April 16th, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 489 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Nagi and Hayate struggle with the blizzard, but Nagi isn’t too concerned since there are no bears in New Zealand. On cue, a bear shows up and pursues them. That stops when the bear triggers an avalanche, leading Hayate to have to rescue Nagi from danger.
That over, Nagi decides to ask if Hayate will quit being her butler if he pays off his debt. However, before she can finish the question, the snow they are on breaks off, causing them to fall a distance.
Meanwhile, the bus with the students not taking orientation arrives at the hotel, which is actually a prison.
Nagi and Hayate find an abandoned cabin, where Hayate starts a fire and they take off their clothes to dry. Nagi is embarrassed by the situation, but Hayate seems fine, causing Nagi to be displeased. Hayate notes there’s another cabin behind the one they are in, so he goes out to see if he can get help. Nagi wonders aloud if Hayate will leave her if he gets the ¥150 million, but Ruri appears, saying Hayate’s life will be over if that happens.
Apparently in the other cabin, Hina is taking a sauna.
Thoughts/Review:
Hata-sensei recycled two jokes here. The first one was the bear joke, which was used for the school trip where the class went up that easy mountain in Japan. The second one was having Nagi and Hayate on a cliff’s edge, where it falls off. I didn’t laugh at either joke this time around. (I am pretty tired as I write this — it has been a very hectic week.)
Nagi’s fears of Hayate leaving him are understandable. Early on in the manga, Nagi’s former butler, Himegami, left her under mysterious circumstances and that did leave a mark on her. With both of her parents dead, and Nagi knowing that Maria will leave her one day, that only leaves Hayate, and if he leaves, she’ll be alone.
Still, I’d like to see Nagi strong enough to stand on her own at the end of the manga and move on with her life without Hayate being at her side. I don’t think that will happen though.
I got the feeling that in servicing Nagi, Hata-sensei really tried to make her cute. Nothing wrong with that, but I figure it is part of a plan to rehabilitate Nagi so that when Hata-sensei pairs her with Hayate, the negative feedback isn’t so great.
(And as an aside, Hayate not reacting to a naked Nagi is a recycled joke.)
As to Hina, well, assuming Hayate goes there, one can imagine what will happen.
The rest of the class being sent to a prison made me chuckle. I’m wondering what the meaning of that is beyond the obvious gag.
Finally, Ruri showing up with the ominous warning about what would happen to Hayate should he win the prize made me think of the Kurotsubaki. If Hata-sensei keeps its function the same as it was in the CTMEOY anime, then that will be interesting.
So we get some recycled jokes, a push on Hayate x Nagi, a setup for Hayate to encounter Hina, and some possible additional plot setup. It will be interesting to see where things go.
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This is what I mean when I said Hayate should just get paired with Maria. If they get together, they could just stay as butler/maid-couple for Nagi.
At least it has nostalgic value for me; because as far as I remember, this hasn’t been used in the last 100 chapters (around 2 years worth of chapter), maybe more.
Ah. Well, that would work.
Most of these jokes could be classified as nostalgic.
And then there’s “Oh no! Hayate is about to walk in on a girl naked!”, which has been re-used so many times it’s not recognizable as a joke any more. It’d be more of one if Sensei set it up, then it didn’t happen. (^_^);
It’s too bad Hina couldn’t have actually finished up first, then when Hayate opened the door it was Hina walking in on Hayate and Nagi naked.
I would have giggled if that had happened.
Taking a clue from some recent chapters…
Hina: D-D-Don’t mind me! Continue! (slams the door)
5 seconds later…
The cabin door is sliced in half and Hayate narrowly dodges a sword slash filled with killing intent from a Shirousakura wielding Hina.
Hina: So… Hayate-kun, would you mind telling me what’s going on here? (smiling sweetly)
Har!
I’m in agreement that I’d like to see Nagi become more independent of both Hayate and Maria by the end of this series. I think it will happen eventually, actually. We’ve already seen traces of development in that direction with Maria’s anxiety that Nagi didn’t give up and cry on her shoulder in the mangaka arc and Hayate admitting that the time when Nagi might no longer need him might come very soon in the same arc.
Also, (and I’m sure there are some who would disagree) Nagi’s character is really different from who she was at the beginning of the manga. I think her character development is pretty par for the course given that she’s 13 and that the events in the manga have been going on for less than a year despite the fact that it’s been serialized for over a decade.
If/when that happens (Nagi becoming more independent), I think that would be the proper time that Hayate might actually acknowledge her feelings and actually consider her as a romantic prospect. The fanbase might be more accepting of this type of development. IMO, even without being a Nagi x Hayate shipper, that would be an acceptable and logical sequence of events.
For now however, Hata’s got quite a lot on his plate with all the pieces of foreshadowing events and unfinished plot threads he’s laid out throughout the manga.
As for the current arc, I actually like how things are turning out. Now Tsugumi’s given Nagi a motive to take a more active role to prevent Hayate from winning the 150 million yen and if Hayate detects that she’s doing so, then misunderstandings will ensue given that it’s the clueless butler we’re talking about and this can only result in lots of juicy drama… I like it. He might even start actually hating, or at least having real negative feelings for Nagi. This would not be a bad development for my ship. 🙂
Yeah, I agree with that.
That’s true.
I have a hunch that things won’t go negatively. I think Shin will come to play in this arc and that Nagi’s actions will actually cause her to meet him. (Or at least, that’s my hope.)