Bakuten Shoot Beyblade

STORY: 7/10
Though it begins as a team of boys merely wanting to be the champions of the Beyblading world, the story of Bakuten Shoot Beyblade soon branches out into various "arcs" that give you insight into a particular character, and through each of their individual ordeals the group as a whole become closer to one another. While there's also the somewhat cliche issue of global takeover to deal with, it seems primarily to be a tale of friendship and, discreetly, cultural diversity. Though the main protagonists all band together to represent Japan, each comes from a different corner of the globe, and the friends they ... make during their travels also originate from various countries and socioeconomic backgrounds. So if nothing else, the themes certainly make this a good anime to watch. There's also a little bit of supernatural awesomeness in the form of "bit beasts," for those who love their fantasy and enjoy a hats-off to mythology.

ART: 6/10
I'm not much of an art or animation guru within the anime industry, but I thought the animation was decent enough. The style made for some cute and funny expressions on occasion, and it was somewhat amusing for me to watch the cat-like eyes of the entire White Tigers team adjust in moments of anger or annoyance.

SOUND: 2/10
I sincerely wish I could get my hands on a Japanese sub, so I could really judge the music of the original untouched anime for what it is. But as I'm stuck with the dub, I'll say this: the music is nothing interesting. In fact, it can be irritating on occasion, as the same songs are constantly on repeat through different battles. The score is also severely underdeveloped, and barely even noticeable. Doesn't do much for the show at all.

CHARACTER: 8/10
For a "sport" anime directed toward a younger audience, the characters have an unexpected level of depth and story. None of them are as one-sided as they seem to be at first glance, and the majority have to cope with issues that are by no means light; divorce and betrayal being just a few. Most of the characters go through some form of change, becoming either more mature or more accepting of the differences between themselves and other people. While I think that the central character Tyson and his friend Kenny should have been expanded on a little more like their teammates, it seems that their primary development was saved for a later instalment, so I supposed I can't be too dissatisfied.

ENJOYMENT/OVERALL: 8/10
While it may not be some grandose tale of hardship or an action-packed epic like most other anime (but then, "most other" anime usually means viewing for mature watchers), Beyblade is good for what it is: a fun comedy with the occasional 'touch of darkness.' I'd definitely recommend it to your kid sister or brother.

When it comes to kiddie anime, I usually do not give out tens. And msot of what I say is opinion, not fact. So don't take it too personal just because I perfer this season over the other two.

Story:

Spinning tops has never been this badass before! And I love how they made it into an extreme professional sport. If you were to explain the story to someone who has never seen the anime, it would come off as silly to them.

Art:

The art style is pretty unique. I didn't like how the style was altered to look OMFG KAWAII ^__^ and like your typical ... kiddie anime.

Sound:

It was pretty great. And for once English dubbers picked the right voice actors.

Characters:

The BladeBreakers are pretty much the most memorable characters I've noticed in anime. They're the only protagonists that I never got annoyed with. You can say that Takao is the main character, but in a way, him, Kai, Rei and Max are all the main characters and aren't there for just support. It's a good thing that you are led to hate the despicable Boris and you're led to root for Takao and friends.

Enjoyment:

This season holds my most cherished childhood memories that I had between grade 5-7. How could anyone not enjoy this?

I watched this when I was 12-14 years old, after I have already damaged my brain with Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. I did enjoy it, but even 12-14 years old kid can see why is something happening (for the coolness and for money) and major...failures.

Story:
Take Yu-gi-oh, make the deck with one card, that is getting stronger (Pokemon?) and make a basic toy. Add something techy and here you go - you have a Beyblade! No, the story isn't that bad, but that is just because it is MADE for being bad. Who cares actually? The bad are bad, the good are good, one good guy is ... becoming bad (Sasukeeeeee!) and then good again. Friendship, love and peace always prevail.

Art:
Since it is MADE to be like an average Yu-gi-oh+Pokemon shonen it has to have something to catch the eye. The battles have effects, the Beyblades have very good animations, the creatures are very good too. So far 9. But the overall animation is not that good, static backgrounds are common issue and are very different from the battles. If you have watched Code Geass you know that the animation can be much better in that direction. But are there 12-14 years old kids have seen it?

