ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 466 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hayate and Father Radiostar decide to borrow the pocket watch in the vault, which has a tag with the name Kurotsubaki on it.

Meanwhile, Nagi is watching the last episode of an anime she likes when a bloodied Hayate returns. He shows her the King’s Jewel, and the watch he borrowed, which she promises to secretly return.

The next morning, Nagi presents the King’s Jewel to a stunned Mikado, who accuses her of being a thief. She denies it and dares him to call the police, which she knows he won’t do. He grudgingly accepts the stone, meaning Nagi is now the inheritor of the Sanzenin Estate. Mikado warns Nagi that Hisui and the others won’t take this lightly. Nagi says she’ll use Hayate to crush them all.

As Nagi, Maria, and Hayate leave, Ah-tan shows up to talk with Mikado. He claims that things are going as planned as he was always going to return Nagi as inheritor. Ah-tan warns that he should be careful, and not about the other candidates.  Mikado claims not to be worried, but a blast from Isumi destroys the jewel. Mikado isn’t happy with Athena, but she tells him he’s activated a jumping chance. For the price of telling her how to restore herself to her normal form, she will tell him how to obtain another King’s Jewel.

She further tells Mikado that he can use his jumping chance whenever he wants, but with the Royal Garden set to be destroyed in four months, she suggests he not wait too long.

Thoughts/Review:

Heh!heh!heh!  As hinted, Hata-sensei is moving forward rather rapidly, but that’s not a bad thing in this case.  He’d already done dungeon trap gags galore, so there really was no need to see more of them. Having Hayate come back all bloody and battered, telling a brief tale of hardship is enough.

Having the pocket watch have a nameplate on the display pillow saying “Kurotsubaki” is not a surprise to any of us fans. I’m sure questions will rage on whether Hayate is holding the Kurotsubaki, thus making the anime Can’t Take My Eyes Off You null and void, or whether this is a replica. Hata-sensei muddies the waters by having his splash page show the watch having a much more elaborate design (at least from the angle the watch is displayed at), but still looking like a normal pocket watch every other time.

I still think we have a replica here, put there by Nagi’s father when he stole the original. Even when Hayate is holding it at the angle, the design is different from the anime, much as the watch’s normal face is different in the anime than here.

As to Mikado, apparently I was completely wrong about him knowing what was going down. He obviously recognized his jewel, but otherwise, there was no indication that he staged things so they could get the jewel, even though he was always planning on returning Nagi as inheritor.

So, I guess we’ll have Nagi, Maria, and Hayate return to Yukari-chan House, where they’ll announce they are going back to the mansion. I’m guessing that this is where we’ll establish who leaves Yukari-chan House and who stays, prepping things for the events in the anime movie Heaven is a Place on Earth and series Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

Finally, there’s Athena. With her having Isumi destroy a second jewel, I get the feeling that she’s on a quest to destroy all of the King’s Jewels. Destroying the two stones to date have pushed Athena’s plan forward, whatever that might be.  It has caused Hayate to reunite with his brother and put him in reserves for the final action. It has also caused Mikado to help Athena return to her normal size. It should be very interesting to see where this all pans out to.

In the end, a most excellent chapter. I’m really loving this story Hata-sensei has crafted for us.