Hayate the Combat Butler!!

Hayate no Gotoku - you've been a long road for me: 75 episodes is no easy task for a 12 to 24-episode convert. (76 including the 30 minute OVA.) Down to brass tax: the story has, outright, abandoned the "Hayate owes 150 million yen" arch. True, it keeps him as the butler to Nagi, but, compared to the first season, it's not the driving factor - the relationships are now. If you saw the prequel to the second season, the OVA, you would have been slightly shocked with, not only with the art style, but with the more relationship-oriented season that is to come. Forexample, Hayate makes only one reference the entire OVA to the fact that he owes 150 million yen, this translates rather proportionally to the amount of the "debt story arch" you'll be receiving in the second season. If you came to see the conclusion of Hayate's triumphant victory over his insurmountable debt, stay at the door. If you came to have fun with the relationships, triangles, and awkwardness, I saved you a seat. The majority of the episodes are geared towards one of Hayate's female suitors (if we're calling this a harem). Now, I say most are, some episodes are rather needless and, frankly, there are a few I could care less about, but the longest "new" story arch that you will see will last for approximately 2 episodes in length. 7/10. The art here is solid; much more luminous and light. I for one, enjoyed the switch to the new art style, but if you saw the OVA's and were hoping that it had changed, sorry, it stays for the remainder of the 25 episodes. 9/10. (Better than the first season.) Ohhhh, boy. The second best part of the series was the sound. I liked the theme, and every time I sensed myself getting a little fed up with the current theme, it was like they read my mind and it was changed the next episode. Every opening/closing was fresh and upbeat - much like the show is. Second, voice acting. You can't get much better than the two voice actors of Maria and Hayate. No, sir. You cannot. Maria, as we know is rather reserved and pensive and her voice reflects that as clear as undisturbed water. Hayate's voice in full of ignorance and apprehension, but it also full of innocent power. Great job to especially these voice actors, but to all who participated in the show. 10/10. HINAGIKU ASSAULT. Be ready for it. Trust me. Huge character development on the part of Hinagiku would be an understatement. Albeit she is given a FAIR SHARE of screen time and another crucial development takes place which I'm sure you saw prefaced in the OVA, possibly even in the first season as well. Ayumu is the only other standout character with her development and role that she takes on in the second season: more mature and, I found her, very profound and insightful. The majority of the other characters remain vastly the same. Hey, if ain't broke, don't fix it. 8/10. My enjoyment partially played into the fact that the show gave me what I was looking for after the first season: an identity. In this season, we saw that it had settled into a romantic comedy identity and spruced it up with a few action bits, but not as much as the first season. 8/10. To me, this was a wise decision. You can't have an anime that's solely based on comedy and have all these extremely powerful personalities behind it, because the characters will seem like they're forcing it and being too fake. Thankfully, the romantic comedy aspect was brought to bear, and the "strong personalities" were satiated, tamed, and, most importantly, and garnered success. The show still maintains its comedy and it's the length of the second season has been halved to 25 episodes, but the affect the storytelling leaves on you is as substantial as the first: it's very funny, makes impossible-to-get-every-single-reference references, good characters, a reasonable plot, good sound, and as entertaining as any other anime out there. 8/10.

Hayate no Gotoku!! is a unique parody and slice of life series that mainly focuses on the relationships between characters. It features some of the funniest and most ridiculous characters that one could find, which is the primary reason it is so entertaining. I for one am very proud of J.C. Staff for sticking to the source material. While at times an episode could seem rigid and have poor flow from the first half to the next, seeing chapters from the manga coming to be animated brings a feeling of joy. The art however leaves something to be desired. The change of color and designsof the characters from the first season and is not welcome. The backgrounds are fine but Nagi's hair looks like it was drawn with a piss yellow crayon, and Hina's and Ayumu's hair just screams QUALITY. But this is to be expected from a studio such as J.C. Staff, and it doesn't help that Japan's economy isn't so hot at the moment. The sound enriches the episodes, and is the reason why this anime is worth watching if one already currently reads the manga. The seiyuu are all outstanding at their roles and the background music fits in perfectly with each scene. The characters are extremely witty and endearing. The sheer amount of them and the developments between them is what makes Hayate so entertaining to watch.

The second season to one of the most awesome anime you can ever watch, Hayate no Gotoku!!. Its pretty much continue from episode 25 of Hayate no Gotoku! and have a new studio name J.C. Staff animating it xD Story:To keep it short, I kept it in point form +No More Fillers!!!!!!! +No more annoying side characters that may annoy the show xD +Character development increased xD -Fans of fillers might start revolting though..... -Reference to anime/manga dropped, a lot!!!!! -Too short!!!Art: +Since its J.C, the art improves, a lot!!!!! +The background is also more colourful -There are not much lacking in J.C arts except over-colour........ Sound: +The same old feeling of the first season xD +Daily-Daily Dream are awesome +Karakoi is the best ED ever for me!!!!!!!! +Kugyu voice +1 -Wonder Wind sucks -Too much Honjitsu Mankai. Character: +Great Character development xD +No more annoying filler characters +Nagi!!!!!!!!!!!!!! +10 -Too focus on Hina, which is bad as if they just spam her for money -1 -I hate that Kazuki kid Overall: +Great series like usual +No more fillers xD -Hinagiku Spamming.........

Hayate no gotoku, second season. I should start off by saying, this season is completely different compared to the first season. The writers take a different approach in animating the series. While the first season focused more on the comedy and gags, the second season focuses a lot more on the characters and the romance between them. Of course, im not saying they threw the comedy out the window, there is still a nice amount of comedy thrown into the series, making it in my opinion, far better than the first season. As far as the story goes, it's your typical romcom story, nothingnew. The art and sound are better than the first season, but it isnt really anything to brag about. What impressed me was the characters of the series. The character development and the romance is one of the best i've seen yet in a series. The plot of 150,000,000 debt is still referenced but is not really used in the series. Characters such as Hinagiku and Ayumu, who did not have much character develpment in the first series receive a huge boost in this one. Once again, the romance is one of the best part of the series. This is just my opinion, but it's on par(arguebly better) with that of Toradora!, one of the best romcom animes i know. The characters are all likable and you'll want to keep watching to find out who the main character ends up with. The enjoyment of the series has to receive a 10 for me, once again, a lot different from season 1. While i did kind of enjoy the first season, the second season was far better in my opinion. Id give the story a 7, art and sound an 8.5, character and enjoyment a 10, giving it an overall score of 9