Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 15

By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

Generally speaking, when you have a comedic manga that runs for as long as Hayate the Combat Butler has (24 volumes and counting in Japan), you need something that lives and dies on the personality of its characters. Goofy situations are all very well and good, but if you’re not invested in the people involved, it’s not going to work. Thank goodness that Hata does not have this problem. Almost all the humor in this volume of Hayate comes from our love of the people in the manga, their quirks and foibles, and how they interact.

There is one new character introduced here, Fumi Hibino, who slides into the cast seamlessly, mostly by going through the same ‘welcome to school’ intro that Hayate did – she arrives for her first day to find Hinagiku up a tree after saving a cat. Of course, Hayate is a majestic Butler Hero, while Fumi is a complete airhead, so things don’t go quite the same way. It’s actually impressive that, in a series filled with girls who could technically be described as ‘airheads’ (Izumi, Isumi…), that Hibino manages to immediately make an impression.

In re-reading that last paragraph, I note once more how annoying romanization can be, in that it gets very confusing having an Izumi and an Isumi as major characters in the same manga.

In any case, there’s tons of fun to be had here. Yukiji’s surprising modesty when attacking the bear, Hayate and Maria’s sauna adventure, the Nishizawa siblings’ hilariously useless love advice, Hayate’s response to Nagi asking him to praise her “talent” (shades of Sailor Moon in that very weird gag…), young Maria’s crusade against lolicon porn (especially of herself), and a great final chapter featuring Hinagiku terrifying the entire cast with her attempts to be sweet and nice.

There’s also a few character moments that are quieter, but no less powerful, and also tie into the overall plot. Isumi’s fight against the bear, where you are reminded how hellaciously powerful she is. Her earlier discussion with Aika, and their discussion of the cursed stone that Nagi’s grandfather gave her. Nagi and Hayate with the old model car, one of the few moments where the author gives Nagi a really sweet, touching scene with Hayate (she tends to act the brat a lot, let’s be honest).

Best of all, we get a chapter with Hayate walking Ayumu home, then detouring to get her notes she left behind at school, which reminds you again how they really would make a terrific couple if this wasn’t the sort of manga it is. In any other manga Ayumu would have kicked everyone else’s ass, harem-wise. It’s a tribute to how awesome she is that she’s still in the running. More to the point, like Maria, Ayumu is one of the few people in the manga that Hayate actually regards as a possible girlfriend, as opposed to dealing with ‘children’ like Nagi and Isumi, or ‘girls who hate him’ like Hinagiku (lampshaded by the author in the last chapter).

For Hayate fans, this volume will not disappoint. Lots of comedy, a bit of romance, and lots of fake not-action. Plus you get to see Maria smile evilly while threatening people again. Who doesn’t love that?