Sound:
The fact that I can't remember anything bad about the sound (except "Let it rip" or common curses and screams) is the reason for the 6. I remember the good voice acting, good sounds when they have "Let it rip" and the screams of the monsters.

Characters:
Very shonen, very immature and pretty well developed. Another strong point. When you think Naruto is an idiot and Sasuke is an EMO, then you see, that the characters are not so standard (well, they are, but in a better way). They pretty much behave like humans and not like the average shonen idiots (Goku, Lufy, Naruto, etc.).

Enjoyment:
You know when a thing is something more than the sum of it's parts. Well, here it is less. I liked it, but I didn't really enjoy it nearly as much as other shonen titles. Again - Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon are much more fun, because they make a new world - the author makes the rules or breaks them. Here they are trying to make you believe that the world is real. But it is not. And even a 12-14 years old kid understood that.

Overall:
The overall score is a little higher, because it is unfair such a good, pure shonen anime to be hated that much. It is unreal, but who cares?! Hellsing: The ultimate isn't. Berserk isn't. But they are good, aren't they? So if you like animes for kids - go ahead. I like a little more realistic and mature titles.

With a friend we made an army to take over the world - Pokemon hooligans, Bayblade Pedobears and cards-cerebral-destroyers. Well, they can destroy mountains (Pokemons), crush walls and are like power plant s (Bayblades) and can cause serious, sometimes deadly brain damage (Yu-gi-oh cards).

Ok, after reading some of the reviews for this show here on MAL, my conclusion is that what is even more pathetic than Beyblade is the fact that some of you are spending so much of your energy bashing this Anime for not being the next Akira. What did you expect? It's obvious that it's a show designed to give the audience some mindless entertainment and nothing else. Do I think that Beyblade is a fantastic Anime? NO!! Did I enjoy watching Beylade? YES! At least, parts of it. You see, sometimes the point of watching cartoons is to just kick back, relax and have ... some "mindless" fun. In my opinion, Beyblade succeeds in providing us with such an experience. It is not, by any means, the sort of Anime that you will take seriously but if you watch it for the right reasons, you might be surprised at how fun it can be.

Sure, the concept of kids taking "spinning tops" seriously is ludicrous at the very least. But since when is it any less ludicrous for Yagami Light to have the ability to kill people with a notebook, or for Lelouch to have the ability to control peoples actions with his eyes, or for Naruto to act like a Neanderthal whilst managing to beat opponents with twice the brute strength and a hundred times the intelligence as his? Lets face it!! It's all UNREALISTIC and SILLY, but that's not the point is it? Sometimes its fun to just watch something that doesn't require a great deal of thinking, and Beyblade is a good match for that.

So stop whining about how bad this Anime is. When you are having one of those days when you just want to unwind after a busy day of studying or working, just take off your smelly socks and give Beyblade a go. In other words, LET IT RIP!!!!

Where to start?! Beyblade was a huuuuuugeeee obsession of mine when I was younger, and I still hold a soft spot in my heart for it. I remember watching the very first episode when it aired, and them announcing the show as "BEYBLADE" with no images of the show yet. I was intrigued, since I'd never heard of the title before, thinking it would be some lame American tv show...but from the first episode, I was hooked.

Yes, the whole concept seems moronic....Who would have thought that you could stretch a storyline about spinning tops to three 51-episode long seasons and a spin off sequel? But ... it worked (at least for the first three seasons, MFB's a totally different story)!

Story:
It might not be the most creative storyline out there, but I must give them kudos for making a story about spinning tops somewhat interesting. I did watch the English dub, so I can't say for sure what I may have missed out on due to editing, but for the most part the storyline was enjoyable, albeit mostly predictable. Kind of like Pokemon, but with spinning tops.

