Hayate the Combat Butler

Hayate Ayasaki has spent his life working hard and catching nothing but bad breaks. After his parents leave him behind with a crushing debt—over 150 million yen—and even sell him to the yakuza, he bolts from a future he refuses to accept. On a desperate night, he targets Nagi Sanzenin, a young girl he thinks he can kidnap to pay it all back.

A mix of Hayate’s decency and a cascade of misunderstandings turns the situation on its head: Nagi mistakes his words for a love confession, and when Hayate saves her from actual kidnappers, she brings him into her world as her personal butler. Nagi is also revealed to be an heir to one of Japan’s wealthiest families, and Hayate’s new job quickly becomes a whirlwind of mansion duties, dangerous encounters, and accidental romantic complications as his terrible luck keeps finding new ways to strike.