ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 436 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Mikado, dressed as Santa Claus, decides to do another misfortune test on young Hayate by tossing a banana peel in his path. He slips and falls, then is attacked by a dog, then he’s attacked by crows. A passing car slashing Hayate with water. Mikado quietly laughs at Hayate’s massive misfortune as Hayate is attacked by cats. Mikado decides to give him a King’s Jewel to open a path to Mikado’s Royal Garden.

Mikado observes Hayate is actually working, gathering bottles to earn money. Hayate takes his current case of bottles to a back alley and under a bridge, where an adult accepts his delivery. Hayate had gathered 592 bottles that day for ¥3 a bottle, but instead of paying him ¥1776, the man gives him ¥1000. This causes Mikado to realize that Hayate’s bad luck is on a whole other level.

Young Hayate knows he’s been cheated and returns to his dad. Hayate tells him that he was supposed to get more. Hayate’s dad takes the money and tells him to gather more in order to make more. Young Hayate is encouraged by this and returns to work. Mikado is shocked by this, more so that Hayate is smiling again. Mikado realizes that Hayate might not ever have the negative burst of emotion required to open the path as Hayate would be to oblivious to the misfortune and misery that surrounds him, thus would never be happy.

Hayate gathers more bottles and slips and falls in the snow. As he tries to warm his hands, Mikado, still in his Santa suit, tells him that he dropped a piece of happiness and offers him the King’s Jewel. Hayate likes the jewel, but says it isn’t his. Mikado says he can have it since he has eight others. Hayate asks “Santa” why he never visits Hayate’s home. Mikado says it is because Hayate’s family is poor. Hayate is disappointed he won’t be getting presents, so Mikado tells him that if he wants something, don’t wait for someone to give it to you.

After telling him to keep on no matter what, Mikado tells Hayate that the one who works hard and diligently will have the last laugh. Hayate questions this, but Mikado assures him it is true.

Hayate leaves and has another accident as Athena calls Mikado to see how his search for a candidate is going. Mikado denies having found a candidate, so Athena tells him to hurry back before he loses a stone. Mikado says he’s already lost one as he observes Hayate happily put the jewel in a pouch.  Mikado tells Athena that Santa is supposed to give dreams to children, but Athena doesn’t want to hear that, demanding he get the jewel back.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, a very interesting chapter to say the least.

We already knew how tough Hayate’s childhood was, but this new look just makes me want to punch his parents in the face until I break my own hands. *_*

That being said, I do love Hayate’s work ethic. Yes, he’s a kid here, but working hard is the only way to go. In that way, Mikado’s advice to Hayate is spot on. It is true that waiting on someone (or something) to get you what you want in life is not going to get you anything near what you want. If you want something bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.  Too often, we don’t do this (myself included). If we want something, we have to take it ourselves. It may not happen right away, and the road there may be full of difficulties, but in the end, we will succeed.

Look at Hayate’s life. Until he met Nagi, he was taken advantage of and used. He busted his arse day and night even though he knew his parents were evil trolls.  He faltered only twice that we know of. Te first time was when he ran away crying, which ended up opening the path to the Royal Garden. The second time was when he decided Santa-san’s advice to him as a child about working hard was a lie and he decided to try to kidnap a random ojousama that happened on his path. But in both cases, he recovered and returned to the path of hard work.

In the end, Hayate may be a butler, but one can argue that his hard work has paid off to a great extent. Even without living at the mansion with Nagi, he still has a much better life at Yukari-chan House. He has a lot of girls in love with him. He attends a prestigious high school. In the end, Hayate will succeed.

Clearly, Mikado’s reason for giving Hayate the jewel was not to help Hayate, but to help himself. No doubt, although his advice to Hayate was good, Mikado expected that eventually, so much misfortune would cause Hayate to snap, which is what we know eventually happened.

Of course, the whole plot element of the King’s Jewel being in Hayate’s possession was a retcon in my opinion. Either that or Hata-sensei forgot to include it into the story when he did the flashback of Hayate and Athena’s first encounter.  So this story helps reinforce that retcon element, but it also gives Hata-sensei an out for why Athena could be at the main Sanzenin mansion (and befriend Maria), but not be aware of Hayate.  Of course, Hata-sensei has to deal with the issue of Athena not saying anything about the King’s Jewel during the flashback story. ^_^;

Anyway, this is a good chapter. I look forward to seeing where Hata-sensei takes the plot next.

Update: Madman made an excellent point of showing where Hata-sensei showed Hayate meeting Santa while collecting bottles.