As we waltz in this world, keep clinging on somehow
Without dodging the sorrowful love that forever comes and goes
Even if, unnoticed, secrets become the norm
Can we still dare to hope?
Can we?
If we don’t put on a brave front
We’ll crumble and disappear
We could just discard this prayer, not enough to be called magic
“Wouldn’t that be easier?”
Perhaps, but even so
We continue to draw a never-ending spiral
That’s our waltz
A foil moon and snowflakes made of foam
Someone calculates me with nonsensical formulae
and I am a witch
So, does that make you the Devil?
Unnoticed, pain begins to turn to pride
And here comes a waltz
Like being choked by blackened fingertips
Even if solitude tears our hearts apart
Even if I slap your hand away and I’m alone
Even if hope transforms into torment
Can we still dare to hope?
Can we?
If we don’t put on a brave front
We’ll crumble and disappear
We could just discard this prayer, not enough to be called magic
“Wouldn’t that be easier?”
Perhaps, but even so
We continue to draw a never-ending spiral
We shake ourselves free from fear
The curtain is rising
We could just forget that our pasts still live with us now
“Wouldn’t that be easier?”
Even if that were the case
We continue to draw a never-ending spiral
I watched it ages ago, but since I recently watched Monsters University, I bought the Blu-ray to keep me company while drawing and rewatched it.
I don’t remember the ending theme having such super lovey-dovey lyrics!? (lol)
So this is what people are calling “bromance” these days…
It’s not romantic love, but they’re just endlessly praising each other, gushing about each other, acting like they’d die if the other wasn’t there–this song….. What even is this. It’s an incredible song! (lol)
Sebas and Ciel are also both male, but even taking their difference in status into account it really feels one-sided on Ciel’s end, akin to “I can’t do without my butler.“
As for Sebas, I found myself thinking while drawing this month that he might appreciate being without him…….
Well, it is a self-imposed challenge run, after all.
The higher the difficulty, the more it fires you up, I guess.
Like doing a knife-only run in Biohazard…w.
~ Yana’s Tuna blog
The chapter released the month she posted this was chapter 84. Ciel’s quote is in reference to the lyrics, “I wouldn’t have nothin’ if I didn’t have you” although the Japanese lyrics are slightly different.
Yana even has a couple of sketches of Sebastian as Sully with Ciel as Boo, and of Ciel as Mike:
the english translation didn’t really capture it, but sebastian is actually mocking wolfram here, because he uses 男手 (otokode), meaning “male help,” after sullivan had earlier said she sees wolfram as more of a dog than a man. so it's more like “If you need a man’s help, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
I am not fluent in Japanese, personally, so I would like to make this accessible for anyone that is! I’d love to know any observations you make, with these.
Courtesy of @dragaliareferencearchive, with slight alterations to do the original piece justice.
𖤐Yana’s comment in the art book :
複製原画用描き下ろしということで、再 びアナログイラスト。宝石はお互いの命 だったり矜持だったりのイメージです。 飾っていただく前提の絵は、標本っぽい モチーフを取り入れがち。
This is a new illustration for reproduction, so I’m back to drawing traditionally. The jewels symbolize things such as each character’s respective life or their pride. Whenever I make artwork for exhibition, I tend to incorporate these specimen-like motifs.
While working on this month’s manuscript, one of my assistants asked “What exactly is the limit to what Mr. Sebastian would find acceptable?”
When I answered, “I mean, whether or not he’s into it, if he’s under orders wouldn’t he have no limit regardless of their age or appearance?,”
They looked appalled (laughs)
I think Sebas probably has aesthetic preferences regardless of gender. With this current contractor he goes a little beyond the what’s expected of a butler and proactively keeps him looking neat, so I think it might be fair to say he could be thinking something like “If you are going to accompany someone, wouldn’t you prefer a lovely person?” (Ignoring the creator’s own artistic preferences.)
Since he’s probably managing everything for his current contractor from his physique to his haircuts, I think it’ll be inevitable that his personal tastes will show through. But preference aside, I’m sure part of that is a result from him strictly following the expected etiquette of “how a nobleman ought to be”; things like what the proper clothing colors are and so on.
I don’t think Sebas personally dislikes red.
If Ciel was a girl, Sebastian would probably tightened her corset far more than what’s appropriate for her age every single day, meticulously readjusting it regularly as the day goes on, make sure she changes dresses properly for daylight and evening, thoroughly treating and styling her hair, forcing daily lessons in dancing, piano, and embroidery, even down to having her sleep with gloves on…
As a butler, of course. (laughs)
“This is how a lady ought to be.”
