First Impressions / Hayate no Gotoku!

Summary:

After Sakuya heads off to school, Hayate thinks that Nagi should go too, but she feels that she can’t because her guest Isumi is still sleeping. Nagi, of course, also wants to spend time with Hayate. With this in mind, Maria privately asks Hayate if he likes older or younger women because she wants to determine his feels towards Nagi. Hayate, however, misinterprets this as a chance to go down the Maria path in terms of love-relationships, so he tells her that he prefers older women. Before their conversation can get much further, Hayate gets called upstairs to Nagi’s room. To his surprise, she forces him to put on a girl’s school uniform and then starts taking pictures. Hayate is really worried about getting fired because Klaus had told him that butlers should be manly. That’s why he doesn’t want Klaus or Maria to see him like this, but Maria turns out to be already in the room. Unfortunately for him, Maria heads to the closet and finds him a frilly dress that she would prefer on him instead. While she and Nagi start choosing more clothes for him, Hayate tries to sneak out, but they catch him and force him to wear a cat costume. Nagi thinks that the costume really suits him and when she asks for Tama’s opinion, the tiger wakes up from its nap. As soon as Tama catches sight of Hayate, he gets lust in his eyes and jumps after the butler. The tiger then tackles Hayate through the window and onto the ground outside.

Watching Tama assault Hayate, Nagi wonders if its because the tiger mistook Hayate for a cute female or a cute male and thinks that she might need to change Tama’s training. Hayate meanwhile finally gets Tama off of him with a leg attack that snaps Tama’s neck. With Tama out of the way, Hayate’s next obstacles appears in the form of Klaus himself. Afraid of getting fired, Hayate attempts to sneak away, but accidentally steps on a game controller lying outside and attracts Klaus’s attention. When Hayate runs away, trying not to let Klaus see his face, Klaus gives chase and throws several explosive roses. Unable to outrun Klaus, Hayate decides to hide his face with a large ribbon, however he soon finds out that this also prevents him from seeing anything. Klaus knocks the ribbon off with a kick to Hayate’s back, but when he actually sees Hayate, Klaus is so attracted that he attempts to jump on Hayate, just like Tama did. Luckily for Hayate, Maria knocks Klaus out and returns Hayate’s normal butler clothes. Hayate is really grateful to her, which in turn gets Nagi angry. Unbeknownst to them, Izumi, Miki, and Risa of the student council have come to visit and now think that Hayate is the new maid instead of the new butler.

As Hayate is getting his injuries treated, he discovers Isumi in the same room. She had gotten lost again and ends up sleeping over with Nagi again. A little later, Hayate finds Maria playing billiards by herself, and he joins her. As part of the banter while they play, Hayate comments on how well Isumi and Nagi get along, so Maria explains that they met at a party eight years ago. At the time, Sakuya had made fun of Nagi’s manga as scribbling, but Isumi had wanted to know what happened next in the story because she found it interesting. Nagi had immediately proposed that they get married, and the two ended up becoming best friends. Back in the present, Maria learns that Hayate used to work in a pool bar and agrees to a bet with him where the winner has to do what the loser says. After showing him her amazing pool abilities, Maria explains that if he loses, she wants to increase his debt to two hundred million yen because it’s a lot easier to say than 155,823,975 yen. When Hayate realizes that he’s going to lose, he asks Maria how he’s going to pay back 200 million yen. She thinks that he could marry Nagi if he wants to get rid of the debt quickly, but Hayate refuses because it would look like he did it just for the money. Nagi is the person he owes his life to and is thus really important to him, so he can’t do that to her. Deciding that Hayate is a good person, Maria intentionally messes up her next shot and lets Hayate win. Before Hayate can make Maria do what he wants though, a furious Nagi arrives and forbids him to lay a hand on Maria.

Preview:

The first half of the episode with Hayate’s dress-up scenes (and Tama’s reaction/humping in particular) were fairly amusing, but I thought the episode overall was a little boring. There seemed to be a lot more humor based on the story and what was going on rather than humor based on references to other shows, and I just didn’t find it as funny. Granted, it’s very likely that I feel this way because I’m comparing this episode with today’s epic episode of Gurren Lagann, and, well, Hayate doesn’t stand a chance.
Next week appears to be skipping back ahead to volume 5 material with Hayate and Hinagiku, which will hopefully prove to be fairly interesting.

33 Comments

  9. What was that LAST screenshot? That wasn’t in the manga…

    …

    Okay, NOW I’m officially scared. And they’re jumping all the way forward to the Hinagiku and Hayate in the haunted school already? Damn, time flies.

    Haesslich
    Reply

  10. Last screenshot is from when Hayate and Nagi do their bit after the ED. I think something about Hayate’s Character song and dressing up but not too sure… Gurren Lagann’s episode was just TOO EPIC that I wasn’t really paying attention to Hayate today.

    moyism
    Reply

  13. Gurren Lagann’s episode was just TOO EPIC that I wasn’t really paying attention to Hayate today.
    My feelings exactly. This episode was nothing to me after watching today’s episode of GL.

    Omni
    Reply

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