History Manga / HayateTheCombatButler

''Hayate the Combat Butler'' [[https://myanimelist.net/news/49871825 will conclude]] in March 2017.

Part of Season 1 and all of Season 2 is available on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/hayate-the-combat-butler-season-1-2 Crunchyroll]].

[[Characters/HayateTheCombatButler Here we have the character sheets of the sweet, wacky and lovable cast.]] (Well, except [[AbusiveParents Hayate's parents. They're NOT lovable]], [[FauxAffablyEvil and a]] [[FauxAffablyEvil ''different'']] [[PsychopathicManchild kind of wacky]]). Also check out the [[ShoutOut/HayateTheCombatButler Shout Out page!]]- there are already a lot.

[[Characters/HayateTheCombatButler Here we have the character sheets of the sweet, wacky and lovable cast.]] (Well, except [[AbusiveParents Hayate's parents. They're NOT lovable]]). Also check out the [[ShoutOut/HayateTheCombatButler Shout Out page!]]- there are already a lot.

The {{anime}} has been licensed by Bandai Entertainment. Unfortunately, the creator and syndicators released the series subbed-only after it had released on TV, having already felt that the manga would not be a big hit and not expecting any further luck. There is a dub made by Red Angel Media, [[NoExportForYou although it is limited to the Southeast Asian viewers]].

Part of Season 1 and all of Season 2 is available on crunchyroll.com.

There's now an animated film adaptation being produced by Creator/{{Manglobe}} (''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'') and written by Koboyashi Yasuko (''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''). Entitled ''Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth'', it was released on August 27th, 2011.

The third season entitled ''Hayate No Gotoku: Can't Take My Eyes Off You!'' is an independent anime written by the author. It's scheduled to air as a part of the Fall2012Anime season.

The third season entitled ''Hayate No Gotoku: Can't Take My Eyes Off You!'' is an independent anime written by [[WordOfGod the author]]. It's scheduled to air as a part of the Fall2012Anime season.

[[Characters/HayateTheCombatButler Here we have the character sheets of the sweet, wacky and lovable cast.]] (Well, except [[AbusiveParents Hayate's parents]]. [[CompleteMonster They're NOT lovable]]). Also check out the [[ShoutOut/HayateTheCombatButler Shout Out page!]]- there are already a lot.

The third season entitled ''Hayate No Gotoku: Can't Take My Eyes Off You!'' is an independent anime written by [[WordOfGod the author]]

There's now an animated film adaptation being produced by Creator/{{Manglobe}} (''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'') and written by Koboyashi Yasuko (''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''). Entitled ''Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth'', it is set to release on August 27th, 2011, with a third season on the way afterwards. It has been implied the by third seasons project director that the third season may ''not'' be a continuation of the plot, but instead be a entirely new anime.

While it sounds like the setup for a gooey romantic comedy (and sometimes the series is just that) ''Hayate'' refuses to take anything in its universe the slightest bit seriously. [[PaintingTheFourthWall Characters routinely reference the fictional nature of their existence]], [[ShoutOut thinly-veiled parodies of characters]] from other series wander on and offscreen for no reason, and [[RefugeInAudacity people do otherwise illogical things for the express purpose of "advancing the plot."]]

There's now an animated film adaptation being produced by Creator/{{Manglobe}} (''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'') and written by Koboyashi Yasuko (''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''). Entitled ''Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth'', it is set to release on August 27th, 2011, [[AndTheFandomRejoiced with a third season on the way afterwards.]] It has been implied the by third seasons project director that the third season may ''not'' be a continuation of the plot, but instead be a entirely new anime.

The first season of the anime aired in 2007, and follows the {{manga}} up to a certain point, after which it adds a bunch of {{filler}} and creates [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole plot holes]] for those who watched the season that followed.

There's now an animated film adaptation being produced by Creator/{{Manglobe}} (''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'') and written by Koboyashi Yasuko (''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''). Entitled ''Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth'', it is set to release on August 27th, 2011, [[AndTheFandomRejoiced with a third season on the way afterwards.]] It has been implied the third seasons projects director that the third season may ''not'' be a continuation of the plot, but instead be a entirely new anime.

There's now an animated film adaptation being produced by Creator/{{Manglobe}} (''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'') and written by Koboyashi Yasuko (''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''). Entitled ''Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth'', it is set to release on August 27th, 2011, [[AndTheFandomRejoiced with a third season on the way afterwards.]]

-->'''Hayate''': "When reading this Manga/HayateTheCombatButler trope entry, [[ContentWarnings make sure to read this from a decent distance away from the computer screen in a well-lit room.]]"
-->'''Nagi''': "Got it?"

->''This is the super combat battle story of a boy who fights...''

There's now an animated film adaptation being produced by {{Manglobe}} (''SamuraiChamploo'') and written by Koboyashi Yasuko (''ShakuganNoShana''). Entitled ''Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth'', it is set to release on August 27th, 2011, [[AndTheFandomRejoiced with a third season on the way afterwards.]]

* Manga/HayateTheCombatButler/TropesAToD
* Manga/HayateTheCombatButler/TropesEToI
* Manga/HayateTheCombatButler/TropesJToO
* Manga/HayateTheCombatButler/TropesPToZ

-->'''Hayate''': "When reading this HayateTheCombatButler trope entry, [[ContentWarnings make sure to read this from a decent distance away from the computer screen in a well-lit room.]]"

* HayateTheCombatButler/TropesAToD
* HayateTheCombatButler/TropesEToI
* HayateTheCombatButler/TropesJToO
* HayateTheCombatButler/TropesPToZ

