ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 434 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Miki announces to Risa and Izumi that’s she’s revolutionized playing cards. Risa opens a pack and discovers half of the cards are transparent, which Izumi finds funny since it would mess up a game like poker. Risa suddenly gets how this would revolutionize poker, but since Izumi doesn’t get it, Risa and Miki make fun of her.

After a demonstration hand between Risa and Izumi, Miki says that this added level of strategy to the game of poker is what makes it revolutionary. Hina shows up and finds this interesting, so when she agrees to try out the cards in a poker game, Miki decides there should be real stakes. If Hina loses, she has to strip. After being goaded into accepting, Miki decides that Izumi will strip upon any loss of Miki’s.

Hina wins the first hand to the irritation of Miki, so Izumi is forced to remove her panties. Hina wins again based on having read Miki’s transparent cards and knowing what had been discarded, therefore she didn’t fall for Miki’s bluff. Izumi is forced to strip again, leading to the third and final hand. Miki draws a full house, but Hina has a royal flush, leading Miki to believe that Hina has to be cheating. To Risa’s amazement, Izumi strips completely while Miki challenges Hina again.

Thoughts/Review:

Har! Well, Hata-sensei kept us guessing on when he’d throw down the old gag chapters. Not that there was anything special to this one, but it was OK.

I liked Hata-sensei’s admission on the chapter’s splash page that this was a blatant marketing ploy for the new playing cards that are being sold with the LE edition of volume 39.

I will say this — once again, I find myself missing the older character designs for Hayate the Combat Butler. Hina and the others looked much cuter before than they do now.

Beyond that, there’s nothing to say. As a gag chapter, it wasn’t that funny. It was mildly amusing.

Hayate the Combat Butler is on another break next week as Weekly Shounen Sunday is on another break.  It would be awesome if the manga returned to the plot rather than launch into more gag chapters.