Long-running manga, Hayate the Combat Butler, is set to come to an end on April 12. The announcement was made in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine that the series will end in their 20th issue. The manga, as of the time of this writing, has about six chapters left until its conclusion. The 48th volume of the manga, that came out in May of 2016, stated that the manga’s story was approaching its climax and Weekly Shonen Sunday announced that it was entering its final arc back in October of 2016 as well.
Kenjirou Hata luanched the manga back in 2004 in Weekly Shonen Sunday. Since then, 50 volumes of the manga have been compiled with the 29th volume releasing here in the U.S. back in February. VIZ Media currently holds the license to distribute the manga in North America. The manga has spawned four television anime seasons in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013 respectively. In 2014, a three episode OVA was also released. In 2011, the series received an anime film titled Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven is a Place on Earth.
Crunchyroll streamed all four seasons. Bandai initially held the license for North American distribution of the anime, which they acquired in 2009, but since then Sentai Filmworks has taken over the license and has released all four seasons and the movie back in 2015.
MyAnimeList.net describes the story of Hayate the Combat Butler as follows:
According to Murphy’s Law, “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,” and truer words cannot describe the unfortunate life of the hard-working Hayate Ayasaki. Abandoned by his parents after accumulating a debt of over one hundred fifty million yen, he is sold off to the yakuza, initiating his swift getaway from a future he does not want. On that fateful night, he runs into Nagi Sanzenin, a young girl whom he decides to try and kidnap to pay for his family’s massive debt.
Unfortunately, due to his kind-hearted nature and a string of misunderstandings, Nagi believes Hayate to be confessing his love to her. After saving her from real kidnappers, Hayate is hired as Nagi’s personal butler, upon which she is revealed to be a member of one of the wealthiest families in Japan.
Highly skilled but cursed with the world’s worst luck, Hayate gets straight to work serving his employer all the while trying to deal with the many misfortunes that befall him. From taking care of a mansion to fending off dangerous foes, and even unintentionally wooing the hearts of the women around him, Hayate is in over his head in the butler comedy Hayate no Gotoku!