* {{Aborted Declaration of Love}} - Except that it never seems to be played as anything final, Kaoru does this while he and Yukiji are visiting Italy during Golden Week. He starts confessing, and then decides that he just can't do it, so he changes the end of the sentance to be about her little sisters' relationship status. Yukiji seems to realize this, but uses her {{Bottle Fairy}} personality to play with his mind a little and continue the conversation as it was playing out, asking him what he likes about her sister.
** Wataru as well, who attempts to confess to Isumi but at the last second says "loved" instead of "love".
*** [[{{Subversion}} On the other hand]], it would seem that this is merely Wataru beginning to get over his crush on Isumi and is completely true, rather than a mere switch of embarrassment.
* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother - Hinagiku and Yukiji's [[spoiler: adopted ]]mother looks to be rather young to be the mother of 28-year old Yukiji, a little more probable for 12-years-younger Hinagiku, [[ArtShift especially recently]], but she's still nearly alarmingly young to be their mother. [[spoiler: That she's the Katsura's adopted mother doesn't make things that much better, especially when considering that Mr. and Mrs. Katsura had apparently been trying to have children of their own for years beforehand]].
** Mikoto is stated to have had Wataru when she was young (and there's implication that Nagi's mother also gave birth while she was young) and actually left Wataru in the care of his maid Saki because of it. Mikoto still looks young despite having a 13-year-old son.
* AbusiveParents - Hayate's. They gamble away all of their money, pawn the ring that Hayate entrusts them with for more gambling money, sell him to the Yakuza to pay off their debts, and who knows how much more debt they rack up as the series goes on...
* {{Abusively Sexy Woman}} - Athena used to teach Hayate, with kicks to the gut (he complained), that the guy had to be able to support the girl for the rest of her life. This was when they were both around 6 years old. Now, 10 years later, she's probably the [[{{BuxomIsBetter}} closest to ''sexy'']] girl within the story.
** The other girls in Hayate's harem blame her for the fact that he's a ChasteHero. For one thing, she convinced him that you shouldn't have a girlfriend if you can't support her financially, and Hayate's PerpetualPoverty may as well be a [[CosmicPlaything law of the goddamned universe]]. Not to mention the lesson on honesty she beat into him, which he took a little too close to heart and now occasionally says things he shouldn't.
* AccidentalPervert - None of the female leads (except Athena and to an extent Maria) have survived unexposed throughout the series so far, and this sort of thing almost seems to cement them as love interest - with [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/74/page/15 Nagi]] it showed the first hint that they might be the official couple after all (having previously been thrown together by a misunderstanding), and it lead to Hayate calling [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/216/page/10 Nishizawa]] "delicate", inspiring Hinagiku to try to be delicate herself.
** Luca changed in front of him and even [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/325/page/14 got into a bath]] that Hayate was in, when she thought Hayate was a girl. This caused her a lot of embarrassment when [[DroppedABridgetOnHim she finds out the truth.]]
** This even happens to [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/325/page/17 Segawa]], who isn't even that major of a character.
** [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/350/page/17 Here,]] Hayate pushes open a door while actually saying that Hinagiku might be changing behind it. It almost makes you wonder if he does [[WildMassGuessing some of it on purpose...]]
** The punchline in Chapter 360 is that Chiharu walks in on Hayate right when [[spoiler: he's about to carrying Hinagiku to her bed in the apartment]] making it look more like Hayate was about to [[DudeShesLikeInAComa kiss Hinagiku while she was asleep]].
* ActorAllusion - JunFukuyama as a [[MyHeroZero masked]] [[MagnificentBastard butler]] with a [[CodeGeass suspiciously familiar power]]... (He doesn't get to talk to [[NorioWakamoto the Narrator]] though) Also looked like Watanuki from XXXholic, another of Jun's roles.
** And let's not forget the [[BloodKnight psychotically]] HotBlooded redhead Combat Butler voiced by NobuyukiHiyama, Guy in ''GaoGaiGar'' (as well as Viral in ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', probably responsible for his pointy teeth).
*** Come to think of it, all of Hayate's butler opponents from that season were allusions to other anime actors. Until the aforementioned "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Butler With The Power To Hypnotize Anyone Once]]", they were all based on MerchandiseDriven kid's interest anime, like the [[DuelMasters "Duel Butler"]].
** For that matter, another rather HotBlooded butler, ''very'' intent on teaching his ButtMonkey master how to be properly manly, is voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi (that would be [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]]).
** Maria, who is voiced by RieTanaka, once wore [[GundamSEEDDestiny Meer Campbell]]'s distinctive hairclip and part of her costume during one of her solo karaoke sessions in the anime. If you look closely you'll see Maria is standing in the hand of a mecha, just like Meer was in one of her early appearances. Meer is a doppleganger of Lacus Clyne, another character she does voice work for.
** In episode 28 of the first season of the anime, we see a montage of the school superintendant training. In the scene she is wearing an outift similar to Revy from BlackLagoon, consisting of combat boots, cut off jeans and a tank top. Both are voiced by MegumiToyoguchi.
* ACupAngst - Nagi and Hinagiku are both concerned about their flat-chestedness.
** Well, Nagi [[JustifiedTrope IS]] 13...
*** Reinstated. Her mother claims to be an 'E-cup'.
** Hinagiku also increases in size when it's ''not'' this trope.
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole - Season 1 of the anime creates far too many to list without its own page, but some particularly noteworthy examples are the amount of time that has passed since the beginning of the series contradicting season 2 and the manga (a year in season 1, rather than a few months), as well as Nagi's first time on a public train happening twice, in two completely different scenarios.
* {{Adorkable}} - Hayate all the way, Hinagiku even calls him a dork at times in the official translation. Hina sees this side of him the most and has noted it on multiple occasions, and has once or twice asked herself why she fell in love with such an idiot. Despite and/or because of his flustered, awkward moments the girls still love the guy.
** Kazuki Nishizawa, Ayumu rarely seen little brother, is also like this around Nagi, with whom he fell in love at first sight. His introduction pretty closely mirrors something Hayate would do, where he felt the need to introduce himself and try to be cool only to fall flat on his face. Nagi immediately thought he was a weird guy but also interesting [[spoiler: which scored him an enjoyable date with her later on]].
* AdorablyPrecociousChild - Wataru fits both the acting hard-working and MouthyKid aspects of the trope. [[YourMileageMayVary And cuteness is in the eye of the beholder.]]
** Being 16 notwithstanding, Hayate himself fits into this archetype like a glove.
** There is also Kazuki, Ayumu's brother.
* AdultChild - 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 [[GagSeries 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.
*** Either that, or they just don't care.
* AffablyEvil – Hayate’s parents. The "[[{{Irony}} Very Nice]] [[{{Yakuza}} People]]".
* AffectionateParody - The series is actually a parody of most "fighting" manga and anime, [[PlayingWithATrope goofing on the tropes of them]] and never taking itself [[SeriousBusiness too seriously]]. There may have been some GenreShift in the manga recently, though.
* AIIsACrapShoot - Robots sent to protect/capture Nagi always go on rampages instead. Subverted on one occasion.
* AllJustADream - The results of the second popularity poll get 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.
* AllThereInTheManual - The second season shows the results of the second popularity poll, including number 5, a girl seen from the back with curly blond hair. Her name, Athena, is not given because the anime's story hasn't gotten that far yet, so the cast recommends reading the manga.
* AlmostKiss - Between Hayate and [[spoiler: Hinagiku]] during the Greece Arc. After the Beach Volleyball game, Hayate went to find her and after she wound up running off from embarrassment. He ran after and saved her from nearly falling of a seaside cliff that was at the edge of the forest they were in...with him landing on top of her naturally. Their faces were ''really'' close with some pretty heavy blushing, and right before anything can happen...[[spoiler: Aika apparently was having tea at the exact spot remarking about how 'close' that was as Hayate and Hinagiku instantly get up and face away from each other, both completely red and flustered]].
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents - Hinagiku's mom has a strong tendecy towards this, particularly if Hayate is around. She brings Hayate home with her and her mom tries to get Hayate to wear a frilly dress because she thinks it will look cute on him and Hina won't wear it for her. Not long after she tries to get the poor guy to wear cat ears for a while before Hinagiku drags him away. She also walked into her home to find her mom [[spoiler: cheerfully agreeing with Hayate that Hina could stay at the Violet Mansion to help "Alice"]] immediately followed by telling Hayate to "resist if Hinagiku attacks him" (which in this context can mean a lot of things).
* AnachronicOrder: Generally, the manga follows a chronological order, but in volume four, there's a flash forward during which Hayate travels back in time. This happens during the group's trip to Mykonos, which takes place four months and several volumes later.
* AndZoidberg - Hinagiku once asked Hayate (just to tease him) who he would prefer to bathe with: Maria, Ayumu, or herself. [[LuminescentBlush Hayate]] is unable to respond. Hinagiku then adds her sister to the choices, to which he instantly says, "I'll pass".
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove - [[spoiler: Subverted. Just as Hinagiku attempts to confess, Hayate admits to being in love with Athena.]]
** And then there's [[spoiler: Athena's thoughts in chapter 260.]]
* AnimalEaredHeadband - Izumi got cat ears when she was possessed (by a neko-spirit). Not a headband, but also not naturally hers.
** Straight example comes from Hayate's Crossdressing CatGirl outfit...
* ArcadianInterlude - Possibly inverted with the Royal Garden and Athens arcs. These were the two plot-heavy arcs of the series and the Royal Garden was even set in a different space and time flowed differently there, and even when [[spoiler:Athena]] showed up in the normal setting, she hasn't brought such emotions with her, only seeming to function as part of the overall humor of the story.
* ArtEvolution – The character designs actually don’t change ''that'' much over the course of the manga. The sole exception maybe being Hayate, who went from {{Bishonen}} to full on DudeLooksLikeALady; going hand-in-hand with his {{Flanderization}} (see main entry below). Also Klaus, who had a much bushier mustache in his first appearance.
** Hinagiku's [[spoiler: foster]] mother has changed significantly since first being introduced. In her most recent manga appearance, you wouldn't recognize her if the story didn't explicitly tell you it was her.
** While the character designs may stay rather similar, the general art style has actually changed over time gradually. Compare the latest chapter with the first one, and you can seem some noticeable difference.
* ArtShift - usually when referencing/parodying other anime/manga franchises or when showcasing scenes or characters from Nagi's self-made manga.
** A [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13558-3/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-80.html particularly]] romantic scene between Hinagiku and Hayate.
** Tama deserves special mention since he was drawn as a rather realistic-looking tiger. Then he got turned into a FunnyAnimal (he's even in the page-image no less). This shift was [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13521-12/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-43.html lampshaded as being the result of "comedy vision"]].
* AscendedMeme - [[http://www.mangaeden.com/En/Hayate+the+Combat+Butler/206/8/ And the crowd goes wild]]!
** [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-58434-5/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-295.html Yet again!]]
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign - 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 [[GagSeries nature of the show]], this trope was most certainly done deliberately.
* AttractiveBentGender - A long-time RunningGag in the series from as early as the first few chapters when Nagi decided to make Hayate wear her school's girl's uniform on a whim. It only escalated when Maria joined in and the two settled on making him wear a catgirl outfit. They find him almost too {{Moe}} to believe and shortly after he is attacked by Klaus and Tama.
** It comes back during Hinagiku's birthday arc when he is accidentally struck with a crossdressing curse (the curse targeted the unluckiest person in the world). Isumi and Maria found it too attractive to actually do anything about it, and both have since then assumed it is his hobby, with Sakuya commenting how good he looked in it before trying to find out what was under the skirt. This is quickly taken to a new level when Hayate runs into Kotetsu, a fellow butler and [[spoiler: Izumi Segawa's older twin brother]] who mistakes him for a girl and confesses his love only to be heartbroken when it is revealed to him that Hayate is a guy.
*** It also really says something about Hayate that the guy got over it (with inadvertent help from Nagi) and has since been [[SingleTargetSexuality Hayate-sexual]] and aggressively pursuing him despite constant and often violent refusals.
** Nagi had Maria and Risa crossdress Hayate during their King Game in Greece, they were both more than happy to obliege and he ended up that way the entire boat trip as Nagi simply thought he liked it. Nagi later was thinking of something that excited her to inspire her manga and decided on 'Traps'...she didn't even wait a beat before calling Hayate. She then took him and Chiharu to Cafe Donguri where Ayumu was working to force Hayate into Ayumu's street clothes. All three were stunned at how attractive he was and Ayumu even told him to keep the outfit.
** Thus far, Nagi likes Trap!Hayate best, Maria and Isumi believe crossdressing is his hobby, Sakuya really wanted him as her maid and asked why he had to be born a guy (to which Nagi and Maria claimed they also preferred Hayate as a maid...with incredibly evil grins), and Ayumu, Chiharu, and the SC Rangers all find him extremely attractive in girl's clothes. Hinagiku is the only member of the UnwantedHarem so far that has seen Hayate crossdressed and still preferred him in guy's clothes (though even she had to admit that he was disturbingly attractive) the only other one being [[spoiler: Athena, who hasn't seen him crossdressed as far as we can tell...with "Alice" we can't be sure quite yet]]. Sadly for Hina, her mom tried to get Hayate into a frilly dress she wouldn't wear within an hour of meeting the poor guy.
* {{Attractiveness Isolation}} - Hinagiku knows that she gets this, though one character has asked her out and got rejected, and likely Miki won't ask because she knows that Hina isn't lesbian on top of this trope, she settles for being one of her closest friends instead.
** Also, Hayate seems to be playing this card when he tries to convince others that Hinagiku couldn't like him, while she thinks ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe about him.
** Hinagiku's sister, Yukiji also seems to have gotten this when she was younger, though only Kaoru seems to still be hanging on to it.
* AuthorAvatar: Hayate [[BreakingTheFourthWall explicitly tells us]] that famous mangaka Ashibashi-sensei is [[AvertedTrope NOT]] modelled after Hata Kenjiro.
* AWizardDidIt - The writers are using this one ''literally.''
* BadBadActing - Hayate and Hinagiku both ''cannot'' act to save their lives...unless it's with each other. Hayate and Wataru's 'duel' is proof enough for him. Hinagiku's performance during the Beach Volleyball Game during the Greece Arc was almost as bad as 'acting frail and girly' seemed to equate to playing badly with horrible acting and saying everything in a completely monotone voice...to the point that Hayate thought she was getting back at him for something. Gilbert actually would have won due to her acting if he hadn't [[TooDumbToLive insulted Hina's small chest]].
** Oddly, the two are such bad actors that they both sort of canceled each other out during their NotADate to the movies...kind of. Due to both of them really wanting to make everything go smoothly and have a good time despite the increasingly ridiculous circumstances each of them tried to put on a brave face and keep going. To the point where Hinagiku was talking in monotone with an eye twitch and Hayate's voice was becoming increasingly frantic. How neither noticed is a mystery, especially considering that both were terrified of the movie theater (Hayate thinking that it looked like something out of ResidentEvil even!) and somehow neither caught on to the others' horrific acting.
** Nagi may also qualify, for example when she tried to convince Shiranui that the sole reason she wants to lie down in Hayate's bed was because she didn't feel well. Shiranui was not convinced.
** On another occasion, she tries to sneak into the "18+" section of Animate by pretending that she wanted to pick up the Nendoroid Louise...that she dropped on purpose. Chiharu was not convinced. She even said that it was a "Third-rate acting."
* BadLuckCharm - Hayate acquires one early in the manga in the form of a pendant given to him by Mikado, not that he needed any help in the bad luck department. Knowing the old man, it was certainly deliberate and seemed to be a test or experiment of some kind. The thing caused a nearly fatal surge in Hayate's remarkably poor luck but ceased to be a problem once Isumi exorcized it.
** The other similar stones might work the same way seeing as Isumi has purified a few of them as well when they pop up.
* BadSanta - 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.
** [[http://img-a.onemanga.com/mangas/00000057/000296232/09.jpg Chapter 249]]. ItGotWorse.
* BarehandedBladeBlock - During their 'duel', Hayate stops Wataru's sword with two ''fingers'' almost offhandedly and tosses it aside.
** And then later does the same thing with Athena, although he actually gets hurt this time.
** He does manage to stop Hinagiku's blade barehanded.
* BattleAura - Mostly used for butlers or people who fight on level with them (such as "Sister" Sonia and Yukiji), but even Nagi can summon it when she gets worked up. Hinagiku probably has used it the most for such notable things as intimidating Hayate into studying for his exams instead of worrying about her upcoming birthday and accidentally intimidating Hayate before [[spoiler: their date, ironically out of her determination to make absolutely sure that Hayate knows she doesn't hate him by the end of it]]. A bit later in the same story, Hayate himself gets an aura of sheer confidence that changes the air around him and even impresses Hinagiku due to him being in "Serious Mode" [[spoiler: to make certain that Hinagiku enjoys their date]], sadly it deflates not long after when he sticks his foot in his mouth.
** Hinagiku's BattleAura combined with her DeathGlare is actually rather terrifying and caused Nagi to hide behind Hayate while claiming that Hinagiku was channeling "The Dark Side". Hayate was just a little bit more composed since he actually had to answer Hina.
** In Chapter 360 Hinagiku brings back her burning BattleAura when she talks about how Ghosts are like roaches and must be exterminated on sight. Seems like she ''really'' didn't like the monsters in the old school building.
* BattleButler - TropeCodifier. It's there in the title, after all. This is naturally played around with six days to Sunday and varies a lot between the anime and the manga. In the anime, other butlers actually fight more and a lot of Hayate's random fights (against opponents that include a giant tree...thing) haven't been adapted. In the manga, Hayate is often defeated or fights to a draw either for story convenience or to [[TheWorfEffect show off his latest antagonist's power]]. There's also the issue of the recurring crossdressing (no matter how much he hates it) in the manga and the overall lack of emphasis on fighting in some parts. Nevertheless, he remains a firm example of the trope as he is fiercely loyal to Nagi, unnaturally skilled in just about any domestic skill you could ask for, fast enough to out-speed a ''bullet train on an ordinary bicycle'', and when push comes to shove always comes through for those who need him whether its fighting or simply helping out.
** When Hayate feels like it, he can be a total BadAss as seen [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hayate_Six_Swords_5716.png here]]. His list of defeated opponents include robots, the yakuza, giant robots, the mafia, humongous robots, ghosts/demons, various thugs, monsters pulled straight out of Greek Myth, and a noble spirit [[spoiler: of King Midas]]. There is definitely a reason that he's called a {{Gundam}}.
*** It should also be noted that while he fights unarmed most of the time, [[spoiler: he was actually trained in swordsmanship and is insanely good at it, to the point where with a normal sword borrowed from a decorative suit of armor he was able to effortlessly one-shot a 12-foot tall Minotaur]]. He also apparently has access to and familiarity with a giant machine gun - even without Sanzen'in resources - that would make [[BoringInvincibleHero every battle in the series a total cakewalk]].
*** The manga also [[BlatantLies tactfully]] [[http://0.p.s.mhcdn.net/store/manga/708/313.0/compressed/m313.01.jpg notes]] Hayate's trouble at times in this regard.
** Kotetsu Segawa, Kaede Nonohara, Himuro Saeki, and even Klaus all fit pretty well too. However, by this point Kotetsu is the only one the even really appears anymore (Himuro and Nonohara haven't even been seen or mentioned since around Chapter 150 of over 340 now) with most of his appearances being more geared to his progressively worse (read: hilarious) sexual harassment of poor Hayate.
* BeachEpisode - The OVA/Episode 00 of the second season. For the record, the beach is located within Nagi's property. She's just that rich.\
** In the manga, quite a bit of the trip to Greece. They even play a game of high-stakes beach volleyball with a psycho and his robot.
* BeautifulDreamer - Hayate has a brief one of these in Chapter 360 when [[spoiler: Hinagiku falls asleep in his room in the Violet Mansion as part of Hayate's plan to make her think that her discovering the mansion's resident ghost was AllJustADream]]. He's watches her sleeping for a moment (with a close up on her face for good measure) and for extra ShipTease points he even calls her 'princess' when he goes to take her to her bed.
* BerserkButton - 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...[[hottip:* :And no, that last one isn't redundant. The story went to Greece just so Hayate could beat up the Mafia there.]]
*** And until Nagi was threatened, Hayate was willing to go with the 'Very Nice Men', who wanted to cut him up for his organs, and didn't even try hiding that.
** Do ''not'' suggest that Hinagiku can't do something girly.
*** Or that her chest isn't feminine. Though this one you have to press twice to activate the berserk as long as you're only using words.
** Calling [[spoiler: Athena]] short isn't really something to do either, although mentioning her parents is even worse.
* BetterThanABareBulb - Oh so much.
* BewareTheNiceOnes - [[{{Pollyanna}} 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.
*** Never mind that; the ''tiger and {{Narrator}} (voiced by {{Norio Wakamoto}}!)'' are horrified of her.
** Regardless, please be careful of those who are nice around here. There are countless examples.
* {{Bifauxnen}} - The first appearance of Shion, an anime-only chracter.
* BigDamnHeroes - The titular character does this a lot, usually in the form of a DynamicEntry, or a DivingSave.
** [[spoiler:Isumi and Sakuya have gotten their own BigDamnHeroes moment in a recent chapter.]]
*** [[spoiler:Subverted when Isumi promptly gets stomped and has to teleport everyone away.]]
**** [[spoiler:Played straight in chapter 260 when Hayate comes to Athena's rescue.]]
***** [[spoiler: And again when Hinagiku comes to Hayate's rescue.]]
* BigFancyHouse - When there are separate rooms for the Playstation, Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64, you know it's a ''big house.''
* {{Bishonen}} - Hayate of course. So pretty, EvenTheGuysWantHim.
* {{Birds of a Feather}} - Although they used their similar backgrounds to create different character traits, Hinagiku and Hayate have the similar pasts to make themselves candidates for this trope.
** Recently, Luca has been added to these two, with a similar past, and adds more than a little of Hayate's looks to seal the deal.
* BitchInSheepsClothing - [[spoiler:Sonia, Kasumi Aika, and to a much, much lesser extent Shiranui.]]
* BiTheWay - 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.
** {{YMMV}}. Other than one instance where she joked about how she got a little turned on when drying Hinagiku, there hasn't been much to imply that she's IN LOVE with her. Then again, since it's [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Hinagiku]], it wouldn't be too surprising.
** When Hayate is sent away for training and Maria suggests that he might be propositioned by a man, Ayumu gets red-faced.
** Don't forget Wataru's mother. She was frustated because her childhood love married someone else, and that childhood love was no other than Nagi's mother. Afterwards, Wataru's mother married Wataru's father, who she used to love.
** This may actually apply to Miki of all people. Despite her more-or-less stated crush on Hinagiku, she is also one of the most proactive of the Student Council Trio girls in their hobby of flirtaciously teasing Hayate. Heck even her focus chapter with him had her constantly trying to imply that he had feelings for her (to the point of apparently "putting words in his mouth" by editing his speech bubbles in one panel). This can, of course, be partially explained as Hayate just being girlish enough for her to not care.
* BlandNameProduct - As a show full of {{Shout Out}}s, this isn't unexpected. Examples are [[{{Sony}} '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.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Railways_Group JR Railways]] is renamed "SR Railways," [[http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/tds/index_e.html Tokyo DisneySea]] becomes "Sealand," and [[http://www.nttdocomo.com/ NTT Docomo]] becomes "DDT Tocomo," and that's only in Volume 16.
** The last episode spends ~15 minutes failing to obtain a box of 'Packy'.
** Averted with [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13532-1/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-54.html Nagi's running shoes]], which clearly bear the Nike logo. The product name is not mentioned, however.
* BlankWhiteEyes - often used in the manga to show exasperation.
** There's also Hayate's GlowingEyesOfDoom when he gets serious.
* BodyguardCrush - Once again, Nagi thinks that Hayate feels this way towards her, and it is actually part of the reason for her ([[AllLoveIsUnrequited one-sided]]) crush on him.
* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: Sakuya is very fond of this. However, the Manga also features a designated pair of Boke and Tsukkomi characters in Fumi and Shanra.
