Hayate no Gotoku manga (raw discussion only)

[mitsuganae]

Interesting how the points of contact between Ruka's and Nagi's development are shown (what cards are dealt, how one chooses to play those cards, for whose sake does one do this or that, etc.). Well done, Hata.

And now, onwards, I guess. Maybe Maria's arc is next (my guess is that the whole affair of littler miss tenuous's memories will be dealt with during the final competition).

[GDB]

Finally this arc is over. I hope. While Ruka was a good character, this arc was just tedious. It's already been 13 volumes (this arc goes through the first 3 chapters or so of volume 39, if my count is correct, and the Greece arc ended in volume 25), and I feel very little has actually happened. We got Ruka, who will likely disappear, we got that other roommate who has done so little I cannot even remember her name, and Nagi grew a little. But that's really not much considering it took a third of the entire manga's print run.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by MCAL

Chapter 428

Really... this chapter spoke for itself. I don't think I need to add anything to it.

What I will give is the sincere thanks for Hata-sensei for giving us this arc. Absolutely brilliant and completely on par with the Athena arc. And confession time. I actually shed a few tears.

Really?

For me, the Ruka resolution was a complete convenient "Deus Ex Machina". Either I've completely slept through several chapters, or the "hey, let's find the parents" resolution was 100% undeveloped.

I'll concede that in the end, Nagi did show some growth - that's the good news. Now let's see if Hata allows this growth to be permanent, or if we have another relapse (what I fear).

So, a decent arc, but for my taste, not remotely in he Greece league.

[GlassesLady]

Not sure I like Ruka declaring she loves being an idol after all. I feel like this wasn't what we were shown before at all... plus, what does this mean for her manga-drawing dream? Is she still going to pursue both of those things? I suppose we'll have another chapter or two to wrap this up that might shed light on that, but still...

The insight into Hayate's feelings about his parents was nice.

Oh well, on to Athena's return and Nagi getting the apartment back, one of which I care about more than the other. :P

Oh, and did Hina actually contribute anything here besides resigning Hayate to the trunk? The doctor knew where Ruka's parents were, Hayate convinced them to come, but Hina... did what, exactly?

[GDB]

From the sounds of it, somehow helped save some patients' lives.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

I disagree. I was interested when Ruka said she was continuing her idol career because she had no choice, but now Hata threw all that out the window just to go back to the clichéd "I actually love my job after all!" development.

Ruka could have been happy for things in her life other than her work. I'm disappointed Hata didn't go that route.

The thing is, although you see it as clichéd, I felt all along that the main thing driving Ruka was the fact that she actually loved her job. Trust me, if you don't love your job, you may still do a good job, but you only do what it takes to get you through. Ruka was showing all along that she was more than willing to go above an beyond to do her job, whether it was the long hours, practice, or training to do something she didn't know (like learning to ride a bike with Hayate). You have to love what you are doing to go the extra mile.

So for me, her loving her job is the natural and logical way to go based on what we'd seen of her to date.

Originally Posted by zibi88

so I guess Ruka will disappear from the series now as her route is done... she lost the match so she lost hayate in a way...

For the most part, yeah. However, we know she'll remain friends with Nagi and company, so there are still opportunities for her to drop by and vice versa.

Originally Posted by madmac

With Ruka safely on a trip and out of the spotlight for a considerable amount of time, (And I don't think she'll ever get the spotlight back, really.) I suppose we'll be moving on to Athena getting her memories back. I have a feeling it will all coincide with Nagi getting her mansion back but you never quite know what Hata will do, so we'll see.

I think you are right. Athena wasn't part of CTMEOY, IIRC. So I figure she will now take center stage with Nagi. However, before that happens, I expect Hata-sensei to shift to gag stories for a while, at least through January. I could be wrong though. He always seems to fret when the manga focuses on plot for a few chapters.

Originally Posted by GDB

Finally this arc is over. I hope. While Ruka was a good character, this arc was just tedious. It's already been 13 volumes (this arc goes through the first 3 chapters or so of volume 39, if my count is correct, and the Greece arc ended in volume 25), and I feel very little has actually happened. We got Ruka, who will likely disappear, we got that other roommate who has done so little I cannot even remember her name, and Nagi grew a little. But that's really not much considering it took a third of the entire manga's print run.

