Silly Reasons For Team HayaNagi

In the years leading up to the finale of Hayate, I spent nearly every week brainstorming legitimate, or at least logical reasons why Nagi and Hayate should end up together. Now that the battle has been won (of course, with no help from me or any other shippers. It was always all in Hata's hands, but it's nice to pretend you had some kind of impact), It's time to take a step back... actually, several steps back.

Today, Hayate Reflections examines several silly reasons why Hayate x Nagi should be a thing.

They Look Cute Together!

While not exactly a silly reason by itself, when you use this as the main basis of your argument -- even in the face of all the real arguments advanced by the other shippers using actual events and implications in the manga, then it becomes silly.

As a side note, yes, they do look cute together. Of course, as a serious argument towards them developing a relationship, this is just totally off.

Their Hair Colors Mesh!

Right... coz yellow and blue mesh,therefore, Hayate and Nagi will end up together. Do I even need to expound on this? It's almost as silly as someone pushing this "holy combination of pink and blue," if you know what I mean.

Hayate Will End Up With Nagi Because I Read It In A Fanfic!

And it was the best fanfic ever! Seriously, the writer is even better than Hata Kenjiro himself. He/she really knows the characters and what emotional depth and romantic development should be!

Well... I sure hope that writer was me :D... but seriously though, I've actually seen some people actually use this rationale and think it was actually legit.

Hayate Loves Nagi... because... he... will... like... her... or... something...

Ok, this is more of just a pet peeve of mine rather than an actual silly reason. Still, a lot of fans tend to give totally incomplete arguments, half-formed thoughts, or no arguments at all, but simply long clauses held together by ellipses and still think that they have some kind of perfectly good reason. I understand that it can be due to a language barrier at times, but I wish people would be a bit more conscientious about what they write down and at least make sure they can be understood by other people to some degree.

Hayate Will Love Nagi Because I Saw It In The Live Action Drama!

Oh... you mean that same live action drama where Isumi is a guy or something? ... OK, I BELIEVE YOU! Still... perhaps the endings to the anime as well as the live action drama were at least indications of where the manga was eventually headed. It's just amusing that people kept on chasing shadows of what their girl or the potential of their ship could be when there was very little evidence to support it in the first place in the actual manga based on literary context and using fundamental rules of good storytelling :).

Hayate x Nagi Should End Up Together Because (insert other girl's name here) Is Terrible
Ok, even if you are on my ship, if this is the best reason that you can think of in favor of Hayate x Nagi... please get off my ship right now? Please? I mean, you can pick off several legitimate reasons that Hayate and Nagi should end up together (and they did end up together, so keep crying, haters~) from just a cursory reading of the manga, or even just watching one of the many disjointed anime seasons. Hating on the other characters and using this as leverage to support Hayate x Nagi is not only a silly reason, it's a really horrible one as well.

Hayate Will Love Nagi Because My Ship Sunk And Now Nagi Is My Spare Ship
This is pretty silly, but also quite insincere. We all have our biases and I believe it is best to embrace your biases early rather than pretend to be neutral while secretly backing a ship in your head. This is simply hypocrisy.

I Am A Multi-Shipper And I Support Hayate x Nagi as well as Hayate x Any Other Girl (or Guy/Animal)
Sigh... no, just no. I for one believe that there is no such thing as neutrality. Our specific experiences have shaped us to have biases towards certain character archetypes and characteristics as well as certain types of stories. I don't believe that there is such a thing as being a multi-shipper. Of course, it could be that you just don't care about the ships at all and enjoy the story for some of its other aspects -- which I believe is legit.

Just To Be Clear...
If you'll peruse this blog, you'll find that I've written all of my arguments out for Nagi x Hayate and I will definitely write more in favor of my ship in the weeks, months and years to come. With that said, please stop posting about your ship on my blog. They're not welcome here. I won't argue with you. It's moot and academic. Your ship lost and I don't care to discuss about the merits of the story and why your ship would have made for a better story based on whatever sh|t you think would be a good rationale based on your headcanon. Go take that stuff on some other ship like all those salty Athena shippers -- you'll find them out there if you Google a few pages.

Also, let me be just as harsh and blunt as possible with you here: YOUR SHIP SUNK!