* BoobsOfSteel - Invoked by Gilbert for the Beach Volleyball match. The [[WrongGenreSavvy only problem]] is that he decided to pick the 'obviously weak' flat chested ''Hinagiku'' of all people as his opponent.
* BookEnds - Used in the movie. It opens with Nagi getting her hands sticky, causing Hayate wet a handkerchief to wipe them off. It ends with Nagi getting her hands sticky, causing Hayate to wet a handkerchief to wipe them off.
* BornUnlucky - Hayate, of course. Just being the son of his parents is more than enough to qualify for this trope.
** Hayate has actually been confirmed as being the unluckiest person in ''the entire world''.
* BrickJoke - In Chapter 46 of the manga [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13524-8/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-46.html Hinagiku "flirts" with Hayate]], only to reveal she [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13524-9/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-46.html was "just joking around" on the next page]]. ''Approximately 238 chapters later'', [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-56753-14/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-284.html their roles]] [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-56753-15/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-284.html are reversed]]. There is also Chapter 83 where Isumi asks Sakuya to help her become a cat person, except Sakuya's "help" results in Isumi being put in humiliating situations. The tables are turned in Chapter 309 when Sakuya asks Isumi to help her understand Nagi's manga, which results in [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/309/14 this]].
** Chapter 46 also contains another one, with Isumi controlling a puppet monster Hayate defeated to make him and Hinagiku leave so she could ghost-sweep the place. Upon learning that Hina wants to defeat it to make up for being scared of it the first time around she has it transform to look much stronger. Too bad her frame of reference was Hayate's laughable "duel" with Wataru in volume 3 as she copies Hayate's terrible acting by having the monster explode before Hina even properly swings at it (the whole charade is only barely saved by Hayate trying to convince Hina that it was her 'spirit force' that defeated it).
* BurningWithAnger - Chapter 91 has Hinagiku feel very frustrated over her continued dreaming of Hayate which she can't understand. When she meets Hayate and Nagi, her anger starts to boil over as she sees Hayate acting like his usual self while her 'head is filled with weird thoughts'. Confused, angry, and annoyed at Hayate she unleashes her BattleAura, except this time it's a damn inferno that terrifies Hayate and Nagi.
* TheButlerDidIt - Chapter 308 uses this one.. [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/308 extremely]] [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/309 literally]].
* CallingYourAttacks - ''Buster Cholerae!''
** Also: "Safety shot: '''''GRAND EXPLOSION, IMMOLATING DARK MURDER[[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13520-20/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-42.html !]]'''''"
* CallOnMe - ''Full stop''. If someone calls Hayate's name, he can freakin' ''teleport''.
** Tama doesn't even have to call his name. When Shiranui gets in trouble, he just shows up to save both the cats from a truck.
** Hayate's brother Ikusa does even better. If you call for help at all, he will come, regardless if he can't see you, or thinks you're a ghost. Even if he's never met you ever; he'll travel to the castle at the end of the world and challenge anyone, even[[spoiler: [[strike:the Devil]] Midas]] to save you.
* TheCameo - [[ShinichiWatanabe Nabeshin]], he of the magnificent afro, directs and appears in one episode. Even ''he'' couldn't [[AbsurdityAscendant turn up the crazy]] much further though.
** [[LuckyStar Anime Tenchou]] appears at one point as well.
** [[DetectiveConan 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.
** almost every japanese anime is cameoed in the show, ranging from GaoGaiGar to GurrenLagann.
** The manga also has a cameo of Aya Shameimaru from ''{{Touhou}}''.
** Owner, Momotaros and Hana from ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'' all walk by Isumi in a train in episode 16. [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Their faces are out of sight.]]
* CanNotSpitItOut - Practically everyone in the Love Gordian Knot the series develops.
** [[spoiler: Ayumu actually does announce her feelings for Hayate, and gets a response, in an unusually played-straight scene.]]
*** [[spoiler:And when [[{{False Start}} Hinagiku finally gets the nerve]] to tell him, he interrupts her to tell her about his love for Athena. ... TIMING!]]
*** The first time Hinagiku manages to speak her feelings, it's just as a train rushes by and he can't hear it. Considering it came from the direction she was looking, she might have planned it that way.
*** It's to the point that in many places on the Internet, Hinagiku confessing her feelings to Hayate has become a RunningGag of sorts for referring to something along the lines of Hell freezing over due to false starts, interruptions, and general hesitation on Hinagiku's part. Some feel that it is like a sign of the apocalypse and will signal the end run of the manga if she ever does manage to tell him.
** Isumi of all people actually tells Hayate straight up that she likes him way back in volume 3, making her the first girl to do so in the series. In a moment that would make [[FullMetalPanic Sosuke]] [[ObliviousToLove Sagara]] proud, he completely misinterprets it and decides that [[CompletelyMissingThePoint since kids seem to like him to should become a teacher]].
* CanonImmigrant - It looks like the Serpent [[NorseMythology Midgardzolom]] that was the BigBad in the {{anime}} is the alternate form of [[spoiler:Athena's butler Machina.]]
** [[{{Bifauxnen}} Shion Kuresato]], the BattleButler of Hakuo's Chairman, appears next to her in her first physical appearence in the manga at the end of Chapter 336.
* [=~Can't Act Perverted Toward A Love Interest~=] - Generally [[AvertedTrope averted]] for most of the girls at least in the seemingly universal trend of sticking Hayate in girls' clothes. Nagi, Maria, Sakuya, [[ThoseTwoGuys the Student Council Rangers]], Isumi, and Ayumu have all made Hayate feel uncomfortable. Nagi and Maria have an especially high ratio of this for being the main heroines.
** Interestingly enough, Hinagiku and Hayate seem to avert this as well in regards to each other as the manga goes on. It begins shortly after they meet with innuendo-laced conversation which is from either mutual cluelessness or flirting. It only picks up from there with Hayate's only real dirty thought (that he had entirely on his own) being of Hinagiku, [[spoiler: imagining her naked briefly while warming up in the bath at her place]]. Later it is heavily (read: obviously) implied that Hinagiku [[spoiler: had dream-sex with Hayate]] during her Birthday Arc. After the Greece Arc, Hayate is almost makes a joke that would have implied that [[spoiler: they had sex, playing into the notion Izumi and Risa had that "Alice" actually ''was'' their kid (and was duly punished by Hina)]]. By now Hayate even feels comfortable [[spoiler: ''asking to borrow Hina's clothes'' and she ''actually lent him her school uniform'']]...suffice to say these two have long since crossed the threshold of doing perverted things around each other.
--> Hinagiku: Don't say something so perverted with such a gentleman's face!!
--> (this blushing response is pretty much invalidated by her [[ImagineSpot Imagine Spots]] up to this point...)
* {{Cast Herd}} - Although interaction between the herds is common, there are a few herds. '13s', '16s', outside of school...
** Even the 'bad guys' segmented themselves into a herd, though there's little interaction between them anymore, and one of them hasn't even appeared in the manga yet.
** the Oujous (Nagi, Isumi, Sakuya, Miki, Risa, and Izumi).
** the Butlers (Hayate, Klaus, Kotetsu, Isumi's horde of butlers, Sakuya's two, Nonohara, and Himuro).
** the Maids (Maria, Saki, Chiharu, and sometimes Hayate).
** the Grade-Skippers (Nagi, Isumi, and Wataru - who got in only because Sakuya gave up her spot for him).
** the Student Council (Hinagiku, Miki, Risa, Izumi, Aika, and Chiharu - Hayate is associated due to the inordinate amount of time he spends with them. Seriously, with the amount of time he spends up in the student council room - which is for members only - and the fact that he keeps an extra school uniform and butler suit there as well, he might as well be an honorary member).
** the Money Trouble Society (Hayate, Yukiji, Sister Sonia, and Himuro - though he has plenty and just loves money, the rest are just bad with it and unlucky).
** the Relationship Support Group (Yukiji, Saki, Makimura).
** the [[spoiler: Apartment Occupants (Hayate, Nagi, Maria, Tama, Shiranui, Father Radiostar, Chiharu, Hinagiku, and Athena/Alice)]].
** the Harem (Nagi, Maria, Hinagiku, Ayumu, Isumi, Sakuya, Izumi, Risa, Athena, and possibly Chiharu and Luca)
** Nagi's Manga Circle (Nagi, Ayumu, Chiharu)
** Luca's Manga Circle (Luca, Hayate, Hinagiku)
* CassandraTruth - When a curse sticks Hayate in a maid uniform, Isumi and Sakuya show up to explain to him and Maria that it's because Sakuya accidentally broke a doll containing the curse. Maria hears them out, seems totally understanding and helpful ... and then reveals she doesn't believe it: she thinks Hayate persuaded Sakuya and Isumi to ''fake'' the curse story so he'd have an excuse to dress as a maid.
** It's possible that it's just Maria's seeming fetish for crossdressing the poor guy. It's also kind of funny, considering that the first thing Hayate did when he noticed he was in a maid outfit was to ask Maria "How could you?!" in a ridiculously girly way, and Maria had to explain that she didn't do it... you know, this time. Hell, Maria and Nagi explicitly stated in one chapter (where Sakuya needs to find a maid) that they prefer Hayate as a maid, after Sakuya wondered why Hayate had to be a guy instead of a maid.
* CatchPhrase - 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.)
** Nagi uses "Seriously, Hayate, seriously!" a lot -- often right after clobbering him.
* CaughtTheHeartOnHisSleeve - in episode 12, immediately preceeding an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.
* {{Cat Up a Tree}} - Invoked in the chapter name of Hinagiku's first appearance, though that time she's returning a baby bird to it's nest, she later does rescue cats from trees. Rescue in this case is a matter of opinion though, since she's afraid of heights, so she becomes stuck in the tree as well. But at least she has the ability to summon someone who will help her escape (with the cat), as opposed to the cat being alone stuck up in the tree.
** Given a couple offhand comments, this might have happened to Hinagiku more times than we've seen though thankfully she's never as helpless as an actual cat in a tree. It also seems to be part of the reason why she wears bike-shorts under her skirt.
* CelibateHero - While Hayate falls more on the ChasteHero side of the line, when he is approached by [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Ayumu]] about her crush, or rather, later when approached by the student trio about it, he thinks he's unworthy of her love [[spoiler: because of Athena teaching him that he had to be financially able to support a girlfriend]].
* CensorBox - In addition of censoring "Naughty" bits, also used for ShoutOut.
* CensorSteam
* CerebusSyndrome - Kinda. The show has certainly gotten easier on the fourth wall and {{Shout Out}}s 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.
** CerebusRollercoaster - Athena shows up, drama shows up. Athena exits, drama dies a horrible death again. Coincidence? I think not. Mind you, during the arc itself the general buildup seemed to be heading towards a resolution of the series.
*** So Athena's basically a non-villainous KnightOfCerebus then--she's barely even been mentioned since the "serious" arc ended despite being 4th in popularity polls.
*** Well, [[spoiler:as of around chapter 300, Athena's returned (as a child, and seemingly without her memories) and is living in the same house as Hayate, Nagi, Maria, Hinagiku, and Chiiharu, so the drama is bound to return.]]
*** [[spoiler:Alice (Athena's returned form) has pretty much stated that she won't be bringing along the drama.]]
*** Although, a throwaway line during the Mykonos arc said that Chiharu would end up going on a long trip in [[ComicBookTime several months]], which will probably have something to do with [[spoiler:Alice, Hayate's brother, and Luca.]]
* ChainOfDeals - Hayate does one in chapter 355 because he invited everyone to yakiniku while having [[PerpetualPoverty the amount of money he usually has]]. The barter chain goes as well as anything money-related does for Hayate, but he manages to get what he wanted.
* ChainOfPeople - [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-31806-4/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-153.html Done]] by Hayate, Kotetsu, Yukiji, and Wataru to save Azumamiya after he fell off a cliff while distracting the giant bear from attacking them. Something of a PetTheDog moment for Yukiji, as she must've leaped to the rescue almost as quickly as the two butlers.
** Despite her love for alcohol and leeching personality, Yukiji is actually a decent teacher and really does care for the safety and well-being of her students...[[spoiler: even if she also forgot Izumi on that trip...]].
* CharacterDevelopment - Since the "plot" tends to be limited to self-contained story arcs, the real sense of continuity comes from the good and consistent development each character seems to get, usually during a DayInTheLimelight Chapter (most often with that person and Hayate alone for some reason) or else by being a focus character during a story arc.
** Nagi was initially a rich girl with no sense of the real world and has since been given lessons in reality by Hayate and Maria, including making very good progress on the value of money and responsibility (now if only she'd go to school...)
*** She started going to school regularly at the start of the story, so as to spend time with Hayate. [[spoiler:Current developments have many of the student council living in her apartment, so she has more of a reason to go (to keep their hands off of him).]]
** Maria has had some development, though not a lot since she hasn't had many chapters and no focus arc (probably a good thing since the author has mentioned that her arc will signal the end-run of the manga), nevertheless she has had her moments with Hayate and [[spoiler: seems to be moving in the direction of a CoolBigSis towards both Hayate and Nagi, and explicitly said that was how she viewed herself...may or may not be lying and/or confused as she isn't used to being around boys her own age]].
** Sakuya and Isumi have been developed into a pair, often [[spoiler: working together on supernatural assignments, including saving Hayate from Midas in Greece]], with Sakuya being shown to have very good relations with her exceptionally quirky family and Isumi is actually somehow the most sane and capable in her's. With regards to Hayate...[[spoiler: Sakuya has expressed a clear...interest in big brother types (immediately after she tried to call him onii-chan) and is shown to have a good friendship with him regardless, and Isumi may feel that he is Nagi's hero instead of her's but is still pleased to be swept up and 'rescued']].
** Nishizawa and [[ThoseTwoGuys Izumi, Risa, and Miki]] get some too, with their feelings towards their friends and crushes expanded on, [[spoiler: including Izumi's surprise past with Hayate]], the fact that Risa is a shrine maiden and that she's apparently already had her FirstKiss with an unknown person (who'd have guessed?), Miki's feelings for Hina, and Nishizawa's friendships with many members of the cast (especially Hina and Nagi) as well as efforts all around to help Hinagiku express her feelings for Hayate.
** Hinagiku herself has had a good amount due partly to popularity. Aside from arcs showing her feelings for Hayate and finally admitting it to herself (since she was never fooling anyone but herself...and Hayate of course), more recent development has focused on her growing femininity. The brash and boyish attitude from her early chapters has since given way to more flustering and nervousness as she actually becomes as feminine as she claimed to be before. Interesting to note, as a [[TsunDere tsundere]] she has become much more dere as a default with her tsun side actually transferring from her temper (where everyone saw her tsun side) to her new found feminine traits (where only Hayate sees her tsun side unless other people fluster and tease her enough).
* CharacterizationMarchesOn – Hayate was a ChivalrousPervert (!!) in the very first chapters of the manga. He quickly got downgraded to more of a CovertPervert, which got downplayed even further. He ''might'' still be the latter, but YourMileageMayVary.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower - Hayate. Having to constantly work a variety of jobs to support his worthless parents has given him a wide range of abilities. And later, [[SeriousBusiness every other butler, too]].
** Manga has just averted this. It's explained he was [[spoiler: strengthened through divine magic and training by the goddess(?) Athena as a child. Seriously. His [[FailureKnight failing her]] led to him deliberately giving himself TrainingFromHell from then on.]]
*** [[spoiler:The phrasing was 'unlocking the potential' that he already had. So it's still CharlesAtlasSuperpower, just with a nudge behind it.]]
**** The version This Troper read specifically mentioned [[spoiler: that Athena was healing some kind of deep wound Hayate had that was somehow limiting him. Hayate's diolgue was pretty vague though I think it mentioned falling down stairs. This was either a mistake on the part of the translator or something happened at some point to child!Hayate that hasn't been revealed yet.]] Also note that the same translation also included the bit about [[spoiler: unlocking the potential]] still so they may not be mutually exclusive.
* {{The Charmer}} - Hayate, with the small caveat of him not actually realizing he's won the hearts of so many girls. A chapter of the manga even shows it blatantly.
* ChasteHero - Hayate. Toes the line with CelibateHero at times considering how unworthy he views himself.
** [[http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae279/Bastion_Arcion/ButlersMeme.jpg He]] expressly states that he falls into this trope hard.
*** It's because he's poor. Athena literally beat it into his head that he wasn't worthy of having a girlfriend unless he could support her financially.
* ChekhovsGun - 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 now, which ''his'' mother gave to him, telling him to "never reveal to the Sanzenins." Sakuya gave hers to Kasumi Aika, whose family is related to/a retainer of the Aizawa clan.
** Mikado gave Aika's to her, Sakuya is never mentioned to have one of her own.
** Also, recently in the manga, a nutcracker.
* ChekhovsGunman - Himegami is mentioned in earlier episodes but doesn't really appear on screen until episode 38.
** And still hasn't appeared in the manga.
** The fact that Hayate ''had'' a BigBrotherMentor is something that hasn't been mentioned at all until recently.
*** Hayate having a big brother is mentioned slightly in the first manga at the end with [[AllThereInTheManual character profiles]].
*** Plus, Hayate was referred to as "the second son of the Ayasaki family" way back in chapter 129.
**** He's just shown up in the plot again and is very important.
** Also? [[spoiler: [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/249/09/ Santa.]]]]
* ChekhovsSkill - 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.
*** Oddly ignored when the boiler of the apartment goes out and Hayate fixes it (seemingly on his lonesome) in the next chapter.
* TheChessmaster - Mikado Sanzenin has proved himself [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/249/07/ one]] [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/249/08/ in]] [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/249/09/ chapter 249]]. In past chapters he essentially plays with Nagi, making her a target for people after the inheritance, which is reason enough. In this one, he forces Hayate, her butler, into deciding her lifestyle, forcing him to choose between protecting a stone which has become the symbol of the Sanzenin inheritance, or breaking it to save his former girlfriend's life. And to make it even worse, [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/249/10/ he admits to]] manipulating the boy's life ever since he can remember by posing as innocuous figures. The only thing that keeps him from being a monster is the fact that he genuinely loved his daughter, [[MoralityPet favors his granddaughter's maid]], and taught said [[PetTheDog granddaughter how to invest]][[spoiler:... so she's not rendered completely poverty-stricken ''[[http://img-a.onemanga.com/mangas/00000057/000296262/11.jpg when]]'' the inheritance gets taken away from her]].
** He also engineered a plot to steal 'the power of the gods' before the story started. Possibly his first XanatosGambit, since it failed and got the three who worked together on it cursed.
* CherryBlossoms - Parodied [[spoiler: although chapter 260 really used them.]]
** Also held straight when Hinagiku and Ayumu are walking home from work. It's not entirely clear which meaning it's supposed to carry, since [[spoiler: Ayumu did express sexual interest in Hinagiku earlier, but also Hinagiku is trying to get up the nerve to confess to Ayumu that she's fallen in love with Hayate.]]
** And don't forget the [[spoiler: Shirosakura sword]], which literally translates into "white cherry blossom".
* TheChewToy - Hayate himself.
* ChickMagnet - Hayate's overall niceness, prettiness, and badassery have won him several female ([[EvenTheGuysWantHim among others]]) admirers. In recent chapters, Wataru also seems to be obliviously garnering a few girls himself, usually girls older than him (an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of LikesOlderWomen perhaps?).
** [[http://img-a.onemanga.com/mangas/00000057/000319802/01.jpg Chapter 273]] showed Hayate in a normal school day. Every girl he talked to became head over heels for him.
* ChildhoodFriends - Sakuya, Nagi, Isumi and Wataru. These four, their supporting characters and the relationships between them account for a huge amount of the story.
* ChurchMilitant - "Fake" or not, Sonia is heavily armed and capable of sending a industrial beam "cross" through a car.
* ClingyJealousGirl - Nagi; she repeatedly claims that Hayate is her's mind, body, and soul when other girls (or guys even) show interest in him. But God help Hayate if he even so much as hints at liking someone else such as [[spoiler: saying he wanted to learn a mortal blow for Hinagiku's sake (she thought he wanted to impress ''her'') leading to her burning the instruction book he was using]]. A good part of this behavior seems to stem more from [[spoiler: a fear of Hayate and Maria leaving her eventually, as shown in Sakuya's birthday arc]] but she's been letting up and has become pretty good friends with some of her rivals.
** Hinagiku almost always [[AvertedTrope averts]] this by [[HeroicSelfDeprecation self-deprecating]] when she feels that Hayate might be interested in another girl. However, while she has yet to actually be clingy, she has shown a touch a jealousy on occasion such as [[spoiler: seeing Hayate hugging Luca/Ruka, he notes the next morning that she seems mad at him and she asks how she could ''possibly'' be mad at seeing him hugging some cute girl]]. Yet there are other times when she doesn't seem bothered in the slightest such as [[spoiler: when seeing Hayate giving Chiharu a shoulder massage her only thought was that she could have been asking for one too and deciding she would very much like one]].
** Athena may have played this one straight, although confusing timelines make it hard to be sure, it could be implied that the reason she taught Hayate what she did and how could have been because of her seeing his interaction with Izumi.
* ClockTower - Hakuou Academy has one, it contains the Student Council rooms and seems to be located on the center of the campus. Hinagiku, as the StudentCouncilPresident is naturally associated with the tower despite her intense fear of heights (she curses whoever made the tower several times in her introductory chapter alone). From several scenes that take place there ([[spoiler: Hayate seeing the view during the day when he first meets Hinagiku and later bringing Hinagiku out on the terrace to see the same view at night at the climax of her Birthday Arc]]) we know that the tower has an excellent view of the city as well as the whole campus. As an interesting note, the tower may be more that it appears to be as Isumi mentioned that it seemed to be a nexus for spiritual activity, [[spoiler: probably due to being built over the site of the Royal Garden ten years ago]].
* ClothingDamage - One girl's clothing gets shredded by a slime attack while trapped in an [=RPG=].
** Sakuya is forced into a NASA costume that shreds itself when Saki (who has no clue how to gamble) loses a bet.
*** You don't win roulette often indeed.
** ConvectionSchmonvection is subverted in order to facilitate this at one point.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}} - Isumi. Oddly, she's the only one who can understand Nagi's [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible nigh-incomprehensible]] mangas.
** Chapter 109 from the manga shows that it's apparently [[InTheBlood 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 OnlySaneMan of her family.
*** Isumi's great-grandmother seems reasonably sane, aside from the bloodsucking to keep herself alive/young.
** Fumi Himeno is not ''quite'' as bad, but she's definitely a bit of an oddball even by the standards of the series. Her tendency to tell blatantly obvious lies for no reason, habit of reacting with stunned amazement to ''everything'', that time she was asked to draw a basic traffic sign and responded by sketching a ''corpse'' that had drawn said sign in its own blood...
** WordOfGod describes Sanzenin Yukariko ("Call me Yukkyun") as:
-->She's also totally incompetent. If you asked people who knew her when she was alive, they'd all answer in chorus, "She couldn't do anything by herself." She was so clueless that even little Nagi thought her mother couldn't survive on her own.... Still, everyone found her endearing.
** It seems that any non-villainous family members are this. Isumi's family is the best example, but Sakuya's family doesn't seem entirely functional in the head, Mrs. Katsura is definitely challenged and Yukiji is just on the cusp of competent.
* ComicallyInvincibleHero - Hayate. The battles that don't challenge him aren't even on panel. You see them attacking, then in the next panel Hayate is walking away and the attacker is on the ground with a CranialEruption. The ones who 'do' challenge him are (at worst) minor characters, usually the ones on his side.
* ComicBookTime - 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.
** Moreover, they have been together on different school vacations. And they have celebrated parties like Christmas more than once.
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* CoolBigSis - Though only [[{{berserk button}} one year older]] than the rest of the main cast, Maria seems to be the holder of this title.
** While Yukiji is better known as an irresponsible, {{bottle fairy}} and older than most, she has shown to have this side to her, mostly to her younger sister.
** Also, Chiharu seems to be getting set up for playing this role for Nagi. Taking over for Maria while the latter moves more into the 'mother' role for Nagi.
** During Hayate and Maria's NotADate...[[spoiler: planned by Nagi to help lure out the crazy stalker who sent Hayate a love letter, actually just Father Radiostar playing a prank because he was bored]], Maria steadfastly tried to assert herself as this role with regard to Hayate. In the end both had a good time so romance may still be in the picture despite Maria's current resistance to it. (Hinagiku said the same thing too after all...)
* CoolSword - For reasons not yet explained, Hinagiku can partially power a bokken called "Wooden Masamune." And there's also [[spoiler: the Shirosakura sword]].
