Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 04
Hayate no Gotoku “Season 2” Ep. 04
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With Valentine’s Day approaching, Nagi holes up in the kitchen to try to make Hayate a chocolate while Ayumu has Wataru sample some chocolate she’s made. Wataru doesn’t see the big deal about Valentine’s Day and ends up hurting Ayumu’s feelings by bluntly stating that if the guy she’s giving the chocolates to has already rejected her, why would he accept her chocolate? Ayumu quietly agrees with this assessment and is depressed.

Valentine’s Day arrives and Hina finds herself the recipient of a ton of chocolate from girls, which Miki gently teases Hina about before giving Hina a chocolate as well. Hina decides to eat all the chocolate for the sake of the different girls’ feelings but needs some milk. Upon coming to the school entrance, she finds a girl being held by security and realizing the girl is there to deliver a chocolate, Hina takes control of the situation. She offers the girl, Ayumu, assistance in delivering her chocolate by having the boy summoned to the student council room in the clock tower.Hina ‘s not too pleased that the boy is Hayate but she does the right thing and arranges the meeting. However, Ayumu ends up leaving quickly and after Hayate states that Ayumu gave him giri-choco (obligation chocolate), Hina sends Hayate after Ayumu.

Hayate finds Ayumu under a railway bridge and she realizing she’s been given another opportunity, she gives him the honmei-choco (sweetheart chocolate), telling him he doesn’t have to answer her now. When Ayumu sees Hina later in the city, she thanks her and they properly introduce themselves and Ayumu presents Hina with the giri-choco. This leads Miki to point out to Hina that this kind of thing is how Hina ends up with more chocolates every year.

Meanwhile, Hayate is in a quandary on what to do. After speaking briefly with Father Radiostar on the subject of love, Hayate speaks with Maria, assuming she has a great deal of experience. She does not and ends up being depressed by this. So she decides to make a chocolate instead while the frustrated Nagi gets Hayate to make her a chocolate. Maria sees Hayate make an elaborate chocolate and decides to outdo him, only to find that in the end, Hayate went with a simple chocolate for Nagi. Seeing Maria’s chocolate, Hayate and Nagi assume she made it for herself. That evening, Hayate presents Maria with a small chocolate he’s made as a means of thanks after presenting Nagi with hers.

Thoughts/Review:

The great adaptation continues through four episodes now. ^_^ This story is a favorite of mine in the manga, especially with Hina getting so many chocolates and Miki teasing her about it. Plus, it establishes the friendship between Ayumu and Hina, which plays a greater role in episodes to come (assuming the manga is still followed pretty faithfully). Ayumu didn’t get portrayed that well in the first anime series as she was often just the love-sick girl pining for Hayate and the butt of many food jokes. The manga never portrayed her as such (she is in love with Hayate, but not the butt of food jokes) and I’m very glad this new series is not either. ^_^

One thing this episode did is expand a bit on Nagi’s efforts to make Hayate a chocolate, which may be filler but I did like it.

Speaking of the whole chocolate making thing, this episode really brought to life the elaborate chocolates made by both Hayate and Maria. Long time readers of my blog will remember my annoyance with Viz over ruining the image of the chocolate by writing “DOOOOM” in big letters over the image in the manga (the review of volume 7). No worries here as we get to see just how fancy those chocolates are. *lol*

Good stuff I tell ya. ^_^

Back to Hina, one thing that the anime brought to my attention was the small chocolate she had with her and ultimately ended up eating. In the manga, it came across as just anther one of the many chocolates that Hina had received. However, as things were done in the anime, I realized that this small chocolate was likely one that Hina had to give to Hayate, but then decided against it as she supported Ayumu’s love confession. Neither the manga nor the anime express this, but I now think it is implied to a degree (or at the very least, one can make that assumption if one chooses to do so).

The first four episodes here really have me excited for a proper anime adaptation of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga. I really hope this continues through the rest of the series.