2013-08-04, 20:17 | Link #9481 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
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I've never really had much fondness for Nagi. For me she seemed to just be the doorway for Hayate to the world he's in right now. She's never been any type of romantic contender in my eyes, she's more like a little sister, no matter how much Hata tries to push them together. The real contenders for me are Hina, Ruka, and Izumi. Hina and Ruka are both already honest about their feelings, but they contrast each other in their methods of trying to show their feelings to Hayate. Hina is shy about her feelings and can't really admit it to him, while Ruka no matter how shy she is about it goes out in full force. Ruka is also my favorite because she and Hayate are so alike and compatible, she really reminds me of Athena in the sense that she is really open to Hayate with her feelings, and they are both called Goddesses. But Izumi really has the purest love for Hayate, plus she's the second girl that fell in love with Hayate, in-manga-timeline wise. She would be perfect for Hayate if she just didn't let the fun get to her head to often. I mean looking back at the chapter where Hayate came to her house and Izumi wore that wedding dress, she really is an angel to ease Hayate's hardships. She's really the most sensible of the idiot trio, unfortunately she just goes along with pretty much everything the other two do. But deep in my heart the person I really want Hayate to get together with is Chiharu.
The series in general has been on and off for me with the arcs. Mostly off with the Nagi arcs. I really hope Hata gets a blow to the head and suddenly realizes that Nagi is not suited to be with Hayate, and therefore put more concentration on the other girls! |
2013-08-05, 14:58 | Link #9482 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: UK
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I've just recently marathoned reading the manga from essentially the Greece arc recently. I've always been more of a anime guy over a manga guy, but with the recent drop in quality and Cuties not really delivering personally, I decided to go back to the manga (I'd already read up until the Greece arc, more or less).
Spoiler for Opnions:
As for the latest chapter, I like it. I like Luka and seeing her arc play out has been sweet. The comedy's fine with me too, gives her more personality.
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2013-08-05, 15:54 | Link #9483 |
dat apple
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: I'm aliens
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I honestly don't get the appeal of either Hinagiku or Athena. Hina is a fairly typical (and annoying) tsundere, and despite the massive screentime brought on by her popularity she really doesn't seem to have developed that much or gotten anywhere with Hayate. And Athena... the way she treats Hayate and what she taught him about relationships back at the Royal Garden just seems distasteful and kind of creepy to me. :/
I've liked the current plot up until the last couple chapters (which're basically just exaggerating Ruka's personality for the lulz...). Hopefully it'll get back on track soon. I'm interested to see what happens with the manga competition now, how Nagi reacts to the scene she walked in on, etc.
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2013-08-05, 23:10 | Link #9484 | |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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For Hina most of the emotional impact is pointed directly towards the fans. There are many chapters that focus on her, although she never received a well done personal arc, if my memory is correct. She also has many moments with Hayate, her birthday is a good one, as well as her date with him at the amusement park, and also the Greece arc gives her a bunch of great moments with him. Her cute, embarrassed, and weak side also appeals to quite a number of fans, me included. So far, she has the most moments with Hayate compared to any of the other girls, and her chemistry with Hayate is always good to read. As for Athena, most of the emotional impact she made was through her relationship with Hayate, and not from her personally unlike Hina and some of the other girls. But since she had her own arc it was probably just as effective as a bunch of featured chapters with the impact directed towards the fans. She was Hayate's first love when he was younger for one, and the pure uninhibited emotions when they were children hit the bullseye in the hearts of fans. The amount of love between them that was in the air during TEOTW arc was so thick you could spread it on toast and eat it. Apart from that, Athena arcs were a really different animal compared to previous ones which made them stand out to readers, therefore making her stand out as well. These are the main reasons why I think these two are quite popular with the fans |
