ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 449 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hayate and Hina make it out of the cave they’d fallen into and attempt to get back on the trail of finding the spices. Just as Hayate wants to find a sign for the spices, they find a literal sign directing them to the spices.

After some consideration, Hina decides that she must be decisive and confess her feelings for Hayate. She uses an old Japanese translation/adaptation of the English phrase, “I love you,” which speaks of the beauty of the moon rather than be a literal translation. While Hina can’t believe she finally managed to confess, Hayate simply takes her statement on the moon literally, not associating it with the old Japanese adaptation of “I love you.”

Hina is disappointed and a bit frustrated that her feelings did not reach Hayate, but she hears Ayumu urging her forward, so she tries another old confession (proposal) phrase, saying she wants to eat his miso soup every day. Hayate says he can’t make it at the moment and suggests pressing forward with finding the curry spices.

Having failed again, Hina hears the “love master” Aika tell her to calm down and do something more modern. As such, Hina tells Hayate that she wants him to cook her breakfast every morning.  Hayate says he already does this, then asks if she’s hungry. Hina says that this is not the case, but as they’ve arrived at the abandoned, ruined village, Hayate says he should be able to make her something to eat. Hina attempts to protest that she’s not hungry, but her stomach growls, so Hayate hurries off to make something for her.

As Hina laments her failures, she finds a diary on the stoop (engawa) of one of the homes. Within its pages, a girl expresses her determination to honestly confess to the boy she loves with no regrets. Hina decides that she needs to be honest as well and confess to Hayate. At that moment, Hina sees a second diary book and opens it. Here, the girl laments having confessed and is full of regret since the boy she liked did not like her, resulting in her hating her life. Closing the diary, Hina is suddenly relieved that Hayate is dense.

Thoughts/Review:

Heh!heh!heh! You know, Hata-sensei is a master troll when it comes to tweaking the fans, but he’s not above making fun of himself either. I laughed out loud at Hata-sensei’s remark about a three week gap from when we last left Hayate and Hina in the caverns.

While Hata-sensei is often good at setting up a humorous gag, having Hayate state that he wanted to find a sign was too obvious of a setup. As such, when we see an actual wooden sign pointing to where the spices are, it wasn’t funny to me, though I did smile. What would have been funny would have been a sign saying something unexpected.

As to Hina’s failed attempts to confess to Hayate, the trope is pretty old, but still amusing in its own way.  I know there was a thought among some fans that this might be were Hata-sensei resolved the Hina-Hayate romance plotline, but I just didn’t see that happening. As it turns out, the status quo remains in effect for now.  I found it amusing how Hata-sensei did this via the second diary that Hina found.  ^_^

I loved the shout-out to the Maison Ikkoku manga series (and I suppose the anime series as well). This is twice of late that Hata-sensei has paid props to Takahashi-sensei. The other recent prop went to Urusei Yatsura.

(As an aside, I wish Viz would re-release Maison Ikkoku with a new translation that was ANB-approved so I could double dip, but that won’t happen.)

Speaking of tributes, Hata-sensei gave a nod to Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei and his old boss, Kumeta-sensei.  I know nothing of that manga, but I do know that Kumeta-sensei likes to tweak Akamatsu-sensei (UQ Holder!, Negima!, Love Hina, etc.).  Now I’m rather curious about the manga, so if you’ve read it, let me know how it is.

So a pretty fun chapter that keeps the status quo between Hina and Hayate. Does Hata-sensei return to Athena and Ikusa, or does he stay in the village with Hayate and Hina? Or does he do something unexpected. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. ^_^