January 27th, 2017 
AstroNerdBoy ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 557 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Himegami arrives with a proposal. In exchange for the final King’s Jewel, he will give Nagi the Sanzenin inheritance. Himegami knows that Hayate, Nagi, and even Hisui have no wish in mind. However, Hisui gaining the legacy on top of Yozora’s power would be dangerous.
Himegami recounts meeting Yukariko as a child as she was attempting to free a captured god. Himegami used the Royal Power to get Yukariko’s attention, even though it cost him 50 years of his life. In the end, Himegami made a promise with Yukariko that she would enter the Royal Garden and make a wish that Himegami’s wish would not have happened. Though this would leave Yukariko trapped there, Himegami vowed to rescue her since he would then be allowed to touch a King’s Jewel again. Yukariko did go to the palace in the Royal Garden, but she didn’t make the wish Himegami wanted, though she did use the power.
Isumi’s Great-Grandmother Ginka shows up, scolding Himegami for fleeing when Yukariko got married by touching a King’s Jewel and becoming cursed. That aside, Himegami wants to use the Royal Power to meet Yukariko again. In doing this, Nagi won’t be lonely any more. Athena shows up, reminding Himegami that King Midas made a similar wish. Himegami isn’t swayed by that since King Midas was ultimately defeated, despite being undead for a time.
Hina states that even if Himegami sees Yukariko again, she would not fall in love with him. Seeing his plan rejected, Himegami announces that he and Hisui will obtain everything and he vanishes.
At the mansion, Nagi mentions to Maria how it being just the two of them reminded her of the time after Himegami left her service, but before Hayate arrived. Nagi remarks on how that was fun, so Maria offers to do something fun now.
Thoughts/Review:
Some interesting items revealed in Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 557. Let’s get started.
Yukariko is Likely Alive
There has been a lot of speculation of late on whether Yukariko is actually dead or not. Based on what Himegami said about using the Royal Power to meet Yukariko again, it seems very likely that she is very much alive. I find it hard to believe she’d be stuck in the Royal Garden (though that is a possibility), but this may be another clue that the woman Nagi met is in fact Yukariko with amnesia.
Another clue that Yukariko is alive actually comes from the canon splash page for volume 32 of the manga.
Obviously, we don’t have context here, but I do find this very interesting.
Finally, we know Yukariko has communed with Hayate. I believe she was responsible for depositing Hayate and Nagi at her grave-site after the UFO incident. I also think she summoned all of Nagi’s friends that day to cheer Nagi up. 🙂
Himegami isn’t Nagi’s Father
Hata-sensei appears to have trolled some of us by having Isumi state that Himegami isn’t who he says he is. Since body swapping was an element to introduce Nagi’s dad in the no longer canon anime Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, it is understandable that folks like myself hoped that maybe Himegami would have Nagi’s father within him. While Himegami may not be Himegami, the fact that he had an unrequited love of Yukariko would seem to put him out as Nagi’s father.
Still, Himegami does care for Nagi. I do believe he’s being honest when he says that he would give Nagi the inheritance.
Unrequited Love
Unrequited love has been one of the major themes of Hayate the Combat Butler. Only two characters have been in an unrequited love situation — Hayate and Athena with each other. Indeed, Athena still loves Hayate, but while she does nothing to resume her relationship with Hayate (’cause “plot”), Hayate still loves Athena, at least as he told Hina.
Those two aside, all of the other girls who love Hayate are in an unrequited love situation. He may be attracted to many of the girls, but he’s always been a duty kind of guy and used that as an excuse to just avoid the topic.
Hata-sensei uses Hina as a torpedo to sink her ship with Hayate. She is acknowledging that Hayate will never be in love with her. Obviously, this is so Hata-sensei can clear the board and force the Nagi (whom I like as a character) x Hayate ship come hell or high water. At the same time, Himegami’s reaction to Hina’s words suggest that the Royal Power cannot be made to cause someone to love another.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Man, I’m so far behind and nothing has gone as planned. But at least I managed to write this review tonight and get it posted before work drags me away again. Here are some final thoughts.
- I loved the little moment between Nagi and Maria at the end. I sense that Maria’s and Nagi’s fun may be a way for Hata-sensei to inject humor into the story at times.
- Hina is at ground zero, so I would guess that she’ll be in the final battle. I hope she is ’cause she has Shirozakura (or Shirosakura if you like) at her disposal. That sword has always been something that was supposed to play an important role in the story.
- I wonder what Yukariko did wish for while at the Royal Garden.
- I’ve joked that since Yukariko can apparently call to Hayate and he answers her summons, Yukariko might summon Hayate to the past. There, he becomes her butler, falls in love with her, and ends up becoming Nagi’s father. That would explain why Nagi’s father looks like Hayate. And at Hayate’s core, maybe this is why he’s never seen Nagi as more than family. 😉 (I honestly don’t believe this theory will happen, but I would laugh if it did.)
In the end, Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 557 is an interesting chapter.
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Given how Himegami was portrayed her, I seriously doubt the Yukariko = Kanzaki theory. It can still be written in, but that’s really what I would call “forcing it.”
