How it works - Scanlations

The process of scanlating is a mystery to many people. I honestly had no idea how much work is involved in the process before I jumped in head first! So I've decided to write out how things go, at least from my experience. Leave a comment and tell me how you've seen it work differently. Try to follow along :)

1. The raw provider, a very kind, awesome, and generous person, buys the magazine or tankobon. They scan said item, usually destroying or at least severely damaging the book in the process. There are many ways to do this, with varying results. Better raws makes things easier for everyone. No raws means no scanlation. Period.

2. The raws are passed to the translator and the editors. The translator, well ... translates. Usually the translation is written in a specialized format, so it's easy to tell what text belongs where. This is a difficult job, not only because you have to know both languages, but you have to be familiar enough with each so that the correct meaning will come across.

3. Once the translation is complete, it is passed along to a proofreader, who looks for spelling/grammar errors as well as parts where it just doesn't sound like normal English. This process can be done in conjunction with the translator or completely separate.

3. As the chapter is translated/proofed, the editors begin the job of cleaning the chapter. I've heard it referred to as mopping as well. Cleaning the pages involves removing the text, making the black portions actually black (as opposed to dark gray), and removing the dirt from the page so the white parts are white.

3. The translation and the cleans are then passed on to the typesetters. The typesetters do simply that: set the type on the page. Now, before you go thinking that this is an easy job, remember that Japanese reads top to bottom and English reads left to right. (Well, most of the time.) This means that the bubbles are the wrong shape for English. There's also font changes and last of all ... sound effects. Some groups just put "sfx:...." notes on the sides, some replace the japanese sound effect with the english equivalent, and some completely ignore them.

4. Finally, the typeset pages go to Quality Check. The QC'ers look for errors of any kind: spelling, grammar, natural speech, cleaning mishaps, wrong font, etc. Problems are sent back to the appropriate team members, they are fixed, and everything goes back to QC again.

5. When everything has been okay'ed by QC, the chapter is released. Most groups have a website of some sort where you can directly download their scans. Eventually, someone will submit the chapter to an online reader and it'll snowball from there. If you want the highest quality scan always get it directly from the scanlation group. When you download a chapter, take a moment to leave a note of thanks. It takes a lot of time to do this stuff.

These roles and steps can be combined or split up between many people. Speed scans generally have more people involved. As for my personal experience, I've had two different set-ups.

On KWMS, there's our raw provider, a translator who also does QC, and then there's me. So I take care of proofreading, cleaning, and typesetting. It takes about an hour per page to get the cleaning and typesetting done. So with 30 pages, that's 30 hours!! Since we try to get it done in 4 days, that's over 7 hours of work per day ... in addition to my normal job as a teacher.

On Skip Beat, I'm one of two editors. Sometimes I clean half the chapter, sometimes I clean all of the chapter, and sometimes I don't clean at all. That's the wonderful part of being in a larger group: more flexibility. There's still just one translator, but there are generally two or more typesetters. We can get the chapter done relatively quickly, but it's still a lot of time for each of us.

So the next time you think of complaining that chapter X of manga Y is late, think about everything that goes into producing those pages for you. I actually started scanlating because I was tired of waiting for a chapter, but I have resolved to never complain again. We're lucky that so many people have put so many hours into the thousands of scanlations out there.

Occult Academy - Episodes 7 to 13 (End)

Alright .. time to wrap this one up!

Episode 7

Maya runs into Ami's father. He wants to see her smile again, so he sets up a fake mystery circle and UFO for them to chase after. After it's discovered that he was fooling Maya and her friends, everybody fights.

Episode 8

Ami gets captured by a chupacabra. Everybody arms up to go rescue her. With JK finding the way with his dousing rods, they quickly find the chupacabras' lair. Butt kicking ensues and Ami is saved. Everyone makes up. Yay!

Episode 9

In a summoning class, the teacher summons and materializes the spirit of a little girl, Akari. She's awfully cute and just wants to go home. After some sleuthing, the gang finds her house. She sits next to the door and all hell breaks loose. Turns out she's a poltergeist. She froze to death sitting next to her door on Christmas Eve. After some searching, they find her father, who says that it's his fault that Akari died.

