Hayate Cross Blade
I just completed reading volume 1 of Hayate Cross Blade. Set in a martial arts school where female students whack the stars out of each other with Kendo sticks, it has a hilarious yet ridiculous plot.
Kurogane Hayate takes on the identity of her twin sister, Kurogane Nagi, in Tenchi Academy as she is in bad health and could not report to school. A black belt martial artist in Kendo, Hayate enters the academy only to find that it’s not a simple study and graduate from school place after all. Set in an all female environment where everyone is a swordswoman, students pair up and participate in Hohsitori where they sword fight to win stars and rise in ranks to earn prizes.
Learning of this, Hayate plans to stay low profile because she’s only temporary taking her sister’s place. However, the orphanage that both her and her sister are in is in debt and Hayate decides to join Hoshitori to earn the cash prize for debts clearing. She’ll need a sister-in-arms to do so and her choice of partner is senpai Mudou Ayana, a 3rd year lone wolf who refuses to form a sisterhood with anyone due to some personal reason.
The plot is ridiculous and funny with Hayate as the reason.
Try as she could, Hayate often reminds me that she is impersonating her sister Nagi because she always introduces herself wrongly, as “Kurogane Hayate” instead of “Kurogane Nagi”. Though innocent and purely wanting to raise the ranks out of good intentions, some of her words can be rather misleading when read the wrong way and is often a cause for embarrassment to Ayana.
Hayate’s actions are childish & embarrasses Ayana too.
Ayana, on the other hand, is the bespectacled ice queen who is trying everything she could to distance herself away from Hayate. Being the skilled one, she has the lethal potential of beyond her current rank (Rank C) but just refuses to partake in Hoshitori.
With a determined newbie who has no clue what she’s in for but persistence in teaming up with Ayana, much humor is created in the chase for Ayana in volume 1. So far, Kurogane Nagi has not made an appearance yet but I guess she might not make much an impact even if she does appears.
I also like the other characters in the school for some have unambiguous intentions which spice up the plot development. I like especially the Kaichou of the Academy, Amachi Hitsugi, who seems to be watching and pressurizing both Hayate and Ayana into Hoshitori. Also, I like Hayate’s room mate, Kibi Momoka, who’s supportive of Hayate and taught her some of the school robes. Both characters seem powerful but are not partaking in Hoshitori for undisclosed reasons. Perhaps I’ll come to learn more only in the later volumes and I personally feel that Ayana’s unwillingness to partake in Hoshitori might be a watershed factor that’s soon to come.
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment, volume 2 is set for a February release. Catch this if you’re in for some light hearted humor that has slight sword fighting action.
Hehe the plot itself isnt really original and her motivation…lol
Sounds like a fun series.If it would have been the usual fight anime I would have skipped it right away but since its more on the lighthearted side it sounds worth a try.
I doubt that itll see the light of day over here tough.
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You should give it a try! It’s so hilarious that I lol-ed throughout. Hayate is so clueless that whenever Ayana smacks her, I wonder whether I should pity or just laugh at her because she deserved it. (::
Glad to see it’s getting a positive review.
Hayate Cross Blade has been my favorite Manga for a long while, and it still is. Well… I can only say this after reading 8 volumes though ^^;. My top favorite characters thus far – Jun, Hitsugi and Shizuku; for reasons which I will not spoil for now.
I’ve come across varied reviews of the 1st volume that was published in English, and yes, most first-time readers didn’t really connect with it due to its generic and “recycled” plot, and seemingly “uninteresting” characters. I was somewhat like that at the beginning as well, but hung on because I’m a huge fan of Hayashiya Shizuru’s doujinshi works and original series. After going past Volume 2, I never regretted my decision one bit
. H x B’s main selling point for me is its sense of humor and because of this, I hope much of its charm will be retained once upcoming volumes are published by Seven Seas.
Despite how much I love this series, I still agree it won’t turn out to be everyone’s ideal cup of tea, and there’s not much point shoving it into people’s faces with persistent proclamation that it’s worth their time if they’re not into the story in the first place. Nonetheless, I’d say it’s worth it in the long run.
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Hi, thanks for commenting and thanks for not spoiling the series for me.
I enjoyed reading Hayate Cross Blade because it’s so humorous that I find it one of a kind in the shoujo-ai genre. I’m unsure about plot recycling because this is my very 1st reading a series like this and I burst out laughing all of the sudden in almost all the chapters. Till date, the many shoujo-ai titles that I’ve read are usually drama based or more towards the action genre. What I really needed is one that will make me LOL throughout and I found it.
Definitely going to get volume 2 after finishing volume 1. The style in HxB is definitely for me; I like how the characters look. Plot wise, I can accept the humor and stereo-typical characters so far. I’ve added Hayashiya Shizuru onto my watch list, will be searching for the mangaka’s other works. Hopefully, I can fish out the awesome ones.
Did I forget to mention? I love the insults Ayana hurled at her opponents. They are FTW!
Apologies for the super late reply. ^^
As for shoujo-ai + comedy, check out Hayashiya’s other title called “Strawberry Shake Sweet” if you haven’t read it yet. Lililicious has scanlated almost the whole series thus far (The series has already ended).
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Oh Strawberry Shake Sweet! It’s slightly hilarious but I lost the kick after a few chapters. It’s already completed? Ok, I’m going to continue from where I last stopped. Thanks for the recommendation.
PS: I read V Hunter by Hayashiya and the plot is horrible, horrible, horrible.
Oh, Hayashiya’s mature titles. ^^
Ahaha I tend to be a bit put off by them as well because of the adult themes. Since H stuff are not my kind of genre, I find those tolerable to a certain extent. It’s also probably weird if it’s meant to be funny but suddenly you see all these X-rated scenes in between and it sort of throws the plot off course (if it has a plot to begin with). Another one of her series called “Ultra Sword” is like that. Oh well…
But for some good clean fun, yes, Hayate and Strawberry Shake are good titles to pick up. Lililicious haven’t finished scanlating Strawberry yet, but the title has officially finished its serialization in Yuri Hime.
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