March 31st, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 486 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Hina is stunned after receiving the report from Miki that in addition to 54 people choosing the Level 5 school trip, two opted for the Level 4 ‘Forced Labor” plan. Miki figures that even though Hakuou Gakuen has a lot of rich students, the ¥150 million prize is enough to tempt them.
Maria learns that Nagi and Hayate have chosen Level 5, which Nagi plans to give up, sleep, and play games. Maria mentions that if Hayate wins the ¥150 million prize, he can pay off his debt to Nagi. She asks him if he will quit if he gets the money. He says he wouldn’t quit immediately, but doesn’t believe it will go that well for him. However, this causes Nagi to worry.
That evening, Ah-tan pays Mikado a visit to inquire why Director Kananiwa has a King’s Jewel. He plays dumb, but when she threatens his beard, he explains that he gave her a jewel because she seemed to be someone who could break the curse on the jewels. She was unsuccessful, but never returned it. Mikado never attempted to get it back because Kananiwa is scary. However, the defeat of King Midas lifted the curse on the remaining jewels, but Mikado warns that getting the jewel back from her will be very difficult.
It is time for the school trip, so Director Kananiwa holds an assembly for the people doing the Level 5 trip. She has her “men in black” hand out bracelets, called Completers. Once the students put them on, she tells them the Completers cannot be removed without a special tool. Inside the cover of the top of the bracelet is a button that the students can press if they wish to give up, after which one of the men in black will arrive in five minutes to take them back to the hotel.
Nagi reasons that they will be taken to a harsh place to make people want to press the button, so the goal is to find a way to open other people’s Completer and press their button. Thinking back to the idea of Hayate leaving her if he wins the prize, Nagi decides she’s going to play the game for real.
Thoughts/Review:
This chapter continues to set up the groundwork for this new arc.
It does appear that the events of the Can’t Take My Eyes Off You anime will no longer be canon. Rumor is that although Hata-sensei wrote the story regarding Dolly and such, he somehow lost the rights to use that storyline in the manga. That would explain why the Kuro-tsubaki appeared to be in Mikado’s vault. That would explain why Director Kananiwa looks like Dolly.
Assuming this is the case, does this mean that Kananiwa is Dolly? If so, is still a wood nymph? Is Shin in the Kuro-tsubaki? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
The new material in CTMEOY was what I liked about that anime. I didn’t care for the usage of random chapters in the manga and mash them into the anime. That being said, I don’t have a problem with the story of the Kuro-tsubaki, Dolly, and Shin (assuming he’s brought into this) are retold for the manga’s sake.
Nagi has pretty much taken it for granted that Hayate will be her butler for life. One of the things I’d actually like to see from this story is that she learns that it is OK to set Hayate free. I’d also like for her to learn the story of her mother and father (assuming it is similar to CTMEOY in that her father served as a butler to her mother).
As to Nagi’s plans, does she want to sabotage other people’s devices, or just Hayate’s? If she wins, what will she do? Or will she try to help Hayate win? It really is difficult to know at this point.
I got a kick out of Ah-tan’s meeting with Mikado. Leave it to Hata-sensei to come up with the unexpected, this time Ah-tan threatening Mikado’s beard.
Also on the amusing front was the idea that two people would actually want to spend their school trip slaving away in a sweat shop. *lol*
I am interested to see where the Level 5 trip goes in terms of destination. I wouldn’t mind Las Vegas, but I don’t think that will happen. So that leaves just about anywhere, and the easiest thing would be someplace in Japan. I guess we’ll find out next chapter.
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Athena was rather amusing in this chapter. I’m liking her more now that she’s getting to interact with the other characters unlike in her own arc where it was mostly just her and Hayate. My theory based on this chapter is that she doesn’t have all her memories back and what she knows is what her full-sized self filled Aika in on when she regained her powers momentarily (probably off-panel) at some point in the past. Aika then filled her in on what was happening after she reverted to her Alice form as per Athena’s own instructions.
On to Nagi: If Nagi just wanted to sabotage Hayate’s chances of winning, there are lots of more convenient ways to do that without her taking the level 5 competition seriously, really. I didn’t give it a second thought that she was doing it for Hayate’s sake (as it says on the side of the last page) based on the build up to that scene. Hayate tells her “who knows if it’ll go well?” and the look on her face after that line is one of concern. I mean, it’d also be consistent with her characterization in the last few arcs. She broke the stone for Hayate’s sake, she was genuinely willing to surrender Hayate to Ruka after she thought she’d lost the manga competition, and she specifically stated that she was going to the beach to find Hayate’s brother.
