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Black Butler's dark world returns with Season 5, Episode 1, which airs on April 5, 2025. The episode introduces the Emerald Witch Arc, a much-heralded adaptation of Yana Toboso's manga, serialized since 2006 in Square Enix's Monthly GFantasy. The series goes dark after the Public School Arc in June 2024, taking a dark path with an investigation in Germany, prompted by Queen Victoria's directive. CloverWorks animates the episode, which will be dark fantasy and complex plotting, airing at 11:30 PM JST on Tokyo MX and streaming globally on Crunchyroll.
The official release date for Black Butler Season 5, Episode 1, titled “His Butler, On Board,” lands on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Japanese networks like Tokyo MX, BS11, Gunma TV, and Tochigi TV will broadcast the episode at 11:30 PM JST. Due to time zone differences, international viewers will experience varied release times: 10:30 AM PST/1:30 PM EST for North America, and 6:30 PM BST for the UK.
Crunchyroll will stream the episode simultaneously with English subtitles, covering regions such as North America, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Muse Asia’s YouTube channel will offer access in select Southeast Asian territories, while Japanese platforms like d Anime Store and U-NEXT cater to domestic audiences.
Announcements from Anime Expo 2024 and the December 8, 2024, Public School Arc AFTER the MIDNIGHT TEA PARTY event confirmed this schedule. A teaser poster featuring Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis against a spooky German backdrop has generated excitement since its release. The release of this episode coincides with the Spring 2025 anime season, so it is something to look forward to among new releases.
The arc brings in Emerald Witch and liege lord of a distant, all-female village, Sieglinde Sullivan, and her manservant, Wolfram Gelzer. Their introduction in Episode 1 gives way to the revelation of the source of the curse, blending gothic horror with the show's own Victorian elegance. The ominous atmosphere of the forest, revealed in promotional photographs with mist and twisted limbs, hints at supernatural threats to be encountered.
CloverWorks retains the Season 4 core cast, with consistency in tone and quality. Director Kenjirou Okada is back, and series composition is in the hands of Hiroyuki Yoshino with Yumi Shimizu handling character design.
The opening theme, Cö shu Nie's "MAISIE" featuring HYDE, and the ending theme, Ryugujo's "WALTZ," will be out in Episode 1. The song, which was performed at Anime Japan 2025, will complement the darker tone of the arc, and the inclusion of HYDE will bring even more suspense among fans of his gothic rock background.
Episode 1 will set the stage for the arc, showing Ciel and Sebastian's travel from England to Germany. Early scenes will probably reveal Queen's letter that initiates the investigation, followed by the Phantomhive group's arrival at the region of Nuremberg.
Resistance from the locals to travel into Werewolves' Forest will compel Sebastian to arrange for a carriage, creating the scene for the group's first encounter with the village and its mysterious inhabitants. The climax of the episode will probably foreshadow the presence of the curse, perhaps a brief look at a mutilated body or a shadowy creature, setting a foreboding tone for the subsequent chapters.
Speculation on manga 86-88 chapters indicates early questions being covered and the creepy atmosphere of the forest. A wildly spinning compass of Sebastian, as seen in the source material, would point to the supernatural energies at work, while Ciel's doubt regarding witches hints at his scientific thinking about the mystery.
Black Butler Season 5, Episode 1, heralds a return to the series’ roots of dark elegance and moral ambiguity. The Emerald Witch Arc’s German setting and occult themes expand the narrative beyond Victorian London, testing the bond between master and butler. As April 5, 2025, nears, this premiere stands poised to captivate with its blend of style, suspense, and supernatural intrigue.
