#{ludger}

[cedric-k-rossignol]

You're as flashy as ever. But of course! I'm the only lady in the English branch's Collections Department, after all!

[trunswicked]

Merry Xillia Remastered release day! 💝

[every-grelle-sutcliff]

[kuroshitsuji-wiki]

Trivia: Emerald Witch Arc and more! (Part 1/2)

As I did a compilation like this for Season 4, I decided to do one for Season 5 too! :)

I already put all the information from this post on the wiki btw! (Please remember to use the new wiki which gets properly updated and will continue to surpass the old one info-wise~ :))

This time, tumblr won't let me put everything in one post, so it's a two-parter^^'

Spoiler note: The below trivia points include spoilers for the entire Emerald Witch Arc/Season 5, but I was careful to hide spoilers for everything beyond it.

Emerald Witch Arc trivia

The Emerald Witch Arc "is not a story about the oldest magic that is still left in the depths of a forest but a story based on the historical shift that occurred in the early 20th century with the help of the latest scientific weapons." It is also a story "about children who are at the mercy of adults."

During the TV airing, there is a commercial break after Sieglinde introduces herself in German. Afterwards, she introduces herself again in Japanese, and the rest of the episode continues without any more spoken German. Mr K commented that viewers should imagine that this shift comes from a perspective change: from Ciel's POV (pre-ad break) to Sebastian's (post-ad break).

It was screenwriter Hiroyuki Yoshino's idea to incorporate the brief flashback of Sebastian giving Ciel warm milk with honey for the first time.

Yana could only think "wow, this looks a lot more gruesome in color than I expected" when she saw the "miasma"-scene in color for the first time. The scene got a lot of attention when the corresponding manga chapters were released, and the editor-in-chief even asked her if it was "okay to do this to a good-looking character?"

Mr K pointed out that the Urðarbrunnr, which Sieglinde mentions in her incantation in Ch90/S5E3, is a wellspring beneath the world tree Yggdrasil. Per his words, when they were in the cauldron, Ciel and Sebastian were given water "from" the spring "that is said to keep the world tree alive."

Mr K said the Werewolves' Forest could have been used as a testing place for mustard gas "until the time came." (The synthesis of mustard gas was perfected by the Germans in 1886, but the gas was not used in warfare until World War I.)

Sieglinde's "magic elixir" is sodium hypochlorite. As it's also used for disinfection, Mr K joked the cauldron might smell like a "swimming pool."

An otherworldly swimming pool?

The extra scene in S5E4 of Sebastian pulling the bedsheet from under Sieglinde is a self-homage to the similar scene in Ch1/Ep1.

Oscar makes a "puff-puff" sound when he inspects Anne. Mr K said that it is a sound that will be familiar to players of Square Enix games. (It "is an onomatopoeia that conveys a woman's breasts being rubbed in someone's face" and was "first coined by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and lead artist of Dragon Quest, both of which featured it." Dragon Quest is a video game series published by Square Enix. "Puff-puff" is included in and referenced by various other games too.)

The "A horse?" surprise is a nod to the "A deer?" scene from Ch18. (The "Who is that?" scene from Ch140 is a nod to it as well.)

Wolfsschlucht is only inhabited by soldiers and researchers.

Yana knows that panzers (and toxic gas) were used in warfare only much later in time. She still included a panzer because she wanted it to be the arc's "final boss." When her assistants remarked that the final boss is not "a person," she replied that "the butler is not a person either, so there is no problem."

The panzer is a "cartoonish arrangement" of the Sturmpanzerwagen A7V, the first operational German tank. It was modified in response to the preconceptions of modern laymen and was purposefully not accurately depicted.

The climactic fight in the Werewolves' Forest was rather strenuous to draw because everything was still done manually at that time: The lace and decorations on Sieglinde's dress had to be hand-drawn, and when Ciel wore it during the fight against the panzer and the infantry, it was so much work that Yana and her assistants even cried.

Because they had no 3D technology for weapons and panzers back then, Yana made a paper infantry which she placed around a milk carton panzer. She then photographed this arrangement as a reference for her art. (Because Yana used milk cartons to help her visualise the Campania too, she remarked that "milk is great.")

Yana liked the added lines for Wolfram's drill sergeant so much that she "cackled" when she received the script. The sergeant's "abusive language" reminded Mr K of the movie Full Metal Jacket.

