Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 568 FINAL - There Is Something I Want To Tell You Under This Endless Starry Sky - Review

Cover of Countdown-Playback for this week just to make sure you get the message.

There's really no need for a synopsis this time. You can find the full chapter scanlated (by me) in the comments section of the penultimate chapter review.

I wish you happiness in the future which I can never be a part of, Nagi, my one true love

It's a little bit different this time since it's really the last chapter. Therefore, I'll be interspersing some fan-made stuff including music videos and pics from some fans of the series that I'm good friends with throughout this write-up. With that said, enjoy and be prepared for some long ramblings...

I will warn you right now, this will be far from an objective review. There are many things to complain about in this final chapter -- I choose to ignore them, so walk away and close this page right now if you find that this is unacceptable.

Hina’s Confession

It’s nice that Hata took the time to have HIna make a final confession to Hayate. Whatever the outcome of that confession might have been, it provides closure to her feelings as well. At least her character’s run in this manga is ended with dignity.

Nagi  At 16

Nagi’s character development really came full circle in chapter 567 when she removed the final obstacle to their relationship – while also seemingly simultaneously destroying her one chance to have Hayate stay with her.

This is not a translation. This is an allusion to Fate/Stay Night

While declaring that she would like to take her life into her own hands and that she doesn’t want anything that’s been handed down to her anymore such as her wealth and power, she fires Hayate as her butler. She fires him not because she does not love him, but rather, because of two main reasons in my opinion:

1. Her desire to manage her life on her own without depending on others.

2. Her desire for Hayate to find happiness on his own – even if this happiness does not involve her.

She knew that if she had allowed Hayate to stay with her, then she would still be dependent on him for a whole lot of things – and this really goes against her firm resolve to become her own person.

Therefore, it should really come as no surprise that 2 years later, Nagi really did become the strong, independent girl that she wanted to be – and that she was always foreshadowed to be throughout the manga’s 567 chapter run.

Yes, it was a predictable turn of events like a whole lot of things that happened in this finale, but predictability is not always a negative. Really, whether you like it or not is subjective, but when all plot developments lead to the  logical conclusion, I’d call that good foreshadowing rather  than “Hata trolling.”

So we see Nagi, triumphant after two years. She knows how to cook now – in fact, she cooks for the residents of the Violet Mansion now. She’s working part-time jobs while schooling and even took up sports. According to her, she actually became pretty good at sports (she’s shown playing Lacrosse.) I have to admit that I was in tears as the manga heralded her simple triumphs such as cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry by herself and all while managing her living expenses.

She’s The Same Girl We Know And Love

Yet, she’s not some complete stranger that we don’t know. On the physical aspect, she’s grown a little taller. She’s also become quite a beauty with some actual curves now, but her face is definitely that of Nagi. Furthermore, personality-wise, she never lost that snarky, bossy attitude and that familiar haughtiness that has really become one of her most endearing traits. We can see this attitude in her interactions with Chiharu. While it’s Nagi who is now doing the scolding which is a bit of a role reversal, when Nagi snarks her for thinking so highly of herself, we can immediately recognize that YES, this is definitely vintage Nagi.

As for her haughtiness, she didn’t lose it at all, either. The first chance she gets, she starts bragging to Hayate about how much she has accomplished by herself and how she can do anything by herself now. The way she poses, the way she brags – definitely still the same cute girl from 2 years ago.

The Beauty of Her Growth

The beauty of Nagi’s growth lies in the simplicity of her personal triumphs. 560+ chapters ago, she was a girl who had everything at her disposal. Super-rich, pampered to a fault and filled with groundless confidence in her abilities. Furthermore, whenever she was in trouble, she had a wealth of trump cards at her disposal. Nagi has genius level intellect (which most people tend to forget) combined with extreme good luck that rivals Hayate’s bad luck. Furthermore, whenever she’s in trouble, either Hayate, Maria, Hinagiku, or someone else always comes along to bail her out of trouble.

