Black Butler Announces New Season and New Studio

Black Butler‘s Sebastian will continue to prove how he’s “one hell of a butler” in a new season of Black Butler.

One of the big announcements revealed at the Crunchyroll panel at Anime Expo 2023 was a new season of Black Butler. Season 4 will switch studios from A-1 Pictures, who previously animated and produced the first three seasons, OVAs and animated film, to CloverWorks. At the panel, Crunchyroll made an effort to emphasize that this season would be a continuation of the Black Butler story and not a reboot. Crunchyroll then revealed a new trailer as well as two new teaser visuals.

The new trailer did not yield much information except to showcase CloverWorks’ new animation style as the butler Sebastian poured tea and served his young master Ciel. The first teaser visual features Ciel and Sebastian standing atop a platform overlooking a courtyard while the second teaser visual displays Sebastian in the middle of a bow as a shadow casts over his face, his demon eye glowing red. Daisuke Ono and Maaya Sakamoto will reprise their roles as Sebastian and Ciel.

Kenjirō Okada (RWBY: Ice Queendom and March comes in like a lion) will direct the new season at CloverWorks with Hiroyuki Yoshino (Black Butler) overseeing the series composition. Yumi Shimizu (Black Butler and From the New World) will design the characters. Ryo Kawasaki (To Your Eternity and Romantic Killer) will compose the music.

Based on Yana Toboso’s dark comedy manga, A-1 Pictures aired the first season of Black Butler in October 2008 for 24 episodes. While the first season managed to remain mostly faithful to the manga, the anime included several anime-original episodes and scenes. The second season aired in July 2010 and is an anime-original, featuring two new characters, Earl Alois Trancy and his demon butler Claude Faustus. Season 3 adapts the “Book of Circus” arc and aired in July 2014 for 10 episodes. Black Butler then adapted the “Book of Murder” in a two-part OVA in October and November 2014. Three years later, A-1 Pictures released Black Butler‘s first animated film, titled Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic in January 2017.

Toboso’s manga began serialization in Square Enix’s Monthly GFantasy in September 2006 and is currently ongoing. Set in Victorian-era London, the story follows 12-year-old earl Ciel Phantomhive as he seeks revenge upon those who murdered his family and subjected him to weeks of physical, mental and sexual abuse. On the night he was to be sacrificed during a ceremony to a demon, he instead enacts a contract with the demon, offering his soul in exchange for the power to avenge his family and himself. The demon takes the form of a butler named Sebastian and the two attempt to track down the one responsible for the Phantomhive’s demise while Ciel does his duties as the earl.

Black Butler is available on Crunchyroll. Season 4 will premiere on Crunchyroll in 2024.

Source: YouTube