The mystery of Weston College comes to a startling conclusion, but the Undertaker remains as mysterious as ever. What is his connection with the Phantomhive family? Is he a puppet, a puppetmaster, or both? What are his motivations?
Not allowing himself to be too distracted by these unanswered questions, Ciel returns home to do a round of shopping, only to get a rude awakening to the realities of marketing, before the Queen gives him another mission. It’s off to Germany, only this time the Earl Phantomhive is taking all of his servants with him to investigate a curse which may involve witches and werewolves. While he’s there, Ciel may have a chance to look up a ‘mysterious German beauty’, one with past ties to his father and Weston College. A beauty who might know more about the Undertaker than Ciel does…
Once more I found myself pitying Ciel’s victims in the story arc, although the ones at Weston College didn’t meet as harsh a fate as others the Queen’s Guard Dog has hunted down. They didn’t do anything worse than Ciel himself has done. I’m hoping we’ll see those characters again, along with the ones Ciel and Sebastian left behind at the prestigious public school. The new characters and the new story arc, however, promise to be interesting. I’m very curious about the “German beauty”, which appears to be a kind of code Vincent and Chlaus used for Diedrich amidst a delicate dance of diplomacy, intrigue, and power they had going on with him, one Ciel appears to be about to step in time with. Most intriguing of all is the Undertaker. He appears to be ally and enemy at the same time, yet he doesn’t appear to regard Ciel or the Phantomhives as enemies, even if they oppose his goals. He might be Sebastian’s enemy, though. The striking contrasts and similarities between the two of them were quite compelling. I look forwar to seeing where this complex adversity is going. The most powerful bond in this volume remains the one driving this entire series, the one between Ciel and Sebastian. This was depicted in exquisite intensity in the panels shown throughout the story.
For all of this, plus the conclusion of a particularly stunning storyline which opened up new mysteries, this gets four stars.