"Holding the highest of goals and striving for nothing short of absolute excellence... That, ladies, is 'brilliance.' It is well worth it never to let your brilliance dim, ladies. Money. Power. Fame. All these I will give in abundance to the brightest among you."
Tenchi Academy is introduced as a prestigious girls' school, unique in its Sword Scholarship program in which teams, known as "shinyuu", battle each other for bragging rights and the hefty monetary rewards given to victorious teams. A more detailed outline of this system, known as hoshitori, can be found on its page at the other wiki
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Enter Hayate Kurogane, trying to impersonate her twin sister Nagi in the school until Nagi is out of rehabilitation. Initially disinterested in anything outside retaining her sister's scholarship, Hayate resolves to actively take part in battling when she finds out that their old orphanage is 8 million yen in debt with the Yakuza. Seeking out the surly Ayana Mudou, who had fallen from the upper ranks after abandoning battling in general, Hayate embarks on her mission, encountering many characters in the process.
Hayate × Blade first began in Media Works' Dengeki Daioh magazine in 2003, but later moved to Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine in 2008, where it continued until its conclusion in 2013. It has a total of 18 published volumes and 6 drama CDs. The first Ultra Jump run concluded with its 110th chronological chapter across both magazines (titled "Overtime," the previous chapter was titled "Final," instead of a sequential number); Hayate × Blade 2, with "2" pronounced as "nyan," began serialization in the October 2013 issue of Ultra Jump and ended in 2017. It is notable for having the word "baka" in every chapter title, which has been described by some fans as a reference to not only the main character but also the whole cast. Written by Shizuru Hayashiya and published in America by Seven Seas Entertainment, this series is a comedy stuffed full of Les Yay.
There is now a Character Page. It is hoped that character-related tropes will be focused there, with this page having tropes that describe the series itself.
Not to be confused with another Hayate and Nagi.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Both politically and physically. The strongest swordbearers make up the student council, and the Student Council President has complete and unconditional power over all school policy.
- Abusive Parents: Ayana's grandfather tricked her into letting him abduct her away from her parents and bring her to a dojo, where he put her through some very traumatic training that essentially involved her using a wooden sword to fend him off as he attacked her with a real katana, forcing her to find a way to stay alive. It only ended when the old bastard's heart gave out.
- Action Girl: Everyone except Mei and Ensuu.
- Amusing Injuries: Slapstick is a staple of the humor.
- Art Evolution: Not anything dramatic, but certainly there. It tends to happen on a character basis as opposed to the work as a whole: a character would be introduced, and a few chapters later, they'd look somewhat different as Hayashiya worked out their character design.
- Badass Longcoat: The student council. Hitsugi probably just wanted to go by the Rule of Cool.
- Banana Peel: At one point, Hayate eats enough bananas to cause injuries across the campus.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: This is attempted by several characters to varying degrees of success. It should be noted in all cases that this is justified in that none of the swords are at all sharp, so if you're tough enough, or just plain badass enough, catching or redirecting a blade is relatively simple.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted with great justice in the name of slapstick shenanigans!
- Bilingual Dialogue: Conversations with Ensuu often result in this. The Kuroganes, Ayana, and Makoto are a few examples of characters subjected to her incomprehensible-to-them, Warrior Poet-esque statements.
- Blade Lock: Happens on multiple occasions, usually to allow for conversation during a match.
- Blood Knight: All of the main cast is, in a way, as they all (Hayate aside) originally signed up to be sword bearers because they liked sword-fighting. However, Ju Ensuu really stands out as the Blood Knight of Blood Knights.
- Blue with Shock: Well. Black with shock, anyway.
- Boarding School: Allowing the characters to wreak havoc on each others lives even outside school hours.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Pairing together any two characters usually results in some version of this.
- Bowled Over: Bowling pins appear after Hayate crashes rather spectacularly into three other people in the middle of a fight.
