review provided by Katie and Andrew
Title: Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Studio: J.C. Staff
Author: Kenjiro Hata
U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23
U.S. Release Date: October 20, 2015
Format and Length: Blu-ray / 25 Episodes / 625 Minutes
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Harem, School Life, Parody
Industry Age Rating: 14 and up
Overall Personal Rating: B-
Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Hayate the Combat Butler Season 1 and Hayate the Combat Butler Season 3: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
Synopsis:
Ever since he first met Nagi Sanzenin, Hayate Ayasaki’s life has become increasingly more crazed and chaotic. Which is a bit of a problem, since, as the eccentric heiress’ butler/personal bodyguard, he’s theoretically supposed to be a stabilizing and protective influence. Unfortunately, Nagi and her friends attract trouble the way dropped lollipops attract dirt, and if Hayate has to take a couple of nasty licks along the way, that’s just part of the job.
The real sucker punch, though, is that Nagi’s increasing attraction to Hayate himself is getting precariously close to transforming their professional relationship into something far less professional and much more like a relationship. Is Hayate up for the emotional perils of a round of “upstairs, downstairs”? Or will the purely physical dangers of life on Her Majesty’s Domestic Service do him in first?
Commentary:
Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season begins with Hayate still working as the Sanzenin Butler, and Season 2 features a lot more Hinagiku, as scenarios that include herself and Hayate allude to potentially mutual feelings between them. Nagi is also interested in escalating her relationship with Hayate, since Nagi’s perception of her relationship with Hayate remains based on the miscommunication that occurred on their first meeting. That is basically Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season in a nutshell. Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season completely ignores the filler material from the first season and picks up from about episode 25 and continues from there. With most of the filler material gone and forgotten from season one, the parody moments have dropped significantly.
Thankfully, with Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season we receive the character development that was missing in season one. However, Hinagiku takes up most of the screen time and some of the other characters lose out on their screen time and the other members of the Sanzenin household, Klaus, Tama, and to an extent Maria, take the back seat for a big chunk of the series. However, I feel that the “Hayate owes 150 million yen” arc was basically forgotten. It was brought up once or twice but it was basically abandoned and replaced with the Harem arc.
The art was bright and beautiful but different than the first season. The characters were well drawn and the background animation was pretty. The music was fresh and upbeat and the voice actors brought the characters to life before your eyes. The “Narrator” was drastically downplayed in this season. All in all, Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season was an enjoyable series to watch and I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys this type of series.
Extras:
Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season includes clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with Japanese with English subtitles as the only language option.
Overall Grade: B-
I feel that Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season is much more enjoyable than the first season because of the amazing interaction between characters. Hayate the Combat Butler: The Complete Second Season has high quality humor and fantastic and likeable characters but most importantly it is just fun to watch.
