That Demon, Skin Crawling

I received a request from @working-dreamer to share my thoughts on Yunbastian’s cinematic record solo. Specifically the moment where he quivered before the solo starts.

In order to understand the scene, I shall unpack the tiny details that built up towards that moment. It is going to be a LONG post, because every second is filled with the HYPER details that Furukawa Yuta is famous for.

Since Forever

Right after Ciel was officially decorated Earl of Phantomhive, it seemed like Sebastian was testing his contractee’s resolve. “Status, wealth, and a beautiful fiancée, all belongs to you now. Now, how about giving up on this foolish revenge and live a life of happiness like this?” The poisonous temptations of a demon. The boy replies: “That does not sound bad, But…!”

Yunbastian was highly skeptical, but decided to give the contractee a second for whatever BS he’d have to say before devouring him. Little did Sebas know that his benefit of the doubt would be rewarded with something he had been starved of: the feeling anticipation.

“The reason I came back here is not to pursue happiness. I came back to fight!” The boy said with strength and determination in equal measure. Yunbastian was shocked to the point of being frozen mid-pounce, a hand over his chest, as though in a vain attempt to calm his heart.

He almost allowed the grimace to take over his facial expression, but willed it under control just in time. The demon faced his master again in human guise, as though nothing was up.

From ‘Demon & Butler’ to ‘Demon Butler’

For the first time in their contract, Yunbastian knelt down before his master, and when he extended his hand, the butler grabbed for it with extreme eagerness, his entire body shifting along with his movement.

“Knelt down for the first time”? No, obviously it was not the first time Yunbastian was on his knees, as before this ⇈ scene he already knelt twice at least ⇊. However, in both instances he simply knelt down FOR the boy to adjust his height to him; he never knelt down BEFORE him out of reverence. Here Furukawa paid extraordinary attention to conveying the difference between ‘kneeling’ and ‘kneeling before someone’, minding the tiniest details such as:

distance between his legs

the speed with which he would descend

and the presence/absence of his iconic tail-flip before kneeling down. (More details about thise in this post)

As Furukawa puts it, this ⇊ scene in the cinematic record is likewise the first heartfelt “Yes, my Lord” Sebastian ever said. Before speaking the phrase, Furukawa bit his lips and took a deep breath. The meaningful pause reminding us of the immense weight these three words carry, and the hand over his chest clenching, communicating the sincerity behind his phrase.

It was in this moment that Sebastian was no longer ‘the demon’ and ‘the butler’ - ‘truth’ and ‘guise’, but instead became ‘the demon butler’.

That Butler, Exhilarated

His master pulled his hand away, but Yunbastian maintained his pose. The way he kept the hand to his lips was as though he was savouring the imagined aftertaste of the imagined flavour of the boy’s soul.

The flavour was imagined, and therefore the limits to the deliciousness were also boundless. As @working-dreamer also said, it looked like Sebas was either laughing and crying. I personally think that Yunbastian also didn’t know which one to do, so settled with both. Can we imagine how excited Sebas must have been to finally have something to look forward to? Anyone who has experience with inability to feel anticipation must surely understand the ecstasy of feeling something for the first time.

Furukawa portrayed a demon that had lived on pestering their contractee, or searching for glee in finding loopholes to preserve their autonomy. A survival mechanism almost, just to keep themselves going until they can fill that empty stomach.

Once turned into ‘Sebastian Michaelis’ however, for the first time in forever did he look forward to exist in his contract and the process towards getting his payment. It was like he was finally fully alive again.

This excitement is something Yunbastian holds very dear. In the total darkness of the stage we see Sebas getting up and going in the direction of where his master left. It was like a chef who is drooling over the meal in the making; the unfinished product already so delicious he wants to eat it before it can be served.

But Yunbastian decides against it, shook his head and turned back again. “No. Patience,” he must have thought.

That Demon, Skin Crawling

Yunbastian calmed himself and his most famous solo begins. We know the demon’s many wicked expressions, and we know what he wants. But then Yunbastian showed us this ⇊ most angelic, pure and innocent smile on a demon’s face.

Personally I find this the most skin crawling thing about Yunbastian, because he MAKES YOU feel happy for him like we’re supposed to be happy when a starved child finally gets food. He MAKES YOU feel happy that he is going to manipulate a child into death, into a supposed ‘afterlife’ that is worse than going to Hell. And it works a bit too well, and we are left with the question: “what is wrong with us!?”

Then immediately after showing us Angelbastian, he seamlessly transforms into the monster again, confirming that he is a multi-faceted creature with many feelings like us humans do. “He is not a beast going after a child’s life, he just wants food because he’s starved!”

In just a second, Furukawa managed to ‘humanise’ this Trash Demon™ for us, make us feel sympathy for a mass murderer.

Yunbastian looks at the hand that previously held his master’s, as though imagining he can eat it already while saying the words: “delicious beyond all.”

I translated the phrase into ‘delicious beyond all’, but in Japanese it is: “滴るほどに” (Shitataru hodo ni), literally meaning: “to the point of dripping”. When sung by Yunbastian, it might as well have been a metaphor for drooling. This too reflects just how true and raw Sebastian’s feelings are.

It is the last phrase of the solo, and as though the impact was not enough already, he repeats the line shouting, falling on his knees in a way that ‘the butler’ would never.

This is the ultimate reminder that ‘Sebastian Michaelis’ is still the hungry demon behind the mask of a perfect butler. The ultimate proof that the core objective for the demon to remain on Earth is to eat a child’s soul.

This is but a very short scene, but within three mere minutes, Furukawa’s HYPER detailed acting managed to:

express the ENTIRE essence of this complex character,

summarise the demon’s past, present AND future,

‘humanise’ a demon whose morals cannot possibly be justified within human standards,

all without minimising any of the trashiness of Trash Demon™

Now, THAT’S acting if you ask me. When Yana said that Furukawa understands Sebas better than she does, it really might not be as grandiose an overpraise as people think… TOHO, your favourite cow is legit.