Hayate the Combat Butler/Tropes J To O

"Wataru: This here is one hundred million... [...] this will decide my future. I have to be extra careful not to lose it...
 * Japanese Honorifics – Hayate uses the -san title for everyone, in keeping with their high-class standing, except Nagi and Sakuya, who he calls 'Oujo-sama'. Nagi is his master, but there seems to be no forthcoming explanation for why Sakuya is included. He has also at least once called Nagi ‘Nagi-sama’.
 * Hayate seems to be rather fickle with Nishizawa though; sometimes he will use ‘Nishizawa-san’ or sometimes not use any honorific at all.
 * He also gave Athena the nickname 'A-tan' when they were children, and still calls her that.
 * Hinagiku once commented on this when he refers to Athena as this after  and notes that it is odd given the circumstances. He then suggested that he could start calling her Hina-tan, to which she instantly gave a deadpan 'I absolutely refuse'.
 * There's also Isumi who uses Hayate-sama which at one point enabled Hayate to figure out Isumi's involvement and mission in a certain matter solely because only she ever calls him that.
 * Jerkass - Nonohara, Nishizawa's mother, Mikado...
 * The Jinx - Hayate again. Particularly with money, but it doesn't really matter. Bonus points for also being Born Unlucky.
 * Woe to any character that somehow becomes lucky, as Hayate might appear to inadvertently ruin their good day. If money is ever involved, Yukiji may also show up, but Hayate on his own can be quite worrisome to a Genre Savvy character.

Hayate: Pardon me...

Wataru: (Crap! The expert in losing money has showed up already!!)"

" WHAM
 * Just a Stupid Accent - In the dub mainly, the maids have British accent while Klaus and a few others has German accent.
 * Kendo Team Captain - Hinagiku
 * Lemony Narrator - The narrator frequently argues with the characters, snarks at the plot, and was once accused of murder by Nagi. And he has the voice of Norio Wakamoto.
 * He even seems to develop as a character, starting out with mere sarcasm and eventually developing an utter disdain for the show's cast. In one episode, when the gang takes a cruise and Nagi complains that the Titanic-sized ship is too small, he says, "God, I hate rich people. I hate them so much."
 * It gets better in the Animax dub where he has a British accent and sounds like Tom Baker!
 * No one is better than NORRRRIO WAKAMOTO!
 * Likewise, the manga has the narration boxes which often contain sarcastic comments about the characters, or their thoughts, or various situations. They also have a penchant for snarking at Hayate and Hinagiku, especially regarding romance or common sense (usually both at once).
 * Lethal Chef - Nagi, who (among other instances) declared her failed attempt to make Valentine's chocolate "A chocolate-covered iron pot!" to save face.
 * Limited Social Circle - Hinagiku, Miki, Risa and Izumi are all friends, and are almost always seen interacting with each other exclusively. As the story continues, the social circle expands a little, to include Hayate and Nagi and eventually several others, but still rather limited.
 * Isumi, Nagi, Wataru and Sakuya share the same dynamic, being childhood friends, they are hinted to have grown up together, mostly because their parents were all friends/family as well, and have limited interaction with anyone else. Isumi is a Cloudcuckoolander, Wataru spends all his time not at school trying to keep his business running, and Sakuya goes to another school supposedly. Nagi started off being a Hikikomori but has begun to start expanding her social circle because of Hayate's influence.
 * Limited Wardrobe - Hayate, Maria, and Saki are rarely shown wearing any other outfits other than their uniforms, save for some occasions. And also Wataru may count as well.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Lolicon - The design of the characters around Nagi's age have this clearly in mind, and have even been lampshaded by Maria and some other characters in the manga.
 * Averted by Hayate himself - one of said characters confesses that she likes him, and his response is "hey, kids like me; maybe I should be a teacher"...
 * And then there's chapter 160 featuring Fan Service shots of 10-year-old Maria.
 * Lampshaded and mocked in a side-chapter where 10-year-old Maria gets a love letter and Makimura automatically assumes it must be from a Lolicon pervert. Maria warmly and gracefully states that she shouldn't be so dismissive of other's feelings, and that someone put their heart into this letter... and in the very next scene is shown burning said letter because she read it and found it really was from a Lolicon pervert.
