Hayate X Blade

Hayate X Blade (はやてxブレード) is the thing this whole thing is about.

Publication History
The first chapter of Hayate X Blade was published on November 21, 2003, in the January 2004 issue of Dengeki Daioh magazine. This commenced its monthly serialization, as a new chapter would subsequently appear in each new issue of the publication. Once enough chapters accrued, it could be brought out in book form, as a tankoubon volume. The first Hayate X Blade tankoubon was published by MediaWorks on June 26, 2004. Following this--beginning with the publication of Volume 2 in January 2005--a new tankoubon was brought out in January and July of every year.

This arrangement persisted through Volume 8. However, after the publication of Chapter 52 on May 21, 2008, the series switched magazines. It would now be serialized monthly in Ultra Jump, starting with Chapter 53, which appeared in the magazine's September issue on August 19, 2008. Concurrently, the series also switched publishers for its tankoubon volumes: the books would now be brought out by Shueisha. This applied not only to subsequent volumes, but to those already released; Shueisha reissued its own versions of the first eight volumes. This is the reason two different covers exist for each of these volumes. Whereas the MediaWorks versions featured Hayate and Ayana on every cover, the Shueisha versions featured a variety of characters; it is the latter which appear on the volume pages here. The switch in publisher also led to the series' English-language publication contract lapsing.

Shueisha released its reissues in order throughout the latter half of 2008, leading up to the publishing of Volume 9 on December 19. Hayate X Blade then continued running in Ultra Jump every month until what was advertised as the final chapter appeared in the August 2013 issue (published July 19), apparently ending the entire series. However, it was immediately announced that a sequel series, Hayate X Blade 2, would commence serialization the next month. The second series is a direct continuation of the first, with the exact same characters and setting.

The series' title, Hayate X Blade, shares its first word with that of another popular manga, Hayate no Gotoku. Do note however that Hayate X Blade had already been in serialization for eleventh months before this latter appeared.