Hayate no Gotoku! Can’t Take My Eyes Off You episode 10
ハヤテのごとく！ CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

After Nagi talks with the humanoid woman about the kuro-tsubaki, the woman decides she needs to take matters into her own hands, telling Nagi that the kuro-tsubaki is actually a sword that grants eternity to whomever is stabbed by it. Elsewhere, Hayate, having just been stabbed by the kuro-tsubaki, falls to the ground, but to everyone’s amazement, he gets up unharmed. The woman teleports her tree to his location, causing the gangsters to attack. They are mostly wiped out and their hideout is destroyed. The woman wants the kuro-tsubaki, but Hayate ignores her, deciding he needs to talk to Nagi about something. His dismissive tone angers the imprisoned Nagi.

Isumi slips in and launches a devastating attack on the woman, injuring her greatly. Ruri reacts by calling the woman “mother,” as Isumi presses her attack, freeing Nagi and destroying the tree. The gangsters flee in their car, chased by Yukiji as Ruri defends her mother by attacking Isumi. Shidou comes to help the woman, whom he addresses as “Dolly,” and flees with her as an unfazed Hayate watches. Ruri prevents Isumi from knocking the pair out of the sky, so Isumi prepares to bring the pain to Ruri. Shidou tells Ruri to leave, so she reluctantly leaps into the sky and vanishes.

Nagi faces Hayate, figuring he’s mad about what she’d said earlier, and though she apologizes, when the cops arrive, Hayate tells her coldly that he quits as her butler and flees. The next day, Nagi tries to be brave without Hayate, though everyone knows it is an act. Kaoru-sensei shows up in the car he bought for Yukiji at her request, and takes Nagi and Ayumu to see Area 51. Hina goes to look for Yukiji while Maria seeks out Hayate. While in the car, Ayumu reveals she has the kuro-tsubaki, and bad things start happening, leading to the car crashing in the desert. Ayumu says she’s lost the kuro-tsubaki and leaves to find it while Kaoru-sensei returns to the road to try to get help.

Nagi finds the kuro-tsubaki and after some minor bad things happen to her, she breaks down crying, regretting the things she’s done to treat Hayate poorly and wanting him to return. Ayumu comes back and tells Nagi that they will find Hayate so that Nagi can tell him in person, leading the grateful Nagi to accept. Meanwhile, Hayate is at a motel (?) outside of Las Vegas, and is pestered by Yukiji to help her interrogate one of the gangsters she captured so she can get her money. He tells her to cooperate or be killed by the gorilla, causing Yukiji to become irritated. The thug gives the location as the Starside Hotel in Las Vegas, so Hayate tells “Gorilla-san” the info, angering her even as he denies calling her a gorilla, even though he did.

Thoughts/Review:

Last episode, I stated that I half-expected this humanoid woman, whom we now know is named Dolly, to be Ruri’s mother. That would appear to be born out here as Ruri does address her as “okaasama.”  Based on how Shidou treated her, and the fact that Ruri doesn’t address him as “oniichan” (or other form for one’s older brother), I think that Shidou may be Ruri’s stepfather.

Isumi fulfilled her promise to make Dolly pay for kidnapping Nagi by seriously hurting Dolly in her attack and apparently, destroying whatever pocket realm she was using to teleport around in.  It is always fun seeing Isumi in action.

Speaking of which, I see she’s wearing her great grandmother’s mask when doing combat this time around. I wonder what’s up with that? I figure there’s probably some defensive aspects to the mask that we’ve not been made privy to yet.

As for the kuro-tsubaki turning into a sword, that was certainly out of left field. The fact that it can grant “eternity” to whomever is stabbed is another whacky element, but there ya go. Either way, I wonder if Hayate’s cold attitude to Nagi is legitimate or part of his plan to try to protect her.  Of course, it could be a side effect of the kuro-tsubaki, but it just seems that the writers are too eager to make that the cause of Hayate’s attitude.

Regardless, the anime has now caught up to the opening scenes of the first episode, so now we know why Hayate isn’t Nagi’s butler and the circumstances of her being in the desert all alone.

On the humor side, I’m still amused at how much English/Engrish the Japanese are using in this series. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve heard this much English in any other anime I’ve ever watched. In that vein, Hayate’s and Yukiji’s interrogation of the gangster was quite amusing, with Yukiji apparently only understanding the English word “gorilla.” Hayate calling her “Gorilla-san” was just icing on the cake. ^_^

Before I forget, can anyone ID this place? I’m pretty sure it is a real location and I feel sure I’ve seen it before, but I just don’t know where.

Beyond that, not much left to say. We’ll see where things go from here.