 * When Wataru and Saki go to Las Vegas and meet up with Wataru's mother, Mikoto, her butler is explicitly stated to be a Lolicon to explain why he's not doing anything against Sakuya being used as a pawn to force them into a gambling situation.
 * Longing Look - Save for Ayumu, none of them have had the nerve to actually confess though, so their lack of romantic knowledge ends up with it just being played for UST.
 * Actually, Ayumu is only the first (and she did so twice) of three to have confessed, Athena (though she then 'rejected' him, and then denied it as Alice) and Luca have as well (although Luca confessed to Hayate under the impression that he was female and added the condition that 'if he were a guy'). Hayate is just to clueless to have picked up on any of them.
 * Hinagiku and Hayate have Longing Looks from both directions, unfortunately not at the same time.
 * Loser Son of Loser Dad - Hayate is a heroic inversion of this plot. Ayasaki-Dad is always stealing money (he even cops to it), run con businesses and has been stated to have two large debts, one to the 'very nice men' and one to Wataru's video store. But Hayate is the hero of the manga,.
 * The Lost Lenore - Although not confirmed to have died, the original Katsura sister's parents are this to Hinagiku after they abandoned her and her sister before the story started. It's part of the reason that she's so hesitant to acknowledge her true affections for anyone, including her love interest, is because of how much their loss hurt and she's afraid of having to suffer loss again because of it.
 * Love At First Sight - Hinagiku for Hayate, and Kazuki for Nagi. Mostly, it was one-sided.
 * Love Bubbles - Happens a lot with different characters, and is even used in the third ending theme in the anime.
 * Love Confession - Averted with Hayate, whose 'kidnapping' of Nagi got interpreted as this and started the entire series. Isumi was technically the first to play this straight when she told Hayate she liked him.
 * Three different characters do this later, with five seperate confessions. None of the characters are attached to anyone.
 * Ayumu confesses, twice actually, the first time she's actually rejected, though it doesn't deter her affection.
 * Ayumu eventually confesses a second time, actually at Hinagiku's insistance. Though initially she gives Hayate 'obligation' chocolate as part of Valentines' Day, Hinagiku insists she talk to Hayate again and give him the chocolate she made for him, telling him that he doesn't need to respond yet. Though he hasn't rejected her again, he has made it clear that he has some affection for her, making this the closest thing to an actual confession and acceptance.
 * Hinagiku has attempted a confession-of-sorts when Hayate has taken her out on a date, but given her fear of loving someone, she does it just as a train passes by, and so he can't actually hear the words.
 * Hayate does this as well, for his '10 years ago girlfriend', first in front of Hinagiku (again), and then directly to the girl he loves, and she responds in kind, but then sends him back to his master, which he takes as a rejection.
 * [[spoiler: As of a 300+ chapter,
 * Finally after 330+ chapters ...a very good day for  shippers given how the two were acting for those two chapters.
 * Love Dodecahedron - Obviously, most of it centers around Hayate and his Unwanted Harem, but Wataru is also starting to develop a harem of his own, and there are even a couple of links that don't involve either of them.
 * There are also a few links that link both Hayate's and Wataru's harems together. At this point, there are enough polygons to make a full-fledged sphere.
 * Love Epiphany - Several, though one of the most notable is when Hinagiku finally admits to herself that she's in love with Hayate at the climax of her birthday arc.
 * Love Hurts - One of Hinagiku's fears is based on this, and it's implied that her fear of heights extends from this.
 * She's afraid of loving someone because her parents left and her older sister has turned to drinking after making sure that Hina doesn't have to deal with the debt and has foster parents, thus she's afraid of loving anyone again, in an effort to keep from getting hurt by them. She may have even turned to her Tsundere personality because of it.
 * Her admitting (to Ayumu) that she does love Hayate has been shown as an effort because of these fears.
 * Love Makes You Dumb - All over the place given the seemingly contagious case of Cannot Spit It Out that the entire cast has (save Ayumu and now  and even once  . However, almost every relationship seems to have this to some degree or another.
 * Nagi has obvious done some very stupid things in her plans to "rekindle" her relationship with Hayate, most blatantly when she agreed to let Gilbert 'kidnap' her in volume 3.
