Hayate no Gotoku - CTMEOY - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Kairin]

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire episodes of Hayate no Gotoku - Can't Take My Eyes Off You - ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about Blu-Ray/DVD-exclusive footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:

• General impression of the series.
• Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
• Thoughts about the animation quality.
• Characters/Character Design
• Voice Acting
• Which kind of footage (Blu-Ray/DVD-exclusive) you feel you'd really like to see.
• What the show meant to you.
• What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun

[Amoiro Nguyen]

Animation Quality: 8 (This season had the best animation quality of all the HnG seasons)
Voice Actors: 10 (Rie Kugimiya, Yuka Iguchi and Ryouko Shiraishi are always flawless)
Script: 6 (The first episodes were below average, but the series got much better after the trip to Las Vegas)
Soundtrack: 8 (The OSTs and Ruka's songs are fine)
Editing: 7 (The editors did a fine job)
Enjoyment: 9 (The last 3 episodes deserve a 10, though)
Emotional Involvement: 9 (I cried when Shin Hayek met Yukariko inside the Kurotsubaki.)

[serenade_beta]

It was bad. I gave up on the manga a while ago, but I don't recall it being like... this...

The character designs were far worse than the previous seasons. Closer to the manga, yes, but worse. And who the heck is that Sakuya-look-alike? Sakuya? Eh?!
OP and ED worse too.

The story was quite
But the main problem is they spent the first half doing nothing for too long and when they decided to enter the main story, everything ended up rushed. The last episode had people teleporting here and there for some reason too.
And it didn't help when every development was in nature.
And Luka... OH GOH Luka. WA~~~~~~Y too much focus on her. She gets her own ED. The episodes suddenly go to commercial and she appears and reads some fancy fantasy "deep" lines to the audience. When in the end, she didn't deserve all the time. No point, at all.
Tsugumi and the bird guy.............................. *sigh*

It was bad, but what I really wonder was the point of this season. It doesn't bring any closure. It doesn't even continue the main story. A whole new story that supposedly newbies to Hayate could understand (amusingly, the only reason most people bothered watching this was because it was "Hayate").
Why? To revive the series? I don't know. I didn't feel the staff's energy either. The animation wasn't really that good, and Kugimiya even forgot her voice.

3/10
I guess I got entertainment on a couple of the comedic episodes (like the restaurant one), which is why I give a few points.

[Midonin]

Originally Posted by Midonin

I've been an anime only watcher for my entire experience with this franchise, so there are some elements (such as Ruka) that I never quite understood, but I never felt completely lost either. There were quite a few moments that made me laugh this season, such as the bizarre quiz show and a lot of the stuff in Las Vegas, and the narrative elements were strong, with the themes of familial love and the difference between love and servitude playing a major role. I wish characters I know and love - like Ayumu and Sakuya and Isumi - had played a larger role, but they were utilized fairly well near the end.

The beginning was a little slow, but all of Ruka's monologues and the stuff with Ruri was building up to something later. I could've done without episode three - Yukiji was a bigger role in this story than Hina anyway, and Hina as a character has never done much for me, but I understand there are those who wanted to see her. The absence of Wakamoto (where are you, o heavenly narrator?) and not censoring the anime references made for a bit of a tonal disconnect with the show I knew, but I had been prepped for it by the movie. Hayate is the only other show I know (besides maybe Negima and Minami-ke) that's had such sharp differences between each season. I'd say I enjoyed this one more than the second season - it had a clear goal in what it wanted to do, and a lot of motifs, such as a clockwork motif and a Greek chorus - that I can get behind. Still doesn't top the first season, though. Kawaguchi's absurdist gag comedy style meshed perfectly with what the first season was trying to do, and to me, that's still what Hayate is.

But this wasn't bad either. It was a natural expansion of the world, had a clear throughline, and put Nagi back in the center stage, making her family history important and her development once again a major part of the story. She has been since the start. Not my favorite show of the season, but still a highly enjoyable one nonetheless. Better than the second, not as good as the first. That should cover everything.

I already summed up my thoughts, so I'll just quote myself.

[Yusei Fudo]

Only thing I didn't like was how all Ruka did was perform and never actually talk to the other main protagonists...

[NK141]

I reckon this season was fairly good, not as good as the other two. But in its own way it was good I mean I have read the manga up to current. It was a little slow at the start but I can't say I didn't enjoy this season.

Those first couple of episodes weren't the greatest but I still managed to smile whilst watching(except for that first glimpse of Hina o.O), I also don't get what some people meant by the manga not being as funny or whatever as it used to be. ( I still crack up when reading it)

Anyways overall for this anime 7/10
Artwork 8/10
Animation 6/10 (would be more if the character quality etc wasn't all over the shop at the start)
Story 7/10
Music 7/10 (<3 Ruka)
Sound quality overall 9/10 (for me anyways)

Well that's my 2 Cents. I'm looking forward to the next season

[justsomeguy]

The good:
* It's Hayate no Gotoku

* The story is epic (once it finally gets going) and expands on the Sanzenin family backstory quite a bit.

