In what order do I watch "Hayate no Gotoku!"?

[Juusuhako]

I am confused as to in what order this anime goes...

It says on MAL that season 2 takes off from episode 19 of season 1, even though season 1 has 50-something episodes. It says season 2 follows the manga. So whats the rest of season 1, just some made up stuff by someone else than the author?

Also read on reddit that season 3 is a reboot. On top of that theres an episode 0, movie, some 2x12 episode seasons...

Makes most sense to just watch the stuff based on the manga, so should I just go straight to season 2 after episode 19 of season 1? And what is considered season 3?

[Ceris]

I was confused by MAL too. If you are in it for the entertainment, Just watch it by season, so First 52 episodes, then the 25 episode season, then the movie, then Can't Take My Eyes Off You, then Cuties. If you watch it story wise, skip episodes 20-52 and go to Sseason 2.

If you watch ALL of Hayate, Just keep in mind everything from episode 20 to 52 doesn't count in the HnG storyline. So when you reach Season 2, the date jumps back about 11 months (lol)

As for Can't Take My Eyes Off You (season 3), the season is an original story that just happens to not be in the manga, but since it was created by the manga author, it flows with the storyline still since HnG is episodic in the first place. Also, Cuties (season 4) take place like 200 chapters into the manga so prepare for a time skip and new characters, so yeah, Hayate is a mess.

I'm currently on Cuties and almost finished with it. This all may sound confusing, but the seasons flow pretty nicely and after a few episodes in each season, you'll be up to speed and won't have any problems.

[Juusuhako]

I was confused by MAL too. If you are in it for the entertainment, Just watch it by season, so First 52 episodes, then the 25 episode season, then the movie, then Can't Take My Eyes Off You, then Cuties. If you watch it story wise, skip episodes 20-52 and go to Sseason 2.

If you watch ALL of Hayate, Just keep in mind everything from episode 20 to 52 doesn't count in the HnG storyline. So when you reach Season 2, the date jumps back about 11 months (lol)

As for Can't Take My Eyes Off You (season 3), the season is an original story that just happens to not be in the manga, but since it was created by the manga author, it flows with the storyline still since HnG is episodic in the first place. Also, Cuties (season 4) take place like 200 chapters into the manga so prepare for a time skip and new characters, so yeah, Hayate is a mess.

I'm currently on Cuties and almost finished with it. This all may sound confusing, but the seasons flow pretty nicely and after a few episodes in each season, you'll be up to speed and won't have any problems.

Thank you very much for that info. I wanna watch it for the storyline, so I'll skip season 1 20-52, and watch them after I've watched everything else. Is it "important" to watch the movie after season 2? Also, it says OVA is "episode 0", so do I watch it before everything else? (Honestly I've never really understood what OVAs were)

[Ceris]

The OVA is just a random episode and introduces one of the new characters (which appears for the first time in S2 anyway). And the movie takes place timeline wise after S2 but before S3. I can't remember how "important" the movie was though, but the plot of Hayate isn't the driving force of the anime anyway.