Hayate no Gotoku! – CM

As many of you may already know, it was confirmed last week that Hayate no Gotoku! (aka. Hayate the Combat Butler) is getting animated. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Hayate no Gotoku! is about a boy named Ayasaki Hayate who is left with his parents’ massive debt after they abandoned him. In trying to kidnap a rich girl named Nagi for ransom money, Hayate mistakenly gives her the impression that he’s confessing his love. After a series of unlikely events, Nagi pays off Hayate’s debt for him, and he becomes her butler for the next 40 years to repay her. It’s a very amusing manga with some great chapter titles that make references to all kinds of popular anime.

The purpose of this commercial was to promote the special DVD with six minutes of footage and narration by Wakamoto Norio. Those six minutes are already available to see on Youtube, but the caveat is that it’s camcorder quality. On the commercial and on the promo video, you get a chance to hear the seiyuu as their characters, including Kugimiya Rie as Nagi. When I learned that she was going to be doing that voice, the first thing in my mind was whether or not they would repeat Shana/Yuuji and Louise/Saito by casting Hino Satoshi as Hayate. Unfortunately, that’s not the case and instead Shiraishi Ryoko will be voicing him. The other announced seiyuu are Tanaka Rie as Maria, Itou Shizuka as Hinagiku, Nabatame Hitomi as Yukiji, and Toriumi Kousuke as Himuro.

Hayate no Gotoku! is set to premiere sometime this year, but it does not yet have a specific air-date. It’s high on my list of anticipated anime, so hopefully the wait won’t be too long.