Hayate no Gotoku!

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.

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Hayate no Gotoku (Hayate the Combat Butler) is a hilarious romantic comedy that is chuck-full of parodies and censorship. It follows the story of a very ordinary boy Hayate, who’s always been a noble person and forced to work most of his life. One day his parents left him with a huge dept to pay, to some very kind people (the Yakuza). Now that he’s lost all hope, Hayate attempts to kidnap a rich girl, Nagi but he ends up saving her from the “very kind people”. She returns the favour by allowing him to work as her butler, thus their adventure begins.

That’s basically the set-up of the show with one of the funniest opening episodes ever. With this being a romantic, comedy both of these aspect are important. There are several obvious romantic interests between the characters like Hayate and Nagi. This really isn’t all that relevant to the story though but it just helps give it purpose. On the other hand the comedy is what stands. The jokes are funny and fresh, making the gags so blatantly obvious that you’ll have to be asleep to not notice. The comical “Can’t show this” gag and bleeping (****) out anime/manga references are just a few of the running gags that will leave you in laughing fits. There are dozens of whacky parodies in this anime series that can easily surpass the like of Exc*l S*ga. One thing this anime will become known for is perfecting the art of “breaking the 4th wall”, which also has been achieved in several other series. ^_^

*For those who don’t know “breaking the 4th wall” is when a character is aware they are being watched and they even interact with the audience*

The animation quality is great for a comedy with the characters having the classic “Moe” features (e.g. big eyes, big head, slim body). Compared to similar romantic comedies that arrived around the same time “Nagasarete Airantou” and “Seto no Hanayome” the animation in Hayate no Gotoku! is just as luscious and vibrant, however there are scores of anime with superior animation. This doesn’t matter because the way the show looks definitely suits this anime. The music also suits the fun nature of the show and has plenty of catchy beats but it can get fairly repetitive after a while.

Overall this is definitely an anime for anime fans who’ve seen plenty of shounen anime, due to the number of jokes related to those. However for those who haven’t seen much anime won’t feel left out by not understanding, as most of the jokes are just blatantly obvious. Though no matter how enjoyable this series is, the story is the weakest aspect and after a while it gets fairly unimpressive and repetitive. Even with all the added hilarious action, in the second half, it can get a bit old. But if you’re just looking for a series to watch, for a laugh and not take seriously then this is definitely the one.

^_^

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52 episodes? Yes.

Don't get me wrong now. There were some entertaining scenes and sometimes even episodes in Hayate the Combat Butler! It's just that, you know, there aren't enough. I can also say with a certainty I rarely feel regarding any anime that this was too long, way too long, for its own good. There are reasons of course. First of all; this anime is episodic, 52 episodes of episodic plots is too much. It will never be good, in any anime. I don't really have anything against episodic animes, but this genre, or these genres are perhaps not suitable as a base for a 52 (!) episode anime where each and every episode has its own plot. At some point it gets tedious.

In Hayate the Combat Butler! I can honestly say I don't even remember at what point it got tedious. All I can say is that the three episodes that Nabeshin was contributing to with storyboard and directing were the best, especially the one where he appears in person with his 'fro. I did laugh at other scenes aswell, but as I said before, the laughs came too sparsely for it to be worth living through 52 episodes. There are other, better animes with denser, in want for a better word, comedy (laugh) value.

There were some references to other anime and populat culture in general in this anime. For the people who have seen this; did you notice them? Yea. They were hard to miss. I don't mind it once or twice or maybe even ten times, but when we're talking like 100 times it, as the entire anime, gets tedious.

Did you know that when you're 20 you're basically ready for retirement in Japan? Throughout the entire series I was contemplating if the subtle (not) hints you got that this was the case were serious or if they were just yanking my chain, so to speak. I'm more inclined to say they were serious though. Maybe this entire anime was made for those kids in middle school that form anti grown up clubs and enter depressions and states of emo-ness due to the fact that they'll soon enter highschool in which case they will be "old". Perhaps I was never meant to watch this anime at all, I honestly don't know.

Did you know that there was no character development of any of the characters, whatsoever, in the entirety of Hayate the Combat Butler! It's true, if anyone should disagree with me I ask of them to show me proof by pointing out character and episode and I will take the time to rewatch the entire episode just to see if it's true. That is how certain I am that character development does not exist in Hayate the Combat Butler!

If anyone should be interested I will go after Wikipedia's definition of character development which is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_development

52 episodes? Yes.

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“Hayate No Gotoku!” was an enjoyable romantic comedy, with most of the emphasis on comedy, rife with hilarious situations, absurd humor, filled with references to other anime and culture elements. Most episodes were a great laugh and I enjoyed following the series, even though most of it is based on tried and proved humor and events.
I do like the fact that the series did not take itself too seriously and often not only made fun of other anime and manga, but also made fun of itself and its own absurdities as well, which showed in elements such as characters interacting with the narrator or seemingly reaching out to the audience to question what is happening on-screen.

The cast of characters is large enough to provide ample variation, however many are more stereotypical characters or are comprised out of stereotypical character traits, luckily they're quite effectively or humoristically used at times, which helps greatly.
Then again, Nagi, Hayate, Maria, Hinagiku, and the many more of the large cast present in the series were always good for a laugh or a surprise.
Some characters barely appeared tough, such as Himegami, Chiharu and Aika, they were added to the second opening sequence as if their characters would have quite a bit of screen time and importance but they ended up appearing only a few times. This could give the impression the creator/writers aren't sure yet where they want to go with the series.

The ending of “Hayate No Gotoku!” 52 episode run was somewhat unexpected though, it was a nice episode with some evolution of the main plot but offers no closure since they announced a second season is in the works, so be prepared for that if you intend to watch the series.
I'm unsure how well another series run will do for “Hayate No Gotoku!”, I'm unfamiliar with the manga so I do not know how much material is left for them to use. While I did enjoy the show a great deal, the question is will it be able to carry itself for another run of 52 episodes?
However, now that “Hayate No Gotoku!” has finished airing, I notice how I do miss it, seeing the antics of Nagi, Hayate, Maria, Hinagiku, for such a long time made them grown on me, I was used to seeing them around every week.

The animation on “Hayate No Gotoku!” was always good to decent, while the obvious fanservice scenes got better animation and finish compared to other scenes that were more simply animated or illustrated, I didn't find this bothersome. The series looked like it also tried to keep some of the character design style of the manga, most characters looked good, albeit generic at times.
With the many homages, easter eggs, many links and references to other anime series, the style sometimes did change during several scenes which would often lead to hilarious scenes.

The soundtrack was allright, clearly made to accompany what happens on-screen without truly standing out. In contrast I am fond of the opening songs done by Kotoko, I generally enjoy her music a lot and found her contributions here were energetic and lively tracks that fit the pace of the series perfectly.

If you're looking for a good romantic comedy that does not only have the themes we're used to but is also rife with absurd humor and links to other series then you most likely will love “Hayate No Gotoku!”.
At 52 episodes it is a long series so I'm not sure how viewing it in a batch will come over, I do think watching it weekly or with some pause between episodes may make it more enjoyable.

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