First off, some fanart. Here's one based on those Richenna Bubble Hair Dye products from Korea. I tried to copy the art style as well as I could. In the end, I'm a bit dissatisfied with the shading on her hair, and I think the shape of her face came out a bit too angular... oh well.
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| Ojou-sama hair color. Have flowing, golden hair like Nagi... even though she skips baths to play video games. |
So anywayz, I could have done better with this piece most definitely, but I thought it turned out well enough for me to have this turned into a T-shirt design like so:
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| I turn my fanart into shirts... and WEAR THEM! |
I'm on a fanart streak this week, and I thought I needed a new avatar, so I thought of making one with Nagi holding a placard. I opted for a sketchy, amateurish style using manual colored pens, sort of like the style in PinocchioP's Hatsune Miku song, "My Friend Was Good At Drawing." I'm still trying to decide whether to make a CG version of this one, or to go with it as is.
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| CG this or go with the manual colored pens style? |
Hayate and Nagi won't end up together because of the age difference?
Honestly, this is one of the most annoying, unimaginative reasons that anti-Nagi people can possibly come up with and it's also been debunked countless times already if only people were willing to actually read before posting.
First of all, Nagi is currently 13 and Hayate is 16. The age difference between them is 3 years. In relationship psychology, this is actually the ideal age difference between dating couples because it is preferable for the guy to be slightly older since women mentally mature faster than men.
But wait, there's no need to even use this argument, because Hata clearly sees nothing wrong with implied relationships between pseudo-couples with even larger age gaps within the same manga (cue Wataru x Saki). Furthermore, this series is clearly plot-centric and there has been nothing in the ongoing plot that would suggest that relationship psychology is even applicable as far as romantic couples/pseudo couples in Hayate The Combat Butler are concerned.
What I can actually agree with regarding the ages of the characters relative to each other is that Nagi might possibly be too young at 13 for a deep romantic relationship. It's fine to use this argument, but remember that Nagi won't stay 13 forever and she's actually closer to 14 now in the current manga's timeline. Furthermore, the series is set in Japan where people can apparently enter into a romantic relationship as young as 12 if manga/anime are to be believed. Look at the age difference between Takuto and Mitsuki in Full Moon Wo Sagashite, for example.
Anywayz, the main point here is that the age difference between Hayate and Nagi isn't the real issue. What might be an issue would be Nagi's relatively tender age for now and to a greater extent, Hayate's emotional maturity (especially where girls are concerned) which seems to have not progressed much since he was 5-6 years old. There is every indication in Hayate's thoughts/actions towards the various women in his life that he still believes in the distorted "pain of love" philosophy that Athena taught him 10 years ago.
Hayate and Nagi act more like siblings
I personally never act/acted like Hayate does towards Nagi where my real life sister is concerned (granted, she's my older sister). Furthermore, from personal observation, I've never known any siblings who act like Hayate and Nagi do towards each other.
You can also discount the possibility of Nagi and Hayate being blood-related since Nagi stated "No, don't decide on being blood-related on your own" at the end of the Shimoda arc of the manga/season 2 anime. Making them blood-related sometime in the future in this manga would totally contradict the smooth flow of the ongoing plot that Hata-sensei has constructed.
Pointless bickering over shipping angles
I think it's pretty obvious that I'm on the Nagi x Hayate ship, but like most of you educated readers out there, I don't go about blindly attacking other ships because I respect other people's opinions most of the time -- especially the likes of Doughnut Gunso(Hinagiku x Hayate), Astronerdboy (Dunno... Athena x Hayate possibly?) and MadMac (oh wait, same ship! Anyway...) who have all been following this manga much longer than I have and who generally write well thought-out opinion pieces -- even if I don't always 100% agree with them.
Yet, there are certain elements of the fandom whose idea of a fruitful discussion would go something like this:
Topic: Who is the best girl for Hayate?
B: Nagi
C: No, Hina
D: It's Athena, you plebs
B: Nagiiiiiii!
C: Hinaaaaaa!
E: Obviously, it's Ruka
D: That ship already sunk
E: So did yours!
B: Nagi or nothing!
C: Hina or absolutestly nothingness!
B: NAAAAGIIII!
C: TOOO LOUUUUD! HINAAAAAAA!!!
D: LOL! Athena coz boobs
Hah! You think I'm exaggerating? TAKE THAT!
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| Real quality conversation we're having here |
Now it would actually be pretty easy to ignore such discussions... but if only some of these posters would kindly not enthusiastically respond to any pro-Nagi posts that I make in an active effort to put my chosen ship down by either attacking the characters directly (with Nagi usually being on the receiving end of much character defamation) or personally attacking the poster -- me.
Really, people. Is it so hard to simply ignore any posts, thoughts or comments that do not promote your own ship and avoid conflict instead of making pointless one-liner responses to everything that doesn't support your particular ship and promotes another one?
Let me put it this way, you're not going to convince me to jump ship just as I'm not going to actively try to convince you to join mine, but I am more than willing to concede certain points if I see that you actually make informed responses based on reason and logic.
If some of you who are guilty of one-liners or ad hominem responses would only take the time to put a little more thought into your posts instead of mindlessly starting a back and forth argument that goes nowhere like a bunch of grade-school manchildren all the time, I'm pretty sure that you'd probably convince a lot more people and get more of your points for your chosen ship across. It's not about being intelligent, it's about not being lazy and respecting your fellow members of the Hayate fandom. Let's maintain a little dignity here, because we all like the same thing after all.
Phew... well, that went on longer than I thought it would. Anyway, I'm done for now, so see you when the next chapter releases. Also, if you have anything to say, please feel free to discuss it with me in the comments below.
Just my two cents into the "ranting" part. I must confess that I was once (and could still be) one of those heated shippers - just ask madmac and I am sure he can recall some bitter exchanges between us. Yet over time I discovered that it is better to simply ignore what the others say if it makes you angry. Ironically you can get a more balanced view on the shippers and their supported characters despite you are not hearing what they say.
ReplyDeleteAnger doesn't add anything to intelligence, I would conclude. Only read and respond to comments if they don't flame you up.
Eh? Really now? Hehe, I suppose I should be glad i wasn't part of the fandom yet when you had those bitter exchanges then.
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