Episode 10

They stake out Akari's father's apartment. He finally lets them in and tells them that Akari died waiting for Santa outside. He didn't believe she would do it and left her at home alone. When they found her, it was too late. So they have a Christmas party for her. Everyone has a great time and then the cue is given for Bunmei to come in dressed as Santa. Instead of Bunmei, Akari's father comes in. He apologizes for not coming that night and gives her a present. Akari starts glowing and says thank you to Santa and then to papa. Later, Maya and Bunmei are in her half-destroyed home. She recounts the story she recently remembered. When she was small, her father asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and she said that she wanted a school where all of the ESPers and aliens and ghosts could go and she could study with all of them. So her father basically built the occult academy for her. She cries for a bit, then Bunmei holds her hand. She calms down and then vows to find and destroy Nostradamus' key and the people who killed her father.

Episode 11

When Bunmei gets home from work, Mikaze is there, cooking him dinner. She ends up coming on to him very strong. And somehow takes him to a local gathering of people from the neighborhood in black hooded robes. They area all convinced that Maya is the cause of all the recent problems and that she will open the gates to hell. They want to kill her, but can't since she has some sort of protective talisman. Mikaze gets Bunmei to say that he'll find it.

The next day, Bunmei and Maya go to another town to check out an artifact. Maya notices that Bunmei is feeling off and keeps getting food for him. Eventually he breaks down and starts accusing her of being Nostradamus' key. She kicks him about two dozen times and runs off. When Maya arrives at the school, we see the Vice Principal move toward her menacingly. The next day, she's found dead at the school.

Everyone mourns. Bunmei is bawling in his apartment, when the Vice Principal shows up. He asks if she killed Maya and she nods. Then Maya shows up. The VP is actually a white mage who was asked by Maya's father to protect her. The body that was found was a fake. For proof that it's really Maya, Bunmei demands to see the book she always carries. When Maya hands it over to Bunmei, Mikaze appears, freezes Bunmei, and thanks him for taking Maya's protective talisman. Mikaze reveals herself (pun intented) to be a black mage. The VP stuns her and they run. During the fight, Mikaze tells them that she killed Maya's father.

Episode 12

Maya runs. The VP fights Mikaze and loses, but is able to free Bunmei from Mikaze's spell with her last ounce of strength. Maya leads Mikaze to the school, where Bunmei meets up with her and helps her destroy Mikaze. Bunmei reveals that Maya's father is still alive. His death was faked just like Maya's.

Episode 13

Even though Mikaze has been killed, the future hasn't changed. Maya has invited the kid version of Bunmei to come perform his spoon-bending at the closing ceremonies. Bunmei is Nostradamus' key. When he meets himself, the gates of hell open. He finally decides to take action on his own, regains his powers, and destroys the aliens along with himself. Before he's completely gone, he asks Maya to take care of the boy version of himself. The future changes back to normal and the child Bunmei is now living with Maya and her father.

The End!


Over all, a very entertaining anime. They packed a lot into 13 episodes. I think it would have been better if it was 26 episodes instead, with a bit more build-up, but I liked it just fine.

Uraboku - Episodes 21 to 24 (End)

First off ... whoever does Luka's voice is officially one of my favorites. *doki-doki*

Other than that, I must say that this anime has been a huge disappointment. There was so much build-up, but it never actually got anywhere. It seems that the manga it's based on is ongoing, so that makes sense, I guess. The ending reminds me of the end they gave Inu Yasha. Basically, "Yay! That battle's over. Thing's are peaceful for now. Let's do our best~!" =P

I had too many issues with Crunchyroll to get a good screenshot, so I guess this'll have to do:

Yumeiro Patissiere - Episodes 46 to 52 (End)

Okay... I'm going to start catching up here. I've missed this blog. I really let scanlating take over my life for a while there. I really enjoy it, and will continue, but in moderation.

We'll start with Yumeiro Patissiere. I went ahead and watched episodes 46 through 52 in one shot.

