I had intended to post my Hinagikuism comments on the whole volume 8 of the manga but it’s just easier to work in smaller parts. Especially since these four chapters have been scanlated by Musashi; many thanks for the great work! (The extracts in this post are from the raw scans though. Looking forward to the next big Kinokuniya sale to acquire Vol.4 onwards!)
V08C75. Hayate has to leave the mansion after Nagi feels awkward that he saw her in the bath previously. Maria gives him a very generous amount to take care of accommodation but, with his incredible bad luck, he manages to have almost all of it frittered away. Cold, alone, sad boy in snow with nowhere to go. But riding to the rescue is Hinagiku! Some comparisons have been made between Hayate’s initial meeting with Nagi to this scene. Fans of a HayaHina pairing would certainly see this as a major point in the development of their relationship.
V08C76. Hinagiku offers Hayate shelter at her home. Because they’re living together, this allows Hayate to spend more time with Hinagiku as well as to see different sides to Hinagiku other than her super-competitive streak and her heroine mode. Episode 48 of the anime attempts to do this too, by giving Hinagiku a chance to display more ‘girliness’, but that felt isolated while the development in the manga is much more gradually built up and thus feels more holistic. Also it was utterly hilarous how Hina’s stepmom wanted to dress up Hayate in frilly dresses, nekomimi etc.
This increased time and range of interaction hammers, through Hayate’s thick skull, that Hinagiku is a very attractive girl. An epiphany about something that’s obvious to others. But, like typecasting, it’s often easy for people to fall into ‘just friends’ mode and hard to change out of it, especially when circumstances continually reproduce the original social relations. In these chapters the major obstacle, Nagi, has conveniently removed herself and allows this realignment to take place. However it is also severely limited by Hinagiku being under the mistaken impression, since Valentine’s Day, that Hayate has heard and accepted the Hamster’s confession.
V08C77. As Hayate and Hinagiku go to school together, there’s some fun moments as they attempt to keep their cohabitation a secret though I doubt very much that Hina’s longest standing and closest friend as well as devoted fangirl, Miki Hanabishi, doesn’t at least suspect but will probably keep quiet out of consideration for Hina-chan’s feelings. Hayate also gets to see Hinagiku’s majime side, which is serious, dutiful and hardworking, something which he should find that he has in common with her. The only other heroine in the cast who has a similar background of being abandoned by her parents *and* who also embodies the values of hard graft is, of course, Maria Surnameless.
Maria steals the limelight in this chapter and the next. She is such a charismatic character (causing much nosebleeding with her sailor fuku) and would indeed be a worthy rival to Hinagiku for Hayate. If I was Animu Dictator For A Day, I would decree an anime remake of Hayate no Gotoku with a radical reinterpretation which sees a coherent story built around a Maria versus Hinagiku Clash of the Hakuo Student Council Presidents rivalry for a genuinely torn Hayate with occasional moments of humour from a clueless and Absolutely Not In The Running Nagi. Ijou desu.
V08C78. There’s Something About Maria. Megane mode causes moé overloads and this type of moé energy weapon has been banned vide the Treaty of Ariake since time immemorial. I know that the following comments breaches one of Hinano’s Commandments (IIRC paraphrased something along the lines of ‘Don’t bitch about translation errors; if you so clever with the moon language, then don’t watch fansubs.’) - I am glad to have Musashi’s work as a reference but I happen to disagree with how the closing line is rendered. The scanlation (via Kurogane) translates it as ‘Not the intended result’ when I think it should be ‘The opposite result’. Just a minor quibble but I just wanted to say it. :3
Maria goes to Hakuo to check up on Hayate and teases him about Hinagiku. Nice to see that it actually flusters him, confirming that he does find Hinagiku attractive. But, of course, as one step forward two steps back would have it, just as he sees through her disguise, he gets caught in a compromising position by Hinagiku. It could have been the start of a beautiful rivalry but it’s also one of the reasons why this manga is so rich and promising but also agonizing and frustrating - though not as disappointing as the anime.
I think one thing should be mentioned here:
As you wrote, Hina is convinced that Hayate has accepted Hamster’s confession. Therefore, she is reacting more and more irritated that he doesn’t ACT this way.
This is a significant deviation from the usually very positive-playful Hinagiku with tons of confidence to spare. She does care for Hayate, but at the same time he’s seriously grating on her nerves due to his insensitivity to his “girlfriend” - yet.
These chapters begin “The Suffering of the Pink Princess” ^_^;
Great points, Mentar. It’s really interesting how many chapters it takes to resolve the Hamster x Hayate misunderstanding. As well as the whole ‘Ayasaki-kun’ thing due to her being angry at him for what he did to her during the special marathon - that spanned several volumes! That would be pretty hard to transfer over the anime format… perhaps that’s why they’ve gutted the manga? I’ve always thought it was strange given how crushingly popular Hinagiku was in the manga chara polls.
Also, now when I read Hinagiku’s dialogue, I hear it in Shizuka Itou’s voice. Really lovely feeling~~~
Mentar: Don’t forget Volume 10. THAT makes the Pink Princess much more..
But yes, Hina’s trying not to let the idea of Hayate being unavailable bother her… which means she gets more upset when he’s acting free and clear, when he is and yet not hitting on anyone (but looks like he is). If she knew he was available, and she didn’t feel compelled NOT to go for him.. she would.