Hayate the Combat Butler “2nd Season” Ep. 17
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 17
Hayate no Gotoku!! – 17

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With the alien Maya having crashed into Nagi’s room, Nagi keeps Hayate from coming in and seeing the frighted girl, who’s looking for her lost spaceship. Nagi agrees to help her find it, figuring she’ll then obtain some Pipilma technology to make Hayate notice her with a new, sexy body.

Meanwhile, Hina is in an onsen struggling over how to tell Ayumu that she has fallen in love with Hayate. To her astonishment, Ayumu arrives and Hina is forced to deal with the situation faster than expected. However, Ayumu is gushing over Hina’s hair and skin, preventing Hina from saying anything. When Ayumu leaves the onsen to scrub up to make her own skin as soft as Hina’s, Hina ends up passing out due to the heat. She’s rescued by Ayumu and upon waking up, finds herself using Ayumu’s lap as a pillow and dressed in a yukata.

Ayumu confesses that while drying Hina off, she actually found herself a little aroused by it, which embarrasses Hina. Hina asks about Hayate, so Ayumu says that maybe she’s stepped toward a non-traditional relationship (implied with both Hayate and Hina). Hina again thinks she needs to tell Ayumu about he feelings for Hayate, but suddenly there’s a crowd.

Nagi and Maya find the UFO, which has been “acquired” by the Saginomiya family. Nagi spots Hayate entering the grounds of the Saginomiya property and immediately assumes that Hayate is having an affair with Isumi. Hayate is there to keep his end of the bargain with Ginka, but Isumi wants no part of that. When Hayate attempts to leave, Ginka attacks him, causing him to bleed. She wants Isumi to drink the blood, but Isumi refuses as it wouldn’t make her happy. Ginka leaves in a huff but Kotetsu arrives to score with Hayate.

Nagi comes in to find Kotetsu attempting to have his way with Hayate and assumes the worst again, getting quite angry in the process.

Nagi flees to the UFO and tells Maya she wants to leave. Nagi gets on board but an attack from Ginka prevents Maya from getting on board. The ship takes off with Nagi trapped on board. Understanding the situation, Isumi kisses the blood-soaked face of Hayate and her powers are restored. She summons “Gibson Jr,” a gaijn baseball player in Japan, who uses his bat to send both Hayate and Maya to the UFO.

Nagi is relieved to see Hayate and they rush to the bridge to find out what launched the spaceship. There, they discover a very drunk Katsura-sensei, who decided that since her family was coming here on a trip, she’d hold supplemental classes here as well (for Izumi, Miki, and Risa). Maya arrives to take control of the ship and as everyone is being returned to Earth, Hayate meets Nagi’s mother, Yukariko, who has been watching over Nagi. Hayate and Nagi come to at Yukariko’s grave and soon all of Nagi’s friends are there (courtesy of Yukariko) and a hanami party breaks out. When it is all over, Hayate promises Nagi’s mother to protect Nagi forever and hearing this, Nagi emerges and formally introduced Hayate to Yukariko.

Thoughts/Review:

This episode had both humor and a nice, touching story with Nagi’s mother. First to the humor.

Anyone know who “Gibson Jr.” is? I did a Google search but I’m not sure this guy is the same as the one in the anime. Regardless, his method for sending both Hayate and Maya to the UFO was expected and still funny. Really good humor is like that.

(As an aside, I wonder why Ginka had that UFO at all.)

Kotetsu finally returns but the impact of his scene is lessened because he just randomly shows up rather than having been set up in the skipped chapter as being in Shimoda pursuing Hayate. Still, the moment was amusing, though fairly cliched.

What is up with the sudden yuri push between Ayumu and Hina? That was rather unexpected. I suppose that in the manga, Hata-sensei wanted to spice up the whole love-triangle thing (assuming this aspect is in the manga, which I would guess it would be). Heck, this pretty much paves the way for a harem ending.

As to the serious side of the story, I wonder if Isumi’s story was done in greater detail in the manga. I kind of hope so because that would add richness to the story as a whole. Regardless, “Yukariko-neesama” has been explained and I liked it that Nagi’s mother spoke with Hayate before they returned to Earth. I also liked what Hayate spoke at the graveside. Very touching.

So a fun and touching episode wrapped into one.