Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 451: I Love Curry -- Review and Synopsis

Synopsis: Athena concludes her talk with Ikusa who still insists that he can't remember a thing. However, Athena says that she's extracted enough information and that her "companion" will take care of the rest. Also, she warns Ikusa that Hayate might still win the competition, but Ikusa is skeptical that anyone can make that much money in 3 days. Athena counters by telling him that Hayate is off to find a secret spice that might just swing the odds in his favor.

A-tan, you ******* schemer!

On another part of the island, we go back to Hinagiku and Hayate. Hayate's had just about enough of the "being scared of ghosts thing" and says that they won't do that part this time while touching Hina on the shoulder (Hata makes it a point to emphasize the shipteasing panels). 

Oh noez! It's a ghost!

Hayate is all business about finding this secret spice and pokes fun at the absurdity of finding such a thing considering they don't even know what form it will take and what it is exactly. He suggests that they search the island separately and promptly leaves Hinagiku behind to search for the curry by himself.

Shaddup, Ghost. Hayate's fed up with your antics

No sooner has he done this when a ghost appears from out of nowhere to attack Hina, but before she could even finish screaming out for him. Hayate appears from out of nowhere and finger jabs the ghost in the eyes (both of them). Hayate seems rather pissed off and tries to extract some info on the ghost as to the whereabouts of the curry -- unfortunately the ghost doesn't know. Unperturbed, Hayate orders the ghost to summon some other ghosts who do know.

The ghost calls in a small group of other ghosts who finally inform them that the spice is a pirate treasure buried somewhere on the island. Hayate suddenly spouts an epic line that would have been inspiring in another context... but whatever, the ghosts are inspired by it anyway and one of them even aspires to be a doctor... even if he's dead.

This! Is a shipteasing moment

Hina and Hayate make for the pirate cave, but Hayate stops dead in his tracks because there's a rope in front of them that might be a booby trap. These pirates are more clever than he expected however since they also installed a secom sensor that sends a pile of rocks falling down upon them. Hina takes care of that with a little Shirouzakura action and Hayate notes how reliable she is.

This too is shipteasing

Finally, they find the secret spice inside the cave... which is nothing more than a treasure chest full of boxed curry spice -- they take it all back home anyway.

As they say in Dune: THE SPICE!

Review: Haha! I can't believe when was the last time that I found Hayate himself genuinely funny -- this was one of those times with the whole breaking the 4th wall thing and actually bullying that ghost into telling him about the curry.

This would have been epic in another context

Plot-related matters, not much was revealed here unlike in the previous chapter. Athena did hint that she was working alongside a companion who might just take Ikusa's treasure though. There are several people whom she could be referring to at this point:

• Hisui Hatsushiba and her maid
• Mikado Sanzen'in
• Machina
• Aika
• Himegami 

I have a feeling it's probably just Mikado that she's referring to though.

Other than that, plenty of Hina x Hayate shipteasing moments here. Hayate also re-confirms that he finds Hinagiku to be a reliable partner at the end of this chapter. 

Over-all, a pretty good chapter with a little bit of something for everyone. The boxed curry joke was a bit predictable considering Hata's style of humor, but I still chuckled a bit when it actually happened. 

I'm also glad that this "murder island" chapter is finally over and done with this chapter, which signifies that the plot is moving forward at a steady pace. Looks like Hata isn't quite ready to reveal whatever master plan Athena has hatched just yet. Well... y'know, maybe she should just marry Mikado... whatever, peoplez. whatever.

Speculation Corner: Ok, nothing to speculate about just yet. Can't say much as to who will win the bet between Ikusa and Hayate since not enough has been revealed. Also have no idea where those shipteasing moments between Hayate and Hina are headed except maybe those "baby steps" mentioned by a certain Hina x Hayate shipper. 


Therefore, for this week's speculation corner, I leave you with this:

What Athena has been doing since the end of Golden Week (Nagi will win. In Hata we trust!)

Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 450: Make Sure To Enter -- Review and Synopsis

LOL! You totally called it on that chapter cover, Doughnut Gunso. Looks like Nagi grew a bit. She's at least  up to Hayate's Neck right now if this picture is to be believed.