And then it’s like, whenever you hear someone complimenting your master, it’ll feel like you’re hearing praise for a doll that you dressed up and made beautiful all by yourself, and so it makes you feel really smug over it…
…Though really, I honestly haven’t given much thought to what Sebastian’s type is or what kind of standards he has. (laughs)
I do sometimes get fan letters asking what Sebas’ ideal type is, but I think what’s probably most important to him is flavor!!!
In terms of his contract holder at present, I think he’s in the middle of a strain refinement process for the sake of a flavor that he’s never tasted before, so preferences aren’t a concern there.
There are probably innate qualities or “breeds” involved too, but regarding the young master specifically, I haven’t really thought much about it in the original work.
In the second season of the anime it seemed like it was already “high quality” from the beginning of their covenant. I remember thinking at the time, “Yeah, that’d be a lot easier to understand!”
After working this new translation out with my friend, I figured I might as well help illustrate it, too.
Notes:
• When Yana describes Sebastian’s thought process, there are no pronouns. He could be talking generally or his personal opinion.
• “Lovely” is my rendering of 綺麗, like he said in his interview.
• for “strain refinement process” the term used here is 品種改良, literally “selective breeding” [as you would crops, flowers, livestock, etc.]
it’s difficult to translate for the metaphor and “cultivate” feels closest in this context, but in the manga, the word typically translated as “cultivated” is 育てる which also means foster/raise/rear/nurture.
I intend to go back and add it to my reblog of akumadaenglish’s post too, but we thankfully have the page that this was on archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20171230083939/http://yanatoboso.tuna.be/?page=55
Ignoring their individual features, the expressions they make are so similar that I don't want to draw them next to each (haha).
The resemblance between Vincent and Sebastian has an intention, but I have a feeling the reason won't be explained in the story.
The next post directly underneath it continues the commentary, which, going by Yana’s tumblr blog posts, suggest that it accompanied the following image:
From my friend
It says Vincent also has big eyes ^^ She has commented before about how people can maybe recognize her art by the way she draws eyes being unusually large for her own art style
"I remember being told something similar during the Black Butler anime, that my characters’ eyes are unusually wide for my art style."
To me, at least, the original blog post comes off like she’s mocking herself. As if it’s an inside joke with the workplace lol
I’ve noticed that although it’s inconsistent, the most recent standies have Vincent shorter than Sebastian, too.
Wait wait ok am I just reading this wrong since I’m relying on automated translations (I ran it thru DeepL too) and I’m illiterate in Japanese… or did she just say she *wanted* to *purposefully* make Sebastian and Vincent look similar in this instance? That’s very interesting.
I think she was saying that she had just found out that the silhouette was Furukawa, but she had previously received a letter from a fan who had noticed that Vincent's hair was different/wrong and requested that she be more nitpicky/take special care with that detail. I'm assuming the letter was about his hair in the original 2014 run, which didn't look like Vincent's hair in the manga/anime:
She passed this sentiment on to the production team, who it seems took it into account when producing the 2015 run. So, she wasn't trying to make Vincent look like Sebastian, she was trying to make Vincent look like Vincent.
This is the pitiful little Sebastian in the corner of Toboso's concept art for season 2's demon Ciel. I was curious what it said and couldn't find a translation (please share a link if you have one), so I tried to translate it myself with help from google translate.
Thought bubble: ドSに育てるんじゃなかった… "I shouldn't have raised him to be such a sadist..."
Arrow pointing to Sebastian: これから永遠に保護者になるセバス。"Sebastian who will become his guardian forever from now on." (This isn't a generic word for protector. It's guardian as in the person who is legally in charge of the safety and care of a minor or other vulnerable person. This is the person who signs permission slips for school field trips and goes to parent-teacher meetings.)
Remaining text: 悪魔の先輩として狩りの方法とか教えるんだろうか…。気になりますね（笑）"I wonder if he'll teach him things like how to hunt as a senior demon... I'm curious (lol)"
As The Spring of Wheels brings Yana’s use of playing on English vs Japanese words, I feel like people should be aware of this loan word:
「リベンジ」 (“Ribenji”).
Revenge.
The determination of the loser to win next time. A second chance. A chance at redemption or a rematch. Unlike the English revenge, as a loanword in Japan it carries a positive, forward-moving nuance.*
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