ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 505 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

A panicked Nagi worries to Hayate and Maria about the status of Hayate the Combat Butler manga since Hata-sensei has created a new weekly serial called Ad Astra per Aspera in the same manga magazine, Weekly Shounen Sunday.

Discussing this new manga, the group questions why the first chapter is 001-A, so Hayate has to explain that Hata-sensei could only put together half of the first chapter’s 83 pages and that the second half won’t come out for another month.

The group discusses whether Hata-sensei will be able to handle two weekly serials, and the fact that both titles are in the same magazine mean they compete with each other for space in Weekly Shounen Sunday.

Using the new manga as an example, the group decides on what will keep them competitive, so the robot Eight and the “mystery girl” Fumi are summoned. Fumi says sex, gore, and violence will keep them competitive, so Eight takes on the violence part by finally getting revenge on Hayate and beating him up. Hayate takes care of the gore part by retaliating against Eight. Fumi has a topless Sharna come in for sex appeal, resulting in Sharna beating up Fumi. With that, Nagi decides that they should continue at their own pace.

Thoughts/Review:

Har! After a plot-filled chapter, it doesn’t surprise me that the new chapter would be nothing but filler, and filler that is not related to the plot. (As the characters joke, this chapter will likely be a “dream” since that’s how other such chapters have been treated.)

I had been thinking that Hata-sensei is showing signs of weariness of doing the Hayate the Combat Butler manga. The feeling mainly comes when there’s a suddenly rushed feeling concerning plot elements, but then Hata-sensei returns to his plodding style that shies away from plot as much as possible in favor of comedy gags. Having Hata-sensei use a chapter of Hayate the Combat Butler to promote his new manga title kinda adds to that feeling that he’s grown weary of his old manga, even though he does make some effort to address fan concerns.

I think Hata-sensei has three manga titles going at the moment. How he’s going to manage to do two weekly serials at the same time is beyond me, though it is clear that the new manga is taking the back seat for now to Hayate the Combat Butler.

Bringing Fumi into the chapter was a sure fire way of turning things totally nutty.

I did like Eight coming back to pick up that old rivalry story from the manga’s early days. So while it was humorous that he landed a punch on Hayate, it was more humorous that Hayate ended up destroying Eight.

Hata-sensei giving Sharna-chan a fanservice moment was surprising because she’s usually the “straight man” to Fumi’s wackiness.

In the end, all this chapter did was make me want to take a gander at Ad Astra per Aspera, which I shall now do.