Seinen Hayate Cross Blade (Hayate X Blade) by Hayashiya Shizuru

[Dra]

I didn't find a thread for this, so here goes.

This was licensed by Seven Seas and the first volume in English was just released, while volume 9 will be released this month in Japan; it's currently serialized in Ultra Jump. It's best classified as a comedy-action (swordfighting girls) seinen, but some places tag this series with "yuri" (or shoujo-ai depending on who you ask). The "shoujo-ai" seems to be mainly a subtext, though. There's no fanservice at all even with some settings that scream for it.

The official blurb:

The all-girls boarding school Tenchi Academy isn't just known for its quality academics--it's also known for training the top sword fighters in the country. Students in the special "Sword Bearer" program compete in a school-wide battle known as the Star Stealing, striving to win both money and fame.

Enter Kurogane Hayate. With her sister Nagi recovering from a lingering injury, the spunky and cheerful Hayate must take her place at the Academy until Nagi is well enough to return. When Hayate learns of the mountain of debt her old orphanage, the Dandelion Garden, owes to Yakuza loan sharks, she decides to become a sword-bearer and win the Star Stealing.

There's just one problem...she needs a partner to compete and the one girl Hayate has her eye on wants nothing to do with her!

Raws are at JCafe24.com (Winny Club) and elsewhere and you can skim the translated preview at Seven Seas. Some chapters are scanlated and posted at various places, but there doesn't seem to be a consistent Manga Editor for this (NCIS has other projects on their plate they're working on).

Anyway, I like the clean artwork, sword combat scenes, and rather violent comedy.