** Part of it, if certain gag strips from the manga are anything to go by, is that Masumune's fond of Hina. [[ParodySue Yep, even swords fall for the Student Council President.]]
* CompetenceZone - This seems to be in effect for everyone within three years of 16. The others are side characters just tossed in for humor (which of course is the point of the story).
** Nagi's grandfather Mikado is old enough to be part of the circle-around mentality, except he's the one recurring character we can be sure is a villan. Isumi's great-grandmother also circles around, but is on the protagonist's side after her entrance (when she plays at being within the competency zone).
** Athena plays with this one, supposedly being the same age as the male lead for her first two appearances, while {{Older Than They Look}} questions are tossed about. [[spoiler: But as of chapter 300, she's been de-aged to appear six]]. So it's unknown if she's competent, circles around, or stands firmly outside.
* CosmicPlaything - Hayate of course! Hell, Hinagiku can probably qualify too in the manga (and most likely any future anime seasons). Hayate was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ayasaki, that's just getting screwed by chance right there. He then goes on to be ridiculously unlucky to the point where that was basically his defining traits other than compensating by being a ParodySue otherwise. His trademark is specifically anything involving words ever, if there is a wrong way to say it Hayate will prove that there is an even worse way to say it, that's his thing. This seems to stem from [[spoiler: Athena teaching Hayate a 'lesson his body never forgot' after he neglected to tell her about his kiss with Izumi when he left the Royal Garden briefly.]] Since then he is basically compulsively, stupidly honest to the point that seems to override his self preservation instinct.
** Hinagiku can also qualify with a pretty similar Backstory (though still much better than Hayate's) but mostly a while after her introduction where events involving her just seem to always work out in whatever is most terrifying/embarrassing for her at the moment. Just see the [[spoiler: Hero Show where she helped Ayumu win tickets to Greece as Silver Red, where everything seemed tailor made to make her miserable]] or countless other times where circumstance just doesn't favor her. Again she has also compensated for this by being an incredibly awesome and capable ParodySue.
** The combination of the two may actually be the reason (through some weird logic, though not as weird as some used in this series) that Hayate and Hinagiku seem to have some kind of magical property to end up alone together at night and/or in dark romantic places. It seriously boggles the mind at the sheer number of times this seems to happen to them (which can, of course, just be attributed to an incredibly TeasingCreator, but that takes all the fun out of it).
* CovertPervert - Maria is a little too willing to help Nagi crossdress Hayate. And, as noted by Sakuya Aizawa, Nagi is also rather dirty-minded herself.
** Not to mention the ghost priest, who believes that a lifetime of serving God has entitled him to having a little fun as an invisible (to most people) ghost. He has a bit of a maid fixation, and has mentioned watching Maria change more than once.
** In episode 25, Nagi sold Hayate to Isumi because he said he had fun with Sakuya and Isumi. Unfortunately, she thought it meant he was "having fun."
--->'''Sakuya''': How did this happen anyway?
--->'''Nagi''': Well, Hayate was cheating on me with Isumi...
--->'''Sakuya''': Huh?!
--->'''Nagi''': Not only with Isumi! Hayate said he has fun with you, too!
--->'''Sakuya''': Yeah, we have lots of fun. From smacking each other after each gag. (Playing Mushiking in the manga.)
--->'''Nagi''': [[OhCrap ...]]
--->'''Sakuya''': Ah-ha, what's this, Nagi-chan? You're only thirteen and you took fun as "fun"?
** Nagi considers Hayate a bit of a pervert when he carries her ([[{{Lolicon}} naked]]) out of the hot springs when she faints, not realizing he doesn't see her that way.
** If you want to get technical just about all of Hayate's Love Interests (especially so in the manga) can qualify; Nagi and Maria are a given at this point with the cross dressing and the R-18 things Nagi rents, Hinagiku has quite the imagination herself and Ayumu has had her share of fantasies (once wishing it was more "exciting" after a rather tame one), Miki and Risa are again completely obvious, Sakuya and Isumi didn't mind the maid dress at all (and Sakuya was quite curious what was under it), and even [[spoiler: Athena seemed dangerously close to kissing him while he was unconscious on her bed]]. That's not even getting in to all the other characters that think dirty thoughts about Hayate like Kotetsu and Hina's mom; dude seriously can't catch a break.
* CoyGirlishFlirtPose - A couple of girls, such as Ayumu, do this occasionally in the manga but special mention goes to Hinagiku who not only does this in her introduction but also does it rather frequently even continuing after her birthday arc (where she is no longer unaware of her feelings for Hayate when she does it).
* {{Crossdresser}} – Hayate, thanks to Nagi, Maria, and Kotetsu. He’s not very happy about this. HilarityEnsues when one character ''actually thinks he’s a girl'' and Hayate refuses to take off the girl’s clothes he's wearing because he doesn't want to [[DroppedABridgetOnHim Drop A Bridget On Her]]; she's actually changed in front of him, as well as a number of other embarrassing things. Everybody else is unaware of the circumstances and thinks he’s finally had it and snapped.
--->'''Nagi:''' Shoot, did I play him around too much that I broke him?
* CrossoverShip - With the ''HayateTheCombatButler'' movie and the ''MahouSenseiNegima'' movie being released together it was a given that there would be a little art of the characters together. It could have been Hayate and Negi in a buddy-type pose or anything else like that, but with both shows being incredibly ShipTease happy, the Hayate movie prologue "chapter" instead contains a picture of Hayate and Asuna sharing an ice cream float [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hayate_Asuna_Crossover_5826.png]]. It's actually rather cute.[[invoked]]
* CrossPoppingVeins - This includes birds, robots, and ''plants''.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass - 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 (or an animal to tame) and...
** Also, Yukiji. Sure, she's overall a fairly irresponsible, greedy, drunken layabout, but she did [[PromotionToParent raise her little sister]] and she's at least semi-competent as a teacher. More importantly, though, [[IronButtmonkey she's probably more invincible than anyone but]] [[ComicallyInvincibleHero Hayate]] (including having been the testing dummy for Hayate's FinishingMove, more than once), and is a surprisingly competent swordsman.
** Fumi has shown remarkable mental talent with being able to do complicated math in her head, and make suprising conclusions to keep from being made a suspect when she intends to take a briefcase of money to the police, but nearly rivals Isumi in {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ability.
* CryCute - The whole darned female cast (especially Nagi) and even ''Hayate'' really just makes you wanna hug them when they cry.
* CryIntoChest - Of all people, [[spoiler: Hinagiku does this to Hayate in the student council room on her birthday after she regains control of herself and stops her attack on Hayate. He's naturally surprised (and a second ago thought he was going to die) but manages to make a heartfelt apology and hold her until she's feeling better]]. The crying itself isn't played up too much but the venting is there full force...naturally she's absolutely mortified once it's over.
* CulturalCrossReference - fairly frequent. There are {{Shout Out}}s to KnightRider, StarWars and {{Titanic}}, among others.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow - Blue-eyed, blue-haired Hayate.
* CuteAndPsycho - Maria, Sonia, and [[spoiler:Athena]].
** [[spoiler: Maria]] began with occasional CuteAndPsycho tendencies but seems to be developing them more often and more violently as the series goes on, the most extreme being in chapter 303 where [[spoiler: during a normal day at the apartment Maria is having lunch and Father Radiostar (the ghost priest) comments about her meal being cliche. A split second later he's terrified as Maria's chopsticks land in the tree he was leaning against like a knife, about an inch from him his left eye. As Maria cannot see or hear him, she's at a loss as to why she 'just suddenly had the overwhelming urge to throw her chopsticks'. Given the lethal force and precision it's a safe bet that Hayate and Nagi were right after all about her knowing a mortal blow...]].
** [[spoiler: Maria again uses this to keep Nagi quiet about the upcoming movie [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/320/2 spoilers]]]].
* CutenessEqualsForgiveness - Several times during her presidency, Maria does things like smashing a tape/video recorder and burning a 'love letter'.
** Given that Hinagiku might have cases of this as well, it almost seems that this trope follows the school presidents in the story.
** Luca isn't above [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/320/8 abusing]] her IdolSinger status along with her cuteness to get things
* CutLexLuthorACheck - 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.
* DeadpanSnarker - Due to the general MediumAwareness/[[GenreSavvy Genre Savvyness]] of the cast and the fact that the series is BetterThanABareBulb, pretty much ''everyone'' has had their chance to Deadpan Snark at least once. Can delve into full on WorldOfSnark territory, especially if more than one of the [[CastHerd Cast Herds]] get grouped together.
* DeathGlare - ...once again, nearly ''everyone'' gets their shot sooner or later; Hayate and Maria stand out due to Hayate's IncorruptiblePurePureness, with Maria knowingly being [[OnlySaneMan the sanest character in the series.]]
** [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/315/5 Hinagiku’s death glare]] is something to behold. The HellishPupils really add to the sense of impending doom. She’s almost crossed into FaceOfAThug a few times.
* DefeatByModesty In her ploy to get the inheritance stone of the Sanzenin, Sonia begins to strip. When Hayate reveals that that ploy won't work on him, she threatens to call for his female companion and claim that he had tried to rape her. She does get the stone with that, but he returns later to get it back, with Nishizawa in tow, so that she can't try that tactic again.
* DemonHead - During Hinagiku's birthday arc, Hina found herself frustrated as she kept dreaming of Hayate [[ObliviousToLove and didn't understand why]]. When she meets Hayate and Nagi and learns that he's in danger of failing the end of year exams a few wires seems to get crossed as she thinks about her confusing feelings and Hayate as the cause. This results in her projecting an extremely powerful BattleAura and DeathGlare combo that terrifies the two before she uses this to inform Hayate that should he fail the exams because he was busy trying to get her a birthday present then she would never forgive him. Nagi actually cowers behind Hayate when she does so and Hayate himself is almost scared speechless.
* DemotedToExtra - At the beginning of the manga, Klaus had a bigger role and was generally more visible. Then he just kinda dropped off the face of the planet. His latest token appearances served purely to both remind people that he still exists and, given the nature of the manga, almost mockingly hang a lampshade on being DemotedToExtra.
** And now Maria seems to be taking up the reigns of this while being pushed in the direction of being Nagi's mother instead of sister.
* DerailedFairyTale - Hayate tells one of these to Nagi when she is in bed feeling sick for one of the anniversary chapters. Specifically he tells "Alice in Wonderland" and, this series being what it is, warns her before he starts that it has been a long time since the author read "Alice in Wonderland". It stars Hinagiku as Alice, meeting the Student Council Trio dressed in [[PlayBoyBunny bunny-girl outfits]] and pitying them for getting stuck with [[FanService cheesecake duty]]. Glossing over a description of a road that moves to take you back to the start as a metaphor for success in society, Hinagiku easily runs down it before they even finish. Then it wrapped up rather quickly while explaining that Hina thrashed the card army and [[CodeGeass established the United States of Japan]]. And everyone lived HappilyEverAfter.
--> '''Nagi:''' HOW IS THAT HAPPY?!!
* DiseaseBleach - Isumi's hair is turned white when she uses too much of her power during the Athens arc.
** Interestingly, when she lost her powers in an earlier arc, no comment is made on her hair changing color in any way.
* DissonantSerenity - Maria and Hayate are absolute masters of this as they can have that same smile not matter how annoyed they are with something, Hinagiku comes close as she has the smile but also has a {{Cross Popping Vein|s}} since it's obvious she's furious.
** Hayate himself is rather frightening when you realize that he's actually the most cynical member of the cast (bar maybe Yukiji) and can at times be downright cold with that very same smile and pleasant-looking face. [[spoiler: In the Segawa Arc, during his sword fight with Kotetsu in the lava pit it was especially obvious as he stated rather cheerfully and casually that he was seriously trying to kill Kotetsu as it was supposed to be a fight to the death after all]]. It seems that [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome his most awesome moments]] come when he either summons his GlowingEyesOfDoom or invoking this and being a surprisingly cold Badass.
* DivingSave - Hayate does this in conjunction with BigDamnHeroes several times.
* {{Dojikko}} - The adorably prudish maid Saki.
* DraggedIntoDrag - Hayate gets the page picture for this one.
** This ends up crossing with {{I Think You Broke Him}} when Nagi suggests he change out of Ayumu's clothes, and he refuses. In actuality, he just doesn't want to [[{{Dropped A Bridget On Him}} reveal to Luca]] that he's actually a guy.
** And, as of chapter 319, Hayate has finally resigned himself to the fact that this will be a recurring thing until [[spoiler: he manages to tell Luca/Ruka his true gender properly]] and has begun to actively plan ahead. Not well mind you, [[spoiler: he flustered Hinagiku when he asked to borrow her clothes next time he had to crossdress, but he just made her mad when he explained that it would be a better fit. In the chest. Yes, he actually felt the need to clarify in case she wasn't angry enough]]. Still, he might feel like he has no choice but he's ''really'' toeing the line for being DraggedIntoDrag.
* DoorstopBaby - Maria was found at the door of a Catholic church as a baby, hence her name.
* DroppedABridgetOnHim - One butler falls in love with Hayate, who, at the moment is under a crossdressing curse ([[VisibleSilence ...]]). 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 [[MegatonPunch Megaton Kick]].)
** Luca, a pop star who first saw him after he was forced into a maid uniform (and had acted pretty freely around him, changing in front of him) gets this bad. Due to her busy schedule and debt she was under quite a bit of stress at the time when [[spoiler:she sees him in the school bath, with some of his classmates with her.]] She ends up fainting, and is quite embarrassed about it for sometime afterwards, even messing up a performance.
* DynamicEntry - 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.
** Yukiji in Chapter 151 does this by swooping in and kicking a bear in the face.
** Hayate pulls a spectacular one in chapter 45 while he and Hinagiku were at the old, haunted building at school. Hina went to look for Hayate (who had fallen through the floor by this point after a typical bout of his bad luck) when she encounters a bunch of ghosts and monsters roaming the halls. Naturally she bolts but one catches up and she trips. Thinking of Hayate telling her that he would come save her if she ever [[CallOnMe called for him]], she [[SayMyName shouts his name out]]. Instantly we see a dress shoe on the side of the monster's head, followed by a shot of Hayate's kick literally blowing the monster to pieces with sheer force. It also helps that he looks incredibly cool as he lands from the kick before asking Hinagiku if she is all right.
* DysfunctionJunction - Sweet and zany as they may be, much of the leading cast (in particular Hinagiku, Nagi and Hayate) hail from broken, dysfunctional and/or unhappy families. Sakuya, the most mentally unstable girl of the principal cast, ironically hails from a warm and happy family, the sight of which brings Nagi much discomfort and jealousy.
** Doubtful it's Sakuya's family life that Nagi's uncomfortable about. She doesn't care about any of the others' family lives, happy or not.
* {{Earworm}} - ''Zettai nante shinji nai! Fukanou nante nai! Mirai wa hiraku te no naka ni aru!''
* {{Eating The Eye Candy}} - Despite being a {{Chaste Hero}}, Hayate pulls this on Hinagiku. After his gaze lingers too long she chastises him for it, but she definitely enjoys the feeling.
* ElevatorGoingDown - the story makes fun of this one. Hayate and Maria (she in a {{paper thin disguise}}) get into an elevator, while they do have {{UST}}, Hayate's thoughts of whether he should confront her about having seen through the disguise are running through his head instead. Then the elevator gets stuck, and he knocks her to the floor accidentally while she's trying to fix it, just as Hinagiku (who he's about to rush headlong into {{UST}} with) gets the elevator working again in time to see.
** Hayate then makes a joke about this very fact. Which no one finds amusing in the least.
* EnigmaticMinion - Aika seems to be one while following after Athena.
* EpiphanyTherapy - Averted with Hinagiku. Able to withstand heights when she has a strong reason to after Hayate takes her out onto the balcony of the student council office and shows her the cityscape.
** Less detailed, but still implied is her fear of anyone she admits to loving disappearing also seems to be with her.
** Implied with both of these is that if Hayate were to vanish from her life, they would return stronger than ever and are nowhere near cured yet.
* EroticEating - Nishizawa's consumption of a coated strawberry is gag-censored for being too suggestive.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment - Hata is actually very good about using his character introduction scenes to get across useful information about a what kind of person that character is, such as...
** Hayate was first introduced riding superhumanly fast on a bicycle to deliver a manuscript for his job...then hit a rock and crashed horribly, surprisingly the guys watching when he got up and was barely scratched.
** Nagi was shown as having left a Christmas party because she doesn't like those kinds of social events and was clearly lacking some worldly common sense as she didn't bring a coat and couldn't work the vending machine. Also you can probably count her almost getting kidnapped three times in one night (even if one was Hayate's horribly inept plan) as a good indication of what to expect.
** Maria was introduced looking for Nagi and showing kindness to Hayate after she helped him up from the ground (after running him over with her bicycle first naturally).
** Hinagiku was first encountered in a tree she was having some trouble getting down from, and showed that she had climbed the tree to help a baby bird even though she had a fear of heights. She showed her kind side when she invited Hayate up to the student council room and her athleticism when she fought Yukiji. Perhaps most importantly was when she gave Hayate a few words of wisdom as it would become a staple of their dynamic in the future.
** Even [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Three Girls]] in the student council trio made certain to get across that they were not exactly trustworthy or to be taken seriously during their introduction.
* EvenEvilHasStandards - After picking up Hayate once he's kicked out of the mansion, the [[strike: Yakuza]] '''Very nice people''' comment that they can't believe such terrible parents exist, and wonder what the world is coming to. Not that they aren't willing to buy his organs, but they make it clear that it's NothingPersonal and they're just as disgusted as Hayate is.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer - Hinagiku. She is not very happy about this. 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 [[spoiler:Miki has a crush on Hinagiku]].
** Not just hinted at, it's rather plain, it's just that Miki has more respect that Hinagiku doesn't return the affection the same way. Doesn't stop her from a {{Skinship Grope}} though.
** Much later, it's implied [[spoiler: that Hinagiku crushed on Athena when they met for the first time. Their encounter is more than a bit reminiscent of other yuri-styled meetings...]]
** Her reaction to the video of Luca's concert (and the interuption reaction) also hint at this effect.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim - Hayate. He is also not very happy about this.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt - Hinagiku is clueless as to how everyone around her can see her crush. But then, this is a series where pretty much the entire cast is suffering from an ObliviousToLove epidemic.
** Hayate's crush on Hinagiku is even worse for being clear to everyone. He even tries to tell others that she couldn't possibly like him. There's also the incident in the elevator in the student council clock tower where Hayate completely failed to hide it from a [[PaperThinDisguise barely disguised]] Maria.
** Miki, Maria, Nishizawa and possibly even [[spoiler: Athena]], make it clear that they know about Hayate and Hinagiku's mutual crush. Even Nagi seems to know about it and has expressed both suspicion and jealousy at various points in the manga.
*** Oddly enough, she let Hinagiku [[spoiler: go on a dinner date with Hayate to show his appreciation for all her help]] in Greece but refuses when Ayumu tries to do the same. Most likely, she guessed that nothing would happen. [[spoiler: She was waaaayy off]].
* EveryoneIsRelated - In the most convoluted of ways.
* EverythingsWorseWithBears - 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[[http://www.mangaeden.com/En/Hayate+the+Combat+Butler/149/15/ HUGE]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_faced_bear almost pre-historic looking bruin]] that obviously wants 'em for lunch.
** Which Isumi then turns into her pet!
* EvilMentor - 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."
** And the hint that [[spoiler: he's been messing with Hayate since the beginning]]...
* EvolvingCredits - Starting with episode 40, many new scenes were added to the OP, including [[spoiler:Himegami/"Princess God"]], who is revealed to be Hayate's last silhouetted opponent.
* ExactWords: In chapter 331 Isumi [[spoiler:refuses to believe that Wataru's been in love with her for so long and that he was finally going to confess]]. She makes a bet with Nagi and Sakuya that he wasn't going to say "[[spoiler:I love you]]" to her. She claims victory when he says "[[spoiler:I love'''d''' you]]" instead.
* ExpressiveHair: [[spoiler: Athena]] of all people has this.
* FailureKnight - Much of Hayate's determination stems from [[spoiler: having failed Athena.]]
* FakeCrossOver - Nabeshin, AuthorAvatar of ShinichiWatanabe, made an appearance.
* {{Fangirl}} - Ayumu in regard to Hayate. Hell, one of her {{Image Song}}s is entitled ''Kimi Fan'' (''Your Fan'').
* {{Fanservice}} - Delivered straight and subverted on various occasions, and almost always [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded.]] See the [[FanService main entry]], or PantyShot or AccidentalPervert.
* FantasyKitchenSink - Let's see...super-human butlers, Robots, {{Talking Animal}}s, TimeTravel, {{Miko}}, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Vampire Miko]], ghosts, demons, demonic snakes, aliens, and [[GreekMythology whatever the heck Athena is.]]
* {{Feuding Families}} - The Tennos and Sanzenin families are said to have this kind of dynamic, implied to be a rivalry of fortunes.
* {{Flaw Exploitation}} - In the Golden Week arc, Gilbert Kent, Sakuya's illegitimate brother, tries to use this with a dash of {{boobs of steel}} and fails, picking Hinagiku (at least, [[ACupAngst she sees it]] as a [[{{even the girls want her}} flaw]]) as Hayate's partner for a beach volleyball match. He thinks that she's the weakest of the girls. Hayate wins against an army of volleyball robots, presumably without even touching the ball.
* FinishingMove - [[SeriousBusiness All first-class butlers have at least one]]!
** Played up a bit more in the anime, but in the manga it has only really been seen twice. The first time was when Kaede Nonohara was fighting Hayate in the Kendo Club and used his rather insane "Safety Shot: Grand Explosion, Immolating Dark Murder" which a huge dragon-shaped burst of fire. Hayate uses one once as well called [[TitleDrop Hayate no Gotoku]] which basically gives him a burst of SuperSpeed which let him basically jump ''through'' a giant robot as well as generate enough energy to completely blow up the church they were under (but it was incomplete so he wound up breaking every bone in his body). Himuro Seaki is implied to have one that he didn't get to use and Hayate and Nagi are certain that Maria has one too.
*** Notably, Hayate had a small recurring arc to develop his FinishingMove. Part of this included finding a book left by Himegami in the Sanzen'in library entirely about creating various ultimate attacks. Nagi took interest in a move designed to win the heart of the one you love, it turned out to be [[spoiler: basically stripping naked and using sex appeal]]. Sadly, Hayate never got to read it as [[spoiler: Nagi asked him why he wanted to learn one in the first place. He replied that it was for ''Hinagiku's sake''. Nagi burned the book immediately]].
* FiringOneHanded - Hayate pulls this off early in the series when he shows up to rescue Nagi from an enormous robot with a wrapped bundle on his back. He reveals this to be an HK-MG3, which is normally a ''turret-mounted machine gun'' and simply tears through the robot's armor. Hayate is also apparently strong enough to ''easily'' wield it with one hand. Mysteriously, he also claims to have already been very familiar with the weapon somehow and seemed to have access to it before/without Sanzen'in resources.
* FirstNameBasis - 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 FirstNameBasis 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 StoryArc.
* {{Flanderization}} - Played for laughs with Klaus in the anime. In the manga, Hayate’s femininity became increasingly emphasized after the author discovered cross-dressing him [[RuleOfFunny was hilarious]]. Then there’s Miki, whose crush on Hinagiku went beyond mere subtext about the time of the Athens arc. Maria’s CuteAndPsycho tendencies could count as well.
* {{Foreshadowing}} - [[http://anymanga.com/hayate-the-combat-butler/001/001/006-007/ Look at the background.]] Almost 200 chapters later...
** Also, there was a blink and you'll miss it line during the Golden Week arc, with Chiharu lamenting that she was the only one who didn't get to go abroad for vacation. The narrator says that despite that, she'll end up going on a trip in a few months time. Considering her new connections with the Sanzen'in household, Luca, and Athena/Alice, it'll probably be something interesting.
** There's also the bit about Hayate's entry exams for the Hakuo academy - he got through because the chairman vouched for him to pass. And we later learned just who that person was.
* ForgottenBirthday - Ayumu's birthday arc is several chapters of this. She wants to get her friends (but mostly Hayate) to wish her a happy birthday but feels it's too cheap to just come out and say it's her birthday. Naturally, this series being what it is, this leads to an epic battle between her and Hayate of her trying to trap him into asking her about her birthday and him dodging tricky questions...all with Miki and Risa [[CombatCommentator commenting on their tactics from outside]]. Obviously Hayate has long since memorized everyone's birthdays and they're trying to keep her surprise party a secret.
