Is there any way this series could be more awesome? (Other than by becoming an anime, I mean.)
What *I* want from a manga series is women who are growing, becoming stronger, becoming more who they are every day. Women who are not holding back to fulfill someone else’s expectations.
I want action, hard fought fights, and blood and *guts* and sweat. I love to watch people training until they puke.
I want comedy. I want to laugh until my stomach hurts, until I’m incoherent from the tears streaming down my face.
I want depth. I want rage. I want laughter. I want comradery and joy. I want touching moments of sublime beauty, and ridiculous moments where honestly, it just couldn’t get any stupider if it tried.
I want Ayana and Hayate to beat the living shit out of Ensuu and gain revenge on her for what she did to Ayana and Yukari. Like Jun, I want to know who the real Ayana is. Like Hitsugi I want to see the students in the Hoshitori reaching past their limits, ever striving for greatness. Like Sae, I want to see Akira’s sensitive side. Like Maki, I want to see Yukari smile.
I want it all.
In Hayate x Blade, Volume 9 (はやて×ブレード), I get ALL of it. Every last bloody thing I could want from this series is in my hand as I type.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 3
Service – 1
Overall – 9
This series is fucking brilliant.
Awesome. Can’t wait to read it when it comes out in English. ^^
we’ll have to wait until late next year if all goes well :((((
either that or if my japanese reading skills goes from 0 to passable before it comes out.
cries
the cover art looks AMAZING!
Man, I hope HxB does well enough for Tor/Seven Seas that we GET this far into the series.
Ah, well, I’m doing my bit–bought 1&2 and preordered 3 already. Wish I had the absurd finances that would let me do something like order 10 copies and donate the extras to local libraries or such…*sigh*
Is it possible to wail and bounce out of utter joy in at the same time? :D
Oh lol, I was hoping that you would write a lenghtier review, but just any news of this is so awesome on so many levels.
I’m with Jun on that one, while can only understand a handful of japanese, Ayana -has- been having a few quirky…backflashes (?) through the show.
And fucking A, Maki is and looks epical here, and she deserves it.
I have been trying to get a copy forever. Apparently my luck is pathetic. *dies of utter fail*
@Kieli – It went out of print very quickly, probably because it was the first volume with the new publisher. I guess they (or Amazon,co.jp) underestimated the amount of books needed.
bk1.jp shows it shipping now. If you grok the 日本語 well enough to read the manga, then you’ll be able to navigate the website. They’ll ship overseas (a variety of options) if you can deal without 英語 crutches.
Just do a search for はやて ブレード, and it’ll pop up at the top of the list.
I don’t know how much of the revenge battle volume 9 shows as my copy hasn’t arrived yet (got it from the Mangaoh website, by the way), but Ayana’s strategy made the fight downright epic. I was on the edge of my seat and laughing my ass off at the same time.
How could this series become more awesome than this? Honestly, I don’t know either.
@Anonymous – ’bout half the battle is in this book, the remainder – what you’re thinking of – is in the next. :-) I was reminded, reading Volume 2, that this is not the first time she’s done that. lol
This is certainly an interesting manga from the Yuri point of view, with so many potential pairings. But I’m disappointed by the Hayate/Ayana coupling. I know the dynamics of Hayate adoring Ayana and Ayana reacting to that by leaving her lying in a pool of blood is played for comedy, but it doesn’t seem to be a good basis for any kind of relationship, not even a grudging friendship. Rather than make me laugh, it makes me sad :(
I’ve noticed that those who’ve read the later volumes never mention any (Yuri or otherwise) developments between Hayate and Ayana, even though they are supposed to be the main characters. Does their relationship get relegated to the background? Does Ayana stop beating the living daylights out of Hayate every now and then?
@Anonymous – Hayate and Ayana are a manzai couple – not a romantic couple. If you genuinely think that they “might go somewhere” you’ve totally missed the bus on them.
I’m so going to buy this manga series today!
How is Hayate x Blade received in Japan? Is it popular?
@Anonymous – Popular as compared to what? It’s insanely popular among people who are Hayashiya fans, but people who like to golf probably don’t even know it exists.
I’m guessing the recent Anonymous was referring to how popular it is with the Japanese otaku overall.
I couldn’t agree more. Well, except for the bit about wishing for an anime adaptation… the cast would probably be excellent, but anime adaptations are often disappointing in terms of story and visuals.
I’m can’t put my finger on why, but I’ve always found Hayashiya’s writing quite difficult to understand. Even SSS, which falls into a genre that usually represents ‘easy read’. With HxB, I still find that she’ll lose me for a page or two here and there.
On a completely different note, I found that the Jump-published 9 felt a bit cheaper than the the previous Dengeki-published volumes. It didn’t have the same weight to it, and the pages aren’t aligned properly in my copy.
@J Guess you got an abberant copy, because mine has perfect alignment. It is a teeny-weeny bit lighter in weight, but honestly…that’s not usually the way I judge a book.
I’m not actually sure on whether I’m phrasing it correctly when I say it’s not ‘aligned’ properly. The edges of the pages are not flush with one another. It’d be good to know that all the copies weren’t bound like that.
Of course. It was an observation rather than a factor by which I judged the book overall. The qualities of paper happen to be something that jumps out at me.
@J – My copy definitely is not like that, so I do think you just got an anomily. I was standing here with Volume 8 and 9 in hand – 9 is very marginally less heavy. While reading it, I didn’t notice any bleedthough or other issues, so for me, the slightly less heavy paper wasn’t a significant factor.
Thanks, good to know.
So it stays good eh, I’ve read the first volume in English and thought it was the best manga I’ve read in months. (or years)
Yo DezoPenguin I guess we troll the same places.
@nolrai Doesn’t stay good – it gets better and better. :-)
when does the 9 vol comes out in english in usa (i buy my manga in barnes&nobles)
@Anonymous – We don’t know. Seven Seas has only released the first 6 volumes, and hasn’t announced whether they will publish Volume 7, yet.
I keep swooning whenever I’m reminded of HxB. Because it is simply awesome. And reading through all 9 volumes again charged my energy tank to the max that it was so hard for me to calm down from all the hype. I felt like I was seriously living inside the story surrounded by all of Hayashiya-sensei’s lovable idiots. And now comes again the excruciating pain of waiting for volume 10 to come out… XD XD XD