Episode 46

Ichigo's grandmother's strawberry tart isn't in her book because the best recipes are taken to the sweet's kingdom and stored in the museum. So Ichigo goes to the sweets kingdom and breaks into the museum with the help of the sweets spirits. The end up finding out that the former curator of the museum is the same old fairy that gave Ichigo the spoon that opens her grandmother's book. She was also Ichigo's grandmother's sweet spirit. They retrieve the recipe and return it to the book, but it is written in the language of the sweets spirits. Ichigo decides not to read it because she wants to create her own sweets and not just copy from others.

I really don't like the Sweets Kingdom episodes. I mean .. the sweets spirits are a fantastical idea, but it really goes past any suspension of disbelief when she goes chibi and flies through an oven to go to a kingdom full of midgets.

Episode 47

Ichigo is practicing making her own strawberry tart, but she can't get it quite right. The strawberries just don't taste the same as her grandmother's. After journeying far and wide, all with the help of the heiress, she finds out that the strawberries her grandmother was using were fraises de bois, found in Europe. The dimwit had already seen them, but didn't try one because they weren't pretty. At the end they find out that Team Tennouji lost in the semi-finals.

In the end, another irritating episode. I wish the heiress would just go away. Characters like her are much more amusing in the manga, since you can't hear their shrill voices. It is kinda amusing to see Kashino sweat, though.

Episode 48

Everyone's shocked about Team Tennouji's loss. After watching the DVD of the competition, it's obvious that they lost because Tennouji-san was distracted. Ichigo goes with the heiress to find out why. Tennouji has locked herself in her room, but opens the door after the heiress yells at her. Tennouji then tells them that she was upset because she saw Henri-sensei with the head of the french team, being all lovey-dovey and telling her that she's the best student he's every taught.  Henri-sensei shows up and mocks Tennouji for losing her composure, saying that a patissiere doesn't need romance. He's even mean to Ichigo. The heiress and Ichigo both argue that love is needed (who saw that one coming..) and Ichigo vows to win the finals. Back at the kitchen, they try the competition's best recipe and are shocked at how great it is.

Booo. Evil Henri-sensei? Something's up.

Episode 49

The finals begin. It starts out with a little amusing part about Kashino being tricked into a making a racy commercial with the heiress. He doesn't know that it's racy until he sees it, though. ^_^  I'm taking the rest of my summary from wikipedia. "The finals of the World Cake Grand Prix has finally came and Team Ichigo and François clash in a three hour team battle with two subjects and themes; an entremet made of chocolate and plated desserts which combines hot and cold sensation. Finally, the match turns out to be a tie. The judges decides to make another match at the same day using batter as the subject and this time it will be an individual match. Andou clashes with Katie, Hanabusa matches against Isabella, Kashino battles against Dominique and the team leaders battles each other. "

Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Episode 50

The rematch ends in a tie, with Ichigo losing her battle in spectacular fashion, of course. The final re-match is a battle between one representative from each team. So it's Francois versus Ichigo. Francois makes her specialty, and Ichigo goes for a strawberry tart (surprise, surprise). Ichigo decides to make her own unique tart, using rhubarb, brown sugar, and ... corn meal, of all things. Ichigo wins by only a point. Henri-sensei tells them that he gave her a higher score because she made something new and that she customized it to each judge's tastes. Ichigo finds out that Henri was playing the bad guy so Ichigo would surpass her grandmother. He reveals that his grandfather taught her grandmother and Henri-sensei wants to do the same while she's in Paris. Two years later, we see Ichigo and Kashino standing by a river at night, holding hands, saying that they won't declare their feelings for each other yet, since they still have so much to learn.

Cute ending! The next series has started, called Yumeiro Patissiere Professional. Of course, they're only in high school, but whatever. I'll be watching it, too.

Depressed by a Manga?

Bleach is just depressing right now. I have been keeping up with the manga, just not blogging about it. It's on chapter 424 right now. There are a few things bugging me and I just need to vent. If you haven't read up to the current chapter, be warned that the rest of this post will be full of spoilers for you.

