Advertising another manga, Hata?
It is not easy to decide whether Hayate and co. had a “successful” adventure by the beach. On the one hand, Hayate did successfully get his brother to start loving him again reestablish the brotherly bond with Ikusa, and this is said to be Nagi’s only objective all along. On the other hand, Hayate failed to secure a new (old?) King’s Jewel for Nagi, and this is believed to be Hayate’s only objective all along.
It therefore comes to a more fundamental question: from whose point of view are we seeing the matter? With Hayate being the male lead and Nagi the female lead (Maria: “Hey!”), both can make legitimate calls that we should base our judgement on their point of view. Yet when it isn’t come down to “Hayate and Nagi vs the world”, but instead “Hayate vs Nagi”, we have a real issue: who, ultimately, is more important?
Chiharu doesn’t seem to have a conclusion…
While it would be interesting to find out what the readers think about this, there seems to be good news for Hayate-Athena shippers. If my logic in the above paragraphs is sound – I am sure my logic will be sound for once – then it is very clear that Hayate is more important than Nagi to Athena. After all, Athena appears to be the only one who is really serious about finding another stone, thus giving Hayate a second chance to accomplish his mission. It might sound weird as most other girls join the discussion about the failed mission, but look deeper into the conversation and we would see that most of them do not really care about the King’s Jewel(s).
Chiharu starts the conversation in the first panel, but she then changes the subject to the Violet Mansion in the second panel. It is understandable – after all, she has nowhere else to live if everything goes well and Hayate and Nagi decide to vacate the Violet Mansion – but as she prioritises her accommodation over the King’s Jewel, you would realise just how much she cares about the stone(s). Kayura actually faces a similar problem – her family is in Hokkaido, far away from her school in Tokyo – but even though she talks about possible enemies instead of the apartment, she is not talking about the King’s Jewel(s) either…
“Nagi” means “stop” – stop the plot(TM).
Other girls are even more casual, and actually contribute less to the discussion. Yet the one who cares about the King’s Jewel(s) least is Nagi, who is supposedly the primary beneficiary of Hayate’s mission. The thing is that Nagi hasn’t really decided that she doesn’t want to find the King’s Jewel(s) anymore; if Hayate and Maria’s assessment of Nagi is correct, our female lead (Maria: “Hey!”) is simply overwhelmingly lazy, and she would keep pushing this “work” to tomorrow. Seriously, if one is lazy about something important that she wants, then this person is really hopeless.
Yet Nagi is not the most hopeless person in the apartment. Hayate, who has been so determined to get his hand on Ikusa’s stone, decides not to join the discussion with Athena on the whereabouts of the next stone after Nagi says she doesn’t fucking care. Every action of Hayate depends on the moods and thoughts of Nagi, although he could enjoy a bit of freedom when Nagi is neutral over a matter. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a robot, not a male Homo sapien.
That’s right, Godzilla is more interesting than the plot(TM).
Anyway, Nagi decides that Godzilla (the 2014 movie, supposedly) is more important than the King’s Jewel(s). Chiharu and Kayura agree that this is a much more interesting topic than finding the stones, and they become very excited. Maria, Hinagiku and Ayumu have some “serious” business to attend to, so they leave the chat group. It leaves Athena the only person who is willing to stay on the plot(TM). Some people say that Athena is all about the plot(TM) and drama(TM), and while I have always been sarcastic by using the trademark symbol after those “keywords”, I guess I should at least applaud Athena for her efforts to keep the drama(TM) going when Hata clearly wants to make a filler chapter take a break.
To conclude, in the aforementioned “Hayate vs Nagi” battle, it appears that every girl other than Athena is Nagi’s ally. Arguably Hayate himself has surrendered because he is not exactly fighting for his own case. So, instead of going for another adventure, we are going to the cinema for Godzilla.
Godzilla!
Doughnut Gunso is a “blockbuster movie-goer”. I almost exclusively watch Hollywood blockbusters, but pretty much ignore other kinds of movies. Generally speaking I do not have a problem with blockbusters, although I do question the inclusion of Michael Bay as a blockbuster movie director. As such, while I am not keen on indie or local movies, it would be silly to ask whether I have watched the latest Godzilla movie. That being said, I still haven’t watched Lucy or Into the Storm, which are both on show…
While Godzilla is an undeniably huge franchise – its number of entries rival that of my age (seriously) – I am not very familiar with the most beloved kaiju, or its social or culture or whatever impact. My first impression of the 2014 Godzilla movie was that the titular kaiju was extremely… moe. Yes, you heard me: I found Godzilla moe. His roar in particular turned me on. Still, I am not entirely sure that Godzilla is the friend of all children. I can perfectly imagine young children crying out loud in horror at the sight of Godzilla.
Am I the only one who finds it amusing that Athena would refer to herself as a child?
He is only decisive over things like this…
In a certain sense, watching movie has a lot to do with making choices. First you need to choose which film to go to – expect heated arguments with friends and/or family members who are unbearably picky – then you will need to choose the show time based on your schedule and meal time. Modern technology often forces you to make a third choice – 2D or 3D. For your information, I would choose 2D – rest assured, I am not entirely happy with the fact that I choose the same thing as Hayate does.
