ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 478 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Maria and Nagi are watching a Ruka concert on TV when Maria reminds Nagi that Nagi has a rematch with Ruka in ten years. Maria reminds Nagi of her weaknesses, leading Nagi to try to protest, but Kayura enters the scene, telling Nagi that she only sold out because of Maizumi having taken a shine to Nagi’s doujinshi and spreading the word. As such, Nagi’s doujinshi sold by luck and Ruka’s doujinshi sold by skill.

Nagi is forced to concede that her journey as a mangaka hasn’t even started, but she’s fired up now and decides to become a regular manga artists, not a doujinshi one. Kayura thinks Nagi is going an impossible route, but Nagi doesn’t want to hear negativity and says she’ll submit her work to Shounen Sunday. Kayura wants to know why that magazine rather than a Jump magazine or Magazine.  Nagi responds by saying that with Shounen Sunday not doing so well lately, it would probably be easier to get in there.

Nagi decides she’s going to do a love-comedy manga, but despite seeing the smiling Maria, Nagi decides to go another route. She and Kayura go to Akihabara, where Nagi says that Kayura is going to confess to Nagi’s childhood friend, Wataru, since love-comedy titles are about surprises. Kayura protests, but says that if she got to know him, it might turn into a love-comedy situation. Saki emerges, confusing Kayura since Wataru is poor, but has a maid.

Kayura points out that if Saki is with Wataru even though he’s poor, she must be in love with him. Nagi is shocked by this revelation, but decides that it is perfect since Kayura’s introduction in the mix makes it a love triangle. Kayura wonders what happens if she is successful, getting Nagi more excited. However, when Kayura suggests saying her confession with a “nyan” at the end, that kills the idea for Nagi.

Thoughts/Review:

It was a LONG three weeks since the last chapter, but in the end, there wasn’t anything here in terms of the main plot. Oh well.

It was surprising to see Hata-sensei return back to the doujinshi competition and continue that thought. It is true that after the competition that Nagi had not considered her agreement to battle Ruka again in ten years, but lets face it, did any of us readers consider this either?

So we get a Nagi and Kayura story (sans for a small amount of screen time for Maria, and a tiny cameo for Wataru and Saki), which is somewhat humorous. I got a laugh at Hata-sensei’s in-manga commentary on the state of the manga magazine publishing business. Well, times are a changing. Why have to buy a thick, phone book-sized magazine (for those who even remember phone books) when you can go digital?

As to the story, I found it amusing that Kayura actually considered Nagi’s plan to confess to Wataru, someone she didn’t even know.

Also amusing to me was Nagi suddenly discovering that Saki is in love with Wataru, something she’d never considered. Considering that Hata-sensei has been pushing that arc forward in more recent times, I suspect that Nagi’s knowledge of this will come into play in the future.

As for Ruka’s brief cameo, I couldn’t help but think about how far the character designs have collapsed from when she was introduced. Oh well.

Otherwise, not a lot to say here. Not a bad chapter, but I’m kinda hoping for something more next chapter.