Shafiq Akiya (OTAKU HARDCORE): August 2013

よーほーみんなさん (^_^)/ Today I like to talk about ハヤテのごとくor in English Hayate : The Combat Butler.

Well I watch this anime for the first time on Animax. Well at first it's gonna be a boring anime but I was wrong. It actually a funny anime and I love it after watched 2 episodes. The characters also have my own impressions :) Salute to Hata-sensei for making this look funnier ^^

Well maybe I'll write about the synopsis about the anime :) Generally, you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler for more information.

Synopsis

Ayasaki Hayate is an unlucky teenager who has worked since childhood to make ends meet due to his parents' irresponsible behavior. One day on Christmas Eve, he finds out that his parents shoulder him with a massive ¥156,804,000 gambling debt, the Yakuza (who the money was borrowed from in the first place) plan to settle that debt by selling his organs on the black market. While running away from the debt collectors he ends up meeting Sanzenin Nagi, a 13 years old young girl who is the sole heir of the wealthy Sanzenin estate, and due to a misunderstanding, Nagi ends up falling in love with Hayate. After he rescues Nagi from some kidnappers, she hires Hayate as her new butler.

Aside from performing his ordinary duties as a butler, Hayate must fight to protect Nagi from harm, a difficult task since her life is always in danger because she is the target of other individuals coveting her family's fortune, and sometimes deal with some extravagant requests from her, oblivious to Nagi's true feelings for him. In the later story, Hayate has to deal with the feelings of several other girls, Nishizawa Ayumu; his former classmate who harbors a crush on him, and Katsura Hinagiku; the student council president of Hakuō Academy who ends up growing attached to him. Hayate had a romantic relationship with a childhood friend, Tennousu Athena, who is chairwoman of the board of Hakuō Academy.

Due to a series of events involving Hayate, Nagi, and Athena during Golden Week, Nagi ends up forfeiting her inheritance. With the last of her savings, Nagi moves with Hayate and her maid Maria to an old apartment building called "Violet Mansion" owned by her late mother, Yukariko, and rents its extra rooms for income: having Harukaze Chiharu; the secretary of Hakuō Academy, Hinagiku, Athena (in child-form), Tsurugino Kayura; an "elite otaku", Suirenji Ruka; a "singing idol" who develops feelings for Hayate, and Ayumu, as its tenants.

Let me intoduce to you the main characters and also minor characters just in case you still new with Hayate No Gotoku :)

1) Ayasaki Hayate

Hayate Ayasaki (綾崎ハヤテ Ayasaki Hayate) is the current butler of the Sanzenin family. Prior to working as a butler, Hayate worked to support his parents' bad habits since the age of eight by working but always ends up moving from job to job due to his employers finding out that he is underage. The experience he gained from the jobs he undertook means that he, of all the series' characters, possesses the most extensive practical knowledge as to how the world operates.

Personality : Hayate is a very selfless and generous person, always trying to help others in need even if it means causing harm to himself. He is very independent and skilled in many things, i.e being a good cook, housekeeper, mechanic, and he can even identify fake works of art with one glimpse (thanks to one of his father's con jobs in the past) among many others. He has super human strength, tremendous speed, retaliation, and endurance allowing him to do things which are normally impossible. However, Hayate is rather dense when it comes to love. His poor empathy is always troubling him as he always misunderstands the feelings of people around him like Nagi's feelings towards him. This is probably because of his innocent personality and inexperience with girl's thoughts and feelings. Despite such setback, he tends to attract girls like Hinagiku, Ayumu,Ruka, and Athena mainly because of his kind, considerate and attractive personality.

