is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Kenjiro Hata is a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of the ''Hayate the Combat Butler'' series. He likes to collect anime related items, like figurines, and was once an assistant of Kōji Kumeta. He is married to voice actress Masumi Asano. Ca ...

. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...

'' magazine from October 2004 to April 2017. Shogakukan released 52 volumes in Japan from February 2005 to June 2017.

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

publishes an English edition in North America. The manga is about a boy who starts a new job as a butler and the events he experiences with his employer. The style of the manga has a comedic gag with a slight

harem Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...

feel and constantly breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

. The series includes numerous references to other anime, manga, video games, and popular culture. A 52-episode

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation of the manga by

SynergySP is a Japanese animation studio founded on September 24, 1998, as ''Synergy Japan'' which originally split off from Studio Junio (which itself was founded by Toei Animation staff). In 2005, the company became associated with Shogakukan-Shueisha Pr ...

aired between April 2007 and March 2008 on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

. A second, 25-episode anime season by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

aired between April and September 2009.

Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and f ...

licensed the first anime series in 2008, but the series went out of print in 2012. An anime film adaption produced by

Manglobe was a Japanese animation studio based in Suginami, Tokyo and active from 2002 to 2015. The studio was formed on February 7, 2002 by Sunrise producers Shinichirō Kobayashi and Takashi Kochiyama. Manglobe filed for bankruptcy in September 2015 af ...

was released in August 2011. A third, 12-episode anime television series by Manglobe, based mostly on an original story not seen in the manga aired between October and December 2012. A fourth anime season aired between April and July 2013.

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

has licensed all four seasons of the anime.

Plot

Hayate Ayasaki This article lists the characters from the Japanese manga and anime series ''Hayate the Combat Butler''. Ayasaki household ; : :Hayate is the title protagonist 16-year-old butler of the Sanzenin family. Hayate Ayasaki has had to work to support ...

is an unlucky 16-year-old boy who has worked since childhood to make ends meet due to his parents' irresponsible behavior. On Christmas Eve, he finds out his parents have run away from home while shouldering him with a massive ¥156,804,000 debt. The

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

(from whom the money was borrowed in the first place) plan to settle the debt by selling his organs and various other illegal means such as selling him away as a slave. While running away from the debt collectors, Hayate meets

Nagi Sanzenin This article lists the characters from the Japanese manga and anime series ''Hayate the Combat Butler''. Ayasaki household ; : :Hayate is the title protagonist 16-year-old butler of the Sanzenin family. Hayate Ayasaki has had to work to suppor ...

, a 13-year-old girl and the sole heir of the wealthy Sanzenin estate, and her maid Maria. At first, Hayate plans to kidnap Nagi and acquire a ransom of over ¥150 million but due to a misunderstanding, Nagi thinks Hayate is confessing his love to her. After he rescues Nagi from actual kidnappers, she hires Hayate as her new butler. Aside from performing his ordinary duties as a butler, Hayate must fight to protect Nagi from harm, a difficult task since her life is always in danger because she is the target of individuals who covet her family's fortune, and sometimes must deal with her extravagant requests, oblivious to Nagi's true feelings for him. Later in the story, Hayate must juggle the feelings of several other girls,

Ayumu Nishizawa This article lists the characters from the Japanese manga and anime series ''Hayate the Combat Butler''. Ayasaki household ; : :Hayate is the title protagonist 16-year-old butler of the Sanzenin family. Hayate Ayasaki has had to work to support ...

, his former classmate; and

Hinagiku Katsura This article lists the characters from the Japanese manga and anime series ''Hayate the Combat Butler''. Ayasaki household ; : :Hayate is the title protagonist 16-year-old butler of the Sanzenin family. Hayate Ayasaki has had to work to support ...

, the student council president of Hakuō Academy. Hayate had a romantic relationship with a childhood friend,

Athena Tennousu This article lists the characters from the Japanese manga and anime series ''Hayate the Combat Butler''. Ayasaki household ; : :Hayate is the title protagonist 16-year-old butler of the Sanzenin family. Hayate Ayasaki has had to work to suppor ...

