The House of AnimeJB

Episode Summary

In what is apparently a dream, a young Hayate asks Santa why he doesn’t get any presents for Christmas, and Santa tells him that it’s because he’s poor. Santa tells Hayate that if he wants to get anywhere he has to work hard, but even if he does he still won’t bring him any presents. Hayate decides to believe in Santa’s words anyway.

In the present day, Hayate is a very hard worker because his parents are bums and spend money frivolously or investing in silly dreams that always fall through. Though he has a good reputation and is known for his speed and resilience (and, unfortunately, clumsiness), he is fired because his parents went to his boss and told him that Hayate lied about his age. His boss gives Hayate’s money to his parents.

When Hayate gets home he finds that his parents already wasted his paycheck and have split town, abandoning him with a huge debt (¥156,804,000) that they gave him as a Christmas present. Yakuza come to collect Hayate and Hayate escapes. As he contemplates what to do he notices a girl complaining that the hot drink machines don’t take credit cards, and after a short internal battle decides to kidnap her for ransom. However, two other men try to do so first, and Hayate instinctively jumps out to protect her from them.

The girl - Nagi - is grateful and tells Hayate to ask for anything he wants, and instead of telling her he will kidnap her he bungles his words and says he wants her and will take her away no matter the cost. She thinks he confessed his love for her and waits as he finds a payphone to call her parents. He bungles the ransom call by using his name, loses his last few yen, and passes out from the cold in the snow.

Maria the maid makes her appearance and wakes Hayate up, lending him a scarf. In the distance they can see Nagi getting kidnapped again and Hayate tells the worried Maria that he will save her. As he’s hopping on his bike, Nagi is taunting her kidnappers and tells them that someone said he would take her away no matter the cost, so he’ll come if she calls him. She screams, “HAYATE!” Sure enough Hayate has caught up with the car. He gets hit by the car and lands on the roof, where he scares the kidnappers into handing Nagi over.

Nagi asks if he’s okay, and he says he’s fine because of his training. However he then collapses and bleeds all over - so badly that it apparently can’t be broadcast. Maria calls for a helicopter and Nagi decides to make Hayate her new butler as they need a replacement anyway.

Characters

Hayate

Calophi: Hayate seems to be a clumsy yet very talented guy. He’ll bumble his words or get into weird accidents but it doesn’t seem like there’s any job he can’t do. All of his inhuman speed/resilience/stamina/etc. are passed off as being due to his “training”, which given the tone of this series we are never likely to see because it wouldn’t be funny! It’ll probably take him a while to realize that Nagi has a crush on him, and I’m not sure he’ll have the feelings for her that she thinks he has at the end of the series.

Eurkos: Constant, regular training has given Hayate the ability to survive things like being knocked off his bike, being run over by a car, and fighting giant robots. But, as Santa Claus was so kind to remind him of, he’s poor and has constant bad luck. He has to fake his age in order to work because his parents are losers. All in all, he seems fairly upbeat about it. He seems to have a strong sense of justice, but very little common sense. He is also oblivious to the emotions that he stirred up in Nagi by his poor word-choice, which will probably remain constant.

Nagi

Calophi: Nagi is sort of a typical bratty rich kid, but not to the point where you get annoyed with her. I love how she mouths off to her enemies, and her unfounded faith in Hayate is just adorable. The kid’s got guts, that’s for sure, but she’s gonna be really pissed when she finds out that Hayate tried to kidnap her. I also wonder if she will notice if he starts to crush on Maria, and if she’ll fight for him or pretend she doesn’t care.

Eurkos: Although she’s a brat, Nagi is loyal to people she cares about. Due to Hayate’s poor word choice, Nagi found herself dealing with feelings for him and probably doesn’t quite know how to handle them just yet. She uses the excuse of Hayate saving her life to make him her butler, but that’s probably a very small part of the reason. Normally strong willed and outspoken, she turns into a cute, blushy little girl while talking to Hayate. She’ll probably get frustrated with his obliviousness, especially since he’s the one that initiated it as far as she’s concerned.