Mr K pointed out that, although Ciel "arrogantly" encouraged Sieglinde to retrieve the bullet from Wolfram, he failed in a similar situation several years before. (see Ch139)

After the release of Ch105, the manga staff got a lot of enquiries about whether Undertaker's cryptic words referred to Vincent and whether Undertaker had resurrected him. (Ch129 revealed their true meaning.)

In the official English translation of Ch107, Ciel orders Sebastian to turn "that artless urchin" into a lady. In the Japanese original, he calls Sieglinde a "shrew" (じゃじゃ馬, Jajauma) as a nod to The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare.

Nina's statement that she "just received a large order of costumes for a singing group" was a hint for the Blue Cult Arc. In the anime, a piece of one of these costumes is displayed when she says this.

Yoshino wrote into the screenplay that Ciel's "Lady Robin" disguise should be briefly shown when Sebastian mentions it. He did that because he knows about the dress' immense popularity. (There was an "unusually" high demand for Ciel in that dress although he only appeared in it for about 15 minutes. Numerous requests were made for licensed illustrations, merchandise, overseas DVD covers, etc.)

To meet Queen Victoria, Ciel wears his Order of the Garter uniform. Emperor Naruhito became a member of said order almost exactly a year before this episode aired (Naruhito received the order on June 25, 2024, and the episode aired on June 28, 2025).

While she watched S5E13, Yana remarked that it really shows "Ciel's terrible 19th-century male values."

MAISIE's lyrics were based on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. (To Mr K, Sieglinde is meant to be Little Red Riding Hood, the Emerald Witch Education Project the Big Bad Wolf, the village crone (who forgot her mother's love in favor of research) the grandmother, and Ciel and Sebastian are the huntsmen.)

The finished opening video amazed Yana (despite her having seen the storyboard beforehand). She thinks that everyone who loves anime should see it, not only those who know Kuroshitsuji, and that people will want to know about Kuroshitsuji when they see the Season 5 opening.

The ending's dancing sequence is a nod to the Ch100 cover, with Ciel even wearing his clothes from that cover. (The ending also includes a nod to the Ch94 cover.) Ciel dances with Finnian, Mey-Rin, and Baldroy in the order in which he employed them.

In the ending, Rachel, Vincent, Angelina, and the members of the Noah's Ark Circus come apart as differently-colored flower petals. Though no one is shown before the blue petals appear, they are meant to belong to a specific character (Ch129 spoiler!) nonetheless.

Yana is very happy with the ending video because it is so "in tune" with her work. Further, when she first received the song's demo, Yana immediately thought of the scene in which Sieglinde meets Queen Victoria and says with a determined look on her face, "For the people of the world, I promise you I shall do my best." (Ch108)

Public School Arc trivia

(All gathered from this article)

Yana picked the setting because she admires old English public schools like Eton College and Harrow School.

That she "found instances of former students saying the public school experience was very painful, or that public schools are essentially jails, and the students are prisoners" during her initial research for the arc only deepened her fascination with public schools.

Researching the English educational system was, though interesting, rather confusing and rough for Yana as it is very different from the Japanese one.

Yana came up with the four dormitories after she read that "the students with the highest marks on an academic exam were placed in a separate boarding house." This made her think, "Wouldn't it be interesting if instead of just the book-smart boys getting their own house, the ones gifted at sports and art also got their own houses?"

Red House was inspired by the "handful of movies [Yana] watched about public schools for [her] research, in which a ton of the characters acted big because of their money and family status." Yana also noted that while "it would be nice if [people's] efforts and talents were enough to earn [them] recognition, but that's not how things work in reality." Because she wants to "depict the bad parts of people like that" in her manga, she created Red House to place such characters in it for the Public School Arc.

Her concept for Red House was also "exceptionally high birth = boys who have been tutored in Latin and other traditional stuff since they were little, boys who've had experiences like going on a trip just to appreciate art, etc." As Weston College is an expensive school, all students are "little rich boys," however.

Yana thought that because Book of the Atlantic turned out so well in her eyes, Kuroshitsuji's anime adaptations were done and over. She was, thus, both extremely happy and surprised when she was approached seven years later about an anime continuation. The realization that this was truly happening only kicked in when she met the anime staff.

The Japan Cricket Association informed Yana about the Bodyline tactic which inspired Ciel's "Over-the-Edge Tactics." If they had not done that, "Ciel might have used even more ungentlemanly and ridiculous methods to wrest his victory."

Yana was thrilled to know that Masashi Ishihama would storyboard the opening as he is one of the animators she admires the most. She was "deeply moved both when [she] received the storyboards and when [she] saw the final video." Yana also loved Oka Okazaki's works beforehand and was happy that he was involved with the season's ending.

