Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 452: I Like The Strawberry Haagen -- Review and Synopsis

What a totally defenseless pose.

Synopsis: Leaving Hayate, Hina, A-tan, Ikusa and their "serious business" for a while, we check back in with Nagi and the others left behind at the hotel. The chapter opens with a pure fanservice scene of Chiharu together with Kayura in the Hotel's public bath.

Hamster thinks this is happening.

Hamster is a bit worried that Hinagiku might have already confessed to Hayate and that they are now sharing a nice little romantic moment on that island, but Chiharu says they're probably fighting ghosts and pirates right now - to which Nagi agrees given that apparently, both of them have terrible luck, but Hina just hides it with her athleticism.

Coming out of the bath, Chiharu is greeted by a very lazy Nagi who wants some Haagen Daazs but is too lazy to go and get it herself. She tells Chiharu to go and buy some for her, but Chiharu refuses -- so Nagi suggests that they play a game called "object shiritori" which she just made up on the spot.

"Revolutionary" huh?"

Basically, it's the same as a normal game of shiritori except that you need to bring the actual object instead of just saying the word.

Nagi is cute!

Everyone else (Maria, Kayura, and Hamster) decide to join in and the game really heats up and goes on for a while until finally, Nagi gets a "ha" syllable, which she finally uses as an excuse to just go and buy some Vanilla Haagen Daazs herself.

Wazzup, Nagi?

The chapter ends her, but not without a surprised expression from Nagi... which we'll find out about in the next chapter.

Review: Well, nothing much to review here, even though I am still happy to see Nagi appear in this manga again. The new art style kinda makes her seem a bit taller and more like a teenager than a kid, but that's just me. 

That fanservice shot of Chiharu might have been hot... if only she didn't have the same face and hair as Hayate in that scene.

Cruel Woman... actually made me laugh.

Anyway, looks like Nagi is on lazy mode again without Hayate around, but even this chapter shows that she's actually becoming a bit more independent in that she can actually buy ice cream on her own now! Progress! Character development! Umm... seriously though, it's these little things that show that she's at least grown a bit as a character throughout this manga. A few hundred chapters ago, she probably wouldn't have known how to go out and buy ice cream on her own, but in this chapter, she can go and do it on her own, but refuses to out of pure laziness.

The humor is kind of a hit or miss for this chapter, but it's mildly amusing at least.

 3DS spotted!

One thing I noticed is that in the chapter cover, Nagi obviously has a 3DS XL, but those haven't been invented yet in the manga's timeline. I think this was intentional from Hata though. 

Over-all, this chapter wasn't too bad, even if it was just a way of checking in with the rest of the cast who are not too plot-relevant at the moment. I was just one Nagi-less chapter away from screaming out: "NAGI WHERE!?" too. So I suppose Hata sort of read my mind... or the mind of Nagi fans everywhere with this chapter.

I don't have a speculation corner for this week, but I do have some fanart for you Nagi fans out there. Cute, ain't she? The art style is a pastiche of the art from the Miku song, "15 Years of Pursuing a Cute Boy."