July 17th, 2016 
AstroNerdBoy ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 535 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
With Hayate having three of the five remaining King’s Jewels, he wonders how he can open a pathway to the Royal Garden through an act of betrayal. After all, it was his parent’s betrayal, along with the the King’s Jewel that he was given that allowed him to open the path as a child. The only act of betrayal he can think of that can be controlled is love. As such, he plans to have someone fall for him, then be rejected by him.
At Yukari-chan House, Hayate encounters Ayumu, so he asks her if she’s in love with anyone. Ayumu firmly reminds him that she is still in love with Hayate and wants to be his girlfriend. Ah-tan comes in, asking to move the melodrama outside. The moment ruined, Hayate thinks back to the times he’s spent with Ayumu and decides he can’t be that cruel to her.
Knowing the Hisui would do something this cruel, Hayate comes on a new plan when he sees Maria at the mansion later in the day. In Hayate’s mind, Maria is the perfect choice since she would forgive him once she learned his actions were for Nagi. However, he doesn’t know how to start a romantic relationship with Maria. Not only that, Maria knows how to throw him for a loop.
Thoughts/Review:
Interesting that Hata-sensei decides to do a four page recap here. For me, this is the marker for the push into the final phase of the manga.
I’m glad we got to see Ayumu again. I’m also VERY glad that Hayate decided to not to use her in his scheme. Ayumu may not be the ultimate winner, but she doesn’t deserve getting used.
Also, Ah-tan got a cameo. At lease we know she’s not been forgotten and is still living at Yukari-chan House.
Maria is the logical choice for Hayate’s scheme. However, I don’t see how Hayate can pull this off. Of course, he probably doesn’t have to. Nagi could see Hayate with Maria, then learn from Maria that Hayate doesn’t have any feelings for her. Thus, Nagi would have a broken heart, cry, and end up opening the pathway.
That reminds me — how did Yukariko open the path in the first place? If it takes some kind of shock and tragedy, then how’d she get there?
Beyond that, not a lot to say about Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 535. The chapter serves to catch folks up on things so far, then establishes Hayate’s scheme. I’m interested to see where it goes.
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is this the start of the maria arc
Possibly.
After 25 years we finally get some more of the good stuff, this time it’s the anime “Only Yesterday” by Isao Takahata and Hayo Miyazaki — recently translated and dubbed from a copyright of 1991. I don’t know Japanese, but I like to view anime with spoken Japanese and English subtitles because the English voice dubbing is usually over-engineered digital mush barely relevant to the plot. Plus I get to hear the proper pronunciation of names and places
Taeko (Tah-ae-ko) is a 27 year old unmarried Tokyo office lady who goes on a ten day vacation in the country to help harvest safflowers. Throughout the trip, at a long leisurely pace, she is often visited by her ten-year-old self in real time. At the start the scene is almost completely in that unhappy past with her adorable ten-year-old self inside backgrounds that remain pale and static. But when she gets to the country, the scenery has changed into the usual gorgeous Miyazakian masterpieces. In rural Japan she blossoms, amid relatives and friends while farming enthusiastically. She spends lots of time with Toshio, a farmer younger than herself, who had picked her up at the station in his tiny car.
Chapter 19 and 20 by themselves are worth the entire price. Takahata-sensei eventually keeps time in the present with Taeko preparing to leave on the train back to Tokyo. The climax is signaled by that beautiful blues theme, “The Rose” ( Love is a Rose), sung richly by Harumi Miyako, at the very end as Taeko is leaving to go back to the big city. We watch the past and present fuse, with her school mates, including herself, in that past time, running along with her in the present time. A glorious, happy ending. She gets off the train at the next station and catches one in the opposite direction, back to the country.
Thanks for the info. 🙂
Okay, that’s… really unexpected. The raw for 537 is out, and I have no idea what to make of the chapter title being the same name as the Kanon OP. We’ve certainly seen chapter titles that played off of other anime and manga, and given that it’s only two English words in quotes it could easily be coincidence, but it’s still… well, unexpected. Especially since the last couple of pages are kinda unexpected themselves (but not in the same way at all) – not to mention Hata-sensei’s understandable reluctance to get caught up in copyright issues. Guess we’ll have a chance to revisit this at a later time, though. (^_^)’
Excellent question; I wish I’d noticed it on the first read. I wonder if it’s tied to the reason she set this in motion, and/or what really happened to her and Nagi’s dad.
My 536 comes out tomorrow (Friday).
As to Yukariko, I don’t know why I never thought about it until now either. It just hit me out of the blue.