Entertainment Media
In
anime and
manga, the story is about a group of children battling
with highly powerful
spinning tops enchanted with sacred 'bit beasts' or
spirits of
mythical and powerful creatures.
The show focuses on the battles between beyblading teams.
The protagonist team, the
Blade Breakers, includes
Tyson Granger (Takao Kinomiya in the original Japanese
versionsn),
Kai Hiwatari,
Max Tate (Max Mizuhara),
Ray (Rei Kon/Rei Kong), and Kenny (Kyoji) who battle it
out against teams across the globe to be the world's best
beybladers.
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 and keeps its original right to left format,
though names are changed to match the English anime version.
In
Singapore, it is published in English by
Chuang Yi.
There have also been several video games based on the
show, spanning the
Game Boy Advance,
PlayStation and
GameCube. However, as is the case with many video games
based on licensed properties these games have been
critically panned.
Beyblade Games
American changes
Arriving in United States, Beyblade was
significantly changed by
Nelvana, as with many other
anime series. The most notable of the changes include:
- New intro/opening sequences.
- Several characters' names were changed,
many characters having their Japanese names changed to
English alternatives.
- Instrumental soundtracks were changed
to pop-punk style music, with lyrics. There wasn't any
original Japanese soundtrack remaining.
- Logos originally displayed in Japanese
were redesigned in English.
- Some scenes considered inappropriate
for children were cut, although Beyblade was not
originally designed with only younger viewers in mind.
- In V-Force, Ray's first new beyblade
was called Driger 5, but its original name is Driger V.
- AJ Topper and Brad Best were added to
make comments about the tournaments; these were originally
only made by DJ Jazzman.
- Kenny's "bitbeast", Dizzi, was added
for comic relief during the first two seasons. It was said
in the dub version that she accidentally entered his
laptop causing her to speak. She did not appear in the
third season. Originally, in the Japanese version, she
couldn't speak, but somehow she existed.
- Before every official fight, a small
scene talking about the bladers and the stadium appears.
First, it shows the stadium, in different angles, with its
name. Then it shows an image of the blader, his/her attack,
defense and endurance points, name and special attack. An
image and name of the bit beast also appears.
- Elements of the dialogue were also
changed, sometimes leading to incongruity between the
dialogue and what happens onscreen.
- Every episode and season had its title
changed from its Japanese counterpart, except for the
third season's title (G-Revoluton).
- In the conclusion of G-Revolution,
Beyblade's last season, the original version contained
some images showing all the characters that ever made an
important appearance, like those in V-Force and those who
didn't return in G-Revolution. For some reason, Nelvana
censored the images, although they were nothing but images
showing all the characters.
TV series
Beyblade has a total of 3 seasons with about 51 episodes
in each. The Japanese names for each season have been put in
the brackets. In season one the beyblades were drawn by hand
only, but in seasons two and three they were brought to life
with a mix of drawings and
CGI.
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