Ciel is Baby and Sebastian is Trash

I've been a Black Butler fan for more than 15 years, but only watched the musicals in 2023.

I've always understood, at least on an intellectual level, that Sebastian is bad because he takes advantage of humans' vulnerability to eat their souls. He's especially bad because he's doing this to a child.

But I didn't comprehend just how awful he is until I watched the musicals (particularly the 3rd through 5th). Ciel is cute and small in the manga and anime, but he is a drawing. My brain doesn't register him as an actual child. His voice actress, Maaya Sakamoto, is incredibly talented but her voice could never be mistaken for a child's.

Ciel's lines in both the manga and anime and the way he carries himself make him seem more like a small adult than a child. Even the way Sebastian interacts with him, while condescending, doesn't come across as the behavior of an adult toward a child.

The experience of watching the musicals opened my eyes to just how predatory Sebastian and Ciel's relationship is. In the 6th Ciel is played by an adult and in the first two by a teenager. But in 3-5, especially in 4 and 5, he is played by actors who my brain immediately register as children.

He's tiny and his voice is crackly. His lines are cold and aloof, but the delivery of those lines show that it's all an act, and that's he's unmistakably a child, traumatized and distrustful.

Sebastian, who towers over him, talks to him in almost a baby-talk voice. While in the manga and anime one could forget Ciel is a child or imagine that Sebastian himself forgets, in the musical it's impossible. The demon is knowingly planning to eat this incredibly vulnerable individual.

When I first watched this, I was surprised by how viscerally I reacted. I wanted Sebastian dead and away from that little boy, in a way I'd never felt toward him when they were just drawings. The stakes suddenly seemed much higher.

shit ton of people are repeating the thing about hayao miyazaki saying AI art is an "insult to life itself" and just as a reminder he was talking about the zombies that team made that were intended to be scary in how much they shook, but instead reminded him of his disabled friend. the insult to life itself was referring to the team trying to make scary real symptoms that people live with.

it was a quote about ableism. if he has said other things about AI type stuff, that is a different thing. but that specific quote was about ableism.

this is the full quote.

His actual answer to AI is this which is just a few seconds after the insult to life speech. [source]

It's still so strange to me how apparently taboo it is to like a post on someone's Instagram from a month ago when there are posts still circulating on Tumblr from 1550 BCE

If he didn't want it circulating in 2022 he should have sold better copper

based off that house meme

The difference between 4chan and Facebook is that on Facebook, the racists feel safe posting racism with their full names, jobs and pictures of their faces on display

I'm so happy about the Emerald Witch arc coming out I missed the boys (I doodled this in like 5 mins, this is exactly how that scene played in my head)

I will die a short hair Sebastian stan

In case anyone finds it helpful because mobility aids are horrifically expensive and inaccessible…

And for those people who have access to mobility devices but might benefit from a second chair they can abuse without risking expensive damage…

Erik Kondo has made a website, Open Source Innovations, that details plans for DIY wheelchairs. These wheelchairs can be made from common materials like wood, plastic, and pvc. They are lightweight and can be custom fit to the user allowing from the same degree of movement you would get from a custom chair. And they are durable and easily repairable. (he has been stress testing his latest design by dropping it down stairs, dropping it out of a car, launching it across a driveway, and throwing it off a deck). Its 12lbs and I think he said its was in the $200 ish range for parts.

He also is working on cheap, open source, accessible designs for beach chairs, off road chairs, motorized attachments (think smart drive), and so on. Plus he skateboards in his wheelchair. Cool dude, helpful info, pass it on.

It's incredibly sad people have to resort to this, but it's a damn good resource. Use it. Spread awareness. Maybe one day people with physical disabilities won't need DIYs like this. But until then, reblog and share.

Always wanted to make one of these

Tomodachi Lifes biggest new feature vs. Miitopias biggest new feature

fascinated by this cafe whose decor seems to be primarily superman-centric except for three identical busts of what google reverse image search is telling me is the kid from black butler

People when you have the audacity to post anything about Mel that doesn’t have the word “manipulative” in it.