Hayate no Gotoku! Episode 40

'''Hayate no Gotoku! Episode 40, title name as New Year's Food is Also Good, but Enjoy Hayate, Too (おせちもいいけどハヤテもね) aired on January 6th 2008, the English Animax dub aired on August 5th 2009.

Synopsis
This episode begins with the cast of this anime wishing the audience a Happy New Year. Afterwards, Hayate and Nagi host the first annual "Hayate The Combat Butler! Annual New Year Hidden Talent Competition". The event consists of two teams, the Red Team, consisting of Sakuya, Isumi, Hinagiku, Ayumu, Klaus, and Tama, who try to make Tama jump through a flaming hoop while playing various instruments, though Tama gets stuck in the hoop, and the White Team, consisting of Risa, Izumi, Miki, Yukiji, Wataru, and Saki, who try to make Saki jump through a flaming hoop while performing a foriegn comedy routine, though Saki refuses to jump. Both teams receive a perfect score for their presentations, and Maria, the head judge, calls the entire thing idiotic. Hayate and Nagi are then seen watching the presentation on TV. Hayate announces that a new show is about to begin, called "Hayate The Combat Butler: Giant", though eventually they conclude this wouldn't be a good idea and they start the show proper.

On New Year's Eve, Maria suggests that they should head to the shrine for the first worship, but Nagi would rather stay home. Nagi starts reading manga telling of the events that happen between a couple, eventually resulting in the two watching their first sunrise together on New Years Day, and it begins to give her ideas. Meanwhile, Hayate is in his room watching a new year's presentation on TV, and during this he reflects on how he made it through the rest of the year alive. Nagi suddenly shows up, laying on his bed, and she mentions that she wants to watch the sunrise. Hayate confuses her request with the name of a newspaper, causing her to get mad, and she hits him on the head. Nagi forces Hayate to bring her to the beach, just the two of them. Nagi brings him into the garage, where she reveals that she intends for him to bike them there, wanting to avoid more distinctive forms of transportation to keep their trip a secret from the others. Nagi declares their destination to be Kujukuri Beach. Hayate is skeptical that he could reach it in an hour, considering it is 100 kilometers away, but Nagi remains convinced that he can make it in one hour. Hayate questions why they don't just bring Maria and the others along with a more conveinent form of transportation, but Nagi remains insisient that only the two go. While on the road to the beach, Nagi becomes cold because of her choice of dress, and Nagi makes him stop at a large fancy department store, where she buys a carriage to ride in, and has it mounted to the bike. Back in the mansion, Maria searches around for Nagi and Hayate, until she finds the manga Nagi was reading, and she quickly realized what they were doing. The two continue along the road, until a man named Michael, driving an automated car named CHITT approaches them from behind, and challenges them to a race. Hayate quickly starts speeding up to keep up with the car. Nagi then warns him that they are approaching a curve known to be dangerous, though Hayate is confident that he can get ahead of them in the curve. CHITT is skeptical that the curve could be ridden at full speed, but Michael ignores this and has the car contiune at full speed, and they quickly overtake Hayate. Hayate uses a secret technique to ride the inside of the curve, catching up with the car again. Michael then orders CHITT to fire its rocket boosters in order to overtake Hayate again. CHITT scolds him for this action, but does it anyway, and the car crashes through the wall and flies right off the highway. After their victory, Hayate and Nagi arrive at Kujukuri Beach on time to see the sunrise. Hayate then goes off to buy coffee from a vending machine, but he then realizes that he had forgotten his wallet. Maria then appears, having tracked the two, and she gives him his wallet, while mentioning the potential dangers of their ride. Hayate responds mentioning that he had gone just under the speed limit the entire trip. Maria then tells Hayate that he is doing a wonderful job protecting Nagi, and that she's very happy to have him around. She then wishes Hayate a happy new year, and leaves. Hayate buys two coffee cans and heads back to Nagi. However, Nagi had fallen asleep while he was gone. Hayate decides not to wake her, and he lays his coat on her like a blanket. The sun rises, and he silently wishes her a happy new year.

