ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 416 REVIEW

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With Atsumari asking Hayate to tell Ruka that she has to make a decision on whether to quit being an idol or not, and do it in front of an audience at the upcoming concert, Ruka shifts from a desire to quit to carrying on because Hayate had said she looked like a goddess on stage. As such, she feels that Hayate will fall in love with her if she gets back on stage. However, she decides to ask him forthright if he would fall in love again. This is seconded by Izumi as well as Risa and Miki via Izumi’s glasses. Kotetsu attempts to climb into the upper story window to find out as well, but Hayate kicks him back down to the ground.

Hayate tells the girls that the possibility exists for him to fall in love again.  Ruka says she needs to go by the idol office, so Hayate lets Wataru know, drafting Kotetsu, Izumi, Miki, and Risa to take his and Ruka’s place. The girls agree to it so that Hayate will forgive them since they don’t want to be treated like Kotetsu.

At the office, Atsumari wants Ruka to either make an announcement for her retirement or an announcement for a concert in Las Vegas in September. Ruka says she’ll think about it but wants to rehearse the concert for now. Hayate is concerned that Ruka won’t be prepared enough with just one day, but Ruka is intent on showing off for Hayate and so brushes his concerns aside, saying a 10 song concert is easy.

With Hayate, Atsuari, and the company president watching, Ruka puts on a flawless rehearsal performance due to her overwhelming desire to impress Hayate. The company president praises her performance, but Ruka raises the stakes, saying the actual concert will be even better, targeting those remarks at Hayate. Ruka sees that Hayate is impressed, which continues to fuel her while Hayate is impressed, but unaware of Ruka’s desires behind it.

Ruka wants to make some minor changes, so she runs through things again. After rehearsals are over, she asks Hayate how she looked. He says she looks lovely, pleasing her greatly. However, she’s stopped in her tracks when Hayate expresses a concern that she isn’t going to quit being an idol.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, Hata-sensei is working in the Las Vegas concert from CTMEOY by actually referencing it in this chapter. I liked that, but I still can’t help but wonder if Hata-sensei is going to do some bait-and-switch plot twist, whereby Las Vegas doesn’t happen. I hope he doesn’t do that.

I loved how driven Ruka was to put on an amazing performance.  Her motivation may have been her desire to win Hayate’s heart, but her skills and hard work shine forth in a major way here, more so than at any other time that I can recall in the manga.

The things people do for love, eh? ^_~

It will be interesting to see how Hayate’s concerned question on whether she’s going to quit being an idol will affect Ruka. Before she heard how Hayate viewed her on stage, this chapter already made it clear that Ruka would quit being an idol. In light of her wanting to win Hayate’s heart, this might make her doubt.

Still, assuming CTMEOY is canon, then we already know what her decision will be. How this helps lead to the scene Nagi will stumble upon and the doujinshi contest remains to be seen.

I bet Hata-sensei throws in a comedy chapter featuring Izumi, Miki, Risa, and Kotetsu working for Wataru.

Anyway, an entertaining and interesting chapter to be had here.