Hayate the Combat Butler “2nd Season” Ep. 13
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 13
Hayate no Gotoku!! – 13

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

In the time before Hayate arrives at the clock tower, Hina is frustrated that he is late for their appointment. When she falls asleep, she has a memory-dream of being abandoned as a little girl along with her sister. So waking up to see Hayate, Hina decides to take it out on him.

Elsewhere, Isumi, over a cup of tea, explains to Father Radiostar about the sword Hina borrowed (Masamune) and its effect on Hina. Hina is upset and ki “energizes” Masamune so that Hina’s attacks are more deadly. Hayate avoids them all but eventually Hina regains her composure and drops the wooden sword, resting her head on Hayate, who apologizes for delaying his appointment on her birthday.

Hayate prepares tea for Hina, who’s embarrassed at having rested her head on Hayate’s head. She decides she needs a win no matter what and so challenges Hayate to beat the present that Nagi gave her. Hayate presents some cookies he made for her, saying that since she comes from a well-off family and has rich friends all around, he wanted to do something simple. He states that as a kid, all he got for his birthday was a cookie. Hina confesses the same thing that confuses Hayate until she reveals that she and Katsura were abandoned by their parents and saddled with massive debt. The Katsura family adopted them and while Hina loves her adoptive parents, she still loves her real parents.

Hayate leads Hina out to the clock tower’s terrace. He says that when they first met, he was able to see this view. Hina is afraid of heights but with Hayate steadying her, she opens her eyes and views the nighttime cityscape below and in the distance. Hayate tells her that despite all they’ve gone through, were they are now isn’t a bad place. Hina finally admits to herself that she is in love with Hayate.

The following day, Hayate and Nagi are walking to school when they are passed by Hina, who greets them and addresses Hayate as “Hayate-kun” rather than “Ayasaki-kun.” Nagi is suspicious and afraid that Hina will fall for Hayate, something Hayate denies could happen. Hina is happy as she goes to the clock tower, but discovers that she still can’t go out onto the terrace alone.

Thoughts/Review:

Another enjoyable episode that wraps up Hina’s birthday arc. ^_^ I know I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again but I am so glad that this time around, the anime production team is following the manga so closely rather than go off all over the place.

Speaking of the first series, the Star Wars reference and the SUZUMIYA Haruhi references were somewhat muted in this episode. In the first series, there were bleeps all the time from different things being referenced and bleeped out for copyright (or joke) purposes. In the manga, it is clear that Luke Skywalker is the reference (with some characters purposefully removed) but here, only the name “Luke” survives.

For Nagi’s joke about how The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVD’s were released and the whole TV version vs. DVD version was even more muted. The manga pretty clearly spells this out but the anime doesn’t even reference what series she’s talking about (or I didn’t hear it referenced). Granted if you know Haruhi, you know the whole controversy there and would likely get the joke, but I’m sure some will be lost.

The omake ending in this episode is straight from the manga. However, while this episode’s story comes from volume 10 of the manga, the omake comes from the omake in volume 9. I’m glad the anime production team included it since Kotetsu will be back down the road. ^_^

Unfortunately because the first series scrounged bits and pieces from the rest of volume 10, it appears that the current series production team have decided to skip the rest of this volume and go straight to volume 11. That’s a shame because we are skipping the whole “psycho in the restaurant” story and the Hayate-bot story (since the first series already did the part with Hayate studying for exams). *_*

Ah well, here’s to the next episode and the Saginomiya Clan. ^_^