Hayate no Gotoku! Can’t Take My Eyes Off You episode 08
ハヤテのごとく！ CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ruri is being abducted by the bird-man when an attack by Isumi stops him from getting away. He drops Ruri, but catches her before she hits the ground. Hina summons Shirosakura and attacks the bird-man, accidentally cutting some of Ruri’s hair, but forcing the bird-man to retreat. Ruri is upset at the manner in which she was rescued, but then wonders if Nagi would be worried if she were kidnapped. Hayate thinks Nagi would be concerned, so Ruri takes off, causing Isumi to ask just whom Ruri is. That night on a deserted highway, Ruri encounters the bird-man (Shidou) again, who wonders if Ruri is betraying her mother since Ruri tells him she won’t forgive him if he harms Nagi. Ruri already has a plan, and haggles with Shidou for air fare to Las Vegas.

Sometime later, Maria has a random note stating that Ruri has been kidnapped. The note is obviously from Ruri, so Nagi has Hayate get her to Yukari-chan House, where they see she is gone. Nagi wonders why Ruri would go so far.  When Nagi learns that her doujinshi manga was Ruri’s favorite, Nagi decides she’ll let Ruri have the stuff in Las Vegas, so she, Maria, and Hayate take an immediate trip there and visit the Las Vegas police department holding Shin’s stuff. There, they finally get to see the kuro-tsubaki, which is a type of pocket watch, and they discuss the curse. Nagi orders Maria to take it, and suddenly, vents from below start blowing her skirt up repeatedly.

Hayate eventually takes the kuro-tsubaki and they leave. At first, Hayate thinks that things are going well, but he’s almost hit by a car and soon loses sight of Maria and Nagi. To make matters worse, his smart phone suddenly loses power after having been fully charged. Hayate wanders around and encounters Ayumu, whom along with Hina, had been forced to make an emergency landing in Las Vegas on their trip to New York. Seeing as how they wanted to be in Vegas, they simply stopped. As they talk, a nozzle in the pool in front of the Bellagio Hotel comes off, hosing Ayumu down. She has a small something in her eye, which Hayate attempts to remove. Nagi and Maria come upon them, causing Nagi to assume the worst. Although she’s shown that Ayumu and Hayate weren’t kissing, she’s still upset, causing Hayate to wonder about the curse.

Thoughts/Review:

I’m not sure what the whole deal with this bird-man is supposed to be. I’m wondering if it is a bad parody of some anime/manga/light novel franchise with a bird-man character in it.

Regardless, the bird-man has some sort of supernatural powers, and I suspect Ruri may as well, considering how her mere presence has Isumi’s attention.

Speaking of Ruri, she’s clearly being set up as a tragic figure. On one hand, she’s got to do something for her mother. On the other, she has grown to care for Nagi, regardless of whether Nagi is her “oneechan” or not.

Now that Ruri has succeeded in getting Nagi to Las Vegas, the plot can continue to move forward. As promised, the show dropped the comedic intro and end bits, as well as the connecting bits in the middle. I’m fine with that, since those moments were just filler.  Besides, this episode proved that they could still inject humor when needed, such as Ruri’s haggling with Shindou over air fare, or the slapstick stuff being done due to the “curse”.

In the unintentionally funny pile, we have the horrible Engrish from the Las Vegas police and crowds. *lol* Seriously, the Japanese studios should just hire a native English speaker who could actually speak proper English and have done.

As an avid reader of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga, I was happy to see the reference to the Golden Week vacation to Mykonos Island. Since Ayumu, Hina, Maria, Nagi, and Hayate are in Las Vegas, I wonder if we’ll see fellow Mykonos travelers Miki, Risa, Izumi, Isumi, and Sakuya show up.  I figure Isumi and Sakuya will show up, but not the other three. Plus, Ruka is in Vegas, so I figure she’ll be brought in for a substantial appearance.

One final note — there is an apparent nod to the Lupin III anime franchise with the musical score that ended the first half of the episode and started the second half. We didn’t quite get to the actual main theme for Lupin III, but the intro to said theme was there. It made me want to watch something Lupin-related. Too bad Lupin didn’t make a cameo appearance. ^_~

Beyond that, I find there’s not a whole lot to discuss. I’ll just have to wait to see what future episodes bring.