Inkspot Fancy

Hayate the Combat Butler Vol. 14

This is a volume of revelations and surprise information! Hayate gets to meet some of Sakuya's quite interesting family (you can see where she gets it from), Hinagiku braves her fear of heights in her quest to confess something vital, and Azumamiya, the coward from many books ago, finds himself without his dependable butler and seeks a replacement in Hayate.

I think, aside from the inclusion of the pervert butler, my favorite part of this book was the mountain hike in which Azumamiya tries to function without his butler. It's funny because he wants to take the easy way out and just replace the guy for a while with someone equally competent, but you can see as the event goes on that in his own way, he's trying to be stronger and more independent. He just doesn't have a worldview that really lends itself to that sort of thing.

It sort of matches with Nagi, in a way, even though she really scorns this kid. She is also struggling with some of who she wants to be and relies on Hayate for a lot of things. And it's likewise cute to see her still trying hard when he's not around.

That being said, the bit with Hinagiku is sort of hilarious just for disappointing her expectations in a good way (even though it's pretty clear to the reader what's going to happen).

Hayate the Combat Butler Vol. 15

While this volume gives us an experience with both a pool and a sauna (and neither one is particularly vacationy), this volume was enjoyable for the introduction of a new character with her head in the clouds.

Fumi is a new student at the academy where most of our other characters attend classes, and as she encounters some of our series regulars, she gets some odd ideas. Her imagination is outsized to her body, but she's well meaning and seems to have big goals. I hope there's more of her in some of the books I haven't gotten ahold of yet!

Also in this volume (aside from the previously mentioned unvacationy sauna and pool stories) is Hinagiku trying something new to find love and Nagi learning a lesson about not throwing things away too quickly.

The Nagi story was actually very sweet. She gets it into her head that she wants an RC car, but once it arrives, she keeps finding learning to make or use it is too much work for her. If she can't do it immediately, she loses interest. But that tendency to discard stuff quickly comes back to haunt her and, while funny, also makes her more seriously consider her impact on the things around her.

The Hinagiku stuff... that's just plain scary. :D