Synopsis: Athena finally confronts Ikusa on murder island and he calls her a “blonde mourning girl.” He’s apparently lost his memories, so she tries to help him get them back… with her magic memory recover hammer conjured from hammerspace. Of course, Ikusa effortlessly destroys it, because he’s right. Only an idiot would stand still and let that thing hit him. Ikusa calls Athena a “well-endowed exhibitionist girl” as Athena conjures several of her memory recover hammers to “attack” Ikusa. After much couple-bickering and after calling Athena a “transformation-tis drill-hair girl, Athena notices that she’s got only 10:23 minutes left in her original form and asks Ikusa to just let her return his memories and tells him about how he might have saved her ten years ago from the Royal Garden and that he might have taken the Royal power… or someone else might have.

I get the feeling that Ikusa is teasing her on purpose.

Ikusa remembers how he saved little Athena from the Royal Garden through a flashback and how he saw Yukariko outside as she was heading into the Royal Garden herself stating that she had a friend there “waiting to be rescued.”

Only have a used Wii myself, so a PS3 wouldn't be too bad.

Synopsis: Athena finally confronts Ikusa on murder island and he calls her a “blonde mourning girl.” He’s apparently lost his memories, so she tries to help him get them back… with her magic memory recover hammer conjured from hammerspace. Of course, Ikusa effortlessly destroys it, because he’s right. Only an idiot would stand still and let that thing hit him. Ikusa calls Athena a “well-endowed exhibitionist girl” as Athena conjures several of her memory recover hammers to “attack” Ikusa. After much couple-bickering and after calling Athena a “transformation-tis drill-hair girl, Athena notices that she’s got only 10:23 minutes left in her original form and asks Ikusa to just let her return his memories and tells him about how he might have saved her ten years ago from the Royal Garden and that he might have taken the Royal power… or someone else might have.

Ikusa is actually Kenjiro Hata

Ikusa remembers how he saved little Athena from the Royal Garden through a flashback and how he saw Yukariko outside as she was heading into the Royal Garden herself stating that she had a friend there “waiting to be rescued.”

However, Ikusa says he has a hard time remembering, so Athena suggests just forcing him to remember with her memory recover hammers, but Ikusa counters her with “Is there any reason to cling to old memories?” At this, Athena breaks down emotionally and relays how Ikusa epically saved her from the Royal Garden by overcoming all of its trials at the risk of his own life, but Ikusa brushes it off as just “ho-hum, I dun remember. I save people every day. For you, it was an important day coz I totally saved your life, but for me… it was a Tuesday.”

Ikusa: For you, it was the day I saved your life. For me... it was Tuesday

More flashbacks as Ikusa apparently tried to hail a policeman after meeting Yukariko since he needed to get Athena to the hospital. This results in the policeman mistaking him for a kidnapper since he was all bloodied and carrying a huge sword. Thus, Athena is left behind with the Shirouzakura there in front of her as Ikusa probably scooted off to evade the police.

Athena reallv loves that Gate of Babylon weapon spam magic.

The chapter culminates with Athena trembling as she wholeheartedly pours out her feelings… of gratefulness to Ikusa.

Cute magazine cover here.

Review: This was a very interesting chapter. Lots of plot and Doughnut Gunso totally called it on the chapter cover with Nagi and Hayate and some useless side characters there even though Nagi is not relevant to the plot at the moment – but she’s there because she’s Nagi, ok?

Ok, plot-related matters a plenty in this arc. Most significantly, lots of things have been revealed about the Royal Garden and Ikusa and Athena’s experiences there. So apparently, Ikusa rescued Athena from the Royal Garden and Athena was injured in the process. It was Ikusa who took Shirouzakura out of the Garden and just outside, Yukariko was waiting to get inside the Garden. She also recognized Athena and states that she’s been missing for a long time… how long exactly is not stated, but probably a year to a few months given that she was still outside the Royal Garden when she and Mikado were conspiring to find a candidate and Mikado chose Hayate… I’ll leave the finer details to you RG historians out there. Personally not too interested in the tiny details myself.

Yukariko is still significant to the plot long after she's dead.

It’s pretty apparent then that Yukariko might have stolen the Royal Power herself, but she says that she was going into the garden to “rescue a friend.” The plot thickens and while a lot of details about the Royal Garden has been revealed in this one chapter, there are still tons of unanswered questions… but let us leave that for another day… for now…

Also, I think it’s pretty clear that Ikusa never lost his memories in the first place, he’s just being purposely dense about it. He kind of reminds me of Archer from Fate/Stay Night that way.

