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alt title(s): Hayate No Gotoku 
Screwball Action-Comedy at your service.
Since there were no living animals nearby to make a witty comeback, a decorative potted plant has taken over.
Sixteen-year-old Hayate is really down on his luck. Because his unemployed parents are good-for-nothings who waste what money they have on gambling, Hayate had to start working at a young age to help out his family.
Although such experience has made him inhumanly fast and tough (he can catch up to a speeding car on his bicycle and knock out a tiger with a single punch) and skilled at things boys aren't normally skilled at, it has also left him in an awkward position. His parents have racked up such a huge debt that they have sold Hayate to " nice men". In a desperate attempt to avoid this fate, Hayate decides to become a "bad guy" and kidnap someone to be held for ransom, but his efforts are mistaken as a confession of love by the girl he targets.
When he helps save the (as it turns out) ultra-wealthy 13-year-old Nagi from real kidnappers, she takes him in and gives him a job as her new personal butler (and love interest) until he can pay off his debt, which will take about 40 years. But Hayate is more attracted to Nagi's beautiful teenage maid Maria, and head butler Klaus is initially disapproving of the boy with such a poor look. And then there's Nagi's pet tiger, Tama, and Nagi's various social peers.
While it sounds like the setup for a gooey romantic comedy (and to be fair, sometimes the show is just that) Hayate refuses to take anything in its universe the slightest bit seriously. Characters routinely reference the fictional nature of their existence, thinly-veiled parodies of characters from other anime wander on and offscreen for no reason, and people do otherwise illogical things for the EXPRESSED PURPOSE of "advancing the plot."
But then, there is a story arc in the manga as well, events that were originally just jokes have had their backstories explained; and there is a continual thread involving Hayate's past and the origins of his abilities, his mother, a Mineral Mac Guffin, the Sanzenin and Tachibana family, and a magical castle. There is a 50/50 chance that this plot could go serious; or it could Snap Back at the end with the series going "Just kidding!"
A second season, animated by J.C. Staff, is airing now and more closely follows the manga; and has a much higher graphics budget.
Based on the manga by Kenjirou Hata.
Here we have the character sheets of the sweet, wacky and lovable cast.
This series provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion - Jun Fukuyama as a masked butler with a suspiciously familiar power... (He doesn't get to talk to the Narrator though) Also looked like Watanuki from XX Xholic, another of Jun's roles.
- Adult Child - How an irresponsible and immature drunk like Yukiji Katsura, Hina's older sister, hasn't been fired from her job as a teacher is beyond any conceivable logic, but luckily for her logic doesn't apply here. Case in point: the superintendent is far crazier.
- Hayate's parents probably qualify too, since they don't seem to even realize how their horribly selfish actions affect other people, especially Hayate.
- Affectionate Parody - The series is actually a parody of most "fighting" manga and anime, goofing on the tropes of them and never taking itself too seriously. This causes some backlash from viewers who mistake it for a serious attempt at the genre.
- AI Is A Crap Shoot - Robots sent to protect/capture Nagi always go on rampages instead. Subverted on one occasion.
- All Just A Dream - The results of the second popularity poll gets worked into the anime as one of Nagi's dreams — or, at least that's what she keeps telling herself, since she ended up in third place. The narrator assures us that this is not the case.
- Anguished Declaration Of Love - subverted. Just as Hinagiku attempts to confess, Hayate admits to being in love with Athena
- Art Shift - usually when referencing/parodying other anime/manga franchises or when showcasing scenes or characters from Nagi's self-made manga.
- As Long As It Sounds Foreign - Done to a ridiculous degree in episode 52 where "Italian" ranges from reciting Italian foods to saying anime/manga related references with bad pseudo-Italian accents. Considering the nature of the show, this trope was most certainly done deliberately.
- Attractive Bent Gender - Maria and Nagi stuff Hayate in a variety of feminine costumes, including a cute Cat Girl outfit. This induces Stupid Sexy Flanders moments in the head butler, Klaus, and Nagi's pet tiger. Nagi and Maria even decide they've gone too far when Hayate starts sniffling and crying and he looks too Moe Moe to be believed.
- In the manga, Hinagiku's adoptive mother asks Hayate to put on a pair of cat ears and frilly dresses.
- A Wizard Did It - The writers are using this one literally.
- Bad Santa - The manga series inexplicably starts with Santa berating a very young Hayate for sucking so hard, and for several chapters Hayate keeps thinking of how much Santa hates him as one of the defining properties of his life.
- Barehanded Blade Block - During their 'duel', Hayate stops Wataru's sword with two fingers almost offhandedly and tosses it aside.
- Battle Aura
- Battle Butler - Trope Codifier. It's there in the title, after all.
- Beach Episode - The OVA/Episode 00 of the second season. For the record, the beach is located within Nagi's property. She's just that rich.
- Berserk Button - Don't you dare call Nagi's doujinshi "picture diaries", or she'll let you have it! Similarly, suggest that Maria is older than seventeen one... more... time...