Art:
The art in this season isn't a style from anime that I typically like; the characters, especially Tyson, can sometimes look kind of grotesque and just strange...In fact when I started seeing the artwork of the second and third seasons unveiled, I thought that the first season was a version specifically created by a western company, because it was so different from most other animes in terms of colouring and design. But, in the end, when compared to the other two seasons, I do like this one the best, and I am upset that they decided to change the art each season. I like the characters' designs the best in this first season. And yes, like many other fangirls of the franchise, I did fall in love with Kai and Tala, whose designs this season were the most appealing to me out of the three.

Sound:
I watched the English dub for all three seasons. I heard the Bladebreakers' voices once in Japanese and refused to EVER watch it in Japanese. I really liked the way they sounded more mature in the English dub, and their voices suited them well. Yes, I also enjoyed the music...the English sk8tr boi music...some of it is pretty decent.

Character:
The characters MADE this series. If they had chosen a less bishounen group (case in point--METAL FIGHT BEYBLADE) this wouldn't have been so successful in the fan community. It's the characters that made me want to keep watching the series to find out what happened to them, how things turned out for them and so on. I found that even characters I wouldn't typically like I ended up loving--there was no one in the series I can genuinely say that I hated. Plus, I would be remiss if I didn't give this category a 10 for Kai alone....

Enjoyment:
The fact that this was such a huge part of my life means of course I enjoyed it! But obviously I wouldn't recommend this anime to just anyone. It's kind of difficult to enjoy unless you had some connection to it while you were younger. For example, if you're 25 and began to watch Pokemon for the first time in your life ever, you would be pretty weirded out to say in the least.

Overall, I really did enjoy this anime, and yes this season holds a soft spot like no other season of Beyblade (especially Metal Fight *shudder*). I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, as it's such a strange concept for a storyline that I really don't know anyone who would understand it...But the characters definitely make it worth your while.

This anime starts off with your average kid, tyson, who loves to beyblade and almost devotes his time to the 'sport'. Then Tyson hears of an unbeatable blader, then he embarks on his journey to become champion beyblader of the world, with the help of his good friends : Kenny, max, Ray, and another champion blader.

Ok sooo:
This anime's storyline is quite good, and it was fun to watch and quite new for the first 10 or so episodes. Although further on it becomes a little repetitive, some of the inside storylines are quite good, for example Ray's past.
The art on the other hand, i wasn't ... as impressed with, i remember watching this when i was a kid, so i decided to watch it again, but i didn't realise how poor the art was going to be, and though i admit some characters are drawn to better standards than others, some of the characters art just plain...uhh well they arent very good, kenny being one.
Please note that i am refering to the english dub version, as i couldnt find the jap with subs, although later on i may write another review on the jap with subs version, and maybe it will be a little better.
The sound is actually pretty good, and some of the background songs are quite catchy, but it's a shame they dont have any original instrumental tracks because they jazzed them up.
Ok, now for the characters. Some of the character concepts are pretty good, but they arent the most 'original' of characters. Theirs the usual types of this kind of anime but then there ARE some pretty unique characters.
Ok, so far i have really enjoyed watching this, i just hope it doesnt slope down hill from here, i will report back after watching all episodes, although i have gotten bored on occasional episodes, i think its safe to say overall this anime is worth watching if you like this type of anime. Peace Out!

If you look at this show as a whole now, it a pretty average show that might seem forgettable to many who watch it now. If I were to give it an objective score then it would be 6/7 across the board since the show is pretty average.

But for me and many other people from my generation, Beyblade will always hold a special place in our hearts. This is one of the best things that I got to see as a child.
It takes me down nostalgia lane and that is part of the reason why I have given it an unreasonable 10/10 when it comes ... to enjoyment.

Story:- (7/10)
The story is plain and simple. A guy likes playing with spinning tops called Beyblades so he goes around the world to become the best there is.

There is no epic backstory or prologue, it's just some spinning tops with superpowers cause why not? Considering that the target audience, this is a perfect power fantasy that kids can buy into since it is not too complicated for them.

Art:- (7/10)
The art is pretty average for the time in which this show was produced but the designs were very over the top and catchy. The characters in the show are not trying to be shown as realistic anyway so the creators went all out to make them all as unique and edgy as possible while maintaining the cool factor.

