ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga Volume 30

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*SPOILERS!*

Some highlights of this volume include Fumi’s dog Armageddon stealing Wataru’s case with the ¥100-million in it. However, when Armageddon brings the case to Ah-tan, it turns out to be empty, causing Hayate to use Tama to find out what really happened. Wataru gets the money back when Yukiji-sensei attacks the thieves. Nagi continues trying to put together a doujinshi, taking advice from Chiharu and Ayumu. Hina wants Hayate to tell Ruka the truth about him being a guy, and in exchange for her allowing him to wear her uniform to meet with Ruka, Hina goes with him. However, they don’t end up revealing Hayate’s secret as Ruka wants advice on her own doujinshi manga.

Ruka suffers a collapse due to exhaustion and her manager, Atsumari, agrees to allow Hayate to tend to Ruka’s health. In addition to his other duties, Hayate begins making food for Ruka, delivering it to her mail box in the lobby, where one morning, Ruka accidentally discovers Hayate is a guy. She investigates by going to the apartment-house, where she meets Maria. Realizing Hayate has gotten in deep again, Maria plays it cool and lends Ruka a uniform for Hakuou Gakuen. She goes there to find out for sure, when she’s dirtied accidentally by Izumi. Ruka goes to the large bath, where Hayate has been sent, and assumes Hayate is a girl and gets in with him. However, Izumi’s arrival eventually forces the truth, which Rika and Risa take advantage of. This sends Ruka for a shock, but when her life is saved by Hayate, she forgives him.

You know, Fumi-chan is so stupidly delicious in her innocence. She too is another awesome character on the comedic front, and her “straight man” Sharna-chan helps. I laughed my butt off as Fumi’s panic, aided by Sharna’s remarks, over being branded a thief, and Fumi’s sole goal of wiping her prints off of the case that her dog had taken, lest she be implicated in a crime.

I should have expected that the only way for Hayate to come clean with Ruka would be via the accidental discovery. Actually, once Hina had gone with him and failed in their mission to make it clear that Hayate was a guy, it should have been pretty obvious. Still, although the path taken was a standard one, the journey was still fun, even though the now rapidly changing character designs are getting worse and worse for some characters, like Risa. 🙁

Speaking of Hayate, I wonder if Hata-sensei is channeling is own fantasy about being able to survive on two-hours of sleep a night, using the other 22-hours to be productive. Certainly, there have been many times where I wish I could get away with only an hour or two of sleep and feel fully rested afterward. I’d actually get quite a bit done.

The plot with Nagi and her doujinshi shows how quickly Nagi can get over things. I already see how she started the path back to her idiotic Brittany manga.  So even though Nagi is serious about doing the doujinshi thing, she still doesn’t accept the basic premise that her manga is crap and not going anywhere right at all.

Compare that to Ruka, who’s much more serious about her manga.  She’s doing the same things Nagi is by seeking advice on improving her manga, but she seems willing to do things from scratch.

Speaking of Ruka, we are starting to see more about here life, which is only hinted at here, at this point in the manga. Well, we do get the whole story in chapter 362.  She also scored a funny moment on par with Fumi-chan’s stuff. ^_^

By my reckoning, two more volumes and I’m caught up. ^_^