Skills and Abilities : As a butler, he is capable of doing many chores such as cleaning, cooking, washing and gardening. He is also capable of understanding Nagi's strange behavior but is oblivious to her feelings towards him. Throughout his life, Hayate has also acquired other more questionable skills. Like cheating in Mahjong to ensure he wins and swapping authentic art with fake ones to trick buyers. He is also very good at using a bicycle proven by the fact that he is capable of outracing a car on an open road. Besides being a normal butler, he is also an expert "Combat Butler", fighting anyone who tries to harm Nagi. Hayate has defeated many enemies like Gilbert Kent and Nursing Robot Eight, and other butlers in Hakuo Academy. He is capable of dodging attacks from Hinagiku and ballistic weaponry. He once demonstrated a skilled use of fire-arms (capable of wielding a HK MG3 single-handed) and is essentially invincible with physical prowess far surpassing any normal human being. Hayate also managed to create an ultimate technique known as Hayate no Gotoku (Like A Hurricane). But even so, his greatest skill still lies in fighting with swords as he was trained by Athena to use swords at an early age.

Well sometimes he's always cross-dresssing in the anime haha :P

2) Sanzenin Nagi

Nagi Sanzenin (三千院ナギ Sanzen'in Nagi) is the sole heir to the Sanzenin fortune, being the only survivor of the family besides her grandfather. She isn't just the average "rich girl". Calling her "rich" would be selling her short. The "Sanzenin fortune" is so large, throwing away 20 trillion yen in a red herring investment is considered a prank. Moreover, Nagi fell for that "prank" when she was a child - she's 13 now, and by far wiser. She doesn't particularly desire the inheritance. However, other people do want that wealth, and will acquire it by any means necessary, leading to many complications for Nagi, the least of which involve kidnappings and attempted assassinations. Hayate, her butler, is indebted to her, so Hayate always save Nagi from any accident, kidnapping, or assassination. Even though Hayate himself attempted to kidnap her for ransom money, Nagi has a crush on Hayate ever since she first met him in the kidnapping situation.

Personality : Nagi is short-tempered, spoiled, anti-social or socially withdrawn, hates to lose and to admit her faults, has a considerably hard time confessing her true feelings towards Hayate (but does confess in the last episode of season 3) or anything in the fact of the matter, she acts immature a large portion of the time but is ultimately a good, educated girl. She is good at finance and likes to learn. Her mind is possessed with her own. She cares for her family and friends, but she doesn't want to show her concern directly. She usually tends to show her concern with "formal words". She is a tomboy and tsundere hikkikomori princess.

Since going outside is very dangerous because of her status, Nagi favors staying at home. Not liking company in general, she lives away from her grandfather in a "small" (compared to the main Sanzenin estate) mansion with minimal staff. Despite her Otaku NEET-like lifestyle, she is intelligent enough to skip 3 grades at school, which even turns out to be one of Tokyo's most prestigious academies. She has an otaku-level hobby with manga, anime and video games, and draws her own manga which is called Millennium Legend: Magical Destroy. Her Otaku-level is high enough that she has submitted entries for multiple amateur manga competitions, though her entries never won. Her art is decent (she started drawing almost from when she was a toddler) but her sense of plot is incomprehensibly warped, not to mention her art style is odd at best. Her genres clash and she draws a magical girlstory in the style of a Shonen Manga, Magical Destroy (read: very muscular, very masculine magical girl namedBritney who behaves more like a samurai). Only her best friend, Isumi, and a wanderer ghost, Linn Regiostar, can read and understand her manga.

Because of her pampered existence, she lacks any worldly knowledge and is even incapable of looking after herself. In an episode, with the absence of both Maria and Hayate, she was shown to be incapable of even making a cup of tea on her own, wrecking the mansion in the attempt. Nagi is mortally afraid of the dark (due to an incident with Isumi), so she shares her bed with Maria in the nights. She also doesn't like swimming. While Hayate always reminded her to go outside and gather experiences on the outside world, she always thought that that will be boring or she always lost and risk being kidnapped. Which Maria always states to her that without Hayate she will always get lost or be in danger.