The Beyblades and the bit-beasts themselves are quite appealing which is apparent from the number of Beyblades that were bought by children around the world after this show aired.

Sound:- (7/10)
The Rock soundtracks are classic and reflect the same approach as most shows around that time had taken but I have to say that the English versions very memorable and I can instantly start vibing to them to this day.

Characters:- (6/10)
The characters don't really have a lot of depth or realism but considering the target audience, I suppose that is justified.

The creator obviously wanted them all to be very different from one another so that the viewers could at least relate to some characters and frankly speaking it totally works as planned. When I think of the word "cool" Tyson is still one of the very first characters that comes to my mind.

Enjoyment:- (10/10)
This show was one of my childhood favourites and I can still appreciate it and enjoy it a lot but realistically speaking, if a new viewer were to watch it then their enjoyment would be around 6 because there are so many options now.

Overall:- (10/10)
It should be 7.5-8/10 realistically but I'm gonna be subjective and give it 10/10 regardless.

P.S: "Never gonna take me down" is still one of my favourite tracks to this day.
LET ITTTT RIPPPPPP!

Usually "Saturday morning anime" is enjoyable. This is probably one of the few exceptions I ever made to this category.

The story is common, but even common things can be fun. It's just that this sport is far from "cool". The weapon here is a top toy. And that, at least for me and for my six year old acquaintances, is ridiculous. The toys come with "spirits". Better than nothing. Except that their animations were so terrible that what could be heroic turned boring.

The character party is also very used and very loved. However, I don't know if it's for their hair art or something else, ... it's hard to identify with the "heroes" and wish for them to keep winning.

In the end, it is fun for a while, but 51 episodes is too much (even when an awesome series airs after it). There were many ways to turn this into an awesome anime. Everything had the potential (even though top toys are not the toy of choice of influential children), but nobody bothered to spend some resources to make it.

Ok Imma start out by saying im not much of a writer so I may say something that sounds confusing or etc etc. I guess.....live with it?

Anyway the point of my reviews are to give people a clear understanding on whether or not to watch a series or not. If i can achieve this then i think my review done its job. I try not to give any details to the story itself (That is in theory what a summery is for) I just try to state Pro's and Con's.

First I think anybody who is planning on watching this or that is about to watch ... this use to watch Beyblade back when it was out in America (or wherever you live) I like to assume for this series not many people just randomly wanna "pick it up", moving on Beyblade is a pretty good show it has its moments and it's pretty enjoyable overall to old viewers.

Story: The story is pretty Mediocre *cough* Like seriously it turns from the "We are Beyblading for fun YAY!!!!!" to "WE HAVE TO BLADE TO SAVE THE WORLD!!!!" It's is another Yu-Gi-Oh scenario where the world in Theory is relying on kids for probably the most kiddish thing. This wasn't a real bump for me when watching but I know many of people who would have complained and bitched about this..... If you are one of these people I guess stay away? Also worth stating this series is pretty fast the average match takes about 15 minutes and although there is alot of talk it honestly never feel "Overwhelming" (Ok, Ok u got me......maybe ONCE or TWICE but that is it)

Art: I personally enjoyed the art style and the Animation is pretty fluid imo. Compared to this series sequels i can honestly say i enjoyed this series art style the most. I think it is a pretty average art style that many can like without being annoyed. As stated the art style as stated is pretty fluid and pretty stable there wasn't a moment/ Episode where the animation seemed really cheap or even really expensive just to go back down to average.

Sound: I personally enjoyed the sound this series OST was pretty good (Dub (im not sure if the Japanese Version has different Sounds)) it had its own music and also it would que at the right times (Sad Music in emotional times, Power Music when things where starting to speed up again etc etc).

Characters: The characters in this show is what would most likely make this show shine, most most defiantly the best part in this series. This is one of those series where the main character grows on you and just watching them Beyblade SOMETIMES feel rewarding since they usually always pull through in the end.

