Kuroshitsuji Kishuku Gakkou hen – Episode 10 Review

「彼の執事、同意」 (Sono Shitsuji, Dōi suru)
“His Butler, Assenting”

Two different brands of bad butting heads. Bribery and theft vs. hard-assed tradition. I do think the two intersect more often than not. The P4, pissed that Derrick was exhibiting very unsportsmanlike behavior and getting away with it thanks to daddy’s money, decided to take matters into their own hands by using Green’s batting prowess on Derrick’s head, with fatal results.

Ciel is a wise young lad. “There’s a fine line between education and brainwashing” stuck out to me in particular- he’s right. Often the one is used as a tool for the other. He also showed great wisdom in realizing the P4 are so far gone, reasoning with them would be pointless (he’s right about that too). One of my big pet peeves, actually, is when people don’t realize that- it wastes so much time and energy, and frankly, is annoying to listen to.

The after life- is there one? That’s a loaded topic to touch on, but I suppose no series is better suited to do so than one in which there are grim reapers and a devil. The Undertaker seems to think so, using the hopes and dreams of the dead to keep the credits rolling. I find the Undertaker’s view an interesting one, that future ambition is what sets humans apart. He does have a point, though it hasn’t found much experimental success (and thankfully at that- an army of rational zombies fueled on ambition sounds like pretty bad news to me- especially with the Queen and no doubt other leaders hot for the notion).

The reveals are rolling in pretty hard at this rate. I knew Agares probably wasn’t exactly human from some of his odd behaviors, like recovering too quickly from nasty falls. But I didn’t expect him to actually be one of the undead because of how high functioning he is. I don’t feel sorry for him in the least bit- he overlooked Derrick’s behavior at the expense of his victims. Money sure speaks loudly, but it can’t help him once he’s dead.

I just love how it ramped up into full on B horror movie mode. We knew it was coming, it’s the nature of Kuroshitsuji, and it was entertaining to the very last.

The Undertaker’s comment about Ciel being different from his predecessors caught my attention. I can presume he means that Ciel is more compassionate, stopping to rescue the boy, rather than abandoning everyone once the job is done. Ciel’s traumatizing childhood has affected his psyche deeply in more ways than one, and often not in good ways. However, I would say, that having been through hell himself may have been what made him more compassionate to the plights of others than his predecessors. On the flip side, he can be a cold hearted bastard too. Take his comment about being unphased by murder and death, though that’s only a matter of course given his job description.

I am glad that McMillan made it away unscathed. Given how the innocents like him often end up, he can be counted as one of the lucky few. As for the (former) P4- while it can be argued that being expelled from school is a fate worse than death for them, it’s a hell of a lot better than being put in jail. Though I don’t know what kind of a future they’ll have, being booted from school in a society where reputation is everything. Money I’m sure will cushion things pretty comfortably for them, so all in all, they were let off too easily. Making the P4’s grudges is a convenient way of buying their silence, even though it doesn’t sit right with at least one of them. Once you know the truth, there’s no going back.

Sadly, we have only one more episode left. This episode seemed like as good a finale as any, so I do wonder what next week will hold (my memory from the manga is rather hazy).

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