Nagi likes to do what she likes to do, but mostly what she likes to do is not so good for her future. She is so hard to control, that even Maria, who has lots of talents, can't control her. But Hayate, her average educated and insensitive butler, who saved her from the kidnappers and the mafia, is able to convince her to go to school, do exercise, have many friends, etc. He helps Nagi to be a better person. He saved both her life and her lifestyle. In short, Hayate is her savior.

Sakuya Aizawa is Nagi's cousin. Sakuya is a talkative, cheerful girl. Her first encounter with Nagi was on a party when Nagi was about 4-6 years old. Sakuya saw Nagi was gloom, so she decided to talk to her. Isumi Saginomiya is Nagi's best friend. Probably she is her best friend. Isumi is a quiet girl, who easily gets embarrassed. She met Nagi on party that held because Yukariko's health became better when Nagi was about 5-6 years old. Nagi showed Sakuya her manga and got insulted by her. Nagi threw her manga to a trash bin. She cried and decided to stop drawing manga. But Isumi picked it up, read it and was interested. She asked Nagi for the next chapter. Nagi was touched. Wataru Tachibana is Nagi's friend and fiancé. Wataru is a blunt, responsible kid. He owned a DVD rental in the middle of Tokyo. His first encounter with Nagi hasn't been explained. He had many fights and argumentations with Nagi.

3) Maria

Maria (マリア Maria) is Nagi's personal maid (who used to be her home tutor) of the Sanzenin household. She is like a surrogate older sister/mother and is the only one who truly understands the relationship between Hayate and Nagi.

Personailty : She is the character with the most common sense excluding the fact that her sense of value in money is as bad as Nagi's. She appears to be the one in charge of everything in Nagi's manor since everyone from the head butler to the SP either obeys or fears her (or both in some cases). She is highly intelligent, somewhat devious, good at general housework and likes games of all kinds, though she is deathly afraid of cockroaches, for she is Katsaridaphobic. She describes her fear as "the dark life-form that exists in the kitchen and other places". She is also capable of self-defense techniques in times of need. She is, however, poor at disguises, as seen multiple times when she tries to spy on Hayate and Nagi, and is recognized instantly.

Maria also placed her mark in Hakuou Academy by being the youngest student council president at the age of 10 in her first year. She is one of the only people mentioned to be smarter than Nagi, this being the reason why Nagi made Maria her only maid. She started off as Nagi's tutor. Despite being highly intelligent, she has no clue about "normal life" (for instance, she didn't know that there are other trains besides bullet trains).

While less obvious than Hinagiku, Athena and Nagi, Maria has shown progressively increasing signs of love towards Hayate and is often seen blushing while "scolding" him. Another proof of this is shown in the omake in Volume 14, when Maria planned to give Hayate a White Day gift and accidentally said she likes him while practicing. Due to this terrible embarrassment, she refused to admit it when Hayate heard it from her and she said that she was planning to give the gift to Shiranui.

4) Katsura Hinagiku

Hinagiku Katsura (桂ヒナギク Katsura Hinagiku) is the current student council president, captain of the kendoclub, and an unofficial school idol who garners fans from both genders at Hakuo Academy, the school that Nagi,Isumi, Wataru, and eventually Hayate attends. Before Hinagiku's sixth birthday, she and her sister were abandoned by their biological parents who had left them with a debt of 80 million yen.

Following this her sister, Yukiji, managed to pay off the debt albeit through rather dubious means. After that the two of them went to live with the Katsura family, as Mr. Katsura had been Yukiji's elementary school teacher and the two had been very close.

Personality : Hinagiku is 15 years old at the beginning of the series, though she turns 16 with the passage of time.