Overall: Hmm. Watching this series from episode 1 to the end is pretty enjoyable. You may run into series with deeper stories and better characters and etc etc. However if you are looking for a simple series to watch that isnt to complex then Beyblade is a pretty good series.... I can honestly say it wont be the most rememberable series you watch but you wont regret watching it.

The story flow had a very few filler which happened to be healthy, but the characters and the objectives made this passionate Bladebreaker team always moved on to the next fun and progress what it served to entertain us. Many cliché elements happened to be enjoyable as well and every region gave us pleasantly cringy enemies who are participating in each region of championship to be the greatest Beyblade champ. Even if these characters are in a team and intended to win together they mostly want the victory to themselves. The competionists and ability measurement is present also in a time when the teams are ... in the middle of a leasure business like reach a hotel, traveling, talk to new friends or enemies who introduce each other, the characters happens to reach our hearts in a unique way. So sad that the artstyle is wastly different after the 1st season which killed the passion inside me to continue the series despite it has a really healthy length for a series. I recommend Beyblade to everyone, who wish to see a unique artstyle and a passionate anime, where the characters develop in personality pretty well.

Money. We want money. Adults have money. Adults have kids. Kids like toys. Kids watch cartoons. We can make toys. We can make a TV show. We can make a TV show about the toys.

Kids. What do kids watch? What do kids like? Kids like friends. Kids like competition. Kids like superpowers. Kids like heroes. Most importantly, kids like toys. So the show can be about this sport where these kids compete with their toys which have superpowers and eventually, they save the world from evil and preach about friendship every single episode.

And then it worked. Those poor little rascals never saw it ... coming. They definitely bought the toys. And I am one of them too.

Looking back at Beyblade it is fairly obvious that this form of binary logic was used. I remember how much I liked the show and how interesting I found the toys. I definitely did not understand why. I was young, naive and impressionable, and Beyblade was an experience I have never had before. And even now, even if after rewatching it I see it as something that was built with the purpose of selling toys, I still remember it fondly and can still enjoy it for what it is. There's two things that I enjoy about it as it is now. How these attempts at being "cool" fail miserably, how the english dub can get quite silly at certain points and seeing how much of the show was built around selling Beyblades to kids.

How much of the show is dedicated to selling the toy? Well, pretty much the entire thing. And the binary logic I used extends further to it but I won't have you suffer through it again. First of all, to ensure that Beyblades will be considered cool by kids, in the show they will be associated with other things they find cool. In most cases, it will be animals, as every Beyblade has a bitbeast, which is this thing that gives them superpowers which is essentially a spirit. The main characters bitbeasts' are designed after the Four Saint Beasts from chinese mythology, with each representing an element. in the mind of me as a child they were essentially: A dragon, a tiger, a phoenix and a turtle. Turtles were cool at the time because ninja turtles were popular. They also get to live 100 years and have solid shells, so shut up. But the beyblades were not only associated with animals, but with other things kids found cool. Like for instance, there are beyblades themed after sports, after historical warriors, and so on. There was even a beyblade that was drawing its power from rap. Yeah, I told you, the show can get quite lame at times and it really just tried to associate things with things kids might find cool and that appeal to them.

Afterwards it tried to overexagerate characteristics associated with these things, like making the beyblades able to use those four elements or giving the beyblades unrealistic abilities or features. Like having beyblades wrapped in wool cloth because they have a sheep bitbeast.

Aside from associating beyblades with "cool" shit to give them more appeal to kids, the series also tries to make beybladed feel like they have a lot more value, by having the characters learn valuable life lessons mostly concerning friendship. They are also added the weight of good vs evil, where the main characters have to defeat the ominous evil. It isn't something with much depth, just the generic importance of friendship plotline.

Another element that beyblade likes to present a lot is the fact that beyblades as toys are customizable, through the guise of needing a strategy to win. So essentially this means that every time you have to optimize your beyblade based on your opponent so that it will perform optimally against them. This in truth is supposed to have the effect of: Having every character change their beyblade from time to time, this creating even more toys to sell in various different other variations and not keeping the kids bored once they have bought it, since if their beyblade doesn't do well or is not that impressive, buying another and combining its parts might fix that.

