ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku manga volume 30 review
Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 30

 –> PURCHASE FROM AMAZON!

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 30.

Ruka’s Story Advances

The primary focus of Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 30 is advancing Ruka’s story. This is done in part by having her get closer to Hayate, whom she believes is a girl due to him being dressed as one. But then she also discovers that he’s actually a guy. Thankfully, that plot element gets nicely wrapped up in this volume.

Also on the Ruka front, Hina joins “Team Ruka”. By that, I mean that for Ruka’s manga competition with Nagi, Hina is helping Ruka. And since Hina, Chiharu, and Nagi live in Yukari-chan House, it will make for interesting things to come.

Fumi-chan’s Hilarious Stupidity

While Ruka’s story took up most of the volume, Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 30 did advance Wataru’s story a bit. And to do this, Hata-sensei brought in Fumi-chan, who’s sole purpose in the manga is to provide lots of gag humor moments. And she does that brilliantly when it comes to Wataru’s stolen money. Her worries about being branded as a criminal and wanting to remove her fingerprints from the case her dog stole had me laughing a lot.

Viz Release

As I get older, I’m less and less tolerant of “localization.” For example, at the start of the volume, Fumi-chan is laughing and talking about how she likes to skip. Viz’s adapter decides to have her singing instead of laughing, and there’s no reason for it other than, “I localize. It’s bestest evah!”

Sometimes, I think adapters believe that they have to rewrite everything the translator did ’cause “localization”. My own adaptation model is “accurate but readable.” The translator is providing an accurate translation. If that accuracy is perfectly readable, there’s no reason to rewrite it. However, I’m 99.9% certain that some adapters rewrite perfectly understandable, readable, English sentences in the name of localization. 😑

Also, while Viz is using honorifics in the adaptation, there’s a clear effort to try to do less than before. As such, Saki addresses Wataru as “Master” instead of “Waka”.

Beyond that, the normal omake stuff is included and normal Viz ads.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I will say this repeatedly, but it is a shame that Viz is releasing the manga so bloody slowly. The world will probably end before Viz can be bothered to release the final volume. That said, despite Viz irritating me more and more, I am glad to have purchased Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 30 for my collection.