- And let's see, some of the things Hayate has beaten up for threatening Nagi have been homicidal nanny-bots, the yakuza, a giant mecha, the mafia...
- Do not suggest that Hinagiku can't do something girly.
- Better On DVD - Though Your Mileage May Vary depending on whether the constant bowdleriseing becomes a Running Gag to you or no.
- Better Than A Bare Bulb - Oh so much
- Beware The Nice Ones - Actually making Hayate angry is a pretty hard thing to do. But anyone who manages to do so better run. Fast.
- Maria qualifies as well. You know you're scary when your superior and even your own master are terrified at the very idea of making you angry.
- Bifauxnen - The first appearance of Shion, an anime-only chracter.
- Big Damn Heroes - The titular character does this a lot, usually in the form of a Dynamic Entry, or a Diving Save.
- Isumi and Sakuya have gotten their own Big Damn Heroes moment in a recent chapter.
- Subverted when Isumi promptly gets stomped and has to teleport everyone away.
- Bishonen - Hayate of course. So pretty, Even The Guys Want Him.
- Bitch In Sheeps Clothing - Kasumi Aika
- Bi The Way - Nishizawa Ayumu, who is refreshingly good natured and frank about loving both her childhood crush and her best friend, who also loves her childhood crush.
- Bland Name Product - As a show full out Shout Out, this isn't unexpected. Examples are 'Pony' televisions and 'Seako' clocks.
- KFC too, in one episode it was named " NFC " with Klaus standing in front of the door posing as Colonel Sanders.
- Blank White Eyes
- Bodyguard Crush
- Calling Your Attacks - Buster Cholerae!
- Call On Me: Full stop. If someone calls Hayate's name, he can freakin' teleport.
- The Cameo - Nabeshin, he of the magnificent afro, directs and appears in one episode. Even he couldn't turn up the crazy much further though.
- Anime Tenchou appears at one point as well.
- Conan Edogawa is cameoed all over the place, usually in the form of conspicuously-placed busts, but got an entire manga chapter (#108) devoted to him.
- Can Not Spit It Out - Practically everyone in the Love Gordian Knot the series develops.
- Ayumu actually does announce her feelings for Hayate, and gets a response, in an unusually played-straight scene.
- And when Hinagiku finally gets the nerve to tell him, he interrupts her to tell her about his love for Athena. ... TIMING!
- Catch Phrase - of sorts. "As expected of the Sanzenin family [..]" (Usually "butler" when Hayate does something impressive, but also used for anything excessive owned by the Sanzenin family.)
- Cerebus Syndrome - Kinda. The show has certainly gotten easier on the fourth wall and Shout Outs to focus on more 'serious' love-comedy/drama as time goes on. Especially noticeable in the anime, whose first season was almost entirely composed of original material that based its humour a lot on actor allusions, shout outs and grinding what was left of the fourth wall into fine powder.
- And the manga. It's still far from incredibly dark, but oh the contrast to how the series presented itself up until then.
- Charles Atlas Superpower - Hayate. Having to constantly work a variety of jobs to support his worthless parents has given him a wide range of abilities. And later, every other butler, too.
- Manga has just averted this. It's explained he was strengthened through divine magic and training by the goddess? Athena as a child. Seriously. His failing her lead to him deliberately giving himself Training From Hell from then on.
- The phrasing was 'unlocking the potential' that he already had. So it's still Charles Atlas Superpower, just with a nudge behind it.
- Chaste Hero - Hayate. Toes the line with Celibate Hero at times considering how unworthy he views himself.
- Chekhovs Gun - The pendant that Nagi's grandfather Mikado gave to Hayate. It "Opens the Way." We see Mikado holding it while staring at a picture of Nagi's mother....
- It's been revealed that Wataru has one too; that his mother gave it to him. And told him to "never reveal to the Sanzenin's." Sakuya gave hers to Kasumi Aika, whose family is related to/a retainer of the Aizawa clan.
- Chekhovs Gunman - Himegami is mentioned in earlier episodes but doesn't really appear on screen until episode 38.
- The fact that Hayate had a Big Brother Mentor is something that hasn't been mentioned at all until recently. And hasn't been maddenly mentioned since...
- Hayate having a big brother is mentioned slightly in the first manga at the end with character profiles.
- Chekhovs Skill - The fact that Tama has a Class 2 Builder's License as a Boiler Technician sure came in handy when he blew up the mansion's boiler a few issues later! ♥
- Or would have been if it wasn't so hard to push the right buttons with those big paws.
- The Chew Toy - Hayate himself.
- Cherry Blossoms - Parodied.
- Chick Magnet - Hayate's overall niceness, prettiness, and badassery have won him several female (among others) admirers. In recent chapters, Wataru also seems to be obliviously garnering a few girls himself, usually girls older than him (an inversion of Cake Eater perhaps?).
