THE IMAGE OF BUTLER IN MANGA AND
ANIMATION:MANGA “BLACK BUTLER AS AN EXAMPLE”
200162 Nana Takeda

outline■ Overview of my study■ Chapter 1: The history of butler culture and their daily work

■ Chapter 2: The influence of the adaptation and translation ofstories and changes■ Chapter 3: The development of the butler image in Japan■ Conclusion

Overview of the study■ Background: when we read manga, we are interested in not
only foreign cultures, but also Japanese culture and we canlearn them naturally■ Subject: how butler culture is portrayed in the manga“Kuroshitsuji”■ Aim: how the modification of the story influences cultural
understanding■ Methods: a comparative study of manga, anime, and film

Chapter 1: The history of butler culture andtheir daily work
■ Butler derives from the Anglo-Norman word 'buteler'meaning 'buttle’.
■ Traditional British butler → role of a male servant whomanages and serves bottles of wine.
Modern butler → meaning of employing a butler as a symbolof wealth and success■ Butler in Japan→ runs the client's home, manages assets
and responds to the client's requests

Chapter 1
Kuga lists the three works as 'Japan's three greatest butler
works', due to the bestselling nature of the original works
and their high ratio of articles in magazine as a result of themany dramas and animated films that have been produced.
・“nazotoki wa dinā no ato de”
・“meichan'noshitsuji”
・“Kuroshitsuji”

The number of articles which are related to Butler

Chapter 1■ Butler, house steward, housemaid, gardener, cook, footman.
→The occupational distinctions of the English house servants
are used as a source of reference.
■ Character personalities and competencies are prioritised.

Chapter 2: The influence of the adaptation and translationof stories and changes■ In response to a question on Japanese culture of which they
were proud, the most common answer was "Japanese food"(61.5%), while the fourth most common answer was"anime/animation" (43.2%).
■ The anime Black Butler showed high flexibility in the creation of
its characters and storyline, as well as its title.
■ The film omitted some lines about the work of the servants.

The image of Japanese culture

The titles of manga and anime
話数

漫画『黒執事』第１巻（2006）

アニメ『黒執事』（2008）

アニメ『黒執事Ⅱ』（2010）

第1話「その執事、有能」「その執事、有能」「クロ執事」

第2話「その執事、万能」「その執事、最強」「単（ソロ）執事」

第3話「その執事、最強」「その執事、万能」「女郎（めろ）執事」

第4話「その執事、最凶」「その執事、酔狂」「テロ執事」

Chapter 2■ Elements such as the scenario and reproduction of theworldview as in the original story were considerably revisedin the "Black Butler" live-action film → Viewer satisfaction
may have decreased.

■ A total of 30.6% of respondents did not want the live-action
film to be made → It can be inferred that viewers did notwant a live-action film due to concerns about the actors
performing the content of the manga and the impossibilityof reproducing the world-view.

What do you think about a live-action movie?
And the elements that people are expecting ina live-action film.

Chapter 2■ Annotations （Translationnotes）are included at theend of the English version.
■ The Japanese word "Chiratto"
is followed by "Glance" inEnglish and "Nikkori" by"Smile" to make it easier for
English readers tounderstand the Japanese
pronunciation and characters.
■ “I am merely a butler.” vs “Iam a devil of a butler.”Chapter 3: The developmentof the butler image in Japan■ In the manga Black Butler, tea is adopted
as part of the butler Sebastian's job
description because the main characteris a boy who is too young to drink alcohol.
■ The image of learning about the culture
required to be a gentleman or ladythrough a butler was created, andmanners lessons and butlers came to be
associated with each other.

Conclusion■ The manga Black Butler has been translated andadapted, changing the language and content of thestory.
→The manga has influenced the understanding of
the British culture of butlers and the development of auniquely Japanese image of the butler.