First, the Deicide arc was freaking annoying. It took forever for anything to happen, and most of it was just Aizen leveling up. He turned into a freaking butterfly, for goodness sake. That wasn't exactly intimidating. The whole "yay we killed Aizen ... oh wait, we didn't" routine had gotten really old. I was looking forward to the guy finally kicking the bucket. But nooooo. I'm not allowed that satisfaction. Even Ichigo's  final getsuga tenshou doesn't do it. No dying, just sealing. It's like playing an incredibly long and difficult video game, battling the final boss for ages, and then, just when he's down to 10 hp, someone comes along and says, "alright, we're done here". It makes the last 400 chapters seem like a futile endeavor.

That seal is not going to last for 20,000 years. Come on, people. Don't you remember that the guy hypnotized everyone in Soul Society? There's no way he's gonna stay locked up for that long. Besides ... why only 20,000 years?? Why not forever? Or even better ... figure out a way to kill him, dammit!

It just pisses me off that Ichigo loses his shinigami powers and doesn't even accomplish his goal. Well, I guess Karakura town is safe, but I don't see that as the final goal. As long as Aizen is alive, no one is safe. Even if he is sealed.

So now, Ichigo has no powers at all. Normal human teenager. Well, he's strong, but I don't see that as incredibly unusual. But he can't see any of the friends he made from Soul Society and he doesn't really have a purpose or any direction in life. Things continue on around him like they did before he got his powers. No one needs Ichigo.

Then there's the mountain of unanswered questions. Do Orihime and Chad still have their powers? What happened to the Visoreds? Ichigo would probably be able to see them since they're in gigais, right? I'm not gonna write them all out... suffice it to say that I'm not satisfied. It also doesn't help that I don't have any friends who keep up with Bleach, so I can't vent with them about all of this crap. (That would be why I'm writing this post.)

So when I start thinking about all of this, it brings my mood down. I had a particularly frustrating day today and ended up falling asleep in front of my computer. When I woke up from my involuntary nap, I started thinking about Bleach and got downright depressed. I'm sure that there are other factors involved here, including my incredibly high stress level as of late. I probably shouldn't be surprised that I'm affected so much by a manga. I'm always very affected by books and movies in general. Much more so when I find them engaging. Since I've spent so much time reading and watching Bleach, I guess it should be expected.

Still. It's just a manga. I should just get over it. Right?

Wow - It's been a long time....

It looks like I skipped September entirely.  Quite a change from posting nearly every day for months.  Well, there's a good reason.  All of my free time has been going toward cleaning.  I'm working on Kaichou wa Maid-sama with CrazyKitty Scans, which we're trying to get out as fast as possible every month. Since I do everything except translation and QC, I pretty much lose two nights of sleep for each chapter.

We're also working on Faster Than a Kiss. It was apparently dropped by another group after chapter 32, so we've got chapters 33 through 38 to do so far. We're not worried about the schedule as much on that one, but our goal is to release a chapter every two weeks.  If we stick to the schedule, chapter 33 should be out by Sunday! KWMS and FTAK are published in LaLa magazine, which is released on the 24th of each month.

My third project is Skip Beat! with Franky House. Luckily, I'm working with a great group on this one, including another cleaner and a typesetter. Last chapter I cleaned the whole thing, though. Kind of a rite of passage for joining the group it seems. :P Skip Beat is published in Hana to Yume, which is released on the 5th and 20th of each month, skipping every other 5th.

I'm insane. I have been keeping up on a few things, like the Kaichou wa Maid-sama anime (loved it!), Kuroshitsuji II (LOVED it!), and Bleach and Naruto mangas.  I just haven't had the time or energy to write things up. When I finish Ch. 33 of FTAK and we're done with Skip Beat Ch. 164, I'm going to take some time to go back and write in here. I really enjoy having a record of what I've read and watched, even though I now have some friends to talk to about this stuff since I've joined the scanlation community. I swear to not abandon this blog!!!

Kuroshitsuji 2 - Episode 7

I don't have the proper screenshots to go with this episode, since it was only on hulu. When the fansub is out, I shall do a post. Suffice it to say, it was yet another awesome episode. Maybe not quite so epic as the past two, but still amazing.

Uraboku - Episode 20

Summary: Emo scenes, fight scene with Cadenza begins, zweilts are losing, Yuki protects them, Cadenza goes after Yuki, and Reiga appears to stop him. O_O

Cue the cliffhanger music!

