Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc

Episode 11

Imagine my surprise when I sat down to watch this episode only to find that the English subtitles were talking about Kowloon Walled City. Yes, for some reason, as of 1:03 pm EDT on Saturday, Crunchyroll was streaming episode eleven of Black Butler's Emerald Witch arc with the English subtitles for Kowloon Generic Romance. Fortunately, the French subs were functioning perfectly, but if you don't have any other languages you read fluently, this could be more than a mere annoyance.

It's a double insult when you factor in that this is a very good episode. Not only does it eschew the five-odd minutes of recap that were in the previous two. It also gives us Wolfram's backstory and some really intense action. It turns out that it was no mistake that the two Reapers noted only Anne's death in the tank; per anime law, if you don't see a body or hear someone who's in a position to know affirm it, you can't count on anyone being dead. Since Sascha and Ludger didn't mention Grete or Hilde (who wasn't in the tank in the first place), that means that they aren't dead. Yet.

The plot here is just finalizing the Phantomhive entourage's escape from the hidden village, but the slick action more than makes up for that bland summary. All of the pieces have to come together – the scattered members of the group must reconvene in a place that's conducive to it. There are so many moving parts that it's by no means a foregone conclusion that everything will work out, even without wondering what, if any, enemies are still on the loose. And, more pertinently, whether all of them still fall under the heading of “enemies.”

Wolfram has been conflicted since the beginning of this final quarter. We know he's the one who crippled Sieglinde, but also saw how much care he lavished on her, and she certainly treated him more like a relation than a servant. His flight a short while ago implied strongly that he was going to find Sieglinde in order to join her rather than kill her, and that proves true this week after they make us worry for a second through harrowing scenes of Wolfram apparently aiming his gun at the little girl.

What's more important, is why he's acting as he is. What his fellow soldiers see as a betrayal is actually just Wolfram asserting where his loyalties lie: with Sieglinde, the girl who gave him a purpose in life. His past was horrific – a grim, grey span of time where he was made to be a nameless soldier training to defend a “fatherland” he didn't know or understand. He didn't even get a name until he was assigned to Sieglinde, and while he at first resented the assignment, it really was the best thing to ever happen to him. He truly loves her, and while Sebastian may call him a fellow butler, it's clear that he thinks of Sieglinde more as his daughter, while he's the only real parent figure she's ever known. He may not feel worthy of being with her, but he doesn't need to, because he'll do as she says – and she says “stay.” The flashback of breaking her feet when she's cauterizing his wound makes it look like he feels that this is payback for what he did to her. In reality, she's not taking her revenge, she's telling him how important he is to her. Whether he'll ever be able to see that is up to him.

Sieglinde and Wolfram's relationship doesn't quite mirror Sebastian and Ciel's, but there are similarities. Sascha and Ludger note that Ciel can see them because, as a demon's contractor, he's already got one foot in the grave. A perusal of the family tree Sascha is reading seems to show early deaths for many of Ciel's ancestors (generally around age thirty if my eyes aren't tricking me), so it may be less “works with Sebastian” and more “is a Phantomhive” that allows Ciel to see them. Could his contract with Sebastian actually end up prolonging Ciel's life? His nightmares may indicate that, although we'll have to wait for a different Book to know for sure. But both child/adult pairs are based on contracts of a kind, and I'm hesitant to say that Sebastian's with Ciel is strictly removed from all emotions – although I also don't doubt that he could be very, very dangerous to Ciel were the more formal aspects not there. But maybe Wolfram and Sieglinde are an image of what the other two could be under different circumstances. I guess we won't know until the story ends.

Rating:

Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.