Hayate no Gotoku (Hayate the Combat Butler)
Hayate is an unfortunate student with parents who are constantly in debt. To pay off his parents' debts, he does lots of part-time jobs, despite being underage. One day, the parents finally gave him a Christmas present- a debt of 156,804,000 yen owed to the yakuza. To pay off that enormous debt, they attempt to sell off Hayate's organs. Hayate soon finds himself running for his life, until he sees Sanzenin Nagi at a park. In his mind, a plot is hatched to kidnap her, and use her as a ransom for money.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Hayate's kind nature and good manners betrays him and he finds himself unable to kidnap Nagi. As he decides to let himself freeze to death, he is soon rolled over by Maria on a bicycle. Maria gives him a scarf, and he is touched by her kindness.
Soon, he finds himself fighting a pair of brothers who want to kidnap Nagi themselves. After the fight, the victorious but injured Hayate asks Nagi to find him a job and then collapses. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the luxurious Sanzenin mansion, and has a new job- A Sanzenin butler.
Will Hayate be able to protect Nagi from all who chase after the Sanzenin fortune?
Mizunaga's Review
Plot & Development
What plot?! This series is composed of episodes with random themes and TONS of references to various other series. A plot is almost non-existent, and the development progresses at an extremely slooooooowwwww rate. The first few episodes are good, but moves on to the random episodes very quickly. There was no buildup to the final episode, but they still managed to finish the series very well.
Characters
Didn't find any characters very attractive, but especially liked Sakuya and her Kansai dialect. Hayate only looks okay (IMO), but the other characters (mostly girls) don't look too bad. I would have loved to see more of "Princess God" (Himegami [姫神]) though. No annoying characters in this series.
Genre
Parody, Romantic comedy- Parody? Certainly. I dare say that every episode has at least three parodies in it. The parodies range from Cybercops to MAR and more. If you've watched lots of anime, you will notice lots of familiar lines, characters and items. In that way, the series is sort of 懐かしい (nostalgic). Romantic comedy? Not really. It was definitely present, but the parody elements far outweigh the romantic comedy elements. This show should not to be watched for its romantic comedy - BUT - whenever there is a romantic comedy moment, it's quite good.
OP, ED, and Soundtrack
Both OPs of the series are done by KOTOKO. Personally, I find KOTOKO's songs annoying to listen to after hearing them a few times, so the OPs didn't really work for me. The EDs were -okay-, but I especially liked "Chasse". Sung by Utatsuki Kaori, "Chasse" is a wonderful song with a very nice melody. Soundtrack was also okay, but nothing particularly fantastic.
Other Comments
This show, is NOT to be watched if you are looking for a serious show. Like I said, it lacks a proper plot, and is mostly filled with parody elements. With all that randomness, it's fun to watch the first few 15+ episodes, but I highly recommend watching an episode a day from that point onwards. I started this series quite late, and had a few "marathons" to catch up with the series. And after every "marathon", I honestly felt quite annoyed at the series for it's lack of direction and plot. Otherwise, I say it's a good series, and was pleasant to watch weekly.
Rated: 8.5/10
And now for a service shot!
