ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 544 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sakuya sends Hayate, Ah-tan, and Mikado the report on the attack on Machina. The attackers is identified as Yozora. This lets them know that Hisui has a King’s Jewel, which panics Mikado. Hayate says he’s going to go to Hisui’s place to retrieve the stone and destroy it in order to return Ah-tan to her Athena form. Sakura warns Hayate to be careful. Isumi decides to leave Sakuya and join Hayate for a revenge match against Yozora.

At Hisui’s mansion, she asks Yozora about the Royal Power. At the same time, Hayate is asking Ah-tan this as they fly in a Chinook to Hisui’s mansion. Ah-tan tells the story of King Midas of Phrygia and the reason he had donkey ears. After saving a foolish deity, King Midas was granted the wish to turn everything he touched to gold. This caused problems, including turning his own daughter to gold.

King Midas returned this power to the deity, but was given donkey ears to pay for his foolishness. However, King Midas realizes that rather than turning things into gold, he needed the deity’s power. He was able to trick the deity and seal her in a palace outside of time. That palace is the Royal Garden. The Royal Power is what put the deity to sleep, and the power is sealed in a coffin in the palace. This power is a book called the Manuscript of Orumuzuto Nadja.

Thoughts/Review:

Gotta love the chapters that push forward the plot. I know I do. ^_^

Yozora: King Midas’s Daughter?

As I said last chapter.

I still think Yozora is directly connected to the Royal Garden and Palace. She may even be the daughter of King Midas, which would be a very interesting development.

The reason for my theorizing this is that when Yozora battled Machina, she mentioned that she was a Royal. In the various stories about King Midas, he does have a daughter in some of them, whom he turns to gold. So to me, it made sense that Yozora might be the immortal daughter of King Midas.

With Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 544, during Ah-tan’s telling King Midas’s story, we see an image of what appears to be Yozora, who has been turned to gold. That has me excited.

A Rematch Against Yozora

One thing we are learning after the fact is that Yozora not only defeated Machina, but she also invaded Sakuya’s home. She trashed the place and defeated Sakuya’s butlers and security.

Now we have Hayate and Ah-tan going to meet Hisui and subsequently Yozora. Assuming this turns into a battle, and at this point, I don’t see how it can’t, Ah-tan won’t be able to help much. If Hayate manages to destroy the jewel, Athena returns, and she could prove fairly formidable against Yozora.

Of course, there’s also Isumi. At the end of the day, even if Athena returns to form, I don’t think she and Hayate will be able to defeat Yozora. I do think that Isumi will do it this time. I’m looking forward to that showdown, assuming it happens at all. 😀

The Goddess Orumuzuto Nadja

I find it interesting that the goddess Orumuzuto Nadja gets name dropped at the end of the chapter. For those who don’t know, she’s the goddess who’s in the one-page omake manga for each volume of Hayate the Combat Butler. This page is printed under the color dust cover. In the Viz releases, it is the first page of the manga volume. Like most of Hata-sensei’s creations, the character was created in a previous manga work — Kamisama ni Rocket Punch.

I have read Kamisama ni Rocket Punch, and it is supposedly set in the same universe as Hayate the Combat Butler. Indeed, Orumuzuto’s wish granting power is pretty much identical — trading 50 years of one’s life can grant a single wish. She’s a goofy goddess. And she was delayed for years for unknown reasons from granting the wish she was asked to grant.

So in addition to Manuscript of Orumuzuto Nadja, I get the feeling at Orumuzuto may be the deity sealed up in the Royal Garden. If that’s the case, I’m not sure how Hata-sensei makes the events of Kamisama ni Rocket Punch canon with Hayate the Combat Butler. However, I do hope we get to see Orumuzuto in the manga proper. Yeah, she had a censored cameo in chapter 9, but to see her proper would be nice.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I honestly hope that Hata-sensei keeps Hayate the Combat Butler more plot bound from here on. It isn’t that I don’t like the comedy stuff, it’s just that the plot is what makes this manga series so interesting. And things certainly have gotten interesting.

In the end, Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 544 continues to push forward the plot and make things very engrossing. As such, it is a really good chapter.