The fifth season of the Black Butler anime, titled the Witch Emerald Arc, has unveiled a new teaser visual and is set to premiere in April 2025. The series will introduce Rie Kugimiya and Chikahiro Kobayashi as the voices of Sieglinde Sullivan and Wolfram Gelzer, respectively. The announcement occurred at the Black Butler: Public School Arc AFTER the MIDNIGHT TEA PARTY ～A Return to Weston College event on December 8, where they also showcased character visuals for the new season.
Studio CloverWorks will be animating the season, maintaining the original main staff, including Kenjiro Okada of "March Comes in Like a Lion" as director, Hiroyuki Yoshino in charge of series composition, Yumi Shimizu on character design, and Ryo Kawasaki composing the music. Maaya Sakamoto and Daisuke Ono are set to return as the voices of Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis.
The Emerald Witch Arc is the eighth arc of the Black Butler manga series, spanning volumes 18 to 22. It begins with chapter 86 and ends with chapter 108, succeeding the Public School arc, with foreshadowing in the post-credits scene of the season's finale.
Originally, Yana Tobo’s manga was adapted into an anime by studio A-1 Pictures in 2008. The studio produced the first two seasons, and despite the second season diverging from the manga, the sequel, Book of Circus, reverted to the original material. This was followed by the Book of Murder OVA and the Book of the Atlantic movie.
Crunchyroll streams the anime, summarizing the plot as follows:
Ciel Phantomhive is known as the most powerful boy throughout England, yet he carries the scars of unimaginable suffering. Witnessing the brutal murder of his beloved parents, Ciel was then kidnapped and subjected to severe torture. In a desperate bid to end his torment, he traded his soul for a chance at retribution, aligning himself with the only entity he could rely on: Sebastian, a demon butler conjured from the depths of hell. Together, they navigate London's darkest corners on a quest to extinguish evil.
The Black Butler manga is currently on hiatus while the author prepares for the story's final chapters.