Hayate the Combat Butler “2nd Season” Ep. 10
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 10
Hayate no Gotoku!! – 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

After Hayate accidentally insults Maria while inquiring about a gift she might like, he heads out to look for a birthday present for Hina. He runs into Ayumu and as they talk, they are seen by Risa, Izumi, and Miki who come up. After they learn that Hayate is looking for a present for Hina, so they make sure Hayate knows their birthday as well. Introductions are made to Ayumu with Miki declaring that they are all Hayate’s lovers.

Ayumu decides that since Hayate’s friends are there, she will flee. The girls send Hayate after Ayumu, who gets on her mountain bike, only to learn her brakes go out. She’s saved by Hayate, who reminds her that she needs to take care of her bike. Since Ayumu and Hayate were introduced through a similar bike accident on her part, Ayumu is touched that Hayate remembers their first encounter.

Kaoru-sensei thanks Hina for helping in the after school lessons and gets her to go find Risa, Izumi, and Miki, who skipped out on the lesson. Hina goes into town and finds the girls talking with Hayate and Ayumu about her birthday. Hina hides and learns some of their opinions of her. When Hayate and Ayumu take off to gift hunt, Hina comes out to confront Risa, Izumi, and Miki about a “tomboy” remark they made.

Meanwhile, Ayumu realizes that going shopping with Hayate is almost like they are on a date. Things are going so well, Ayumu feels that she will immediately become the butt of a joke but no joke happens. Instead, Hayate tells Ayumu that her love confession was the first one he’d ever received. She tells him that she’s never given one before but Hayate was about to leave her life so she made her initial confession.

Ayumu excuses herself after their talk and is afraid that Hayate doesn’t like her. This is seen by Izumi, Miki, Risa, and Hina. They wonder about Hayate’s actions so Hayate says that he doesn’t dislike Ayumu. However, he doesn’t feel he can be in a relationship since he can’t support a girl. The girls question his notion, so he explains that his kindergarten girlfriend (A-tan) had beaten this idea into his head. Things make more sense to Hina now and Ayumu, who’d been nearby listening in, is relieved to know that Hayate doesn’t hate her.

Returning home, Hayate brings in the groceries and tells Nagi that he’s late because he went shopping for a gift for Hina. This irritates Nagi something fierce but when Hayate produces a gift for Nagi, she’s immediately touched, saying that even if the gift is a cheap one, she’ll treasure it because it is from the heart. However, she’s only distracted for a moment by Hayate’s gift and returns the conversation back to Hayate’s desire to buy Hina a present.

A misunderstanding with Maria has Hayate seeking her out to apologize. He learns that Maria was abandoned as an infant at a church, which is why she was given the name “Maria.” She was officially registered in the Japanese rolls as a citizen and officially assigned December 24th as her birthday though she does not know her real birthday. Hayate promises to get her a gift then before presenting her a gift stuffed bunny, which Maria loves. Sadly, Hayate doesn’t know that the bunny is from a violent anime character.

Thoughts/Review:

For some reason, it struck me in this episode that the Sanzenin family doesn’t have a dishwasher. Why? It actually comes up in lots of anime and manga titles — someone with a lot of money is still washing dishes by hand. I think the first anime I saw where a dishwasher is even used is one of the Shakugan no Shana titles and the dishwasher there is just a portable, counter top model. I can understand why some tiny Japanese apartment wouldn’t have a dishwasher because where are you putting a dishwasher in a 300 square foot apartment? However, in some western-styled mansion, it seems that they’d have a western-styled dishwasher. Just a thought. ^_^;

As expected, I’m loving how the anime continues to follow the manga story. I just love Risa, Izumi, and Miki as a team. They are just so much fun as they tease Katsura-sensei, Hayate, or Hina. Their remarks about Hina cracked me up as well as Miki’s frank statement declaring that Hayate was the lover of all three friends. *lol* Of course, they also provide good advice, such as when they sent Hayate after Ayumu. ^_^

Seeing Ayumu’s bike, I am reminded of the recently released manga volume from Viz (volume 11 to be precise) where her bike again will come into play. Hmmm…I’ll wait for the anime to catch up to that story before commenting further. Regardless, I can’t help but like Ayumu as a character.

I wonder about Hayate’s girlfriend from kindergarten. I didn’t mention it when I reviewed the manga volume she was mentioned in, but for this episode, the moment stood out in my mind. As such, I get the feeling that she may show up in the future (I’m not reading ahead on Hayate the Combat Butler, so after the anime gets through the volume 11 stories, they will be all new to me). We’ll see what happens though.

Score one for Hayate and his gift to Nagi to temporarily thwart her irritation. ^_^

The biggest laugh for me came from Tama being busted.

*LOL* This little moment was in the manga too, but it was SO much funnier in the anime for me. Tama the glam rocker. ^_^

I know I tend to gush over this anime and that’s because I’m loving it. It is SO much better than the first series simply because it follows the manga rather than go off on its own with a lot of tedious, non-funny stories.