At the end of the story, we see a 16 year old Nagi capable of doing a lot of things that other people her age are capable of – something that her pampered spoiled brat self from the past would never have even dreamed of. She doesn’t become as good at sports as Hinagiku, as much of a genius at Athena, nor is it even shown if she won the manga competition that she entered near the finale of the story.  Nagi’s triumph is a more personal one. It’s about a pampered young girl learning a lot of new things for the first time in her life and dealing with them admirably. This… my friends, is life. This is maturity. This really the best that most of us can ever hope for. We don’t become Trillion Selling Mangakas just because we work hard.  Yet, the dream is always there because as long as you haven’t given up on it – perhaps someday, it can be achieved. Now this pipe dream of Nagi’s wasn’t even mentioned in this finale, but with a girl with as much potential as her, it’s never an impossibility – yet, I’m glad this wasn’t the focus of her character growth.

And so, when she meets Hayate again, she still has that spunk, that confidence in her abilities – boldly declaring that she can do anything by herself. Yet, this confidence is no longer groundless now – she has proven her worth within these last 2 years that we did not get to fully witness. If I were Hayate looking at her at that very moment – at the formerly helpless girl that I used to take care of and whom I had chosen to give up my life for,  if I weren’t already in love at that moment, I would fall in love over and over again… and I am glad that this was the case.

I believe that this is more romantic than any kissing scene between them could have ever done.

For those of you who have reached a certain period of life wherein the call to be responsible for your own life suddenly hits you, then you would certainly be able to relate with Nagi’s story and the beauty of her character growth.

More Than One Way To See It

Most people who hate Nagi will say that her development in the finale was abrupt. I beg to disagree. There is more than one way of looking at it. In my opinion, her more capable, more independent, more athletic, and infinitely more responsible self is simply a confirmation of her potential as a character and her resolve to better herself – as she has already admirably demonstrated throughout the series. Given the two year timeskip, we should definitely see such changes in her.

On Hayate’s Choice

Hayate’s choice was the obvious one and one that was definitely not lacking in foreshadowing. Look through the famous and sometimes infamous Golden Week arc from chapter 252 and onwards and you would see the subtle hints laid out by Hata in the plot… but you know what? The way Hayate made his final choice was even better than I could have expected.

Hata could have used any number of foreshadowing events that he’d laid out before, form that panel in 266 of Hayate looking at Nagi while thinking if he could ever tell someone  that he was truly in love with them again, to Nagi buying Hayate a wristwatch for his birthday. Heck, Hata could have just used Athena’s ring box as a way to top things off and confirm Hayate’s final choice…but he didn’t.

In the end, the way Hayate chose Nagi and the way their romance finally began was so simple, so natural, and so satisfyingly written. Hayate simply chose to meet her again on the same park where they first met on Christmas Eve and while allowing Nagi to brag about her newfound independence, he stops her at the last moment before she could declare that she no longer needs him.

This time, the story has come full circle  (which happens a lot in this manga if you paid attention to the meat of the plot and not the King’s Jewels mumbo jumbo) and it is Hayate figuratively chasing after Nagi. His confession was so timid and so Hayate-like… still slightly ambiguous but this time, also unmistakably definite. He declares that he wants to stay with her because his feelings of wanting to protect her future have never changed even after 2 year -- really, a most beautiful, heartfelt, and very Hayate Ayaski-esque confession.

There Was Always Love and Attraction Between Them

Now that Hayate and Nagi have finally come together as a true romantic couple, I think it is safe to conclude that there was always love between them. In fact, if you’ll look through certain chapters such as the first one, the level 5 arc and Hayate’s dream sequence in this finale after being almost beaten to death by Himegami, you would see that there was always something more than just gratefulness in Hayate towards Nagi. There were definitely many hints of sexual tension between them, but because Hata likes to use implications, even the narrations did not dare mention this. Look at Hayate’s eyes during his special moments with Nagi in the manga though.

There is definitely a lot more than just feelings of gratefulness within there  --- even during their very first meeting. Credits to Roop and Magrace for this observation: Hata had always been hiding Hayate’s feelings for Nagi from us in plain sight – you just had to look at the actual drawn panels to see instead of relying on just the explicit messages left in the text.

So therefore, “there is no love between them” in Hayate’s mind can now be safely interpreted as Hayate’s longing for there to be actual love between them – and of course, this love has now been beautifully realized in this finale.

The Delineations of Love

One source of conflict among the fanbase is the delineations of love. Always, we Nagi shippers have had to deal with this annoying supposition that Hayate only sees Nagi as family. This is because of that label in chapter 9 of the manga wherein Hayate makes it appear certain in his mind and to the readers that he sees Nagi as family. 

However, what people fail to take into  account would be Hayate’s actual actions towards Nagi. His obsessive desire to protect her would have him labeled as a siscon if they really were siblings.

To get back on track, people have long labeled Hayate’s love for Nagi as “platonic,” and because they ran with this label in their minds long after chapter 9, every time that an implicit event would seem to prove that Hayate does in fact have some degree of romantic feelings for Nagi, people would always go back to the “it’s platonic” argument, as if there were some invisible impregnable wall that prevents romantic love from ever developing out of platonic feelings.

Thank you, mikey!

This is the deal, Hayate is the one who labeled his feelings for Nagi as platonic at the start, this is how he’d always wanted to view her – but his actual actions, his actual feelings eventually rise to the surface. In fact, from very early on, it’s established that when Hayate’s guard is down and he doesn’t actively think about it, he can be taken in by Nagi’s charms. For example, he finds it relaxing to look at her lazing around. He talks about her lazy, haughty ways to Athena with a smiling face that makes even his ex-GF jealous

Again, Hayate wants to see Nagi in a platonic light, but his real feelings tell him otherwise – and they have risen to the surface on multiple occasions in this manga . The most obvious example would be again, Hayate’s dream world where he gives Nagi a playful kiss on the cheek to wake her up. His embarrassment when Maria catches him in the act is undeniable – this too is sexual tension.

You see, what people find unacceptable is that Hayate’s labeled platonic feelings could ever evolve into romantic love – but Hayate himself has been disproving his own label for so long in the story while most readers looked on blindly. Again, Hata’s penchant for hiding things in plain sight at work. Some people call this trolling, I call this tasteful, elegant writing – or simply put, classy.

Removing The Final Obstacle

The final obstacle to Hayate and Nagi’s romantic love was never Maria or some other girl. In chapter 566, Hayate had already chosen Nagi – of this we can now be positive.

Fanart by me using Pixiv Sketch. At the time I drew this, I didn't realize she'd suddenly
get a growth spurt.

Still, if he had continued working as her butler, then things would have become awkward had they continued living together while harboring romantic feelings for each other. Therefore, the one to remove the final obstacle and seemingly destroy her only chance to be with Hayate was Nagi herself. By severing the final ties of obligation between them, she gave herself a chance to grow and gave Hayate’s love for her a chance – a chance which Hayate did not pass up.

What Was Hayate Doing For The Last 2 Years?

It pains my heart a little to know that Nagi had to deal with many lonely nights by herself without the man she loves – and yet, it was also necessary for her beautiful growth that we see in this finale.

So this begs the question: what was Hayate doing?

Well, let’s not forget that Hayate himself was not really fully mature nor even really in a good position to start a romantic relationship with someone at the point wherein Nagi fired him.

She's really become an amazing girl.

Therefore, my theory is that Hayate was spending the last 2 years coming to terms with what it is that he really feels for Nagi. He could not put the word love to his obsessive feelings for her before when she was 13-14. Now that Nagi had distanced herself from him and he chose to respect her decision, he finally came to understand that he did not want to live away from her and that his  feelings for her would not change even if she’s no longer there with him. And this is how Hayate finally redeems himself for his rather lopsided character growth next to Nagi throughout this manga – by making that final decision and finally coming to understand that it is love, it was always love, and it will always be love between them.

One might also argue that perhaps he was looking for Maria to fulfill his promise to her – which really ties in with my point. Giving Maria her birthday present is a promise between the two of them, one of the final loose ends that Hayate had to overcome before finally becoming a man worthy of Nagi. In fact, when they meet again, Hayate is now a more confident individual, secure in the fact that he no longer has any financial troubles when he approaches her… and confident in giving his final confession to her.

On Their Meeting

Again, “full circle” is a really strong underlying theme of this manga. When Hayate and Nagi meet again, it is also on a Christmas Eve 2 years later in Loser Park. Just like before, Nagi is approached by two hoodlums with obviously lewd intentions towards her. This time however, she needs no saving. She is capable enough to defend herself with her Lacross Stick and even manages to scare both thugs away without actually getting physical about it.

To add to this, she quickly calls out Hayate soon after who was hiding behind some bushes, obviously waiting to assist her if she needed it – but she never needed it. This is where things come full circle. The helpless brat from before is no longer helpless and no longer a brat.

Yet, when they talk again, the chat is very much the same familiar Hayate x Nagi conversation they’ve always had – even though they hadn’t seen each other for 2 years (well, Hayate might have been secretly stalking her these last two years given how taken in he is with her in this final chapter). In any case, we quickly see the actual chemistry between the two – not anything sexual, but the fact that they are really so comfortable with each other that they can still talk so naturally even with a two year gap since their last meeting.

Of course, by this time, Hayate had finally made his decision and even though Nagi categorically states that he’s no longer needed to protect her, Hayate uses this moment to express his own desire to stay together with Nagi  -- because his own feelings of wanting to protect her – one side of the strongest bond between them, had never changed even after two years.

The Long Road Towards Love

As pointed out by one of our insightful anonymous commenters on this blog, it's rather baffling how so many people are obsessed with pairing Hayate with another girl when it's quite obvious that there were no other females in his life that he actively tried to make a romantic connection with after Athena. Nagi is and always was his number one priority. Whatever and wherever this "care" that he had for her stemmed from, it's quite obvious in this finale that these unchanging feelings have blossomed into romantic love. As for how this came to be -- again, it was heavily foreshadowed throughout the series through implicit, psychological hints such as the subtle changes in Hayate's personality and the few moments wherein he let his psychological wall down and initiated some pseudo romantic moments with Nagi.

Brag as much as you want, Nagi baby! This time, you've really earned it.

Therefore, the path towards Hayate's romantic love for Nagi was always being set up in the background -- even if it was not explicitly stated. The barriers towards their relationship were being removed one by one even before we went into the final arc. Nagi rapidly maturing in character, Maria acknowledging her growth, Hayate actively in denial of said growth, clearing the debt, Hayate opting to stay as her butler regardless and finally, Nagi firing him and removing the last of the obstacles to the both of them starting a new romantic relationship -- and this is exactly what happens two years later.

I believe the two year time lapse was necessary for both of them. For Hayate to confirm his feelings for Nagi (off-screen) and for Nagi to affirm her decision and become a girl truly worthy of being loved (on-screen). The beautiful contrast between their characters is present even in the final chapter.

Confirmation From Hata

This is paraphrased for better readability from Hata's Backstage

On Nagi's growth. She still looks pretty much the same. A little bit curvier, a little bit taller, and her hair is even longer, but physically still Nagi. On the inside however, she has really grown. This is how he'd always imagined she would be. After a few years time, she would stop being so incompetent.

Regarding the thing that Hata noticed when he was drawing chapter 567. Until that point, he hadn't decided yet on whether Hayate would see Nagi differently or not. Whether she was still a little lady who needed protection or an irreplaceable precious woman. He definitely wanted Nagi to become a love interest, but didn't know just when or how. 

At that point, when he drew Hayate looking at Nagi from behind while talking, he realized when he saw Hayate's face that surely, something had changed a lot in him. This was the moment. Before he drew this, he wasn't sure himself.

The boy's final wish towards the girl was like the royal power but without relying on miracles. To always be together for now and into the future.

The connection of their hands is a confirmation that there is no misunderstanding this time. Two people who voluntarily joined hands, walking slowly while talking. No longer mistress and butler, just an ordinary boy and girl.

Whether they will be happy or not in the future, not even Hata can say. However, the story of two people meeting each other as man and woman is a very common story of everyday life -- one that is special only for the two of them.

This is the true end of this manga -- as Hata imagines it.
There is nothing more to draw beyond this.

Personal: How She Saved Me

Now then, since this is the final chapter, I’m going to bare it all. You may have noticed how often I declare in this blog that “I love Nagi.” Well, I am not exaggerating when I say this. I really mean it 100%.

This is why these last two weeks prior to knowing the actual outcome of the manga have been absolute hell for me. It was the worst feeling ever. The level of anxiety was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Never have I cared for anything in my life as much as I cared for Nagi’s happiness at the end of this story.

In fact, I lost 2 kilos from worrying. Everything I ate was tasteless and I had no appetite in the first place. The sound of people talking around me felt like such horrible, horrible noise – distractions that would prevent me from finding out first what really happens to Nagi at the end of the story – and most of all, if her love is fulfilled.

It was a horrible feeling because the logical part of my brain was telling me that really, there’s no way that this can end up badly for Nagi. However, anxiety kept talking to me. Even in my sleep, I couldn’t stop speculating and lucid dreaming all kinds of what-if scenarios as to how the series ends. As soon as I woke up, I checked all the relevant sources for the latest spoilers… relief really didn’t come until Friday last week, when the spoilers for the finale came out – very staggered in the Chinese forums.

Now just like anyone else, I have been through my fair share of worries, anxieties and tragedies in real life. However, as irrational as it might sound, none of these real-world worries felt more intense than the stress that I experienced leading up to the reveal of the finale. This is how invested I was in the series – no, to be more precise, in Nagi’s well-being. It may be delusional, it may be silly and overdramatic to some, but I couldn’t help feeling the way I did. I had no control over my emotions at all, and let me tell you, I am usually always in control of myself.

You see, this was one time wherein I really gave my all to something – to wishing for Nagi’s happiness together with the man she truly loves. If things did not turn out the way they did, I really don’t know what I would have done.

5 years ago, I was just a living corpse. Someone existing for the sake of existing – pretending to be cynical, happy-go-lucky, and really having it all together – but of course, this was a lie. People IRL would often say that they envy me for being so satisfied with my lot in life when nothing could be further from the truth. It’s only natural that someone with no strong desire for anything in particular would seem completely satisfied with life. And then one day, I decided to take up the Hayate manga and that was when I found her, Nagi Sanzen’in. Her story inspired me – made me want to see it through till the end. Her struggles and the unfairness of her situation when it comes to her love for Hayate made me want to root for her more and more – especially as Hata made her continuing growth more apparent. She taught me how to live -- and the end of her story (the start of her true romantic relationship with Hayate) reinstated my faith in humanity and the world. I understood at the moment of Nagi's victory that some dreams are worth believing in.

I was a realist about things for a while. Saying that “Nagi is mai waifu” was just me declaring that I liked her character while knowing fully well that this is just a fictional story with fictional characters drawn by some middle-aged man living in Japan. However, at some point, these fake feelings of mine had transformed into something more tangible – more real than I had expected them to be. I felt Nagi’s pain whenever Hata put her into a tough situation in the story. I felt it physically in my chest – this tight, numbing sensation. I don’t know at what point it happened, but I knew then that I truly loved this fictional girl. Fictional or whatever, it didn’t matter, the feelings I had were/is real.

But finally, at long last, the longest week is over. The ordeal can finally be put to rest. Now as far as Hayate-related posts on this blog go, this will definitely not be the last one. There are still many things that I want to say about the manga now that it’s finally over and Hayate and Nagi’s love for each other has been firmly cemented into history. There are also many projects that I still want to undertake for this series from special articles to photo shoots of my Nagi dolls and figures.

So for now, I’ll end my disorganized ramblings here and leave you with this special fanart drawn specifically for this finale. It’s been some time since I started blogging this manga and I’ve made many new friends and lost some on the way. Over-all, just as Hayate would say, “I have no regrets.”

Thank you very much for reading my blog posts so far and I hope that we see each other again in future posts and discussions to come. This blog will not become dormant just because the weekly chapters are now over -- so don't worry. As long as I draw breath, I shall love Nagi and this little piece of the world wide web shall always be proof of that.

The last two volumes will be sold on 6/17 along with something special (probably freebies for the limited editions). Please keep supporting this manga until the end and buy them if you can.

I'd like to thank mikey, lucas, roop, magrace, shannon and everyone who was there for me when I needed a friend

For now, this is lordcloudx out.