Giant Killing - Episode 19 & 20

I was about to write my notes for episode 20 when I realized I hadn't written anything for episode 19. Then I realized I hadn't even watched episode 19. I skipped an entire episode and didn't even notice. *sigh*

Episode 19: They practice, show up for the game. Coaches talk. Weeee.

Episode 20: They start the game and do well for a while, until one of the guys falls for a trick and the other team scores a goal.

Isn't it sad that it only took that much to sum up both episodes?

Uraboku - Episode 19

The episode was basically backstory on one of the Zweilt partnerships: Hourai and Furuori. Something I did get out of it is that Zweilt guardians' relationships with their partners is more of a marriage-type thing. There are a couple of guy/guy partnerships. I was kind of shocked at that revelation for a bit. Then I noticed that one of the genre labels on wikipedia for the series is shonen-ai. Now it all makes sense. I should have guessed that since Luka and Yuki are a pair, even though Yuki was born as a male for this life. I can't help but keep watching, though. There's the circle of angst, more bishies than you can shake a stick at, cool fight scenes, and lots of mysteries that need to be cleared up. Oh yeah. And Luka. Yup. Luka.

Yumiero Patissiere - Episode 45

Episode teaser from Crunchyroll: "Team Ichigo has been travelling all around Europe, following the instructions from Ms. Sully, on what seems to be a grand European tour! Upon arriving to their latest destination, Neuschwanstein Castle, however, Henri-sensei appears and announces that the rematch with Team Koshiro will happen that evening. They are told to create a variety of bon bon chocolats, but everything else is up to them! What incredible treats will they create this time?"

Team Koshiro makes some great stuff with the Heiress' fancy chocolate. Team Ichigo makes some great stuff with ingredients and themes from their European tour. Team Ichigo wins. Tada.

One thing that was pretty darn hilarious was that Hanabusa randomly whips out an iPad with a bunch of pictures on it. 

I'm starting to wonder why I keep watching this. It looks like it's going to end at episode 51, though, so I'm just gonna stick with it and hope that something interesting happens.

Yumiero Patissiere - Episode 44

Team Ichigo and Team Koshiro are invited to a ball on Mont Saint-Michel. When they arrive, they are surprised by Henri-sensei who tells them that they will have their semi-final match there! They have to make a chocolate dress. O_o  There's a whole bunch of fantasizing about Cinderella and what-not. Blah, blah, blah. So the Heiress makes a big weird led-lit gown. Ichigo and the Princes make a normal-looking pink gown. When it's time for the results, they both get 90 votes. So there will be another match. The only possibly remotely interesting thing in this episode is that Henri-sensei takes Ichigo outside during the ball to dance with her, saying that he was afraid the dress would have been ruined. The Princes look on, somewhat jealous. Well, Koshiro doesn't really look. He just sulks. I can understand a middle-schooler's crush on a teacher, but it looked like he was leading her on in this episode. Kinda creepy. In the end, it was a pretty pointless episode.

Random Icons

Cute, ne? Just a couple of the many icons that are shared at the glitterySUICIDE group at livejournal. (No, the name doesn't have anything to do with the content. No worries.)

Kuroshitsuji 2 - Episode 6

Um.... this is a long post. It's a very important episode. So settle in and get friendly with the scroll bar.

The episode opens with the last scene of the first season: Sebastian is about to make Ciel his dinner. Then Ciel goes limp.

Alois' servants are trying to get Ciel for him. They attack with ... garden tools? The ladder is my personal favorite. They really take Sebastian too lightly. Sebastian talks to himself about how easy it was to carry Ciel around "back then" when he was like a doll. Anyway, Sebastian easily escapes with Ciel.

At the party, Hannah brings out a strange musical instrument and starts to play it. All the guests grab their heads in agony. They are all wondering what's going on. Lau and Ran-Mao have their ears plugged with wine bottle corks, so they are not affected. The guests' eyes start glowing blue and they attack Ciel's friends.

