Hayate no Gotoku! Can’t Take My Eyes off You Episode 5

For those who don’t know, she isn’t even a nun.

It seems to have become clear that the Can’t Take My Eyes off You anime would be a mixture of original plot and manga materials. Canonicity aside, it could be a wise decision, because fans of both sides can be given what they want to watch. Perhaps this strategy is how the production would fulfill their promise of making both old and new readers happy. Whether this strategy is successful remains to be seen, but at least we can say that they are trying.

Basically, Episode 5 consists of two short manga stories, plus a little original plot advancement. I guess it would be more convenient if we simply forget about the manga whenever something within is animated, i.e. we have to pretend that everything happens in September, instead of April or June.

The first manga story animated in this episode is Ch. 361, which happens to be one of my dismal attempts to try to write Reviews in a “new style”. I guess this invites me to rewrite the Chapter Review, huh?

If it doesn’t sound like it, at least it looks like it.

It all begins with another school day when Nagi remains on her bed playing video games. Maria comes and tells her to go to school, because it is the duty of a student. Nagi is unhappy enough, but Chiharu angers her further by saying that Nagi has been scolded by Maria again – just like when they were at the Violet Mansion.

Chiharu further comments that Maria scolds Nagi like a mom. She gives an example: on laundry days, when Nagi brings out her dirty clothes after Maria starts the laundry, the maid would say “Why do you always bring out dirty clothes after I start the laundry?” Chiharu suggests that every mom in every household says this line, but Hayate doesn’t have an idea about it. After all, his mother… didn’t seem to be responsible enough to do laundry, should we say?

Nagi doesn’t care how dignified a mother Maria is, but she wants to give orders for a change. To be more precise, Nagi wants to find out the wrongdoings of Maria and tell her off. As such, she sends Hayate to spy on Maria. Nagi’s behaviour could explain why there are so many people who keep reporting the bad things we did to the superiors: when someone has been told off too often, they want to tell somebody off as well, just for a change.

I can’t tell from the artwork, really…

Hayate starts following Maria, fully aware that by lurking behind such a beautiful young lady, he is practically a stalker. Soon Hayate finds Maria doing something “odd”: having a free milkshake with a coupon (with QR code!), looking for girl’s clothes other than maid uniform, and buying lots of snacks. These are ordinary acts for other girls, but they just… seem so un-Maria-ish.

In the end, the stalking mission has not been a success, and Nagi is angry that she has lost the chance to tell Maria off. However, as the maid offers Nagi ice-cream, the mistress is happy again. Telling someone so close to you off isn’t really such an important thing after all, right?

With that, we come to the end of the animation of Ch. 361. The Episode then moves almost seamlessly into the original plot: the secrets of Tsugumi Ruri.

Old man does not like his son-in-law.

Hayate comments that Maria is like a mom to Nagi, and then Maria remembers something: Tsugumi said in Episode 2 that she doesn’t have a photo of her father, and her mother is dead. In that Episode we also saw Maria looking through old photos, with the conclusion that there was “not even one”. Now, as she calls Mikado, new character and Nagi’s grandfather, we finally know what Maria was referring to in Episode 2: there was not even one photo of Nagi’s father.

it is clear that Mikado hates Nagi’s father, calling him a disgrace and destroying all photos and records of him. He doesn’t even want to talk about him, but at Maria’s “persuasion”, he reveals that Nagi’s father is called Shin Hayek, and he was Yukariko’s former butler. However, he was also a con man who wanted to steal the Sanzen’in treasure…

Yea, tell me about your kiss with Hayate.

With another stage performance by Ruka, we then move to the second manga story which is animated. It is taken from Ch. 105 – 106, a 2-chapter mini-arc on the Katsura sisters. I haven’t written Chapter Reviews on this mini-arc, so perhaps this is my chance to do so?

Once again Yukiji has been left with (or, she leaves herself with) 12 yen. They say that everything happens for a reason, and the main reason for Yukiji to always end up like this is because she spends without thinking. Even Kaoru, who has been dragged along by Yukiji to wherever she goes, can’t save her.

