ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku manga volume 29 review
Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 29

 –> PURCHASE FROM AMAZON!

OK, I’m continuing to LITERALLY dust off these old manga volumes for reading and review purposes. NOTE: Since I’ve already reviewed this volume based on the Japanese tankoubon, this review will focus on the Viz release as well as additional thoughts regarding the content of Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 29. But for more thoughts about the volume’s story, do click the link above.

***SPOILERS***

Crossdressing

One of the major highlights of Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 29 is that Ruka’s story continues. However, due to Hata-sensei loving to have Hayate dressed in drag, Sensei has woven the story so that Hayate is forced to do so of his own free will. This is to advance the Ruka story arc within the series. It’s silly, but a bit of fun, especially when Hayate gets busted by his housemates.

The Doujinshi Business (and more)

The other plot thread that is advanced in Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 29 is Wataru’s shifting his business from a video rental place to a doujinshi place. Sadly, the volume ends just as it enters a funny sub-arc where he has a suitcase full of money he borrowed from Sakuya.

Beyond that, we get a bit more of life at Yukari-chan House. Again, Ah-tan did provide for some comedic moments. And finally, there were the usual, one-off gag manga chapters that Hata-sensei is obsessed with.

The Character Designs

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Hata-sensei’s character designs continue to shift to make characters a bit less appealing. We still haven’t hit bottom yet. Its unfortunate ’cause the characters take on a more generic look, which is way less appealing. I know he was massively busy during this time, so he probably wanted to go simple to make things faster.

Viz Stuff

I’ve stated my opinion that Viz hates this manga series. As such, Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 29 was released years after the the volume was released in Japan. I get that sales are negligible for the series, but man, it sucks getting only two volumes a year when FOUR a year were released in Japan. There were 52 volumes when the series ended in Japan in 2017.

That said, it is a pretty standard release of the series for Viz. Most of Japanese honorifics are retained, which is also why I say Viz is hating the series. There was a moment where Ruka tells Nagi to address her as “Ruka-sama”. But because “LOCALIZATION ROCKS!”, this was changed to “Madam Ruka.” Get stuffed! 🤬

All of the extras from the standard Japanese tankoubon release of this volume are included. Of course, we gaijin won’t get the lovely artwork for Hina as that was a limited edition thing in Japan.

Finally, Viz has several ads for their other stuff.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Despite Viz releases the series very slowly and them being a bit stupider in their adaptation, I don’t regret purchasing Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 29.