ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 553 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hayate escorts Athena and Isumi to the Hakuou Gakuen campus where they meet Sakuya. In the school’s tower, Athena lays out that there’s a Celestial Room above the Student Council that is used to monitor the Royal Garden. A book in a bookcase is used to reveal a hidden staircase. Athena and Isumi will repair the Celestial Room while Hayate prepares their food and sleeping quarters.

Hayate returns to the mansion, where Chiharu and Nagi are together. When Hayate mentions that he was out doing his best for Nagi’s future, both Chiharu and Nagi interpret it as Hayate’s romantic feelings for Nagi. Hayate takes a look at Nagi’s manuscript and sees it appears to be a romantic piece about Nagi and him. As he prepares food, he rejects the notion that the manga is really about Nagi and him.

In the Celestial Room, Sakuya asks Isumi about why Himegami is acting like a completely different person. Isumi’s great-grandmother Ginka shows up in her young girl form. Isumi asks Ginka if she remembers Himegami. Both Isumi and Sakuya are surprised when Ginka calls the boy someone shrunk by a curse.

Hayate takes food to Hakuou and while doing that, he escorts Chiharu to Yukari-chan House. Chiharu gushes over the romantic story of Hayate’s and Nagi’s meeting. Seeing Hayate’s stunned, concerned look, Chiharu promises she hasn’t told anyone. Chiharu gets stunned when Hayate says he never confessed to Nagi, but had attempted to kidnap her.

Thoughts/Review:

Going into the winter break, Hata-sensei is nearly finished setting Nagi up for the fall.

The Plot: Preparing for Hisui

As expected, the final action is being set up to start at the clock tower at Hakuou Gakuen. Since Athena and Isumi are doing the work to finish whatever is in the Celestial Room, I’m guessing there’s a magical element there. I’m guessing that’s why Ginka was there as well. Glad too see her back. I’m looking forward to learning about how it monitors the Royal Garden.

As an aside, the prep work in the clock tower is where Hata-sensei injected the only humor of the chapter. I laughed at the tie back to the fake kidnapping plot back in volume 4. There, Hayate used an MG 42 machine gun to go up against Gilbert. I tip my hat to Hata-sensei for that nod to a great Hayate moment.

The Plot: The Misunderstanding Bomb

From the first chapter, Hayate the Combat Butler has been premised on the fact that Nagi misunderstood Hayate’s (comically) failed kidnapping attempt as a proposal. All of this time, Hayate has not had any romantic feelings for Nagi. He’s loved her like a brother. He’s loved her for saving his life, even if he was in massive debt to her for a time. Until recently, he’s been totally clueless about Nagi’s feelings.

With Chiharu revealing the truth, Hayate is in a bad way. I wonder what all he tells Chiharu about his first encounter with Nagi. Does Hayate break the bad news to Nagi? I’m just wondering if that would be the reveal that would provide maximum damage to Nagi, causing the “bomb” to go off. Said explosion would then open up the path to the Royal Garden.

Nagi looks so happy at the end of the chapter. No doubt Hata-sensei is doing that to maximize the  impact of her fall. I’m also wondering if he is hoping to lessen fan opposition to the Hayate x Nagi ship that he’s bound and determined to see sail at all costs. We’ll see.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I had zero motivation today, so this post is over 24 hours overdue. So I better wrap this up.

• Again, we get more clues about Himegami not being whom we think he is. While I like the Kurotsubaki theory, Hata-sensei may not have those rights. As such, we didn’t get Dolly, but we got her “twin,” Kananiwa. We did get Ruri, but not the same as in the anime. As such, I think Himegami could still somehow be Nagi’s dad, only in disguise.
• Speaking of Ruri, her role in the manga has been shaky at best. I’d love it if she had a greater role in the ending.
• I couldn’t help but notice that Hata-sensei went out of his way to note the date — October 25.
• No new chapter this week due to the winter break for the magazine.

In the end, Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 553 continues laying out the groundwork for the final battle and Nagi’s fall.