Hayate Reflections: Tackling Logical Arguments Against Hayate x Nagi

Hey there! After a long time, here's a normal Hayate Reflections episode.

So as we all know, not many people can accept that Hayate had romantic feelings for Nagi at the end of the manga, even though there is actually sufficient evidence from the author himself that this is actually the case.

With that said, I've already mentioned these pieces of evidence multiple times before, so there's really no need to talk about them again in this video. 

Instead, today, I'd like to talk about two of the more reasonable arguments put up by the people who never wanted Hayate and Nagi to end up together. So let's get started.

1. There is no romantic development between them.

First of all, I don't disagree -- at least, I don't disagree depending on how you perceive this term "romantic development." If by romantic development, you mean that there was no hint at all on the part of Hayate that he had any inkling of romantic types of feelings for Nagi until the very end -- then that is a fact that I can't refute. However, it should be noted that if we were to judge the girls according to this category, then the only one that Hayate ever showed any actual romantic feelings for within the manga is of course, Athena. And as we all know, Athena is the one girl that by virtue of good storytelling could never end up with Hayate -- at least not with the way Hata Kenjiro, the author, had developed the story.

If you're going to make the argument that Hinagiku, Maria, or Ruka had more "romantic development" than Nagi ever had -- then I would have to disagree. Let's use the one logical argument against the HayaNagi ship for this: foreshadowing is not romantic development. Now, there are several moments for all almost all the girls in Hayate's harem that foreshadow how Hayate might end up with them. Hina's FAMOUS clock tower scene, Maria's pseudo-dates with Hayate, and there's Ruka's similar situation between her parents and Hayate's along with the fact that Hayate has shown genuine empathy for her plight. None of these are actually "romantic developments." They're simply pseudo romantic moments wherein Hayate was never shown to be secretly nurturing any deep romantic feelings for any of these girls. 

Therefore, if the argument that "foreshadowing is not romantic development" applies to Hayate and Nagi, then this very same argument should apply equally to all the other girls as well -- except as I've already mentioned -- Athena -- but again, Hata made it impossible for her to be with Hayate from a storyteller's perspective, so it doesn't really matter in her case.

2. There is no romantic attraction between Hayate and Nagi. Hayate just sees Nagi as a little kid.

There is: but the attraction is mainly on Nagi's part. As far as Hayate is concerned, it's true that he really did see her as a little kid for almost the entirety of the manga. HOWEVER, if this is a reason why Hayate should end up with one of the other girls, then I'm going to present this counter-argument: having a crush on someone or showing some form of sexual attraction is not actually romantic development. Again, the question is: did Hayate actually attempt to nurture any kind of romantic feelings for any of the other girls throughout the manga? If you're going to talk about Hayate having mutual attraction with the other girls: then the question is: which part of that was mutual exactly? We all know Hina and Ruka had a huge crush on him and that both were willing to act upon these feelings and were actively trying to either make him their boyfriend or in Ruka's case, actually marry him. How about Hayate though? Was he actively doing the same? Sorry, but admitting that a girl like Hina confessing to him would be "a dream come true" does not equate to him actively trying to make Hinagiku his girlfriend.

Of course it's really easy to speculate that Hayate may have nurtured romantic feelings for Hinagiku or Maria, or Ruka (again, we're not including Athena because her character arc effectively took her out of the running as to being the ending girl in the first place -- fans were just in denial for nearly a decade, but again, Hata reaffirmed this in the final arc.) by way of implication -- but of course, that just puts everyone in the same boat as Nagi. If you're going to claim that he may have nurtured romantic feelings for the other girls by way of implication through his tiny showings of sexual attraction, then we Nagi shippers can just as easily claim that he may have nurtured romantic feelings for Nagi through his own spontaneous actions -- the only real difference is that he never actively saw Nagi as a girl until the end -- but again, this isn't even a point against Nagi, because clearly, Hayate values her more than even Athena within the one year that he served as Nagi's butler.

In conclusion, we're actually all on the same boat. We never actually know what Hayate is actually thinking -- especially his feelings for the girls in his life throughout the course of the manga. All that we know are based on speculations and on what little unreliable self-confessed feelings he actually blabbers about -- but the main difference between Nagi and the other girls is that the story was always setup so that she would become the girl that Hayate likes and of course, this was confirmed by the true ending of the manga.

With that said, this has been Hayate Reflections and this is lordcloudx out. See you next week for sure.

Fanart Corner

Finally had some time do some digital fanart after quite some time. This is pretty simple, but it's a good way to get back into the groove.