Hayate X Blade 2

This series is still a little too silly for my taste.  And while I can understand it’s yuri label, since it involves an all-girls school with girls that have to pair up, and there are a lot of jokes made about the pairs being together, I kind of disagree with calling it a yuri series since there is absolutely no romance whatsoever.  It really is more of an action-comedy type thing.

Though, to be fair, if you were to tell me Momoka and her childhood friend had something going together, I would probably believe you.  They’ve been the most believable pairing so far.

The plot meanders a bit… the eventual goal is, of course, to have Hayate pay off her caretaker’s loan.  This is mentioned, and some progress is made towards paying it off, but the bulk of the volume is spent on two one-shot kind of stories that develop the characters more than they do the plot.

The first story is about Hayate’s roommate Momoka, who is a lone wolf who tries to avoid the Hoshitori.  We find out that this is because she’s building up her strength in order to duel with a rather abusive girl who beats up on her partner, a childhood friend of Momoka’s who started at the school the year before Momoka did.  There are no surprises in the way the story plays out, but I have to say… that twist at the end… yeah.  On one hand, it was kind of funny.  On the other hand, it was quite literally out of nowhere, and just seemed to strike down all the hard work for no reason.

The second story was about Hayate’s loan and some sabotage that goes on inside the school.  Hayate learns to focus on what’s important for herself.  The end.

I did like two of the characters introduced, though.  One was a girl named Inugami who is this sort of creepy girl that tends to follow the characters around and scare everyone with her presence.  Admittedly, she’s kind of awesome, especially when she fights in the Hoshitori.  The girl introduced in the second story, Sou, I also kind of like for being so similar to Hayate.  I kind of like the way Hayate tends to deal with everyone in a friendly manner, so having two of her around isn’t so bad… even if Sou is sort of a jerk in the end.  I am hoping she’ll come back in a happier role next volume, though.

And were I to be pressed, I would also admit I like Ayana, though I hate how she has an anime over-reaction to everything Hayate does.  Hell, I like the pair in charge of the school too, Hitsugi and Shizuku.  The series is populated with a ton of potentially fun characters.  I just hate the jokes they make.

Hrm.   I really have to be in the mood for a series like this.  I sort of like the Hoshitori tournaments, but a series like this really has to have a premise that grabs me.  It’s comparable to something like… Stray Little Devil, which I did like, but only because I have a soft spot for demons.

Hm.  I’d be willing to believe it gets better, though.  Maybe the characters will grow on me even more and the plot development will steadily pick up if I keep reading.

This was a review copy provided by Seven Seas.