ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga Volume 31
Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 31 (Japanese Tankoubon)

–> Purchase Japanese tankoubon from YesAsia!

*SPOILERS!*

Some highlights for this volume include Nagi needing help on her doujinshi manga, so Hayate arranges for Ruka to come by so that they can help each other. The two have difficulties staying focused, and Chiharu is unable to help when she’s roped into their chat. Hina gets them focused.  Wataru drops out of school to focus on his business, but he decides he wants to confess to Isumi first.  Instead, he ends up telling her that he had loved her, choosing a life with Saki instead.

Meanwhile, Nagi presses forward with the plan to sell 1000 copies of her doujinshi and sends Chiharu to the printers with money to secure printing. Nagi has developed a network of websites, starting with one dedicated to Maria the Maid as an idol, with the goal being to reach enough people so that she gets enough for 1000 people to purchase her doujinshi. Chiharu learns of Nagi’s selling plan, which involves selling a picture book of Maria and including Nagi’s manga as an extra. Elsewhere, Hina has researched heavily and aided Ruka into creating a much tighter doujinshi manga so that selling 30 copies should be an obtainable goal.

At the doujinshi event, Ruka quickly sells all of her copies of her doujinshi. Nagi, having drafted Maria into selling a doujinshi about herself, sells the same amount in an hour and discovers that her attached manga is something no one is interested in. Nagi becomes depressed, so Chiharu and Hayate take her to Tokyo Big Sight to light her fire for the next, major doujinshi event. Maria sells all 1000 copies of the doujinshi, but decides to stop being a maid for a time until she’s appreciated, which Nagi takes care of. Hayate has to help Izumi study while a new girl named Kayura arrives at Hakuou Gakuen to take Wataru’s place.

Yowza! Man, there were some things happening here that I didn’t expect.  The big one was Wataru.  From the start, it has been stated that Wataru was betrothed to Nagi, but he always loved Isumi. Isumi never believed it, and Wataru never could confess. I liked seeing the humorous story of how Wataru fell for Isumi. I was surprised that he ended up telling Isumi that he had loved her and chose a life with Saki instead.  There had been hints of Saki somehow being attracted to Wataru and vice versa, but I didn’t expect Hata-sensei to actually close the door on Wataru’s feelings for Isumi. I don’t expect there to be any significant changes in the way Wataru and Saki treat each other, but it was nifty to see Saki address Wataru as “Wataru-kun” instead of her normal “Waka” (akin to “young master”).

As for Isumi, she’s always proclaimed that Wataru never loved her, and I guess she was right.  I do wonder if she were just playing dumb on whom Wataru truly loved.  Whether she was or not, I laughed out loud at her promise to boil water in their belly buttons if she was correct that Wataru didn’t love her. ^_^

Kayura arrives unceremoniously, which is fine I guess. Still, did my eyes deceive me, or did Kayura report to KUZUHA Kirika and her female butler Shion from the first anime series? Well, I suppose that would follow since I understand that Kayura was a movie-only character until Hata-sensei included her.

 

Finally, this is where Risa just goes to the dogs on her character design. *_* Seriously, Hata-sensei — the designs were pretty awesome before. Now, characters look like they’ve been punched in the face. I feel sure that I read somewhere that Hata-sensei changed his character designs to be more in line with the movie. I think he said he did that for the TV anime as well, but I wasn’t sure if he was joking then or not.

OK, only one more volume and I’m caught up.  Yay me! ^_^