There were other plot threads touched on during this period, including the main plot. Hata-sensei does things differently than others when it comes to arcs. With the doujinshi contest, it wove in and out of things. So while this sub-plot went on a long time, other elements coming in kept delaying it from getting a resolution.

Originally Posted by Mentar

For me, the Ruka resolution was a complete convenient "Deus Ex Machina". Either I've completely slept through several chapters, or the "hey, let's find the parents" resolution was 100% undeveloped.

Her parents showing up was planned for a while with the inclusion of Kurosu, but having them show up at the end was not what many expected, at least that I saw. I had thought that we'd see Hayate, Hina, and Kurosu doing the whole "find Ruka's parents" stuff starting with the current chapter, but Hata-sensei seems keen on pressing forward instead.

Originally Posted by Mentar

I'll concede that in the end, Nagi did show some growth - that's the good news. Now let's see if Hata allows this growth to be permanent, or if we have another relapse (what I fear).

I understand the fear, but I don't think that will happen. I'm rereading the manga at the moment (slowly) and I'm up to the part where Nagi gets the part-time job. I now see that this is where Hata-sensei steered Nagi on the path she is currently on. She's been growing steadily since then, both in terms of understanding work, but in terms of learning what it means to be a manga-ka.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

Her parents showing up was planned for a while with the inclusion of Kurosu, but having them show up at the end was not what many expected, at least that I saw.

Er, what? Reference please. Where were the whereabouts of Ruka's parents ever referenced before? For me this came totally out of the blue. And I still don't see what Hina and Kurosu were needed for that.

I understand the fear, but I don't think that will happen. I'm rereading the manga at the moment (slowly) and I'm up to the part where Nagi gets the part-time job. I now see that this is where Hata-sensei steered Nagi on the path she is currently on. She's been growing steadily since then, both in terms of understanding work, but in terms of learning what it means to be a manga-ka.

Oh, really? Then you see more than I do. The exactly two differences I could make out were that after Chiharu called her out, Nagi persevered for ONCE, and that she was willing to honor the bet (though I felt she made the call too easily - an impulsive decision like her crushing of the jewel in the Greece arc).

Well, let's wait and see.

[madmac]

Er, what? Reference please. Where were the whereabouts of Ruka's parents ever referenced before? For me this came totally out of the blue. And I still don't see what Hina and Kurosu were needed for that.

No one ever came out and said RUKA'S PARENTS but it was super obvious that Kurosu had some sort of connection to Ruka or her family, she was able to tell Hayate something instantly shocking and understandable during the concert, and the one part of the trip we did see of Hayate and Co was going to a house in Hokkaido. With the earlier reveal that Kayura met Ruka very early on in Hokkaido the inferences were fairly clear. There were more then enough clues that a lot of people were speculating about the parent angle well before it happened.

It wasn't some crazy out of nowhere reveal with no prior build-up, even if the resolution felt a little rushed.

Oh, and did Hina actually contribute anything here besides resigning Hayate to the trunk? The doctor knew where Ruka's parents were, Hayate convinced them to come, but Hina... did what, exactly?

Well coming along was Hina's decision, she didn't need any special skills for that. Even so she got credited with helping save someones life, Ruka's parents were apparently still recuperating and it sounds like Hayate and co have been busy helping organize everything with getting started on their new business, contacting Atsumari to re-assume the debt and so on. You'll notice that Ruka's manager is outside chatting with Hina about halfway through the chapter. At this point I think that's as much of an explanation as we'll get. This chapter was timed so that we'd get reveals on what both Ruka and Hayate/Kurosu have been up to the last two weeks all at once, which is probably why it feels so busy.

Edit: I also don't think character regression is a serious concern at this point. The summer arc was a long, sprawling thing, with most of the character development/payoff at the end. I would not be surprised if part of that was a combination of Hata needing to assist with the anime as well as stalling for time on the next arc, because frankly I don't think this series has more then one mega-arc left to tell. One small arc that leads into a bigger one perhaps, but not two long arcs.

Besides, no sane author shifts from spinning his wheels for months to sprinting through the conclusion because he has no idea what he's going to do afterwards.

He did call the manga 60% done almost two years ago, after all. What would it be now? 75%? 80%?

