Black Butler to Premiere Third Season

Black Butler is coming back with a third season. The first season of the anime, which was adapted from the “Kuroshitsuji” manga, premiered in 2008, and the second season followed two years later. The gothic series takes place in Victorian era London, where 13-year-old noble Ciel Phantomhive runs his family’s business and serves as the personal watchdog of the queen, while also trying to avenge his parents’ deaths. Oh, and he has a Faustian deal going on with his demon butler, Sebastian, who helps Ciel run his estate and complete his tasks. In exchange, he will ultimately consume Ciel’s soul. The second season introduced two new characters, Alois Trancy and his butler, Claude Faustus (yeah, I know, very discrete, right?). Either way, it’s a darkly interesting series driven by the intelligent, proud, solemn and merciless Ciel, who faces murderers, drug dealers, demons and other members of the occult on a daily basis.

“Black Butler: Book of Circus” adapts the Noah’s Ark Circus arc, which chronologically fits in with the middle of the first season, where the anime diverged from the original plot. In “Book of Circus,” Ciel and Sebastian investigate a mysterious—and, of course, stunningly gothic, as is the case with everything else in the series—traveling circus that may be related to a train of child disappearances. I don’t know about you, but the end of the second season (remember that twist ending?) was enough closure for me, but it’s hard to resist the new season, which seems …