- Cast Herd: Characters are generally seen with those in their own herds, except Hayate, who meets and gets along with nearly everyone. Additionally, shinyuu hang out with each other for most of the scenes they are in, even for Yukari and Maki, who are in junior and senior high respectively. The three main herds are as follows:
- The Core: Ayana and Hayate most often hang out with Jun and, when she returns, Yuho.
- The Momotaro-gumi: Momoka, Wanko, Kiji, and Michi can usually be seen hanging out with each other, and often join Hayate and Ayana.
- The Student Council: Akira, Sae, Kurea, and Minori can typically be seen with each other, and are often joined by Sid and Nancy. And of course, the current members of the Student Council all regularly associate with Hitsugi and Miyamoto.
- Catch a Falling Star: In the first chapter, Hayate saves a little girl falling from a tree this way.
- Challenging the Chief: Only the strongest can take one of the few seats on the Student Council, and the only reason to take one of these seats is to gain the right to challenge Hitsugi and Shizuku.
- Once you reach S rank, the only fight you're officially allowed to have is against the number 1 spot. "Officially" being the key word as Hitsugi can be convinced to bend the rules, and in the case of the mountain Hike, throw them out completely in favor of a free for all.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Less extreme than most manga examples, but still very apparent. Especially when it comes to the student council.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: Great Human Slicer Dainingen Giri.
- Cloudcuckooland: There is nobody at Tenchi Academy who is completely sane.
- Comically Missing the Point: Hayate.
- Crapsaccharine World: Tenchi Academy is, to a certain extent, a downplayed version of this. At first it appears to be a great place where people compete with each other for what essentially boils down to money and bragging rights, but underneath that, there's a whole mess of cheating and dirty/underhanded tactics. Almost every swordbearer is involved in this in some way— the only ones who aren't are good enough to not need to be— and swordbearers only really care when these tactics are used on themselves.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Except in the most antagonistic of matches, most important fights end with the parties spending more time together in the future. Even with the aforementioned antagonistic matches, hostilities die down after one party has defeated the other.
- Duels Decide Everything: The school is run by whoever the best fighter happens to be, and almost all fights are two-on-two duels.
- Elaborate University High: Tenchi Academy's campus is massive. In fact, the campus' official boundaries even include a small mountain!
- Enhanced In Volume Format: Each volume generally has a few pages that have been redrawn—as well as extras at the very end.
- Everything's Cuter with Kittens: The Shigeru Family, a bunch of cat-themed sword decorations that Hayate makes, pretty much exist to be cute. There's also the cat that pops up with Hayate in some illustrations.
- Evil Lawyer Joke: Kiriya Ouka's little brother is a member of the soccer club, and her parents are both lawyers. The only other information we're given about the family is that the "little brother alone is pure."
- Expy: Some of the cast might remind readers of characters from Hayashiya's other major series Strawberry Shake Sweet, and vice versa.
- First-Name Basis: Most shinyuu address each other either by first name or by nickname.
- Flexible Tourney Rules: Justified, since the president has the final say, and if she thinks its interesting she'll allow it.
- Four-Girl Ensemble: Since shinyuu have a tendency to hang around their partners most of the time, many of the teams close to each other have this.
- Friendly Rivalry: Despite the school's primary draw being fighting, most people get along pretty well.
- Gag Series: At its heart, it's a comedy, but that doesn't mean it won't take itself seriously from time to time.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Hayate and Ayana. Hayate has red hair and has a cheery albeit naive personality. Ayana, who has darker hair, is aloof and snarky.
- Hypocritical Humor: Hitsugi is the greatest offender, but several characters will often indulge in this.
- Idiot Hero: So... so many. Chapter titles don't always refer to Hayate. This is also by far the most common insult — there isn't really a character who hasn't been called an idiot at least once.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every chapter title has the word "idiot" in it.