- Church Militant - "Fake" or not, Sonia is heavily armed and capable of sending a industrial beam "cross" through a car.
- Clothing Damage - One girl's clothing gets shredded by a slime attack while trapped in an RPG.
- Cloudcuckoolander - Isumi. Oddly, she's the only one who can understand Nagi's nigh-incomprehensible mangas.
- Chapter 109 from the manga shows that it's apparently genetic since her mother and grandmother seem just as... peculiar.
- In fact, they are even more so than Isumi. So much that she is the Only Sane Man of her family.
- Comic Book Time - on the one-year anniversary of the manga's debut, a chapter opened "It's been one year since that fateful encounter... Well, it feels that way, but really, it's only been a month!" Later on, multiple references to it being summer are made, to which Hayate repeatedly replies, "It's only March!"
- Even earlier, references to it being unusually warm for January are made, and Hayate wonders if the cherry blossoms are going to bloom, signifying that it was spring in the real world.
- Cool Sword - For reasons not yet explained, Hinagiku can partially power a bokken called "Masamune." For other reasons not yet explained, Isumi is fully aware she could do this.
- Covert Pervert - Maria is a little too willing to help Nagi crossdress Hayate. And, as noted by Sakuya Aizawa, Nagi is also rather dirty-minded herself.
- Cross Popping Veins - This includes birds, robots, and plants.
- Cultural Cross Reference - fairly frequent. There are Shout Outs to Knight Rider, Star Wars and Titanic, among others.
- Crouching Moron Hidden Badass - Isumi again. Can't figure out how to open her own cell phone to save her life (almost literally), but give her a demon to banish and...
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming - The upbeat and uplifting First Season Second Opening Song Shichitenhakki Shijou Shugi, by KOTOKO.
- Cry Cute - The whole darned female cast (especially Nagi) and even Hayate really just makes you wanna hug them when they cry.
- Cute Shotaro Boy - How Wataru avoided his place on this list till now baffles this troper.
- Cut Lex Luthor A Check - Sort of inverted, in that the inventor of Eight and the other robots would probably make billions if she'd just hire herself out to weapons developers (or even just construction/demolitions firms), but she insists on trying to use her killer robots as things like nurses.
- She does make security robots as well, and she doesn't have any (shown) funding issues in the manga. She'd still be better off focusing on the security robots rather than the nursing versions though.
- Curtains Match The Window - Blue-Eyed, Blue-Haired Hayate.
- Diving Save - Hayate does this in conjunction with Big Damn Heroes several times.
- Dojikko - The adorably prudish maid Saki.
- Doorstop Baby - Maria was found at the door of a Catholic church as a baby, hence her name.
- Dropped A Bridget On Him - In the manga, one butler falls in love with Hayate, who at the moment is under a crossdressing curse (...). Although initially devastated when Hayate's cover is blown, he quickly comes around and tries to convince Hayate to travel with him to the Netherlands, where same-sex marriages are legal. (Cue Nagi's Megaton Kick.)
- Dynamic Entry - The titular character and a few minor characters pull several of these through the manga. In one memorable instance, Hayate and Isumi's great grandmother do one together.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: The Kind-Smart-and-Beautiful Swordmaster Katsura Hinagiku, not to mention the Sexy-Joker Sakuya, the endearingly clumsy Maid Saki, and those three girls. Frequently lampshaded in the omakes at the end of the volumes, where various characters will comment on their own popularity with the fanbase disproportionate to their role in the story. (Maria's just a tad bitter.)
- A character poll in chapter 110 of the manga put Hinagiku's popularity at number one; her number of votes is about twice the number of second placer Maria and just a few dozen votes short of Maria, Nagi and Hayate's combined. Looks like Nagi is just a tad bitter now...
- The first ED for the second season is completely dedicated to Hinagiku. It's a love song to Hayate sung by Hina in the framing device of a karaoke bar, complete with plenty of blushing and a flood of multicolored hearts. Aside from Those Three Girls making periodic singsong remarks, no one else is in it. It's a nice Ship Tease for Hina fans but feels somewhat bizarrely out of place in the grand scheme of things...
- Everythings Worse with Bears - When the class goes on a hike up Mt.Takao as part of class orientation,Hayate,Kotetsu,and Azumamiya run into,and away from,a HUGE,almost pre-historic looking bruin that obviously wants 'em for lunch.
- Even The Girls Want Her - Hinagiku, of course. Even Nishizawa in the manga comments that she can't help but be a little turned on. It is also later hinted in the manga that Miki has a crush on Hinagiku.
- Even The Guys Want Him - Hayate. Need I say more?
- Evil Mentor: Nagi's grandfather Mikado. Hardens Hayate's resolve by telling him that to only do things due to debt means he's worthless. Gives him an ominous pendant that's probably cursed, but "will give him the will to do anything if he goes (and survives) where it leads."
- Evolving Credits - Starting with episode 40, many new scenes were added to the OP, including Himegami/"Princess God", who is revealed to be Hayate's last silhouetted opponent.
