Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 468: See You Again, Hero -- Synopsis and Review

That is one incredibly short dress she's wearing... not that I'm complaining.

Synopsis: It has only been three months since Nagi has been living in the Violet Mansion -- the same three months that she has been away from her affluent life in the Sanzen'in estate, but already, she has begun to realize just what it is she has lost by regaining her inheritance and therefore, the right to move back into the Sanzen'in estate and retake her former billionaire heiress lifestyle.

Shh... character development in progress

The mansion is big and luxurious -- a little bit too big for one lonely little girl. Just as she is coming to terms with this, Maria and Hayate return. She wants to help out with their respective tasks, but Hayate gently chases her away and Maria won't have any of her "help" given her track record -- which she just made even worse with her enthusiasm by breaking a few expensive ornamental decors here and there.

Dinner is served and while Nagi is amazed at how luxurious the food that Hayate can prepare here is when compared to the Violet Mansion, she is still a little bit lonely and invites Hayate to eat with her, but Hayate is a butler and he has to serve his role -- as such, he politely declines again by saying he has to prepare dessert.

I chuckled when she referred to Athena as "that little one."

Nagi tries to appease her loneliness by telling herself just how good the food here is, but she knows that deep down, she's really just in denial... however, just as she's about to burst into tears, Hayate comes in and asks her if she didn't like the food. Nagi says that it's not about the food, it's just that she realizes that what is truly valuable is something you can't buy (clap! clap!), but before her speech can get anymore emotional, Chiharu suddenly takes the strawberry from her dessert and to Nagi's surprise, everyone from the Violet mansion is here for a visit.

She pretends to get all annoyed that they'd pay such a sudden visit here, but the final panel belies her true feelings.

Review: A nice, sweet Nagi chapter here. More Nagi character development is always good. It's great to see just how attached Nagi has become to her friends and her life at the Violet Mansion -- even going as far as to volunteer to help with Maria and Hayate's respective tasks since presumably, she had to do that back in the Violet Mansion -- although how efficient she actually was is still a bit questionable -- regardless, her heart's in the right place.

Nagi realizes just how much those three months she's spent in the Violet Mansion were really all of three years and then some! (She's spent three months in the manga, but in our world, those three months were serialized for at least three years)

Really loved every moment of this chapter, but there's not much to mince words on. I liked the level of melodrama here with Hata's usual push and then pull strategy. It looked like Nagi was on the verge of tears and was just about to make a solemn, heartfelt speech about "what is truly valuable," but then Chiharu and the other Violet Mansion tenants burst in at just that moment to lighten the mood a bit. Really, these sweet, charming moments are what really sold me before on Hayate no Gotoku! rather than the love polygon subplots, the King's jewel storyline or any of Hayate's combat-butler-esque antics. While moments like these -- such as the arc enders starting with the Shimoda arc few and far between, they are what I look forward to the most when reading this manga. Sure, I'd eventually like the romantic angle to be resolved in Nagi's favor, but that can wait for a long time if we keep getting sweet, charming moments like these every now and then. 

Everyone, including Nagi knew that she was just in denial the whole time.

I suppose all that's left now is for the CTMEOY/Cuties setup of Nagi alternating between living in the Violet Mansion and the Sanzen'in estate so she can be with her friends in the Violet Mansion and still retain a part of her former heiress lifestyle.

She's more adorable than annoying in tsundere mode

Also, this is definitely a different Nagi that we're seeing here from the spoiled heiress Nagi from several hundred chapters ago. She still has that streak of tsundere every now and then, but that just shows that Nagi is still Nagi after all.

Sweet moments like these are what really make this manga special

Fanart corner: No speculation corner for today. I'm just totally elated about this current chapter. With that said, I've made a PS Vita startscreen and a few Homescreen wallpapers featuring my Nagi fanart here. Check em out and feel free to use them if you want.