Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 489: Cliches Are Important -- Review And Synopsis

Do not sexualize the... oh for... go ahead! Nagi still looks cute either way. I want that bookmark!

Synopsis: Nagi is dreaming about the times she'd spent with Hayate when Hayate wakes her up and we find that she's actually fallen asleep in the middle of the downhill race from the previous chapter because it was so cold.

Right...

Hayate remarks how dangerous the downhill race is, but Nagi assures him that New Zealand is actually the perfect place since they can be rescued immediately in case something goes wrong and that there are no dangerous animals like brown bears or grizzlies here... at that moment, Hayate points to something behind her, which turns out to be a huge pedobear.

This is actually a realistic rendition of pedobear.

They make a run for it with the pedobear chasing them down, but suddenly, an avalanche covers up and the pedobear and Hayate is forced to grab Nagi and take a leap of faith to a cliff to the side to avoid it. 

Nagi has tons of faults, but lack of devotion to Hayate sure isn't one of them.

During the lull, Nagi remembers what Maria said and she asks Hayate if he'd quit or if he'd still be her butler even with the debt paid off, but she's interrupted when the ledge they were standing on collapses and they splash into some icy waters underneath. 

Inside the bus with the Hakuo Baka Trio, the number on the completers has gone down to 47 indicating that two more have quit. The bus arrives at the hotel they're staying at and it looks rather expansive and is made to look like a prison garrison.

Back to Nagi and Hayate, Nagi gets all melodramatic and says that she's going to die, fortunately, they're just a few feet away from a cliched mountain cabin... as per Hayate's words.

Inside the mountain cabin, the pair have taken their clothes off to dry and thus, we are treated with some Nagi fanservice. They talk about how this competition seems to be a bit overboard even with 150 million yen at stake.

You a cold man, Hayate.

Nagi also remembers that they were in a similar situation with both of them being together naked quite some time ago (it's only been a few months in the manga's timeline, actually.)

Nagi wonders if Hayate is feeling a bit nervous as well, only to catch him diligently hanging her underwear out to dry. She gets agitated and asks him why he's doing that so seriously, but Hayate says that he always does that.

It's been some time since we've seen this in the manga.

Ever the efficient butler, Hayate says that there's another cabin and the heater is on, so there might be someone who can help out or even a sauna in the back, so he goes off to check it out and tells Nagi to stay and warm up. Nagi complains that his clothes are wet too, but he says that he's used to being cold.

Nagi ponders out loud what he'd do if he gets the 150 million yen, to which, Ruri Tsugumi suddenly answers that his life would be over if he gets it.

Meanwhile, Hinagiku has found a sauna... which means that Hayate will inadvertently stumble in on her while she's half-naked in the next chapter.

Review: By the way, I saw this tweet from Hata.

Which basically says that it's been a while since he's drawn Nagi naked and I was like... wait, maybe it's just my terribad Japanese... so I ran it through a machine translator and it came up with the same results and I was like... no wai... and then I read this chapter and I was like. BASED HATA! You actually did it, you!

Look at your mistress, Hayate! LOOK AT HER! ... Ain't she cutieful? Also, pretty sure that the towel shouldn't be digging into her that way.

Well, this was a rather Nagi-tastic chapter in terms of fanservice. I liked seeing Nagi with her hair down and I like the little deja vu to the time when Hayate stumbled in on her in the bath. The title of this chapter is certainly appropriate.

Also worthy of note is Hayate rescuing Nagi with a sweetheart carry, which we haven't seen for years in this manga.

Probably not a good time for that, Nagi.

More importantly, it looks like Hata's building up some sort of team dynamics with the butler and mistress pair with Nagi clearly being the brains of the operation and being quite competent at it most of the time. If anything, this is the aspect of her personality that has been retained from the now de-canonized CTMEOY (btw, Nyarth, if you're reading this... your reaction on twitter amused me more than anything.) and I like it.

Unfortunately, of course, there were no actual developments for the  Hayate x Nagi ship. Hayate's still as oblivious as ever to her real feelings for him and circumstances have temporarily split the pair apart once again. Given the order of events in the manga, we'll definitely be seeing a Hina x Hayate chapter pretty soon with Hayate wandering in on her while she's in the bath.

I wish this Hayate x Nagi moment had gone on for a little bit longer.

Also, with Ruri Tsugumi once again dropping in and saying ominous things at the end of this chapter, it looks like Hata's really making her out to be some kind of villain or anti-villain for this chapter. I have no idea what she meant by Hayate's life being over if he gets the 150 million yen... with that aside, are you guys convinced that Nagi wasn't trying to prevent him from getting the 150 million yen yet? (exasperated)

Fanart Corner: Here's a quick one of Nagi in one of her season 2 outfits. This is actually the output of my "Draw Nagi Sanzen'in With Me" tutorial series. Her face came out a bit fat, but otherwise, I'm satisfied with how this drawing came out given that I simplified my style to make it easy for others to follow along with me and draw her.