** Wataru later experiences the other side of this when he realizes that he forgot Saki's birthday was a couple days ago. Sakuya and Hayate show up to help him remember exactly why that day is marked on the calendar, though Hayate inadvertently makes Wataru feel worse since he made Saki cupcakes. Wataru tries to subtly make it up to her but Saki instantly remarks that he finally figured it out, but it all works out in the end.
* FourIsDeath - Hayate seems drawn to getting 4th place in the character popularity polls. It's almost as eerie and Isumi (1st poll) and Sakuya (3rd poll) getting [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] votes.
* FriendOrIdolDecision - [[spoiler:Does Hayate give up the pendant and have a chance to finally reunite with his first love Athena, even though this causes Nagi to forfeit her large fortune which she likely can't live without, or does he protect it for several days, keeping the fortune safe but causing the spirit possessing Athena fuse with her, causing her to lose her memories, meaning she would never remember him? In the end Nagi, who knows only that losing the pendant means losing her fortune, realises that having to protect the pendant is causing Hayate distress, and so she makes the decision for him and destroys the pendant.]]
* FunnyAnimal[=/=]IntellectualAnimal - Tama; at least when there's nobody around but Hayate, who knows he'd only have to deal with NotSoImaginaryFriend if he tried to tell anyone else about it.
** Actually, it's only Nagi and Maria he cares about. He's just fine with talking while Wataru's around as well.
* FuroScene - Several over the course of the series but Chapter 304 sees Hayate and Maria going to a ''sentou''/public bath when the boiler is broken as Nagi, [[spoiler: Chiharu, Hinagiku, and Athena/"Alice" are]] feeling a bit uncomfortable with the whole bathing with strangers idea. Features a bit of Maria fanservice and more Hayate fanservice than it should, [[spoiler: especially with Kotetsu popping up unexpectedly, with Hayate oddly covering his chest while he drowns the idiot]], and even a little ShipTease as Maria shows her tsun side at the end (and even ''says'' "tsun" in a huff for some reason).
** Another moment is way back when Hinagiku invited Hayate over to warm up after finding him out in the snow. Hayate appears to be quite flustered at bathing at her place and has what might really be the closest he comes to a "dirty" thought in the whole series. Hint: it's about Hinagiku.
* GagDub - The Animax English dub is very faithful to the original dialogue, but once you add in accents, pop cultural references and some wacky lines, it’s even more funnier.
* GagSeries - The first season.
** The second season, on the other hand, is a more character focused romantic comedy with occasional drama rather than a surreal dadaist slapstick comedy.
*** Not to mention, it does follow the manga a bit more faithfully as well.
* TheGenericGuy - Ayumu. One episode of the anime involves Nagi trying to be as normal as her ([[TheOjou and failing]]).
* GeniusDitz - Fumi. She's a student at Hakuou Academy for ''a reason''.
* GenreSavvy - Played straight in that [[MediumAwareness the characters know]] they're in a Shounen Action/Romance. Subverted, as the conclusions they draw based on that are [[WrongGenreSavvy typically wrong.]]
** Given how Ayumu continually grasps hold of her possible tropes and forces them to work, she may be playing this one completely straight.
** During the Greece Arc the girls seemed to have all gained new levels in GenreSavvy as all of them refer to "Hayate's misunderstandings that he's so good at making" and take this into consideration before jumping to conclusions.
*** Hinagiku, at least, gets to keep her levels afterward when she only briefly gets upset with Hayate for [[spoiler: him being crossdressed and getting hugged by Ruka]] before simply concluding that he's gotten into another predicament with a girl and offering to help him with it (she comes through of course).
* GenreShift - The End of The World arc in the manga. Beware! Hayate's origins of power are revealed! [[spoiler: When he was a child, he became a butler and [[PuppyLove boyfriend]] to the young 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.]]
** And now the story has shifted back. [[spoiler: Although given Chapter 289, maybe not as much as we thought...]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-53196-10/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-275.html Izumi is hungry.]] Just look at Hayate's face there.
** Athena in Chapter 300, [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/300/5 bottom panel]]; "I don't have time!!" indeed. You know [[ThisAndThat what she's talking about]]...
** There's an episode where Hayate and Maria place a bet on the outcome of a billiards game. The winner gets to have the loser do one thing for them. Hayate's first thought involves something that they apparently can't show. Maria calls him out on it.
** There's a brief moment in Episode 6 of the anime where Sakuya [[EroticEating is eating what appears to be a hot dog with the outer casing peeled back.]] It's on screen for maybe half a second at most. [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Phallic_5477.bmp Freeze frame at 11:23.]]
* GettingHotInHere - Done fairly late in the manga with Maria and Hayate yielding mindblowingly large ShipTease results.
* GhostLights - The Ghost Priest has these.
* GirlishPigtails - Nagi.
* GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals - Izumi has lots of stuffed animals kept around her room. [[spoiler: Though it's not put in a prominent position, the stuffed animal that Hayate saved from Lucky ten years ago is still kept around in its ragged condition. It's hinted that this is what reminds her about her childhood promise.]]
** Though not shown to be anywhere near Izumi's collection, Chiharu had a collection of stuffed animals [[spoiler: then her house burned down. Many survived though]].
* {{Girl on Girl is hot}} - [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-53196-10/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-275.html Just look]] at Hayate's reaction.
** Hayate and Luca, while the former is crossdressed looks to be an example of playing with this trope
* GiverOfLameNames - Oddly enough, the resident StudentCouncilPresident Hinagiku Katsura. Despite being amazing at almost everything, if she names anything it will be immediately called out by whoever is present. They aren't weird or long, just incredibly simplistic. Best seen when she first meets Hayate and tells him that she had named the baby sparrow they saved pretty much literally 'brown bird'. Even Hayate is exasperated, which is [[HilariousInHindsight funny]] when you consider [[spoiler: that his naming sense is literally just as bad...both named Athena "A-tan", notably a character ''longer'' than her actual name]].
* GlowingEyesOfDoom - Done by Hayate after being hit by a car. Also used as a ShoutOut to ''Manga/DeathNote''.
** Hayate also uses this when he's deadly serious and about to completely destroy someone in the manga, always accompanied by having his upper face [[FaceFramedInShadow covered in shadow]] and a look that usually makes his enemies go OhCrap.
* GoodAngelBadAngel - Inverted; Hayate's shoulder angel advises Hayate to turn to kidnapping to repay a debt, freaking out his shoulder devil in the process.
* GretzkyHasTheBall - The so-called Beach Volleyball game against Gilbert in the Greece Arc. Hayate says that he doesn't know how to play, to which Nagi replies that it's fine [[BreakingTheFourthWall since the author has no idea either]]. While he gets Hinagiku for a partner due to Gilbert's [[BoobsOfSteel very poor]] [[{{Pettanko}} attempt]] [[BerserkButton at being]] GenreSavvy, Gilbert's partner turns out to be a giant volleyball robot. When Hinagiku one-shots it, he tries to call foul as she's breaking the rules by not wearing a swimsuit (which [[SchoolGirlLesbians Miki]] wholeheartedly supported on the pretense of shaming the sport). When she revealed that she had a swimsuit on underneath already - and thus didn't have to forfeit to go change...or something - Gilbert broke out an army of giant volleyball robots. After they all got wasted effortlessly, team Hayate-Hinagiku chalked it up as their win.
* GroinAttack - In Sakuya's first 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. Or just plain crying.
* TheGrovel - Several times in ''HayateTheCombatButler'', Hayate thinks he has done something to make Hinagiku angry with him and he invokes this trope in an attempt to smooth things over. This usually suprises her, both because he hasn't done anything of the sort and she would have forgiven him instantly anyway.
** Taken even further when he actually begins to grovel for something that actually does anger her, along with the fact that he'd even tried to hide it, but then she makes a statement that confuses him, and then helps him correct the mistake.
* GuideDangIt - 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.
* HappilyAdopted - Hinagiku Katsura loves her parents, even though they abandoned her and her sister over ten years ago, but also loves her adopted parents.
* HartmanHips - All the girls seem to have them.
* HeadPet - Not in either the manga or the anime, but Shiranui shows up as Nagi's head pet on her figurine.
** Shiranui has now become this in the more recent chapters of the manga as well
* HellishPupils - Manga only, Hinagiku and Wataru. It might symbolize their aggressive personalities, as they're certainly not evil. Anime has the Superintendent and Wataru, and Hinagiku can summon it when she gets really annoyed.
* HelloNurse / NaughtyNurseOutfit - Maria put on [[{{Meganekko}} glasses]] and a nurse outfit in Chapter 140 as a disguise at the suggestion of Nagi's bodyguards. [[PaperThinDisguise It didn't conceal her identity in the slightest]], but viewers certainly [[FetishFuel didn't]] [[PerverseSexualLust mind]].
* HeyItsThatVoice : Out and IN of the show. One of the chapter(which is made after the show has been made) has Hayate mentions that the voice of a character in Sentai costume(which is really Hinagiku} being simmilar to [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Boota]] which is voiced by ShizukaIto
* {{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 [[{{otaku}} unusual obsession with video games and manga]], and makes a point to get her out of her house.
** Not in the least helped by Maria's worry about letting them ride the subway....
-->'''Maria:''' Well, what I mean is ... going on that ''unknown vehicle'' with just the children...\\
'''Hayate:''' Several hundred thousand people get on that unknown vehicle every day in Shinjuku alone...
** Izumi is accused by the others of her trio of this when she's absent from everything after the Mt. Tako class trip; [[spoiler:she's just embarrassed about the maid outfit her father convinced her to wear as 'punishment' for not having her phone.]]
* {{Heroes Want Red Heads}} - Although he hasn't made his fondness for her known vocally, pink-haired Hinagiku Katsura clearly holds his interest.
** Given the kinds of things he says to her without thinking, it's amazing that Hinagiku seems to be the only one who hasn't noticed that he certainly [[{{ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe}} holds ''some'' kind of affection for her]]. While he mentions what he likes about her several times (at least once to her even), chapter 302 really takes the cake as [[spoiler: he tries to convince her to stay at the apartment by 'expressing his love for her'. Yes, he actually said that out loud to her. Needless to say it was priceless and of course was messed up at the last second]].
* HeroicSelfDeprecation – Hayate and Hinagiku. In Hayate’s case it is partly because he is a FailureKnight. Hinagiku doesn’t think of herself as feminine or pretty.
* HeterosexualLifePartners - Hinagiku and Ayumu become this after becoming friends on Valentine's Day and helping each other out with romantic issues for some time, though they haven't really been seen together after the Greece Arc.
** Nagi also seems to develop this kind of bond with Ayumu, initially being rivals but becoming like this during the Greece Arc as she was showing around Ayumu and the two seemed to have largely stopped being rivals by the time they returned to Japan.
** For a while there was also Hinagiku and [[spoiler: Athena of all people]]. They were the talk of the school and seen as an unstoppable duo, with the latter being a bit of a loner and Hinagiku being one of the only ones to get close to her. Time will tell if they will go back to this when [[spoiler: Athena returns to Japan]].
*** In a humorous twist, they almost are as [[spoiler: Alice, who is an aged-down and de-powered Athena, is currently rooming with Hina for several months to get her powers back]].
* HiddenEyes - It is mainly used in a way similar to BlueWithShock; showing that a character is speechless, exasperated, or otherwise befuddled. It happens many, ''many'' times. All characters do this, especially Hayate.
* HintDropping - Used by several characters, usually directed at Hayate or Wataru with varying levels of success (usually ranging from 'not working' to 'the exact opposite of what they wanted' but every now and then it works out.
** In particular, this is Hinagiku's M.O. for her feelings towards Hayate and her efforts to both confess her feelings to him and do cute/romantic things on occasion. Best seen in the Greece Arc, [[spoiler: during a dinner date with Hayate]] where she went over several subtle ways to open up a thread of conversaion that would set her up to confess her feelings, only for Hayate to say something completely different in response.
** Chapter 340 also has Hinagiku find Hayate giving Chiharu a shoulder massage and decide that she would very much like one as well [[spoiler: before the two months left that she's staying in the apartment are up]]. She spends most of the chapter trying to drop hints in an effort to get Hayate to ask her if she wants a massage as it is too embarassing to ask him herself. In the end, [[spoiler: he actually gets the hint, but she can't bring herself to say it. Luckily for her, she gets a second chance when Hayate comes by as she's beating herself up over it and with a bit of courage takes him up on the offer this time]].
* HonorBeforeReason - 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.)
* HotMom - Isumi Saginomiya's mother looks a lot like Isumi (except for having short hair), and is just as [[CloudCuckooLander ditzy]], as noted above. And very, very cute - you'd think she was Isumi's older sister. [[spoiler:Well, there's also the apparent factor that consuming blood makes them younger... that might just be Isumi's great-grandmother, though.]]
** Isumi does need blood to restore her powers. Maybe she's just not to the age where she cares what she looks like yet?
** If you look VERY carefully during her inital appearance, 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. Especially compare their bangs, with that particularly thick lock between the eyes.
*** [[http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx33/nodnyl10/CUTE.jpg Any questions?]]
** Also, Hinagiku's mom. Especially when you then remember that she is also Yukiji's mom.
*** [[spoiler: Except she's not related to them, she's just cute. The 'mother' of the Katsura's is their adopted mother.]]
* HopelessSuitor - Toyed with between Hinagiku, Ayumu and Hayate. Hayate does notice Ayumu's affection for him (helped by the fact that she's the first of the {{unwanted harem}} to have confessed), even stating that they could have been dating [[spoiler:if not for his {{Failure Knight}} complex]], but realizing that Hinagiku is the one he's infatuated with, Nishizawa has taken to this trope ''herself'', and is trying to get Hinagiku to admit her feelings to him, not helped by her and Hayate's mutual misunderstanding that the other couldn't possibly be interested in them.
** It doesn't help at all that Hinagiku is trying to play matchmaker between Ayumu and Hayate because {{I Want My Beloved To Be Happy}}.
** Not to mention that Hinagiku and Hayate both think the other is [[{{ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe}} out of their league]] in addition to their other problems with romance, Hina even alluded to feeling this way briefly due to her inability to express her feelings properly to him.
** In the beginning, the Nagi/Hayate/Maria relationship was a more traditional example, with Nagi being the hopeless suitor; Nagi had a crush on Hayate, who had a crush on Maria, who also had a crush on Hayate. This scenario became more complicated once Hayate started to amass an UnwantedHarem. Although Nagi is still a hopeless suitor it is less emphasized, with Ayumu 'taking her place' and Maria has sort of been replaced by Hinagiku, leading to the scenario above. Nagi and Maria haven't been completely excluded though, so it is now a LoveDodecahedron.
* HouseHusband - One of Hinagiku's ImagineSpots in chapter 301 seems to depict Hayate like this as she's thinking about [[spoiler: why it would be too embarrassing to move into the Violet Mansion where Hayate is. Not because the guy she's in love with will see her off-guard or anything logical like that. She's afraid their going to start playing Newly-Weds. Again]]. An interesting case as prior to this her fantasies had Hayate being quite masculine, much like most of Nagi's. While he's still sparkly and cool-looking and she's still girlier than usual it does seem to indicate that she likes Hayate's girly side despite her complaints.
* HumbleGoal: Hayate's life goal is to have a small apartment with the necessary amenities and nobody chasing him.
* HypocriticalHumor - A bit of an unintentional case but funny in retrospect; when Hayate first meets Hinagiku he is exasperated by her somewhat odd and simplistic sense of nicknaming (the baby sparrow in this case). Later we get to see the hypocritical part as it turns out Hayate's sense of nicknaming is just as bad, literally, as [[spoiler: they both tried to name Athena "A-tan", notably odd as it is actually a character longer than her real name]].
** Hayate actually does this earlier in chapter 46 when he mentally chides Isumi on throwing a fight way too quickly (before her opponent even swung), which she learned from watching Hayate's horrible attempt to throw his "duel" with Wataru some time before.
* HyperspaceMallet - Sakuya stores her PaperFanOfDoom here. Hinagiku stores her sword here. Nagi stores various things here, commonly objects used by her [[{{Tsundere}} tsuntsun]] side to punish people.
** Nagi's even pulled out ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Graf Eisen]]'' in one episode to whack Hayate with after tripping right into a hug with Maria.
*** [[KanaUeda Sakuya]] is seen to be laughing loudly at this. Whether or not it's an ActorAllusion to the fact that KanaUeda voiced Hayate Yagami remains to be seen.
** Hayate himself has a Hyperspace ''Broom''.
* ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe - Hayate and Hinagiku simultaneously with a side helping of CannotSpitItOut.
** Hayate continuously argues with others that Hinagiku can't possibly like him. Hinagiku doesn't believe he's interested in her traits.
** Hayate tells others that Hinagiku is out of his league, though he gets extremely depressed if someone else tells him that. Hinagiku gets melancholic whenever she sees Hayate express interest in a trait she doesn't have, believing herself not to be his type despite Ayumu flat out saying she was earlier. This is compounded by the fact that they each hold the other in very high regard and anything one says about the other has a large impact, with both trying to stay in each others good graces.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial - Ayumu Nishizawa wanted to be this for a while, and actually accomplished it for a time, being the first girl to have actually confessed to Hayate. Then she learned the {{Aesop}}, and happily took a step back to play backup for the other characters.
* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe - Isumi and Saki usually induce this kind of reaction from the fans.
* IdenticalStranger - It has been said that Hayate resembles Nagi's mother. It doesn't just end there though, for added MindScrew ''[[http://images.wikia.com/hayatenogotoku/images/0/04/Hayate-the-combat-butler-1547989.jpg look at her father.]]''
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming - The titles of the manga chapters can get a bit [[WordSaladTitle wordy]] at times.
* IdiotCrows
* TheIdiotFromOsaka - Sakuya Aizawa, who sees life as one big BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine. This makes her both GenreSavvy and WrongGenreSavvy, in that she knows she's in a gag anime, she's just got the gag style wrong.
* IdiotHair - Shion
* IdiotsCannotCatchColds - Seems to be used in Chapter 352 when all the girls [[spoiler: living in the Violet Mansion]] catch colds while Hayate appears immune and tends to them. The next chapter has Hayate catching the same cold the day after, which was stated to be the "punchline" by Alice in 352 as Haukou final exams were that day. The end of the chapter even states that Hayate caught the cold because [[CharacterDevelopment he was no longer an idiot from all the studying he'd been doing]].
* IdolSinger - [[spoiler: Luca turns out to be one, and it seems like Nagi is very impressed with her (likening her to a Goddess probably also makes this another case of LesYay)]].
** [[spoiler: As of recent, Hinagiku seems to be impressed by her to, but certainly not at the level Nagi is.]]
* IfItsYouItsOkay - Kotetsu towards Hayate. [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-58434-8/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-295.html These guys]] towards Hayate ([[UnfortunateImplications maybe]]). Possibly Miki towards Hayate as well. This is mostly because Hayate is a girly StupidSexyFlanders.
* IKEAWeaponry - In the anime, the Sanzenins have an underground network of conveyor belts that can deliver Hayate an ArmCannon in a kit from a phone booth ''anywhere''.
* ImageSong - Advertised in the "Butler Network" segment with great enthusiasm.
* ImpossibleTask - Since [[TheChessmaster Mikado]] wants others to think that there's a possibility of gaining his inheritance from the rightful inheritor, he's set up several 'Impossible Tasks' for them. Several characters have ''tried''.
** The first, make Nagi cry and apologise [[spoiler: Which Hayate has accomplished ''twice'' before it was revoked]].
** After that, it was to steal a MineralMacGuffin her {{battle butler}} carried. [[spoiler: Nagi herself destroyed the stone when it was revealed (to Hayate) that it was the connection a great spirit would be able to use to permanently inhabit his first love intrest]]. Now she's having to learn to live without the backing of the inheritance.
* IncompatibleOrientation – The two most obvious ones are [[HoYay Kotetsu and]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Hayate]] and [[LesYay Miki and]] [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Hinagiku]]. Miki knows this and is content with it, but Hayate has actually tried to kill Kotetsu.
** Luca has impressed this, confessing to Hayate that if he were a guy, she'd have fallen for him. She thinks he's a girl because she's only met him while he was cross dressed, so she doesn't know that Hayate is actually a guy, and that she actually did confess to him because of it.
*** Even before the confession he didn't want to let her know he's actually a guy.
*** Both Miki and Ayumu have expressed romantic interest in Hinagiku as well, and decided to take a backseat to things, since Hinagiku is smitten with male Hayate. Ayumu has expressed interest in Hayate as well, allowing her to possibly supercede the limits of this trope without changing any orientations.
* IThinkYouBrokeHim Used amusingly when Hayate doesn't want to change out of [[{{Dragged Into Drag}} Ayumu's clothes]], Nagi comments to herself that she may have broken him.
** In actuality, he just doesn't want to [[{{Dropped A Bridget On Him}} reveal to Luca]] that he's actually a guy.
* IUhYouToo - During the Golden Week vacations, Karou gets a chance to be alone with his crush, Yukiji, and tries to confess to her. He can't finish the statement, and so turns it into a question about her little sister's relationship status. It seems that Yukiji seems to understand what the statement was originally (and 'responds' later in the arc), but her immediate responce is to turn to her {{Bottle Fairy}} ways and offer him a drink. She then (probably teasingly) asks him what he likes about Hinagiku (the little sister), as if he had just confessed affection for her instead.
* IndirectKiss - [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-27647-14/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-150.html 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.
** In Chapter 283, Hayate and Tama are [[spoiler: covertly taking Tama to the new apartment]] and hiding out in Cafe Donguri (where he works). He assures Tama that nobody will be there since it's so late, so naturally Hinagiku immediately walks in. He covers by saying he was practicing making different kinds of coffee and makes some samples for her when she decides to hang around. While asking how they taste, Hinagiku forgets which one she had just sipped and Hayate casually takes a sip himself to identify it...and Hinagiku is the only one to realize that he indirectly kissed her. The next chapter has her slightly frustrated that Hayate didn't even notice this (to the surprise of absolutely nobody reading) and decides to "get back" at him by indirectly kissing him with some coffee he had sipped out of...but loses her nerve and can't go through with it.
** Although it's not actually mentioned, Isumi gives Wataru one in Chapter 331 when [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/331/15 she takes a whistle out of her mouth and tucks it into his]]. A sound effects bubble actually specifies that the whistle is "wet" from having been in Isumi's mouth.
* InnocentInnuendo - In the White Day arc, Hayate runs into Hinagiku and ends up having to admit to her that he gave the cookies he was intending to give to Ayumu, to Maria instead. Her response: '[[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/hayate_the_combat_butler/c126/8.html You'll repay me with your body]]'. After Hayate's stuttering, she reveals that she was just talking about introducing him to a cafe-shop owner where he could make more. Why she used that [[{{that came out wrong}} specific phrasing]] is still confusing though.
* InTheNameOfTheMoon
* {{Incorruptible Pure Pureness}} - Hayate may be a very capable fighter, but any moral issues at best push him into a bumbling mess of nerves. Annoyances don't even corrupt him.
* InvisibleToNormals: [[spoiler: Ghost Preist Father Radiostar; only the people who entered the Butler Training Facility can see him.]]
** Sakuya wasn't ever in the training facility and can see him though.
** By this point it seems that only Hayate, Isumi, and maybe Sakuya and Hinagiku can see him, though he did say that he would fade over time. Probably has something to do with the fact that he's even come out and said that he's haunting Hayate.
* IronButtmonkey - Hayate
** Yukiji to a lesser extent, she's certainly as MadeOfIron as Hayate but most of her troubles are less physical and more financial.
* InstantSeiza - Hayate and [[spoiler: Hinagiku]] after a very close AlmostKiss in the Greece Arc.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy - [[spoiler: 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 over getting the King's Stone because that might lead to Hayate being banished from Nagi's service. But then she could scoop him up...her mixed feelings combined with being a RealityWarper results in baaad mojo.]]
