Hayate no Gotoku manga (raw discussion only)

[Sol Falling]

As someone who came to this manga after the Athena arc was finished and read it all in one shot, I'm still satisfied with random chapters of the characters doing pointless things. So it may be true that you guys have just been with this series too long and gotten too used to Hata's work. I wonder if I myself will have gotten tired of this series in one, two, or three years, though...I hope not.

[HasuMasu]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Or maybe it's because everyone has just gotten used to Hata's style after 300+ years and his style of humor that it's getting old. I personally thought the chapter where Nagi impersonated Okabe Rintarou was hilarious, but I was in the minority apparently.

I agree that I'd like to know what Mikado is scheming and for Athena to regain her womanly body again, but I really think if Hata did a genre shift with the End of the World arc and stayed serious throughout, the series would be nothing more than a generic shounen battle manga.

I can't even think of what it is right now, and I don't think it's any better.

[AnimeFangirl]

I don't think anyone's asking for an outright genre shift. It's just that Hata raised a ton of questions during the Greece arc in, what, 2009? It's been two years and he hasn't even attempted to answer any of them. We're just asking for "slice of life with a bit more plot," that's all.

[Shadow5YA]

Sometimes I think Hayate is mean to his harem members on purpose.

Here's a trolley used for traveling the school grounds, but let's continue walking, shall we?

Behind this door, I am almost certain Hina is changing clothes, but I'll open the door anyway!

[Sol Falling]

Man, Hayate's cheerful indiscretion/complete lack of sense sometimes makes me just have to wonder what is wrong with his head. That's Hayate for you though. If you think about it, in some ways Hayate must be really fucked up/a totally broken person, but that's still great because he's entertaining.

Just looking at this picture makes me laugh because of the inherent comedic tension. But still, how utterly ridiculous. Like, wtf was Hayate thinking.

[Rah]

I find it to be rather sad how Hata doesn't realize that his manga is a lot superior when it's all dramatic and emotional, or at least more serious. Doesn't this reflect on the sales too, or do people buy that magazine to read some other manga? Lol...

<___<

[HasuMasu]

Oh God, best chapter in a while.

[AnimeFangirl]

Originally Posted by Rah

Doesn't this reflect on the sales too, or do people buy that magazine to read some other manga? Lol...

Since he felt the need to defend the latest chapters, it probably does. But not enough to make people stop reading it entirely, or it would have been cancelled already.

And yes, Weekly Shonen Sunday has a number of other popular series, so not everyone who buys SS does it just for Hayate no Gotoku.

However if SS is anything like Shonen Jump, they do weekly reviews of the most popular titles, and if a series drops too low in the reader rankings, it heads towards cancellation. I imagine Hata might want to draw all the fun things he wants to draw until he hits the danger zone, then revive the series by throwing out his bombshells.

[Anh_Minh]

For an established series like that, wouldn't volume sales count for a lot?

[AnimeFangirl]

It does. Volume sales and merchandise are how companies make their real money. But weekly readership is a good measure of fan interest. If weekly readership drops off, other sales will soon follow.

[Mentar]

After watching the HnG movie, I have to say that my enthusiasm for HnG continues to wane. Somehow it feels to me that Hata is increasingly trying to pull a Kobayashi Jin: By forcing the show into a direction that the author wants, but the majority of fans does not. I think that he has realized these things:

1) His obvious intention - Nagi as "winner" - does not have enough reader support at the moment

2) His attempts to make Nagi more popular (see her recent long arc) fail, because he insists on using her bratty-stubborn side as joke generator. She can't grow this way.

3) He feels that if he touches the big background story again, he won't have any more chances for 2), endangering 1). Likewise, he wants to drag out the series for commercial reasons.

In a nutshell, I think he wrote himself into a corner, and he's unwilling to let go and finish it properly. The current setup is how the show started, and this is how he does (or more exactly does NOT) want it to end.

Too bad.

[AdventSleeper]

While these chapters are mildly entertaining, I too wish for more plot development.. it's been a while.

