Act of Cultural Vandalism - A casting suggestion for a camp grim reaper

Just recently, I watched the first season of the anime Black Butler. I have read the manga (I tend (most of the time) to read the manga first before watching the anime) and liked it a lot. Watching the anime (English-dub) I was impressed with the casting.

J. Michael Tatum's performance as the lead Sebastian Michaelis was magnificent. I believe that this is the role that will be the one that defines him (like Edward Elric defines Vic Mignogna). And there is a very good reason for that, (as revealed in the audio commentary of the DVDs). As a child, in Texas, Michael had a stutter and the speech therapist that treated him was British. Learning this trivial fact, you can understand why I think Sebastian will be the role that will define him as a voice actor. It's thanks to that speech therapist that he was capable to pull of a convincing British accent. He does other accents too (he plays France in Hetalia: Axis Powers).

The only complaint about the dub I have is the voice of Mey-Rin by Monica Rial. I find it a bit too exaggerated and I think people could easily tell that it is an American trying to play a Brit. Sorry Monica, if your reading this, but that's my opinion. Don't shoot me (really, don't).

But this isn't the reason why I'm writing this. The reason for me writing this is regarding the character of Grell Sutcliff. Just seeing an image of him will tell you that Grell is the campist depiction of a grim reaper ever devised by man (or, in this case, woman).

One simple Google Image search will prove this.

The best frame in the manga I can think of that truly sums up this character is this one....

p 120-121 from Chapter 56 of Black Butler volume 12 

(2011 (Square Enix), translated 2012 (Yen Press))

Three guesses what this scene's a parody off?

Also, feel sorry for the young fellow reaper who is playing 

Leonardo's part here who has to work with him.

Note - The creator of Black Butler has been vocal against people on the internet pirating her work. With this observation, I like to point out here that using the scans from a book to illustrate a blog to explain something is, technically, okay under copyright law. This is known under American law as "fair use." It's like quoting passages from books or articles in an essay or speech. If its to explain something, like how camp a character is in a manga is, it is fine. If its just for decoration or the sake of showing it to others, that's a no-no.... unless you got the creator's (or the creator's legal representatives) permission to do so.

You know when you read things a voice speaks to you in your mind. When reading a comic you tend to use voices that fit the characters or the situation the character is in. When it came to reading the manga of Black Butler the voice of Stephen Fry spoke in my mind when it came to Sebastian's obsession with cats (Especially the scene with the tiger in the Noah's Ark Circus story arc.).

p 26-33 the tiger scene from Chapter 24 of Black Butler volume 6 

(2009 (Square Enix), translated 2011 (Yen Press))

I dare you not to try picturing Stephen Fry as Sebastian during that scene....!

Back to Grell. Admittedly the voice that spoke in my mind when reading Grell's dialogue was sort of like... (in the best way I could describe it) a menacing male version of Howard's mother in The Big Bang Theory. More like Howard's impression if his mother. That and a drop of Eric Stuart's voice of James from Team Rocket. That was my idea of what Grell's voice sounded like, prior to seeing him animated. Then I heard Daniel Fredrick's voice for Grell in the English dub and all that changed. From the moment the first sentence was processed in my mind a new image poped into my mind's eye. I now bang my head in shame of not thinking this before. When I watched the anime for the first time and saw Grell Sutcliff praising his love for "Bassy" in a style not out of place in a performance of Shakespeare, the picture that entered my mind was of.....

Christopher Biggins

For everyone outside the UK, Christopher Biggins is an actor and TV presenter well known for his "Bubbly" personality. He's mostly known these days in his theatric performances in pantomimes
(which is a concept that'll take me forever to explain to anyone who has never seen a pantomime as a child). But for the sake of this argument, it does involve a lot of cross-dressing, and Christ is well noted for doing just that.

For everyone who is still not sure about my observation just watch the That Butler, Performer OVA
and judge for yourself. It came with the first season DVD box-set I bought and watched. After watching it you will notice the similarities between Grell and Biggins.

With that I will proclaim this. If (in the future) I make a high budget motion picture (I'm not taking about cheap YouTube videos here) that features a camp grim reaper, Christopher Biggins will be my first choice of actor to play that role. I hope that when that day comes he'll be still alive to do so, even if its just to pose for a photograph for a prop in a movie or TV show.

Well, that's that off my chest. But I am a bit worried about calling Grell "camp", but don't worry readers, I'm ready for him....

They are ways of saying things without actually saying them. 

Something worth thinking about.