- Fan Nickname - Nishizawa -> NOM NOM, since she's always eating...
- Nagi also refers to her as "hamster". It's a catchy name.
- Fake Cross Over - Nabeshin, Author Avatar of Shinichi Watanabe, made an appearance.
- Fanservice - Delivered straight and subverted on various occasions, and almost always lampshaded (see the main entry, for example).
- Failure Knight - Much of Hayate's determination stems from having failed Athena.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink - Let's see...super-human butlers, Robots, Talking Animals, Time Travel, Miko, Vampire Mikos, ghosts, demons, demonic snakes, aliens, and whatever the heck Athena is.
- She's doing it again during their second meeting.
- Filler (Technically speaking, about half the first anime season was completely original material that had no basis in the manga, and would qualify as filler.)
- Finishing Move (All first-class butlers have at least one!)
- First Kiss
- First Name Basis - Nishizawa's insistence on this cemented her friendship with Hinagiku. "Didn't I tell you to call me Ayumu?" "And with that, I was completely defeated."
- Hinagiku herself insists on first name basis with most people; there's already a "Katsura" on campus that she'd rather not get confused with.
- Hinagiku switches away from First Name Basis with Hayate after he exploits her fear of heights to make her lose a race. She doesn't let up until the end of her birthday Story Arc.
- Fridge Brilliance - Have you ever wonder why Chiharu is the only Hakuo Academy student to speak with an English accent in the Animax English dub? You figure it out in two ways:
- 1. You then remembered that both the Maids, Maria & Saki speaks with an English accent in the dub too. You mix the two & two together and realize that Chiharu must be a maid too! Your suspicions are later confirmed once you read the later manga chapters or watch the 2nd season of the anime that she's none other than Sakuya's maid!
- 2. Having no idea, you decided to watch the 2nd anime season and/or read the later manga chapters and suddenly find out that Chiharu is "Haruko", Sakuya's Maid. It is then you realize that the dub was giving the viewers a hint what Chiharu secert job all along and that clue was none other than the maids Maria & Saki who speaks with an English accent. Brilliant!
- Red Angel Media, the studio that dubbed the anime on Animax were genius. They musta read the manga that she was a Maid long before the Viz manga English release so they decide to do the English accent thing to give the first time viewers the hint long before they read the manga or watch the 2nd season. You gotta hand it to the studio, they knew what they were doing.
- Friend Or Idol Decision: Does he give up the pendant and have a chance to finally reunite with his first love Athena, or does he protect it for several days, which would make the spirit possessing Athena fuse with her and reset her memories, meaning she would never remember him?
- Funny Animal / Intellectual Animal - Tama; at least when there's nobody around but Hayate, who knows he'd only turn into Not So Imaginary Friend if he tried to tell anyone else about it.
- Gag Series
- The Generic Guy - Nishizawa. One episode of the anime involves Nagi trying to be as normal as her (and failing).
- Genre Savvy - Played straight in that the characters know they're in a Shounen Action/Romance. Subverted, as the conclusions they draw based on that are typically wrong.
- Genre Shift - The End of The World arc in the manga. Beware! Hayate's origins of power are revealed! When he was a child, he became a butler and boyfriend to the young mystical Athena who lived in a castle at the End of the World. She gave him power and strength, but he unwittingly betrayed her trust when he gave the ring that represented their relationship to his parents, and they hawked it. Athena kicked him out, though she now lives in Athens. Everyone is heading there in the manga now....
- Ghost Lights - The Ghost Priest has these.
- Girlish Pigtails - Nagi.
- Glowing Eyes Of Doom - Done by Hayate after being hit by a car. Also used as a Shout Out to Death Note.
- Good Angel Bad Angel - Subverted; Hayate's shoulder angel advises Hayate to turn to kidnapping to repay a debt, freaking out his shoulder devil in the process.
- Groin Attack - In the first episode of Sakuya's appearance, she grabs Hayate by his feet and rapidly stomps into his groin in a manner not unlike operating a jackhammer... needless to say the audience was crying with laughter.
- Guide Dang It - Actively referred to when it turns out the only way to activate the "Ultimate Butler Armor" is for someone who has lost the powers of a Butler to regain them.
- Hello Nurse / Night Nurse - Maria put on glasses and a nurse outfit in Chapter 140 as a disguise at the suggestion of Nagi's bodyguards. It didn't conceal her identity in the slightest, but this troper certainly didn't mind.
- Hellish Pupils - Manga only, Hinagiku and Wataru. It might symbolize their aggressive personalities, as they're certainly not evil. Anime has the Superintendent, and Hinagiku can summon it when she gets really annoyed.
- Hikikomori - Nagi—this is not immediately obvious since she covers it up by being a cute girl and her being 'homebound' involves one of her enormous family estates, but Hayate almost immediately observes that she's not very socialized and has an unusual obsession with video games and manga, and makes a point to get her out of her house.