Character trivia

The signet ring Ciel wears belonged to Vincent. (Vincent wore it when he died.)

Sebastian does not wear a butler's real uniform: When Yana began working on Kuroshitsuji, she was only able to gather a small amount of information on the formal attire of butlers and, thus, decided to modify it to her liking and in accordance to her drawing capabilities at that time. In-universe, Sebastian is wearing the wrong clothes because he vaguely recreated what he believed a human butler wears.

Unfortunately, because of the manga's success, many people mistakenly believe that Sebastian's uniform is the actual formal uniform of a butler. (Mr K called Sebastian a "criminal" because of that.)

Sebastian has a "bad personality" and, thus, often waits until the last moment to save Ciel. Though he did this multiple times throughout the manga (e.g. the kidnapping in Volume 1), he genuinely did not foresee the situation with the Witch's Curse.

According to Mr K, the Witch's Curse might have only affected Sebastian's "human skin," which he wears as a "temporary disguise" to conceal himself from and endure the world, but not his demon-self.

Because Ciel ordered him not to use his supernatural powers openly (see Ch62), Sebastian has taken to simply working very quickly: Instead of teleporting, he "just" runs very fast. Instead of conjuring dresses out of thin air, he "just" sews them very swiftly. Etc.

Sebastian's true form is not solid, but a kind of malleable, shifting dark slime or tar. (Because she has to draw Sebastian's "tar" so often, Yana created a special digital brush for it, which she named "duruduru" after one of the words she used to describe this aspect of Sebastian when she discussed it with her team.)

Yana planned Finnian's backstory since before Ch1.

Finnian has no qualms or hesitation in choosing Ciel over Sebastian.

The tsuba of Tanaka's katana has a motif of two eagles, based on the double-headed eagle on the Phantomhive family's crest.

Yana has expressed her desire to draw "the story of how Tanaka became a butler someday."

Wolfram is younger than any of the previously introduced butlers in Kuroshitsuji. (Agni is 31, meaning that Wolfram is 30 or younger.)

In Ch101, Vincent says that Diedrich is actually "very gentle at heart" and dependable. Mr K and Yana have added to this, pointing out that Diedrich attacked and killed his own countrymen to protect Ciel and that his compassion prevents him from cutting ties with or ignoring "troublemakers."

Mr K confirmed that Oscar (and Wilde) were named after Oscar Wilde.

He also confirmed that Chlaus is Italian.

Mr K jokingly referred to the village crone as "the chairman of the 'Wolfsschlucht' theater company."

The concept for the village crone was "a village of customs—an old woman who says ominous things at the entrance to the village." Yana added that, in-story, Professor Sullivan herself must have created her character with that concept in mind. Because she was a researcher, Sullivan was likely very "obsessive" and "meticulous."

The design of Sieglinde's father was based on the German chemist Fritz Haber, the "father of chemical warfare."

In the manga, Ludger is briefly shown in Ch98 for the first time. However, only his back and chin were depicted then to trick readers into thinking that he is a still-thin Diedrich. Because Ludger speaks in the manga, "the illusion" would be broken in the anime; after all, the different voice actor would spoil that he is, in fact, not Diedrich. To keep the farce, Diedrich replaces Ludger in that moment in Season 5.

The design of Ludger's shoes was slightly changed—one of the three stripes was removed—for copyright reasons.

Screenwriter Yoshino joked that he felt like "Nina has appeared in the anime many times before." The remark made Yana laugh. (Nina's appearance in Season 5 marked her anime debut, though her creations have been included in the anime since the beginning, as she, i.a., designed the "Lady Robin" dress.)

Continued in Part 2

[luchigeon]

Thoughts on the German reapers? I think they’re pretty neat :3

I don't have much to say about them, since we seen them once, but they looks nice ! I'm curious to see them animated :)

[phantomhive30]

5x11 - His butler, unknown

[hellosparklinguniverse]

[otakuworks]

Hello! Could I request a gn!reader x ludger one shot from the academy's undercover professor where ludger overexerts himself and ends up passing out with gn!reader having to take care of him?

Tysm! 

(ps i saw the other one shot you did about ludger overexerting himself and loved it!!!! fantastic job!!!)

❛ 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃. fluffy oneshot

feat. Ludger x GN!Reader | wc. 0.9K

sum. you might as well be a damn doctor with how often you take care of the constant-exhausted professor.

note. I'm glad you liked it 💜💙 I also have no idea what to name this fic so I just improvised the previous title, don't question it lmao.

