The Spring 2025 Anime Preview Guide

Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc

Sebastian and Ciel head to Germany, as the queen orders them to investigate mysterious death occurrences there. A terrifying curse falls on Sebastian and Ciel, as they search for the truth about the Werewolf Forest, where anyone who steps in it is cursed to death.

Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc is based on the Black Butler manga by Yana Toboso. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

Is there any more fitting place for Ciel and Sebastian to venture for their next mission than the dark forests of southern Germany? Black Butler has generally dabbled more in mysticism than fairy tales, but it was still only a matter of time before we got here, deep in a foggy wood where witches and werewolves are said to roam. The best known of each are, of course, the Big Bad Wolf of Red Riding Hood fame (in the earliest variant he's referred to explicitly as a werewolf) and the witch in the gingerbread house who tempts Hansel and Gretel, but there's no shortage of werewolf legends in German lore. Germany also had more than its fair share of witch hunts, the most famous of which were the Würzburg trials between 1625 and 1631. That's not too far off from the clothing the women of the strange village the Phantomhive entourage stumble upon are wearing.

This first episode of the Emerald Witch arc does an exemplary job of setting up the lore it will be working with and establishing a dark mood. Even the decision to open with a fox hunt is symbolic; foxes aren't edible, and fox hunting is “sport” rather than a necessity, so I can't help but wonder if a parallel is being set up between the witches and the foxes. Even if we don't consider that witches and kitsune share some traits across folklore, the two are being hunted for no real reason but the desire of someone to hunt them. It's hard to blame the women of the village, lead by the clearly formidable Frau Hilde, for greeting Ciel with weapons. Foxes have teeth, villagers have pitchforks.

Although these foxes may have something else on their side – the strange disease that afflicts the noblemen is a direct result of ignoring the strictures about the forest. Queen Victoria is within her rights to be alarmed, especially if Kaiser Wilhelm II (or Willy, as she calls him) hasn't been responding to her worries. Germans may have brought this on themselves with their witch hunts, but that doesn't mean there isn't cause for alarm. Ciel is plainly not thrilled to be off on this particular mission, largely because he doesn't speak German, although other members of his party do. That all changes, however, when he sees Sieglinde, the lady of the village, and the only man, Wolfram. Are there no other men in the hidden village? Is that why there are old torture implements in the town square? Or are the men the werewolves Wolfram says patrol the forest?

Despite using several images from folkloric sources, none of the witches are too overtly Jew-coded, something I was concerned about going into this arc. There's also very nice use of the tale of Hansel and Gretel in the imagery of Sieglinde's castle, which looks like a child's drawing come to life. The use of colors is also particularly good here, with the bright greens and blues of people's eyes standing out strikingly. The spoken German I'm a bit less sold on, but admittedly I don't have a lot of familiarity with the language; Yiddish is the closest I can come and it doesn't sound like that. Still, this is a very strong start to a fan-favorite storyline. I'm ready to venture into the haunted woods. Are you?