Hayate the Combat Butler – He Talks With The Animals

- PlayStation 5, Animal Abuse and The Fake Moustache

Briefly, this was probably the best episode yet. In terms of comedy, animation and loli (erm story).

Next Episode – Snake infiltrates a school in search of Loli Ocelot

Hayate the Combat Butler – He Gets Fired?

- Fanservice, Snow and Mask the Money

Introduction 

Hayate wakes up in a huge opulent mansion and mistakes it for heaven, he wanders round and finds an in-door hot spring. While relaxing in the hot spring he see’s a woman that looks like Maria bathing. Maria complements Hayate on his tough body thinking that his wounds have already, at this point Hayate faints in the water. Then one of Hayate’s old friend see’s a shooting star, then the episode ends. When Hayate wakes up again Maria dismisses the previous encounter as a dream, luckily Hayate believes her.

Next Hayate tries on his Butler uniform and begins his duties for the day. He cleans one room so well that Maria is shocked, apparently Hayate used to do cleaning as a part time job when he was younger. Klaus (The guy in charge of staff) tells Maria to fire Hayate, but when she see’s him working so hard she decides that she can’t.

Hayate wanders in to Nagi’s study and accidentally readers her ‘manga’. Nagi walks in on him reading it and kicks him out of the room, she then proceeds to throw all manner of things at him and tells him to get out. Hayate thinks he has been fired and leaves the mansion. As soon as he steps outside the friendly Yakuza bundle him in to their car and head for the docks. Maria see’s Hayate being kidnapped and tells Nagi who then decides to go and rescue him. At the docks Hayate envisions what grizzly fate lies in wait for him. Just as things seem bleak Nagi turns up disguised as a masked hero (Mask the Money. She pays Hayates debt in full and rescues him for the Yakuza. Oh, apparently all of this was happening on Christmas day, which explains the snow.

Impressions 

This was a really good episode, full of comedy. The parodies and unexpected fan service were especially good, Gundam, Black Lagoon, One Piece, let the law suits begin! I am finding the style of comedy used in this show rather hard to describe, so rather than mess it up I advise you to watch the episode and see why its funny. There was some good dialogue between Hayate and Maria, she seems the only slightly sane person in the show. I was also more aware of the quality of the voice acting in this episode, I particularly enjoyed Nagi’s embarrassed voice which was very cute. The artwork seemed a little up and down in places, I also noticed the CG inside the mansion which felt a bit false and overdone.

Overall it was a good solid episode with lots of laugh, however I thought that the Yakuza guys were going to be chasing him throughout the show. Oh well, I guess the plot is going in a different direction. Sorry for the slightly short and poor post but I have a really bad cold so blogging hasn’t been my first priority today.

 Next episode

The red lion goes roar!

Hayate is put to the test against a tiger and a robot.

Should be fun.

Till next time, enjoy!

 Hayate the Combat Butler – His Family Are Really Poor!

- Cheap Coats, Loli and Yakuza

OP

Hayate the Combat Butler OP

A rather happy and care free jpop song (Hayate no Gotoku! by KOTOKO) is supported by equally bright and soothing animation. I particularly like the detailed backgrounds in contrast to the often simplistic character design. The pacing and arrangment are also good, you can immediately tell that the show will be humorous with a hint of romance. Towards the end many different characters are shown, most of whom look a good deal more exciting that Hayate himself. Overall its a well presented opening although a little uninspired.

Introduction

Just before the OP there’s a small introduction where Hayate saves a young loli, erm girl, from a giant robot intent on killing her. Although she seemed to be doing pretty well before he intervenes…

The story starts off with SatanSanta telling Hayate that he won’t be getting any christmas presents because his family are poor, he advises Hayate to work hard and use his own strength to achieve the things he wants. These words seem to stay with Hayate all of his life. His unemployed parents constantly gamble away any money they aquire so Hayate is left to provide for the family through part time jobs, which he’s is actually to young to have. One day his family spend the last of the money he makes and leave him alone for good. However they have a parting gift for him, the news that he has been sold to the Yakuza to pay of his parents debt. Merry Christmas kiddo!

 After diving through a first floor window to escape the friendly Yakuza he flees to nearby park where he see’s a young girl. He decides that he will kidnap and ransom her so that he can pay off his debt. Unfortunately this goes wrong when he ends up saving her from some thugs and accidentally confessing his love for her… Dismayed that his plans have gone awry he passes out on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile the young girl he confessed to is being kidnapped by the guys he saved her from earlier. A passing woman on a bike wakes Hayate up and gives him a scarf (??) to keep him warm. He is so touched by her kindness that he openly weeps. Once he pulls himself together he races off on the bike to rescue the young girl. The kidnappers run him over with their car, but he doesn’t seem to bothered. They decide to release the girl and it seems that the police arrest them. As the young girl thanks Hayate he collapses to the floor, although he insists he is ok. Then she (Nagi Sanzenin) decides to thank Hayate by letting him work as her full time butler. With that out of the way, I am looking forward to story progressing next week.

Impressions

You may or may not have realised that I didn’t really mention any of the comedy in that description. I did this on purpose because to me it seems that without the comedy this is quite a sincere show. A boy who has lived a sad and hard life has managed to stay caring and responsible, despite his bad luck it seems that things are finally looking up for him. Now i’m sure that nobody else cares about this, but I find that this gives the show depth beyond the slapstick comedy.

All seriousness aside though, I did really enjoy the show. The comedy was really well done. From Santa’s harsh treatment, Hayate’s accident with the stairs, the Yakuzas various jobs for him and the excellently done angel and devil sequence I found myself genuinely laughing. The sheer neglegance of Hayate’s parents and their readyness to sell him was also quite brilliant. From what I have heard about the show it will get increasingly funnier and wackier, good stuff.

The characters, while not very original, have grown on me. Hayate seems like a nice guy and that alone makes me want to find out what happens to him. Then there’s the loli, well, I would be lying if I said I didn’t find her cute and comical in her brashness. Hopefully the supporting characters will be equally as interesting and stop the show from feeling stale and predictable.

The art, as I mentioned in the OP, is mostly of a really high standard. I’m a bit of a background art freak and this show has some exquisitely well drawn and coloured exteriors. I particularly like the backdrops as Hayate was riding through the town and the panning sky scene near the very end. Although the character designs let the show down a little, up close the main characters are quite dull and unoriginal. I often find myself looking at the background characters and thinking how more effort went in to their artwork. But i’m sure there’s a reason for this… Or maybe it’s just me.

Having not read the manga I don’t know where the plot is headed, or even if there is much of a plot. But, I enjoyed the first episode more than enough for it to secure a place on my blog. Oh I just realised, there wasn’t any fan service…

ED

The ED animation is a series of women sleeping in various places, it doesn’t sound that interesting at first and that’s because it isn’t. The light and fluffy jpop ballad (Proof by MELL) makes it a little more appealing, but aside from the cutsie factor of sleeping girls there’s really not much here.

Next Episode

Do you know what kind of work a Butler does?

Apparently it entails strutting around the mansion and making things sparkle.

Great?!