Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” has the werewolf’s curse strike Ciel and Sebastian at long last. In fact, it strikes Ciel so hard that he regresses due to a case of trauma. All because of his highly traumatic backstory, which everyone now has to figure out how to help him out of.

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan”: Details

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- JP key art
It will be a while before we see Ciel this calm and composed, I fear.

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” is the third episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1 and Ep. 2 here) of the new season of the dark comedy and darker fantasy/supernatural anime adaptation of Black Butler. This latest season comes directly after the Public School Arc. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Yana Toboso (Rust Blaster, Disney Twisted-Wonderland). CloverWorks (Spy x Family, Bocchi the Rock!, The Elusive Samurai) is the animation studio behind the anime. Crunchyroll is the company licensing the anime for its global release.

Production Crew

Alas, we don’t know who specifically is behind Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan”.

As for Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- as a whole though: we do know that Kenjirou Okada is the director, with Hiroyuki Yoshino as the writer. Yoshito Ito is the producer. Yumi Shimazu is the character designer. Ryo Kawasaki is the composer behind music.

Speaking of music: the opening theme song for Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- is “MAISIE” by Cö shu Nie feat. HYDE. Meanwhile, “WALTZ” by RYUGUJO is the ending theme song for the same.

Voice Cast

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” features the voices of Maaya Sakamoto (Brina Palencia in English dub) as Ciel Phantomhive, Daisuke Ono (J. Michael Tatum in English dub) as Sebastian, Rie Kugimiya (English dub voice unknown) as Sieglinde Sullivan, and Chikahiro Kobayashi (English dub voice unknown) as Wolfram Geltzer.

The Phantomhive manor voice cast consists of Hiroki Tōchi (Ian Sinclair in English dub) as Baldroy, Yūki Kaji (Jason Liebrecht in English dub) as Finnian, Emiri Katō (Monica Rial in English dub) as Mey-Rin, Takuma Terashima (Spike Spencer in English dub) as Snake, and Shunji Fujimura (R. Bruce Elliott in English dub) as Tanaka.

When and Where to Watch

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on April 19, 2025. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this entire latest season of the anime, along with all previous seasons and even the Book of the Atlantic anime film, only on Crunchyroll.

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan”: Synopsis

She plays a very important role in this episode too.

Alas, Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- has only recently begun its airing. In fact, Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” has only just made its debut two days ago as of this writing. Thus, here’s the official synopsis from Crunchyroll to give you an idea of what’s going on without too much in the way of spoilers below:

“Sebastian and Ciel pay a price for entering the Werewolves’ Forest. Sullivan agrees to help, on one condition.”

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan”: The Good

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 "His Butler, On Loan" screenshot 1
You know something amusing is about to happen with that cat-like smirk.

Again, it’s the story of Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” that continues to captivate me. Mostly because this episode is where it goes deep into the horror genre for real, due to that horror becoming quite personal for Ciel and Sebastian. It’s quite gruesome horror to boot, with a copious amount of bloody and terrifying imagery. With that horror then being followed by some relatively light-hearted comedy for the contrast. Indeed, it’s that contrast between horror and comedy that makes this episode like some of the best dark chocolate.

Of course, all that horror and comedy are both emphasized by the efforts of CloverWorks. Their animation team continues to provide some of the most impressive animation quality I’ve ever seen in any anime series. This is especially true for the horror parts of this episode, in which the blood and blisters are animated to a rather horrific degree. And then, of course, their food animation is just as superb. This episode includes some gorgeous hot water pouring into tea leaves. Seriously, seeing that high quality water makes you long for a good cup of tea.

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan”: The Bad

Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 "His Butler, On Loan" screenshot 2
Oh dear, that’s not a good look for you, Ciel.

Alas, despite all the blood and gore, Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc- Ep. 3 “His Butler, On Loan” isn’t really an action story. Not like what action junkies are familiar with. It’s more of a slow-paced horror with lightning-quick moments of bloody goodness. If you want even more of that than what’s in this episode, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, and/or Solo Leveling? Those episodes should have more than enough bloody action to satisfy any action junkie.

What do you of this week’s episode of Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc-? Did you enjoy it as much as I did? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

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