I am finally back to begin write-ups for the newest season of the Hayate no Gotoku anime, this time called Hayate no Gotoku Cuties, as evidenced by an earlier post and the title of this post. In case you, the reader, have not read the earlier post detailing what this season is going to be like I will detail what tack this season will take. Cuties will feature a different member of the cast each episode; this episode focuses on Hayate. The way I will do my write-ups, or at least this one, is that I will type up the write-up as I watch and integrate my thoughts in the summary, which was the method I used for the last episode of Can't Take My Eyes Off You. I think this method works quite well and is enjoyable for me. So onto the first write-up! (After the jump!)
The episode begins with a quick reintroduction of Hayate with his debt, misfortune, and status as Nagi's butler. (Maybe this will be similar to the "ramp" segment from CTMEOY. If this type of introduction happens repeatedly then I will likely start using the term "ramp segment" again.)
Here plays the introductory segment with music sung by Shizuka Ito, Hinagiku's voice actor. The introductory segment features most of the cast at one point or another so I will likely comment about their appearances some. (Nice, you guys formed a circle and everybody looks on model. Yay! There is the Violet Mansion and Athena is little, not too weird. Saku has blackish hair again. Yay! Isumi got lost in the jungle, which reminds me of an entirely different anime. The wind is blowing and Izumi has to hold her skirt down. I guess I am happy that Izumi hasn't simply resigned herself to delivering panty-shots for absolutely no reason. Ruka's still doing her idol thing which means she is still healthy. Did not realize that Nagi had such long hair. Hinagiku is still doing kendo, good for her. Tama, Shiranui, Father Lynn all show up; I wonder if Mystery Room is going to make up Athena's episode. Fumi and Sharna show up providing what may be my favorite moment from the intro; Fumi starts in eternally shocked and disproportioned form and transforms into cute, normal Fumi. Once more scenes with most of the girls of import except for Nagi cycles through; an interesting thing happens here, Hayate is in the foreground for two of these scenes, the one with Hinagiku and Ayumu and the one with Izumi, Miki, and Risa. Interestingly only the girls interested in Hayate: Hinagiku, Ayumu, and Izumi look towards Hayate.)
Now the episode really begins. It begins with Hayate cleaning the front of the Violet Mansion. The clock shows five and Hayate sets out Hinagiku's shoes for her. She comes out to put on her shoes to take a run and Hayate says that he will make honey-preserved lemons for her. The clock shows six and Hayate comments on Maria seeming tired. She says that Nagi has a harder time falling asleep in the Violet Mansion and Hayate offers Maria a honey-preserved lemon. Now Hinagiku returns from her run and asks Hayate if the bath is ready and he replies saying it is and the lemons are ready. The clock shows seven, Hayate tries to wake Nagi up and fails. The clock shows seven-thirty, Hayate asks Chiharu what she wants for breakfast, she replies and Hayate begins making it. The clock shows quarter till eight, Chiharu and Kayura eat, Chiharu and Hayate talk about Nagi not being awake, and Ayumu crosses the scene announcing that she overslept. The clock shows eight and Hayate and Maria see Chiharu, Kayura, and Ayumu off. Hayate begins studying English, Maria comments on his studying and Nagi's state of continued sleeping, Hayate says she should be up soon. The clock shows about eight thirty, Nagi is awake and scolds Hayate for not getting her up, and Athena is shown reacting to Nagi's shouting before resuming sleep. The clock shows ten, Athena is finally up (kind of), and Maria is doing the laundry. Nagi, Chiharu, Kayura, and Hinagiku are shown having lunch with Hayate serving tea a bit after noon. Hayate and Nagi return home at an unspecified time. Dinner is served around nineteen-thirty, Nagi tries to get Chiharu to play games with her but both Hayate and Chiharu shoots down the idea for various reasons; Hinagiku returns just in time for dinner. The clock shows twenty-one, Ayumu is in the bath, and Nagi gets Chiharu to play games with her until Ayumu is out of the bath (which happens around thirty minutes later. I originally thought Ayumu took a ninety minute bath so I had to rewatch a few seconds where the time she left the bath was shown. It looks like Ayumu got stuck with fan service duty this time.) About an hour before midnight, Hinagiku decides to take her second bath of the day and talks to Hayate while he prepares food for the next day. Half an hour later, Hinagiku is shown bathing (ah, you got stuck with fanservice too Hinagiku) and Hayate carries Nagi back to her room after she fell asleep in Chiharu's. (An astute person who has read the manga should recognize what is going on, but more on that later.) Half an hour after midnight Nagi is shown in her futon and Maria goes to bed. At one in the morning, Hayate is shown studying and Hinagiku comes in to help him study. (Hinagiku is wearing some interesting things on her feet that look like a cross between toeless socks and leg-warmers. Maybe they are something typical that I don't know about.) Ninety minutes later, Hinagiku leaves and Hayate continues studying. At three-thirty, Hayate finally decides to get some sleep. An hour later, Hayate wakes up to begin cleaning again. (So by this point it is fairly obvious that this part of the episode is an adaptation from the manga, particularly chapter 303, assuming that you have read the manga, of course.) At five, Hayate sets out Hinagiku's shoes, but she doesn't come out. Hayate sets out breakfast around seven and nobody else is up. He thinks that it is strange for Hinagiku to not be up and blames himself for her staying up to help him. Maria comes out coughing and Hayate figures out that Maria is sick so he checks on Nagi and finds her sick also. Hayate then checks on everyone else and finds out that only he and Ayumu are healthy. (A good line shows up here where Hina says she can beat the cold with willpower and Hayate says she should just beat it with medicine.) He finds Athena walking around, she comments that he will get the cold eventually, and reveals that she is ill also. Hayate begins to go out for medicine and Kayura tackles him so he gets her doujinshi. (This is another manga adaptation, as people who have read the manga know, this time of a chapter around 350. I really like the touch of linking the two chapters together, it's nice.)
