Fans of the "Black Butler" franchise probably assumed, after season one and season two each had their own fairly complete and irreversable endings, that there would be no further adaptations of the ongoing manga series. But fear not, starting in 2014 a "Book of" series was prepared, starting with "Book of Circus." Yes, "Black Butler" is back, and as the excellent opening and ending animations show, it is in top form. Seriously, when watching this show, I enjoyed watching the opening and ending every time. At this point, it is assumed that you already know if you love or hate the show. If you enjoy beautiful men with hints of homoeroticism and a dash of gothic Victorian horror, you'll feel right at home with "Book of Circus."At this point, any sense of continuity has been thrown out the window (which is handy if you didn't see the original show or have access to Funimation's out of print copies). All you need to know is that Ciel Phantomhive is a young boy and earl in Victorian England, owner of a successful toy company and secret agent of the Queen. He seeks out vengence against the murder of his parents and of the captors who had tried to kill him, so Ciel made a deal with a demon named Sebastian, to act as his superhuman and elegant butler until revenge is had. This arc has the two uncovering the mystery of a series of disappearances, all victims being young children. The only clue is that the crime occurs whenever a certain circus is in town, and so they infiltrate the carnival as new troop members hoping to find out the truth. And thanks to cameos from certain Grim Reaper characters, we get plenty of foreshadowing that many souls will die by the climax, but who and how remains a mystery until the end. Using the circus as a backdrop is an inspired choice for the show. Unfortunately, the story feels a bit more looser this time around: we are introduced to a variety of eccletic characters, but most of the show focuses filling in their backstories and motives, and of Ciel trying to fit in with the closest thing he's had to a family in a long time. Some of this is well-paced drama and comedy, but all relying on the new characters rather then the mystery at hand. Thankfully, these characters are a fascinating troupe, and they help keep the show from feeling too redundant. The mystery itself is a slow burn until the final reveal, and while the ending is a poigniant one, it doesn't have the dramatic oopmh that past seasons had. This is likely due to the production team's intention to make multiple related adventures, having learned twice now to avoid a final conclusion. There are a couple issues I had with the story choices that made me squirm a little. One is that Sebastian seduces one of the female characters. Sex in anime can have varying reactions, but is typically a bad idea when using now-beloved characters, even if Sebastian is a sexy fantasy for many women (and perhaps a few men). That whole scene seemed to ultimately have no real purpose to the story, except to have a fun payoff based on how the flamming-red Grell finds out. A second issue is with the dark-horror parts of this season: frankly, "Book of Circus" was more about atmosphere, and had very little in terms of horror. But when it did have horror, it can be shockingly violent, made more significant since we're talking about children as the victims. "Black Butler" hasn't strayed away from this sort of thing in the past, but viewers should still be warned in advance.
Otherwise, the animation is slightly improved using slightly more modern production standards, and the rest of the visuals, audio and acting maintains the solid levels seen since season one. While season one is still the best starting (and ending) point to the franchise, "Book of Circus" is an acceptable alternative for new fans to jump in and see what the fuss is about. For long-time fans, while "Book of Circus" isn't required viewing, I would still recommend it to get in on the new "Book of" series to the fullest. And as a whole, the "Book of" trilogy is worth the time.