Hayate the Combat Butler Ep. 45
ハヤテのごとく！Episode 45

SPOILER Summary:

It’s Setsubun, and Tama is dressed up as an Oni as Hayate and Nagi chase him and throw beans at him (part of the Japanese tradition for Setsubun to get rid of Oni). Maria comes in and before calling it a night, they decide to eat the number of beans for their age. Maria takes 17, which causes the others to stare at her. She gets annoyed, figuring they think she’s older than 17, but their attempts to make things right only make things worse.

At Wataru’s shop, the discussion about Maria continues with Nagi, Hayate, Wataru, and Saki. Nagi and Hayate are given the idea to give Maria a spa treatment called “Ladies Overnight Plan, Relaxation Tour.” Maria thanks them and they enter the hotel, where the doorman is none other than Risa-chan, one of the Student Council Trio. In their spacious suite, Hayate and Nagi have to stop Maria from trying to make tea. Hayate calls for room service and it is delivered by none other than Izumi-chan. Apparently, the school is sponsoring an event to allow some of the students to work for a day at this resort. Izumi is touched by their story to allow Maria to relax.

Nagi and Hayate are a bit concerned by school people being there, but Nagi gets Maria to the pool just the same. As she’s relaxing, she notices petals in the water. Taiga-bocchan is the cause, as he feverishly tosses the petals into the water as his lazy butler watches. Nagi takes Maria to get a massage. Nagi is massaged expertly by the robot Eight while Katsura-sensei has Maria, only Maria ends up giving the massage to a grateful Katsura-sensei, who now considers Maria to be a “dai-senpai” despite being 11-years older than Maria.

Outside, Kuzuha and Shion arrive for some relaxation and decide to get a sugar boost first. Meanwhile, Nagi reports to Hayate that Maria wanted to go on a relaxing walk, which they think is just perfect. Maria, on the other hand, is having difficulties with this forced relaxation, but wants to appreciate Nagi and Hayate’s efforts. Maria runs into Isumi, who’d gotten lost and is so happy to have actually made it to her final destination. Maria escorts her inside to where the SCT are waiting at the counter. Back in the room, Nagi considers that she’ll be alone with Hayate. However, she thinks its too soon to consider “that,” but nevertheless, she is nervous just the same as the two play cards on the bed.

Maria ends up helping the various school members with their stuff, including rescuing Hina from the hotel manager, who was yammering on and on about old stories. Shiori comes in and tells Maria that they need some help stat. Maria, after being briefed, calls Hayate and gets him to come down alone. She briefs him and we are taken to a restaurant where Kuzuha and Shion are sitting. Kuzuha needs more deserts and the waiter is panicking. However, another waiter comes out with a Mont Blank. The taste of the dish hits the spot for Kuzuha, so she and Shion leave, and it is revealed that Hayate made the desert from Maria’s recipe. In the lobby, the two of them run into Maria. Kuzuha is kind of confrontational, but Maria’s formal speak and attitude shuts that up.

After finishing their work at the resort, the group from the school leave and walk home, with Katsura-sensei scoring a free meal from the gang. Meanwhile back at the hotel, it is still early evening, but Nagi has fallen asleep in the room and is sleeping soundly. When they return to the mansion the following day, Maria is thankful for what they did for her, but feels the mansion is best. Hayate and Nagi try to compliment her about her looks, but she takes it the wrong way.

Thoughts: This was a fun, though predictable (in the Maria wasn’t going to get to relax) episode. It also seems this was an episode to give face time to characters we haven’t seen much of lately, like Tama, Katsura-sensei, Eight, Shiori, and the other two idiots with their butlers.

Nice to see Wataru’s shop sell DVD’s. Previously, backgrounds appeared to have only VHS tapes. ^_^;

References! (Note: the site doesn’t get 100% of the references, but they do get a very high percentage. As of this posting, whomever normally puts all the references in has not done so.)