Character Arc
Sebastian Michaelis is the impossibly competent butler at the heart of Black Butler, a tall, dark and effortlessly elegant servant who can cook, fight, fence, dance and solve any problem his master sets him. The household staff and outsiders alike marvel at his perfection, and he deflects every astonishment with his trademark line that he is simply one hell of a butler. The pun is deliberate, for Sebastian is no man at all but a demon wearing a flawless human mask.
Bound to Ciel Phantomhive by a Faustian contract, Sebastian obeys his young masters every command with theatrical devotion, protecting him from assassins, monsters and rival schemers. His loyalty, however, is transactional rather than affectionate, he serves only because the contract entitles him to consume Ciels soul once the boys revenge is complete. This gives their relationship a chilling undercurrent, the more faithfully Sebastian protects Ciel, the closer he draws to the meal he is patiently cultivating.
Coolly amused, occasionally cruel and endlessly capable, Sebastian is the engine of the shows action and much of its dark humour, whether dispatching enemies with cutlery or grumbling about his masters reckless orders. He is voiced in Japanese by Daisuke Ono, whose smooth, velvety delivery became inseparable from the character and helped make Sebastian one of the most iconic butlers and demons in anime.