Ayana and Hayate of Hayate Cross Blade

I discovered this manga through a wildly exuberant post at a manga forum by someone who isn't prone to wildly exuberant posts. Here it is in it's entirety:

"Hayate Cross Blade is AWESOME. Everyone needs to buy it. It's a book I'd classify as humor (and yuri) before anything else. Funny characters, great artwork (became aware of Shizuru Hayashiya thanks to the Please Teacher! manga adaptation, fell in love thanks to Sister Red), and a perfect balance of "I'll do the best I can!" and "You told me I was so great last night, too!" and "There are people I need to help!" and "Will you just get off my lap?!" and "I have to work to become better than she is!" and "Let's play with my friend, Mr. Nail Bat!" and "No logic can defeat our purpose!" and "Then you can put your thingy in my hole!"

Yuri goggles on! It's over 9000!!

Buy it. Today. Then buy it again tomorrow, too, just in case."

So I checked it out. He was right. Every single word of it.

It's the story of Hayate Kurogane, a first-year junior high student who attends the prestigious all-girls Tenchi Academy. Her twin sister, Nagi, is the one who is actually enrolled at the school, but she's injured and Hayate takes her place as a stand in until Nagi is better. The school has a program for swordswomen who take place in the "Hoshitori": sword fights between pairs of girls. Battles earn them money, power and fame, but to compete, they must have a sister-in-arms. At first, Hayate wants nothing to do with it. She just wants to keep out of trouble until Nagi can take her place at school. And then Yakuza thugs come after the orphanage that Hayate and Nagi grew up in. Now Hayate has a reason to compete in the hoshitori. She wants to raise the money necessary to pay off the loan and get the yakuza off the back of the beautiful Chiharu, her surrogate big sister who runs the orphanage. However, Hayate needs a sister-in-arms. She goes after Ayana Mudou, a third year girl of exceptional skill who has no partner. Ayana used to have a sister-in-arms, but they broke up after a hushed-up incident. Ayana shoulders all the blame on herself. She refuses to take another partner and as a result, continues to slide down the ranks of fighters.

Sounds a bit melodramatic, right? Forget it. Hayate is a complete idiot full of useless energy, and Ayana loves embarrassing those whose egos exceed their skills. Ayana's intelligence, cynicism and cruelty towards those who honestly deserve it is a perfect counterpoint to Hayate's complete cluelessness, boundless energy and "No logic can defeat our purpose!" outlook on life. Hayate's fangirlish crush on Ayana always pops up at the most inopportune times, causing her to get several beatings from Ayana. Hayate isn't the only person who suffers Ayana's ire. After one particular battle, when a loud-mouthed cheater of a girl gets utterly humiliated by Ayana and Hayate, you expect Ayana to give the girl a lecture about how her own lack of skills are what keeps her down or some such platitudes. Oh hell no. Ayana salts the girl's wounds, twists the dagger, makes her feel even worse. "So cheer up, Queen of Suck." There are a lot of other great characters, too, from the lovely Chiharu to Hitsugi Amachi, the teen-aged Chairman, President and Supreme Being of Tenchi Academy.

Shizuru and Hitsugi

Volume 2 has two story arcs. The first concerns Hayate's roommate, Moka-chan. We finally learn the reason why she's been avoiding the hoshitori. She has her eyes set on on a winning over a girl to be her sister-in-arms. That girl is her childhood friends, and she's partnered with an abusive classmate as her current sister-in-arms. Unfortunately, at the same time, Moka-chan being stalked by a creepy Sadako-wannabe who has decided to claim Momoka for her sister-in-arms. The resolution is unexpected and hilarious. Not only that, but it comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

The second story arc turns the focus back on Hayate and Ayana. Hayate makes a new friend, a schoolmate who is as short as she is. Hayate os forced to learn the difference between friendship and the hoshitori, but considering how stupid she is, it's a hard lesson for Ayana to teach her.

There is a new regular character in Isuzu "Wanko" Inugami who shot right to the top of my favorite character list. There's a return visit by the lovely Chiharu who quietly but emphatically stakes her claim on Hayate. Ayana's roommate, the wonderfully lecherous Jun gets better and better with each appearance.

Momoka (Moka-chan) and Isuzu (Wanko)

In volume 3, the story just keeps getting better. Wanko fans are going to be disappointed since she's only in one very short scene. But Jun fans are going to be wetting themselves with joy since she's front and center throughout the entire book. We meet her sister-in-arms Yuho Shizuma, and she's a great one. In typical fashion, Hayate mis-hears Yuho's name and ends up thinking her name is Sigma UFO, the greatest name ever! The book ends with a battle between Ayana/Hayate and Jun/Yuho, and it makes the battles in Negima look like hopscotch.

In addition to all the great action, there's also plenty of comedy. I'm not going to give too much away, but I'll give you this: "YEE! Ayana!! Your clothes! They're all ripped and sexy now! YOU RANK NUMBER ONE IN VIOLENT SEXUALITY!"

In short, my reaction to this volume was "Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god HOLY FREAKIN' CRAP!" It's really that good.

Jun (Jun-Jun) and Yuho (Sigma)

In volume 4, the Jun-Jun/Ayana, Hayate/Sigma UFO battles end, and Hayate gets a new sempai. Plus Jun-Jun becomes a "bi-wielder."

Then the story moves to Moka-chan and Wanko for a nice long story arc. Even better, it resolves itself in this volume, so no cliff-hanger. A girl with certain "powers" of her own decides it's time to dump her partner and claim Wanko as her sister-in-arms, preying on Wanko's lack of confidence. The battle between Moka-chan and this new girl is epic, one of the funniest so far. And the verbal sparring is brilliantly written. Wanko really steps into her own as a character. She's a practitioner of black magic, using frightening evil powers to help her and Momoka move up the ranks of fighters. She even speaks in a creepy font. But really, she's just a sweet girl who has made her first real friend in Momoka. That dichotomy between shy, sweet girl and horrifying powers straight from hell make her one of my favorite characters.

When this book first started coming out, I gave the first volume to a coworker who's never read manga before. After a few minutes getting used to reading right-to-left, he started getting it. Both the manner of reading and the humor. He was cracking up at his desk. So I gave him that volume, and have been picking up successive volume for him when they come out. (He is paying for them, don't worry. I'm not quite that generous.) This story deserves to be a success, because it it is so well written and drawn. Great story and art by Shizuru Hayashiya, a great translation by Adrienne Beck, a great adaptation by Ed Chavez, and a great presentation by Tor/Seven Seas. As the poster said above, buy it. Today. Then buy it again tomorrow, just in case.