Speculation Corner: BOOM! Headshot! You cannot tell me I didn’t see this ship coming from chapter 262 away! Ok fine, it’s just circumstantial at the moment, but you have to admit that Ikusa and Athena seem like a pretty good match for each other.

• ·        Both are more emotionally mature than any of the other characters in the series.
• ·        Athena is the magical powerhouse while Ikusa is the physical powerhouse of the series. Great match!
• ·        Athena is sophisticated, beautiful and well-endowed, and Ikusa is a real man’s man.
• ·        As someone else points out, they totally look like a couple bickering when they fight.
• ·        I mentioned this before, but Ikusa and Athena actually have a non-tragic past together – even if it was just for a short time. People who have been through life and death together often develop a strong emotional bond – and I totally saw this happening between them when Ikusa went off to rescue Athena in chapter 262-263. (refer to my photo essay).
• ·        Athena went to all the trouble of wasting her precious 12 or so minutes of being in her original form just to return Ikusa’s memories so she could say “thank you.” To this, lordcloudx says “thank you, that’s all folks.”

Hata is asking YOU, the reader, this question through Ikusa.

Royal Garden-related matters: If Yukariko really was going in to save a friend, then this puts a monkey wrench on my theory that she “blessed Nagi with luck” using the Royal Power Then again, this “friend” she was going to save could have been Nagi as well. Also, it puts another hole in my theory that Mikado wants to use the Royal Garden to revive Yukariko, since Yukariko was alive and well when Mikado was scheming to get into the Royal Garden together with Athena.

 

Finally, remember how Ikusa said “is there any reason to cling to old memories?” I believe this supports my theory that Hayate x Athena = tragic past while Ikusa x Athena = hopeful past.

1000 Words - A Hayate The Combat Butler Photo Essay

It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words -- so let's put this age-old saying to the test with this photo-essay.

Hayate is NOT happy being with Nagi.

"Passing the hat" is an insignificant metaphor because she said, "she might not return it next time..." OK?

This stone is the key to my inheritance and for whatever reason, you look troubled because of it.

Goodbye, my inheritance and millionaire heiress lifestyle

As you can see in this panel, this was clearly irresponsible and unreasonable of Nagi. I mean, it really doesn't show how much she loves Hayate at all... not at all! Also, that narration about seeing the future is absolutely NOT foreshadowing anything except an eventual Athena x Hayate ending, yup!

This too is NOT foreshadowing anything.

You got that, Hayate?

Can't Take My Eyes Off You contradicts the manga! It will NOT be canon! Hata just wanted to draw an apple there for no apparent reason.

NOT canon at all. Even if this manga was also shown in the anime. It's all circumstantial evidence and says nothing about Hata-sensei's true plans to completely deviate from Can't Take My Eyes Off You when the manga reaches September... you'll see, you'll see!

Everything that I am about to tell you is the absolute truth, ok? Hata hates Nagi... a lot!

Could this be the reason why Nagi was "blessed with luck?"

My reaction to this manga

Everything that I am about to tell you is still the absolute truth: The plot of the Golden Week Arc clearly tells us that Hayate will eventually abandon Nagi in order to be with Athena.

Yup, this was not a story about moving on from a tragic past at all. As you can see here, Hayate clearly plans to leave Nagi for Athena someday.

This does NOT count because Cuties 11-12 are also NOT canon for the same reasons that all of Can't Take My Eyes Off You is NOT canon!

Apparently, all chapter covers will have some significance in future chapters - even five-six years later... ok!

Again, this is the truth: This panel from the end of chapter 262...

And the entire story of chapter 263 says absolutely nothing...

Nothing at all about building up to this scene in chapter 448

I'm also not implying anything at all with this spoiler panel from chapter 450 edited into my fanart... nothing at all.

Clearly... Athena shall prevail! (not my screencaps)

More hard evidence that Hayate is NOT happy being with Nagi.

Well, that's it for now. I might do something like this again in the future. Maybe with a more coherent plan next time since the ideas seem to branch out too much with this initial attempt. See ya when the next chapter releases!