Maria

Calophi: Maria is Nagi’s maid, and is extremely sweet. She’s meant to be the more stable character to balance out the slight air-headedness of Nagi and Hayate. It’s pretty obvious she’s meant to be a love-interest for Hayate, too, but I don’t see her returning his affections.

Eurkos: Maria is obviously supposed to be the counter balance to Hayate and Nagi. As Nagi’s maid, she is charged with taking care of everything. Probably because she’s cute and lent him a scarf, Hayate will probably develop some measure of feelings for her. This will most likely cause problems.

Nagi’s Parents

Calophi: Anyone who’s seen Hana Yori Dango is familiar with the deadbeat parents thing, but these guys have Makino’s dad beat. Seriously, neither of them have jobs and just spend money on stupid things - at least Makino’s dad tried, and they didn’t spend extra money - they were just poor. I can’t believe they abandoned their son to unsavory types, though - they’re the most awful parents I’ve ever encountered in an anime. Unfortunately I think they’ll be back later once they realize that Hayate is living in a mansion, or racking up more debt to send to him, or something.

Eurkos: Hayate’s parents have been causing him problems for as long as he can remember, and I’d be willing to bet that continues on through the course of the show. Since they weren’t given faces, they probably won’t do much in the foreground, but I’m sure they will cause more damage from the background. They’re the main (if not only) reason that Hayate is poor and has the debt to the mob.

Santa

Calophi: Santa seems to be the stuff of Hayate’s dreams, both asleep and awake. And he’s sort of a jerk. XD I don’t know why Hayate’s been taking the advice of a dream character all his life, but he HAS been. And after seeing episode 2 also, I think it’s safe to say that we’ll see Santa as a recurring character every so often.

Eurkos: Maybe it’s just me, but I find it hilarious that Santa is in it as he is. He’s a jerk, but he’s so jolly about it. Like when he tells Hayate that the reason he doesn’t get Christmas presents is because he’s poor. It seems like Hayate has been having dream conversations with Santa for a while, and even winds up punching Santa in the face. Comedy gold. I sincerely hope that there will be more Santa conversations as the series progresses.

Storyline Thoughts

Calophi: The storyline isn’t really what makes this show as awesome as it is. The main plot point is definitely “poor kid is in debt to rich kid and has to work for them”, which in and of itself isn’t interesting. However, instead of trying to do it seriously, this anime is fairly unrealistic and silly. The narrator is hilarious, the exaggerated stereotype of deadbeat parents is great, and obviously sticking in things like Santa and giant robots isn’t ordinary, even though the narrator insists that Hayate and things he is associated with are, indeed, ordinary. Obviously the little subplots for character relationships will drive things a bit, but as for overall plot so far there hasn’t really been a hint to a larger story arc. It seems to be mostly made in a one-shot format thus far.

Eurkos: Like Calophi said, storyline isn’t the driving force of this show. Which is good, because it wouldn’t be as entertaining if it were. The show is driven by its silliness. Giant Robots, Santa, Hayate’s rediculous strength and speed which are only explained as him training regularly, the parents, and a bunch of other stuff packed in are what make the show worth watching. Character development might make a small foothold, but it doesn’t necessarily need to at this point.

Final Verdict

Calophi: Are you kidding me? This show is pretty much at the top of my list this season! It’s so incredibly quirky and unpredictable that there was no way I wouldn’t be hooked from the start. I’ve already watched episode two and it’s just as great as episode one, so as long as they keep this same format I don’t see how this series could possibly fail the upcoming 6-episode test.

Eurkos: I don’t see how this show could possible fail the 6-ep test, unless it’s either only 5 episodes, or it suddenly changes feel and becomes stupid. The sign of a good anime, for me, is when the episode is over, you wish it weren’t. It leaves you wanting more, and that’s exactly what gets you to watch the next episode. As long as they keep that up, I’ll keep watching. This one’s among my top 3 shows so far this season (since I have a hard time picking absolute favorites).