[Mentar]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

If you read his notes in the earlier volumes, he often expressed concern over those action stories that he felt went too long. (Well, it was either him or his editor that felt this way.) Several times, he mentioned wanting to just do one-off gag chapters. Losing action stories reduces the chances of multi-chapter stories.

Personally, I think Hata-sensei is very mistaken, but that's just me.

Not just you, I can assure you. I'd be very surprised if the vast majority of readers would not share this sentiment.

Sometimes, I do wonder how much of this limbo is him and how much is Shogakukan milking the cow to death. It is not unheard of for manga publishers to "encourage" a mangaka to stretch out his work (Love Hina being the example that immediately springs to mind).

Point taken, it might be the publisher's fault, as well. At least, Love Hina managed to conclude the story nicely and logically, as the result of a long-running, lasting development. I felt very satisfied with the LH ending. With HnG, I don't see such a development.

It isn't that I mind that result, but there's no romance between the two. On occasion, Nagi is shown to have interest in Hayate. Hayate cares for Nagi, but the romance element isn't there. I think Hata-sensei realized he put himself in a bind when he did the Greece arc because it really made Hayate x Athena a strong pairing. Looking back, I think that's why he did that image showing Athena handing Nagi's hat back to her, as if to say, "Even though I am best girl, this manga was created with the intent of a Nagi x Hayate ending, thus by giving you this hat, I am out of it."

Greece (Royal Palace) was in fact the first story which Hata had presented to the publisher and which was _rejected_. His second attempt, HnG, passed. Greece was Hata's "submarine" in which he published his original story with HnG characters. Therefore, a romantic conclusion with Athena made sense. It's a great irony that Greece is generally accepted as HnGs best arc when in fact, all Hata wants to do now is pretend that it never happened

I know about School Rumble Z -- is that where these two arcs are at?

That, and there was another release of his (that I can't look up right now atm).

Still, you have a point. I think of Genshiken, where Koi-sensei wanted Madarame and Saki to be the romantic couple. As he put it, he couldn't figure out a way to make that happen during Genshiken's run. So he created Spotted Flower and filled it with unnamed characters that look suspiciously like Genshiken characters, only here, the not-Madarame and the not-Saki have gotten married.

Really?? I didn't know that!

I hope that the mods will tolerate just a few lines on this off-topic issue, but this is incredibly interesting to me. During Genshiken, I always thought that Saki indeed should have ended up with Madarame, because it would have made the story come full-circle: The proponent of the "normal" links up with the proponent of the "nerds". It would also have been more popular with me since Madarame simply seemed to care more. I do recognize though that it wouldn't have been realistically possible at Madarame's confession, but still...

With Genshiken Nidaime proving pretty popular, I think that Koi-sensei may still try to work a Madarame x Saki hookup before all is said and done.

This would give me a very good reason to catch up on Nidaime (which I dropped since the number of characters I cared for was too low). Here's unexpectedly something to hope for! Thanks for the treat!

[Hata about Hina's victories in popularity contests] What exactly did he say?

I don't have a link for the translated interviews on this, but we have glimpses on the releases themselves: His comment on the first contest (which was relatively soon after Hina's late introduction): "Now that was unexpected."

On the subsequent contests, he had annoyed Nagis deliver the "yet again" lines (they are in some translated omakes), subjecting Hina to stripping exercises... it sure was no hero's celebration.

Lasting development would kill easy gag opportunities, which is where I think the problem lies. As I said earlier, the Nagi from the prototype manga is one I could see Hayate becoming romantically involved with over time. The updated Nagi was changed to increase the gags. While Nagi has had some development, actually causing her to have pivot points that last (which the doujinshi arc should have been) kill her gag potential, and Hata-sensei is clearly loathe to give up gag material.

Exactly. Which is why over the last 1-2 years, my hopes for a proper conclusion have tanked (along with my enthusiasm for this show, to be honest). Which frustrates me, because he COULD go for a proper conclusion with a bit of preparation, but he'd have to suppress his urges.

I may be brain dead here, but who wants to scissor-scissor with Hina?

Forgot already?

Miki. One of the girls of the terrible trio. She fell for Hina after the steeplechase race.