* Um, I liked the OP?

The bad:
* First off, Manglobe's art and character designs are freaking terrible. Their directing is more active than JC Staff (who just used the manga to storyboard) since most of the material is new, but can't compare to either JC Staff or Synergy SP in grasp of comedy (not that there was much good comedy in this show, there's a near total lack of the zaniness present before).

* Ruka - her solo Greek chorus wasn't funny, replaced Norio Wakamoto as the narrator, and contributed nothing to the show. It also doesn't help that she was introduced in the current horrible boring arc the manga is wading through, which has me associate her with "suck".

* Tsugumi really needed a more conclusive ending. It seemed like she was written just to get the characters into the story, but as the show went on her contribution as a character faded.

* The recycled episodes: the Hinagiku date was just ripped from a much earlier part of the manga and stuck in here in a different context that had none of the humor and emotion. The cafe robber episode was also ripped from a much earlier part of the manga, with Tsugumi replacing another character who's long since been banished from Hata's memory. The ripped episodes wouldn't bother me so much if the show had not been called an original storyline. Now they just seemed to indicate Hata's apathy toward the whole franchise.

* The gags, comedy, and references are mostly gone. In their place is open namedropping of other shows (see episode 4). If I wanted suggestions I would go to the suggestions forum, not watch a character ask for suggestions. The stuff like Hayate's "ugly angel" comment was more in line with what I was looking for.

* Heck, the entire first half of the show exemplified what's going wrong with the manga at the moment.

* What happens when the manga gets to this timepoint (assuming it ever does before getting canceled)? Is Hata going to retread this whole storyline for a hundred chapters (oh joy -_-)? Or will he write this out of canon? Neither option is good.

* Given this season's horrible sales, it is a miracle that the anime is getting another season.

I really can't grade this show without also taking into account the current state of the manga. For the past two years and a hundred chapters (I could be remembering wrong, but...) the material has been mired in an extremely boring stretch with a mere fraction of the fun that made me love HnG. Based on the number of chapters and the pathetic 2-volume-per-year rate of Viz's official English release (vs the 4+/year of the Japanese), that means I'm stuck with at least 4 fucking years of the current situation.

Final score: 7/10. A lazy effort overall. Making the first half good would have made the show so much more. This show is not representative of HnG's full potential. Though as a whole, the franchise is inching towards 5/10.

[Megacrash Gr]

As a filler series, Hayate no Gotoku CTMEOY was alright. Wanted to give it an 8 overall because of the originality effort. (accidently pressed 7...voted from phone). Artwork...hmm it's a 6. everything else a 7. overall rating 8.

[Witch of Uncertainty]

Shaky start, but excellent towards the end.
I'm probably a 7/10, but I gave it a 8/10 by misstake.

[Guido]

When this third title in the Hayate franchise was announced around spring I didn't expect the surprise after been about three years since the end of the second season.

Even though this whole season three was not manga canon, it was pretty enjoyable to watch a full backstory in detail told about Nagis' parents and how they met. I also got to see Nagi undergoing some serious growing-up in her overall personality towards the end of this season, and it became fulfilling watching her interacting with her long, lost, and estranged father for a first.

I only got some disappointment about this season not featuring Hayate wearing girl's wardrobe, as he did in the previous seasons, although he came close to do so towards the end of this season.
Some other losses were Wakamoto Norio not featured as the narrator's voice, and the roles for both Tama and Klaus being downplayed practically to cameo appearances for only two episodes; Klaus totally uttering only a speech line throughout the entire series.

Other downplayed characters were Saki and Wataru, whom only made a limited appearance in this season's fourth episode.

But, still we got lots of Yukiji money, mayhem madness, and Hinagiku's outburst tsunderess, coupled crazed Nagi moeness.

There was a thing about that I didn't quite understand: the apple.
It was consistently featured in both the opening and ending videos plus also in the Ruka segments.
What exactly the apple stood for?

Mmmh.... The third season ended, and yet once the last episode came a few seconds close to ending I was left with that familiar feeling of vacancy whenever I'm done with a show, although I should not.

After all, season four is coming up on next year's spring season.

To season three my approval grade is 85%, as well as it was the second title I concluded for the autumn 2012 anime season, and the third consecutive show that I ended on Christmas day.

[~Yami~]

this season is disaster.... no matter how much I try to love it, I just can't....

I think I'm putting too much expectation on Hayate 3rd season....

[wingman32x]

This series was kind of a mixed bag for me. One the one hand, I really liked the Shin Hayek storyline, and the last two episodes were great. On the other hand, the animation was weird at times, the jokes weren't too good, and the whole manga/original content flip flopping early on was weird.

As for score, if it weren't for the last 2 episodes, I would have given it a 6. However, the climax really tied everything up nicely given the circumstances. 7/10.

One other good thing this series did was it made me check out the first season of the anime. I've been manga only for a while, but man I'm really liking the first season. It's the same stuff I've read, but the narrator and anime references are hilarious(Really got a kick out of Nagi talking as if Hayate were Freiza lol). So that's a bonus, I guess.