In any case, I'm not discriminating against other shippers lurking or commenting on this blog. Just don't try to re-start any moot arguments with me from now on. I will not give you a detailed response. I'll tell you that it's pointless to argue once. I'll repeat the same statement if you reply, and I'll just delete your entire message if you persist -- so thank you for your consideration and see you next week!

Fanart Corner:
Here's a funny one for this week. This was requested by someone, but if he's not resourceful enough to find where I posted this -- then he doesn't deserve to see it! :)

She's giving him a loving massage... probably.

Hayate Reflections: Lewdness... where do I draw the line?

Recently, I drew a rather lewd picture of Nagi and it's not the first time that I've done that, I've done it multiple times before. With that said, I was quite surprised when someone on twitter (who really liked Nagi and Hayate x Nagi) responded to drawing of Cat Nagi (Orca Toys white version) in a provocative position and said that Nagi is a character who should not be lewded. I was actually just really happy to find another person who appreciates Nagi's character  -- even though she did not appreciate my admittedly lewd artwork.

I've done quite a bit of those, actually. Like... a friend of mine on facebook found this one lewd as well. It's just Nagi in a sexy bikini though.

Personally, I can respect that viewpoint. Nagi is an amazing character -- actually, she is the best character ever for me. With that said, I really don't have a problem if people want to lewd her.

The reason for this is because no matter how many lewd pictures, fanfics or other material people make of her -- that stuff is non-canon just like my fanart. It probably is disrespectful to the author and to Nagi herself after a certain point, which is where I draw the line. (Even though I admit that I have drawn pics of her in private that have crossed my own moral boundaries.)

In any case, softcore ecchi is actually ok with me, but anything beyond that is off-limits. For example, full nudity and actually showing her private portions is not ok with me -- unless it was drawn by Hata. With that said, the reason that softcore, sexy pics of Nagi is fine with me is because Hata himself has drawn her multiple times that way. Here are a few. I personally love these:

I decensored this one, admittedly. The originally had a black semi-transparent heat-reveal bar around her panties area.

So as an artist, this is as far as I'm willing to cross the line as well as pics that aren't really lewd (not really showing anything substantial) but are just lewd by implication.

However, if people want to go as far as to draw hentai of her (and they do exist), I wouldn't do that (as far as allowing the public to view it goes), but if other artists do, then I won't object. Like I said, it's non-canon after all. Nagi is still the sweet, pure, lovable girl that she was and that she turned out to be in the canon reality of the series.

With that said, I do encourage you to draw lots of pics of Nagi with Hayate, lewd or whatever you want as long as you draw Nagi, I encourage it. Nagi's fanbase is super small, and most of those who do aren't even aware of the events of the manga that make her even more amazing -- but I do like it better if it's just cute, wholesome and captures Nagi's character, but whoever listens to me, anyway amirite? See you next week!

Fanart Corner

Ok, enough with the lewd stuff. How about something sweet and wholesome instead? This is based on the Mega Jumbo line of Hatsune Miku plushies. I have Santa Miku myself and I keep her in our car so I can huggles her whenever I'm out driving. I wish someone would make a real version of this Nagi plushie though... I'd take her everywhere with me -- and quite shamelessly too.

Eee! It's a baby Nagi! So cutie!

Hayate Reflections: A Criticism Of Hayate No Gotoku!

While I am definitely overjoyed with the fact that Hayate fell in love with Nagi in the end (Go ahead and cry if your ship sunk or if you just hate Hayate x Nagi. It's true and it's the conclusion that requires the least amount of assumptions), I am not deluded enough to claim that structurally speaking, Hayate no Gotoku is a competently written story. In fact, as a storyteller myself, I think quite the opposite.

I admire Hata's innate flair for drama and his ability to tell a touching love story (I'm talking about Hayate x Nagi and not Hayate and his ex, Athena) within the complicated framework of pseudo romantic relationships that he has invariably tied Hayate to throughout the run of the manga, but in my eyes, there are many glaring weaknesses to the entirety of the story and how it was handled.

For today's Hayate reflections, I will discuss some of these perceived weaknesses as best as I can remember them. Don't expect me to cross-reference specific chapters since my INTJ personality just doesn't like such a codified form of journalistic writing.

