Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective
In Toboso Yana’s anime Black Butler, she pairs the figures of the child detective with Jack the Ripper to arrive at a complex array of meanings. The Ripper figure continues to have one of the most popular afterlives following its original context of Victorian Britain, with numerous contemporary ite...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Anime and Manga Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/article/view/1178 |
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| author | Joti Bilkhu |
| author_facet | Joti Bilkhu |
| author_sort | Joti Bilkhu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
In Toboso Yana’s anime Black Butler, she pairs the figures of the child detective with Jack the Ripper to arrive at a complex array of meanings. The Ripper figure continues to have one of the most popular afterlives following its original context of Victorian Britain, with numerous contemporary iterations and adaptations of the 1888 murders visible across contemporary popular culture. This article examines the characteristics that Black Butler’s child detective Ciel Phantomhive has in common with the Ripper (tragic histories, violent behavior, and the strategic use of knowledge). I begin by contextualizing Black Butler in regards to Japanese literature, a world literature framework, and the neo-Victorian genre alike. I then turn to analyzing how Ciel deploys the knowledge he gains from the Ripper case to legitimize himself; he both unravels the mystery of this figure and allows it to persist. In essence, the Ripper phenomenon garners such interest precisely because it is a mystery, and Ciel capitalizes on the same uncertainties and (lack of) knowledge as a form of power.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3a28fb1c597f4f9da1d4f111be448a4e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2689-2596 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Anime and Manga Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-3a28fb1c597f4f9da1d4f111be448a4e2025-08-20T03:14:12ZengUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignJournal of Anime and Manga Studies2689-25962023-12-01410.21900/j.jams.v4.1178Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child DetectiveJoti Bilkhu0York University In Toboso Yana’s anime Black Butler, she pairs the figures of the child detective with Jack the Ripper to arrive at a complex array of meanings. The Ripper figure continues to have one of the most popular afterlives following its original context of Victorian Britain, with numerous contemporary iterations and adaptations of the 1888 murders visible across contemporary popular culture. This article examines the characteristics that Black Butler’s child detective Ciel Phantomhive has in common with the Ripper (tragic histories, violent behavior, and the strategic use of knowledge). I begin by contextualizing Black Butler in regards to Japanese literature, a world literature framework, and the neo-Victorian genre alike. I then turn to analyzing how Ciel deploys the knowledge he gains from the Ripper case to legitimize himself; he both unravels the mystery of this figure and allows it to persist. In essence, the Ripper phenomenon garners such interest precisely because it is a mystery, and Ciel capitalizes on the same uncertainties and (lack of) knowledge as a form of power. https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/article/view/1178black butlerjack the ripperneo-victorianchild detectiveworld literaturekuroshitsuji |
| spellingShingle | Joti Bilkhu Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective Journal of Anime and Manga Studies black butler jack the ripper neo-victorian child detective world literature kuroshitsuji |
| title | Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective |
| title_full | Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective |
| title_fullStr | Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective |
| title_short | Black Butler: A Neo-Victorian Jack the Ripper and the Child Detective |
| title_sort | black butler a neo victorian jack the ripper and the child detective |
| topic | black butler jack the ripper neo-victorian child detective world literature kuroshitsuji |
| url | https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/article/view/1178 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jotibilkhu blackbutleraneovictorianjacktheripperandthechilddetective |