, who is chairwoman of the board of Hakuō Academy. Due to the events of Golden Week, involving Hayate and Athena, Nagi ends up forfeiting her inheritance. With the last of her savings, Nagi and Maria move with Hayate to an old apartment building called "Violet Mansion" owned by her late mother Yukariko, and rents its extra rooms for income: having Chiharu Harukaze, the secretary of Hakuō Academy; Hinagiku, Ayumu, Athena (in child-form), Kayura Tsurugino, an "elite otaku"; and Ruka Suirenji, a pop idol who also develops feelings for Hayate, as its tenants. After a series of adventures with the tenants, Nagi manages to reclaim her fortune. On an excursion in America, Hayate finally pays off his massive debt, but decides to keep working as Nagi's butler, especially when the battle for the Sanzenin inheritance intensifies. Athena eventually regains full strength and Maria resigns as Nagi's maid. On Christmas Eve, the "misunderstanding" of Hayate and Nagi's relationship is exposed, creating a rift that leads to the final battle. Hayate rescues Nagi from the godly Royal Garden, but she decides to relinquish her status as an heir and concedes the rights to her cousin Hisui Hatsushiba, before firing Hayate to set him free. Two years later, a self-sufficient Nagi reunites with Hayate in the place they met for the first time, where he tells her that despite not being her butler anymore, he still wants to be with her, and that there is "something he needs to tell her", before locking hands and walking together under the starry night sky.

Media

Manga

''Hayate the Combat Butler'' is written and illustrated by

. It began serialization in

's ''

'' magazine on October 6, 2004, and concluded on April 12, 2017. Shogakukan published the 570 individual chapters in 52 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes from February 18, 2005 to June 16, 2017.

publishes the manga in North America and released the first volume on November 14, 2006. The most recent English release is volume 36, on August 11, 2020.

Anime

The ''Hayate the Combat Butler'' 52-episode

aired on

in Japan between April 1, 2007 and March 30, 2008, produced by animation studio

and with music by

Kōtarō Nakagawa is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is noted for composing the soundtracks for several anime series, including the Gorō Taniguchi-directed productions '' s-CRY-ed'', ''Planetes'', ''Gun Sword'', and ''Code Geass''. He provided the music fo ...

. The series also aired on the CS television network

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

starting on October 25, 2007, where it received its satellite television premiere, and was shown uncensored. The series was licensed in North America by

in 2008, but in February 2012, the company stopped releasing titles beyond February 7, and in April of the same year, the rights to the series were dropped, making the releases out of print.

has since re-licensed the series for a digital and home video re-release. An

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

(OVA) episode was released on March 6, 2009 in DVD and Blu-ray formats. A second anime season of ''Hayate the Combat Butler'', titled ''Hayate the Combat Butler!!'' (an additional exclamation mark) aired 25 episodes between April 4 and September 18, 2009, produced by animation studio

. Unlike the first season, the second season

retcons Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...

the events of the first season by claiming at the onset that a month has passed since Hayate became Nagi's butler. Furthermore, the second season is more faithful to the manga than the first season. On July 21, 2010, Animax Asia began airing the second season, including the OVA, with English dubbing done again by Red Angel Media along with Cantonese and Mandarin dub. The second season has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks. An anime film adaptation, produced by

and directed by Hideto Komori titled ''

Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven Is a Place on Earth is a 2011 Japanese animated film in the ''Hayate the Combat Butler'' anime and manga franchise. The film was released in theaters on August 27, 2011, as a double-bill with ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Mahou Sensei Negima! Anime Final''. The fil ...

'', was released in Japanese theaters on August 27, 2011. The film was licensed for streaming and home video release by

in August 2015. A third anime television series, titled ''Hayate the Combat Butler: Can't Take My Eyes Off You'' and produced by Manglobe, aired 12 episodes between October 4 and December 20, 2012. Instead of being a sequel to the 2009 anime series, ''Can't Take My Eyes Off You'' features a new story written in part by the original creator

and is mostly based on his original ideas that never made it to the manga. Despite that, the third season takes place chronologically nine months after the beginning of the first, and six months after the second, eventually becoming part of the main series canon. The third season has been licensed by

and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 28, 2015. A fourth anime television series, titled ''Hayate the Combat Butler: Cuties'', aired between April 8 and July 1, 2013, and is basically composed of short stories, each one focused on one of the main characters from the manga. The fourth season has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks. A three-part OVA series produced by Manglobe was released as part of the series' tenth anniversary between June 18, 2014 and December 16, 2014.

Light novels

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

based on the series, written by Toshihiko Tsukiji and illustrated by

, was released on May 24, 2007, published by

under their ''GAGAGA Bunko'' label. The novel includes a

doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

and barrier that Maria encounters, Isumi Saginomiya's magic that happens in front of Nagi's eyes, and the corruption of the building of the Film Analysing Club (You Tobe) that Izumi Segawa, Miki Hanabishi, and Risa Asakaze were members of. A second light novel entitled was released on March 18, 2008. The title is the combination of ''

The Familiar of Zero is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by Noboru Yamaguchi, with illustrations by Eiji Usatsuka. Media Factory published 20 volumes between June 2004 and February 2011. The series was left unfinished due to the author ...

