hontou ni Stripey Insists Sisters Cry Oniichan Now

Hayate no Gotoku!! 22-25 and Review

Ep 22: Hina serves the plot hook and opening for Nagi's cafe arubaito

djwhack03 wittily used Hina's line from Ep 25 to ask if the second season of Hayate no Gotoku was "good". Frankly there's a lot of incommensurability between the worldviews of the many different viewers so a more useful framing might have been: "Did you enjoy it?" Nonetheless, in the course of answering the first question, many bloggers answered the second with great passion and eloquence.

I'd classify djwhac03k's reaction as that of a manga purist from his statement that:

The Hayate no Gotoku manga is first and foremost a comedy manga. Most of the chapters are stand alone and just tell a joke. Much of the humor is derived by chaos and absurdity giving it a somewhat unique charm.

Which is why, I'm guessing, he enjoyed the first season more - aside from his preference for Synergy SP's art (albeit a significant modifier). Likewise wah enjoyed the first season much more probably also because of the focus on its comedic elements instead of "boring love triangle shit".

But wah goes further by identifying a structural problem with the source material itself, complaining about Hata-sensei's inability to focus on the main characters and just tell their story already. I can understand his intellectual case wrt the need to focus on Nagi but, as a Hinagiku fan, not the emotion. Nonetheless this is the main reservation why I have not and am not going to buy the Hayate no Gotoku manga, having been burned by long, meandering, frustrating and fanboylove-crush(ed/ing) experiences which includes the Ranma 1/2, School Rumble, Love Hina manga.

Aside: It was possible for me, as a manga reader, to get on board the second season with only having watched (Hinagiku) bits and pieces of the first season. But it seems that the experience recounted over at Anime3R indicates it's almost impossible for someone without season one or manga background to get onboard season 2.

Ep 23: Hina at the start (student council) and end (meeting Ayumu)

Yumeka also picked up on the differences between how the manga was driven by otaku parody gags [the first season too] while the second season was much more character romance comedy driven. I definitely enjoy the latter over the former in general which is why I enjoyed the second season so much more than the first. Besides I also seem to recall that the manga material also started to focus more than the latter aspect too which is why I think accusations of J.C. Staff pulling harem-rom-com out of their arses miss the mark.

I wouldn't be as effusive as moofang (via Ani-nouto) who declared the second season "magnificient" and J.C.Staff's Hayate team as an "outstanding achievement" - I'm much more with Kurogane's assessment that the writers for this season were "quite good" for being able to translate the manga material into anime relatively faithfully and with due focus on the parts and charas I liked.

Ep 24: Hina's childish side was also hugely entertaining

When it comes down to the line though, I confess that the biggest reason why I enjoyed the second season, like RP, much more is simply because there was a lot of Hina in it. Sure, not everyone's a Hina fan: wah thinks Hina "fucking boring" while kevo finds "her character arc and character relationships are so damn cheesy".

But wah's complaint about Hata returns to haunt me as it's more than likely that Hina could get shafted as a character the way Nagi got it as and when his focus wanders off to some shinier, newer, fresher, more interesting (to him) character. Which is why I've stopped reading the manga beyond the last chapter I saw (164?) until I'm pretty sure that this series is actually going to end with some telos in sight or that it doesn't CLAMPWTFBBQ.

Ep 24: Sakuya falls victim to Stripey's S.I.S.C.O.N. geass

I also suspect that I got quite a bit less out of the second season because I was thoroughly spoiled by manga-reading so another reason to hold off the manga until I finish watching the third season as and when it comes out. AstroNerdBoy "rejects that [above-mentioned] notion" as things here and there have and will be changed. And, of course, I always look forward to Shizu-sama's voice acting as Hina.

In the third season, Hina + Yuri THREESOME is fine too.

Related posts:

1. Hayate no Gotoku!! 14-16
2. Hayate no Gotoku!! 2
3. Hayate no Gotoku 50