- Honor Before Reason - Hayate's suicidal devotion to Nagi and every person that needs his help. Plus, the fact he never called social services on his abusive-heartless-deadbeat-parents as a child speaks volumes about his kind character. (No, seriously, he knows it's part of his character archetype.)
- Hot Shounen Mom - In the manga, Isumi Saginomiya's mother looks a lot like Isumi (except for having short hair), and is just as ditzy, as noted above. And very, very cute - you'd think she was Isumi's older sister. Well, there's also the apparent factor that consuming blood makes them younger... that might just be Isumi's great-grandmother, though.
- If you look VERY carefully in the one scene she appears in, Nagi's dearly-departed and very cute mother resembles Hayate. No wonder she is so fond of him. (And this also means that Nagi has a bit of an Oedipus complex)...
- Confirmed when we finally get a closeup look at her later on.
- Hyperspace Mallet - Sakuya stores her Paper Fan Of Doom here. Hinagiku stores her sword here. Nagi stores various things here, commonly objects used by her tsuntsun side to punish people.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming - the titles of the manga chapters can get a bit wordy at times.
- Idiot Crows
- The Idiot From Osaka - Sakuya Aizawa, who sees life as one big Boke And Tsukkomi Routine. This makes her both Genre Savvy and Wrong Genre Savvy, in that she knows she's in a gag anime, she's just got the gag style wrong.
- Idiot Hair - Shion
- IKEA Weaponry - The Sanzenins have an underground network of conveyor belts that can deliver Hayate an Arm Cannon in a kit from a phone booth anywhere.
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy - Athena is the chairman of Hayate's school who decided his grade could be raised a point to keep him enrolled. During their second confrontation, she is torn between getting the King's Stone; because that might lead to Hayate being banished. But then she could scoop him up...her mixed feelings combined with being a Reality Warper results in baaad mojo.
- Im Taking Her Home With Me - Isumi and Saki usually induce this kind of reaction from the fans.
- Image Song - Advertised in the "Butler Network" segment with great enthusiasm.
- Indirect Kiss - Chapter 150 shows Aika being all blushy and hesitant at taking a drink from a bottle Wataru just offered her — a bottle he just drank from. Naturally, oblivious Wataru does not understand why she'd be so fussy.
- I Was Just Passing Through - Isumi often gives this one.
- Kendo Team Captain - Hinagiku
- Lethal Chef - Nagi, who (among other instances) declared her failed attempt to make Valentine's chocolate "A chocolate-covered iron pot!" to save face.
- Lemony Narrator - The narrator frequently argues with the characters, snarks at the plot, and was once accused of murder by Nagi. And he has the voice of Norio Wakamoto.
- He even seems to develop as a character, starting out with mere sarcasm and eventually developing an utter disdain for the show's cast. In one episode, when the gang takes a cruise and Nagi complains that the Titanic-sized ship is too small, he says, "God, I hate rich people. I hate them so much."
- It gets better in the Animax dub where they gave him a Brtish accent & sounds like Tom Baker!
- Les Yay - Ayumu and Hinagiku. Superintendent Kirika and Sion
Hinagiku: Now I'll never be a bride...
Hinagiku: What about Hayate?
Ayumu: That's right... Then how about a Polygamy?
- Lolicon - The design of the characters around Nagi's age have this clearly in mind, and have even been lampshaded by Maria and some other characters in the manga.
- Averted by Hayate himself - one of said characters confesses that she likes him, and his response is "hey, kids like me; maybe I should be a teacher"...
- And then there's chapter 160 featuring fanservice shots of 10-year-old Maria.
- Love Bubbles - Happens a lot with different characters, and is even used in the third ending theme in the anime.
- Love Epiphany
- Love Triangle - Sonia -> Wataru -> Isumi. Also, Nishizawa -> Hayate <- Hinagiku, as a subset of a much weaker Love Dodecahedron that includes Nagi and Maria (which forms the initial love triangle).
- Are you sure that second one hasn't turned into a type 13? Or perhaps even weirder still, a type 9 (see above)?
- Mad Scientist - The very cute meganekko inventor of Eight and the other killer robots. Sometimes ventures into being FOR SCIENCE!!! (as far as weaponry's concerned), if she wasn't kept grounded by her quest for funding.
- Marty Stu - One-shot character Unit 13.
- Meaningful Name: Hayate means wind, and Nagi means no-wind. Whether they are still the Official Couple is another question.
- Meganekko - Saki Kijima, Shiori Makimura, Chiharu Harukaze
- Meido - Maria and Saki
- Isumi gets shanghaied into wearing a maid outfit so that spirit of a perverted priest can flirt with a maid, fulfilling a desire that's keeping said spirit from moving on to the afterlife. Although, that reason turned out to be an April Fool's joke by the priest.
