The Original Beyblade Was Special.

Beyblade series 1 is completely unhinged and I kind of love it this year I discovered that all of Beyblade's original series is just chilling on YouTube officially legally I thought about how much I enjoyed rediscovering my childhood love for Digimon these past few years and with Beyblade just sitting there in front of me I figured I'd let it rip after watching through the first two arcs I'm here to report that Beyblade isn't as good as I remembered it's way better stupid he would always say um let it rip baby is nuts this is a Sports Anime and its structure but also a monster battling series like Digimon Pokemon Monster Rancher sure the monsters are trapped inside spinning tops but every main character is partnered with a monster of their own that fights battles for them Beyblade is absolutely one of those shows it also may be the definitive case of an English dub just Hamming it up everybody was too busy making fun of digimon's dub or the four kids one piece dub or Brock's jelly donuts to notice Beyblade going completely off the rails like you remember dizzy the bit Beast trapped inside Chiefs laptop not a real character in the Japanese version yeah the dub made her up this is what you're probably used to seeing on Chief's laptop and this is the exact same scene in the original and she's not the only dub original creation but we'll get to that in a bit let me be clear that this is not a takedown of Beyblade and its English dub but rather a lookback celebration of the Charming absurdity of this series the original show was kind of nuts regardless of language but the English edition and its Banger soundtrack is this Millennial classic episode one of series 1 starts with an all-timer of an opening line quote eons ago when the sport of beyblading was young powerful beasts roam the Earth so right away I knew I was in for a treat with my rewatch The voiceover goes on to talk about the old ways fading and how the beasts shall rise again then we meet Tyson and learn a bit about his life he's training with his disco hipop Grandpa who says things like my man and capish and yig after every sentence we meet what look like local bullies picking on Tyson but we soon learn they just want to b battle him because everybody in town knows he rules and they want to learn from the best Tyson is meant to battle a similarly talented Beyblader that day Andrew who is the weirdest looking kid I've ever seen in anime and I feel like the less I know about this character the better Carlos a shark who takes the Beyblades of everyone he beats demolishes Andrew before Tyson arrives there's this bizarre joke in the dub where Carlos starts laughing is asked what's so funny and he replies quote it's probably just a nervous laugh I used to hide my insecurity this is like a bridge series humor in the official show when Carlos exits the scene the local kids unpack what just happened and it's here that Tyson meets the chief Kenny as well as dizzy the bit Beast trapped inside the chief's computer like I mentioned up top she's a dub exclusive character and any of these sort of Beyblade analyzer images you saw throughout the show those were creations of the western production it's theorized that dizzy was included to add a girl character to the show's all boy main cast Hillary wouldn't join the cast until the second series so this Theory strikes me as logical the weird thing with Dizzy though is the fact that in the early episodes she's constantly flirting with the pre-teen cast of the show one of her first lines is quote when are you going to introduce me to your cute little friend in reference to Tyson she also asks Chief quote when are you and I going to have some alone time it's not good Tyson challenges Carlos to a bay battle by the river to win back to stolen Beyblades he defeats Carlos which is when Carlos's boss and the coolest character in the series Kai makes his first appearance he says I'm the leader of the blade sharks and then seconds later Chief gets that name wrong and says the bay sharks are the toughest as far as I can tell this is not like a bit or a joke where the character gets the name wrong to diffuse the tension just a funny dub inconsistency episode 2 contains another amazing script inconsistency in this episode Andrew explains what bit beasts are to Tyson even though in episode one Tyson responded to Dizzy's existence by saying you got a bit Beast trapped inside your computer here in episode 2 Tyson says what the heck is a bit Beast anyway but also Chief says I was meaning to introduce dizzy to you even though Tyson and dizzy were introduced to each other in episode one before we can think too much about it we cut to Carlos getting the Beyblade equivalent of an execution Kai announces that Carlos has embarrassed the blade sharks who have never lost a match then two of Kai's goons Pinn down Carlos while three others launch their blades at Carlos and Massacre his blade as he screams for Mercy this is ridiculous and again you can't say this is the dub being goofy because the source animation and the source scenario here are completely absurd as is the blade sharks kidnapped Chief in an effort to lure Tyson out to their warehouse and it works only Tyson has now rebuilt his Beyblade with dragon's spirit inside Kai's dronzer and Tyson's droon have their first of many legendary battles that ends in a draw Kai escapes Chief Andrew and Tyson go home and Andrew kind of stops getting screen time from here on out which is fine by me I don't want to look at him episode 3 starts with a puppy that's fallen into the river being pulled Downstream towards its demise for some reason this episode is ingrained in my mind like 20 years later I still remember this episode so vividly a new character Max does a trick shot with his Beyblade to move some logs that get the dog back on land the guy's befriend Max who I think has a great English voice it strikes me as very real for one of these English dubs Beyblade cast real teens for the lead roles and you can totally hear the authenticity also apparently in the Japanese version Max struggles with being half Japanese half American with most Japanese kids seeing him as foreign for his blonde hair and freckles Tyson and chief are the first people to befriend him despite him looking like a foreigner which is kind of sweet not really a thing in the dub though Max takes the guys to his dad's hobby shop slh house and shows them the gigantic practice ring in the basement he says my favorite line yet quote would you believe it was here when we bought the place which is so good it was it be easier to believe that Max's dad who owns a hobby shop would have had this installed but the show is so insistent on selling kids on the idea that Beyblade is such a core part of this world that some buildings just have Bay stadiums in them when you move in Tyson and Max have the equivalent of a Beyblade sparring match we meet Mr Dickinson the chairman of the official beyblading committee the BBA who encourages the boys to enter in the BBA Regional qualifiers kicking off the first of many tournament arcs in this beautiful