It was in 2004 that Kenjiro Hata released this hilarious manga (which eventually turned into an anime) which featured funny characters, outrageous humor, many references to popular culture, parodies of pop-culture, and the craziest situations created. Whether it be walking to the grocery store only to end up getting attacked by thousands of bodyguards with swords, to attempting to sneak into a school, only to be met by a crazy alcoholic history teacher that really wants to kill someone, the situations simply from crazy to ludicrously demented. The reason for most of these “incidents”(If you can call them that.) is due to the fact that Hayate is the unluckiest 16 year old I have ever seen in my life. While he is skilled in combat, martial arts, stealth, weapon use, painting forging, assassinations, cleaning, door to door salesmanship, etc….(How he learns all these skills are beyond me), he just seems to always be at the wrong place at the wrong time. One other factor could also be that his weakness, girls added to what seems to be the poorest empathy I’ve seen from 16 year old, simply makes Hayate’s life a living nightmare. Whether it be that every single girl in Tokyo is insane, or the fact Hayate still hasn’t figured out (After two season and 20 volumes), that most of the girl’s that he meet are in love him, usually results in Hayate being in a lot of mental and physical pain.
The format of the show is basically scenario after scenario, a basic format that really doesn’t distinguish it from other animes/mangas. However, it is not format but the scenarios that it get right, for every scenario usually involves a lot of parodies, breaking of the wall, truly insane action, and lots of freaking misunderstandings. Whether it be misuse of the word “play”, or accidently killing off a character for really no reason what-so-ever, the series revolves around the idea of world where everybody takes everything too seriously, resulting many casualties caused by a war that ends many innocent lives. (Moment of Silence Please) However, all of these scenarios are hilarious, as for they rely on outrageous humor, a ridiculous amount of sexual innuendo, and amusing character abuse scenes. Even the normal scenarios are hilarious, for they range from attempting to get into one of the greatest school in Japan (An obvious parody to Love Hina), to trying to escape a gay person who loves Hayate, instantly turns into a fight to the death situation.
If their one flaw with this series (I don’t find it a flaw, but many people do), it’s the fact it leans VERY closely to Harem. For those of you who don’t know, Harem is usually an anime with the situation in that one guy is involved with two or more girls. This isn’t bad, in my opinion, but it usually leads to girls being made into sex symbols. (Still have no problem with that) Meaning if you are a woman, you may be turned off by this series. however, if you are willingly to overlook this and just laugh at what you on screen, then you will really enjoy this show.
If what I said make’s Hayate the Combat Butler a mindless comedy, then you are wrong, This series can be very touching at times, as for before Hayate became a butler, he was dirt poor kid that had to support two lazy parents that sold him to the mafia, even going to the extent of giving him the . After seeing the first episode, you really feel the problem that Hayate is going through, as for everyone has abandoned him. Heck I’m not afraid to say that I even shed a tear. Hayate the Combat Butler is the story of survival. Hayate, being a butler, has to constantly serve the most spoiled child I have ever seen (Nagi) and no matter how angry she gets at Hayate, Hayate always seems to do everything willingly, even feeling guilty when he isn’t working or taking a day off. Basically it’s the story of Hayate wanting to be accepted, but due to bad luck, has a very hard time doing it. Since the series is still running, I can’t come to any conclusions if Hayate is going to actually end up being happy, so I am hoping that the conclusion is really well done, as for death shall come to Kotoko if they do release a crappy final episode.
Hayate the Combat Butler is simply hilarious and touching. While the slight harem feel may stop girls from reading/watching this, most of the population will simply enjoy this great manga/anime series.
