I just ran across some exciting news for anime fans of the series Black Butler (2008-2011). It’s coming back! It’s been a decade since we’ve had new Black Butler content outside of the manga series it was based on. I’m jazzed that this interesting dark fantasy/comedy blend will reach new audiences as well as give long-time fans something new. That’s right. I said new.
Every source I’ve found regarding this announcement indicates that this will be a continuation of the original series story - not a reboot.
Alas, there’s still a little bit of waiting still involved - but what’s a year or so in comparison to a decade, right? The new Black Butler season has been tentatively slated for 2024 release, but no further details regarding more specific dates have yet been disclosed.
There are some tidbits of information available, however. So far, we know that Black Butler’s creator and author of the manga series Yana Toboso is on board. She even helped break the news with a tweet while the CrunchyRoll panel at LA’s Anime Expo (July 1-4, 2023) dropped the announcement to fans in attendance.
The new series will have several key players returning for this new production. Hiroyuki Yoshino (Izetta: The Last Witch, Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic, Strike the Blood) was announced as the new head writer. He worked on some of the original series and has written for the OVAs that were released several years after the original seasons ended. Daisuke Ono (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Attack on Titan, Welcome to Demon-School Iruma-kun) is returning to once more voice the hellaciously excellent butler, Sebastian. Maaya Sakamoto (Kaina of the Great Snow Sea, Trigun Stampede, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) is also returning to reprise her role as Ciel Phantomhive.
As of now, I haven’t found any information regarding the cast for any alternate language dubs beyond the original Japanese, but I’m sure it will eventually become available. The series will likely drop with subtitles available with Japanese audio only.
The new trailer for this eventful announcement doesn’t really tell us much about what will take place during the upcoming new season, but it does give us a peek at the sleek new animation brought to us by the new studio CloverWorks. I appreciated that they seem to be keeping the essence of the original animation style while giving the series a bit more polish.
Now if you’ve gotten this far and are thinking to yourself, “what in the world is this Black Butler show about?” I can only urge you to take advantage of the time between now and the 2024 release to get caught up! I’ve found a nifty resource here that provides a rundown of the seasons and the order to watch everything that’s come out so far (and where you can find them). Just keep in mind that there might be some spoilers involved in the descriptions so tread carefully if you decide to peruse that article’s list.
While sites like RottenTomatoes and Metacritic don’t have a listing for the Black Butler series to give you a range of ratings, I can advise that IMDb has this anime listed as a 7.7/10 rating. I’d wholeheartedly agree with that assessment as well. (There’s a live-action Black Butler movie that you can find on those sites, but I haven’t seen it and we all know how dicey live-action adaptations can be. Just keep that in mind.)
I will be eagerly anticipating this new release next year, and I know my 19.9yr old is also fairly chomping at the bit to jump on the upcoming season as well. If you’re already a fan of Black Butler, and are happy about this news, let us know in the comments below who your favorite character is or which was your favorite episode.
Series Name/Year: Black Butler (2008-2011)
Genre: Animation, Action, Comedy
Length: 24 minutes per episode
Rating: TV-14
Production/Distribution: A-1 Pictures, Aniplex, Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS), Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV), FUNimation Entertainment, Sanyo Broadcasting Co., Square Enix Company, CrunchyRoll
Directors: Ian Sinclair, Hirofumi Ogura, Toshiya Shinohara
Writers: Yana Toboso, Mari Okada, Yuka Yamada, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Bonny Clinkenbeard
Actors:
Japanese Language Cast: Daisuke Ono, Maaya Sakamoto, Yukari Tamura, Emiri Kato, Jun Fukuyama, Kôji Yusa
English Dub Cast: J. Michael Tatum, Brina Palencia, Gloria Ansell, Michael C. Pizzuto, Monica Rial, Jerry Jewell, Daniel Fredrick, Cherami Leigh
IMDb Blurb: Ciel Phantomhive takes care of the many unsettling events in Victorian England. Aided by Sebastian Michaelis, his loyal butler with seemingly inhuman abilities. But is there more to this black-clad butler than meets the eye?
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