'' and the phrase which is similar to '' Lucky Stars first opening theme, . The cover of this novel features Nagi wearing

Louise Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

's costume. Insert images are drawn by Kenjiro Hata and

Eiji Usatsuka is a Japanese light novel illustrator. He is notable for the illustration for the series '' Zero no Tsukaima''. He illustrates insert images for many novels. After university graduation he was employed as illustrator by the visual novel publis ...

, the illustrator of ''The Familiar of Zero'' light novels.

Video games

A video game by

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

(NDS) titled was released in Japan on August 23, 2007 with an A rating by CERO. A limited edition of the game was released on the same day which included a Hakuō Academy student notebook and a drama CD. The gameplay has the player assuming the role of Hayate Ayasaki and follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction. A second NDS video game was released in two versions on March 14, 2008 titled with a B rating by CERO, but the versions differ between their story settings. One game is set at the Sanzen'in's mansion, and the other one is set at Nagi's school. The gameplay has the player again assuming the role of Hayate Ayasaki and focuses on Nagi as the main character who the player trains; she may also learn some attacks or tricks to make an appeal at contests. Players are able to control where characters go and talk to gather information in continuing the story. Players may easily trade data with other players using wireless connections (however, the game is not

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

compatible). Similar to the 2007 game, there are many Konami parodies included. For both the 2007 and 2008 games, there are a couple of hidden stories or voices that can be made available by passwords. A third video game titled was released on March 26, 2009 for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

with a B rating by CERO.

Live-action TV series

The Taiwanese network GTV aired a live-action television adaptation of ''Hayate the Combat Butler'' between June and September 2011.

Music and audio CDs

The first anime series has two opening themes and four ending themes. The first opening theme is by Kotoko released on May 23, 2007 and the second opening theme is "Shichiten Hakki Shijōshugi!" by Kotoko released on October 17, 2007. The ending themes are: "Proof" by

Mell Mell (stylized as MELL) is a female Japanese singer from Sapporo, Japan, who is signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment. She is a former member of the Sapporo-based I've Sound, and one of its main vocalists. Mell has contributed vocals to sever ...

released on May 30, 2007, "Get my way!" by

Mami Kawada is a former Japanese pop singer and lyricist who was signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan and also a member of I've Sound, a musical group which produces soundtracks for ''eroge'' (erotic games) and anime. Born and raised in Sapporo, Ja ...

released on August 8, 2007, "Chasse" by Kaori Utatsuki released on November 21, 2007, and by

Iku Iku or IKU may refer to: Languages * Iku language (ISO 639: ikv), a Plateau language of Nigeria * Arhuaco language (ISO 639: arh), also known as Ikʉ, a Chibchan language of Colombia * Inuktitut (ISO 639: iku), an Inuit language of Canada Other u ...

released on March 19, 2008. The second anime series has two opening themes and two ending themes. The first opening theme is "Wonder Wind" by

Elisa The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

and the second opening theme is "Daily-daily Dream" by Kotoko. The first ending theme is "Honjitsu, Mankai Watashi Iro!" by

Shizuka Itō is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is represented by Ken Production. She won a "Best Actress in Supporting Roles" award at the 10th Seiyu Awards for her roles in ''Prison School'' and ''Sailor Moon Crystal''. She is w ...

(with Eri Nakao,

Sayuri Yahagi is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with I'm Enterprise. She is the narrator of Animax. Biography Yahagi lived in Hachinohe, Aomori. She thought "Anime is a picture talking" and said that she had no idea about voice acting until her friend ta ...

and

Masumi Asano is a Japanese voice actress, singer and narrator who worked for Aoni Production, but now as of January, 2021 a Freelancer. Biography Asano was born on August 25, 1977 in Noshiro, Akita and studied at the Kokugakuin University Faculty of Literatu ...

) and the second ending theme is "Karakoi: Dakara Shōjo wa Koi o Suru" by

Rie Kugimiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is best known for her voice performances in anime, which include Alphonse Elric in the ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' series, Kiana in ''Honkai Impact 3rd'', Kagura in ''Gin Tama'', and Happy in ''Fairy Tail ...

and

Ryoko Shiraishi is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Kashiba, Nara. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Possessing a husky voice, Shiraishi voices young to teenage men as well as young girls and teenage women. However, in a break from tradition, on ...

. The opening theme of the third anime series is "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Eyelis, and the ending theme is by

Haruka Yamazaki is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Arts Vision. Yamazaki has had main roles in several anime shows including as Tomoyo Kanzaki in ''When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace'', Lilith Bristol in ''Absolute Duo'', and Mero ...

