First Impressions / Hayate no Gotoku!

Summary:

Maria one day suggests that they visit Nagi’s grandfather Mikado, the head of the Sanzenin family, a man who Nagi feels could erase Hayate’s existence. Nagi isn’t so keen on going, but Maria reminds her that her grandfather is her only living blood relative. Sakuya joins them on the trip since she claims to be a relative too, and she and Nagi tell Hayate of how scary Mikado is. As they approach by helicopter, Hayate discovers that Mikado lives in a castle that’s even bigger than Nagi’s mansion. Two lines of butlers and maids are standing at the entrance when they arrive, though Hayate initially gets restrained because he looks so seedy and poor. Hayate gets depressed that he looks this way, and it gets him thinking about his debt again when he’s sent back outside so that Nagi can change clothes. In the garden, he notices a fancy vase that he thinks is worth the 150 million yen he owes, but a voice tells him that the vase is only worth 5 million yen. That voice belongs to a seemingly friendly old man who Hayate initially thinks is a gardener. This man leads Hayate to a vantage point where he can see Nagi and Maria changing, and Hayate knows enough to drag him away.

When the old man asks Hayate why he’s 150 million yen in debt, Hayate explains what his parents did and how he has to work for 40 years to pay it back. This makes the old man, who reveals himself to be none other than Mikado Sanzenin, say that Hayate’s life is meaningless because it’s wasted in repaying a debt. However, Mikado does throw Hayate a pendant that he claims is a guide. If Hayate does not think his life is meaningless, he should keep the pendant on himself and eventually he could get a lot of money. Mikado then returns to the castle to ask if Nagi wants the Sanzenin inheritance, and goes crying to Maria when Nagi says that she’d prefer if he died sooner instead. Nagi feels that she wouldn’t any money problems even without the inheritance because of her own stock portfolio, so Mikado decides to hold her manga over her. Nagi quickly beats him up and takes her manga back, but to her surprise, Mikado explains that he is mentioning this now because Nagi will die. A little later, Nagi finds Hayate and tells him that they’re going home. As they’re talking, the pendant starts emanating a dark aura and Hayate senses something coming.

Hayate is able to dodge the sword of the man who suddenly attacks him, and Nagi thinks that this man is after the Sanzenin inheritance. Earlier, after Mikado had said that she was going to die, he had explained that there were relatives who didn’t want Nagi to get the inheritance. In response to that, Mikado had decided that there would be a condition that someone who wanted the inheritance would have to fulfill in order to get it instead of Nagi. That condition was to make Nagi cry, apologize, and willingly give up her fortune. Nagi of course would rather die than do something embarrassing like that, and she certainly has no intention of doing so for the man attacking her and Hayate now, even when he begs her to. This man then starts to attack Hayate because Mikado had suggested that hurting him would cause Nagi to cry and apologize. Not knowing about Nagi’s stocks and own fortune, Hayate assumes that she’ll be impoverished if she doesn’t get the inheritance and feels bad about his unpaid debt. He resolves to think of a way to pay it back quickly, and even though he doesn’t know the meaning of his life, he decides to protect Nagi for now.

After defeating the man with the sword with a single kick, Hayate vows to protect Nagi from anyone tries to make her cry. Nagi’s face turns completely after hearing these words and she quietly accepts Hayate’s outstretched hand. And thus, Hayate finds the meaning of his life in protecting Nagi.

Preview:

After seeing last week’s anime original episode, I’m actually kind of disappointed that they returned to the manga material because it just wasn’t as fun or funny to watch. There were still plenty of anime and game references, but they tended to be more obscure than the ones we saw last week (at least for me), like Zoma from Dragon Quest and the Hikouseki from Laputa: Castle in the Sky among others. I guess you could say they balanced it with actual plot involving Nagi’s grandfather, who, as I found out, shares the same name as a minor Ranma 1/2 character. In any case, they made the pendant seem a lot more prominent – especially with that dark aura – than I remember it being from what I’ve read of the manga, which makes me wonder if or when it’ll show up again.
Next week’s episode looks like it’ll have Ayumu actually getting to talk to Hayate along with the the Hayate-wants-to-be-a-wife scene. Good ol’ Klaus…

27 Comments

  8. “Max at 11:50 pm on June 9th, 2007

    is it some kind of Mai-Otome’s schwatz stone ?”

    That’s the stone of Laputa, they are parodying the cave scene in “Castle in the Sky”.

    Hypernova
    Reply

  10. Hudson: You’ve been giving up on episodes 7, 8, 10 and now this time IIRC. Why don’t you just STFU and leave for real instead of wasting our time and bandwidth? Would do everyone a favor 🙂

    Also, I have to disagree with Omni: While a single episode of craziness (10) is perfectly fine in my eyes, I prefer that Hayate no Gotoku is slowly reaching the chapters in which the madness gradually develops the romance aspect. And with this key story including Nagi, and the next episode finally developing Nishizawa, we get more of that!

    Mentar
    Reply

  12. Mentar: Because i make it a habit of watching a few more episodes of an anime to see if it can redeem itself. So far this one hasn’t. At least it’s not a fucked up as Negima!? was.

    Hudson
    Reply

  18. Wah don’t tell me Huds gonna wage war again? Not here Huds please…
    This is some frome Vol3 of the manga isn’t it? The visit granpa chapter. There’s the cursed pendant too.
    https://randomc.net/image/Hayate%20no%20Gotoku!/Hayate%20no%20Gotoku!%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Hayate%20no%20Gotoku!/Hayate%20no%20Gotoku!%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Hayate%20no%20Gotoku!/Hayate%20no%20Gotoku!%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2031.jpg

    moondoggiebuiscuit
    Reply

  20. moondoggiebuiscuit: This episode is from volume 2 of the manga. The pendant is in there, but I don’t remember it playing a role past this part (unless it’s in something I haven’t read yet).

    Omni
    Reply

  23. Yup it’s vol 2 alright! Sorry I kepp getting my manga mixed.
    Anyway
    Show Spoiler ▼

    moondoggiebuiscuit
    Reply

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