Black Butler manga goes on hiatus before the climax begins

Modified Jun 19, 2024 14:27 GMT

Black Butler manga goes on hiatus before the climax begins (Image via CloverWorks)

Monday, June 17, 2024, saw the official X account for Square Enix’s G Fantasy magazine announce that the Black Butler manga will be taking an indefinite hiatus. The post also included a statement from mangaka Yana Toboso, who explained that she’d be conducting research and making preparations during this hiatus in preparation for the manga’s climax.

Likewise, this statement from Toboso also confirms that her Black Butler manga series will indeed enter its climax upon returning, the date of which is unknown as of this article’s writing. However, the G Fantasy magazine and its official X account will announce the date of the manga’s return once that information has been finalized.

Black Butler manga set to enter climax upon return to serialization

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As of this article’s writing, no additional information regarding the Black Butler manga’s hiatus, potential return, or the climax itself has been made available. However, fans can most likely expect an update sometime in the next few months considering how regularly Toboso’s manga has been serialized since 2006. Her history in this regard suggests that while she will be taking some time off to prepare for the climax, the hiatus won’t be long.

Upon returning, it’s expected that Toboso’s manga will first conclude the still technically ongoing 'Blue Revenge Arc' before beginning the manga’s climax. It’s expected that the climax will be a single arc with an epilogue, but this is purely speculative as of this article’s writing. At a minimum, fans at least know that the tail end of the 'Blue Revenge Arc' will serve as a setup for the climax, if not be a full part of it.

The arc’s massive length further supports this, having spanned over 60 chapters and more than five real-world years of serialization. Likewise, the fact that Toboso is taking the hiatus before officially concluding the ongoing arc rather than after further suggests that its conclusion will play directly into the climax.

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Toboso first launched her Black Butler manga series in September 2006 in Square Enix’s aforementioned Monthly G Fantasy manga publication magazine. The series has been regularly serialized there since for all of its 212 currently released chapters. 205 of these chapters have been compiled into 34 manga volumes, 33 of which have been translated into English as of this article’s writing.

The first television anime adaptation of Toboso’s manga premiered in 2008 and was followed by the Black Butler II anime in 2010. This was followed by 2014’s Black Butler: Book of Circus. All three were released by Funimation, who also released the Black Butler II OVA project, the Book of Murder OVA, and the Book of the Atlantic film on home video.

The anime recently premiered its latest season titled the 'Public School Arc' on April 13 of this year.