Point is, when I have cup ramen, I don’t expect risotto!

CM Time: Chiharu finds cup ramen tastes better if it is sat for 10 minutes instead of three. Nagi doesn’t approve it, and I must say I am with her…

Yukiji sees new hope in Hinagiku, who had become a lot nicer to her in Episode 3. She even lended Yukiji another 5,000 yen back then. Unfortunately she is not keeping that trend, returns to her former self, and refuses to lend her sister another yen. One thing: you could see that Hinagiku really enjoyed her “date” with Hayate, as she blushes when recalling that day.

Yukiji: “That’s a sword upgrade…”

In her despair, Yukiji mumbles to herself that she should look for some lender, but her words are heard by Hinagiku, whose temper reaches boiling point at once. With Shirosakura in her hands, Hinagiku reminds her sister that they have lost their home and almost frozen to death because their parents borrowed 80M yen from lenders. Hinagiku says firmly that she won’t forgive Yukiji if she borrow even one yen from the lenders…

Yukiji is in trouble. She might stop drinking for a while, but she cannot feed herself without money. Luckily, she meets Hayate, the butler of the very rich Nagi. With the excuse of seeking a career advice, Yukiji drags him into a restaurant, orders a lot of food, and begins engulfing anything in sight. Hayate has no intention to stay with her, so he gets up to leave.

He is only having coffee.

As though revealing her true agenda, Yukiji “reminds” Hayate to pay the bill. Hayate does not want to pay the ridiculous bill (13,526 yen!) for her, and he doesn’t have the money to begin with. The argument over the bill turns into a shouting match, and a waitress has to come to stop them. Yukiji takes the chance to order even more curry. The Katsura sisters both love curry.

The bill has to be paid, but both of them refuse to call Nagi or Hinagiku to sort this out. Yukiji then takes her turn to try to flee, but Hayate sees through her toilet trick and forces her to sit down. Nobody knows what Yukiji could do if she really needs a… relief.

This is a match in which the loser gets the prize.

Soon this ceases to be a battle between the two, as Tsugumi and Sonia join them. They do not only make things more complicated, but also make them harder as they triple the bill (from 13,526 yen to 46,528 yen). All three girls then try to make a run, but Hayate is vigilant enough that he stops them all. In any case, this has become a fierce battle…

Well, not really, for Hayate seems to be the only one who is thinking how to leave naturally. He then comes up with one way: to have someone to make a call to him. It should be noted that telephone conversations are considered a nuisance in Japanese restaurants, so courtesy dictates that one have to leave the restaurant to pick up calls. This is not only natural, but essential.

A more successful attempt in drawing a “shoujo” Hinagiku.

As such, Hayate decides to call someone who is “reliable”, cut the call, and wait for them to call back. The “someone” turns out to be Hinagiku, who is wondering whether she has been too harsh on her sister (arguably, yes). Now that she has received a call from Hayate, the problem in her mind is now whether she should call him back at once, or to make him wait a bit. Girls have a lot of troubles to face, really.

As this part is the animation of a very old arc, there are two funny facts worth mentioning. First, this arc portrays the old Hinagiku who is shy and without confidence in front of Hayate, so if anyone is to suggest that she has not made improvement at all, they can compare Episode 5 Hinagiku with Ch. 374 Hinagiku. Second, while Hinagiku is using a very old-fashioned mobile phone in this episode just because she used the same model in the manga, Hayate is given an upgrade to a smartphone…

Robber: “Use iPhone 5!!!”

She might take a bit longer than Hayate expected, but in the end Hinagiku does not disappoint him. Her call arrives, and Hayate leaves his seat (without his shopping bag) to pick it up. His victory seems imminent, but just as he manages to tell Hinagiku where he is, he bumps into a man in mask with a gun, who by default is a robber. His phone is then snatched and smashed. Yukiji is so relieved that Hayate is not allowed to run away on his own, she praises the robber for a “nice assist”.