- Misplaced Wildlife - Tama's backstory is that Nagi found him as a tiger cub in Africa, but there are no tigers in Africa. Upon having this fact pointed out by fans, the author admitted in his notes that he Did Not Do The Research, and hangs a lampshade on this apparent inconsistency in a later chapter. Apparently, in addition to tigers, traditional African wildlife includes pandas, unicorns, and what is clearly a person in a dragon costume
- Then again, in the long run, it wouldn't have mattered too much considering the series. Besides, it's funny either way.
- In an episode of the anime the same mistake is repeated when an elephant is shown in the Amazon.
- Moe Moe - Pick a girl, any girl.
- My Name Is Not Durwood - Izumi always calls the titular butler Hayata to tease him.
- Name That Tune
- Names The Same. Isumi and Izumi are different people.
- Narrator - Actual narrator in the anime (bonus points for being Norio Wakamoto), narration boxes in the manga.
- No Fourth Wall - All characters are aware they are in an anime (or manga), referring to censors, commercials, pages, the Narrator, the audience... in fact, the show seems to take the very existence of the fourth wall as a personal affront, and pounds it into rubble at every opportunity.
- Nigh Invulnerable - Hayate. Would be Made Of Iron except it's taken to extremes with
no explanation given besides his childhood being inhuman. There's an explanation now. He was "given the body of God" via a ritual using the Sephirot by Athena.
- There's the fact that his name's on the series, too, which is indirectly lampshaded often enough.
- No Sense Of Direction - Isumi, though it turns out that at least part of it is because local spirits routinely interrupt her trips to ask her to fight demons troubling them.
- No Water Proofing In The Future, subverted - When one of the butler robots attacks Nagi, it shrugs off a water attack by Hayate, only to be later defeated by a handful of silver cutlery and a generous helping of electricity.
- Oedipus Complex - Apparently, Hayate greatly resembles Nagi's mother...despite being male. So this is gender-flipped and played straight.
- Offscreen Teleportation - Hayate, if people cry out for him, will unfailingly appear on-scene to save them.
- Once appeared in the manga on a spaceship in outer space that Nagi got stuck on when she called his name. Since he can't reveal that it was Isumi's magic; she must really think he's Just That Good.
- In a recent anime episode, Hayate explains this ability away that butlers have license to appear unexpectedly.
- Ojou - Nagi
- Once An Episode - Nishizawa eats something. After she's finally really introduced in episode 12, she starts making wistful comments about Hayate, as well.
- Onmyodo - Isumi's method of magic; also was used to give Tama the power of speech, though we don't see who did it.
- Only Six Faces
- Opening Narration
- Ordinary High School Student - Episode 46 has Nishizawa showing Wataru and Saki around her "completely normal High School" which is filled with "Completely Ordinary High School Students." That is to say...it filled with heroic Delinquents and time travelers. This was the same school that originally produced Hayate....So Yeah.
- Lampshaded in the very first issue of the manga when Hayate runs into some other students (which also hangs a shade on Hayate's playing Mister Exposition):
Hayate: Ah.. well, well, if it isn't my classmates from my ordinary public high school.
Student: Sorry for being ordinary.
(Are you explaining something?)
- Our Demons Are Different - According to Isumi, demons are entities possessed by an evil spirit. Anything can become a demon; objects, humans, animals. She repels one that had possessed a horde of rats, and then some rather large ones that had possessed a Koi Herpes Virus that had infected a nearby koi pond and were terrorizing the local kami.
- Overtook The Manga - The "Butler Battle" arc in the anime wasn't in the manga. Hence the Ultimate Butler Armor disappearing after.
- Paper Fan Of Doom - Sakuya's signature weapon.
- Paper Thin Disguise - Hayate briefly dresses up like Solid Snake and sneaks around a school in a large cardboard box...
- Plus, Himegami's idea of a weird eye mask that does nothing to hide his unique hair and his "pseudonym" of 'Princess God' isn't fooling anyone.
- And Nagi showing up to rescue Hayate wearing a silly domino mask and calling herself "Mask the Money"
- Parody Sue - Hayate, Hinagiku
- Parental Abandonment - None of the principle cast, most of whom are still children, have ever had their parents introduced onscreen due to death, absence, neglect or convenient coincidence. And this troper still cringes at what Hayate's parents did to him... (nervous laugh)
- Isumi's mom does finally show up later in the manga, Nishizawa's family appears a few times, and Hinagiku has an okay family life now...
- But we STILL never see Hinagiku's adopted father. Played straight again.
- Sakuya's family also appeared during her birthday party. Both her father and her little siblings are comedy-obsessed-crazies just like her. Hell, her father's even worse.
- Perverse Sexual Lust - Parodied. Hayate yells, "I only like 2-D girls!" to get Nishizawa to leave him alone.
- Pettanko - Nagi and Hinagiku are both concerned about their flat-chestedness.
- The Power Of Love - Church Militant Sonia requests a kiss from Wataru if she rescues Saki, who had just been kidnapped. Wataru pays in advance. Next page, Hayate (on bike) catches up to the flaming wreck of the kidnappers' car: a giant cross driven through the hood, the men tied up nearby, and Saki unhurt but confused.