In truth, Beyblade is an experience you can only enjoy as a child or someone that has watched it when they were a child. Because that is who it is marketed towards. Having these same tactics applied on an adult, would fail miserably because they would not fail to see it through. Its story is nothing you haven't seen before, it's kids playing with their toys to defeat evil and become better at the game they play as well as better friends. The world of beyblade is exaggerated and focuses as beyblade as an international sport and a historical grand reaching activity that has been practiced since ancient times. Every episode the characters learn a lesson about friendship or being sportsmanlike. It is enjoyable to see how it has not aged well since as I have said, it has a lot of lame into it. It is filled with corny lines and things an adult thought might sound cool to a kid at the time s well as a lot of Sum 41 knock off songs that are replayed in almost every battle. It's the "swag yolo" attitude of the 90's that carried in the early 2000's.

I recommend watching Beyblade to people that have watched it as children, since as I have said, that experience was made for you when you were a kid. It is a show of its time, and you might be surprised at how much lamer it was compared to how you might remember it. Don't get me wrong, I am still fond of the series, I still found it entertaining because it is one of the first shows of its type that I have ever watched to completion. And even if I find it lame now, it's entertaining to see what was thought ot be cool at the ime and aimed to get me to be like "WHOA THAT IS AWESOME DAD BUY ME ONE!" In any other context, this is just a lame show about the power of friendship and defeating evil that tries to sell a product to kids. If you haven't seen one by now, you can give it a go to see what tactics are used when trying to do so. Other than that, you're better off watching the show that tried to sell you toys initially to see that it tried the exact same thing on you. Or maybe I am wrong and there are shows that have more to them than that that also sell toys.

Story 6/10

This is another anime geared at selling a product - essentially 51 20 minute adverts that gain ad revenue. Absolute genius marketing. However, a fair amount of effort seems to be put into this. While the overarching plot is about as generic as you can get from a sports anime with supernatural powers in the mix, what makes the story shine is the interactions and development that the 4 main characters of Tyson, Kai, Ray and Max have on each other.

The sport of Beyblading isn't exaggerated, and is portrayed similar to sports in the real world. There are regional and international tournaments where ... the athletes (beybladers) compete for trophies. Some of these bladers have mystical beasts inside their spinning tops that help them in battle.

The story follows the previously named main characters, all of which I imagine to be 12-14 years old, on their quest to win trophies. Along their way, they deal with many very realistic themes which make you more emotionally invested in these characters and thus makes you care about this show about spinning tops. There's an arc where Max has to deal with the divorce of his parents and earning the respect of his mother; Ray has an arc where he has to deal with his old friends thinking that he betrayed them, and Kai has to deal with some very traumatic events regarding his upbringing which leads him to some very conflicting decisions.

Art 4/10

The artwork is not great, and average at best. Comparing it to other anime at the time (2000), such as Pokemon, it does not stack up well. While the bitbeasts have great designs, they are held back by their extremely clunky animation - if you can even call it that. The human characters look fine - nothing particularly great and as if you'd find them from a "how to draw manga" book. The beyblades themselves look like coloured anime triangles.

Sound 7/10

I only watched the English version, so I can only give an opinion for that, but the soundtrack was great. Soundtracks covering battles had lyrics and a pop punk sound that sounded as if Sum 41 made them. This certainly hit the mark of its time, and fills the viewer with nostalgia of the 90s and early 2000s when the songs start. They also work very well to give the show a flavour of attitude.

The non-vocal soundtrack seems pretty generic and average when compared to other anime, but it does its job decently nonetheless by painting the mood well for the scenes that they play in.

The voice acting can be off at times, especially near the beginning of the series, but there are some funny lines which can make you feel like a kid again. While clunky at first, the voice actors consistently do a good job of portraying the characters how they should be.