 * Ayumu jumps to some pretty strange conclusions herself regarding Hayate and has devised almost as many plans as Nagi that have little basis in logic.
 * Kaoru-sensei also has this problem in his hilariously bad attempts to woo Yukiji and his continual failure to understand exactly where he went wrong.
 * The biggest offenders by far, however, are Hayate and Hinagiku. Hayate already does some pretty stupid stuff for the girls in his 'harem'. That said, his IQ drops a few extra points whenever Hinagiku is involved, especially if he thinks he did something to make her mad. This usually results in him putting his foot in his mouth, such as telling Nagi that he wanted to learn a Finishing Move to impress Hinagiku. Hina, for her part, also has frequent lapses in logic where Hayate is concerned, which usually end up mercilessly snarked at by the narration boxes. It gets to the point where some of the issues that crop up between her and Hayate only make sense in her mind, such as not wanting to  apparently due to her idea that the two of them will act like a couple of newly-weds (with her as the husband leaving for work and Hayate as the stay-at-home wife). Even the narration boxes point out that this has no basis in reality.
 * Love Triangle - Sonia -> Wataru -> Isumi. Also, Nishizawa -> Hayate <- Hinagiku, as a subset of a much weaker Love Dodecahedron that includes Nagi and Maria (which forms the initial love triangle).
 * Are you sure that second one hasn't turned into a type 13? Or perhaps even weirder still, a type 9 (see above)?
 * Luminescent Blush - Most of the cast is quite good at this, especially when combined with Love Bubbles and Cherry Blossoms. However, the Queen of Moe, Hinagiku, seems to do this far more often than anyone else and usually much brighter.
 * And often with wording fumbles atop the blush. Hinagiku and Ayumu pull this off (all at their separate times) along with Hayate himself during his stay at the Katsura household.
 * Hayate in particular gets an absolutely epic one in the manga at least when  It makes This Troper laugh every time.
 * Mad Scientist - The very cute Meganekko inventor of Eight and the other killer robots. Sometimes ventures into being FOR SCIENCE!!! (as far as weaponry's concerned), if she wasn't kept grounded by her quest for funding.
 * Manipulative Bastard - Mikado. See The Chessmaster above.
 * Marry Them All - Proposed by Nishizawa once in regards to herself and Hinagiku. Oddly she left out Nagi, who she knows is also in love with Hayate, although she might change her mind as they start becoming better friends. Equally strange is the fact in all of the discussions Nishizawa and Hina have had about Hayate she has never brought up the fact that Nagi is also their love rival and thus Hina remains as unaware as Hayate on the matter.
 * While the option played straight is very unlikely to happen, there is an interesting variation that has a chance of happening, that being.
 * Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy - Hayate and Hinagiku, part of the reason Hinagiku was dubbed female!Hayate and they're considered mirror counterparts. Hayate has a very girlish face, more so as time goes on, as well as a traditionally feminine skill set (cooking, cleaning, and sewing among other things) which makes girls around him feel as if their femininity is threatened. He is also quite sensitive at times, and in the beginning was brought to tears quite a few times by acts of kindness. Hinagiku was very much a tomboy when first introduced. Her position of authority as Student Council President and her outstanding athletic skills were both amplified by her aggressive and take-charge demeanor. Unlike Hayate, she focused on being decisive, and wasn't really afraid to use force to solve an issue.
 * Part of what makes it an interesting case is the change over time. Hinagiku has changed the most, becoming much more feminine as part of her Character Development, acting more dere when flustered instead of covering it with aggression, acquiring a sense of feminine modesty that Hayate tried to impress she was lacking, and generally sliding more to the 'feminine' side of the scale while still remaining 'masculine'. Perhaps her biggest 'feminine' factor is worrying that she isn't that feminine, though luckily for her Hayate seems to like her 'masculine' characteristics. Hayate is more inconsistent with this, sliding from more 'masculine' such as taking on responsibilities himself and trying to be a strong figure to protect and help others as well as going awfully far down the 'feminine' side of the scale (the crossdressing really hasn't helped him much). Oddly enough, Nagi's and Hinagiku's fantasized version of him is typically more on the 'masculine' end of the scale being confident and cool, though one of Hina's most recent moments had Hayate almost like a stay-at-home wife, though he remained sparky and 'cool'-looking. As much as she claims that he can be a dork, it seems that Hinagiku actually does like Hayate a little on the 'feminine' side of the scale as well.