With that in mind, I expect that Nagi getting her mansion back will just be a lead in for the last arc, just like the summer arc started with the search for the Violet Mansion.

[AdventSleeper]

Finally the arc is over. I'm looking forward to seeing something different.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

The thing is, although you see it as clichéd, I felt all along that the main thing driving Ruka was the fact that she actually loved her job. Trust me, if you don't love your job, you may still do a good job, but you only do what it takes to get you through. Ruka was showing all along that she was more than willing to go above an beyond to do her job, whether it was the long hours, practice, or training to do something she didn't know (like learning to ride a bike with Hayate). You have to love what you are doing to go the extra mile.

So for me, her loving her job is the natural and logical way to go based on what we'd seen of her to date.

No, you're imposing your own values regarding work ethics onto others. Believe it or not, some people have the will power to overachieve on their job not because they love it, but because it's a stepping stone to what they truly want out of their lives. That does not mean they love everything.

And if you're really going to bring up the bike riding chapter, that involves asking the man she loves for help. That does not prove that she loves her job.

[Kakurin]

That traveling doctor sure knows many people. Now she has also stumbled across Hayate's brother in the past. Hopefully this leads to a good arc. That entire manga competition business was boring and dragged out in my opinion.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by SigUp

That entire manga competition business was boring and dragged out in my opinion.

Definitely. And Hata is really looking for a way to oust Ruka from the series, it seems. "Let's compete again!", "Sure, but let's wait 10 years". Guess the most we'll see of her from here on are cameo appearances of her being an idol.

Ruka, please do us a favor and take Kayura with you too.

[Shadow5YA]

Ruka: "I didn't lose on purpose! It was because of this scary mask that I had to wear for some reason!"

Really, Ruka? Really?

[ChronoReverse]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Ruka: "I didn't lose on purpose! It was because of this scary mask that I had to wear for some reason!"

Really, Ruka? Really?

You're taking it too seriously, she's just riling up Nagi so that she wouldn't keep thinking about the single book Ruka didn't sell out.


Also, I'm looking forward to the next arc if it's about finding Hayate's brother. However, unlike some people, I'm fully aware that it's likely we'll get lots of silly nonsense strips first

[MCAL]

Good thing I had recently re-read the Athena arc, because I would have probably forgot about Hayate's brother. Good thing Hata-sensei didn't.

Also Hata-sensei has answered the question to our debate a while back on whether Hayate would forgive his parents or if they would even apologize. So there you have it. And since this arc is now over. Still gonna say it was fantastic for doing what I thought impossible and gave Nagi significant character development and for making Ruka perhaps the best harem female character in quite a while.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Ruka: "I didn't lose on purpose! It was because of this scary mask that I had to wear for some reason!"

Really, Ruka? Really?

Yeah. Taking that way too seriously.

Originally Posted by GDB

And Hata is really looking for a way to oust Ruka from the series, it seems. "Let's compete again!", "Sure, but let's wait 10 years". Guess the most we'll see of her from here on are cameo appearances of her being an idol.

I don't think that HAS to be the case.

[GDB]

May not HAVE to be, but look at how every other character is treated once their respective arcs are over. And those are the characters that still go to the same school as Hayate and Nagi, as well as live with them! Ruka will have neither to keep her screen time.

[ChampDream]

so the closure to this arc is finally done, now we finally going to know what happen to Hayate's brother, just hope it will more excited then the manga competition.

[ices]

I've a feeling that we will get a time skip in not so distant future.

[GDB]

Wasn't it established (or at least, implied) that the story would end around the in-universe date of Christmas? They can't really afford to time-skip when there's only 4 months left until that.

Plus, if ever there were a time to do a time-skip, it would've been this awful arc that Hata telegraphed wouldn't mean much since the movie/anime already showed aftermath of it.

[ices]

Originally Posted by GDB

Wasn't it established (or at least, implied) that the story would end around the in-universe date of Christmas? They can't really afford to time-skip when there's only 4 months left until that.

Plus, if ever there were a time to do a time-skip, it would've been this awful arc that Hata telegraphed wouldn't mean much since the movie/anime already showed aftermath of it.

What if the time skip is after the date of Christmas? The Story will end at that date. But the beginning of a new adventure will happen ten years after that. Hence we get a 10-years time skip.

Well, it's just a guess.