Hayate no Gotoku!! Season 2 Episode 1: The Prohibited Free Style Marathon「禁断のマラソン自由形」

The second season starts of with a quick introduction to some of the main characters, along with a very quick summary on how Hayate got into trouble with loan sharks and felt indebted to Nagi for her help.

The episode itself centers on the free style marathon race to be held at the school. Being the lazy girl that she is, Nagi decides to skip school on that day:b Unfortunately Maria heard this, and forces Nagi to compete in one of the races. For some reason or another, Hayate has a bet with Klaus again, this time Hayate will resign as a butler if Nagi do not win the race.

Reluctantly, Nagi agrees to do some training with Hayate. 5 minutes and 50 meters after the start of the training session, Nagi collapses to the ground, saying human is not supposed to do these kind of things:b

In the end though, Hayate manage to give Nagi some motivational speech that makes her trains harder. The only problem now is that Hinagiku, the student council president and the super athlete, will compete in all races. Nagi, quite rightly, believes she has no chance of winning if she is to compete with Hinagiku, and sends Hayate to persuade Hinagiku.

Of course Hinagiku sees through the facade, and still competes:b After going through all obstacles and tricking Hinagiku into the one situation where she loses her composure, everything looks great for the Hayate and Nagi team.

However, at the last pivotal moment of the race, the drunkard that is Hinagiku's sister manage to beat Nagi. Looks like next episode Hayate will go from a debt-ridden butler into a debt-ridden jobless bum:b

Impression

While the first season of Hayate started strongly, the longer it goes, it seems to be going nowhere. There are plenty of jokes, but it kind of felt repetitive after a while. Worse, after probably the first 10-20 episodes, the story didn't progress much, if at all. I actually stopped watching the first season half way through. Recently I continued to around episode 40 or so, but there isn't much progress.

In contrast, I have read the manga up to volume 9 or so, and the story is much better. There is still plenty of jokes, but the story also progresses along with it.

With this new season, they seem to backtrack quite a lot. The marathon appears fairly early in the manga, around volume 3 or 4, I think. So the new season probably suits people who wants more storyline and less repetitive jokes. If you like the second half of Hayate first season better, the second season may not be as good, especially if the rumor is true that they will adapt to the manga more faithfully this time.

Opening theme song: Wonder Wind by ELISA
Ending theme song:
Honjitsu,Mankai Watashi Iro　by Katsura Hinagiku with the Three Student Council Girls
starring Shizuka Itou with Eri Nakao, Sayuri Yahagi and Masumi Asano
「本日、満開ワタシ色」by 桂ヒナギク with 白皇学院生徒会三人娘 starring 伊藤静 with 矢作紗友里&中尾衣里&浅野真澄


The Hinagiku centric character song for the ending gives a not very subtle hint that there will lots more Hina this season!

Official site: ハヤテのごとく!!

Read the rest

Hayate no Gotoku 1: Destiny is called "unmei" in Japanese

When Hayate is a kid, Santa Claus told him he is not getting any present because his family is poor :b. In order to get the things that he wishes for, Santa told Hayate to work hard to earn it himself.



Years after, Hayate now in high school and works as a bike delivery boy. Observing his super-fitness level and fast speed, his customers is impressed with his work.
On his way back to the delivery office, Hayate meet his friends who then invites him to a Christmas party. However, Hayate has to turned them down because he has part-time work. His friends think he ranks money too high, which doesn't buy friendship. Hayate says that he doesn't have a choice because his parents are unemployed.



However, when Hayate reached the office, he is fired because his boss found out he is still in high school. Worse, his boss has given his outstanding salary to his parents. Hayate freaks out to hear this and rushes home. He is too late, as his parents has lost all but 12 yen of his money.
Even worse than this, his parents have ran away because they have a debt of more than 150 million yen (more than US$1 million) to the yakuza. This debt is their christmas present for Hayate.

The yakuza soon arrive at Hayate's home, and they have several schemes utilizing Hayate to pay the debt back, such as making Hayate extort people & selling his body organs to pay the debt. Thankfully, Hayate managed to flee after breaking through the window.
He is now fed up of working hard with no result to show for it, and decided to do something else. After some funny conversation between angel Hayate and devil Hayate, he decided to follow angel Hayate's suggestion to kidnap a girl and demand ransom :b.



His plan does not goes well, because Nagi, the girl he wanted to kidnap, thinks he is making a love confession :O. After giving his jacket to Nagi, Hayate also does not have the heart to proceed with the random demand, and he even ended up losing his 12 yen in his frustration. Crying on a winter night without a jacket, he is touched when a woman passed by and give him her scarf. Hayate decides that the world still has such a nice person, so he should stop thinking about evil schemes like kidnapping.

However, while this is happening, Nagi is kidnapped by a couple of guys for real, who then run away with a car. Hayate decides to do the correct thing and chased the guys with his elite biking skills :).
In short, Nagi is saved, and before she can reward him properly, Hayate collapsed after such a long, tiring day.



Hayate no gotoku Official Site
Opening theme: Hayate no Gotoku! by KOTOKO
Ending theme: Proof by MELL
While I like the ending songs better, the opening is pretty good too.


Impression:
Considering this is one of the most anticipated series of this spring, I think the first episode does not disappoint, and this looks to be an entertaining series, even if the plot remains simple. However, I haven't read the manga, so I am not sure if Hayate-fans would like this first episode.

Some of the jokes are quite funny, but I am sure to have missed some of the anime references. I especially like the various schemes proposed by the debt collector to Hayate so that he can pay back his parent's debt.:D

While I like the fact that Hayate is not a whiny kid with no spine, I find the narrator's voice a bit annoying. Regardless, I will definitely continue watching this series.

Note: the original episode title is actually "Unmei is called destiny in English" :b

Read the rest