 * Master of the Mixed Message - Hayate.
 * A Match Made in Stockholm - At least kidnapping was Hayate's original plan, it's subverted in the end however. Despite his decision to "become a devil" to get the money to pay off the Yakuza chasing him, every time he gets the chance to do something evil he thoughtlessly does something nice instead. The guy's so nice that Nagi took his declaration of kidnapping as a confession and a request to elope...and considered it. No word yet on if they are going to be the Official Couple or not, but it gave us a series.
 * Meaningful Name - Hayate means wind, and Nagi means no-wind. Whether they are still the Official Couple is another question.
 * Meet Cute - Hayate with both Maria and Hinagiku. Maria had a classic example with running Hayate over on her bicycle before rushing over to help him. Hinagiku first met him when she was having trouble getting down from a tree and jumped before Hayate was ready to catch her, leading to her foot landing square on Hayate's face and sending him sprawling. Maybe he just likes girls that cause concussions when he meets them...
 * Kazuki Nishizawa also had such a first encounter with Nagi, combining it with Love At First Sight on his part, where they met under some cherry blossoms and he completely flubbed his introduction before narrowly avoiding a Panty Shot from Nagi when she tried to climb up to get a balloon wearing one of the short skirts she often wears...then an ill-timed comment results in her smacking him for it.
 * Mega Neko: Tama, Nagi's pet cat, he's actually a white tiger!
 * Meganekko - Saki Kijima, Shiori Makimura, Chiharu Harukaze
 * When Maria put on a school uniform, trying to enter Hakuou in disguise to check up on Hayate, she didn't understand why all the boys kept staring at her. Her solution: Wearing glasses to look less conspicious. It didn't achieve the intended result. Only with a pair of absurd Nerd Glasses was she finally able to move around unnoticed.
 * Meido - Maria and Saki
 * Isumi gets shanghaied into wearing a maid outfit so that the spirit of a perverted priest can flirt with a maid, fulfilling a desire that's keeping said spirit from moving on to the afterlife. Although, that reason turned out to be.
 * It's revealed in the above chapter and the succeeding one that Wataru has a Meido Fetish. In the same chapter, it's also revealed that Sakuya's new maid is the Meganekko Chiharu from the Absurdly Powerful Student Council of Hakuo Academy.
 * Memento MacGuffin - Though Hayate doesn't know of its significance for quite a while, he's given the King's Jewel/Stone of Bonds by Mikado, it reminds Mikado of his daughter, who appears to be the original one who found the stones (she's dead and he seems to want her brought back). It's called the Stone of Bonds by Maria and Nagi, and it reminds Nagi of her bond with Hayate. Eventually Mikado decides it's useful as a mark of inheritance for the Sanzenin fortune.
 * It's also a stone that . Multiple uses for a single item that didn't seem particularly noteworthy at first.
 * Mind Screw - Nagi's manga could probably count. It is so bizarre and convoluted that only the Cloudcuckoolander Isumi understands what the hell is going on. But Nagi's manga has nothing on Isumi's own creations. Oh my god That last one even has a punchline...
 * Misplaced Wildlife - Tama's backstory is that Nagi found him as a tiger cub in Africa, but there are no tigers in Africa. Upon having this fact pointed out by fans, the author admitted in his notes that he Did Not Do the Research, and hangs a lampshade on this apparent inconsistency in a later chapter. Apparently, in addition to tigers, traditional African wildlife includes pandas, unicorns, and what is clearly a person in a dragon costume.
 * Then again, in the long run, it wouldn't have mattered too much considering the series. Besides, it's funny either way.
 * In an episode of the anime the same mistake is repeated when an elephant is shown in the Amazon.
 * Moment Killer - Hayate and Hinagiku. Pick a moment. Any moment. The universe indiscriminately uses any nearby character to kill the mood, even resorting to using Those Two Nekos Tama and Shiranui. Should Hayate and Hinagiku be alone together, one of them will invariably self-destruct - the most brutal so far being.