1. Himegami’s entire motivation to enter this battle would be in vain.
2. Given how obsessive the guy was about Yukariko, I think he’s dug up her grave a couple of times to smell her dead, rotting corpse (lol sorry, bad joke)
An even easier, more definite way to rule him out as Nagi’s father is that Ginka explicitly mentioned that he couldn’t stand seeing the woman he loves being married to another man.
One last thing: I’d disagree that the Hina ship is sunk. This is just Hina’s viewpoint so far after all. Until we see something definite from Hayate (what you’ve all been waiting for) in terms of attraction towards Nagi, I’d say Hina is still the final boss for my ship. We won’t see a positive response from Hayate concerning Nagi right away. The bomb must go off.
If Yukariko has amnesia, then it works. I just can’t believe Hata-sensei would have someone who’s Yukariko in appearance, clothing, and attitude not be Yukariko…unless she’s a clone or something.
True.
With the manga winding down, I think Hata-sensei has to torpedo all ships as soon as possible. What better way than have Hina be mature and realize that her unrequited feelings will never be more than that and thus she removes herself from contention in a similar way to Athena.
You may be right here, but this is what I would call bad writing on Hata’s part if it ends with just that. If he has sunk the Hina ship in his mind, then I would definitely want to see a mini-flashback chapter pretty soon detailing how Hina came to this decision exactly. It wouldn’t do her character justice (the darling of the manga, the top-ranking character in any Hayate poll) to have her just resign from the harem race with just that. Even as a (do I need to mention this? :D) Nagi shipper, I can’t really accept such a withdrawal.
Thank you – this is a really good point. I’ve felt for a long time that one of the recurrent themes of Hayate no Gotoku (though better-hidden than in most manga) is “Be true to your feelings and don’t be so afraid of being hurt or embarrassed; few things are as sad as watching lifetime chances slip by due to timidity”. A lot of manga carry this much too far, into “Make an outrageous @$$ of yourself and have no regard for others’ feelings” territory, and I would hate to see that. But as things are now – if this was intended to be Hina’s final declaration to give up, it would be like with Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election.
(I think the metaphor is good enough to risk it – ANB, my apologies if I’m wrong. For reference, the argument re: Hayate is mainly me trying to remind myself. Not directed at anyone else, at all.)
Many of his supporters were severely disappointed, because they felt like his message was too strong and true to apparently back down without a “real” fight‡. (Basically, if you truly believe a bus is about to flatten a child, don’t timidly raise your hand for attention.) They may be right; they may be wrong – but in the end, it comes down to the priorities of the one in charge. When we see the ending, we may feel like both his actions and his characters’ are sharply contradicting his own message… but it’s always been Hata-sensei’s story to tell. Even if it’s true that he’d rather move on than properly “finish” a beautiful painting (i.e. not with a few slaps of a house-paint brush), it’s his choice. Doesn’t make us any less sad to see it, but it’s his choice.
‡ – Personally, I find it hard to say. Martyrdom (or danger to loved ones) isn’t usually nearly as attractive to leaders as it is to the fervent people behind them. He’s gotten a LOT more done than if he’d “gone down fighting” decades ago. He’s an extremely-clever strategist (or has the very luck of the Road-Runner), and deserves a bit of trust in his judgment. Perhaps most of all, I suspect there are more “rules” to the game than he can let on – he’s the one who pulled our blinders off when we could hardly see the road at our feet. And I can’t fathom trusting media’s extensive “interpretation” (vs his actual words) now, after seeing them grossly distort his words/actions for a full year.
Regarding Hina, I think Hata-sensei is just trying to end the manga and it would take too long to wrap up these harem plots normally. So Athena just gives up on Hayate ’cause “reasons” and Hina appears to do the same. Ayumu isn’t bowing out yet based on spoilers, so Hata-sensei may give her a proper exit. But we’ll see.
I honestly get the feeling that at this point, Hata-sensei is just trying to end things as quickly as possible. He did do a gag chapter with Maria and Nagi, but then Maria is apparently gone from the manga now. I suppose she could show up again, but I doubt it is in any meaningful way (but who knows with Hata-sensei).
Anyway, having Hina withdraw like this allows Hata-sensei to still use Hina for any action that may come out of the conclusion.
I’ll keep this as spoiler-free as possible… because I forgot how to use the spoiler tag~
The timeskip from ch. 558 came pretty abruptly, but I don’t think it was without its purpose based on ch. 559. I got a bit worried that Hata was really rushing things too much with the timeskip, but then after going through all the pages of ch. 559, it looks like the plotlines are starting to make sense. Even the use of Kanzaki in this final arc — whom I think we haven’t seen the last of just yet.
I just read 599. Considering how Dr. Kurosu treated amnesia patients, this could be a sign that Kanzaki is Nagi’s mom.
Regarding this theory…umm… I win~ 🙂
Ha!ha! Yes, you were…for now. 😉 That still doesn’t explain why Dr. Kurosu was there. We’ve had multiple time skips, so there’s a lot of stuff not said yet. Things don’t quite add up, but then I need to read 561.