If anyone asks what do you do for a living, you'd be torn to answer between professor or nurse. The newest professor seems to have a habit of disappearing into thin air only for you to find him unable to hold his weight.

"Your ass seems to like the ground very much." You sassed, unimpressed eyes scanning his crouched figure under a tree.

"It's the ground who likes my ass very much." He riposted, his raspy voice was the first indication of exhaustion, but with how he sassed you back you doubt he's anything but exhausted.

"If you can retort, you can probably walk. Get up before anyone come looking for me." You urged him and try to lift his weight.

"How is that my fault? You're the one who followed me." He shot you a baffled look.

"And you're the one who kept disappearing. I don't care what shenanigans you're into but please, for the love of God, be more discreet about it. I love walking alone in night but now I can't do that because of your shady business."

"Then walk somewhere I'm nowhere near." He scoffed.

"How about you do your shady business elsewhere?"

"You talk like you own every property here."

You poked his sides, hard. Enough for him to hunch over in pain and to grab the tree for support. "Y-You're an evil person." He created out, glaring at you.

"Wow, I thought you're smart and yet you only figure that out just now?" Your sarcasm couldn't been more obvious.

Despite your actions, you move to sling his arm over your shoulder and try to lift him up. Keyword: try 'cuz good Lord, he must be an elephant.

"What do you e-eat for lunch that m-made you so o-overweight?" You croaked out, adjusting his limp arm over your nape and practically doing all the hard work to keep you two moving.

"You're into fat-shaming?" He glared at you through his hunched figure, "And I'm not overweight nor does it have to do with my diet, you simply don't have muscle mass."

"Now you're skinny-shaming me?"

"Stating facts doesn't mean I'm insulting you." His voice gradually faded out.

Then, he's out of light. Your eye visibly twitched.

"I'll drop you if you don't wake up." No response.

"Oh, look. The principal's here." Again, no response.

It wasn't your first time randomly aiding his ass to a safer place, however most of those times were done with his conscious while throwing remarks here and there. With an exasperated sigh, you doubled your effort limping to the Academy.

For once, the journey was quiet. You don't know if you want to celebrate or to scratch your neck, while his annoying mouth is absent you dread over the fact you have to take care of his unconscious form.

You finally reached his room, kicking the door open before haphazardly throwing him over his bed — the result has his elbows bent uncomfortably, feet hanging out and his face smushed on the mattress.

You leaned against the door, eyes succinctly observing his destitute posture under the poor fulguration. There are no visible wounds and other concerning physical problems, therefore you have no other business of him other than leaving him be.

A blazing headache forced Ludger to pry his eyes open, the uncomfortable throb in his temples has him groaning in discomfort. The room is dimly lit, indicating the morning is yet to come. He vaguely remembers passing out after subduing criminals, but his head is in such disarray to even remember the whole picture.

Despite the aches, he forced himself to sit up and assess the situation. Though it didn't take him too long when he sees you hunched over by the chair across him, dozing off between reality and dreamworld.

Did you bring him here? If so, then why can't he remember?

"Oh, great. The menace has awoken." Your gruff voice pierced through the silent night, stretching your limbs before inching closer to his disoriented form. "You passed out on me and I took the liberty to be a good Samaritan and brought you here myself." Your words lack the usual bite, probably because of the drowsiness.

"Is that so?" His hushed response earned him a raised eyebrow.

"Why do you sound like that? You don't have a fever, do you?" Without question, you placed the back of your hand on his forehead and felt his temperature in normal status. Completely unaware how he froze and glanced at you.

"Must be from the overextend of Mana usage. For a seasoned mage, you sure find yourself often in these rookie situations."

"If you're not gonna help, you're welcome to leave." You rolled your eyes, finding his defensive remark tad bit boring to listen.

"I never said that." With your hand still on his forehead, you infused your mana to generate a magic circle.

Ludger felt the pleasant effect of his headache subsiding, replaced by an odd comforting warmth. He'd usually depend on his pills, but magic is proven useful it seems, he might depend on you occasionally. Although he already has, multiple times now.

He almost slumped right back if not for your presence, gotta remain professional and not ruin his reputation.

You quickly assess his status before humming in satisfactory and wordlessly left his room. It took seconds before he scoffed indignant, perhaps there was no point in preserving his reputation around you anymore.

He still has some thanking to do tomorrow.

@otakuworks _ 2024