. The opening theme for the fourth anime series is by Shizuka Itō, and there are 12 ending themes by each of the various characters' voice actors. There are twelve character song albums sung by the main characters from the anime adaptation. The first two were released on May 25, 2007 and feature songs sung by

Ryōko Shiraishi is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Kashiba, Nara. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Possessing a husky voice, Shiraishi voices young to teenage men as well as young girls and teenage women. However, in a break from tradition, one ...

as Hayate Ayasaki and

Rie Tanaka is a Japanese voice actress and singer who is currently affiliated with Office Anemone. Notable among her numerous roles in anime are Lacus Clyne in ''Mobile Suit Gundam Seed'' and ''Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny'', Chi in ''Chobits'', Hikar ...

as Maria. The last two, released on July 25, 2007, feature songs sung by

as Nagi Sanzenin and

as Hinagiku Katsura.

Miyu Matsuki Miyu is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Miyu can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *美侑, "beauty, assist" *美結, "beauty, bind" *美夢, "beauty, dream" *美夕, "beauty, evening" *美唯, "beauty, on ...

as Isumi Saginomiya and

Kana Ueda is a Japanese voice actress and singer represented by I'm Enterprise.Doi, Hitoshi"Ueda Kana" ''Seiyuu Database''. June 11, 2010Archivedby WebCite July 6, 2010. She is a graduate of Kobe College's department of General Culture. She is best known ...

as Sakuya Aizawa was released on September 21, 2007.

Marina Inoue is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. She was signed into Aniplex until 2007. She was chosen out of 2,000 people from the "Gonna be a star" auditions (hosted by Sony Music Entertainment ...

and Saki Nakajima as Wataru Tachibana and Saki Kijima, as well as

Mikako Takahashi is a Japanese voice actress and J-Pop singer from Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As the ''Excel Saga'' character Mikako Hyatt, she forms one half of the voice acting duo ''The Excel Girls'' (the other half being Yumiko Kobayashi). She is employed by I ...

as Ayumu Nishizawa was released on November 21, 2007. Hitomi Nabatame as Yukiji Katsura and

, Eri Nakao,

as Izumi, Miki, and Risa was released on January 25, 2008. Two duet character albums starring Hermione Ayasaki and Nagi, and Maria and Hinagiku were released on March 21, 2008. The original soundtrack was released on June 22, 2007 and a drama CD based on the anime adaptation was released on August 22, 2007. On September 21, 2007, volume one of a two-CD radio drama called ''Radio the Combat Butler'' was released.

Additional merchandise

Additional notable merchandises include many school related goods which were released near the start of the anime series in March and April 2007. Many other goods such as clocks, mugs, and posters were released a few months after. In 2008, a 1/8 scale (approx. 21 cm or 8.25")

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cl ...

series (entitled, "''Hayate no Gotoku! Collection Figures''") created by Jun Planning was released. Maria was released in March. Hinagiku figurine with Masamune in her hand was released on June 19. Nagi figurine with video game controller was released in July. Also, Kotobukiya released a series of 1/6 scale swimsuit figurines. Hinagiku was released in January 2009; Nagi in April 2009, and Ayumu in May 2009. Shogakukan released an

art book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

titled ''Hayate the Combat Butler Official Box'' on November 16, 2007.

Reception

Over ten million copies of the manga and other ''Hayate''-related books have been sold in Japan as of January 2009; as of June 2022, the manga had over 20 million copies in circulation. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network gave Volume 14 of the manga a C+, citing Hata's overextension of a complex work with multiple simultaneous plotlines and constant scene changes. He does note that Sakuya's birthday party as an example of the work's strong point. Chris Beveridge of Mania.com gave part six of the anime an overall B rating. Although, in his opinion, the storyline and nature of the anime has not changed much, he was suddenly captivated. Beveridge sums up these feelings for the final episodes by noting that they "had a certain flavor and flow to them that left me pretty happy, which is a surprise after five volumes that left me feeling ambivalent at best."

Notes

References

External links

Manga official website

Anime official website

TV Tokyo's website for the anime

Animax's website for the anime

First game's official website

Second game's official website
* {{Manglobe 2004 manga 2007 anime television series debuts 2007 Japanese novels 2007 video games 2008 video games 2009 anime OVAs 2009 anime television series debuts 2012 anime television series debuts Bandai Entertainment anime titles Gagaga Bunko Harem anime and manga J.C.Staff Japan-exclusive video games Light novels Manga adapted into films Manglobe NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games Romantic comedy anime and manga Sentai Filmworks Sharp Point Press titles Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Slice of life anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming TVB Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan Viz Media manga