Sebastian hears the noise outside and has Ciel cover his ears. He fends off the triplets while he keeps his hands over Ciel's ears as well. Awesomeness. Ciel wants to return to the assembly hall. Sebastian reassures him, saying that one of his few friends is present. It's cool that Sebastian refers to Agni as a friend. ^_^

Agni hits pressure points on Ciel's party so that they are no longer affected by the instruments' sound. Everyone takes to the task of fending off the spellbound party-goers.

We get to see Maylene without her glasses again! They seem to be doing well, but the guests keep getting up.

Sebastian then appears and begins playing a tune on water-filled glasses, in his impossibly perfect manner. The music he plays fits with the music Hanna is making and produces a strangely calming melody. Agni says that it shows the pure hearts of the one performing. HA!

The guests are no longer entranced. The instrument breaks, obviously planned by Sebastian. Sebastian thanks Hannah for assisting in a wonderful performance. The instrument is apparently called an armonica, buried in the past as an instrument of the demon. Which makes it perfect for Sebastian.

Alois Trancy appears, acting pleased that everyone enjoyed the "entertainment". Sebastian asks to speak with Claude. Alois gives Claude 10 minutes to settle the matter with Sebastian or he will be punished. Ciel tells Sebastian to finish Claude off. Claude and Sebastian go to a pond outside to "talk".

Claude is trying to get Ciel simply because it was an order from Alois. Sebastian insists that Ciel is his master. Claude dismisses this possessiveness as a useless notion. Sebastian finds it disgusting to even think of anyone else touching Ciel. They begin fighting.

Flashback to the point where Sebastian was about to devour Ciel's soul. A spider is seen crawling over the raven which we saw flying away during the last episode of the first season. Sebastian has realized that Ciel's body is empty. It is useless to devour the body without the soul, or visa versa. He gets so pissed off that he destroys part of his little island place. We see him walking out of the rubble carrying Ciel's body.

Claude talks about when Sebastian came to the Trancy mansion and took back Ciel's soul. But his soul was incomplete. All of the memories, all the pain, all of the time Sebastian had spent "raising" him, was lost. Sebastian realized it as soon as he placed the ring back on Ciel's finger. What Sebastian wanted was a soul carrying out revenge, but Claude says that he feels the Sebastian has a strong attachment to Ciel's soul. Claude doesn't seem to have any sort of special attachment to Alois. Just the usual Imma-gonna-eatchya relationship. Claude doesn't believe there's any point to having Ciel get revenge a second time. Sebastian insists that Ciel is special. The problem is that there is no one to be the target of the revenge. Having Ciel taken from Sebastian would be a pain worse than death.  Sebastian proposes a trade.

At the party, Ciel tries the curry bread that was made for him. It doesn't stir any memories, but admits it tastes good, even though he dislikes spicy things.

In another room, Claude and Sebastian sit opposite each other at a table. In front of each of them is a white rose on a plate. They remove their gloves and slit their wrists, letting their blood drip on the rose in front of them. As the roses absorb the blood, they turn a deep red. The deal they make is this: "I will have you two become those my young Master will carry out his revenge against." "Under the condition that I will receive the soul of Ciel Phantomhive who has carried out his revenge." They exchange roses and drip their blood on the others' rose, affixing the seal. As the blood drips on the roses, they turn black.

Claude appears at Alois' side. Ciel is momentarily shocked, thinking that Sebastian had lost. Sebastian immediately appears in front of him, wearing the rose. Ciel is furious that Sebastian did not get rid of Claude, until Sebastian produces several documents.

They show that the Trancys were investigating him as well as his father. Alois is upset with Claude because he didn't kill Sebastian, until Claude points out that killing Sebastian was not one of his orders.

Alois insists on dancing with Elizabeth. Everyone is surprised when Ciel joins in. Claude and Sebastian exchange knowing glances across the room. Sebastian sniffs his rose and reiterates, "Young Master is mine."

The episode ends with Alois vowing to possess Ciel and Ciel vowing to kill Alois.

Awesome episode, but there are a few things that are bugging me.

In the first season, we learned that the closer the curse seal is to the eye, the stronger the bond is between the demon and his master. Since Ciel's is on his eye and Alois' seal is just on his tongue, that means that the bond isn't as strong, right? So does that mean that Claude can give up on Alois? Sebastian gave up on Ciel for a while there during the first season, as I understood it ...