One might wonder why Yukiji can ignore the threat of such a dangerous robber, but the fact is that he is not a threat. For one thing, he manages to allow everyone but Hayate and co. to leave the restaurant. For another, he is immediately owned by Yukiji and Tsugumi, and soon it looks like he is the hostage. The police find that they have no way to tell which one is the criminal…

Obviously.

Sonia then takes her chance to flee, by suggesting to buy everyone a drink. Of course, there is no such thing as drink station in this restaurant, but Hayate is too late to realize it, so he could only watch as Sonia flees. Next in line is Tsugumi, who simply breaks the window and runs away. Now the robber is only left with Hayate and Yukiji – arguably two of the poorest people he has ever met.

But these two are strong people as well. The robber is no match for them, so he sounds more and more like a crying child. He becomes so desperate that he decides to reveal that he is robbing for his little sister, who is ill. Normally, you only reveal this to the judge when pleading for a sentence reduction, not when you are busy nagging money from frightened people. Sadly for him, Yukiji the “judge” is not impressed with his motives. She beats him up (again) and points his gun at him. Some robber, huh?

KEEP OUT!!!

Meanwhile, Hinagiku has arrived at the restaurant – boy, is she just so worried about Hayate? She inquires the inspector in charge, who is still deciding which one is his man through the CCTV. Upon learning that there is an armed robber in the restaurant, Hinagiku crosses the blockade (so what’s the point of setting up a blockade?) and gets to the computer screen. Of course, the armed robber she sees is… Yukiji.

Back in the restaurant, Yukiji begins lecturing the (poor) robber in a manner which justifies her profession as a teacher. The robber might have robbed for his sister, but she would not be happy, because she might think that it is her fault that her brother becomes a criminal. This is what Yukiji means by that the robber doesn’t know how his sister feels: good intentions are not always considerate.

Because harisen is just too mainstream.

Unfortunately, as this is Yukiji we are talking about, she soon reveals her (more) evil intention by ordering the robber to surrender his “dirty money”. This is heard by Hinagiku (proved by that she picks up on the word “dirty”) who strikes her sister with a shinai. Now wait a second: why is Hinagiku allowed entrance into the restaurant in the first place?

One might also wonder why Hinagiku does not use Shirosakura, but we must bear in mind how powerful that sword is. If Hinagiku is to strike it at Yukiji’s head, it won’t be funny, but scary. In fact, Hinagiku has yet to land a blow on anyone with Shirosakura. The general rule for now is that, whenever Hinagiku swings Shirosakura around, nobody will get hurt. Some legendary sword, that is.

Frames like this are better than J.C. Staff. Seriously.

Hinagiku then bursts into tears – you rarely see anything like this – as she expresses her disappointment in her sister. She recalls that it was Yukiji who taught her that there is something more precious than money – a lesson which is especially important given their financial situations. Hinagiku urges Yukiji to consider the feeling of her younger sister, and turn herself in to the police.

Surprisingly, the robber takes Hinagiku’s pleas personally, and turns himself in. Hinagiku has no idea who he is, and upon learning that he is the robber, she is embarrassed by her mistake. As the police arrest the robber, Hinagiku stands still and turns into white ash… Well, at least nobody makes a laugh of her, and that it is technically her who persuaded the robber to turn in, right?

Even after an embarrassment like this.

One of the very nice things about Hinagiku is that she has an elder sister, so she can get flighty at Yukiji when she is embarrassed or unhappy. While she has to behave like a matured lady as Student Council President, she can afford acting like a child in front of Yukiji. This is very helpful for Hinagiku’s emotional balance. I think we can agree that Hinagiku has excellent mental health, and Yukiji’s presence could be a very important reason.

Hayate, on the other hand, doesn’t even have a person who is willing to pay the bill at the restaurant for him. If we say that there is something wrong with Hayate’s psyche, perhaps this is why…