Characters 8/10

As said before, the show derives most of its value from how likeable the characters are thanks to their realistic personalities, ordeals and interactions with one another. At surface value, they seem like cliche shounen anime archetypes: Tyson is supposed to be the generic protagonist; Max is the super friendly weaker minded one; Kai is the archetypal rival to Tyson, and Ray is the cool, strong and silent type.

However, it gets a lot deeper than that. Ray has a facade of confidence which he uses as a coping mechanism formed by coming from a purely meritocratic society. He initially equates his self-worth with his skills and has a strict moral code. Kai is a dick for most of the series, but his personality is explained by his upbringing. He hides his emotions and finds it difficult to trust people and form bonds. He is also the most knowledgable and reliable in terms of skill and offers harsh realism. Max brings a well needed carefree friendly attitude which contrasts Kai. He has to deal with his parents' divorce during one arc, and through this gains his much needed confidence boost. Tyson somewhat is your typical shounen protagonist, and his development comes in later seasons. However, he does seem far more believable and realistic than many others of his archetype from the way he speaks to his interactions with his friends. He cares a lot for his friends and helps them get over their internal struggles.

Overall, the characters are fun to watch grow and help each other become more well-rounded human beings. It's more about this than the actual sport of Beyblading.

Enjoyment 9/10

I watched this as a kid, and then again as a teenager and enjoyed it even more the second time round. Full of nostalgia, a fun soundtrack and very relatable and likeable characters. It is a fun watch that can get you surprisingly emotionally invested.

Overall 7/10

As of writing this review I only have a few episodes of this season left. However being this far in I do still think I can make a fair judgement. I will update this if I feel any major changes happen in these last 6 episodes that change my opinion

Beyblade is just one of those franchises I love. The toys are great and the franchise is still ongoing with new content today with the Burst series and the Beyblade Rising manga. I got into this franchise in the days of Metal Fight watching everything up to Zero G. However as a kid I had no ... access to the original series as it was never rerun on Cartoon Network circa 2010 so I didn’t even know it existed until my mother got me this pack of cards based on Beyblade V-Force which got me interested in the original generation. Now as an adult after getting back into the toy line, after finding an official release of the first 2 seasons on YouTube with G-Rev currently in the process of being uploaded I decided to give this original generation a try.

Story 7/10

Beyblade Season 1’s storyline is rather simple with Tyson, Kai, Ray, Max and Kenny traveling around the world to compete in Beyblade tournaments to get better at the game and reach the top. It’s a rather simple storyline but it’s really effective. This anime unlike Yu-Gi-Oh was made after the toy line came out in Japan with the release of Ultimate Dragon and Ultimate Frostic Dranzer and the Beyblade Game Boy Color game being released in 1999 and the anime being released in 2001. Even though this is a promotional anime it doesn’t affect the story too much. Characters upgrading their Beyblades to the newer models is done naturally in the story and even though yes this is a cheap marketing tactic, it’s really cool to see how these changes affect how the characters play the game and how it enhances the power of the bit beasts that represent the fighting spirit of the Blader. It’s a very generic storyline I’ll give you that but it’s still a damn good one especially if you are a fan of the toys and love the cast of characters.

Art 7/10

Animated by MADHouse the art is at a consistently good quality and the animation on the Beyblades themselves is done in the same style as the characters. In later series the Beyblades are CGI so it was rather refreshing to see the Beyblades drawn in the style of everything else in the show. Outside of the Beyblades themselves the characters are drawn in a smooth and rounded style. Very few characters have super sharp edges outside of the eyes and hair on certain characters. Characters have rather large irises in their eyes with defined pupils and highlights. There are lots of very thin line details as well, however on the official streams being in 480p some of these line details can be crushed and or become very pixelated. Overall the art is pretty good but due to the resolution of the official stream, I feel that the artwork itself suffers as it isn’t as well defined as it’s supposed to be on the line edges. Besides how generic the story is there is one other problem with the show that pops up in the writing. In the English dub besides some out of date lingo being used to be cool with kids in 2001, the dub also decided to change a lot of character names while keeping the original nationality so you end up with Chinese characters who were isolated from the rest of society being named such western names as Gary and Mariah. Also the dub decided to replace Kenny checking on his computer and relaying information to the Bladebreakers with a bit beast named Dizzi stuck in his computer which does everything for him probably to replace the text on the computer. That was dumb

