ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 518 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fumi pays a visit to Sharna, wanting to make easy money. Sharna doesn’t think Fumi needs that much money to live on, so Fumi angrily counters this, citing the Japanese recession and how a normal home like hers is in trouble. Her big dog Armageddon does nothing but eat. Her maid robot Shii-chan (Ell) does nothing but eat. Her shut in brother does nothing but eat and make weird noises at night. Her mother cries constantly in the kitchen while drinking tons of booze. And her father is embezzling money from his company to spend on hostesses.

The android Shii shows up to help her master since the Hibino family finances are in trouble. Shii suggests Fumi get a job, which Fumi doesn’t like, so Fumi says Shii will be working with her. Sharna likes the idea of Fumi working a job, but can’t think of a good job as Fumi even got rejected as a maid. Fumi goes off on Shii in rhyme, so Shii thinks Fumi has talent as a rapper. This notion shakes Fumi up, but when she wants to know how much money she could make, Shii-chan won’t even look at her. (This is due to 80% of rappers in Japan having part time jobs.)

Since Shii knows all about rap, Fumi asks for training on rap from Shii. With that, Isumi’s mother Hatsuho appears, calling herself Ha☆Tu☆Ho! Recognizing Hatsuho as the one who rejected her as a maid, Fumi challenges Hatsuho to a rap battle to get revenge. Shii-chan decides to do beat box. Ha☆Tu☆Ho gets things started, impressing Sharna. Then Fu☆Mi kicks off, shifting her rap to be about Sharna and her A-cup bust, going on about Sharna’s dream to get a sexy body. Sharna snaps, punching her friend. Fumi agrees to the suggestion to just find a normal part-time job.

Thoughts/Review:

More filler, no doubt due to the fact that Hata-sensei’s main focus is on Ad Astra Per Aspera.

I hate it when characters get renamed for whatever reason. I’d been calling the android “Ell” ’cause that’s how the unofficial adaptation called her. Thanks to Hayate fan Lordcloudx (aka: Violent Cloud), I was clued in that this chapter was calling the android either “Shii” or “Shii-chan.” That made no sense to me, so I went back to the raw for chapter 479 where the android is introduced, and sure enough, her name is “Shii.”

It seems the unofficial translation decided to rename the character because the original Japanese joke getting Shii’s name from the term “yarashii,” which means dirty according to a Japanese person I know (though a more literal translation would be disgusting, indecent, or obscene). Since the unofficial translation used “lewd” for “yarashii,” they went with “Ell-chan.” But that’s not the character’s name, so I refuse to use it.

Now that I’m done with that, a Fumi chapter is usually good for a few laughs. I wonder how much of that stuff regarding her family is true and how much is an exaggeration. Having her be a rapper was funny, but bringing Hatsuho made it funnier. It was just funny as all get out seeing Hatsuho getting down to Fumi’s rap about Sharna.

I was amused that both Fumi and Sharna had Star Wars shirts on. I’m betting Hata-sensei loved the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie.

Other than that, nothing really to say about this filler chapter. It was humorous and entertaining for what it was.