On New Year's Day, the Sanzenin mansion is covered in snow. Maria, wearing a kimono and being the only one wanting to celebrate the new years, tells Nagi that Sakuya had called saying she was planning on visiting for the new year. Nagi stands in her room playing a portable game, while making remarks about the intense weather all over the world that winter, and how she thinks mankind should reconsider its culture of mass consumption, a statement which Maria finds to be rather hollow considering Nagi's current condition. Just then, a power outage occurs. Hayate rushes into the room, asking if the two are alright. Maria mentions that she's fine, but Nagi isn't, holding tightly onto Maria and crying. Hayate mentions that the emergency generator should have started, and Maria suggests that the circuit breakers could have been tripped. Hayate heads to the generator building, to try to restore the power before the battery in Nagi's game dies, giving him roughly three hours. Outside, a blizzard rages, but he starts wading through it. Inside the mansion, Maria reassures Nagi that she doesn't have any intentions to leave her, as Nagi continues to hold onto her. Outside, Hayate is bogged down by the blizzard, but he keeps moving. After approaching it closely, he discovers that the snow is being created by a large snow machine, operated by Sakuya, who is standing by a small campfire. Sakuya explains that the snow machine was set up for Hayate to make a reaction to, and she mentions that the snow machine is what had shut off the power. Hayate suggests that Sakuya gets into the mansion, but Sakuya responds indicating that she has no idea where the residence was due to the blizzard. The wind then extingishes the fire, and they start wandering around, looking for the generator building. An hour later, Hayate and Sakuya encounter a yeti. Hayate runs to the yeti and asks it for directions, and it apparently tells him where he needs to go. They manage to make it to the generator station, and they head on inside.

Inside, Hayate realizes that he has been taking longer than he had expected, and he sets off to find the breaker room. Hayate finds a map which shows the layout of the building, and he notices that there's a hot spring. Hayate suggests that it might be a good idea to take a dip in it. Sakuya becomes embarrassed by this suggestion. Hayate asks why, causing her to get mad. Sakuya smacks him with her fan, and when Hayate once again asks why his comments made her angry, she drags him to the spring and kicks him into it. Sakuya then jumps onto him, and explains that she doesn't like being treated like a child. Hayate offends her further by mentioning that she does things without thinking, but he calms her down by mentioning that he was only joking and wasn't trying to treat her like a child. Hayate knows that he's still a good distance away from the breakers, and he realizes that since he's soaked, he could freeze to death on the way there. Hayate gets out of the spring regardless, and Sakuya asks if she could come along. Hayate advises her not to, and he then leaves. Sakuya then calls her butlers with her waterproof cellphone. By this point, the game only had about ten minutes of battery left, and Hayate was close to the breakers. However, he was extremely cold by this point and nearly on the verge of death, barely getting along. He gets to the breaker room, and reaches forward, struggling because of how weak the cold has left him. In the mansion, the lamp Maria was using to provide light burns out, causing Nagi to start worrying if Hayate is alright, though this is interrupted by the character in Nagi's game dying. A few moments afterwards, the power in the mansion is restored, as Hayate was able to reach the breakers. However, at this point he had no strength left, and he lies on the floor, reflecting how happy he was living in the mansion.

Sakuya's butlers then appear, and they start helping him. Sakuya mentions that she had gotten the wrong idea of him, and that she realizes that he's actually quite reliable. Hayate then makes a joke which irritates Sakuya, and she orders her butlers to leave him behind. They quickly leave the generator building, quite angry. At this point, the lamp in the mansion begins to crack, and Nagi wonders if Hayate really is alright.

Adapted From
Volume 2 Volume 7
 * Chapter 12: The new Boktai
 * Chapter 65: Its like the Snowy Field Level in D2

Cultural References

 * While on their way to Kujukuri Beach, Hayate and Nagi pass by a truck with a "HURO" logo that heavily resembles the NERV logo from the series Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * Hayate's race with the computerized car is a reference to the 1982 series Knight Rider, where the character Michael Knight drives a similar computerized car, named KITT, an acronym of Knight Industries Two Thousand.
 * While racing against the computerized car "CHITT", Hayate's hair suddenly takes the form as a Super Saiyans from the series Dragon Ball.
 * While overtaking "CHITT", Hayate's 'secret technique' is similar to that of the gutter run technique done by Takumi Fujiwara in Initial D.