- Promise
- Puppy Dog Eyes - Nagi (or really, any girl) going all sniffly and teary-eyed will cause Hayate to not just steel his resolve and do whatever's necessary to make them happy, but will adamantium his resolve.
- The Quiet One - The infinitely huggable Isumi.
- Refuge In Audacity - Hayate's parents, who have relied on his hard work for their booze and gambling money his entire life, and never displayed a single bit of love and affection for him, show up to ruin his latest job for him so they can steal his latest paycheck and go gambling with it, and run up such a horrible debt doing so that they cheerfully sell him and his organs to the Yakuza? Played for laughs? (And that's all just in the first chapter!)
- Retcon - The first episode of the second season establishes that only a month has passed since Hayate became a butler, placing the entire first season into a vague quantum state of semi-nonexistence. Or something.
- Rie Kugimiya: Nagi.
- Rie Tanaka: Maria.
- RPG Episode - Filler episode where the Student Council trio gets sucked into an old RPG after the game gets fed up with all the insults being heaped upon it.
- Just look at Hina's stats screen. Further proof that her Sue-ness is Over Nine Thousand.
- RPG stats are referenced in a manga chapter too, as Hayate assembles a team for a dungeon crawl.
- Rule Of Cool
- Rule Of Funny
- Scary Shiny Glasses - Klaus, Chiharu, and Sonia, combined with Audible Gleam. In Chiharu's case, the shininess once burned up a piece of paper she was mad at.
- Screw The Rules I Have Money (Nagi is not even remotely above solving her problems by throwing her ludicrously vast fortune around. Inverted with the Yakuza, who only start to obey the rules when they get their money. IE, they're don't just kill people for fun; it's Nothing Personal.
- Serious Business - Butlers must be ready to defend their masters with their lives, and Hayate's superhuman feats are apparently the bare minimum for a butler—heck, he doesn't even have a master sword technique that sets stuff on fire!
- Shaggy Dog Story - The show devotes an entire episode to these, where the cast takes turns telling various stories with no point.
- Ship Tease - Ooooh yeah.
- Shotacon - The "nun" Sonia who has developed a crush on 13-year-old Wataru. Her profile even outright states that she likes "cute little boys." Saki is also shown to have a lot of affection for Wataru, certainly more than an employee is expected to harbour towards her employer.
- Shout Out - Too many, at least one per episode.
- Nagi's grandfather, Mikado Sanzenin, shares a name with an obnoxious Handsome Lech of a combat figure skater in Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½. Whether or not this is deliberate is unknown.
- Shy Blue Haired Girl: Hayate fits this trope to a T, except that he's, ya know, not a girl (despite the way he looks).
- Social Services Does Not Exist - Worst. Parents. Ever.
- Well, let's not be too quick to say worst... ... well, then again, fine, worst.
- Stable Time Loop - In the final episode of the first season; in Athens, Greece.
- Student Council President - Hinagiku.
- Supernaturally Delicious And Nutritious - Of course Hayate has delicious supernatural blood. It's part of the His Life Sucks package. In fact, his blood when he's half-dying is one of the most mystically infused substances in the world; and can completely power up Isumi or her grandmother. The latter has no problem with snacking on him, while the former tends to abstain, but once when Nagi was in danger, she tasted just a little and that gave her enough power to both break a Power Limiter curse that was on her and use her magic powers to teleport Hayate onto a spaceship in freaking Outer Space.
- Super Powered Robot Meter Maids - Up there on Hayate's nemesis list, what do you mean flight and missiles aren't required for a robot butler to clean the house?
Hayate: Is he really made for nursing?
Klaus: I'm sure it's necessary equipment for women living alone... Like a protection against stalkers!
Nagi: Sounds really fishy.
- Super Window Jump - One of many feats Hayate can do that borders on the supernatural.
- Surprise Santa Encounter - An imaginary Santa representing Hayate's morals and work ethic.
- Sweat Drop — pretty much mandatory in the manga
- Teen Genius - We're not talking about Chiyo's level, but Nagi skipped three grades after all.
- Maria graduated high school at 13
- Tempting Fate - Maria gives Hayate an expensive cashmere jacket and tells him not to damage it. Take a wild guess what happens.
- It's lampshaded mercilessly, for one. "We will slay you with these swords that cut cashmere really well!".
- Utterly subverted when Hayate wraps it around a tree branch as a safety line to prevent Isumi and the coat from falling into a "Cashmere coat gets really dirty if dropped in" kind of pond. The coat tears apart and he falls in anyway. But at least Isumi and the coat didn't.
- Also, when they're on a cruise, Sakuya assures Nagi that the ship won't sink unless they're raided by terrorists. Guess what happens.
- It is worth noting that the cruise ship they were on, commissioned especially for that cruise, was named The Titanic, and looked just like its namesake. That ship wasn't just tempting fate, it was actively begging.
