Hayate: The Combat Butler

Synopsis:

Working hard his entire life to support his loser parents who haven't worked a day in their life, Hayate Ayasaki still manages to go through life with a smile on his face. However, when Hayate is fired from his most recent job for being underage he discovers that his parents took his final paycheck and abandoned him. But they did leave Hayate with a parting gift, a debt of 156,804,000 yen to the Yakuza (about $1,507,295). Since Hayate doesn't have a dime to his name he makes a break for it before Yakuza can collect and with Hayate's lifetime of hard labor he seems to have developed inhuman strength and speed when needed. Down on his luck and out in the streets Hayate decides to turn to a life of crime and his first job he decided on is kidnapping when he sees a wealthy looking young girl, Nagi Sanzen'in, trying to operate a vending machine thinking that he would hold her for ransom and repay his debts with the money he gets or at least go to jail and have a roof over his head. Unfortunately Hayate is unable to be the ruthless criminal and fumbles over his words and tells Nagi that he wants "to take her away" and she mistakes this as a confession of love. Before Hayate can make a ransom request Nagi is then counter-kidnapped by the Yakuza and not about to let his meal-ticket get away Hayate ends up rescuing Nagi after a fight with the thugs... but afterwords Hayate is broken, beaten, bruised, and laying in the snow. Nagi says Hayate can have whatever he wants and before he passes out he asks for a job. The next day he wakes up in huge mansion and is told he is now Nagi's new butler.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 52


Review:

Simply put, Hayate no Gotoku is 52 episodes about... nothing. And it's a fun time from beginning to end as it doesn't try to be complicated or pursue some long string of events. Hayate no Gotoku keeps everything on the simplistic level which makes it very easy to enjoy with anyone of any age and also does an excellent job of explaining it's humor as it tends to parody a number of shows and other anime series. Each episode will either focus on something mundane in everyday life or dedicate the episode to rotating around one single person as there are quite a few but fleshes out each character very well in that you'll know everything about everyone by the time the series is over. If you're looking for a show that everyone will enjoy without being childish or overly complex then check out Hayate the Combat Butler, it truly is a blast to watch.

I gotta confess, this was one hell of a great time to watch despite it's lengthy series of episodes as I found myself laughing my ass off on more than one occasion. I think it's mainly because I really didn't have to think to find it funny and the show doesn't use slap-stick all that often to be comical. The only problem that some may have is that Hayate no Gotoku tends to parody alot of other anime and if you're not familiar with alot of anime you may find yourself lost on some of the one-liners or visual mockery but it's not enough to keep you from liking what you're seeing. So yeah, this also gets one of my highest recommendations... give it a try if you want to enjoy something for what it is.

Hayate: The Combat Butler (opening)

Hayate: The Combat Butler (closing)


Recommendation: |Very High|

*Note - I have read that Hayate: The Combat Butler is currently being broadcast on select stations with a dubbed voice track. The DVDs however do not, not, NOT, contain an English dub track... subtitles only. So Bandai... THANK YOU!!! Usually an English dubbed track serves nothing more than to drive up the price, delay the release, and has about as much enthusiasm as listening to an automated phone answering service. Bandai did an excellent job with no typographical errors (so far), translating all onscreen text, and even translating the background conversations that coincide with the main dialog... I am VERY pleased with Bandai's release. The only downside is that they didn't use honorifics in the translation which has sort of become staple nowadays with anime subtitles but, not a big deal. So for those of you who are whining and bitching that there is no English dubbed track on the DVD release, please... do yourself a favor and go fall of a steep cliff into a bunch of jagged rocks and then we'll call the Whaambulance to come pick you up and ship your sorry ass off to Weenie-Hut General. kthxbai.