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2013-08-08, 02:41 | Link #9485 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
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Well, I just read some early volumes and I recognized something there that had been lacking the manga recently and can be affecting its quality: REFERENCES
When was the last time Hayate imitated unconsciously some other hero or harem lead (if Ruka confessed again in front of him he could react the same way Kodaka did with Sena's confession), or Nagi did something related to other loli character (she could imitate something from Hastur even, with their seiyuu connection)? Maybe Hata can drop something once every few chapters, but in the early days, even after Chiharu introduction, there was at least a shot out once a chapter. But now this manga is pretty boring, not even a good parody to Bakuman. has appeared. I could say a lot of things about the shipping wars and how Nagi is lame (even so, with the original parody nature of this manga, Hayate should end dating the least possible girl in the series, like Fumi or Miki but that's my opinion, I would prefer Hina, but the most popular girl is ever a futile cause, like Kuroneko or Misaka), but almost everything was already said and I just wanted to said how this seudo-bakuman (without referencing it directly at least ) and other bad use of the characters had been destroying the series in these recent years... |
2013-08-11, 09:07 | Link #9486 | ||
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Join Date: Apr 2010
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A She's kinda seriously dull. Her personality is basically "Yay I'm perfect!" which sorta works as a parody background character but not as a serious character you're supposed to like and: B The combination of "typical annoying tsundere" and "I'm actually so weak and vulnerable and naive guys, for serious even you might have a chance with me!" thing I find really off-putting in a way I have a hard time putting into words. I can understand the appeal but to me it comes off as an ugly sort of pandering. I'd like her more if she was just Miss Perfect even though she'd still be boring. As for Athena, her arc is well done and I didn't get the creepy vibes...at first. Since then every omake appearance with her is just her "punishing" Hayate for some sort of perceived slight and now she comes off as a sadist and I'm not a fan of that. (Or rather, I'm totally fine with that for comedy purposes but it's not what I look for in a primary romantic interest.) There's also the fact that her whole romance subplot with Hayate is backstory and thus basically cheating by the standards of romance stories. The real reason she won't end up with Hayate is because having a girl show up mid-way through and going "Haha We're actually sooooo totally in love before this series even started and no one else can ever compete and we're getting married now kthxbye!" is simply not done for obvious reasons. You get to play the old flame gambit for drama purposes and that's it or they take away your writers card. All that said, I still like Hina when she's just a goofy background character and I've got no real beef with Athena outside of what I've stated. Hell, Alice has gone full sadist lately and I like it, so you know whatever. Quote:
Still the thing with this manga is that HnG is already really friggen old for a comedy series. It's almost caught up with Ranma 1/2 and most people burned out on that a long time before it ended. By the time it ends it's likely going to be rivaling Inuyasha for length which is honestly kinda insane for the genre it's in. Which is why even though I still enjoy the series I don't think it's a bad thing that a lot of people have found themselves moving on. The manga has been running almost a decade, it's natural for a lot of people to lost interest or find that their tastes have changed. It's why I dropped Naruto even though I thought it was friggen awesome 8 years ago. I can talk about the anime choking on filler and problems with the story direction and underusing certain characters and that's all true, but the real reason is that I'm just not into it anymore, and that's fine. Last edited by madmac; 2013-08-11 at 09:36. |
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2013-08-11, 12:05 | Link #9487 | |
dat apple
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: I'm aliens
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The continuing sadism doesn't help, as you mentioned. Tsunderes make terrible love interests, which is why I'm glad Nagi has grown out of most of that.
