ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 444 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Nagi offers to pay Ikusa’s ¥8.9 million debt, which he hesitantly agrees to if Hayate apologizes and says he’s pathetic, worth less than worn-out  slippers, and relies on little girls to get something. Hayate declines Nagi’s offer and says he’ll win the contest within the three day time span in order to obtain his old treasure pouch.

Gathering the girls, an angry Hayate says they are going to restart Life Restaurant, though his anger is targeted at Ikusa for his conditions. The girls have never seen this side of Hayate before and find him to be a bit scary.

To get the seaside cafe rebuilt, Hayate tricks Kotetsu out of hiding, then uses Kotatsu’s affection for him to force Kotatsu to start rebuilding the structure, giving him only two hours to do it.

Kayura acknowledges Hayate’s restaurant management skills and that he needs to get the King’s Jewel, but if things go as they are, there will be rift between Hayate and Ikusa as Hayate will never want to see Ikusa again. Ayumu wonders if Ikusa regained his memories, he’d love Hayate again.  Nagi doesn’t want there to be a rift between the brothers, so she wants to bring back Ikusa’s memories.  Dr. Kurosu failed due to Ikusa being uncooperative, but Nagi thinks they have a chance if Ikusa is convinced to cooperate. However, Nagi doesn’t have a plan to accomplish this.

Meanwhile, Hayate drives Kotetsu to work harder as Hina and Maria are amazed at the amount of work he’s done. Hayate has a job for them and gets them into bunny outfits, saying it is the restaurant’s uniform to attract customers. Maria tries to protest, but backs down in the face of Hayate’s controlled anger. He gives Hina a look and decides that her breasts aren’t large enough, so tells her she’ll be working in the back.

Ah-tan has a talk with Hayate, saying he’s had a scary look for a while now. She wonders if Hayate’s actions and attitude are about Ikusa. She says that Hayate and Ikusa are similar in that when they have an issue, they get scary and make unreasonable demands. However, she recons that Hayate might not understand. With that, she looks at her meter key fob and thinks that it is about time.

Thoughts/Review:

I have to say, an angry and driven Hayate makes for a funny and enjoyable chapter. ^_^

I’m trying to think back to all the chapters in the manga to now. Hayate has been gone off the deep end from time to time, especially when it comes to protecting Nagi or the like. However, this has to be the first time Hayate’s anger is driven from self-interest. That’s what helped make things so funny.

I recall when Hina was introduced how she said that he should sometimes act on self-interest for his own gain or he might miss out (or something like that — time constraints are preventing me from looking up her exact words).  With that in mind, it made his moment when he decided to pass on Hina attracting customers due to her small chest size (which is a mistake) funnier to me.

The funniest moment for me was Hayate abusing Kotetsu. Now we know why Kotetsu got that (comedic) cameo earlier — just so Hayate to use him now. Hayate’s whole demeanor just had me laughing out loud. ^_^

I liked how Nagi again offered to just pay off the debt for Ikusa instead of loaning Hayate the money. Obviously, if that happened, we wouldn’t have a story here, so Ikusa’s pause, then unreasonable condition for accepting payment was funny while keeping things going forward with whatever Hata-sensei wants to tell.

I also liked how Nagi has decided to restore Ikusa’s memories and get the brothers back together again. Its funny (in a non-humorous way) how that after the warf roach incident, she was ready to do her normal retreat, but she didn’t stay that way and now is driving her own project as Hayate drives the project to get Life up and running again.

I’ve been thinking that Athena’s memories are back. (That’s presuming she lost them at all, as some fans speculate she may not have actually lost her memories. I tend to think that she did lose part of her memories when she was returned to a childlike state.)  This chapter gives more indications that this might be the case. Her comparison of Hayate and Ikusa didn’t come across to me as her comparing a man (Ikusa) she only just met, but rather someone she knew well.

When Ikusa went to rescue Athena from the Royal Garden, I suspect he did something that allowed him to escape with Ah-tan, but at the cost of his memories. Whatever that something happens to be is what I believe Athena is referring to when she mentions Ikusa making unreasonable demands. Of course, it is possible that she’s just referring to Ikusa being unreasonable about giving Hayate the treasure pouch and Hayate being unreasonable in response. However, Hata-sensei likes to couch important things in elements that seem to be not that important initially, thus my reason for feeling the way I do.

Regardless, something plot related appears to be about to happen since Athena pulled out the power meter key fob again.  I’m looking forward to that.  I have this feeling that Athena might not be around after this arc is over, though I don’t think she’ll be gone for good from the manga.

Winding things down, the appearance of Gendo (Neon Genesis Evangelion) was a plus. I didn’t know the other guy, though I think I’ve seen him before.

Finally, I would appear that Chiharu and Kayura would be perfect candidates for the current Genshiken club in Genshiken Nidaime. *lol*

So, a really good chapter that was funny, entertaining, but also had some intrigue as well.