ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 502 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The group arrives in Las Vegas with 107 hours left in the competition. A fired up Aika is prepared to win after having survived the night in the jungle, leading Nagi and Hayate to wonder what horrors she experienced.

Aika identifies Nagi, Hayate, Hina, Yukiji, and Isumi as the toughest opponents that can’t be defeated through normal means. As such, she gets Izumi, Kayura, and the other survivors together to team up to defeat the five monsters. The group is not certain, but Izumi lends Aika ¥10,000 that Aika asks for. Aika then targets Yukiji-sensei, who’s desperately wanting to go gambling. She gives Yukiji the money, and much to Sister Sonia’s chagrin, Yukiji is off to gamble.

Yukiji quickly blows through the ¥10,000, so she then uses the loan card she won, which charges 50% interest every 10 days, to borrow ¥100,000. Despite the high interest, Yukiji figures she can easily make that and more. Aika figures this is what Yukiji is thinking, which is the trap she laid for her teacher because the compound interest rate makes the loan impossible.

Yukiji ends up borrowing and losing ¥20 million. That means in ten days, she’ll owe ¥30 million. Sonia stops Yukiji from going out and borrowing more when Aika shows up. She offers to take on Yukiji’s debt, but only if Yukiji gives up. Aika gives Yukiji until Aika gives up to make up her mind. Kayura sees that this will force Yukiji-sensei to protect Aika from the others.

Elsewhere, someone pays a visit to Wataru’s mother, Mikoto.

Thoughts/Review:

Har! I got a big kick out of the gag reference to volume 20 of the manga (which came out in 2009 in Japan), when Saki, Wataru, and Sakuya (remember her?) were in Las Vegas. I think Hata-sensei went to Vegas to get those pictures to use as the basis for his drawings of the strip.

It was fun seeing the new, more sadistic Aika emerge with a plan to nullify Yukiji. It will be fun seeing her return home and confront her butler-boyfriend. Heh!heh!heh!

I was amused at Yukiji’s normal losing it over money. I remembered what happened with her in Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. I’d laugh if she had similar luck in this manga story.

Whom does Aika target next? That should be fun as well.

Finally, I’m glad Mikoto showed up. She should, since she lives in Vegas. I don’t think she did show up in the CTMEOY anime. As to who visited her, the obvious choice is Nagi. However, knowing Hata-sensei, it is likely someone unexpected.

In the end, while I enjoyed this chapter a lot, I didn’t find a lot to write about.