Manga Review – Black Butler Vol 15 by Yana Toboso (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Older Teen
Genre: Manga/Paranormal
Length: 176 pages
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: October 29, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-0316254199
Stand Alone or Series: 15th book in the Black Butler series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the fifteenth volume in the Black Butler series. This continues to be an incredibly engaging and entertaining manga series. Some parts are laugh out loud funny and the mystery is incredibly engaging.

Ciel has enrolled at an English boarding school at the request of her Majesty. Students have been disappearing from the school and Ciel and Sebastian are supposed to figure out what is going on. However, competition between the school’s houses is fierce and Ciel will have to use all his wits (and lots of manual labor from Sebastian) to win enough favor to finally speak to the Headmaster. Sebastian has an incredibly busy go of it as he is not only posing as a teacher, but also spying on students for Ciel, and doing all of Ciel’s chores as well.

This volume reminds a bit of Harry Potter without the magic but with all the house to house competition. It was wonderful fun and incredibly entertaining.

Ciel was a bit of a brat throughout (and a bit hypocritical). However just when I started to get annoyed about how he takes advantage of Sebastian, we are reminded that Ciel is on a mission from the Queen herself and leads a life of much more danger and importance than his rival petty students…

There is a lot of focus on the four prefects of the school, who seem to rule the roost. All of these characters are beautifully drawn and painfully intriguing; especially the prefect of the Violet Wolf house. I really enjoyed the new characters and am enjoying the new story line.

Overall an absolutely wonderful continuation of this series. Toboso continues to do an excellent job of keeping both the plot and the characters fresh and interesting. The illustration remains top notch and is a pleasure to look. This is one of my favorite manga series. I would recommend to those who enjoy paranormal manga as well as mysteries and historical fantasies.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge