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| I'll definitely finish this by next week! |
So I guess I'll be calling these weekly blog posts "Hayate Reflections" from now on. The name sounds nice and also...
First off, you might be excited for the "Hayate Big Reflection" books to be included in the limited edition volumes of Hayate vol. 51 and 52 to be released on 6/17. I've already preordered mine... how about you? Go! Go! Go!
Edit: New stuff from Hata's twitter
ハヤテ最終巻、本編の書き足しが12ページ、追加のエピローグが15ページ、さらに限定版の追加エピソードが26ページ。合計で53ページ分の描き下ろし。そりゃ連載終了後も、ずっと仕事してるわ。
12 pages added to the main story
15 pages of epilogue
26 pages added to the limited edition
A total of 53 new pages.
For more details (in English), you can visit Doughnut Gunso's Blog.
Edit: New stuff from Hata's twitter
ハヤテ最終巻、本編の書き足しが12ページ、追加のエピローグが15ページ、さらに限定版の追加エピソードが26ページ。合計で53ページ分の描き下ろし。そりゃ連載終了後も、ずっと仕事してるわ。
12 pages added to the main story
15 pages of epilogue
26 pages added to the limited edition
A total of 53 new pages.
For more details (in English), you can visit Doughnut Gunso's Blog.
She was first shown to us... or at least her back was shown to us back in chapter 433. I even made some fanart showing her with what I surmised would be her normal face and then her face if she had any resemblance to her sister, Jenny.
Anyway, it was made pretty clear that Hisui would be an antagonist and this was foreshadowed way back in 2013. When she was finally re-introduced to us as a real antagonist, Hata made sure to show how deadly she can be when she attempted to literally decapitate Mikado. It was very definite that she would have gone through with it had Hayate not blocked her slash. Even so, Hayate was shaking after blocking that strike showing us just how much martial prowess she possessed inside her little loli body.
Even so, I was never really convinced that she was going to be all THAT evil because of several reasons. Let's go over them:
Hayate's Parents
From the start, I'd always believed that Hayate's parents would come back someday -- and they would do something very unforgivable. However, my theory was that despite all this, Hayate would learn forgiveness from Nagi and even if there would be no reconciliation between Hayate and his parents, there would be forgiveness and moving on from Hayate.
Obviously, this did not happen because Hayate' parents were the key to Nagi's explosion of negative emotions back in chapter 561. However, 561 did prover that Hayate's parents were a lot more evil than Hisui because of one key factor: TREACHERY.
Hayate's parents employed treachery at every angle -- which is what makes them such effective villains. They take what little trust that people give them and then betray this trust in a most spectacular manner. Hayate has experienced this several times off the top of my head:
Even so, I was never really convinced that she was going to be all THAT evil because of several reasons. Let's go over them:
Hayate's Parents
From the start, I'd always believed that Hayate's parents would come back someday -- and they would do something very unforgivable. However, my theory was that despite all this, Hayate would learn forgiveness from Nagi and even if there would be no reconciliation between Hayate and his parents, there would be forgiveness and moving on from Hayate.
Obviously, this did not happen because Hayate' parents were the key to Nagi's explosion of negative emotions back in chapter 561. However, 561 did prover that Hayate's parents were a lot more evil than Hisui because of one key factor: TREACHERY.
Hayate's parents employed treachery at every angle -- which is what makes them such effective villains. They take what little trust that people give them and then betray this trust in a most spectacular manner. Hayate has experienced this several times off the top of my head:
- His dad betrayed him 10 years ago with Athena.
- Even before that, Mikado spotted Hayate's dad betraying his trust when Mikado was stalking Hayate as a possible candidate to enter the Royal Garden.
- His parents sold him off to the Yakuza to pay off their own debt.
- His parents caused him to betray Nagi's feelings by revealing the misunderstanding in the most destructive manner possible.
No Real Betrayal
Hisui has been portrayed as greedy, violent, cruel, selfish... but one thing that she has never been shown as is treacherous. Hisui has never actively betrayed anyone -- most especially not her childhood friends. The only time she ever raised her hand against one of them was in her battles with Isumi. In all her actions, she never actively tried to instill any deep emotional pain on her childhood friends and the people she works with.
Hisui has been portrayed as greedy, violent, cruel, selfish... but one thing that she has never been shown as is treacherous. Hisui has never actively betrayed anyone -- most especially not her childhood friends. The only time she ever raised her hand against one of them was in her battles with Isumi. In all her actions, she never actively tried to instill any deep emotional pain on her childhood friends and the people she works with.
This is clearly evident when Hisui shows off a kuudere streak when Nagi invites her for some cake in the penultimate chapter. (the subject of this week's image that I didn't get to finish.)
