Back to Araragiri-san's Profile Araragiri-san's Profile

The only reason most people here is because of Genshiken, and if you are, stay the f*ck away!

Genshiken didn't end on the best of terms, but at least it was very enjoyable throughout. That ending though, still hurt so bad, not because who he chose, but how it happened. Just left a bitter taste after what I considered to be a fantastic series. Regardless, coming into Spotted Flower I was excited! Just seeing how they doing in the future, their shenanigans, honestly just their conversation would be enjoyable enough for me. But right off the bat, the premise is off!

Spoilers below if you care about ... that.
They don't tell you it's Genshiken, but let be real here, it's the same characters that we know and love. The story focusing on "Madarame" and his wife, "Kasukabe". Now you know that not how it was in Genshiken, but whatever, some alternative timeline right, no biggie. I still enjoy the banter of the husband and wife, Hato and Yajima are pretty good as well. But there's still an awkwardness reading it you know, especially when Kousaka enter the picture. It's all downhill from there actually!

Hato still have feeling for Madarame, and try to seduce him. As a one-off, that's fine, especially when Hato and Yajima are pretty chummy together. But Madarame didn't brush it off, Like He Should Have! Again, one-off, it's fine. Once Kousaka enter the picture though, it's all over. I kid you not. Madarame is jealous and then hook up with Hato! ... Let that sink in for a second...
WTF!! There're So many other things the author could have explore, especially with the "alternative timeline" and everything, but he has to do That. Why?!

Needless to say, do not pick this up if you're a fan of Genshiken, unless you just want to see a trainwreck. It isn't even the worst I've seen, it's not School Days level or something. But I genuinely enjoy Genshiken and liked the characters, even Madarame. So to see them do atrocious shit just hurt so much more.

This is a very bias review.
Hayate no Gotoku was one of the first manga I've ever read, dated all the way back in 2007, when it only had 100-ish chapters. I didn't read every week, I believe I took a 2 years break just so that I can read all of them at once. Regardless, It's like my child you know.
After 10 odd years with 570 chapters, it ended.

To the actual story, Hayate no Gotoku is about an unlucky guy, with many odd talents (especially with woman), who fall into debt by his parents and was taken in by a super rich lady to ... be her butler. Or something like that.
The sypnopsis really doesn't matter, if you read it, you'll know it eventually. What really matter is that it's a comedy, slice of life, gag manga.

It was fun, a lot of fun. I still remember falling off my chair from laughing, and my dad burst in asking if I'm ok. And like many other long running show, it eventually get off the comedy and be serious at some point (570 chapters of just comedy is impossible after all). The first 2 serious arcs was amazing. But at it core, it's a comedy still, so don't expect an action-pack seri just because the title have "Combat" in it.

Of course, it had it up and down, some arcs are just not that great, some chapters are just not that funny. But at the end of the day, I'm happy with what I got, it was a great ride, and I'm sure I'd read it again someday (570 chapters probably only take 2-3 weeks if I'm taking my time).

If you're deciding whether to read it or not, just read it. It could be a bit of a commitment, but i'm sure you would get something out of it.

On the side note, lot of people complain about the ending. But to me, it's surprisingly adequate. I've seen desasterous endings, and Hayate no Gotoku is nowhere near that. It's quite sufficient in my opinion. Could've expend a bit more, but I don't mind.

- This is a Dystopia manga, hell, it's in the name. So the question is how well they execute it? Long story short, it's amazing and as the same time disappointing due to the shitty industry that force mangaka to kill their own work.

- The setting appear to be generic, but actually bizarre and intriguing. We all know the over saturated of RPG like fantasy worlds, but more often than not, the author just gloss over the world building and we're expected to Know the inner working of the world. Yakushoku Distopiary (YD from now) is one of the few which actually showcase the ... difference aspects of the setting. How it work, who's involve, and of course, how f*ck up it is.

- There won't be any spoiler here so feel free to proceed, though it will be kinda hard to talk about it, so bear with me

- YD used the setting, the RPG like world where there're Heroes aka subjugators to defeat the Demon Lords (with an s), and flip it on its head to create a dystopian world. Just from the description, you would expect the heroes to be justice and the Demon Lords to be the bad guys, and that's exactly what won't happen here, this is a dystopia after all. Instead, we're given the humanize and the villain sides of both the Demon Lords, and the Subjugators. In fact, the Demon Lords themselves are more sympathizable compare to some of the Subjugators. They're just doing their assigned job. Did I say that the jobs system was used briliantly.

- Everyone was given a job title the moment they born into the world, just one job, you can't change it, and have to do it. Some people were given power beyond imagine, time mage for example, while others are garbage cleaner, and the likes. And then there's the Subjugators job and the Demon Lord job. And that's the whole point, they're just doing their jobs, be it killing people mercilessly or clean the window. We sympathy with them because they has human emotions, despite their horrible actions, forced on them simply because the job title.

- And this lead me to the simple principle of how to create a good dystopia, or story in general.
"It's not the vilains or the heroes fault, it's the system."
This is the same principle that Madoka Magica, Bokurano, Shinsekai Yori, Made in abyss, or any good Dystopians used, and YD follow this it to a tea.

- THIS COULD BE ONE OF THE BIG NAMES, WHY JAPAN, WHYYYYYYYY?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- the series was going strong for the first 4 volumes, then on the 5th volume, we're introduce to a whole new character arc and end on a rush ending. Needless to say, it got axe. The author were probably given red flag as the end of volume 4, that he only have 1 volume to finish the story. Realize he can't finish it, he shift to a difference character arc entirely, in hope that it will be popular enough to continue the story and also avoid a rush ending, some how.

- And even with what little he had to work with, the author did amazingly well. That out-of-nowhere character arc is another amazing portrait of this dystopia world. However, the last chapter is still rush ending to our main story. Can't really blame the author. that ending is probably what he had in mind for the real ending. The worst part is, I can see what direction he's going for, the potential that this seri has, if only he has more to work with.

- I can't really discuss much of the story without delve into spoiler teritory, my credibility isn't that high, but if you get something out of this review, just go read it. Despite a rush ending, the sheer potential and the great executions that this manga portraited is worth the read. My 9 rating on this seri is indeed bias, but this could seriously be a 10, if only the industry wasn't so shitty

Edit: I found it! The author didn't give up, he still upload the manga through webcomic. Best part is, the supossedly "last chapter" isn't even there, just a prove of how bullsh*t that chapter is. Now i can keep reading this amazing story. The update is a bit slow tho, but it's still better than nothing.
for anyone who want it: http://endelta.jp/gesellschaft/