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2013-08-11, 12:54 | Link #9488 | ||
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Join Date: Apr 2010
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Last edited by madmac; 2013-08-11 at 13:31. |
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2013-08-11, 15:27 | Link #9489 | ||
dat apple
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: I'm aliens
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2013-08-11, 15:45 | Link #9490 | ||
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Join Date: Apr 2010
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Checking my wayback-machine, Alice showed up on May 22. So basically a week after the competition, give or take. No wonder Machina just emerged. Factor in all the other plot threads and Nagi needing a new stone and we're looking at a conclusion to the summer arc very quickly. Quote:
I...I never made that connection, but you're exactly right. It makes perfect sense now that you've pointed it out. Man, that plot thread goes back a long way, too. At least as far back as Sakuya's birthday Nagi was still brooding and insecure about the whole thing. Sometimes you really do have to give Hata credit. He set that up all the way back in Volume 4 and used it as the backbone of Nagi's character arc through Mykonos to now. Last edited by madmac; 2013-08-11 at 18:39. |
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2013-08-12, 08:47 | Link #9491 | ||
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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If we're still a bit on which girl is the best for Hayate topic, my vote goes to Izumi! |
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2013-08-12, 10:40 | Link #9492 | |
dat apple
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: I'm aliens
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2013-08-12, 15:15 | Link #9493 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 35
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I wouldn't really say a couple omake appearances in the midst of hundreds of chapters without much of a presence is pandering...or maybe it is, but I can't see why you'd begrudge that when there's been hardly any Athena in the story otherwise.
As for reasons as to why Athena might've changed, there's the obvious factor of how her exaggerated expectations/treatment of Hayate was based on their relationship at the beginning, leading up to the misunderstanding which resulted in them being separated in the Royal Garden; whereas the Athena of now is not only one who had wallowed in despair and regret of pushing away Hayate but was even saved by him thanks to the King Midas incident. Athena's present-day interactions with Hayate are overwhelmingly characterized by her longing after having been separated from him for so long and her gratitude for everything he's done for her rather than the 'unreasonable' expectations she had for him as a child. The omakes should be taken as just that -- omakes amounting to a couple humourous instances of tsundere or jealousy rather than a characterization of her actual relationship with Hayate. |
2013-08-13, 01:41 | Link #9494 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
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I don't think her expectations of him back then were even real, as she clearly liked being with him.
I think it was just her way of saying that a man should be responsible. The whole deal about him having to go to huge extents was likely just there to be taken humorously, and not seriously (like Hayate did). As for Hinagiku, she's grown a lot. I think you could hardly call Nagi or Hina right now tsundere. They haven't been tsundere for the longest time now.
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2013-08-15, 00:52 | Link #9495 | ||
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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I've seen Athena change quite a bit compared to when she and Hayate first met. Back when they were kids her personality was much like Nagi's early on in the manga. Being overreactive, easily jealous, etcetera. But unlike Nagi she held a certain tenderness for Hayate as well as a need for him, being alone trapped in the castle. When Athena and Hayate met in Mykonos, both before and after the battle when Midas took over her body, I could definitely see that she has changed a lot in the 10 years. She had a more mature feel to her, a much greater air of grace, she had also shown a bit more vulnerability. She had gone from a bit of a sadist to a more reserved and shy-ish girl towards Hayate. Though, I liked the part where she got angry when she asked him what was the first thing he noticed about her when he saw Athena, but it was pretty understandable that she'd react that way. Quote:
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2013-08-18, 11:14 | Link #9497 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
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I'm pleasantly surprised by how Hata has managed to stay on target for the last handful-or-so chapters. Whoever is enhancing his food/drink with prozac should keep it up!
Too bad there isn't much suspense in Ruka's big decision, though I suppose it's possible that she retires for a few weeks and then changes her mind in time for CTMEOY. As for all the seafaring vehicle talk that has transpired, I'll say this (as I've said before): harem antics are spices that are too often confused for the main ingredient. Hell, god knows how many works of fiction of all sorts use "romance" as a means to tell a message that has little to do with such gooeyness. Now who is the idiot who came up with the observation/rule/truism/whatever that every movie (and by extension, every work of fiction) has to have a love story (or six)? In other words, it could be said that what passes for love nowadays is nothing more than a lowest common denominator. P.S.: To madmac and GlassesLady: good points, as always. Last edited by mitsuganae; 2013-08-18 at 11:48. |
2013-08-19, 09:15 | Link #9500 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
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With all the loose ends that need to be tied up I'm mildly hopeful that we'll get through the end of the summer arc from here with a minimum of filler. Quote:
Last edited by madmac; 2013-08-21 at 08:49. |
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comedy, shounen |
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