** She again plays this role (even though there isn't a counterpart romance, yet) after she's been saved, hearing Hayate's words of admiration for Nagi.
** Ironically, Hayate was mostly there to ''say'' those words of admiration because Hinagiku heard his earlier words of affection for [[spoiler: Athena]] and encouraged him to pursue ''her'', in spite of Hina's own feelings for him.
** Hinagiku and Ayumu play with this one, trying to give Hayate to the other, at the same time.
** Miki uses this, while she's not hiding her crush on Hinagiku at all, she's also one of the most active in pushing Hinagiku with Hayate.
* IWasJustPassingThrough - Isumi often gives this one out as an explanation for her sudden appearances.
** Hinagiku tries this once or twice, with her sudden appearance in the Tiger's Den for Butlers being especially humorous as Hayate is very pleased to see her and wonders if she was worried and came to save him but is interrupted by Hinagiku leveling her new sword at him and using this trope almost word-for-word...apparently Hayate was too intimidated to notice the blush.
* IWasQuiteALooker - Klaus was apparently a {{bishonen}} when he was younger as shown in a photo in chapter 270.
** Hinagiku's sister was pretty cute (and ''sober'') back in high school...
* JapaneseHonorifics – Hayate uses the -san title for everyone, in keeping with their high-class standing, except Nagi and Sakuya, who he calls 'Oujo-sama'. Nagi is his master, but there seems to be no forthcoming explanation for why Sakuya is included. He has also at least ''once'' called Nagi ‘Nagi-sama’.
** Hayate seems to be rather fickle with Nishizawa though; sometimes he will use ‘Nishizawa-san’ or sometimes not use any honorific at all.
** He also gave Athena the nickname 'A-tan' when they were children, and still calls her that.
*** Hinagiku once commented on this when he refers to Athena as this after [[spoiler: he is "rejected" by her at the end of the Greece Arc]] and notes that it is odd given the circumstances. He then suggested that he could start calling her Hina-tan, to which she instantly gave a deadpan 'I absolutely refuse'.
** There's also Isumi who uses Hayate-sama which at one point enabled Hayate to figure out Isumi's involvement and mission in a certain matter solely because only she ever calls him that.
* {{Jerkass}} - Nonohara, Nishizawa's mother, Mikado...
* TheJinx - Hayate again. Particularly with money, but it doesn't really matter. Bonus points for also being BornUnlucky.
** Woe to any character that somehow becomes lucky, as Hayate might appear to inadvertently ruin their good day. If money is ever involved, Yukiji may [[OffscreenTeleportation also show up]], but Hayate on his own can be quite worrisome to a GenreSavvy character.
---> '''Wataru:''' This here is one hundred million... [...] this will decide my future. [[TemptingFate I have to be extra careful not to lose it...]]
---> '''[[StealthHiBye Hayate:]]''' [[StealthHiBye Pardon me...]]
---> '''Wataru:''' ''([[OhCrap Crap!]] The [[GenreSavvy expert in losing money]] has showed up already!!)''
* JustAStupidAccent - In the dub mainly, the maids have British accent while Klaus and a few others has German accent.
* KendoTeamCaptain - Hinagiku
* LemonyNarrator - The narrator frequently argues with the characters, [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]] at the plot, and was once accused of murder by Nagi. And he has the voice of NorioWakamoto.
** 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 he has a British accent and sounds like TomBaker!
*** {{YMMV}}, but [[MemeticBadass no one is better]] [[MemeticSexGod than NORRRRIO WAKAMOTO!]]
** Likewise, the manga has the narration boxes which often contain sarcastic comments about the characters, or their thoughts, or various situations. They also have a penchant for snarking at Hayate and Hinagiku, especially regarding romance or common sense (usually both at once).
* LethalChef - Nagi, who (among other instances) declared her failed attempt to make Valentine's chocolate "A chocolate-covered iron pot!" to save face.
* {{Limited Social Circle}} - Hinagiku, Miki, Risa and Izumi are all friends, and are almost always seen interacting with each other exclusively. As the story continues, the social circle expands a little, to include Hayate and Nagi and eventually several others, but still rather limited.
** Isumi, Nagi, Wataru and Sakuya share the same dynamic, being childhood friends, they are hinted to have grown up together, mostly because their parents were all friends/family as well, and have limited interaction with anyone else. Isumi is a {{Cloud Cuckoo Lander}}, Wataru spends all his time not at school trying to keep his business running, and Sakuya goes to another school supposedly. Nagi started off being a {{Hikikomori}} but has begun to start expanding her social circle because of Hayate's influence.
* {{Limited Wardrobe}} - Hayate, Maria, and Saki are rarely shown wearing any other outfits other than their uniforms, save for some occasions. And also Wataru may count as well.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* {{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.
** Lampshaded and mocked in a side-chapter where 10-year-old Maria gets a love letter and Makimura automatically assumes it must be from a Lolicon pervert. Maria warmly and gracefully states that she shouldn't be so dismissive of other's feelings, and that someone put their heart into this letter... and in the very next scene is shown ''burning'' said letter because she read it and found it really ''was'' from a Lolicon pervert.
** When Wataru and Saki go to Las Vegas and meet up with Wataru's mother, Mikoto, her butler is explicitly stated to be a {{Lolicon}} to explain why he's not doing anything against Sakuya being used as a pawn to force them into a gambling situation.
* LongingLook - Save for Ayumu, none of them have had the nerve to actually confess though, so their lack of romantic knowledge ends up with it just being played for {{UST}}.
** Actually, Ayumu is only the first (and she did so twice) of three to have confessed, Athena (though she then 'rejected' him, and then denied it as Alice) and Luca have as well (although Luca confessed to Hayate under the impression that he was female and added the condition that 'if he were a guy'). Hayate is just to clueless to have picked up on any of them.
** Hinagiku and Hayate have {{Longing Look}}s from both directions, [[{{held gaze}} unfortunately not at the same time]].
* {{Loser Son of Loser Dad}} - Hayate is a heroic inversion of this plot. Ayasaki-Dad is always stealing money (he even cops to it), run con businesses and has been stated to have two large debts, one to the 'very nice men' and one to Wataru's video store. But Hayate is the hero of the manga, [[spoiler:and his brother is stated to be a hero, even going to rescue Athena from [[{{expy}} the devil]]]].
* {{The Lost Lenore}} - Although not confirmed to have died, the original Katsura sister's parents are this to Hinagiku after they abandoned her and her sister before the story started. It's part of the reason that she's so hesitant to acknowledge her true affections for anyone, including her love interest, is because of how much their loss hurt and she's afraid of having to suffer loss again because of it.
* LoveAtFirstSight - Hinagiku for Hayate, and Kazuki for Nagi. Mostly, it was one-sided.
* LoveBubbles - Happens a lot with different characters, and is even used in the third ending theme in the anime.
* LoveConfession - Averted with Hayate, whose 'kidnapping' of Nagi got interpreted as this and started the entire series. Isumi was technically the first to play this straight when she told Hayate she liked him.
** Three different characters do this later, with five seperate confessions. None of the characters are attached to anyone.
*** Ayumu confesses, twice actually, the first time she's actually rejected, though it doesn't deter her affection.
**** Ayumu eventually confesses a second time, actually at Hinagiku's insistance. Though initially she gives Hayate 'obligation' chocolate as part of Valentines' Day, Hinagiku insists she talk to Hayate again and give him the chocolate she made for him, telling him that he doesn't need to respond yet. Though he hasn't rejected her again, he has made it clear that he has some affection for her, making this the closest thing to an actual confession and acceptance.
*** Hinagiku has attempted a confession-of-sorts when Hayate has taken her out on a date, but given her fear of loving someone, she does it just as a train passes by, and so he can't actually hear the words.
*** Hayate does this as well, for his '10 years ago girlfriend', first in front of Hinagiku (again), and then directly to the girl he loves, and she responds in kind, but then sends him back to his master, which he takes as a rejection.
**** [[spoiler: As of a 300+ chapter, [[spoiler: Athena {{expy}} Alice actually states that she has no affection for him. What this means in light of earlier events hasn't been fully played out.]]
*** Finally after 330+ chapters [[spoiler: Wataru confessed to Isumi for real and didn't try to play it off as a joke, however he also went with "loved" in the past tense much like Hayate did to Athena, and seems to have moved on]]...a very good day for [[spoiler:Wataru/Saki]] shippers given how the two were acting for those two chapters.
* LoveDodecahedron - Obviously, most of it centers around Hayate and his UnwantedHarem, but Wataru is also starting to develop a harem of his own, and there are even a couple of links that don't involve either of them.
** There are also a few links that link both Hayate's and Wataru's harems together. At this point, there are enough polygons to make a full-fledged sphere.
* LoveEpiphany - Several, though one of the most notable is when Hinagiku finally admits to herself that she's in love with Hayate at the climax of her birthday arc.
* {{Love Hurts}} - One of Hinagiku's fears is based on this, and it's implied that her fear of heights extends from this.
** She's afraid of loving someone because her parents left and her older sister has turned to drinking after making sure that Hina doesn't have to deal with the debt and has foster parents, thus she's afraid of loving anyone again, in an effort to keep from getting hurt by them. She may have even turned to her {{Tsundere}} personality because of it.
** Her admitting ([[{{cannot spit it out}} to Ayumu]]) that she does love Hayate has been shown as an effort because of these fears.
* LoveMakesYouDumb - All over the place given the seemingly contagious case of CannotSpitItOut that the entire cast has (save Ayumu and now [[spoiler: Wataru]] and even once [[spoiler: Hayate himself]]. However, almost every relationship seems to have this to some degree or another.
** Nagi has obvious done some very stupid things in her plans to "rekindle" her relationship with Hayate, most blatantly when she agreed to let Gilbert 'kidnap' her in volume 3.
** Ayumu jumps to some pretty strange conclusions herself regarding Hayate and has devised almost as many plans as Nagi that have little basis in logic.
** Kaoru-sensei also has this problem in his hilariously bad attempts to woo Yukiji and his continual failure to understand exactly where he went wrong.
** The biggest offenders by far, however, are Hayate and Hinagiku. Hayate already does some pretty stupid stuff for the girls in his 'harem'. That said, his IQ drops a few extra points whenever Hinagiku is involved, especially if he thinks he did something to make her mad. This usually results in him putting his foot in his mouth, such as telling [[TsunDere Nagi]] that he wanted to learn a FinishingMove to [[TooDumbToLive impress Hinagiku]]. Hina, for her part, also has frequent lapses in logic where Hayate is concerned, which usually end up mercilessly snarked at by the narration boxes. It gets to the point where some of the issues that crop up between her and Hayate only make sense in her mind, such as not wanting to [[spoiler: move into the Violent Apartments with him]] apparently due to her idea that the two of them will act like a couple of newly-weds (with her as the husband leaving for work and Hayate as the stay-at-home wife). Even the narration boxes point out that this has no basis in reality.
* LoveTriangle - Sonia -> Wataru -> Isumi. Also, Nishizawa -> Hayate <- Hinagiku, as a subset of a much weaker LoveDodecahedron that includes Nagi and Maria (which forms the ''initial'' love triangle).
** Are you sure that second one hasn't turned into a [[TriangRelations type 13]]? Or perhaps even weirder still, a type 9 (see above)?
* LuminescentBlush - Most of the cast is quite good at this, especially when combined with LoveBubbles and CherryBlossoms. However, the Queen of Moe, Hinagiku, seems to do this far more often than anyone else and usually much brighter.
** And often with wording fumbles atop the blush. Hinagiku and Ayumu pull this off (all at their separate times) along with Hayate himself during his stay at the Katsura household.
** Hayate in particular gets an absolutely epic one in the manga at least when [[spoiler: Maria (in 'disguise') and Hayate are riding the clock tower elevator and Maria teases him by asking if he is in love with the StudentCouncilPresident (i.e. Hinagiku). Hayate's reaction consists of a literally LuminescentBlush, much stammering, apparently trying to deny it by listing all of Hinagiku's good qualities and finally being unable to speak coherently.]] It makes This Troper laugh every time.
* MadScientist - The [[NerdsAreSexy very cute]] {{meganekko}} inventor of Eight and the other killer robots. Sometimes ventures into being [[ForScience FOR SCIENCE!!!]] (as far as weaponry's concerned), if she wasn't kept grounded by her quest for funding.
* ManipulativeBastard - Mikado. See TheChessmaster above.
* MarryThemAll - Proposed by Nishizawa once in regards to herself and Hinagiku. Oddly she left out Nagi, who she knows is also in love with Hayate, although she might change her mind as they start becoming better friends. Equally strange is the fact in all of the discussions Nishizawa and Hina have had about Hayate she has never brought up the fact that Nagi is also their love rival and thus Hina remains as unaware as Hayate on the matter.
** While the option played straight is very unlikely to happen, there is an interesting variation that has a chance of happening, that being [[spoiler: Nagi's new apartment (maybe after a possibly foreshadowed expansion) eventually having all the Haremettes move in with Hayate continuing to act as the "butler included" and thus sharing him]].
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy - Hayate and Hinagiku, part of the reason Hinagiku was dubbed female!Hayate and they're considered mirror counterparts. Hayate has a very girlish face, [[ArtEvolution more so as time goes on]], as well as a traditionally feminine skill set (cooking, cleaning, and sewing among other things) which makes girls around him feel as if their femininity is threatened. He is also quite sensitive at times, and in the beginning was brought to tears quite a few times by acts of kindness. Hinagiku was very much a tomboy when first introduced. Her position of authority as StudentCouncilPresident and her outstanding athletic skills were both amplified by her aggressive and take-charge demeanor. Unlike Hayate, she focused on being decisive, and wasn't really afraid to use force to solve an issue.
** Part of what makes it an interesting case is the change over time. Hinagiku has changed the most, becoming much more feminine as part of her CharacterDevelopment, acting more [[TsunDere dere]] when flustered instead of covering it with aggression, acquiring a sense of feminine modesty that Hayate tried to impress she was lacking, and generally sliding more to the 'feminine' side of the scale while still remaining 'masculine'. Perhaps her biggest 'feminine' factor is worrying that she isn't that feminine, though luckily for her Hayate seems to like her 'masculine' characteristics. Hayate is more inconsistent with this, sliding from more 'masculine' such as taking on responsibilities himself and trying to be a strong figure to protect and help others as well as going awfully far down the 'feminine' side of the scale (the crossdressing really hasn't helped him much). Oddly enough, Nagi's and Hinagiku's [[ImagineSpot fantasized]] version of him is typically more on the 'masculine' end of the scale being confident and cool, though one of Hina's most recent moments had Hayate almost like a stay-at-home wife, though he remained sparky and 'cool'-looking. As much as she claims that he can be a dork, it seems that Hinagiku actually does like Hayate a little on the 'feminine' side of the scale as well.
* MasterOfTheMixedMessage - '''Hayate.'''
* AMatchMadeInStockholm - At least kidnapping ''was'' Hayate's original plan, it's [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in the end however. Despite his decision to "become a devil" to get the money to pay off the {{Yakuza}} chasing him, every time he gets the chance to do something evil he thoughtlessly does something nice instead. The guy's so nice that Nagi took his declaration of kidnapping as a [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove confession]] and a request to elope...and considered it. No word yet on if they are going to be the OfficialCouple or not, but it gave us a series.
* MeaningfulName - ''Hayate'' means ''wind'', and ''Nagi'' means ''no-wind''. Whether they are still the OfficialCouple is another question.
* MeetCute - Hayate with both Maria and Hinagiku. Maria had a classic example with running Hayate over on her bicycle before rushing over to help him. Hinagiku first met him when she was having trouble getting down from a tree and jumped before Hayate was ready to catch her, leading to her foot landing square on Hayate's face and sending him sprawling. Maybe he just likes girls that [[LoveAtFirstPunch cause concussions when he meets them]]...
** Kazuki Nishizawa also had such a first encounter with Nagi, combining it with LoveAtFirstSight on his part, where they met under some cherry blossoms and he [[{{Adorkable}} completely flubbed his introduction]] before narrowly avoiding a PantyShot from Nagi when she tried to climb up to get a balloon wearing one of the short skirts she often wears...then [[CovertPervert an ill-timed comment results in her smacking him for it]].
* MegaNeko: Tama, Nagi's pet cat, he's actually a white tiger!
* {{Meganekko}} - Saki Kijima, Shiori Makimura, Chiharu Harukaze
** When Maria put on a school uniform, trying to enter Hakuou in disguise to check up on Hayate, she didn't understand why [[DudeMagnet all the boys kept staring at her]]. Her solution: Wearing glasses to look less conspicious. [[FetishFuel It didn't achieve the intended result.]] Only with a pair of absurd NerdGlasses was she finally able to move around unnoticed.
* {{Meido}} - Maria and Saki
** Isumi gets shanghaied into wearing a maid outfit so that the 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 [[spoiler:an April Fool's joke by the priest]].
*** It's revealed in the above chapter and the succeeding one that Wataru has a {{meido}} {{fetish}}. In the same chapter, it's also revealed that Sakuya's new maid is the {{meganekko}} Chiharu from the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil of Hakuo Academy.
* MementoMacGuffin - Though Hayate doesn't know of its significance for quite a while, he's given the King's Jewel/Stone of Bonds by [[ManipulativeBastard Mikado]], it reminds Mikado of his daughter, who appears to be the original one who found the stones (she's dead and he seems to want her brought back). It's called the Stone of Bonds by Maria and Nagi, and it reminds Nagi of her bond with Hayate. Eventually Mikado decides it's useful as a mark of inheritance for the Sanzenin fortune.
** It's also a stone that [[spoiler: Athena and Midas need to reopen the doorway to the Royal Garden]]. Multiple uses for a single item that didn't seem particularly noteworthy at first.
* MindScrew - Nagi's manga could probably count. It is so bizarre and convoluted that only the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Isumi understands what the hell is going on. But Nagi's manga has '''nothing''' on Isumi's own creations. ''[[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13578-11/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-100.html Oh]] [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13578-17/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-100.html my]] [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-55441-12/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-280.html god]]'' That last one even has [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-55441-13/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-280.html a punchline...]]
* MisplacedWildlife - 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 DidNotDoTheResearch, and [[LampshadeHanging 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 [[GagSeries series]]. Besides, it's [[RuleOfFunny funny either way]].
** In an episode of the anime the same mistake is repeated when an elephant is shown in the Amazon.
* MomentKiller - Hayate and Hinagiku. Pick a moment. ''Any'' moment. The universe indiscriminately uses any nearby character to kill the mood, even resorting to using [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Two Nekos]] Tama and Shiranui. Should Hayate and Hinagiku be alone together, one of them will invariably self-destruct - the most brutal so far being [[spoiler: Hayate interrupting Hinagiku's attempted confession by declaring that he loves Athena]].
** Wataru also has problems with this. On several occasions he's blurted out his feelings for Isumi and she's overheard - and every time he frantically tries to revoke it. He's so consistent and adamant about this, Isumi actually believes he ''was'' just joking.
** Nagi often tries to have romantic moments with Hayate, but the poor dear just can't catch a break. Certainly doesn't help that she's not even on his radar.
** This is Yukiji's modus operandi where Kaoru-sensei is concerned, even though she openly acknowledges that he'd be a pretty good catch.
* {{Mundane Luxury}} - Hayate deals with having found a job as the Sanzenin's butler as living in luxury in the beginning, having had to work extremely hard to barely survive on a meager living up to this point.
** When he's given a million yen so that he can live outside the mansion for three days, he's told to spend all of it and spends the next few panels explaining that he could live in luxury for the next year with that kind of money. Of course, he's spent it all before he even finds a place to stay for the night.
** This trope could also be used to explain why he doesn't realize that he has at least [[{{unwanted harem}} a half-dozen attractive women throwing themselves at him]].
* MurderIsTheBestSolution - This was actually used by [[spoiler: Hayate during the Segawa Arc where after all the jerking around left him in a death match in a lava (magma?) battle arena, he determines - with his usual bright, cheery expression - that everything can be solved if he kills Kotetsu...most obviously for his constant attempts to grope and hit on Hayate]]. Nobody dies and the former even saves the latter (before knocking the latter out for 'getting ahead of himself') and alls well that ends well.
* MyNameIsNotDurwood - [[ThoseTwoGuys Those three girls]] always call the titular butler Hayata to tease him.
* NamesTheSame - Isumi and Izumi are different people.
** Do not confuse Hayate with [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Hayate]] or [[HayatexBlade Hayate]].
** Likewise, Nagi is completely different from [[MahouSenseiNegima Nagi]] and [[MaiHime Nagi]].
* {{Narrator}} - Actual narrator in the anime (bonus points for being NorioWakamoto), narration boxes in the manga.
* NarratingTheObvious - At times.
-->'' '''WHAM''' ''
-->"He was punched extremely hard."
* NecktieLeash - Hinagiku does this to Hayate after [[spoiler: their first date, telling him that the next time he asks her out ii should be by his own will and not her friends telling him to]].
* {{Necromantic}} - Mikado was hinted at wanting the Power of the Gods to bring back the daughter he loved. [[spoiler: except that, when he'd first made the attempt, she was alive.]]
* NeverMessWithGranny - Or in this case, Isumi's great-grandmother Ginka.
* NewOldFlame - [[spoiler:Hayate's]] first girlfriend [[spoiler:Athena]] makes an appearance later in the manga.
** Except that, while Hayate still holds a flame for her, it's not clear if she has the same for him. And their former relationship was left at the point of her[[spoiler: and/or the spirit possessing her,]] wanting to kill him.
* NeverGotToSayGoodbye - The last time five-year-old Sanzenin Nagi ever spent with her ill mother was in a tempered-tantrum argument... and this would go on to shape the abrasive person that she grew up to be.
* {{Nice Guy}} - Ayumu Nishizawa is clearly a nice gal, paired with the fact that she's a normal person in a world where most of the rest of the cast are {{Ojou}}s really makes Hata have to work to keep her relevant, and he does.
* NighInvulnerable - Hayate. Would be MadeOfIron except it's taken to extremes with [[strike:no explanation given besides his childhood being inhuman.]] There's an explanation now. [[spoiler: He was "given the body of God" via a ritual using the Sephirot by Athena.]]
** Great, now they've added Caballah references.
** There's the fact that his name's on the series, too, which is indirectly lampshaded often enough.
* NinjaMaid - Although she's clearly a candidate for it, Maria seems [[http://i999.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/313/hayate-the-combat-butler-2111511.jpg opposed]] to being known as one.
* NoFourthWall - 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.
** Not so much in the second season.
* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon - Hinagiku worries about this in an internal monologue during the beach volley ball match during the Greece Arc, fearing that going all-out on an annoying Gilbert would lead to Hayate being turned off by her lack of femininity. Aside from the fact that Hayate has already had plenty of opportunities to see Hina kick ass, she never had anything to worry about in the first place since Hayate clearly likes that "cool, confident, action-y" side of her.
* NoOSHACompliance - Why they have non-safety compliant sections in Sanzenin mansion is anybody's guess, such as the seemingly nuclear-powered boiler which can get a meltdown when someone pressed the wrong button.
* NoSenseOfDirection - Isumi, though it turns out that at least part of it is because [[spoiler: local spirits routinely interrupt her trips to ask her to fight demons troubling them]].
** That happens 2-3 times ''per year''. She's as bad as [[OnePiece Zoro]].
* NoWaterProofingInTheFuture, 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.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy - Hayate, although [[ZigZaggingTrope it can get complicated]].
** Several times, he is somewhat distracted, but still recovers himself before the girl in question even gets over the shock of being seen. Hinagiku and Maria are the only ones who he really plays {{Distracted By The Sexy}} straight, one he's physically attracted to, the other emotionally attracted to.
** He's not clueless about sex appeal, just not affected by it like normal guys. Pointed out when Miki shoves a magazine in his face, and states that he's the perfect one to take Hinagiku out because of his reaction. And when Izumi gets possesed and Hayate comes in on her with Hinagiku in a suggestive pose, his reaction is significantly less than you'd expect from a normal male seeing it.
* ObliviousToLove - Powers huge chunks of the plot and character interaction.
* OedipusComplex - Apparently, Hayate greatly resembles Nagi's mother... despite being male. So this is gender-flipped ''and'' played [[DoubleEntendre straight]].
* OfficialCouple: Unless [[TeasingCreator Kenjirou Hata]] is trolling the fandom, Chapter 318 seems to show that [[spoiler:Wataru/Saki may have become this. Isumi, who Wataru had a big crush on, helps him [[LoveEpiphany realize]] that he likes Saki the most. He later says that he well stop going to Hakuo (he only went there for Isumi) to focus on the family business and asks Saki to promise to stay by his side, with both [[LuminescentBlush blushing furiously]].]]