The next thing that's bugging me is the deal that Sebastian made with Claude. How can this benefit Sebastian in any way? Sure, Ciel will get some sort of revenge, but then Sebastian won't be able to reap the benefits. I are confuzzled.

And then there's Ciel's father. Have you noticed how similar his appearance is to Sebastain's? They're almost twins! Did Sebastian assume this form so that he would remind Ciel of his father? Or is there some other connection? Was Ciel's father devoured by Sebastian? Are Ciel's father and Sebastian one and the same? There could be no connection at all, but it still piques my interest.

Kuroshitsuji 2 - Episode 5

Finally, some pieces of the puzzle are coming together! We learn from a scene with Prince Soma that Sebastian has told everyone that Ciel has amnesia and that they must pretend not to know anything so they don't hurt him. But is that really the reason why Sebastian is having them keep quiet?

 Everyone's going to a costume party at the Trancy estate. Alois Trancy was kidnapped at an early age, only to return 3 years ago with a mysterious butler, just before the former Earl Trancy died. Sound somewhat familiar? Three years ago was when Ciel's home was burned down and his parents murdered, so he sees a link in this.

Ciel gets dizzy as soon as he enters the Trancy mansion, clinging to Sebastian in a very uncharacteristic move.

When Ciel finds Elizabeth and Lau in the drawing room, he wonders aloud why Madame Red isn't there as well.

Prince Soma arrives and forgets his promise to act like he doesn't know Ciel. Thankfully, Agni is able to save the day.

In another room, Alois is upset with the costume choices he has. He ends up throwing a crown at Hannah. He momentarily considers making Claude wear a dress, which I think would have been hilarious. Then he makes Hannah strip. Alois is a disgusting kid. He's obviously going to use her dress as a costume, but it is disturbing how he treats Hannah. I wonder why she takes it.

I'm rather amused that Ciel's costume is a pirate, what wiith the eyepatch and all. Finnian, Mey-Rin and Baldroy are the three traveling companions from Journey to the West.

Sebastian is searching a room when Claude discovers him. They are both rather nonchalant about it, but Sebastian makes sure to tell Claude that he will not give Ciel to them. It is at this point where Claude definitely states that he's also a demon butler, although the subtitles I've seen don't reflect the wordplay.

Back at the party, Finnian, Mey-Rin and Baldroy try to demonstrate their prowess as servants, but just end up breaking everything. Their follies are all quickly repaired by the weird triplet Trancy servants. I wonder what they are...

Alois, disguised as a servant in Hannah's clothes, spills a glass of wine on Ciel. He takes Ciel to another room on the pretense of cleaning off the jacket. However, when he says that he's done, the stain is just as it was before. Alois admires Ciels ring, says some weird stuff, talks about his eyes, gets way too freaking close, and licks his ear. Eeew!! He takes Ciel's eyepatch off when he backs away and calls his eye impure (which it is, of course). Alois runs off and Ciel starts to feel dizzy again as he gives chase.

At the party again... Agni made curry bread using the mansion's kitchen in the hope that Ciel may remember something if he eats it. This is the point where Lau learns that Ciel has amnesia. -_-"

When Ciel get to the basement, he thinks to himself that he knows the mansion, but then dismisses the thought. Then he starts seeing faint images of Sebastian going down the stairs, just like the first episode. He hears the conversation that took place back then. Ciel proceeds down the stairs. He goes even more woozy when he sees the boxes of tea where his ring was stored and barfs.

Ciel runs out of the basement and into the woods outside, where he encounters Alois. Ciel reveals that he knew it was Alois all along, he just wanted to let Alois feel that he could make his move. Claude shows up, as well as the triplets, and Sebastian reveals himself. When Ciel asks Alois what he wants, he says that he wants Ciel, to possess him. Alois tries to coerce him into giving himself up with the threat of killing everyone back in the mansion, but Ciel will have none of it. Ciel has all confidence that it won't be so easy to kill his friends back at the mansion. Alois claims that Claude is the better butler and reveals the contract seal he has on his tongue. Alois orders Claude to get Ciel for him and Ciel orders Sebastian to protect him. It's the battle of the butlers!