the accent, so I watched a lot of British television leading up to it. I also read the manga just to know what’s ahead of me. But I mean overall, it does feel so comfortable, like… “Ah, there you are. I missed you.”
Michael: Yeah, it’s not so much like riding a bike, as it is like slipping into a beautifully appointed plush carriage. With some champagne [and] music playing. It’s really nice as Sebastian has never been very far from me, ever since we started on the show years ago. Sebastian is such a fun voice to do that I frequently just do it in my day-to-day life, so I didn’t really have to do much work to get back in that mode. It was like, “Oh, awesome. We get paid to do this again!” Yeah, it feels it feels like coming home, I like how you put it. Getting to explore these characters in their world again is just wonderful.
Brina: What I love too, though, is that […] even though it is kind of slipping back into that same character again, it’s them in a whole new light. I mean, Public School Arc to me is so unique compared to the rest of the series. It’s been fun so far.
Is there a line or scene that you have found the most memorable across the whole anime so far?
Brina: For me it’s the ending of Book of Circus, when Ciel has that big monologue. That’s the moment where he just loses all hope, but he does it in such a maniacal, laughing kind of way. The way I felt it and played it was in between laughing and crying the entire time. There was so much duality in that one monologue that […] it’s not only one of my favourites in the series, it’s one of my favourite monologues I’ve gotten to do in my entire career. It was so well written and well adapted and we spent a lot of time on it. I will never forget that monologue.
Michael: Such a great monologue – I remember getting to come in and record after you had already laid it down, and so I got to respond to it in a real way and… Ugh, so good. Sebastian has no moment like that really, it’s all just like […] the iconic line. It’s him getting to say “Yes, my lord” or “Simply one hell of a butler” or whatever iteration.
Brina: Oh, the way they animated it this season, in that first episode!
Michael: In this season when he says it-
Brina: They just lost it.
Michael: I just lost my mind with how beautiful and perfect and outrageous it was. When I finally said it, it was like, “Yeah, we’re at full speed. We’re back.” Super, super fun.
Every time I hear Sebastian say “one hell” of anything, I’m like, here we go again. I wonder if he just finds whatever way to push it into [every] situation he’s in.
Michael: I was really fond of how we got to say “I’m simply one hell of a housemaster.” It was this great little moment of like “I’m absolutely one hell of doing a better job than you are right now, sir.” It was just so much fun – I love Sebastian’s sarcasm this time around. He’s having so much fun watching Ciel struggle.
You can tell he loves watching him just go through anything uncomfortable, anything where [Ciel] has to put himself down a bit, Sebastian loves it.
Michael: Makes his soul so very tasty.
Michael, do you actually like the ‘one hell of a butler’ line? Do you think it’s a good catchphrase?
Michael: I’m very happy to have that as a catchphrase that follows me around in my career, rather than something I have to scream. It’s fun. I usually play characters who are very chatty, so it’s hard to parse out a single line of theirs that stands out among all their monologuing. It’s nice to have a character when there’s just that one trigger phrase. It’s a good line.
Also it’s funny, people endlessly give variations of it online, like [for example] it’s my birthday, so someone will be like, “Hope you have one hell of a birthday!” It’s funny to watch people be like, “No one’s ever said this before!” I think it’s hilarious, and I love it.
So Sebastian was like my spiritual awakening when I was a teenager, and his voice was a huge part of that. I have to say-
Michael: Wait, let me get this straight. A demon was your spiritual awakening? All right. Got it.
Well, when you put it like that…
Michael: No judgment, just making notes!
What was the initial inspiration for your Sebastian voice?
Michael: Oh, actually, for playing a demon, it’s actually a very warm story. I grew up with a very pronounced speech impediment, and my speech therapist, who incidentally also got me into theatre years later, was British. And she spoke in a very lovely RP. I’ve done British in my career, many, many times, but I don’t think [I’d] ever done it on voiceover before. So when I got to do it, I made the conscious choice of it being a love letter to the woman who helped me find my voice years ago, when I was very young. Yeah, she was one hell of a coach.
Brina, Ciel is like my son – I think I have a part of my brain that is dedicated to protecting him. What do you think has changed within Ciel over the course of the series? Have you changed your voice in any way to show his growth as a character?
Brina: I don’t know that I would even call it growth, I would call it regression. We were talking about this earlier, this idea of how people, for [their] mental health, need to do shadow work and get to know their shadow selves. Whereas Ciel, I think, only listens to that part of himself. He embraces his demons, but he doesn’t actually embrace the rest of himself. He’s only going for the shadow work and none of the actual joyful things.
I think he’s gradually become less and less hopeful, less and less trusting. Which is why I think the Public School Arc is so interesting. He’s meeting people his age, especially I think with McMillan. McMillan is actually a good person – genuinely someone that he can trust, and I think it kind of throws him for a loop. I don’t know if he knows how to even accept that kind of friendship. I think he’s afraid of it.
For me, too, the approach [to] the character has changed just in my own growth as a human being. I started as someone in my early 20s, who very much appreciated that idea of never [letting] go of your hatred. But then I went to therapy, and I just started to let go of my own hatred, [and] started to let go of that anger that I had connected with Ciel on. And now I’m also a mother, so I actually do feel those protective feelings for [Ciel] too, and I want so much more for him than he has. But he has suffered so much, and just continues to suffer, and it makes me really sad.
A final question, something a bit more contentious. Do you think Sebastian is like a parent to Ciel, or does he look at him like he’s his meal, and is waiting for him to get to that point where he can finally [enjoy] the reward of the contract that they’ve set together?
Michael: I mean, who could say? He’s a demon. Who knows what a creature that’s not human thinks about human emotions? I think it’s very possible that it’s complicated, that those emotions are braided together. I certainly tried to play him as though his respect and admiration for Ciel has deepened as he’s watched Ciel navigate through all these hellish things. But whether or not that’s just like, “That makes a much tastier meal than it would have [been] otherwise”, or whether he sees a little bit of himself in Ciel’s resolve, it’s hard to say. I prefer to be mysterious about it, because I think the less we know about Sebastian, the more effective he is as a character.
But I will say, just bear in mind, if you see him as a parent, if you see him as a protector, that may be very well what he wants you to think.
Brina: Yeah, I think Sebastian is just putting forward whatever he thinks Ciel needs and wants at the moment.
Sebastian: What a very Ciel thing to say.
Brina: I don’t trust people!
You can catch Black Butler: Public School Arc on Crunchyroll. If you’re itching for more Ciel and Sebastian content, you can pick up Volume 1 of the manga on Amazon Australia.
Image: Crunchyroll
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