- I Have Your Wife: Akira's fan club decides that the best way to get Hayate to stop spending time with their idol is to kidnap one of the orphans from Dandelion Garden and use her to force Hayate to leave Tenchi. Akira is less than amused.
- Imagine SpottingHayate: Stop hitting me!Ayana: Then stop projecting your stupid fantasies where everyone can see!
- Joshikousei: Though a large part of the major characters are still in junior high.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: Typically, anyone with a white uniform is a thousand times more badass than the regular sword bearers. There are exceptions, though: Kurea is actually pretty weak, and though strong, Minori and Sid are weaker than the rest of the white-uniforms. And then there are people like Ensuu, Mei, Yukari, and Maki, who are extremely badass despite wearing black uniforms.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: There are numerous examples, but one that stands out is when, after the arc in which Kiji and Michi are introduced, Hitsugi says to Shizuku, "Strangely, I feel as if an incredibly long opening act has finally come to a close."
- Lightning Glare: This happens between Nagi and Ayana after Nagi starts really messing with Hayate and her partnership with Ayana.
- List of Transgressions: The A-Team records Hayate's crimes thoroughly.note
- Medium Awareness: This happens occasionally. The most common offender is Hitsugi, especially in the volume-cover extras.
- Meido: The school festival. Hayashiya later revealed in an author's note how relieved she was to not have to draw maid uniforms anymore when the arc came to a close.
- Modesty Shorts: All swordbearers wear short bike shorts underneath their skirts.
- Moe Couplet: A lot of shinyuu.
- Mood WhiplashMomoka: What the hell're you grinnin' like that for?!Hayate: But... But... I had to! I couldn't take the sudden, heavy air of seriousness!
- Mundane Utility: Riona has some interesting cooking ideas, and the resident ninja does not always use her abilities with the purest thoughts in mind.
- My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: More so in the short post-Gakuensai training arc, though thankfully never a major focal point in the first handful of volumes.
- No Fourth Wall: The Volume-cover extras featuring Hitsugi and Shizuku feature no fourth wall whatsoever. Hitsugi even comments on the progress of the series and how there aren't enough volumes out.
- Odd Friendship: Several.
- One-Gender School: Tenchi Academy is an all-girl school.
- Orphanage of Love: Despite being Happily Adopted, Hayate is thrilled to come back and spend time with the people at her old orphanage.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Momoka's duel with Kiriya ends... oddly.
- Pit Trap: The mountain hike arc is filled with these. They are highly effective◊.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: It could be said that Akira does not have the fondest of feelings for her fan club.
- Ridiculously Cute Costume: The duck costume Hayate dons in volume 5... induces severe tooth pain upon viewing.
- Running Gag: Let's see...
- School Festival: Yay, maids?
- Saving the Orphanage: Hayate's reason for participating in the hoshitori is to win enough money to pay off the Dandelion Garden's debts.
- Second Love: Ayana, Yukari and Maki were all "divorcees" who partnered up for a second time. This also goes for characters who have been shown taking an interest outside the partnership they were in, or ended up in.
- Ship Tease:Sae: I guess, if I were Akira's wife, it wouldn't have been this troublesome. Though that would be funny... in its own way.
- Shoutout: Too many to list.
- Sick Episode: Shizuku gets one in the third volume.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Played mostly straight, with people having short conversations between sword strikes, but averted or lampshaded in a few cases. "They spent almost four bells just yelling at each other" indeed...
- Thick-Line Animation: At times.
- Unknown Rival: Sonoe and Mizuchi both have a bone to pick with Ayana... she doesn't even remember who they are.
- Ayana does this to everybody. She usually refers to her opponents as "Scum 1" and "Scum 2."
- Well... Ayana's glasses really, really undercorrect her sight. Because of this, she can't really make out faces... though if someone annoys her enough, she'll eventually be able to recognize them even if she can't see shit.
- World of Action Girls: Everyone is impressively strong.
- Yakuza: Smiley Finance.