In any case, let's begin:

Inconsistent Characterization

Many characters suffer from inconsistent characterization in the series but for me, the most glaring ones would be Sakuya and Isumi. First of all, Sakuya was supposed to be the slapstick, comedy relief character with her paper fan and all and with Nagi actually drop-kicking her for her silly antics. Sometime after her birthday chapter, she even stopped carrying her paper fan completely and that part of her character just disappeared for no reason. Let me get this straight, I didn't like her wannabe comedian aspect, but there is no denying that it was a prominent feature for her personality and was part of what defined her as a character (even if the comedy aspect is mostly lost in translation across cultural borders). The fact that it just conveniently disappeared and she became this reliable onee-san type character that even Hayate would rely on speaks of inconsistent characterization on Hata's part.

As for Isumi, I think it's pretty plain to see. She used to interact with Nagi, Sakuya and Wataru a lot and even though she was always demure, she had more expressions than just angry, shocked, or bored. Over time however, her dialogue got shorter and more blunt and she stopped caring for anyone entirely unless it was for Nagi's sake. She became Hata's convenient little plot advancer for the King's Jewel Backstory.

The King's Jewels Was A Mistake
The fact that people were actually trying to keep count of the King's Jewels is particularly amusing for me. I had a hunch as to how Hata's mind works and it turns out I was right. All that King's Jewel counting and focus on the technical aspects of the plot all came to nothing in the end. Now I personally do not blame Hata for this because I personally am exactly that type of writer. I was amused at people keeping track of stats on this series because well... that's just not how it was written.

In any event, while I do not blame Hata on how he handled the King's Jewels backstory, I do think it was unnecessary, or rather, it was the wrong plot device to use if all of it was just meant to have Hayate make his final decision to give up his own life for Nagi. There are simpler ways it could have been done and/or better ways it could have been pulled. Heck, I could write a HayaNagi fanfic based on the King's Jewels with more cathartic drama and a more competent conclusion than Hata did.

Too Many Red Herrings
Hata dug his own grave here. Simply put, he used way too many clues within the plot that many of them ended up being either unused or underused.

This can be seen in several aspects of the plot but is most prevalent in the romantic department. Hata kept everyone guessing until the end because he left so many strong, obvious clues for an eventual romantic development between Hayate and all of the other girls in the harem except for Nagi. Of course, as it turned out, we Nagi shippers were correct all along. The fact that Nagi only has subtle clues in favor of her and not blatant, extremely obvious signs of romantic interest from Hayate turned out to be the plot twist that no one wanted but they'll always claim they expected because you do have to save face after being salty from having your ship sunk hard after all, right? With that said, these romantic or "shipping moments" with the other girls were so blatant that it gave many people delusions of grandeur and actually caused them to count Nagi out of the harem race -- rather amusing when there was no actual harem in the end because Hayate never developed romantic feelings for the other girls throughout the one year timeline he was with Nagi and he only developed romantic feelings for her at the very end.

Gag Ex Machina
This is something that Hata himself admits and has dedicated a chapter to, of course. With that said, the reliance on gags to lighten up what would otherwise be a serious plot development can get old after a while. Because Hata used his infamous gag ex machina so often, many veteran readers were in disbelief and denial when events with actual permanence actually started happening in the story. There are many examples of this, but off the top of my head, there's Nagi's strong character development, the debt being actually cleared, Maria leaving Nagi for real, Nagi setting Hayate free and of course, Hayate coming back to see Nagi two years after their rather bitter parting.

There are also some character arcs such as the Segawa arc which are purely gag-based and which do not serve any actual purpose to advance the plot even a little.

Pandering To Fans

I think this is the sad result of Hayate no Gotoku! being a commercial product after all. In the end, Hata, while being a more whimsical author than others, still has to bend and pander to the fans to some extent. Which is probably part of the reason why the other ships (all probably more popular than the canon pair) were kept afloat for so long and Hayate is so noncommittal and indecisive about his relationships with the other girls. Also, this may have influenced the gag-driven nature of the series because if Hata had merely sprinted headlong for the HayaNagi finish, we probably wouldn't have had 568 chapters to read.