- Title Drop - The Finishing Move that Hayate develops at the end of volume 6 is the "Hayate No Gotoku" (translated in this case as "Whimsical Hurricane")
- Tournament Mini-Arc - Nagi's Elaborate University High holds a tournament that takes "Battle Butler" quite literally. Defeat comes from losing your necktie.
- Toy Ship - Hayate and Athena when they were around 6.
- Trauma Conga Line - For Hayate to not be broken by the hardships of his boyhood life makes him a saint amongst saints.
- True Art Is Incomprehensible - Only Nagi's friend Isumi is able to understand what the hell's going on in one of her manga stories.
- Tsundere - Nagi as a Type A (in keeping with her voice actress and twin pigtails- it's even lampshaded)
- Hinagiku is also a Tsundere of the Type B variety (or at least she's introduced that way)
- Hinagiku is a Tsundere who is has an extreme sense of self-restraint. She would often like to snark emotionally at someone; but swallows it down as inappropriate. She tends to go for intimidating calmness instead.
- Unflappable Guardian - Maria
- Unlucky Childhood Friend - Nishizawa
- Unwanted Harem - It's not so much that Hayate doesn't want the girls as he is too naive to understand their gestures of affection for him... which can be dangerous considering the occasionally (literal) military grade resources most of them can access when they throw a tantrum. (Nervous Laugh)
- More like he has low self-esteem. Not to mention he sees half of them as kids, and because he's quite explicitly not a Lolicon, can't even imagine them as love interests.
- Anime Hayate shows an interest in those his age, Manga Hayate doesn't believe he can ever be anyone's boyfriend; and he has a lot of pent-up guilt over Athena.
- Ironic since it seems like the older the character, the less mature they act. Most of the girls act thirteen-going-on-thirty, with cynicism on the red-line.
- Verbal Tic - Demon, the Great Stygian of Abe (Temp), says '~tima' a lot.
- What Could Have Been — Originally the author had written a one-shot manga about a high school student and her sister dealing with a debt. These characters became Yukiji and Hinagiku.
- Wholesome Crossdresser - Hayate, albeit against his own will. Nagi and Maria's motives for forcing him to crossdress are most likely considerably less wholesome.
- The Woobie - Hayate, both to the viewers and to multiple characters in the story. Usually hearing about his parents is enough to make most characters instantly want to hug him and make it all better.
- Wooden Katanas Are Even Better
- Wrong Genre Savvy - The usual cause of a Genre Savvy guess's being wrong. While the characters often seem to know they're in an anime/manga, they just as often think they're in an actual fighting series, not a parody.
- Sakuya is aware she's in a comedy series, she just has the comedy style wrong.
- Xanatos Gambit - Parodied with a Shout Out to Death Note... by a kitten.
-
Yakuza Very Nice People - The cheerful Lampshade Hanging the show offers of this, as well as the over-the-top sugar-coating they give the activities of said very nice people to make it viewable to its younger audience, arguably makes it funnier to anyone old enough to know what they're really referring to.
- Yamato Nadeshiko - Isumi-chan, oh so very cute. Every home should have one. And probably will when she wanders in.
- Yandere - Athena
- You're forgetting Maria and Sonia.
- Yaoi Fangirl - Izumi Segawa. "Sorry to bother you. Please don't mind me and continue."
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
- You Wanna Get Sued - Virtually every episode contains lines with bleep-censorship to avoid trademark infringement.
Nagi: Hayate still has three transformations left!
- In more extreme cases, characters will be actively shushed by other characters to achieve this. See the example on the trope page.
- The official English manga translation 'whites-out' letters in words for the same reason - a visual bleep.
- Also in the anime on some cases the scene is replaced by the large version of the usual visual censorship gag with writing "Showing this will be a copyright infringement" or something like that
- Younger Than They Look - Believe it or not, the Butlers Nonohara, Himuro & Kotetsu are all under 19 years old! This prety shocking since Kotetsu looks like in his 30's yet is actally a teenager and is also Izumi's older twin brother!
- Maria is 17 years old but many are often mistaken that she's looks older due to her maturity. By the way, DO NOT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SAY SHE DOESN'T LOOK SEVENTEEN!. Just Don't! Say it again or you will suffer the Consequences! You been Warned!
- Yum Yum - Nishizawa's consumption of a coated strawberry is gag-censored for being too suggestive.
- Zettai Ryouiki - Nagi's qualifies as grade S.
- Sakuya's is pretty good too.
- Well, her voice actor did voice Rin Tohsaka, THE epitome of Grade S Zettai Ryouiki, in Fate Stay Night. As some people have said (this troper included), the fact that Sakuya is voiced by Kana Ueda in the anime makes her ten times as hot as the manga version.
- Do you mean this sexy little number?
- Izumi's maid outfit.
- Maria, too, on the rare occasions that she's not in her meido uniform.
- Chiharu's maid uniform. Inevitable when she was initially hired to work in a maid café
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