ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga Volume 32

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*SPOILERS!*

Some highlights from this volume include Nagi being unmotivated, resulting in Maria turning the key to get Nagi fired up again. Hina desperately wants a massage from Hayate, but doesn’t know how to get it. Isumi decides she needs a maid since Sakuya and Nagi have one, but when Fumi is the candidate, things get whacky. Nagi heads to Akihabara to do more research on her doujinshi, when she meets a girl (Kayura) living in a tent who likes Nagi’s new manga. With Hayate’s help, Nagi keeps Kayura from being arrested, making her a new resident of Yukari-chan House. Kayura has a massive collection of anime and manga, and knows so much, she ends up giving Nagi sound advice to help Nagi’s goal of selling a trillion copies.

Wataru forgets Saki’s birthday and has to make up for it. Nagi and Ah-tan are left alone one afternoon and end up taking a trip to the cafe where Hayate works. Ayumu discovers she’s gained weight, and Hayate is the cause of it thanks to all the food he makes for her at work. Ruka visits Hayate at the cafe to show him her new manga, causing Ayumu to discover she has a new love rival. Maria decides to plant a garden, and is talked into planting vegetables. She and Ah-tan pay a visit to the mansion in order to get some good soil for Hayate to bring back. Finally, Hayate and Nagi work on convincing Maria to go to a new ramen restaurant.

This volume is mostly the one-shot and short stories that don’t do a whole lot of plot advancement. Having Kayura become a resident of Yukari-chan House to move Nagi along on the doujinshi front is probably the only plot development here. To be honest, I am disappointed in the Kayura character. OK, so she had good advice for Nagi, but as a character, she’s not that interesting yet, other than her rapid decision to decide to live inside the apartment-house because of A/C. Clearly, she’s from rich parents since she has a massive collection and is attending Hakuou Gakuen. However, doesn’t she have anyone who cares where she’s at?  Is she even paying rent to Nagi?  The character just seems arbitrary to me.

The story of Isumi wanting a maid because Sakuya, Nagi, and even Wataru have one was somewhat amusing since Fumi was the candidate to be Isumi’s maid. However, this wasn’t the funniest Fumi story, which was a shame. I did like Nagi’s understanding of why Isumi didn’t need a maid, mainly because Isumi still has her mother. For Nagi, Maria really is like her mother, and has been from the start.

I couldn’t help but adore the story of Nagi and Ah-tan accidentally destroying the nikuman snack they’d been left, and so their decision to find Hayate at the cafe. I hope when Ah-tan regains all of her memories and abilities of Athena, she remembers this moment with Nagi, especially since they are rivals.

Sadly, it seems clear that Hata-sensei just decided that only those with magical abilities (Isumi, Ah-tan, Yozora, Hayate) and Tama can see Father Radiostar. I already know that Hina can’t see him, nor can Nagi, and both could during the Tiger’s Pit for Butlers story. I know that Hata-sensei stated that eventually they would not be able to see him, but it just seems a shame that it just happened. By the way, I include Hayate as someone with magical abilities since his body was enhanced with magic by Athena when he was a child.

Otherwise, the manga volume was a lot of fun, but this is why plots move so slow. *lol* I’m not complaining though because I enjoy the fun.

Down the road a bit, I plan on writing a piece to promote the fun that is Hayate the Combat Butler. In the meantime, I will continue to do the weekly blog entries, and now I have the whole backstory I had been missing.

Update! Here are the covers for Volume 0 and for the Volume 32 & 0.