Now that Hayate has at least reluctantly expressed a desire to be debt-free, she probably does want to make that happen even if she has mixed feelings about it.
The main argument against this would be that she could just relieve him of his debt if she wanted to, but the problem is that Hayate probably wouldn’t accept that. If she helps him to win the money — or even if she wins the money herself and subsequently just gives it to Hayate and tells him to pay off his debt to her with it (kinda awkward, yeah), then it would still be money that she earned herself rather than the money she used from her inheritance, and Hayate would probably be more likely to accept such an offer. Remember how she made a big deal out of buying Hayate a watch that she’d buy with money she earned herself for his birthday after Hayate taught her the value of money like several hundred chapters ago?
With that said, I wouldn’t put it past her to at least contemplate the idea of pushing Hayate’s button or at least mull over the thought of somehow jeopardizing Hayate’s chances of winning, but I don’t believe that was her main and initial intention in taking the competition seriously. If it turns out to be that way, then I’d be sorely disappointed unless Hata somehow redeems her somewhere down the line. If anything, she probably just wants to watch over Hayate until the end to see what his final decision would be.
She can be quite a scene stealer. ^_^
Speaking of Athena (and thinking about this after reading your remarks), I just realized how Hata-sensei will keep her from being “the one” (presuming he’s going to hook Nagi and Hayate up in the end) — keep her in child form. Athena in her teenage form is whom Hayate would naturally shift to, in my opinion, but if she’s kept in child form, then that helps Nagi more. Just a theory of my own. 😛
I took that as a look of concern that Hayate would leave her and that she’d be alone again. Thus she’d do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. But I could be wrong.
Regardless, I am more excited about this arc than I have been for other recent arcs. I’m really looking forward to seeing how things pan out.
I have a different view on Athena: I think that she should return to her normal form eventually so that Hayate can make a definite choice and seal the “closure” that I perceived they had when they both declared they loved each other in the past tense at the end of Athena’s arc… and echoed by Wataru x Isumi, I might add.
At this point, Hayate would naturally prefer any girl from his active harem other than Nagi, but I really don’t see that as a point against Nagi from a storytelling standpoint, if you get what I’m saying.
As for Nagi’s look of concern, I saw it as her being worried that Hayate would leave her initially in that first panel wherein she has a sweatdrop on her face. On the other hand, her expression was different in the panel just after Hayate’s “who knows if it’ll go well.” Her eyes are clearly drawn differently and the sweatdrop isn’t there anymore.
There’s a way to possibly prevent Hayate from leaving Nagi even if Hayate’s debt is cleared without him ending up with Nagi. Hayate could just pick Maria. That way, those three can still live together. Just a wishful thinking of mine. :p
*lol* Well, if you are going to have a 3P harem, Nagi’s mansion is large enough to house Hina, Ayumu, and Athena. 😉
Her returning to adult form could do that. However, if Hayate is debt free, and Athena is an adult, seeing as how she’s his first love (and vice versa), I don’t currently see how Hayate could plausibly reject Athena. Athena might push Hayate away for Nagi’s sake, but after Hayate’s and Athena’s heartwarming tale, it is disappointing for me to not have the two paired up after all these years and live a life of happiness.
Even though I believe Hata-sensei has always intended on Hayate ending up with Nagi, his story has never panned out in that direction. I bet that was another reason why he delayed doing the Athena backstory for so long — he knew how devastating it would be to his Hayate x Nagi ship. 🙁
Also on the amusing front was the idea that two people would actually want to spend their school trip slaving away in a sweat shop. *lol*
I’d never thought of it this way… but there are a few* of us who, when helping run anime conventions, consider it a badge of honor to be on duty for eighty or more hours over five days and only sneak in our favorite events here and there. So I guess it’s not too unbelievable. (^_~)
* – Mind you, most con staff are considerably more sane.
*lol* Well, even though working an anime convention is a massive undertaking, I would think that would be a labor of love rather than a sweat shop, even if you are working your oshiri off.
I am betting that these two people are Fumi Hibino and Sharna Alamgir. This seems to be the running joke of this series that these people would pick the worst possible option.
*smacks self in forehead!* Why didn’t I think of that? Of course, it has to be them. They weren’t in any of the Level 5 pictures, and considering Fumi’s new “Life Saver” thing, I can see her going for this, and Sharna tagging along just because. *lol* Hata-sensei could do a gag chapter out of this for sure.
Considering Hata-sensei, I also thought they would be someone we already know, but I forgot about those two.. I think you’re right, it must be them.
They haven’t been seen in the Level 5 trip, so I’m betting they are the comic relief for this arc.