Beyblade (ベイブレード Beiburēdo) is an anime and manga, taken from a childrens' game in Japan and created to sell more merchandise, is about a group of children battling with highly powered spinning tops enchanted with sacred 'bitbeasts' or spirits of mythical and powerful creatures.

The show focuses on the battles between beyblading teams. The hero team are the blade breakers including Tyson Granger (Takao Kinomiya in the Japanese), Kai Hiwatari, Max Tate (Max Mizuhara), Ray Kon (Rei Kon), and Kenny (Kyōju) 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 Communications. The manga keeps its original right to left format. The names are changed to the English version names. In Singapore, it is published in English by Chuang Yi.

Characters

Names are in Western order, with the given name before the surname. The English names are after the Japanese names.

• Takao Kinomiya (木ノ宮タカオ Kinomiya Takao) / Tyson Granger - The main character. Tyson's bitbeast is the wind dragon, Dragoon.

• Kai Hiwatari (火渡カイ Hiwatari Kai) - Kai is an introverted character who has a tough mentality into fighting with Beyblades. His bitbeast is the fire phoenix, Dranzer.

• Max Mizuhara (水原 マックス Mizuhara Makkusu) / Max Tate - Max is a young kid and a good strategist. His bitbeast is a water turtle Draciel.

• Rei Kon (金 李 Kon Rei) / Ray Kon - Ray is a member of the White Tigers team who later joins Tyson's team. Ray's bitbeast is the thunder tiger, Driger.

• Kyōju (キョウジュ) / Kenny Kyoju - The brains and the beyblade repairs of the group. He's not much of a beyblader when compared to his team. Kenny's Beyblade is Einstein, named Hopper in the dub.

• Daichi Sumeragi (皇　大地 Sumeragi Daichi) / Daichi - Daichi is a hyperactive youngster. His bitbeast is the terrain dragon, Gaia Dragoon, named Strata Dragoon in the dub.

• Hiromi Tachibana (立花　ヒロミ Tachibana Hiromi) / Hilary Tatibana - The only female member of the BladeBreakers (or the BBA team in Japan). She does not beyblade herself and maintains the sister role in the group.

Note: Drigger, Dranzer, Dragoon, and Draciel are the alter-egos of the chinese gods Seiryū (Dragoon), Byakko (Drigger), Suzaku (Dranzer), and Genbu (Draciel).

Series

Beyblade has a total of 3 seasons, though generally quite similar, each with about 51 episodes in each. The Japanese names for each season have been put in the brackets.

• Beyblade (Beyblade 2000) - In which the main teams opposing the protagonists are often quartets with some trait in common
  • White Tigers (China, four neko-jins from the same rural clan; Rei's old friends and former team who feel he has betrayed them, they are captained by Rei's former best friend);
  • PPB All Starz (USA, four jocks/athletes playing typically American sports - baseball [Michael], basketball [Eddy], American football [Steve], and tennis [Emily]);
  • Majestics (Europe, four extremely wealthy young men; each happens to be an excellent Blader in his own right, but when they are forced to work together prove to be poor teammates);
  • Demolition Boys (Russia, four young men trained in a harsh paramilitary environment; wear clothing reminscient of Soviet military garb and carry gun-style launchers)

• Beyblade V-Force (Beyblade 2002) - A new main character, Hilary Tatibana (Hiromi Tachibana), is added to the cast.

• Beyblade G-Revolution (Same name) - Two new main characters, Daichi (Daichi Sumeragi ) and Hiro Granger /Jin of the Gales (Hitoshi Kinomiya/Shippu No Jin) are added to cast.

Broadcasting

In the United States, the show can be seen on JETIX on ABC Family and Toon Disney, while in Canada, the show can be seen on YTV.

In the United Kingdom, the show can be seen on Toonami (Moved from Cartoon Network) and on Five (TV).

In Australia, the show can be seen on Cheez TV.

In Ireland, the show can be seen on RTÉ Two, in The Den.

External links

• Beyblade official website
• JETIX U.S. Beyblade website
• YTV Beyblade website
• Hasbro Beyblade website
• Beyblade X A Fansite
• Beyblade fansite
• Another Beyblade fansite