series it's here in episode 4 onwards that the show hams up the be BBA segments like you're actually watching sports coverage whenever we're seeing footage from the tournaments we get this BBA watermark in the bottom of the screen I think this is legit hilarious and also kind of cool we get the host DJ jazman named blader DJ in Japanese no clue why they renamed him but he's like metabots Mr referee DJ jasman is not alone mind you we also get two Beyblade commentators my boys AJ topper and Brad best I'd show them on screen right now but I can't because they're Audio Only characters not only that they're dub only characters the English production really committed to the bit of having the tournaments be like a legit Sports Broadcast by creating two sports commentators who are explaining what we're seeing on screen with puns and zingers any chance they get cuz obviously this is an English dub they're like those ESPN commentator guys from dodgeball they're exactly that Tyson Max and Kai all advanced but we're also introduced to Mr Dickinson's mysterious star child Ray he's here from China by special invite flown in by Mr Dickinson our first serious match comes in episode 5 with mat Max versus Kai we all know Max isn't going to win but he puts up a hell of a fight prior to the fight Max's Dad gives him a pendant that belonged to his grandmother which he wears into battle after round one Max's blade flies out of the stadium and smashes the pendant but out comes a bit Beast or a bit you know what I mean quote I remember this from when I was very young grandma said it was a symbol of great power called dril he Clips the bit onto his green Beyblade and says this one's for you Grandma ultimately Kai takes it but backstage they have this good moment where Max congratulates Kai and Kai shows some respect back episode six is Tyson facing off against Ray Ray shatters Tyson's blade in round one and unless he can fix it Tyson has to Forfeit Kenny repairs it and adds a new defense ring with enough velocity to create a tornado Tyson takes round two and although the score is 1-1 Ray abruptly forfeit deciding there's no point in continuing since he really has no chance of beating Tyson which is objectively false because he quite literally beat Tyson in round one but it's a cool little moment in this tournament Arc it's also here I should mention the show has a break neck Pace I do not remember all of this originally taking place in 7 episodes but on the other hand I don't know how you could stretch out these Bay battles any longer than a single episode so episode seven starts and the finals take place in a cage match because of course they do Tyson takes round one pretty easily prompting Kai to take off his gauntlets it's a full-on weighted training close moment like in Dragon Ball Z he also tells Tyson you treat this like a game but I choose to compete only for family honor not for fun just wouldn't be anime without a rival motivated by Family Honor San Pride you know that whole thing Kai of course takes round two tying things up for round three here they do the thing that some anime will do where in like the series finale they play an instrumental version of the original theme song and you're reminded of how long and hard the journey has been so you're overwhelmed with emotion here in episode 7 they absolutely did not earn the play the theme song inside the show moment but I'm here for it and clearly the show is two Tyson takes round three winning the tournament and then without any of them being briefed or agreeing to this Mr Dickinson and DJ jazman announced in front of the entire audience and everyone watching at home that Max Ray Kai and Tyson are the new official Japan team in the Beyblade World Championships none of them have a real problem with this I wouldn't either if I got to travel the world beyblading Kai is named the team captain which I immediately know is going to be a very good Dynamic the first thing he says to the others as a team is I agreed to lead the team but that doesn't mean we're going to be the best of Chums now I'm here for one reason and that's to coach this team to victory at the World Championships then the Beyblade theme song plays inside the show again while Tyson Max and Ray pose on the podium and that's the first Arc setting up the Asia tournament Arc where we dive into Ray's past with the white tigers this Beyblade rewatch has been a genuine surprise and Delight the already absurd Japanese series was made even sillier by an English dub that is willing to laugh at itself and has committed to this incredible ESPN sports network bit inventing new off-screen commentators to make that vision of reality I found this interview with the cast and the voice of Kenny said something I thought was legitimately a great point quote what I love about Beyblade is how it provides good Action for Children but it doesn't contain a huge amount of violence like some other animated shows that are out there of course I don't think the Digimon and po Pokémon battles we were watching turned kids violent but he's kind of got a point where watching through this in 2001 and again in 2024 my adrenaline was pumping and all that was really happening was two tops spinning in that same interview featurette Ray's actor says quote it doesn't matter who you are I mean there are boys battling girls girls battling boys and it's all to do with your bit beast and your strategy so it's not a physical thing it's not the bully that's always going to win the fight it's the little guys really the strategy that keeps you going I do like this point that boys and girls and nerds and jocks can all battle in this world and meet on an even playing field unless your opponent has a bit past and you don't then there's absolutely nothing even about Beyblade so yeah I was pleasantly surprised with my return to Beyblade I thought I discovered Sports Anime in the mid-20s with stuff like highq and Yuri on ice but now I realize a love of Sports Anime and the sheer hype of tournament arcs was ingrained in me at a young age through Beyblade the unhinged dub is a joy to poke fun at and because the original Show's premise is so absurd to begin with there's really no argument about the dub jokes ruining the sanctity of the original Japanese show it's spinning tops hitting each other and great big monsters popping out I don't know about you but I'm down to watch through the Asia Arc the America Arc seeing as the entire Series has been up on YouTube on the official Beyblade channel for years if you want to do this little book club thing where I cover a Beyblade Arc every few weeks definitely comment to let me know that you're interested in that kind of video subscribe if you enjoyed this I know subscribing can be kind of pointless when YouTube just recommends the stuff you like to you anyways but the next big milestone for this channel is 50,000 subscribers and that would be unreal thanks for watching have a great week and until next time let it rip

Channel: TheDigiKnow

Views: 85,558

Keywords:

Id: JNnDwkQQj0I

Length: 11min 32sec (692 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024