「その執事、狂暴」 (Sono Shitsuji, Kyōbō)
“His Butler, Furious”
Ciel can be quite the charmer when he puts his mind to it- I could see him being a real lady killer when (or if) he grows up, though I don’t see him being much of a philanderer. The way he swooped in to rescue Sullivan, standing up for her in front of the Crone- if it were under different circumstances, Sullivan would have melted all over him.
Which brings me to the Crone, or should I say- Sullivan’s “mother”. I say mother in quotation marks, because anyone who treats their child the way she has is not deserving of the title. In fact, from here on out I will continue to refer to her as the Crone. I guess her identity not a total surprise, given the way the Crone had her bony grip over the village. When I read the manga, what did surprise me was the father. I was kind of expecting Wolfram to be the biological daddy given that he was tasked with looking after Sullivan. But no- her actual father was a brilliant scientist in charge of developing mustard gas, who the Crone was head over heels for. He died in an accident at the gas plant- I wouldn’t go so far as to call it “tragic”, because if you’re a bastard working on chemical weapons, you reap what you sow. This was not the end, rather just the beginning- he left a parting gift inside the Crone
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Now, the whole bit about a preschool-aged Sullivan being a genius who could understand the chemical makeup of mustard gas- I find that highly unrealistic from a developmental biology point of view. At that age, children’s brains are not developed enough to be able to understand abstract, logical thinking like that which is required to understand complex chemical formulas. It doesn’t matter how much of a genius the parent is- the neuronal connections in the child’s brain are not developed enough for that kind of thinking until a little later on- numerous studies have been done on this.
That aside, the Crone is bat nuts and ropes the German government into her plan to manipulate and abuse the child in a fantasy environment to induce the optimal development of the girl’s intellectual aptitude. The end result being what we have here in front of us. The dashing Ciel escapes with Sullivan, leaving Sebby for clean up duty.
When Ciel and Sullivan land in the forest, he becomes what I would term a “cruel beauty”– the knight in shining armor, holding a gun to the rescued lady’s head. He offers her two options- either pull yourself together and face the realities of the outside world or die here and now. At first, that’s, wow, rather harsh on a girl who’s just had her whole world torn down and is, understandably, incapable of processing anything at the moment. It is true that coddling her might not help the situation- it certainly doesn’t change anything, though it at least would give her time to breathe and heal- time that they currently don’t have in being pursued by a bunch of crazy scientists. However, I think that’s Ciel’s own way of snapping her out of it, kindness in a twisted sort of way. He understands what she’s going through better than anyone from his own past traumas. He does at least offer her hope- urging her to use her talents to make a cure, a hope which Sullivan accepts. In an interesting way, this scene in the forest parallels Ciel earlier when suffering from mustard gas exposure.
There will be a steep learning curve in adjusting to the outside world for sure, given how sheltered Sullivan was. She is brilliant and determined enough that I think she’ll be excited more than petrified (especially when she gets to meet lots of *gasp* men). The looming question is- given that the German government was involved with this mustard gas plant, will they allow her to go free? They’re obviously going to deny their involvement and not going to willingly let a key witness walk free. Maybe Sullivan will flee to England to live- the Queen does want to meet her for tea after all. Ciel brings up a very valid point that lots of people will seek to manipulate her- her specialized knowledge will be of interest to many unsavory people. I do worry about her naivete and unknowingly falling to the wrong hands. I hope at the least, this will put her on her guard against others, though it may have the opposite effect of leading her to trust absolutely no one, which is an exhausting way to live.
With the whole mustard gas plot blowing up in the villagers’ faces and rogue Englishmen on the ram with the little witch, Wolfram is tasked with not just finding the child, but disposing of her, if necessary. Part of me wonders if he would do so when push comes to shove. He practically raised Sullivan and sometimes I do sense a small affection there. If you have any piece of a human heart in you, how could you pull the trigger? A larger part of me doesn’t doubt that he would murder her. Despite the affection, he still actively engaged in deceiving and using an innocent child to create a weapon. He knew full well what he was doing and continued to wholeheartedly participate. So, yeah- sure he’d show some sadness and regret, but he’d fire at her anyway, the bastard.
As for Sebby’s cleanup- beautifully animated and directed. Ciel orders him to letta rip in beast mode, but the devil has lost all taste for that in the greater pleasure of being subdued by his master- sounds like some S&M shit there. Amusingly, he plays the role simply to satisfy imaginings of his little master (and get revenge on the Crone for exposing Ciel to the gas). I get such a kick out of how no matter the situation, Sebby always brings it back to butlering. Like, his monologue about failing to recognize the mustard gas because his little master hates mustard, or his schtick of offing his opponents with dinner knives. He truly is one hell of a butler.
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