Ranked #269

Hayate the Combat Butler!

As you might expect from an adaption of a comedy manga, Hayate the Combat Butler is a comedy show. It flirts with other genres - most notably action and romance/harem - but it is, through and through, about laughs. This presents a good reviewer with a particular problem: comedy is very personal - we don't all agree on what's funny. Given that, I shall give an overview of Hayate's particular brand of humour. But before I do, let me just say that I personally think this is a very, very funny show.

The central plot, and the grand-scale, over-arching joke of the series is based on a misunderstanding - good-natured but hapless sixteen-year-old Ayasaki Hayate's attempt to free himself of debt by kidnapping the (exremely) rich thirteen-year-old Sanzenin Nagi is misconstrued by her as a confession of love; Hayate swiftly finds himself installed as Nagi's butler/bodyguard, and the only person who actually grasps what's going on is Nagi's attractive maid (you can't go wrong with an attractive maid) Maria. The show's skeleton plot revolves around Hayate's misadventures in the bizarre world of the ultra-rich, all the time unaware of Nagi's slightly obsessive affection for him ('Hayate is the most handsome man in the world!')

But this show isn't one to watch for the plot, which develops slowly when it develops at all. It's really about the gags, which are thrown at the viewer at a frenetic pace. Hayate the Combat Butler doesn't just break the fourth wall . . . it smashes it down, dynamites the remains and then schedules the whole neighbourhood for rezoning, with characters regularly recognising their role in an anime show, and a (rather over-the-top) narrator commenting smugly on the action. There's also a plethora of references to other anime, games and manga - Nagi herself is an otaku - and spotting these is in itself an entertaining pastime. Indeed, several episodes are, in their entirity, well-observed pastiches of anime cliche - witness, for example, the 'beach visit' episode, which simultaneously parodies fanservice and provides it. And if this is the kind of humour which suits you, you'll probably love the show.

The voice acting is actually pretty good, though there's little opportunity for the voice actors to show their full range. (Kugumiya Rie seems to be in danger of being typecast, what with Shana, Louise and Nagi on her C.V.) The music is unremarkable, though of course given that this is a comedy it doesn't have anything particularly challenging to do. The animation has a noticeably crisp, shiny look, and the animators love to use bright colours, which makes Hayate's imagery as charged with energy as the other facets of the show. On the other hand, there's no sense that the animators devoted more than the usual amount of effort to this production - the animation is bright and attractive but not especially detailed, though it improves as the series goes on.

All in all, this is well worth checking out if you like comedy, especially comedy which relies on pastiche and parody. Don't expect anything deep or significant here, though. Hayate the Combat Butler is not a classic or a great, but it's pretty good - and Hayate is certainly the funniest butler since Jeeves. read more

Here is an anime that's not like many others. Hayate the Combat Butler is a colaberation of all kinds of Anime thrown into one, in order to make fun of it of course. What I mean is that Hayate is one of those Animes that make fun of Anime in general. I first herd of this series when it came out as a manga and so I got the manga and read a few books. Now even more intrigued, I began my search of the animated version. To my surprise there it was and began to watch it with my good friend from campus, Edge. Both of us fell in love with the series and it's comedic view on Anime.

Like I mentioned before, Hayate is a comedy anime, so it doesn't have a strong storyline. But what it's missing in story line makes up with many vibrant characters. Each character has their own interesting persona which gives a feel and equal balance between characters. It is obvious to say that the little storyline is really nothing to complain about. Another interesting thing to point out is how they transition many aspects of the Manga into the Anime. Though the Anime doesn't follow along the original chapters of the Manga, the characters still have the same aspects and don't astray from their original concept.

The comedy in this Anime is truely halarious, but not many will understand it if they haven't seen many mainstream Animes like; Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam, Saint Seiya and the Knights of the Zodiac, etc.. This Anime heavily uses other anime quotes, actions, and scences as references. They also use alot of Japanese television cullture in this as well. References to famous idols, Soap Opera, and other TV shows. Most of the anime's they bleep out during discusions are purposely done because of how it was like in the Manga. Originally the manga would bleep out certain words so they wouldn't get sued by other companies by using certain names, example; Gundam would be changed to Gu--am or ---dam on the TV show or Manga. But that in itself is halarious.

The art in the anime is pretty good. Though the characters are all flashy with serveral Neon color overtones, they don't look all too bad. There is no serious fan service in this anime so if you are looking for enourmous Boobs, you won't find any here. Many other characters are of proper proportions and aren't really saturated. Though in certain scenes they make tease pictures of certain characters in the end of the episodes for Fan Service, which are really more funny then sexy. Also they have certain episodes where they change the animation stylings as well. In one episode they hire the designers of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann to do the episode.

In the end I wrote nothing but good about this anime, that's because I favor humor against many popular animes. Indeed not many of you will enjoy this Anime, it's all about preferences and interests. I, however, will encourage you to watch a few episodes and see what I mean. This Anime is one for my record books. I've got my laughs and can't wait till the next season comes out, oh wait...kinda spoiled it for you guys, lol. read more