Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 480: Being A Girl Is Tough -- Review and Synopsis

Can anyone can tell me what that "heal people's hearts" is a reference to? Astro Boy maybe?

Synopsis: Having stuffed herself with an expensive rice dish courtesy of Fumi and Sharna, Ell-chan declares that she's now fully recharged and ready to do her master's bidding... as soon as she's fully dressed. Fumi offers to give her some of her own clothes, but she calls them hand-me-downs and Sharna points out that she doesn't seem too happy, so Fumi buys her some new clothes instead.


After that, Ell-chan declares that she is now really ready to serve her master, but her stomach starts growling indicating that she's hungry again.

For some reason, Fumi and Sharna decide that it's a good idea to go to Nagi's place and ask her for help regarding the energy efficiency of their android. Nagi makes some obscure reference to some jdrama that I totally don't get and then proceeds to scrutinize ell-chan. She says that she's really well-made and asks her about the number 5 on her arm. Ell-chan replies that it means that she's the fifth humanoid model. The first one was scrapped and the other three ran away when they saw what happened to him.

Is it just me or is Nagi looking at her breasts when she says that she's well-made?

Maria notices that the number is actually just a sticker and without it, Ell-chan looks completely human. Nagi asks what makes her different from a human and she says that she doesn't need sleep as long as she has a source of energy and thus, she would never lose to a human in an electronic game and she can monitor 2chan 24/7.

Finally, she says that robots are meant to heal people's hearts, at that, Nagi says that it's time to put her to the test to which she declares "yes master." Fumi is flabbergasted that her new android has now switched allegiances. 

Meanwhile, back at the Violet Mansion, Ayumu is still concerned about the scene she saw with Hayate and Konoha. Upon returning home, she catches Hayate cooking and suddenly realizes that she's alone with him. She decides that it's time to make her move.

She says that it's really hot and Hayate offers to make her an iced latte. She says that she's all sweaty and wants to take a bath so Hayate prepares the bath for her, but just as he calls her out, Ayumu barges in with only a towel covering her body and asks Hayate if he wants to join her.

Review: Man, this scanlation came out pretty late, fortunately, I'd already read most of it via the raws. I say most because my Japanese is terribad, so I didn't get some of the things going on such as why Fumi and Sharna came to Nagi for help... to be honest, I still don't get it.

Anyway, I was amused at how Ell-chan turned out to be a pretty picky and demanding android extorting food and clothes from Fumi and then proving herself to be pretty fickle when she starts calling Nagi her "master" for no apparent reason. Her reaction at Fumi's initial offer to give her some of her own clothes was also pretty funny.

Also, I like how quickly Ell-chan started interacting with the manga's mainstay characters. So it appears that Nagi's cooking up some weird scheme with her... I wonder if Ruka will be involved? I can't think of anyone else whose heart needs healing at the moment... unless she predicted that the hamster would have her own "silky heart" moment real soon. I laughed at how Nagi just casually commandeered Ell-chan for her own purposes.

You CAN NOT refuse, Hayate

With that said, the highlight of this chapter would be Ayumu's bold move in inviting Hayate to take a bath with her... well? What do you think this will lead to? Is Hata setting the stage to snipe this long dormant and presumably dead ship? Well... probably not. I have faith in Hayate's ability to be evasive so I'd be surprised if this set-up leads to anything.

Anyway, that's it for this week, so see you in the next chapter. No fanart this week because I drew Miku instead. Dun worry, I've already got a new Nagi fanart lined up for the weekend.