Now comes the connecting theater, returning from CTMEOY. Hayate is shown playing a game on a 3DS. Maria wonders why he is playing the game so intently. Hayate answers that the only person who plays the game with him is Nagi and she is quite the good game player.
For the second half theater, Hayate is shown in a bunny-girl outfit. Hayate asks Nagi where she got it from. Nagi answers that it is one of Maria's normal outfits and Maria replies from off-screen that the outfit is not hers.
Back to the main episode and it is time for finals. Hayate has caught the cold as Athena said. Maria, now better, asks Hayate if he caught the cold and he lies and says he didn't, while coughing. Nagi hears this and starts to blame herself for Hayate catching a cold. Hayate then convinces Nagi that he can't catch colds. Hinagiku and others comment that it is great to no longer be sick and Hayate keeps up his lie of not being sick, but Maria seems to suspect otherwise. (Of course Maria does, she's fairly well established as one of the most intelligent people in the series.) Hayate and Nagi head for school, but are stopped by Ruka as she gives them a copy of the DVD recording of her Las Vegas concert and is convinced by Nagi that Hayate does not have a cold after she thinks otherwise. Hayate and Nagi finally make it to school and split up. Hayate runs into Hinagiku and convinces her again that he is not sick. Hayate looks at his watch and decides to get to the test room early and save his energy. Unfortunately for Hayate, Fumi collapses in front of him and he has to carry her to the infirmary, a kilometer away. Hayate resumes his trip to the classroom, running this time since he is running a bit late when Saki calls him and he gets guilt tripped into talking with her about Wataru's business for five minutes. When Hayate thinks his ordeal of pre-test stuff is over, he is stopped by Isumi and told that he has to help her defeat a monster, which he obviously does. Hayate finally makes it to the classroom just on time to take the test. Hayate begins to take the test, but Yukiji does a variety of distracting things. First, she spins around in her chair making noise; this causes Hayate to break a pencil. Then, she turns on her game system which distracts everybody before she turns down the volume. Finally, she gets too into her game, breaking her chair, and causing her handheld to hit Hayate. Hayate removes the system from his hair and breaks it in two. Hayate returns home, expecting to have to make dinner, but finds a finished dinner waiting for him. Maria brings medicine and water for Hayate to take. Before he can do that though, someone says they need more soy sauce and Hayate goes to buy some while being tackled by Kayura so he gets more manga. He returns with the sauce and thus ends the episode. (This was, you guessed it reader, yet another manga adaptation, though this happened directly after the cold of the others in the manga too.)
Afterwards is the ending theme, which is different for each episode and this time features the "Cutie" of the episode, Hayate.
So yeah, I really enjoyed this episode. It was nice to see some anime adaptation for a first episode at least. I have to say that this episode featured some of the more entertaining stand alone Hayate chapters that haven't already been in the anime. I am actually quite interested in what the other episodes of this anime will be like. I have a feeling that it will be mostly adaptations from the manga, but who knows.
Now is time for a small rant. Well kind of, I am not really going to rant per say, but address something I wrote about back in a post for CTMEOY. I am now of the belief that the manga and anime are different continuities with different orders for events. The timeline for the anime as I see it looks like this: Season 1 (minus about the last half except for things that actually happened in the manga like Saku's Titanic and Radical Dreamers) (Hayate no Gotoku!) ---> Season 2 (Hayate no Gotoku!!) ---> An Unshown Season (events such as Golden Week and the main cast meeting Ruka occurs here) (I will call it Hayate no Gotoku!!!) ---> Hayate no Gotoku: Can't Take My Eyes Off You ---> Hayate no Gotoku: Cuties. Either this is a reasonable timeline or the cameraman has become unstuck in time and we are viewing events in a semi-sensical order that is false and things are actually happening in manga order. Well, I suppose there are other options, but these two seem the most likely. So that is that.
So, reader, look forward to next Tuesday when I will do the write up for episode two, Nagi Sanzenin. Until next time.
Quick postscript: The cameraman becoming unstuck in time idea is a reference to a book I am reading. If you do not know what the reference is, don't worry about it, I may reveal it later.
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