** Chapter 318 does nothing for the actual pairing though, and the implication is that the relationship between Wataru and Saki seems to be more of a mother/son one. Whereas Wataru/Sakuya seems to be gaining speed, with his apparent abandoning of Isumi-persuing. The fact that Sakuya gave him the money for the entire arc to start, and then helped him find the stolen money indicating that it's not one-sided.
** The arranged marraige between Wataru and Nagi has still yet to be clarified, it was implied that it was for the Sanzenin inheritance, [[spoiler: which Nagi is not going to get anymore]].
* OffscreenTeleportation - Hayate, if people [[CallOnMe cry out for him]], will unfailingly appear on-scene to save them.
** He 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 by saying butlers have license to appear unexpectedly.
*** He also said this in the manga; Sakuya took it as making fun of her, because she'd said, a page or so before, that as Nagi's (surrogate) big sister, '''she''' had such a license.
* {{Ojou}} - Nagi and Isumi
** Hayate also uses the term for Sakuya.
* OlderThanTheyLook - Athena's age is yet to be revealed, but she's back to her age 6 appearance, while she's known to be at least 10!
* OnceAnEpisode - Nishizawa eats something (in the anime). 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 [[spoiler:give Tama the power of speech, though we don't see who did it.]]
* OnsenEpisode - Sort of an Onsen Arc with their trip to the Shimoda Hot Springs, with quite a bit of fanservice, wackiness, and everything else you'd expect from this series. There's hot springs, ping pong, hot springs, UFO's, hot springs, and a touching scene about Nagi's mother followed by everyone having a nice picnic.
* OnlySaneMan - Maria is certainly this throughout just about everything. Even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] (like everything else) in episode 10 of the first anime.
--> "Since the majority of the cast is comprised of stooges, I handle the StraightMan role to make things more interesting. It's only natural, since I'm the one with the most common sense here."
* OnlySixFaces
* OpeningNarration
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent - 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's filled with heroic {{delinquents}} and {{time travel}}ers. This was the same school that originally produced Hayate...
** 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 MisterExposition):
--> '''Hayate:''' Ah.. well, well, if it isn't my classmates from my ordinary public high school.
--> '''Student:''' Sorry for being ordinary.
---> [[superscript: (Are you explaining something?)]]
** Hayate falls off being normal once his past is revealed, and Ayumu has been given a younger brother, but she's still really the only one who fits.
* {{Otaku}} - Nagi. Chiharu as well. Hayate is not, but he definitely knows just as much as Nagi when it comes to otaku subjects. He will even talk like Nagi every now and then, which gets lampshaded.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent - 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.
* OvertookTheManga - The "Butler Battle" arc in the anime wasn't in the manga, hence the Ultimate Butler Armor disappearing after.
* PantyShot - Mentioned more often than explicitly shown, but still there - One of Hayate's duties becomes to prevent this with Nagi (who wears short skirts quite often) and when he isn't there, [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/192/page/6 it]] [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/192/page/7 shows.]]
** Nagi isn't the only one who wears [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/169/page/13 short]] [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/192/page/11 skirts.]]
** And played explicitly for {{Fanservice}} [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/160/page/9 with]] [[http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/hayate_no_gotoku/en/0/304/page/8 Maria.]]
* PaperFanOfDoom - Sakuya's signature weapon.
* PaperThinDisguise - Hayate briefly dresses up like [[MetalGearSolid 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".
** Also, Klaus makes a cameo in the [[TournamentArc Butler Battle Tournament]] with Tama, both wearing nothing different from their usual clothes, except they're both wearing a Power Rangers/Super Sentai mask. Also subverted in this one, because except for Maria, nobody knows it's him.
** Maria and Saki show up as the 'Max Hearts'. All that the costume is is eyewear. They both realize (and comment) on how paper thin the disguise is. Nagi ''didn't'' see through it, and wanted to get their autographs.
** Alternately, Chiharu's 'disguise' as Sakuya's maid 'Haru' seems solid enough that they don't recognize her in the least.
* ParentalAbandonment - Hayate Ayasaki, whose parents sold him to the [[strike:yakuza]] very nice people to pay off their 156,804,000 yen debt and ran away
** Nagi Sanzen'in, whose parents are dead
*** Her father is never seen and supposedly died before Nagi could remember him. She has a few memories of her mother though.
*** Her grandfather is said to have given her some raising, but she is estranged from him from the start [[spoiler:and then she gets cut off from the inheritance.]] Mother figure is Maria.
** Maria, who is a DoorstopBaby
** Hinagiku happily lives with her (and her sister's) adoptive parents, though only their foster mother has been seen.
** 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''.
*** Presumably her mother was with the other two children during this event. She lives, and presumably was raised by her two butlers.
** Wataru Tachibana has living parents, but runs the family business and lives alone with his maid.
*** His mother is shown to have been living in Las Vegas and his father in some other eastern country.
** Athena, whose parents are dead, mentioning this is Athena's {{berserk button}}.
** Isumi's female family (up to her great grandmother) has been shown, but no mention of her father, grandfather or great grandfather has been made.
*** Isumi only has one grandfather, one great grandfather, one grandmother and one great grandmother? Eww.
**** Isumi apparently has no paternal family tree period
** Izumi lives with her father (and it is implied that her mother is simply not shown.)
** Riza lives with her grandfather, though her father may have been seen, it isn't mentioned.
** Miki is implied to live with her parents, but they have not been seen.
** Both of Chiharu's parents are shown to be around, but are neglectful to the point of eventually burning down their own house in a money-making scheme.
** Both of Ayumu Nishizawa's parents are shown, and are decent folk.
** [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/311/7 And now Luca]]. "I thought that you had no relatives left ... when both of your parents ran away after dropping the debt on you...."
* ParentalSubstitute - [[spoiler: Hinagiku to Loli!Athena. Holy. Shit. Basically there's a little girl who may or may not be an aged-down Athena who appeared on the campus out of nowhere and bumped into Hinagiku. When the others asked where her mother was she pointed to Hina and said "Mama". Cue absolutely everyone in the panel being completely stunned. Knowing Hata...and the advice Hayate got earlier in the chapter...there is a very good chance that Hayate will be playing fake!dad, which will result in mind-blowingly-large ShipTease with him and Hinagiku]].
** [[spoiler:Confirmed, Hayate is announced to be her father. Hinagiku was chosen as the 'mother' because of the sword she carries.]]
** Although Nagi wishes he were more of a boyfriend, Hayate seems to be playing this role for her. Maria is her mother figure, though the role originally seemed to be that of big sister.
*** Hinagiku and Yukiji found the Katsura's to be both willing {{Parental Substitute}} and get to play the {{Happily Adopted}} card when their parents dropped a large debt on them and disappeared.
*** In the character profiles, Sakuya is said to have been raised by her two butlers and her nurse, instead of her parents, while also serving as the parents to her siblings.
* ParodySue - Hayate, Hinagiku, [[spoiler: and Maria.]]
* PerpetualPoverty – Hayate. 150,000,000+ yen debt aside, if he is ever given any money he will certainly lose it. [[TheJinx Even people around him]] seem to spontaneously lose money just by being in his proximity. Later chapters of the manga even give him the title [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin “God of Poverty”]]. He [[GenreSavvy notices this trend]], and is quite dismayed.
** Hayate becomes explicitly flat broke at least five times in the manga.
*** The first is when he has to spend a few days out of the mansion and manages to lose 1,000,000 yen in a few hours mostly helping people in trouble; he ends up broke, without a coat, and depressed in the snow when [[spoiler: Hinagiku finds him and invites him over]].
*** The second is when he buys Hinagiku a birthday present, partially to repay all the help she has given him, and also buys Nagi a hair-clip in a rare bout of forethought knowing that she would be jealous as well as a stuffed animal for Maira as thanks for her help as well.
*** The third time is when he tries to get Ayumu a White Day gift and [[spoiler: accidentally gives it to Maria when he tries to practice what he's going to say]]; Hinagiku and later Maria helped bail him out.
*** The fourth time is when he winds up taking Hinagiku out on what both would - eventually - find out is a date and when the movie tickets he was given fall through he [[spoiler: steps up and gets tickets to what is very obviously Disney Land Tokyo]].
*** The fifth time is in Greece when Hinagiku saves him by curb-stomping Gilbert in (what is [[GretzkyHasTheBall more-or-less]]) beach volleyball and he takes her to a very fancy restaurant as a way to pay her back...thankfully Maria knew the place and made sure they would only charge him the money that he actually had.
* PerverseSexualLust - Parodied. Hayate yells, "I only like 2-D girls!" to get Nishizawa to leave him alone.
* PervertDad - Izumi's dad likes making his daughter do cosplay as a form of punishment and jumps at any other reason to see her in a costume. A flashback also revealed that he was just a little too pleased when his kindergarten-age daughter innocently stated that she [[FatherIWantToMarryMyBrother wanted to marry him]].
* PleaseDontLeaveMe - Although the romanticism is questionable, Nagi uses this in typical {{tsundere}} method by implying that Maria and Hayate will eventually leave her (presumably for romantic relationships), and after convincing attempts are made by Hayate, she 'allows' him to continue working as her butler.
* [[PoorCommunicationKills Poor Communication Gets You A Job]] - Whenever Hayate says anything, at least one person is sure to misunderstand it.
* ThePowerOfLove - ChurchMilitant 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}} - Hayate has promised to always protect Nagi, and to always love Athena.
** Hayate also made a promise to Hinagiku to give her a present on her birthday. It doesn't seem like much but it meant a lot to Hinagiku, [[spoiler: enough so that her emotions began to build up and confuse her as she started dreaming about Hayate and not knowing why. When he forgets this promise and she winds up spending several hours waiting for him it triggers her deep-seated fears of abandonment (amplified by Wooden Masamune) and she mentions this promise and her confusing feelings as she chews him out before she can regain control of her emotions. Fortunately for them both, things turned out all right in the end]].
* {{Prince Charming Wannabe}} - Played for comedy, Kyonosuke Kaoru is this for Yukiji Katsura. She actually seems to have a fondness for him, but he seems to think he needs to sweep her off her feet, which causes her to reject his advances.
* PuppyDogEyes - 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. [[spoiler:We learn why during "The End of the World" - he took Athena's advice to heart.]]
** And even though he probably doesn't realize it, Hayate himself is quite good at this. [[AttractiveBentGender Especially when cross dressing]] as a [[MoeMoe super moe]] CatGirl. Or maybe that would be [[IncrediblyLamePun Kitty Cat Eyes]]?
* PunchClockVillain: The [[{{Yakuza}} very nice people]]. The spend the first few chapters chasing after Hayate to settle his debt. However once Nagi pays it off, they later approach Hayate and chat amiably with him, apologize for the whole ordeal, and even offer to buy him lunch.
* TheQuietOne - The infinitely huggable Isumi.
* RedEyesTakeWarning - Athena, oh so much.
** Not really, since her eyes are always red.
* ReferenceOverdosed
* RefugeInAudacity - 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!)
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent - We can't quite be sure how the series feels about this trope. [[spoiler: Machina's]] alternate form (we think) is a giant snake, and his first acts include nearly [[spoiler: killing the main character]] and acting like an all around bad guy. But as of ch 255-ish, he's being more than friendly with the heroes, even jokingly (we think) asking Maria to marry him for her (and Sakuya's) hamburger-making skills.
* RescueRomance - Hayate should be the God of this. He helps people out all the time, even when it's not his job, and Chapter 273 showed us that if Hayate helps a girl with a problem in some way (up to and including saving their life) there is an incredibly high chance of that girl developing feelings for him...one ''guy'' seems to have fallen for him this way even!
** While Nagi and Hayate's relationship has shades of this, it might not exactly count since she fell in love ''before'' he rescued her when she thought he was asking her out (because Hayate is the worst criminal ever). This applies better to how Hayate met Hinagiku as he...at least tried to help her down from the tree, but was practically invoked afterward when he told Hinagiku that he would come save her if she ever called for him...and delivered on that when they were both in the haunted building at school.
** Unbelievably, Yukiji of all people actually gets in on this too. Apparently she was totally wasted (as usual) one night and stumbled across Ashibashi-sensei who was getting harassed/mugged. After defeating the thugs with ease, it seems that Ashibashi might have fallen for her...especially after stopping by Hakuou the next day and successfully picking her up in his awesome sports car. Currently Yukiji is oblivious to this new possible romance (as is standard for this series) and Kaoru-sensei is left speechless that a love rival has shown up.
* {{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.
** The first season veered off the manga's path sometime after Hayate entered Hakuou. The second picks up the actual storyline from where it left off.
* RieKugimiya - Nagi.
* RieTanaka - Maria.
* {{Right Behind Me}} - Hinagiku gets clobbered by this in the current arc (starting at chapter 300)[[spoiler:, it's not quite the same effect of having Hayate himself hear her confession, but it does give blackmail bait]].
* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship - This could possibly be an explination for Hinagiku's initial encounter with Athena, especially since she's pushed anything resembling romance aside because of her past.
** Her relationship with Miki may have started as this, but when Miki started to push for it to go further, Hinagiku made it clear she wasn't interested. The two are still close though.
** Less explainable, but not entirely out of the question for her reaction to seeing Luca's performance, since she now has clear affections for male Hayate, but he's completely oblivious to it.
* RPGEpisode - 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 OverNineThousand.
** RPG stats are referenced in a manga chapter too, as Hayate assembles a team for a dungeon crawl.
* RuleOfCool
* RuleOfFunny
* RunningGag - Whenever a character is near-broke, it has become a running gag to leave them with 12 yen. (One 10 Yen coin and Two 1 Yen coins)
** There's also the matter of Hayate girlish face and being forced to crossdress; it's gotten to the point that it actually seems to be plot-relevant that if someone met him while he crossdressed there would be no way they woulds know he was a guy (as proven once by Kotetsu and again later with [[spoiler: Luca]].
** On a more meta-note, it's been noted to much amusement that Hayate never gets to see {{Fanservice}} of Hinagiku despite seeing or being the ''cause'' of it for literally almost every other female in the cast. Hinagiku also never seems to be around when Hayate is providing the fanservice, with the only time she has ever seen him crossdressed was on the boat to Athens where we didn't see them together or her reaction to it.
*** Unfortunately, this one seems to be shot down, with Hinagiku undressing partially in front of Hayate to give him her clothes to keep Luca in the dark about Hayate's true gender.
*** An even more meta, fandom example would be jokes regarding the nigh-impossibility of the chances of Hinagiku ever confessing her feelings to Hayate properly.
** Hayate's bad luck in general has got to be this, especially as everyone is aware of it.
** This one is part {{Bowdlerization}} and part AscendedMeme, but in the anime, the phrase "Very Nice Men" or somesuch adaptation thereof invariably refers to the {{Yakuza}} that Hayate's parents sold him to. This extends to pretty much all fan discussion of both the manga and the anime.
* {{It Runs in the Family}} - Though we've only seen the female half of the Saginomiya family, they're all pretty well {{CloudCuckooLander}}. Isumi is the closest one to sane, and she barely qualifies as such.
** Isumi's grandmother mistakes Isumi's mother -- her own daughter! -- for Hayate when meeting him for the first time. And the mother thinks she actually is! Even wondering where she went when the grandmother changes paths.
** Sakuya's family is just as comedy-obsessed as she is.
* SacredFirstKiss
* {{Samus is a Girl}} - Hinagiku as Silver Red is just asking for this. All of the characters who don't know it's her think Red is a guy.
* SayItWithHearts - Maria, Hayate, and Izumi all do this frequently . Nagi has done it a few times too . If Hinagiku does it, it probably means she's pissed ♡.
* {{School Idol}} - Hinagiku Katsura, it's even called out on, particularly during the Valentines Day and White Day arcs, and a lampshade is hung during her birthday arc.
** Maria and Athena Tennos used to hold this position before they graduated, Athena is even said to have shared the title with Hinagiku.
* ScaryShinyGlasses - Klaus, Chiharu, and Sonia, combined with AudibleGleam. In Chiharu's case, the shininess once burned up a piece of paper she was mad at.
* SchmuckBait - ''[[http://www.mangareader.net/203-13693-4/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-215.html This]]''.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney - 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 don't just kill people for fun; it's NothingPersonal.
** During the school marathon, Klaus is set to fight Himuro, instead of pulling out a weapon, he pulls out a briefcase of money, and wins.
*** Himuro actually ''bleeds from the mouth'' as he concedes defeat.
* SecurityCling - Nagi does this several times, mostly to Hayate. Hinagiku is another favorite target for this, sometimes even when Hayate is also present. Most often it's someone hiding behind one of them for protection but the clingy-ness is definitely there.
** Hinagiku even once did it to Hayate when they were in the haunted old building at school late at night[[spoiler: but she was just kidding and was messing with him due to her intense dislike of losing (triggered by getting scared earlier and getting saved by Hayate)]]. Hayate even makes a CallBack to this around 200 chapters later, [[spoiler: though he claimed he was also kidding, it's a cover for it actually being a SecurityCling but instead because ''he'' was scared and wanted to protect ''her'' from Tama]]. [[{{Tsundere}} She didn't quite take it]] [[{{Understatement}} as well as Hayate did...]].
** Hinagiku had a short one even earlier in chapter 45 where she clings to Hayate after he comes out of nowhere to save her from a monster in the haunted school building. Hayate's face [[LuminescentBlush completely lights up]] and he stutters trying to think of what to say. The next chapter has Hina making Hayate swear to never tell anyone (as an after-thought as she was more concerned about people knowing she was scared of the monster due to her pride as Hakuou's StudentCouncilPresident).
** Nagi also does one to Ayumu in Chapter 215 after they wind up alone in a dark cave in Greece. She was actually fine up until Ayumu turned the flashlight off...right after she recalled that Nagi mentioned not being good with dark places.
* SeriousBusiness - Butlers must be ready to defend their masters with their lives, and Hayate's [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower 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!
* {{Shallow Love Interest}} - Koutarou Azumamiya used to be this for Hinagiku originally, and the anime even added a few episodes of this to him, but since the second year started, he's actually gotten some character of his own.
** Although he now seems more concerned with ''Hayate'' instead after that development. Nagi certainly took notice of the way he was holding Hayate's sleeve on the Mt. Takao trip and Nishizawa immediately edged closer to Hayate while giving him a look as soon as she met the guy and he said barely two words to Hayate. Perhaps they notice something Hayate doesn't...
* ShaggyDogStory - The show devotes an entire episode to these, where the cast takes turns telling various stories with no point.
** And that episode is based on a manga chapter.
* ShamuFu - During an ocean cruise the boat they are on starts to sink (it was basically a clone of the ''Titanic'' so it was hardly unexpected) Hayate ends up in the lower levels, injured and in danger of being eaten by a giant shark with poor Isumi trying to save him by waving a pathetically small stick. As soon as Nagi jumps in to help him he recalls there were ''two'' sharks. When Nagi's attacked by the other one, she has about a couple seconds to be afraid before Hayate ''brains it with the first shark effortlessly'' taking them both out in out hit.
* {{She is all Grown Up}} - Actually seems to have been inverted , Hayate [[{{Not Distracted By The Sexy}} doesn't seem to have noticed]] A-tan's growth when he meets her after ten years of separation, until he's directed to look via an extremely obviously loaded question...and even then it seems to take him a moment. This is particularly funny as they met when they were children and she's now one of the most developed girls in the cast. Interestingly, he actually seems to prefer the memory of the younger Athena too.
* {{Shinigami}} - Several characters have stated that Hayate must be being followed by one on a regular basis, this is probably never actually going to come up again...maybe. It's been joked on forums for a while now that it's probably a girl and that he's taking 'flirting with death' rather more literally than most and that with all the comments about him dying young and being fated to a horrible death she may just be the "winner" of the UnwantedHarem in the end.
* ShipperOnDeck - Many on several different levels, particularly confusing as some of the supporters also have crushes on one (or both even) members of the couple their trying to pair up - this creates an extremely weird M.C. Escher-esque...thing...of interlocking love triangles, squares, and other shapes.
** A more straightfoward case would be Mrs. Katsura. She very clearly supports Hayate/Hinagiku and even told Hina already that she would gladly accept him as a son-in-law, as well as leading to one of the major Hayate/Hinagiku moments by telling Hayate when Hina's birthday was and that he should get her a nice present. Sadly even this example becomes complicated by the fact that Mrs. Katsura is just a little ''too'' fond of Hayate.
* ShipSinking - Chapter 265 apparently sinks [[spoiler:Athena X Hayate]]. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming But in the best way possible!]] [[hottip:* :Of course, given the fact that the mangaka is a TeasingCreator and certain spoiler material, who knows where this might go.]]
** And then comes chapter 266 with [[spoiler:Athena deciding to go back to Japan after all]]. TeasingCreator indeed.
** It also appears that the [[spoiler: Wataru/Isumi ship]] has been sunk as well with [[spoiler: him]] seeming to get over [[spoiler: her]] in a similar manner to the above example.
* ShipTease - Ooooh yeah.
** Oh yeah indeed. :)
** Hayate with ''everyone''. (Well, at least half the cast.)
* {{Shorttank}} - Hinagiku Katsura could be considered for this, though she tries to impress the fact that she is feminine while her friends try to convince her she acts more like a guy. She seems to prefer the female school uniform in most cases, wearing a pair of sports shorts underneath (to keep guys from looking up her dress apparently). She's been shown continually to have feminine tastes for cute things and seems extremely embarrassed when the guy she likes notices that she is feminine.
* {{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.
** The Chairman of Hakuo Academy is both a {{Shotacon}} '''AND''' a {{Lolicon}}, at least in the anime.
** Also, Hinagiku's mom appears to like Hayate a little too much.
* ShoutOut - Too many, at ''least'' one per episode. [[ShoutOut/HayateTheCombatButler The series even got its own page.]]
* ShyBlueHairedGirl - Hayate fits this trope to a T, except that he's, ya know, not a girl ([[DudeLooksLikeALady despite the way he looks]]).
** Of course, there is the cross-dressing to take into consideration...
** And now we have Luca (Luka?) who also seems to fit this trope in its more traditional sense, [[spoiler: except for her job as an IdolSinger]] especially where her self-made manga is concerned.
* SickEpisode - Chapter 352 has everyone [[spoiler: in the Violet Mansion]] except Hayate getting colds. Hayate tends to them and decides to go out to get medicine for them, given his luck [[spoiler: he is sent flying by Kayura and hit by a speeding truck]]. Despite this he seems okay and returns with the medicine.
** Chapter 353 then has Hayate catching the cold as well, as Alice warned him about, and unfortunately for him it's also the day of the Hakuou final exams (that being the "punchline" to the previous chapter. He was just going to take soem medicine but couldn't as he didn't want Nagi to think that she gave him her cold and feel bad. Then he thought he could just focus on merely passing but couldn't as Hinagiku was expecting great scores from him due to all the studying they had done together. After that it was just a set of disasters that made Hayate's cold worse and killed any time he had to prepare. Fortunately Maria figured out he was sick and let him rest when he finally got back.
* SkinshipGrope - Hinagiku seems to be a common victim of this as EvenTheGirlsWantHer, with Ayumu at the hot springs (played up more in the anime) and with Miki in Greece being the two biggest examples, though the Student Council Trio seem to like doing this to Hinagiku at other times as well. Hell, Miki even uses this by name when she surprises Hinagiku in the bath while claiming that their skinship is far too low. Hayate becomes a victim as well whenever Kotetsu appears unexpectedly, with the public bath trip in 304 being the best example yet.
* TheSlacker - [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Three Girls]], Miki Hanabishi, Izumi Segawa, and Risa Asakaze, actually take this to the level of barely staying within the relevant plot of characters. Izumi is the only one who's actually shown interest in Hayate, Miki has actually disdained his interest (sometimes) and Risa hasn't seemed to decide whether she wants to be interested or not. All three love to hang out with Bottle Fairy Yukiji, actually attempt to keep their grades barely above failing and only seem to show up often enough to cause trouble for the chapter to revolve around.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism - [[ZigZaggingTrope It’s all over the damn place]], [[CerebusRollercoaster sliding from one end to the other at various parts of the story]]. Instead of a sliding scale, it's more of a stew.
