Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 1

By Kenjiro Hata
Viz, 182 pp.
Rating: Teen+ (Older Teen)

Hayate’s premise is equal parts Old Boy, Lil’ Orphan Annie, and “Disobedience” (A.A. Milne’s black little rhyme about “James James Morrison Morrison Weatherbee George Dupree, who took great care of his mother, though he was only three”). Our hero is a hard-working teen with pachiko-addled parents. To cover their gambling debts, the Ayasakis offer their son’s organs as collateral for a shady loan. Not surprisingly, Hayate doesn’t cotton to the idea that his liver might be sold on the black market and cooks up a scheme to pay off the yakuza. His plan: kidnap and ransom Nagi Sanzenin, an heiress. Hayate is a decent chap, however, and can’t quite muster the gruff demeanor necessary to persuade her that she’s in the hands of a master criminal; in fact, she misinterprets his declaration of intent as a spontaneous confession of love. But when thugs interrupt Hayate’s fumbling abduction, the young hero puts on an awe-inspiring display of speed and strength to save Nagi. Dazzled by his derring-do, Nagi offers him a job as her butler. Hayate accepts the gig, taking up residence at the Sanzenin mansion alongside a motley crew that includes Maria, a beautiful maid; Klaus, the head butler; and Tama, a talking tiger “with a face like Boris Yeltsin.”

As you can guess from the botched kidnapping, mangaka Henjiro Hata has a marvelous time poking fun at shonen conventions. Hayate possesses superhuman speed, but he’s such a klutz that he can barely pedal a bicycle down a city street without endangering himself. In fact, his greatest skill may be housework. He cleans with maniacal precision, lecturing Maria about the pros and cons of rug-cleaning solutions and silver dusters while making windows and chandeliers sparkle. This being a shonen manga, we have the obligatory fan service panels—involving cat ears, paw-shaped slippers, and a little cross-dressing, of course. Hata isn’t above mocking shojo clichés, either; in one hilarious scene, Hayate compares himself with Frances Hodgson Burnett’s downtrodden but noble princess Sarah Crewe.

Though Hayate boasts snappy dialogue and great jokes, the artwork disappoints. The characters all have big, sparkly eyes and artfully disheveled bangs that make them look like refugees from Yoki Koto Kiku or Galaxy Angel. The backgrounds, too, have a similarly stock quality; bedrooms, libraries, and hallways all seem interchangable. Hayate’s biggest shortcoming, however, is its bland packaging. Casual browsers might be surprised to learn that this is a shonen parody; the cover suggests something in the vein of Revolutionary Girl Pippie Longstockings rather than Full Metal Housecleaning Perfectionist.

Still, it’s hard not to like this go-for-broke comedy. Any mangaka who can write a story featuring yakuza, talking tigers, and a hero who wields a vaccuum cleaner more effectively than InuYasha swings the Tetsusaiga… well, he or she deserves a following. Volume 2 arrives in stores in February 2007.

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