November 13th, 2013 
AstroNerdBoy ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 429 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
With the doujinshi event now over, the exhausted Ruka and Nagi sit in folding chairs back to back and discuss the situation. Ruka’s remark that she didn’t think Nagi would sell 100 copies of her doujinshi causes Nagi to think that Ruka threw the contest, since Ruka only sold 99. Ruka denies this and blames the weird mask she wore, stating that folks would rather buy from a cute girl than someone in a bizarre mask.
Ruka claims victory on manga quality, so Nagi asks if she wants another contest. Ruka agrees, but says they’ll have to do it in ten years. Ruka says that during that time, she’ll focus on being an idol, since the life of an idol is limited, after which she return to the world of manga. Ruka holds out her hand and says that Nagi will probably be a successful manga-ka in ten years, so she asks Nagi to wait for her to join Nagi. Nagi says that there’s no way she’s waiting, vowing to be so far ahead of Ruka, Ruka won’t be able to see Nagi’s back. This causes Ruka to smile.
Chiharu returns from taking out the trash and has canned coffee for everyone. She asks Nagi how it feels to sell out, to which Nagi responds that it is the best feeling ever. Ruka tells Chiharu of their plans to do this again in ten years, so Chiharu promises to help again then.
Outside, Kurosu and Hayate chat about Ruka’s parents and the positive outcome for Ruka. Kurosu asks if Hayate will reconcile with his own parents. He says that is impossible since they’d never change nor feel sorry for what they’d done, unlike Ruka’s parents. However, Hayate does express a desire to meet his older brother again, whom he has not seen in ten years. When Hayate describes him, Kurosu appears to recognize him.
Thoughts/Review:
This was a nice aftermath chapter, where once again, Hata-sensei didn’t worry about trying to ramrod gags into the chapter just for the sake of gags.
I got a little kick out of Ruka teasing Nagi, subtly making Nagi aware that Ruka threw the match. Ruka’s excuse for not selling one additional copy being the mask amused me as well since it kept Nagi off balance.
I wonder if Hata-sensei will do some artwork showing Nagi and Ruka ten years from now doing another doujinshi contest. I rather doubt that would make it into the regular manga, but it could be omake work of some kind.
Hata-sensei’s dropping Hayate’s older brother back into the mix was something I’d not expected. He’s been forgotten about for a long time, but obviously, Hata-sensei has his notes for plot threads that need addressing. ^_~
Speaking of which, Kurosu is turning out to be a character brought in just to move plot threads forward. She was responsible for moving Ruka’s story to a conclusion, and now it appears she’ll be the one to reintroduce Hayate with his brother. I rather doubt Hata-sensei jumps right into that story, but it will have to be done before the Athena story can advance, as I see it.
One final thought — product placement anyone? *lol* Georgia Max Coffee is something I don’t think is sold in the U.S. at all (I know Pacific Mercantile sells some canned coffees, but not Georgia products), but it is big in Japan. Using real products never bothers me, but the focus on the product combined with it not being a parody version makes me think that this might be a product placement.
In the end, a nice aftermath chapter with the groundwork of the next arc being laid out. I expect Hata-sensei to do gag chapters now, but I could be very wrong about that.
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I was glad to see Ruka’s perky, funny personality back in this chapter. I couldn’t stand her being extremely clingy to Hayate any longer. I found it kind of odd that both she and Nagi never mentioned him at all in the conversation.
I was personally amused by Nagi teasing Chiharu in turn and calling her a glasses girl over and over again. I think that rematch between Nagi and Ruka would make a good flash-forward/time skip epilogue once this manga finally ends.
Ruka: You sure you wanna do this?
Nagi (still looking like a loli after 10 years): Pfeh! You’d better give up while you still can! This time, we’re doing it for real!
Ruka & Nagi: The race to sell a trillion copies of our manga!
Come to think of it. Even Hata-sensei himself hasn’t made that mark with this manga hasn’t he?
>I was glad to see Ruka’s perky, funny personality back in this chapter. I couldn’t stand her being extremely clingy to Hayate any longer.
Yeah, I hear ya.
>I found it kind of odd that both she and Nagi never mentioned him at all in the conversation.
I thought about that, but I think Hata-sensei was very keen on keeping Hayate out of the picture in all forms so that Nagi’s growth as a character comes off as more realistic. In the end, this wasn’t about winning Hayate at all, but about rising to the occasion. With Hayate in the mix, even in a conversation, I think it makes Nagi’s character growth appear more superficial.
>Come to think of it. Even Hata-sensei himself hasn’t made that mark with this manga hasn’t he?
I don’t believe anyone has.
Hayates brother is Hinas adopted father
*LOL* I don’t think that’s the case, but it was funny. After all, Hina’s adoptive father had been Yujiki’s teacher years earlier, at which point Hayate’s brother would have been in school himself.
Hayate’s brother was last mentioned chapter 300 which was… over 2 and a half years ago… Glad to see Hata hasn’t forgotten him.
He probably has plot thread reminder notes just so that he doesn’t forget.
“Come to think of it. Even Hata-sensei himself hasn’t made that mark with this manga hasn’t he?”
No one has. There’s only about 6 billion people on the planet, in order to sell a trillion copies of anything, well…It’s why Nagi gets the reactions she does when she trots that line out.
HnG did hit the 18 million books sold mark recently, though.
“In the end, a nice aftermath chapter with the groundwork of the next arc being laid out. I expect Hata-sensei to do gag chapters now, but I could be very wrong about that.”
According to his blog, we have one epilogue chapter left, closing out the Ruka/Hayate angle.
He hasn’t done a run of serious chapters this long in ages though, I have to think he’ll throw in some silly chapters soon.
>According to his blog, we have one epilogue chapter left, closing out the Ruka/Hayate angle.
Thanks for that bit of info. ^_^
>He hasn’t done a run of serious chapters this long in ages though, I have to think he’ll throw in some silly chapters soon.
Yeah, he doesn’t seem to like getting away from the gag stuff for too long. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of good gag humor, but I’m very glad he let the doujinshi arc’s serious element play out uninterrupted.