ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku manga volume 14 review
Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 14

 –> Not available for purchase from RIGHTSTUF!
 –> PURCHASE FROM RAKUTEN (formerly BUY.COM)
 –> PURCHASE FROM BARNES & NOBLE
–>  Purchase from Yes Asia! (Japanese tankoubon)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sakuya’s birthday party continues with Wataru bombing on stage. Haru recalls how she became Sakuya’s maid after briefly working in a maid cafe when she runs into Aika, who recognizes Chiharu despite her Haru appearance. Haru hopes that Aika will let things pass but no such luck. Meanwhile, Hayate is a success on stage but when he later encounters Sakuya’s little brother Asato and little sister Hinata, he doesn’t make a good impression. Sakuya’s father arrives and when Nagi sees their family interactions, she becomes depressed and leaves.

Ayumu completes her work as Hina arrives. Hina decides to tell Ayumu that she also has feelings for Hayate and apologize to Ayumu. Ayumu gets Hina to go to a nearby Ferris Wheel despite Hina’s fear of heights. Despite her fears, Hina manages to confess and is surprised that Ayumu takes it so well and says it will be a friendly competition.

Back at the party, Nagi is missing and as hey search, Sakuya wonders if she should start addressing Hayate as “Hayate-oniichan.” Nagi is soon found and Hayate attempts a lame magic trick to cheer Nagi up. Having been given a road out to retain her dignity, Nagi decides she needs to keep Hayate around to keep him out of trouble.

After Hayate tends another illness by Nagi, it is time for school where Katsura-sensei has been promoted back to full teacher status. Katsura-sensei has the class go on a hiking trip to Mt. Takao. Kotaro wants Hayate to be his butler since his own has graduated, something Hayate has to refuse. Nagi is not thrilled with the hike and Hayate isn’t thrilled that Izumi’s butler (and brother) Kotetsu is along.

The class gets split up with Hayate, Kotetsu, and Kotaro encountering a giant bear on the trail and have to fight to survive. Aika and Wataru are together with Aika having great difficulties and wondering if the pendant given to her by Nagi’s grandfather is the cause. Hina leads Chiharu, Nagi, Miki, and Riza where they encounter a cute tanuki. Katsura-sensei and Izumi aren’t so lucky as the giant bear find them and sends them up into a tree.

Thoughts/Review: As usual, another good volume.

This wasn’t the first volume for Aika to appear in, but I believe this is the first time she’s spoken (at least, with any significance). Regardless, she enters with a devious splash with both her comments on selling school land and her telling Haru that she’d “forget” seeing her working as a maid at Sakuya’s birthday party while writing it down so she wouldn’t forget. *lol* What a character. ^_^

I do wonder why Aika has the same pendant that Hayate has though. Why would he give that to her? I’m guessing that Hata-sensei has some plan for those pendents since this is the second time he’s brought them into the story and they have a negative consequence. Then again, maybe it is just a plot device with no special meaning.

Seeing more of Sakuya’s family was fun. I laughed at how the Gilbert issue was addressed. I was afraid that it might not be addressed since the anime decided to pass on it. I guess Sakuya has become rather fond of Hayate to even consider addressing him as “Hayate-oniichan.”

One of the things I’ve liked about the manga (which the anime’s first series totally killed and the 2nd series suffered for as a result) is story flow and how things carry over. So Nagi seeing Sakuya’s family having a moment and getting bummed over it worked well considering that we had recently learned about her mother.

Hina and Ayumu’s friendship reached a new stage now that Hina has confessed her own feelings for Hayate. I’ve liked their friendship from the start and considering that Ayumu not only got Hina on a Ferris Wheel but also got her to open up says a lot to me.

The Alice in Wonderland chapter is where the 2nd anime series ended so that meant that about a third of this manga was all new material. Hata-sensei starts another big story arc with the hiking trip and the giant bear and I tell you, I laughed and laughed. ^_^ This started with Hata-sensei’s parody of Negima! and the class seating chart that used to show up in the early volumes of that manga series. Hata-sensei and Akamatsu-sensei are friends from what I understand so these tributes to Negima! are understandable and as a huge fan of Negima!, I love them.

I wonder if Wataru has picked up another admirer in Aika. The whole “indirect kiss” thing has been done in manga and anime before, but it came off different here with Wataru not even thinking about it and Aika worried about drinking water from the bottle after Wataru drank from the bottle. Of course, Wataru’s true love, Isumi, found about about his feelings but laid the smack down on his comedy routine. *lol* Man, the only thing missing is Sister Sophia. ^_~

The bear stuff I found very funny with Hayate being teamed up with Kotaro and Kotetsu. Katsura-sensei getting involved in the fight was surprising in some ways but added to the fun. I figure everyone will be involved before this story arc is done.

As usual, Viz’s work on this manga meets with my approval on the adaptation. As usual, I have to say that Viz should have a translator notes section but alas, they don’t. Maybe that will change someday.

So, one of my favorite shounen comedy manga titles continues with its winning ways.