Hayate makes some valid points about the weaknesses of 3D movies, but I would add a point which I think is more fundamental: 3D movies do not worth the money, because halfway through the movie I would forget that I am watching a 3D movie. As I watch movies my attention is constantly on the story itself, not so much on the “spectacular” 3D visual effects. If I am not really paying attention to what I have paid the extra money for, then why should I spend the money in the first place?
I will never choose that row.
Luckily for me, I find myself in disagreement with Hayate again soon enough. This time it is over the very next choice while picking the movie to go to: the seats. Some people prefer the rows at the front, some prefer the rows at the back, but Doughnut Gunso always chooses the middle rows. The cinema that I visit most has about 12 rows in each showroom, and I always pick the sixth or seventh row. Generally speaking I am not very worried about the person sitting right in front of me, because most likely my sight won’t be blocked by him or her. Then again, as Hayate is going to movie with three girls who are patently short, it is reasonable for him to choose the front seats. Still, the second row may be a bit too close to the screen…
Most people would have one or two more small decisions to make: whether to buy food, drinks and booklets. My local cinemas do not sell booklets, so I can forget about them. A soft drink is almost a must for me, while food is more optional. Usually I would choose a hot dog, because I find eating popcorn too noisy – I don’t like the sound of people eating popcorn, so I avoid making that sound myself.
Shippers rejoice!
On another note, Hayate has done a good job treating girls this time: when a girl asks you whether you want something, it generally means that she wants that something, and you better buy her that something even if you are not interested in it. Of course, there is still room of improvement: instead of confirming that Athena wants popcorn, he should say that he wants popcorn and seek her opinion on the flavour. He still has much to learn.
So, with all choices made, Hayate and co. can finally take their seats and enjoy the movie. As of today, Godzilla (2014) has a fan rating of 7.1/10 and a metascore of 62/100 on IMDb, so it is a reasonably good movie. Yet the movie is also rating at PG-13, so while Nagi and Kayura qualify for watching Godzilla, it could be argued that the movie is too heavy for Athena, who is supposedly aged six. Then again, given that this is Athena, the Godzilla “horror” should be nothing more than a laugh for her.
This is not a compliment.
Hayate Report 
Its been a while since I’ve read a HnG chapter with references I actually understand XD!
Gamera is definitely the friend to all children. I nearly cried watching Gamera the Brave (2006) which was family oriented compared to the previous Gamera trilogy which made Gamera darker and edgier (it was the 90’s, many people were sick and tired of campy movies so dark and gritty reboots were in high demand).
I doubt that they’re watching the 2014 Godzilla. The opening of the 2014 movie had Legendary Pictures logo at the start, not Seiho (Toho) and the first 10 minutes of the movie… well, I’m sure you can decide for yourself if its gruesome or not. Their probably watching one of the Heisei or Millennium era movies. I do know that the Godzilla movie Athena said she first watched was All Monsters Attack (1969).
Just so you know, Godzilla’s previous modern incarnations are regularly depicted in villainous or anti-heroic light as Godzilla would deliberately attack humans and buildings out of spite. Godzilla in 2014 is more of a mix of his Showa and modern roots as while Godzilla is no friend to humans, he has no qualms with them either. A good decision since its important that newcomers can empathize with the beast.
And yeah, I hate 3D movies and front row seats cause they make my neck uncomfortable.
Ah, you are right about the opening credits. So they could be watching a Japanese entry, not the Hollywood one(s).
I see Godzilla as a very violent protector of Earth who simply doesn’t care about the casualty as long as the planet survives. Some movies (like the previous Hollywood movie) forget about the protection and focus on the damage, and that’s bad.
I haven’t watched any of the Gamera movies, so, well…
Actually the role of “very violent protector of Earth who simply doesn’t care about the casualty as long as the planet survives.”is the role of Battra. You know, that black Mothra guy.
The 1998 Godzilla is the most hated Godzilla movie in the franchise. The “Godzilla” in that movie was barely anything like the original. Toho realized this, bought the rights to the 98 Godzilla, renamed the monster to “Zilla”, had it appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars just so that the Japanese Godzilla could kill it within a few seconds XD.
Seeing buildings getting destroyed and people dying during the mayhem is like tradition when it comes to kaiju films. If anything, most fans would be pissed if no buildings or people were harmed in the movie XD. Superhero movies on the other hand, cannot get away with that.
Gamera fits more closely to protector for Earth while Godzilla is more of a grumpy old man who doesn’t like it when someone threatens his territory, his son, his life, or the Earth in general. You could say that Godzilla is, more or less, a tsundere XD.
I found it amusing to see Athena getting all flustered and finally just giving up on the King’s Jewel business when everyone else just wanted to set the plot aside.
On movie matters, Godzilla was pretty ok by my standards, but it ain’t got nothin on the new Rurouni Kenshin movie. People were actually clapping their hands at the end here in the Philippines.