 * Wataru also has problems with this. On several occasions he's blurted out his feelings for Isumi and she's overheard - and every time he frantically tries to revoke it. He's so consistent and adamant about this, Isumi actually believes he was just joking.
 * Nagi often tries to have romantic moments with Hayate, but the poor dear just can't catch a break. Certainly doesn't help that she's not even on his radar.
 * This is Yukiji's modus operandi where Kaoru-sensei is concerned, even though she openly acknowledges that he'd be a pretty good catch.
 * Mundane Luxury - Hayate deals with having found a job as the Sanzenin's butler as living in luxury in the beginning, having had to work extremely hard to barely survive on a meager living up to this point.
 * When he's given a million yen so that he can live outside the mansion for three days, he's told to spend all of it and spends the next few panels explaining that he could live in luxury for the next year with that kind of money. Of course, he's spent it all before he even finds a place to stay for the night.
 * This trope could also be used to explain why he doesn't realize that he has at least a half-dozen attractive women throwing themselves at him.
 * Murder Is the Best Solution - This was actually used by . Nobody dies and the former even saves the latter (before knocking the latter out for 'getting ahead of himself') and alls well that ends well.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood - Those three girls always call the titular butler Hayata to tease him.
 * Name's the Same - Isumi and Izumi are different people.
 * Do not confuse Hayate with Hayate or Hayate.
 * Likewise, Nagi is completely different from Nagi and Nagi.
 * Narrator - Actual narrator in the anime (bonus points for being Norio Wakamoto), narration boxes in the manga.
 * Narrating the Obvious - At times.

"He was punched extremely hard.""

""Since the majority of the cast is comprised of stooges, I handle the Straight Man role to make things more interesting. It's only natural, since I'm the one with the most common sense here.""
 * Necktie Leash - Hinagiku does this to Hayate after.
 * Necromantic - Mikado was hinted at wanting the Power of the Gods to bring back the daughter he loved.
 * Never Mess with Granny - Or in this case, Isumi's great-grandmother Ginka.
 * New Old Flame - first girlfriend  makes an appearance later in the manga.
 * Except that, while Hayate still holds a flame for her, it's not clear if she has the same for him. And their former relationship was left at the point of her wanting to kill him.
 * Never Got to Say Goodbye - The last time five-year-old Sanzenin Nagi ever spent with her ill mother was in a tempered-tantrum argument... and this would go on to shape the abrasive person that she grew up to be.
 * Nice Guy - Ayumu Nishizawa is clearly a nice gal, paired with the fact that she's a normal person in a world where most of the rest of the cast are Ojous really makes Hata have to work to keep her relevant, and he does.
 * Nigh Invulnerable - Hayate. Would be Made of Iron except it's taken to extremes with no explanation given besides his childhood being inhuman. There's an explanation now.
 * Great, now they've added Caballah references.
 * There's the fact that his name's on the series, too, which is indirectly lampshaded often enough.
 * Ninja Maid - Although she's clearly a candidate for it, Maria seems opposed to being known as one.
 * No Fourth Wall - All characters are aware they are in an anime (or manga), referring to censors, commercials, pages, the Narrator, the audience... in fact, the show seems to take the very existence of the fourth wall as a personal affront, and pounds it into rubble at every opportunity.
 * Not so much in the second season.
 * No Guy Wants an Amazon - Hinagiku worries about this in an internal monologue during the beach volley ball match during the Greece Arc, fearing that going all-out on an annoying Gilbert would lead to Hayate being turned off by her lack of femininity. Aside from the fact that Hayate has already had plenty of opportunities to see Hina kick ass, she never had anything to worry about in the first place since Hayate clearly likes that "cool, confident, action-y" side of her.
 * No OSHA Compliance - Why they have non-safety compliant sections in Sanzenin mansion is anybody's guess, such as the seemingly nuclear-powered boiler which can get a meltdown when someone pressed the wrong button.
 * No Sense of Direction - Isumi, though it turns out that at least part of it is because.
 * That happens 2-3 times per year. She's as bad as Zoro.
 * No Waterproofing in the Future, subverted - When one of the butler robots attacks Nagi, it shrugs off a water attack by Hayate, only to be later defeated by a handful of silver cutlery and a generous helping of electricity.