That said, the last two pages of the chapter definitely show the best specialty of all :P.

[Athena]

Personally, I don't see Hayate ending with Nagi though.

Unless the author wants to be the first to put a real loli with the MC. I don't really remember seing that often. In ZnT, Louise is just a flat-chested girl. In SnS, Shana is immortal andprobably lived a few hundred years. So, putting a real little girl with the MC? Unless there's a "10 years later" thing, Hayate has more chances to end up with Hina. As for A-tan, she has already 'rejected' Hayate, so...

I wonder if there's a new arc coming this spring.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by KiRa08o2

Personally, I don't see Hayate ending with Nagi though.

Unless the author wants to be the first to put a real loli with the MC. I don't really remember seing that often. In ZnT, Louise is just a flat-chested girl. In SnS, Shana is immortal andprobably lived a few hundred years. So, putting a real little girl with the MC? Unless there's a "10 years later" thing, Hayate has more chances to end up with Hina. As for A-tan, she has already 'rejected' Hayate, so...

I wonder if there's a new arc coming this spring.

There's Aria from Hidan no Aria.

Isn't Nagi in high school right now?

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Mentar

I think that he has realized these things:

1) His obvious intention - Nagi as "winner" - does not have enough reader support at the moment

2) His attempts to make Nagi more popular (see her recent long arc) fail, because he insists on using her bratty-stubborn side as joke generator. She can't grow this way.

You sir, read my mind. Right now he's pretty much "hey guys, pay attention to Nagi already, she's awesome y'know!" even though my opinion on the brat is the same as Tsukamoto Tenma: a yawn-inducer. That Hinagiku part at the last page is the only thing close to funny in the entire chapter, a far cry from the earlier chapters where there's at least four pages that can make me laugh.

[Shadow5YA]

I guess I was the only one who laughed at the unused trolley?

[HasuMasu]

I did too, though Hata forgot that it was used once I think.

[AnimeFangirl]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

There's Aria from Hidan no Aria.

Isn't Nagi in high school right now?

Nagi's in high school, but she's 13.
Aria's just flat, but she's the same age as Kinji.

[HasuMasu]

Yeah, and excuse me for being spoilerific to a degree, but the reason for Aria's loli-ness is that a certain magical object stopped her aging.

[Kafriel]

I took the liberty of reading 350 chapters in 3 days, so you can guess what I've been doing during the weekend...and when the Greece arc started, I was absolutely positive that Hayate would abandon Nagi and live with Athena. That arc was really surprising though, Hinagiku joined the underdogs, Athena was basically removed from the plot and while Hayate ended up going back to Nagi, there's still the matter of "the one who betrayed her", who I was actually expecting to be Hayate.
After that, everything was put on hold. Hayate's mysterious follower and the picture of the 28th just got dropped out of the manga after Luca appeared, Athena is conveniently an amnesiac child for another 2 months, Ikusa's fate is unknown (unless Shiranui truly is a cursed Ikusa who got out of the golden palace), and the whole king's legacy thing has been left hanging since. Still, I really liked the new mansion and aaaalmost everything that came with it.....unfortunately, the manga wars bored me quite a bit, and wasn't Nagi supposed to be working part-time at a cafe to get Hayate a watch?
Then there's the ultimate randomness that reigns in this manga. From romantic comedy to fantasy action, to SoL, to drama, etc. Many characters are left out (prime example being Klaus) and a whole bunch of new ones keep appearing pretty fast; instead, I think it would be better to have the already existing ones deepen their relationship.

So, putting a real little girl with the MC? Unless there's a "10 years later" thing, Hayate has more chances to end up with Hina. As for A-tan, she has already 'rejected' Hayate, so...

The manga is chaotic enough to have a time/space rift where Hayate and Nagi spend a decade together and get married when they go back to the present time. As for favourite pairings, Maria<Ayumu<Hinagiku<Athena is how I see it. Izumi's connection to Hayate was ret-coned, so it felt kinda forced.