She Was Nagi's Role Model
Hey, you remember that scene when Hisui stood up for 5 year-old Nagi? While some people with western sensibilities would probably think that her actions were barbaric and a little bit "too much," I certainly did not. Maybe it's because I'm a violent person myself, but I was actually cheering her on the whole time when that happened.
Hey, you remember that scene when Hisui stood up for 5 year-old Nagi? While some people with western sensibilities would probably think that her actions were barbaric and a little bit "too much," I certainly did not. Maybe it's because I'm a violent person myself, but I was actually cheering her on the whole time when that happened.
Fortunately it seems that little Nagi (and Hata) shared my sentiments. He did not attempt to villify Hisui's actions in any way during this chapter as much as people want to make their own interpretations in the subject (that's dangerous. That leads to a lot of salt... :D). In fact, Nagi was not looking at Hisui as a villain but as someone she looked up to.
In a way, Hisui was the first to teach Nagi the value of being able to stand up for yourself. While this was probably a minor moment for many people, for me, this really entrenched my belief that Hisui would somehow be redeemed (as a character and not necessarily a 180 degree turn in personality) in the end.
In a way, Hisui was the first to teach Nagi the value of being able to stand up for yourself. While this was probably a minor moment for many people, for me, this really entrenched my belief that Hisui would somehow be redeemed (as a character and not necessarily a 180 degree turn in personality) in the end.
Hisui was one of Nagi's first role models, and as a result, Nagi developed her shounen "never give up" attitude, her sometimes groundless confidence in the face of adversity. It is one of part of her multi-faceted character that I really love and can empathize with and it is, in my belief, thanks in part to Hisui.
Hisui Is Cute
Hey, I can't be wrong if even Hata agrees with me. But yeah, this is my last point, but I'm quite serious here. Hisui is a cutie despite also being a very menacing character at heart. Basically, my thought was that "she's too cute to be all that bad." The same logic (Hata logic, that is) applies to Yozora Housen and Kananiwa as well. While both were introduced to be pseudo villainous characters, neither of them turned out to be all that bad. In fact, Kananiwa was never actually a villain in the first place despite having some similarities to Dolly from Can't Take My Eyes Off You.
Fanart Corner
Hey, I can't be wrong if even Hata agrees with me. But yeah, this is my last point, but I'm quite serious here. Hisui is a cutie despite also being a very menacing character at heart. Basically, my thought was that "she's too cute to be all that bad." The same logic (Hata logic, that is) applies to Yozora Housen and Kananiwa as well. While both were introduced to be pseudo villainous characters, neither of them turned out to be all that bad. In fact, Kananiwa was never actually a villain in the first place despite having some similarities to Dolly from Can't Take My Eyes Off You.
Fanart Corner
I've been drawing Nagi (and sometimes Hayate) a whole lot lately. I've got a few more works in progress works that I'll be showing you next week. Also feel free to comment and tell me what you want topics regarding Hayate you want me to talk about. As always, see you next week~
Your points are great about Hisui. But I think after Hayate's first confrontation with Hisui, he was not trembling due to her strength but as he was shocked by her murderer intent. Because in their final battle, he was not fighting seriously thinking Hisui as a child. And when he became serious, Yozora called Himegami and told that Hisui could not beat Hayate. If he had been that moved by her in the first time, he could not take her that easily.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Hmm... I don't think Hayate was toying with her at all, though. They seemed evenly matched and Hayate was clearly struggling until he seemed to have found a way to win, but Yozora stepped in.
DeleteIt is still possible that Hayate was trembling more from her killing intent rather than her combat ability though.
As I was going through those chapters now I saw, after dodging Hisui, Hayate was just confirmed that she was serious. And Hayate said even if he had to pin her down, he must stop her. So he was nearly not as destructive that time as Hisui was. And when she broke the stone to test its power, Hayate shivered again. So it's possible that it is Hisui's recklessness that it shivering him again and again.
DeleteSakuya told Hayate that Hisui doesn't deal with logic and personal interest, she is attracted only by all stupid challenges. Whether Hayate's parents always have specified intentions to harm others. So Hisui can't be a proper villain.
I observed another interesting point in chapter 544. Nagi was too moved by Wataru when he said he no longer needed the guide or jewel her mom gave him and he would work hard himself to enrich his business. It can trigger Nagi the idea to leave everything behind and work on her own. Really, there are so many implications in this manga.
Yup, that moment with Wataru was an excellent foreshadowing event. I notice Wataru, Isumi and Saki are often used to foreshadow something or to affirm something that happened in the past. Like how Wataru's confession to Isumi mirrors Hayate x Athena's "I loved you."
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