Is it still worth reading?
Summary:
- Manga readers have been criticizing Black Butler for some time now.
- Some suggest that Yana Toboso is losing interest in her own project.
- Fans disagree and think the author needs more time.
The Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji) manga started back in 2006, and it still keeps going until now. With the series being almost 20 years old, fans are beginning to ask questions about the finale and where all of this is going.
Is Yana Toboso not so involved in the manga?
For the past three years, since the “Other Ciel” arc started, fans have been expressing more and more concerns about the Black Butler manga. Some of the twists seem questionable, fans mention forgotten plot points and weird storytelling decisions. The pacing has suffered, too, and the plot has hardly moved recently. The number of pages also raises some concerns among the fans, they say the older chapters used to be two or three times as long, and the wait between the chapters stays the same.
All of that drove a number of the manga readers to the idea that Yana Toboso may not be so passionate about her own manga anymore. She has other projects to work on now, such as Disney: Twisted Wonderland, which is a mobile game based on characters inspired by Disney villains.
Another idea is that the mangaka has made enough money on the Black Butler series and since the new season of the anime has been announced, we can be sure that more money is coming. Fans suggest that Yana Toboso has had enough of Ciel and Sebastian and doesn’t care about the manga as much as before.
That’s not true
No matter what other people say, devoted fans don’t agree. A lot of readers are frustrated with how slow the events in the manga transpire, indeed, but they do not feel like this is due to Yana Toboso's lack of love for the series. Fans think that the finale of the current manga arc is quite close, and we just have to wait some more.
Besides, if the mangaka didn't care about Black Butler so much anymore, she wouldn't have put so much historically accurate details and attention into it. They also mention her improving the art style a lot, and this amount of effort put doesn’t make any sense for someone who doesn't enjoy their own project.
Fans’ bets are on the fact that Yana Toboso has some sort of a creative block and she is stalling the series until she can come up with an idea, so they still have hope that the Black Butler manga has a chance to become great again.