It Was And Always Will Be A Hayate x Nagi Love Story

Fortunately, despite all these criticisms, I still love Hayate no Gotoku! That is because I've always seen it as only one way: A Hayate x Nagi love story. When stripped down to its bare elements and without all the embellishments on top, that's what the manga is really all about. And of course, as a love story between the two main characters, it is and will always be the most satisfying story I've ever read.

See you next week for sure. Stay salty if you're a hater~

Fanart Corner
I have a few new ones for today. Here they are~! I'm planning to try out my Gansai Tambi watercolors on canvas to see how they look. I've tried watercolors on canvas before and it actually looks pretty good.

Hayate Reflections: Don't Cry Nagi

These are some song lyrics for a very old song called "Don't Cry Joni." I made my own version as follows:

Nagi was not your girl next door

I met her about one year before

Nagi set me free of my duties one day

And this is what she had to say

Hayate, go and please be free

I'll grow up someday you'll see,

Becoming independent because of you

I can be a woman too

Nagi milady please don't cry

Don't forget me by and by

You're just fourteen I'm too old for you

Nagi I can still wait for you

Soon I left our little home town

Got me a job and tried to settle down

But her words kept haunting my memory

The words that Nagi said to me

Hayate, go and please be free

I'll grow up someday you'll see,

Becoming independent because of you

I can be a woman too

I packed my clothes and I caught a train

I had to see milady, I had to explain

How my heart was filled with her memory

And ask my Nagi if she'd go out with me

I ran all the way to the park from before

But things weren't like they were before

The stars were sparkling to guide my way

When I told Nagi what I had to say

Nagi, Nagi I could cry

Don't forget me by and by

You were just fourteen I was too old for you

So Nagi I waited two years for you

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed that and see you next week!

Fanart Corner

Got two new ones today including a Hina drawing because it was her birthday last 3/3.

I think this goofy face is pretty cute, don't you?

Digital Version Coming Soon

Hayate Reflections: My Motivations

Instead of once again tackling the dead-beaten horse of a topic of how Hayate loves Nagi despite all protests from the western fanbase (or those with western sensibilities) to the contrary, let's talk about something a little bit different today.

Today, let's talk about how I love Nagi... which in itself is also a dead-beaten topic -- BUT, that won't prevent me from talking about it anyway.

But before that, let's take a few steps backwards -- back to a time before I discovered that I actually love Nagi.

I have always been a creative individual. This is an objective assessment and I'm not indulging in self-praise here. Basically, I am always fueled by a desire to create something. This is why I often drift in and out of my two primary pastimes -- writing and visual arts.

Personally, I believe that I am more naturally inclined towards literature. I can imagine any number of scenarios for a fiction story and I can basically write about anything that piques my interest without really putting a whole lot of effort into it.

In contrast, when I draw something -- even though it might look simple, I actually have to try really hard just to get it to look good. Even after over a decade of practicing and improving my skills, I still have lots of obvious weaknesses in the way I draw things.

Still, whether I'm writing a piece of fiction, painting something in watercolors, or combining my passions in the form of a visual novel, the motivation -- the driving force behind my creations has always been homogeneous.

I have always been fueled simply by a love for aesthetics. I desire to create something beautiful -- beautiful by my own standards. Something that pleases my senses.

And if one were to ask me: what is the most beautiful thing to you? The answer for me is very simple: It is Sanzen'in Nagi -- the girl, the heiress, the former heiress, the loli, the spoiled brat, the brat who became great -- whatever you may think of her -- to me, she is simply the most beautiful. Therefore, very simply: I cannot help falling in love with her. For me, she is my goddess -- perfect in all her imperfections.

See you next week. By the way, it's Hina's birthday tomorrow. I always draw her on this day, of course... so watch out for my annual Hina birthday fanart on twitter: http://twitter.com/violent_cloud

In other news, I am currently working on a long-ish novel called "Rivers of Blood."  I plan to post the first chapter on this blog very soon. It's quite different from my usual works, so I hope you'll read it with an open mind.

Fanart Corner

This watercolor painting was done during a livestream just two days ago. The reference for the place is from one of @nyarth's posts on twitter and apparently, the place is the hub at Edinburgh.