 * Not Distracted by the Sexy - Hayate, although it can get complicated.
 * Several times, he is somewhat distracted, but still recovers himself before the girl in question even gets over the shock of being seen. Hinagiku and Maria are the only ones who he really plays Distracted by the Sexy straight, one he's physically attracted to, the other emotionally attracted to.
 * He's not clueless about sex appeal, just not affected by it like normal guys. Pointed out when Miki shoves a magazine in his face, and states that he's the perfect one to take Hinagiku out because of his reaction. And when Izumi gets possesed and Hayate comes in on her with Hinagiku in a suggestive pose, his reaction is significantly less than you'd expect from a normal male seeing it.
 * Oblivious to Love - Powers huge chunks of the plot and character interaction.
 * Oedipus Complex - Apparently, Hayate greatly resembles Nagi's mother... despite being male. So this is gender-flipped and played straight.
 * Official Couple: Unless Kenjirou Hata is trolling the fandom, Chapter 318 seems to show that
 * Chapter 318 does nothing for the actual pairing though, and the implication is that the relationship between Wataru and Saki seems to be more of a mother/son one. Whereas Wataru/Sakuya seems to be gaining speed, with his apparent abandoning of Isumi-persuing. The fact that Sakuya gave him the money for the entire arc to start, and then helped him find the stolen money indicating that it's not one-sided.
 * The arranged marraige between Wataru and Nagi has still yet to be clarified, it was implied that it was for the Sanzenin inheritance,.
 * Offscreen Teleportation - Hayate, if people cry out for him, will unfailingly appear on-scene to save them.
 * He once appeared in the manga on a spaceship in outer space that Nagi got stuck on when she called his name. Since he can't reveal that it was Isumi's magic, she must really think he's Just That Good.
 * In a recent anime episode, Hayate explains this ability away by saying butlers have license to appear unexpectedly.
 * He also said this in the manga; Sakuya took it as making fun of her, because she'd said, a page or so before, that as Nagi's (surrogate) big sister, she had such a license.
 * Ojou - Nagi and Isumi
 * Hayate also uses the term for Sakuya.
 * Older Than They Look - Athena's age is yet to be revealed, but she's back to her age 6 appearance, while she's known to be at least 10!
 * Once an Episode - Nishizawa eats something (in the anime). After she's finally really introduced in episode 12, she starts making wistful comments about Hayate, as well.
 * Onmyodo - Isumi's method of magic; also was used to
 * Onsen Episode - Sort of an Onsen Arc with their trip to the Shimoda Hot Springs, with quite a bit of fanservice, wackiness, and everything else you'd expect from this series. There's hot springs, ping pong, hot springs, UFO's, hot springs, and a touching scene about Nagi's mother followed by everyone having a nice picnic.
 * Only Sane Man - Maria is certainly this throughout just about everything. Even lampshaded (like everything else) in episode 10 of the first anime.

"Hayate: Ah.. well, well, if it isn't my classmates from my ordinary public high school.
 * Only Six Faces
 * Opening Narration
 * Ordinary High School Student - Episode 46 has Nishizawa showing Wataru and Saki around her "completely normal High School" which is filled with "Completely Ordinary High School Students". That is to say...it's filled with heroic Delinquents and time travelers. This was the same school that originally produced Hayate...
 * Lampshaded in the very first issue of the manga when Hayate runs into some other students (which also hangs a shade on Hayate's playing Mister Exposition):

Student: Sorry for being ordinary."

- (Are you explaining something?)


 * Hayate falls off being normal once his past is revealed, and Ayumu has been given a younger brother, but she's still really the only one who fits.
 * Otaku - Nagi. Chiharu as well. Hayate is not, but he definitely knows just as much as Nagi when it comes to otaku subjects. He will even talk like Nagi every now and then, which gets lampshaded.
 * Our Demons Are Different - According to Isumi, demons are entities possessed by an evil spirit. Anything can become a demon; objects, humans, animals. She repels one that had possessed a horde of rats, and then some rather large ones that had possessed a Koi Herpes Virus that had infected a nearby koi pond and were terrorizing the local kami.
 * Overtook the Manga - The "Butler Battle" arc in the anime wasn't in the manga, hence the Ultimate Butler Armor disappearing after.