Hinagiku is very capable in everything. It seems that whatever she turns her hand to, she will excel at it. For example, she was able to sing a song to near perfection and enamors the crowd in the process during her birthday - although she had never heard the song before (See "Her birthday" section below). Hinagiku is an expert with swords and is very skillful in kendo (She is the president of the kendo club). The manga also depicts her as masterful in fighting, demon slaying, and among many other skills. She is also the president of the student council of the prestigious Hakuo Academy, the academy for the very wealthy and smart people. Despite not being a senior or the most wealthy student, she was elected as president of the student council. She is deeply respected by both her juniors and seniors. In addition to all of that, Hinagiku is admired by many male and female students (due to her beauty and her quality to excel in almost everything). Thus, she is seen and adored as a school idol in Hakuo Academy. In Japanese culture, the girls are usually the ones who give chocolates to the males during Valentines - but in Hinagiku's case, it was depicted that she was the one being given chocolates by guys or males during Valentines.

Her main weakness is that she suffers from a serious case of acrophobia, or fear of heights.

Hinagiku is usually seen by others as possessing heavy masculine qualities, since Hinagiku often acts tough in front of others. However, it can be seen that the reason she acts like this (being tough) is to keep her image as the president of the student council (or of the entire academy as well) who has everything under control. In fact, Hinagiku has the same feelings of an average teenage girl and she hates it when people assume that she dislikes girly things. This can be understood in the light of her interactions with Hayate after she fell in love with him: she acts tough in front of Hayate but at the same time, she also shows her vulnerability or her soft side (like blushing, being shy) - just like a normal teenage girl who has an innocent crush or feelings towards a guy. Thus, it can be said that Hinagiku is a tsundere.

During her first year in Hakuo, she met Athena for the first time. Since then they became friends, until one time Hinagiku tries to give Athena the nickname "A-tan", sparking bad memories for Athena. Since then, they had been distant to each other.

Hinagiku has strong feelings of love for Hayate. At first, she tries to deny it but finally realizes to herself that she really loves him (See "Her Birthday" section below). However, she has not successfully confessed to him yet. She had two attempts on confessing but failed. In one case, Hinagiku confessed to Hayate, but the sound of a passing train made it impossible for Hayate to hear it. In another case, in Chapter 239, Hinagiku was about to confess to him, but Hayate interrupted her and told her that he loved someone else, which ruined her momentum (See "Golden Week Arc" section below).

In Chapter 213, during their trip to Mykonos, she reveals to Ayumu that her love for Hayate was love at first sight.

Skills and Abilities : She's good using sword. 2 of her swords are Masamune and Shirosakura. She's also participate with Kendo which is why she sometimes she can beat up Hayate so easily.

5) Tennousu Athena

Athena Tennousu (天王州アテネ Tennōsu Atene^?) is a daughter of the Tennousu family and is the Board Chairman of Hakuou Academy. She has mainly appeared in the manga and only appeared in the anime during a brief flashback where Hayate reflects on his first girlfriend, a scene in the opening of Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth and in the final episode of season 2.

Her parents are presumed dead since she referred to them as "late parents".

She was a missing child from the Tennousu family. In chapter 184, there was a newspaper article with her picture and the title, "Daughter of the Tennousu Family still missing"

Personality : She is Hayate's first girlfriend, as well as his first mistress, whom he met 10 years ago. Since young, she was called "A-tan" for short by Hayate. He lived with her in the castle at the The Royal Garden as her butler. She also healed Hayate's body and reinforced it with magic to allow for his full potential. She has strong sword fighting capabilities, rivalling that of Hayate. She also seems to know magic to some extent.

6) Nishizawa Ayumu

Ayumu Nishizawa (西沢歩 Nishizawa Ayumu) is a girl from Hayate's previous high school. She is also known as "Nom-Nom-tan" (Nom Nom is an onomatopoeia for eating) in season 1, as she appears in every episode always eating something, while miraculously never getting fat or diseased.

Personailty : What can I say is she likes to eat, eat and eat. Oh, she also obsessed with Hayate ^^

7) Saginomiya Isumi

Isumi Saginomiya (鷺ノ宮伊澄 Saginomiya Isumi) is a girl who always wears a yukata and, sometimes, a stole. She is Nagi's best friend; they met at a party a long time ago. When all the other children, Sakuya included, laughed at Nagi's first attempt at writing her own manga, Isumi took interest in it and asked Nagi how it ends. Nagi then asked Isumi (in a childish sense) to marry her.

