The boy and his demon butler have returned to the printed page! Square Enix’s massively popular Black Butler manga series has resumed serialization in the May issue of Monthly GFantasy, owned by the company. The May issue launched on April 18th and featured the protagonists of Black Butler, Ciel and Sebastian, on the cover. To celebrate the series’ return to the printed media, the new Monthly GFantasy issue will include a free poster featuring the cover illustration from the July 2024 issue of the same magazine. The series is now entering its climax, indicating that it is nearing its inevitable conclusion.
Black Butler has been on hiatus since June last year, meaning the series wasn’t being serialized for about ten months. The manga has been ongoing since 2006, with 34 volumes in circulation. It’s one of the most popular manga currently still being published, with over 35 million copies in the market. A long-running anime series has continued to run since 2008, becoming one of the most consistent anime series in the last seventeen years. The Black Butler manga may last up to the franchise’s 20th anniversary in 2026, depending on how long the climax ends up being.
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Why Was Black Butler on Hiatus for so Long?
Working on an ongoing manga series in Japan is super demanding. As a mangaka, you must write your story, draw the manga, and help with inking before a deadline. It’s one of the most intense work environments in entertainment, leading to necessary breaks between runs so that authors can rejuvenate. With eighteen years already under her belt by 2024, Black Butler‘s author, Yana Toboso, put the manga into an indefinite hiatus in the summer of last year.
However, Toboso makes it clear the hiatus wasn’t for her to go on break. She needed that extra time to research for the climax of the series, highlighting her dedication to the craft. She wanted to assure fans that the series will get a proper finale, and she’s doing everything in her power to do the necessary research to deliver a good ending. The manga’s return also perfectly synergizes with the latest anime adaptation, Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc, which just began airing on April 5th.
The current anime is the fourth series in the Black Butler franchise. A-1 Pictures, the Aniplex-owned studio that has worked on Solo Leveling, Sword Art Online, and Fairy Tail, produced the first two Black Butler anime from 2008 through 2014. CloverWorks Studio, the same company behind Darling in the Franxx, The Promised Neverland, My Dress Up Darling, and Spy x Family, has produced the two most recent anime adaptations, including Emerald Witch Arc. GamesRadar reports that the latest series is expected to run for 11 episodes, around the same amount as the preceding Black Butler: Public School Arc anime adaptation. That means Emerald Witch will run until the summer, most likely finishing in June. The original Black Butler anime had 36 episodes, whereas Black Butler: Book of Cricus only had 10.
H/T: Natalie Comic, GamesRadar
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