This is the 14th post in my series of posts about story arcs in the Hayate no Gotoku manga.
Arcs covered include: "A Standalone Chapter and End of the World Lead-up Chapter" and End of the World.
A Standalone Chapter and End of the World Lead-up Chapter
Includes chapters 176 - 177
Characters Introduced:
Silver Red (i.e. Hinagiku in a costume) (Ch. 176)
Events
Hayate and Nagi see the main attraction of the Ginnan Festival, a hero show. (Ch. 176)
Hayate gets pressed into participating in the show when an actor quits and after some time Nagi tells the producers that the show is lame and that they should hold a drawing a large prize, which she donates. (Ch. 176)
Nagi and Hayate get to talking about pictures and talk to various people about pictures. (Ch. 177)
Two pictures are taken with Nagi's camera: one with Nagi, Hayate, Hinagiku, and Ayumu and another with Nagi, Hayate and Maria, which satisfies Nagi for awhile. (Ch. 177)
Arc End
End of the World: A Long Arc
Includes chapters 178 - 187
Note: The whole arc is just one long flashback by Hayate (except the last few pages).
Characters Introduced:
Athena Tennousu (by name Ch. 178)
Hayate's Brother (Ch. 187)
Athena's New Butler (Ch. 187)
Events/Major
Hayate is accused of stealing lunch money and finds out that his father stole the money. (Ch. 178)
Hayate runs away with no regard to his safety and collapses in a field of flowers where he meets and is encouraged by Athena. (Ch. 178)
Athena brings Hayate into the Royal Garden castle and asks him to be her butler as no one else is in the castle. (Ch. 179)
Hayate begins calling Athena A-tan, he becomes her butler, and the first of many kisses occurs between Hayate and Athena. (Ch. 179)
Hayate begins his work as a butler, but fails a bit because he is a bit weak. (Ch. 180)
Athena uses magic to improve Hayate's body and he learns the proper way to clean many things. (Ch. 180)
Hayate becomes lost and enters the wrong room. (Ch. 180)
Athena prevents Hayate from touching a coffin and decides to show him the magic mirror that allows one to see the outside world. (Ch. 181)
Hayate realizes that something is off about the castle and after angering Athena says he loves her and shouts her name. (Ch. 181)
Hayate is trained in fencing by Athena. (Ch. 182)
Athena tells Hayate a way to leave the castle so that he can say goodbye to his mother on the condition that he return immediately. (Ch. 182)
Hayate uses his training to save a girl from a dog and the reward he receives is a kiss and a promise that Izumi will be his wife. (Ch. 183)
Athena scolds Hayate for hiding his time with Izumi and "trains" him to be the proper boyfriend. (Ch. 183)
Hayate suggests that Athena live with him outside the castle, but she asks him why he would want to go back to his parents. (Ch. 184)
Hayate does a lot of work, after getting advice from Izumi, to prove himself worthy of Athena. (Ch. 184)
Hayate gives a ring to Athena, she gives a ring in return, and they promise to wear the rings when they get older. (Ch. 184)
Hayate runs into his parents on the outside and they take advantage of him to sell the ring he had. (Ch. 185)
Hayate returns to Athena and she attacks him for being stupid and tells him that he should just stay with her and forget his parents so he can be happy. (Ch. 185)
Hayate makes a stupid comment about parents to Athena and she begins to be taken by a presence. (Ch. 185)
Hayate and Athena fight and the fight ends when their swords break. (Ch. 186)
Athena tells Hayate to never come back and he leaves, but she talks to herself and reveals that she didn't really want him to leave. (Ch. 186)
Hayate runs into his brother, tells him the whole story and his brother tells him to make sure he apologizes. (Ch. 187)
Hayate then thinks about the things that happened after he left the Royal Garden and about how Athena was right. (Ch. 187)
Events/Minor
Hayate learns that being a butler of Athena means "good morning" kisses. (Ch. 180)
Athena talks about the sword Shirozakura and says that only a special person could use it. (Ch. 182)
Hayate continues to insist upon leaving the castle, convinced that his parents could change, which he realizes was wrong in hindsight. (Ch. 184)
Hayate realizes that Athena doesn't see the presence behind her and shouts at the presence. (Ch. 186)
The flashback ends and Hayate promises to spend the day with Nagi. (Ch. 187)
Athena is shown to be in Athens, Greece and has a new servant. (Ch. 187)
Commentary
I have finally reached this point in the manga. This arc really is a turning point in the series as it is the first example that really heavy stuff can appear. My general thoughts about this arc are kind of . . . unsure. I think that it is a really good arc overall, but for one reason or another this arc also makes me feel a bit uneasy. Maybe it is the fact that it comes soon after a pretty light arc with Izumi. Maybe it makes me uneasy because it introduces what is arguably the most important female character in the series by name. Maybe it is just a bit of nostalgia for when I first read this arc as I was just as impressed then as I am now with this arc. Or maybe this feeling is similar to the one I have for Hina's Birthday, but I am just misunderstanding it. One thing I do know though, is that I like how this arc covers a fair bit of Hayate's history. Overall, I don't know if I would call this one of my favorite arcs or simply an arc that I don't really know what to think about. This arc also means something else that is undeniable, that Golden Week is just a little bit away. This arc definitely gets me excited for Golden Week as even more exciting stuff happens.
End
(For information about some terms used within refer to the glossary, the first post of April 2013.)
Postscript: Phew. This marks the end of a fairly eventful week on this blog. Finished the Cuties project, excepting a possible comparison post with CTMEOY, and entered End of the World into the database. This also happens to be Risa's birthday, so here's to a happy birthday for Risa Asakaze.
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