Personality : Like Nagi, Isumi is very rich; however, Isumi is soft-spoken, kind, and a good cook. While she does not have an awful sense of direction, she constantly gets lost due to the fact that she is apt to forget her destination en route while exterminating demons and the fact that she can disappear from people's eyes instantaneously only complicates the matter. However, she believes herself to be reliable and independent (a belief further enforced by the flighty nature of her mother and grandmother). She also has a habit of saying, when she doesn't understand how to use a machine or an electronic device such as a cellular phone or a vending machine, that the machine is broken. She displays a high level of empathy for Nagi's feelings, yet she does not recognize Wataru's love for her, a fact that Nagi,Maria, and Hayate comment on. She is one of the few who has kissed Hayate on his cheeks.

8) Aizawa Sakuya

Sakuya Aizawa (愛沢咲夜 Aizawa Sakuya) is Nagi'scousin and from Kansai. Like Nagi, Sakuya is very rich and has a similar personality — loud, arrogant, abusive of servants, and unwilling to accept defeat in anything; Nagi is one of the few people who can stand up to her wrath, as Sakuya is the one who has known Nagi the longest. Sakuya is the eldest daughter in her family, with three younger sisters and one younger brother. Her illegitimate half-brother, Gilbert, is one of the people who is constantly harassing Nagi for her fortune.

Personality : Sakuya is obsessed with stand-up comedy especially in Manzai style. She encouraged Hayate to become a comedian because she believes that Hayate's life up to now is nothing more than a comedy. Sakuya is often seen hanging around with Isumi and is usually present when Isumi performs exorcism despite the fact that she doesn't have any special powers to help out. She's not all bad though, since deep down she does care for her cousin. The reason why she wasn't able to attend Hakuou Academy is because only three people can advance grades each year, and she had given up her slot so that Wataru could advance to be in the same class with Isumi, since his grades were good enough.

9) Segawa Izumi

Izumi Segawa (瀬川泉 Segawa Izumi) is the student representative for Hayate's class at Hakuo Academy. She is the younger fraternal twin sister of Kotetsu Segawa.^[1]She is one of the member of The Hakuo Three Amiga.

Personality : Izumi is a lively and bubbly person who is always seen with a smile and has a cheerful disposition. Like her friends, she addresses Hayate as "Hayata". Izumi gets along well with Hayate and is comfortable enough to even change clothes while he is in the same room (though not for him to actually watch her change). Later on, it is implied that she may be starting to develop feelings for Hayate as well.

10) Harukaze Chiharu

Chiharu Harukaze (春風千桜 Harukaze Chiharu) is a student of Hakuo Academy, the current Student Council secretary and a part-time maid for Sakuya Aizawa. When she is working as a maid she uses the alias Haru or Haruko. Haru is very cheerful and her personality totally differs from the normal Chiharu. One of her main worries is being exposed of her job as a maid. Currently she stays at the Violet Mansion as a tenant and as a result has gotten close to Nagi due to the similar hobbies they have.

Personailty : She's known for her cold, serious and hardworking outer appearance. She is somewhat of a mild otaku. Her name when written in full kanji, is translated to be "Woman with 1000 faces" which is suited to her name and personality.

That's it minna :) hope you enjoy it ^^ I'm actually hoping there'll be another Hayate No Gotoku series but with different company maybe I prefer JC Staff. They make an awesome season 2 of Hayate No Gotoku and I hate when Manglobe tried to ruined the beautiful artwork from the previous Hayate No Gotoku series. I wish Hayate No Gotoku new season will be made by different company and include the story when Hayate meets with Athena at the Royal Garden again. I love that scene on manga and hopefully we'll see it on anime as well.

じゃあ、いったらしゃいみんなさん (^_^)/