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Beyblade
爆転シュート・ベイブレード
(Bakuten Shūto Beiburedo)
Genre Adventure, Comedy, Sports
Manga
Author Takao Aoki
Publisher Flag of Japan Shogakukan
English publisher Flag of Canada Flag of the United States Viz Media
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine CoroCoro Comic
Original run 2000-2002 – ongoing
Volumes 14
TV anime
Director Toshifumi Kawase
Studio Madhouse
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo
Original run January 8, 2001 – December 24, 2001
Episodes 51
TV anime: Beyblade V-Force
Director Tetsuo Takeuchi, Yoshio Takeuchi
Studio Nihon Animedia
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo
Original run January 7, 2002 – December 30, 2002
Episodes 51
TV anime: Beyblade G Revolution
Director Mitsuo Hashimoto, Toshifumi Kawase
Studio Nihon Animedia
Network Flag of Japan TV Tokyo
Original run 6 January 2003 – 29 December 2003
Episodes 52
Anime and Manga Portal

Beyblade (爆転シュート ベイブレード Bakuten Shūto Beiburedo?, literally translates to Explosive Shooting Beyblade) is an anime and manga series about a group of kids battling with highly powerful spinning tops enchanted with sacred Bit-Beasts or spirits of mythical ideaology. The show focuses on the battles between Beyblading teams as they compete to become the world champions. The main characters are the Bladebreakers, a team consisting of Tyson Granger, Kai Hiwatari, Ray Kon, Max Tate and Daichi Sumeragi. During their quest to become Beyblade champions, Tyson and his friends meet many new friends, enemies and competitors whilst overcoming their own inner conflicts. Beyblade is an immensely popular series internationally, attracting millions of viewers since its inception.

The April 8, 2008 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun paper reports that Takara Tomy is reviving the Beyblade franchise after a four-year hiatus in August with a new toy line and manga series, and will sponsor a new accompanying Beyblade anime starting April 2009. The name of the new series has been confirmed to be Metal Fight Beyblade. It will feature an entire new cast of characters and will be authored by Adachi Takafumi.

The Beyblade anime is licensed by Nelvana in North America. The Beyblade manga, made by Takao Aoki, is published in English in North America by VIZ Media. Some names are changed to match the English version of the anime.

Contents

Development

Beyblade began during 1999 as a manga and a series of toys in Japan. After the manga by Takao Aoki became a success, Beyblade was made into an anime, that premiered in Japan, and was later dubbed and played in several other countries. Beyblade had three seasons, multiple video games and a vast line of merchandise. The show originally was broadcast from 2001 and ended in 2004 in Japan, with an attempt to revive the franchise in AUGUST 9TH 2009 with a new toy line. The anime is aimed at younger elementary school aged children.

Anime

Beyblade 2000

Main article: Beyblade (anime)

The first season of the Beyblade franchise. The story follows the BBA Team (Bladebreakers in the English dub) and their goal of becoming World Beyblade Champions.

Beyblade V-Force

Main article: Beyblade V-Force

Beyblade V-Force is the second season of the first anime series. In the original Japanese version, it was called Bakuten Shoot Beyblade 2002. There were several changes made in this season that differentiated from the original series; the animation and character designs took a simpler, more stylised approach, and computer generated animation was used for Beybattles. The Bit-Beasts were also given color rather than their ghost-like appearance. A new main character, Hilary Tachibana, was added to the regular cast. The name was changed due to it no longer being 2002 when it aired in the West. The story follows the Bladebreakers as they defend their title from opponents attempting to steal their Bit-Beasts.

Beyblade G-Revolution

Main article: Beyblade G-Revolution

The third season of the Beyblade series. Now that Tyson has become the champion twice in a row, Max, Ray, and Kai leave the team so that they stand a chance to become true champions themselves. This leaves only Tyson, Hilary and Kenny on the team, but a new character, Daichi Sumeragi, and Tyson's brother Hiro Granger, joins them. An anime-only arc follows the World Championships. Ray joins his old team WHIT TIGERS and Max joins the PPB ALL STARZ in which his mom and dad also work.

Manga

Explosive Shooting Beyblade

Main article: Beyblade (manga)

Original Beyblade manga by Takao Aoki. It is the base material for the anime. The anime keeps intact the central plot of the manga, but it differentiates in specifics. As opposed to being completely separate entities, they are essentially different versions of the same story.

Media

Merchandise

Main article: Beyblade (toy)

Beyblade had a cult following in 2002 and 2003 by many children when the series' popular spinning top toy was released and became a fad1. It locked into place on a stand until a person "ripped" the cord through causing the toy to fall and spin. Often the tops had designs on them and had rough edges allowing them to battle other Beyblades.

Movie

Beyblade: The Movie - Fierce Battle (爆転シュート ベイブレード THE MOVIE 激闘!!タカオVS大地 Bakuten Shūto Beiburedo The Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs Daichi?) is chronologically set between second and third seasons, even though Daichi Sumeragi appears in the movie. A new Beyblade team known as the Shadow Bladers are introduced. The original movie storyline was also featured in Volume 14 of the Beyblade manga, but ended on a cliffhanger due to being released on DVD.

VHS/DVD Releases

The popularity of Beyblade in Japan was high enough to have VHS and DVD releases of the show. In Japan all of the episodes have been released on VHS and DVD. The Beyblade 2001 DVDs first two volumes had three episodes a piece and were sold new at 4,200 yen per DVD. The rest of season one that had five episodes were sold new at 5,500 yen. The Japanese Beyblade DVDs first season titles were Called SHOOT (plus the volume number). The Beyblade 2002 DVDs were released in two separate titles. Blader Project (Vol. 1~10) and BB Victory (Vol. 1~8). G-Revolution the volumes were called by the series name G Revolution and the volume number. There are 17 DVD volumes in G-Revolution.

When Beyblade was dubbed by Nelvana, the DVDs for the first season were only released in dub edited format. The second season V-Force DVDs have only been released in Australia in a box set of 12 episodes. When Beyblade G-Revolution was released by Funimation on DVD. Volumes 1~4 were edited-only English dub, but due to fan outcry, Volume 5 onwards contains the original Japanese episodes as well as the dubbed version. Volumes 5 and 6 were released but no new releases have been confirmed.

Video Games

There have been several video games based on the show, spanning multiple consoles. However, as is the case with many video games based on licensed properties these games have been critically panned.

Game List

Trading Card Game

Released in 2003 by Decipher, Inc. the Beyblade Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on the Beyblade anime series.2 It was designed to be simplistic in nature with a slow learning curve. In one format of the game, players did not even need to know how to read.3 Decipher's attempts at a kid's game failed, however, due to limited popularity of the series with children, and rules too simple to attract experienced gamers. Only one set was released, though at least two others were planned.

Notes

  1. ^ Lycos 50 - Beyblade, The Other Toy Fad
  2. ^ "Beyblade Collectible Trading Card Game Review". KidzWorld.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
  3. ^ Ness, Alex. "Beyblade TCG Review". Pop Thought. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.

External links

English

Japanese

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