Spotlight #1: Hayate the Combat Butler

English Title: Hayate the Combat Butler
Japanese Title: Hayate no Gotoku
Author: Kenjiro Hata
English Publisher: Viz Media
Anime?: Yes.
Summary: Protagonist's good-for-nothing, debt-ridden parents sell him to the yakuza and he ends up working as a butler for the rich girl who rescues him with money.

I have nothing against a boys' harem manga when it's done well, and Hayate is harem manga done well. The main male character is actually the kind of clueless sweetie you can see girls (and by "girls" it's possible I mean "me") falling for and the female characters cropping up left, right and center happen to be interesting and sympathetic (or at least funny enough that you don't care how horrible they are). To add frosting to this cake of sensible characterization, there are significant male characters in the story who are not the protagonist!

For those of you have have read widely in the harem genre, I'll give you a moment for that to sink in. For those of you who have not and are wondering why I think that's such a big deal, please see Kagetora, Maharomatic, Hand Maid May, Hanaukyo Maids Tai, He is My Master and/or Kage Kara Mamoru for reference, and you'll see my point.

Wow, just think of it: a world not limited to one guy and a bunch of girls! And while a lot of the girls are, inevitably, falling for Sweet But Clueless, the guys in the mix are just as capable of harboring their own secret crushes.

As far as fanservice goes, Hayate is delightfully and unapologetically equal opportunity. There are definitely some cute maids around (please note the prevalence of maids in the harem titles listed above), but the "maid-service" is happily balanced by, well, "butler-service," provided mostly (but not exclusively) by Hayate himself. Explicit fanservice elements include things like Hayate in a (female) "neko" costume and his "ojousama" in maid costume.

The series also tweaks the concept of fanservice a bit: since Hayate and his coworker Maria wear their butler and maid costumes on an everyday basis, it becomes a form of "fanservice" pretty much anytime they put on anything else, like street clothes or school uniforms.

However, the quite tame fanservice elements of the story are, thankfully, not the point (see that list of other harem titles again to remind yourself why that's so important), as Hayate the Combat Butler is, of course, a comedy. And in this case, that's not just a generic distinction used to keep from having to call it proto-porn (which it's not, just to be clear, but stuff like He is My Master makes me die a little inside); Hayate, unlike far too many of its fellow harem titles, is actually funny.

Aside from the highly adorable Hayate, the character who puts this series on my Top 10 manga to Take to a Desert Island list is the female lead, Sanzenin Nagi. While she is the short, cute, bossy, violent rich-girl stereotype, she somehow manages to be really likable at the same time. And while this could be because she's prone to the occasional random act of generosity, maturity or kindness, her likability is probably largely due to the fact that she is a complete otaku.

Nagi is the kind of fangirl who writes her own frenetic, poorly drawn and plot-less action/fantasy manga (We see several examples of it throughout the series, and it's a treat!) and sends it to contests expecting to win. She is also the kind of enormously rich fangirl who has different rooms for different game consoles. And while she is as "girly" (in the frills-and-knee socks way) as girly can be in terms of looks and dress, her taste runs towards the kinds of action-packed manga and video games that would normally be considered boys' fare. She also has a combination of skewed pragmatism and aggressive laziness that I don't feel I see often enough in female manga characters, or female characters in general.

This goes on my femdom list, obviously, because the primary pairing is female master/ male servant. It gets high marks on that list partly because both characters really embrace these roles and think (inasmuch as characters in this genre "think") about the responsibilities they have towards one another within this dynamic. Hayate, grateful to his rich young savior, goes about trying to please his "ojousama" with an attitude of puppy-like devotion. The ojousama in question, for her part, does her best to think about what her duties as Hayate's "master" are and tries to do right by him.

And if all that's not enough, there are giant robots.