Sound 4/10

This is a bit of an awkward one. There is no legal way to watch this show in Japanese so I ended up watching the show in English. The dub has to be one of the worst dubs I’ve heard from a native English speaking region of the world. Nelvana made some really bad decisions with the casting and directing. While most anime and cartoons will use adult female actors or men with higher pitched voices to play child characters, Nelvana made the decision to cast all the characters with age appropriate actors. However this led to some problems. The character voices around very still especially for these younger characters and when your main characters are 5 11 year old boys it becomes extremely noticable when they can’t hit emotional moments and screams very well. Some of the adult voices also sound rather stiff but it is much worse with the kids. I looked at the Japanese cast a little bit and it seems much better but I cannot judge as I am unable to view this version. One of the biggest strengths of the dub though is the music. The opening theme song “Lets Beyblade” is an absolute banger with those sick guitar riffs and those cheesy lyrics. The battle music is also really intense for the generic themes, but when the dub hits an insert song it also has that same cheese as the intro that is just amazing to jam out to. I’d reccomend looking for the Let it Rip CD if you like these songs as it has some of the songs from all the seasons as well as some extra songs from popular American bands from around the time the show came out. However the dub quality itself being so bad outweighs the great music leading to this poor score.

Characters 7/10

The characters in Beyblade is one of the strongest parts of the show. Tyson is really excitable and aggressive in his battling which can be to his detriment at times but his spirit shows through in how much he is willing to do for his friends. Kenny is the smart one who analyzes all of the opponents of the BladeBreakers and is the brains of the team. He doesn’t play very much but he is always willing to help the team from the sidelines by analyzing opponents and upgrading everyone’s beyblades with new parts. Max is a half Japanese-half American Beyblader who is always enthusiastic and optimistic and plays with a defensive approach. Ray is a calm and levelheaded member of the team but can get really fierce in battle. He’s probably the most mature out of the team. Kai is a bit of a jerk. He’s arrogant and self centered and doesn’t really care about his team. This leads to tension throughout the show as he especially doesn’t get along with Tyson. Later episodes will test the strength of the bond of the team as you see the team grow closer together as they take on challenges big and small and in the Russian Championship arc you will get to see the main characters have something thrown in their dynamic that messes things up for a few episodes. Throughout the show the Bladebreakers will meet all sorts of opponents from all over the world with all sorts of crazy bit beats and a few of the teams have direct links to the Bladebreakers and their members that shed light on their pasts. Even if these characters aren’t the most fleshed out they are fun characters that are lovable for their simple traits and their unique play styles. Ray and Kai ended up being my favorite characters for their personalities but I’m also slightly biased and Dranzer is my favorite Gen 1 Beyblade Evolution line and Kai is just a badass with how rarely he plays but how devastating a punch he deals with Dranzer.

Overall I honestly really enjoyed Beyblade Season 1. I had a lot of fun watching it even through all the issues it had especially in the dub I watched. If I were to rate my enjoyment in a scale of 10 I would give it a solid 8. My critical score for the show is a 7 as it is a very very flawed show and those dub related issues really hold the series back, but I feel it isn’t as bad as the score on the site would make the average MAL user think. You gotta keep in mind this anime is a promotional anime made to sell toys first and foremost and is aimed at kids around ages 7-11 so it isn’t like the deepest anime. I generally feel it is necessary to give a little leeway for kids shows regarding this as first and foremost these anime are meant to be fun and enjoyable for audiences of all ages. Definitely give Beyblade season 1 a watch if you love the toys, you just might want to search out some Japanese subs as those will probably be the better product overall. I’m not sure about the Español Latino and the Brazilian Portuguese Dubs and their quality but they are based on the Nelvana English dub so I would expect a few of these same issues to carry over but don’t let that hold you back from enjoying the show. Enjoy it in whatever form you see best just maybe prioritize the original language track