Hayate Reflections: Let Me Tell You Why Your Opinion Is Wrong -- Along With Your Sense Of Entitlement To It

For those who are still hung-up on how the Hayate x Nagi ending was wrong (your subjective opinion no matter how you insist on it being “correct”), I’ll give you something: I don’t completely disagree with you. I just disagree with your reasoning.

I Am Sorry To Tell You This But Your Rationale Is Incorrect

You see, the most common reason that I read online is that “there were no romantic developments” or “Hayate never saw Nagi as a girl,” which, in my opinion – as far as storytelling and plot analysis goes, is a rather lame rationale. Therefore, let me tell you why your opinion is wrong.

See, you’ve got everything backwards. You are so hung up on which girl deserves Hayate that you’ve allowed your myopic perspectives  shaped by personal bias to rule over your rational train of thought. In fact, for certain people, it’s become so bad that you have actually deluded yourself into thinking that you are logically superior and that you can actually get away with passive-aggressive remarks against other shippers. Seriously, you’re so obvious that it’s not even subtle. At least with me, I’ll tell you straight up that I am biased  AF when it comes to Nagi. I’m not going to pretend to be neutral here just so I can claim some kind of moral high ground.

Okay, got sidetracked a bit. Well anyway, you have it backwards. It’s not all about which girl deserves Hayate, it’s also equally about which girl Hayate deserves. Now when we look at it from this perspective, I can actually agree that a Hayate x Nagi ending is a terrible idea. Seriously, why would I want Nagi to be together with that pitiful excuse for a human being who took her for granted so many times – and not even because he loves Athena (pfft… keep dreaming that ship was sunk, resunk, and then torpedoed below the surface for good measure – fact. What you think Hata’s rationale was = subjective opinion. Get it through your head.), but simply because he was super oblivious to her (Nagi’s feelings).

Hayate Doesn’t Deserve Nagi – Not The Other Way Around

I mean, Hayate totally took Nagi for granted in Ruka’s arc. He never even once thought of the suffering she was going through and opted to be together with Ruka instead and help her out with her teenage idol crisis drama. Meanwhile, Nagi was left to fend for herself – albeit, with a lot of help from her newfound Violet Manison friends. As a result, she came out much better and became a true force to be reckoned with at the end of the manga. Based on the merits of what she has gone through alone, Nagi achieved some well-earned character development whether your subjective opinion agrees with the reward she got for it (Hayate seeing her in a romantic light at the end of the manga) or not.

But Hayate Does Deserve Nagi

Still, even though I said that Ayasaki doesn’t deserve mai waifu, he does deserve her after all. No, I’m not backtracking. I’m making a point using contrasting statements for reader impact. It works if you have the basic ability to read between the lines. I’ve heard that many people are lacking in this area nowadays – how sad it must be if you are one of these people.

Furthermore, Nagi deserves to be happy with Hayate after all that SHE has gone through for him. Again, not the other way around.

Back on track, you see, Ayasaki does deserve Nagi because in the end, he was the one who came back and freely chose her as his partner. There is no other way to interpret that ending – especially when you consider “word of God.” The only way you could interpret that as a friendship thing is if you are a literal dickhead who thinks with his wiener and only values women for the sexual aspect of romance and therefore, you require in your little anal headcanon that Hayate must have expressed sexual desire for Nagi in some way within the run of the manga for the ship to be acceptable.

Here’s why you’re wrong (just thought you'd like to know):

The Ending Is Just The Beginning

Yesss, as hard as it may be for your little dickhead to cram this concept into it, the ending of the manga where Hayate and Nagi hold hands and walk off to talk together under the starlit sky in the same park 3 years after they met was just the beginning of the Hayate x Nagi romance. It wasn’t meant to be a full-blown romantic ending but instead, signaled the start of their relationship. It wasn’t “so romantic,” because they were just a new couple. A boy and a girl who happened to like each other and decided to give love a chance. What happens at that point afterwards is something private between the two of them that the prying eyes of us manga readers will never see – and it’s quite fine that way.

Fanart Corner

Ah yes… I love to vent during a Wednesday and especially when I'm feeling sick. The words just roll off the old keyboard. Anyway, here is Nagi displaying her most beautiful smile for you. You can always tell which anime I've been watching based on the style of fanart I draw. These are rendered with Staedtler Colored Pencils that I got from my sister. I did some research online and these are apparently artist grade. I dunno but... it doesn't look that much different from my Faber Castell classic colored pencils which are considered student grade.

I might do a digital version of this next week. Maika-chan's smile seems to suit her well.