* SocietyIsToBlame - Hayate uses this trope when trying to explain his reasoning for attempting to kidnap Nagi. Only the fact that he fails, horribly, and then saves her from real kidnappers, getting her to take him on as her butler saves him, and starts the real story.
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist - Worst. Parents. Ever.
** Well, let's not be too quick to say [[RanmaOneHalf worst]]... ...well, then again, fine, worst.
*** [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Worst]] [[BlazBlue in a]] comedy [[NeonGenesisEvangelion series]], [[CodeGeass maybe]].
* SomethingAboutARose - Himuro Saeki
* StableTimeLoop - In the final episode of the first season; in [[{{Foreshadowing}} Athens, Greece.]] Adapted from a bonus chapter in the manga (volume 4).
* SpiderSense - Hayate seems to have something like this that tells him to react even when he's distracted, however it also fails him frequently for the sake of comedy.
** Hinagiku has one as well, specifically she has a super precise spiritual sense that allows her to feel the presence of spirits and such that she can't see. In Chapter 360 she uses it to track Father Lynn when she tries to hunt him down. Hayate is at first amazed by her sense when she can tell he's in the room with them (even nearly taking him out when he first appeared) and can immediate tell when he leaves, but finds her perception frightening when he can pinpoint where he went.
* StalkerWithACrush - While [[spoiler: Athena]] watching Hayate from afar is more like schoolgirl pining, Chapter 304 reveals that [[spoiler: Kotetsu]] has become this when [[spoiler: he follows Hayate into the public bath and directly states this as the reason why he is there]]. Surely one has to at least admire his tenacity if nothing else.
* StormOfBlades - Athena can summon it.
** or is it Midas?
* StudentCouncilPresident - Hinagiku.
** And Maria was a former president.
** And Luca [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/320/13 was one]] when she was trying to go to High School.
* SubordinateExcuse - Pretty much the real reason that Hayate is employed, at least as far as Nagi believes. In truth, she gushes over him in private while he remains cheerfully unaware of any perceived romance on Nagi's end.
* SummonToHand - Parodied with Hinagiku summoning the Wooden Masamune blade, which is Isumi's family sword. In an omake segment Isumi laments that the sword keeps disappearing, which we see is because Hinagiku spots trouble and calls for the Wooden Masamune to go save the day. It instantly answers her summon because it's fond of her apparently.
** Sadly we aren't sure what's happened to Wooden Masamune now that [[spoiler: Hinagiku has obtained the Shirosakura sword, marking her as an Ally of Justice to boot, and has been summoning it ever since instead. Last we saw, Hayate had used Wooden Masamune to beat King Midas so either he has it now (he ''is'' a highly skilled swordsman after all) or it's gone back to Isumi's place for now]].
* SupernaturalAid - The unlucky stones.
* SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious - 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 [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler: she tasted just a little and that gave her enough power to both break a PowerLimiter curse that was on her and use her magic powers to teleport Hayate onto a spaceship in freaking Outer Space.]]
* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids - 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.
* SuperWindowJump - One of many feats Hayate can do that borders on the supernatural.
* SurpriseSantaEncounter - An imaginary Santa representing Hayate's morals and work ethic.
** Not so imaginary. [[spoiler: Mikado admits it was him.]]
** To say nothing of [[DetectiveConan Santa Conan.]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Happens several times, but the end of chapter 288 has Hayate make one for the mangaka by saying that the successful mangaka character is most definitely not an AuthorAvatar.
** Nagi does this ''a lot''
--> ''It's not that I'm jaundiced from staying up all night, even skipping school, to make chocolates and failed''
* SweatDrop - Pretty much mandatory in the manga.
* SweetOnPollyOliver - [[http://anymanga.com/hayate-the-combat-butler/031/004/007/ Luca has started to act this way towards Hayate and doesn't know why!]]
* TeenGenius - We're not talking [[AzumangaDaioh Chiyo's]] level, but Nagi skipped three grades after all. Hayate actually did start to compare her to Chiyo in the manga, but Nagi told him not to go there.
** Nagi and all of her friends, Isumi, Sakuya and Wataru are all at Hayate's grade, while being three years younger than he is. Although Wataru seems to be the most street-smart and least book-smart of all of them.
*** Isumi is literate in four languages. Nagi in eight. Maria in ''thirteen''. They're surprised to discover neither Wataru nor Hayate can read German.
** Maria graduated high school at 13. And was StudentCouncilPresident two years running, '''and''' got the best grades in the school all three years ... what was that about '''Hinagiku''' being absurdly perfect?
*** Hinagiku is implied not to have had the personal tutoring that all of the gradeskippers probably had. And those are the least of her abilities.
** [[spoiler: Athena]] is in this group as well, being Hayate's age and having graduated last year, and is already head chairman.
* TemptingFate - 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. [[RunningGag "We will slay you with these swords that cut cashmere really well!"]].
** Utterly subverted when [[spoiler: 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.
** Thus far the only time that Hinagiku is able to express her feelings for Hayate was [[spoiler: at the end of their first date]] as the train passing by (which she watched approach) was too loud for him to hear her. When he asked her what she said she tells him, "maybe if you cast a magic spell, you'll be able to hear what I said?". The setting has relatively prevalent magic and Hayate has canonically time traveled. It's possible that he may yet hear that confession himself before the series is through.
*** Considering [[spoiler: Athena/"Alice" knows that Hinagiku loves Hayate, and already expressed a desire to just tell him as it would make things easier, she]] may be able to cast that spell after all at some point.
* TethercatPrinciple - Referenced when Hayate wonders if maybe Izumi is still on Mount Takao after having been forgotten there by Yukiji since she hasn't been seen since.[[invoked]]
* ThemeTuneCameo
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight - In Chapter 360, Hinagiku believes she hears one of these [[spoiler: while up late in the Violet Mansion apartment]] and at first tries to wave it off as her being tired. After hearing it again she immediately goes to get Hayate. Luckily it's just Father Lynn messing around, and luckily for ''him'' he's able to convince Hayate not to let Hina try "exorcising" him via sword.
* ThisIsUnforgivable - Although the intentions aren't carried over between meetings, this is often Hayate's manner when Nagi is threatened. Gilbert is frequently the target, and clearly frightened of the consequences of his actions, though not repentant not to try again at a later date.
* {{Those Two Bad Guys}} - The two thugs who actually pull off kidnapping Nagi, until Hayate's interference, in the beginning of the manga show up later and kidnap Saki from Wataru's video store, until Sonia's interference, have this kind of dynamic between them.
** They're also hinted at being the culprits of stealing the money loaned to Wataru by Sakuya, but that was never confirmed.
* ThirdLawOfGenderBending – While he has yet to be completely [[GenderBender Gender Bent]], when Hayate is cross-dressed this trope seems to be in effect, with him acting more feminine than usual. Then again, he has a propensity to act girly regardless of whether he is in a dress or not; wearing a dress just seems to emphasize it.
** He has sort of fallen victim to the FirstLawOfGenderBending as well.
* TitleDrop - The FinishingMove that Hayate develops at the end of volume 6 is the "Hayate No Gotoku" (translated in this case as "Whimsical Hurricane").
** The Animax dub had Hayate refer himself as...[[CaptainObvious you guessed it.]]
** Counts as either a CrowningMomentofAwesome or sheer Narm depending on how you look at it.
* [[TournamentArc Tournament Mini-Arc]] - In the anime, Nagi's ElaborateUniversityHigh holds a tournament that takes "Battle Butler" quite literally. Defeat comes from losing your necktie.
* TogetherUmbrella - When Hayate is kicked out of the Sanzenin mansion, and is left sitting in the falling snow, Hinagiku shields him with hers while they talk and invites him to warm up at her place.
* TooHotForTV: Season 1 due to it airing in an earlier time slot than most other animes of this type.
* [[{{Airplane of Love}} Train of Love]] - A variation because they are both clearly within reach of each other and believing {{I Cant Believe A Guy Like You Would Notice Me}} of each other, and {{Attractiveness Isolation}} on Hinagiku's side, Hinagiku manages to confess that she likes Hayate, only for him to be unable to hear because the train is rushing by.
* TraumaCongaLine - For Hayate to '''not''' be broken by the hardships of his boyhood life makes him a saint amongst saints.
* TraumaSwing - Young Hinagiku is shown to be alone on a swing in an image after her parents have abandoned her.
** Although he's not on the swing in the scene, Wataru is shown to be standing in front of a swingset when recieving the papers that will allow him to skip grades with his friends from Sakuya.
* TroublemakingNewPet - Shiranui causes plenty of problems when he(?) is first brought to the San'zenin mansion, mostly for Tama who was trying to get the new cat kicked out. Later on he also causes trouble by stealing Izumi's phone when he and Tama are lost in the city and even is seen aiding some ghost cats that were giving Hayate a hard time.
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible - [[invoked]]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, generally playing a kind and supportive role to the students and her friends but brings out the tsun side whenever the Baka Trio become troublesome or when Hayate gets involved in wacky shenanigans and/or sticks his foot in his mouth.
*** She actually shows a lot of self-restraint and instead of lashing out tends to favor a very intimidating calmness, leading to her being [[SugarAndIcePersonality cheerful and kind most of the time, but snarky and annoyed when cleaning up her friends' messes]]. She often tries to be deliberately more dere only for things to go completely wrong and evoke her tsun side, which frustrates her quite a bit and is a focus in her CharacterDevelopment.
*** She actually realizes this at one point and tries to show everyone (i.e. Hayate) her femininity by trying to suppress her tsun side, managing to terrify Yukiji and the Student Council girls enough that Miki set her up on a date with Hayate as "landmine removal". Didn't really help that her smile was [[TechnicallyASmile more than a little unnerving]].
** One short story in the manga had Maria planning to give Hayate a gift, and worrying that she might give the wrong impression ... and [[http://www.mangareader.net/203-29910-19/hayate-the-combat-butler/chapter-151.html then it struck her that she was behaving somewhat like a Tsundere]] (although she couldn't remember the full term, thinking of it as "tsun-something"). While rehearsing what she'd say, she actually considered the "it's not like I made these for you" turn of phrase.
** When Maria and Hayate end up going to the public baths because the boiler is broken, she again delves into Tsundere territory. Especially [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/304/14 in the fourth panel]]....
** During a particularly vicious blizzard, Hayate wonders whether it's caused by the ''Earth'' being a tsundere.
** Hayate himself actually shows Tsundere signs for two people, Hinagiku and Kotetsu. With Kotetsu it's mostly a massive dose of his darker, violent side but he actually has had a couple moments of dere when Kotetsu shows his decent attributes. Hina sees this side of him occasionally as well, usually when he is worried about her. A textbook example happens in chapter 45 in the haunted school building when Hina comments that it's hot and flaps the top of her shirt a couple times to cool off...causing Hayate's [[LuminescentBlush face to turn completely red]] which she then teases him over. Cue Hayate acting like an incredibly stereotypical Tsundere and trying to downplay his interest in her. Unfortunately Hina took his words at face value and didn't read the incredibly obvious subtext (or notice just how incredibly flustered he was apparently).
* TwiceShy - Hayate and Hinagiku for the most part. Hinagiku gets easily flustered once love enters the picture and wants Hayate to be the one to take the initiative. Hayate also gets really shy around the topic and generally thinks that a girl like Hinagiku wouldn't be interested in a guy like him. There's also the matter that he doesn't feel he can have a girlfriend due to [[spoiler: Athena teaching him (very strictly) that he needed to be able to financially support the girl for life...his ''friends'' call him the [[PerpetualPoverty God of Poverty]], and there's also some guilt over how things ended with Athena]]. There has been much suspicion and a few nudges since it's [[EveryoneCanSeeIt pretty obvious to most everyone]], the responses tend to be hilarious.
** Given the seeming epidemic of CannotSpitItOut and ObliviousToLove in this universe, this seems to apply to almost every pairing and for the unrequited ones they merely believed this is the case...except for Kotetsu who just cannot take a hint.
* UnflappableGuardian - Maria.
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend - Nishizawa
** Ayumu seems to be taking this one to heart, she was the first one to confess to Hayate, and he's even stated that they could be dating. But she seems more interested in making sure that Hinagiku is the one who finally wins out, and only seems to be in the competition at all to make sure Hina doesn't give up.
** [[spoiler: Athena]] sort of counts as this due to meeting him many years earlier, but Nishizawa still takes the title as she's known Hayate longer and was in the classic position of trying to get closer to him at school and get him to notice her despite his obliviousness.
* {{Unusual Ears}} - Hinagiku gains donkey ears for a filler chapter following the trip to Athens.
* UnwantedHarem - 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; [[spoiler: 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.
*** Hinagiku points [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/320/5 this out to him]].
** Speaking of Hinagiku, she also seems to have one. [[SchoolgirlLesbians They're mostly girls.]]
** Wataru seems to have one of his own. He's just a lot more clued into it.
* UptownGirl - A little one-sided, at least at the start, as Nagi (the rich girl) has become infatuated with the extremely-poor Hayate after he saves her from kidnappers. She saves him from his (parents') debt, and he ends up serving her as a Battle Butler to pay her back. For her, it seems to be mostly just an excuse to keep him around.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife - Hayate's got a FailureKnight complex preventing him from seeing it, and instead, all of the girls officially in his {{unwanted harem}} can see that he's got them all wrapped around his finger.
** Hinagiku gets to point [[http://www.mangareader.net/hayate-the-combat-butler/320/5 this out to him]]. Although technically only a few have gone that far.
* VerbalTic - Demon, the Great Stygian of Abe (Temp), says '~tima' a lot.
** Izumi from the [[GreekChorus Student Council Trio]] has her unique laugh, which she uses a lot.
* WhamEpisode - Chapter 300. Not only did it see the return of [[spoiler: Athena, who either appeared in a dream or broke into Hayate's bedroom]]. It also had Aika returning from Greece at last to set up a few possible plot points. Then things get weird when [[spoiler: Hayate and Hinagiku are talking and a little girl who looks like Athena from the End of the World Arc appears out of nowhere and bumps into Hina]]. Then just to ''really'' make us all wonder what the hell was going on, [[spoiler: loli!Athena calls Hinagiku "mama"]].
* WhatCouldHaveBeen - 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.
** In Yukiji's profile, it's hinted that eventually those chapters will be released as part of the [=HnG=] storyline.
** There's also been clues of Hayate's brother having been a main character in a manga somewhere.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome - Chapter 282, where Ayumu is trying to trick Hayate into asking her when her birthday is (it's that day), while Hayate is trying to avoid the subject like the plague (they have a surprise party planned for later), is played exactly like a fight scene, complete with side characters commenting on the tactical choices.
* WithThisRing - Takes a full swing at this trope in The End Of The World flashback arc. [[spoiler: While he was a kid, Hayate worked hard and finally was able to buy a ring for Athena. Unfortunately, it's a ring for an adult, so their six-year-old forms can't wear them yet. Athena responds by offering Hayate a similar ring, and the vows and rings are exchanged and they promise to marry when they get older. Hayate then goes and gives the ring he got to his parents, who take and sell it to a pawn shop. Athena gets angry at Hayate when he returns later, presumably having seen what happened]].
** [[spoiler:The ring is later seen by Yukiji, given how it's priced, it seems possible that the ring is a fake]].
** [[spoiler:The ring that Athena kept a hold of returns to the story when the group makes a trip out to Athens during their Golden Week vacation. First it's admired, and then left out in the open, by her when she's seen Hayate again, not having known where he was for the intervening years. Then Hayate notices it and picks it up. She also gave the ring-box (empty) to Nagi, his current master before she dissapears at the end of the arc]].
** [[spoiler:It's not seen when he gives it back, but Athena later shows it as proof that it is her when he's questioning his sight.]]
* WholesomeCrossdresser - Hayate, albeit against his own will. Nagi and Maria's motives for forcing him to crossdress are most likely [[CovertPervert considerably less wholesome]].
* WorldOfSnark - Due to [[MediumAwareness knowing that they are characters in a manga/anime]] and the [[HilarityEnsues hilarious attempts]] to actually [[WrongGenreSavvy apply this knowledge]], just about everyone makes sarcastic or witty remarks. Nagi and Hinagiku snark at the villains and weirdos quite often, the SC Rangers, Wataru, Sakuya, Ayumu, and even Isumi and Maria all make disparaging comments about the craziness around them. Hayate himself probably takes the cake, especially in the manga where he is ''a lot'' more cynical than he usually appears and has had exasperated reactions to damn near everything.
* {{Wonder Child}} - Although altogether average kids, the Katsura sisters fall into this category. There's nothing inherently special about them, but their adopted parents were unable to have children of their own, so when Yukiji was looking for foster parents and chose her former teacher and his wife, they were probably thought of as this.
* WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter
* TheWorfEffect - Hayate suffers from this quite a bit at a few points in the manga. It's actually rather unavoidable though as the cast is almost entirely made up of non-combatants. Some enemies are a total joke, some need to punt Hayate across the room to be taken a bit more seriously. Hell, [[spoiler: Machina nearly killed him]] to set up the drama of the Greece Arc going into full swing, which would later be repeated by the arc BigBad [[spoiler: King Midas]]. To his credit, Hayate scared the former badly enough to make him want to use "That Technique" just by threatening to get back up and looking[[GlowingEyesOfDoom deadly serious]] and was able to defeat the latter even with his injuries.
** Really, the only other characters that even could get this treatment are Hinagiku, Yukiji, named butlers (as most are just RedShirts), and Isumi. Hinagiku gets her moment in the Butler Quest arc [[spoiler: getting zapped by a demon-possessed Yukiji]]. Yukiji and Kotetsu share a moment with Hayate during the Mount Takao trip against an insanely huge and powerful grizzly bear. Isumi even gets one in the Greece Arc [[spoiler: when her ultimate attack is defeated by Machina/Athena/Midas...whatever the heck the snake thing was]]. Hayate simply takes the brunt of it since he's established as the IronButtMonkey of the series.
* WorfHadTheFlu - There actually is usually a reason for Hayate losing fights or having a much harder time than he should. The primary reason is that he's actually [[spoiler: a trained swordsman, though he lied about early on]] and is limited to fighting unarmed which could put him at a disadvantage. Also he apparently has access to an [[BigFreakingGun HK-MG3]] and plenty of skill with it even before the start of the series - if he brought ''that'' thing to every fight he could win just by waving it around (one-handed no less). Aside from that the biggest contributing factor is probably that he doesn't want to fight in the first place leading to him putting up with way more than he'd have to simply because he doesn't fight back.
* {{Workplace Acquired Abilities}} - This is the explination given for many of Hayate's non-butler skills. Between the jobs he did for his father and the jobs he did to support himself since he was 8. His skills as a butler have a completely different origin.
* WorthlessYellowRocks - While it's not gold, when Hayate is told to spend three days away from the mansion because Nagi's embarrassed, he's given one million yen. Which he promply loses. It gets returned to the mansion and Maria counts it, stating that it's almost exactly what he was given for living expenses. Nagi passes by the table and asks what all the [[http://www.onemanga.com/Hayate_the_Combat_Butler/77/12/ chump change]] is.
** The characters, especially Maria and Nagi, have continually shown distain for the value of money. Such that it's a huge leap in Nagi's showing maturity when she's willing to give it up.
* WrongGenreSavvy - The usual cause of a GenreSavvy guess 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.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou - Played with in the 'End of the World Arc'. [[spoiler: Hayate wants Athena to join his family outside the RG and she can't bring herself to ask him to risk himself to allow her to, they fight (lethally), and then Hayate unknowingly triggers her {{berserk button}} of her not having parents, to which she then 'slaps' him by ordering him to leave (so she doesn't kill him?), before she's able to break down, he does so, thinking he's failed her. Afterward she breaks down crying for having to resort to ordering him away to protect him.]] He does try to return to apologize, but finds he's unable to.
* XanatosGambit - Parodied [[spoiler:with a ShoutOut to ''Manga/DeathNote''... by a kitten.]]
* {{Yakuza}} - The cheerful LampshadeHanging 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 [[MultipleDemographicAppeal its younger audience]], arguably makes it [[RuleOfFunny funnier]] to anyone old enough to know what they're really referring to.
** Do note, however, that calling them "very nice people" was a form of censor on the anime due to its time slot. The manga outright calls them Yakuza and makes all of their actions perfectly clear. {{YMMV}} on whether or not the anime's RunningGag made it funnier.
* YamatoNadeshiko - Isumi-chan, oh so very cute. Every home should have one. And probably will [[NoSenseOfDirection when she wanders in]].
* {{Yandere}} - Quite possibly [[spoiler: Saki]] in the anime.
* YaoiFangirl - Izumi Segawa. "Sorry to bother you. Please don't mind me and continue."
** Also, Nagi, apparently. Although Nagi's fondness for yaoi does ''not'' extend to guys hitting on Hayate.
** Nishizawa as well.
* YaoiGuys - Parodied with Hayate and Kotetsu. Kotetsu ''tries'' to be the {{Seme}} to Hayate, who under other circumstances would fit the {{Uke}} stereotype. However, Hayate has made it ''very'' clear that he does not swing that way and, thus, does not want any of that. [[HandsomeLech Kotetsu]] [[StalkerWithACrush cannot take a hint]].
* YearInsideHourOutside - [[spoiler: The Royal Garden, apparently.]]
* YouDidntAsk - After 88 chapters, Hayate reveals to the other girls that he's had a girlfriend in the past, and she's the reason that he's completely clueless about all the other girls [[{{unwanted harem}} all but throwing themselves at him]], even the one who's actually confessed to him. Even later he reveals who this girl is, and everyone realizes that they know of her and one of them was actually seen as her best friend. The phrase is never actually spoken, but there are reaction shots with this being their expression.
** Given the amount of mistaken dialogue present, this could clear up most of the confusion of the story. One of the characters seems to have gotten {{genre savvy}} about this.
** Granted, sometimes it's refused, even when one of the girls is asked directly, she can't answer.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair
* {{You Must Be Cold}} - In the first episode/chapter Hayate gives his jacket to Nagi when she's freezing.
** Subverted in chapter 262: [[spoiler: Athena tells Hayate she's cold, and he offers her his jacket, completely oblivious to her subtext - she wants him to give her a cuddle. He catches on eventually.]]
** Although not quite implied that it's because she's cold, Hinagiku is seen wearing a male's (possibly Hayate's) jacket as she runs from the beach where she's just played beach volleyball, so she's in a bikini.
* YoungerThanTheyLook - Believe it or not, the butlers Nonohara, Himuro & Kotetsu are all under 19 years old! This is pretty shocking since Kotetsu looks like he's in his 30s yet is actally a teenager and is also [[spoiler: Izumi's older twin brother!]]
** Maria is 17 years old, but many are often mistaken that she 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 '''[[BerserkButton you will suffer the consequences!]]''' You have been warned!
* YouWannaGetSued - Virtually every episode contains lines with bleep-censorship to avoid trademark infringement.
-->Nagi: Hayate still has three transformations left!
-->Hayate: No, I'm not [[DragonBallZ Fr** za.]]
** 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, some cases have the scene replaced by the large version of the usual visual censorship gag with writing "Showing this will be a copyright infringement" or something like that.
** Although the manga, at least, is very inconsistent about whether or not a trademark reference gets censored: for example, Klaus' first response when Maria told him how Hayate rescued Nagi was, "What kind of {{Gundam}} is that?" and he then insisted it would somehow shame the Sanzenin to have a Gundam as a butler. But then there are several occasions of the term "Gun[blank]m."
* ZettaiRyouiki - Nagi's qualifies as [[RankInflation grade S]]. Try to find an episode or chapter where she DOESN'T wear it.
** Sakuya's is pretty good too.
*** Well, her voice actor ''did'' voice Rin Tohsaka, THE epitome of Grade S ZettaiRyouiki, in ''FateStayNight''. As some people have said, 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 [[http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6900/0e35fce030dd5c671f00d3c.jpg this sexy little number?]]
** Isumi'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 [[spoiler:to work in a maid café.]]
** No, not even Hayate is invulnerable when he crossdresses (as seen in an anime OP).