#beyblade overanalysis

Beys are very personal to their bladers. And since fiction likes using objects with emotional importance for characterization, I thought I’d give it a look

Valt: Victory, God, Winning, and Cho-Z (which translates roughly to “excellence”) all represent Valt’s overconfident personality he had at first. Ironically neither Victory, Winning, not Cho-Z won their most important battles. Strike and Slash are neutral. Strike was named by Raul rather than Valt, which is why it diverts from the established theme. Slash was made when Valt was much older and more mature. Then, Brave and Savior both indicate heroism, hinting at Valt’s roles in those seasons. Finally, Ultimate seems to be a return to the original overconfidence, but Ultimate Valkyrie means “the best of the Valkyries” rather than Winning’s “Valkyrie that wins battles.” Ultimate Valkyrie is Valt saying he has surpassed his past self

Shu: Storm is a neutral name, like Slash, hinting at how Shu doesn’t see himself as undefeatable like some other characters. Legend, like God, shows ego, which Shu most definitely had during this period. Requiem is named after a requiem, a mass or musical peace dedicated to the dead. Requiem is Red Eye’s way of saying “Shu is dead.” Also it’s a JoJo reference. Cho-Z points at Shu’s opinion of himself, which is that he can “fix” Aiger and defeat Phi. He does neither of these, with Phi himself accidentally saving Aiger and Shu losing. World seems like a neutral name, but also not at the same time. World implies a large scale, but not power. Shu built World to counter Lucifer because while Shu sees himself as far-reaching, he feels powerless against Lain’s flare. Also JoJo reference. Astral Spriggan implies Shu has “ascended.” Shu’s opinion of himself post Evolution is much higher than in season 1

All of the Kiyamas: Rising doesn’t mean powerful, but that it will become powerful. Rantaro sees himself as being on the right path, but not achieved his goal yet. Blaze is a neutral name, probably due to how the events of season 1 made him reevaluate his own power. Crash indicates fighting spirit, which Ranjiro most definitely has. Glide was probably named by Rantaro since Glide sounds graceful, as opposed to Crash’s violence. Finally Cyclone, which is another neutral name. I don’t know exactly why it was named Cyclone, but if Ranzo was cocky before, he certainly was brought down after fighting Bell

Lui: Lost Longinus is weird. Lui clearly sees himself as the best blader around, who puts others in their place. So why Lost? I don’t get this one. Nightmare is more straightforward. Lui is his opponent’s nightmare. Bloody is a violent name, like Lui’s aggressive nature. The same goes for Rage. Guilty, like Lost, is strange, but I can at least make a guess. Lui sees himself as one that can judge other people, and would’ve named his bey Judgement Longinus if it weren;t for a certain gambling clown. Speaking of which...

Joe: Judgement Joker has a 50% of dealing massive damage with its attacks and a 50% of it backfiring horribly. Joe sees his bey as the one passing judgement on him and his opponent. Joker is a vessel for Lady Luck to make her calls. Joe has no control over the outcome, and he likes it

1. Akira Yamatoga: This one happens in canon. Akira is a rising star in both the music and blading worlds, both of which Zac currently dominates. Akira is one of the few people that can challenge Zac in both fields. Zac is still more experienced however, and manages to convincingly defeat Akira in a battle (as far as music goes, we are never shown, but Zac probably stayed on top)

2. Orochi Ginba: I know they get along well in canon, but we are never shown how they met. Orochi is known for his hearing, being able to tell how close a bey is to bursting while in the crowd. Logically, he should be able to sense people’s heartbeats and breathing patterns. Zac puts up a fake personality because he cannot let people know his true intentions. Orochi senses his heartbeat accelerating and breathing getting faster when Zac feels threatened, but Zac might be able to play it off as excitement rather than fear

3. Valt Aoi: Another one that’s canon. Like Akira, Valt is a rising star that can take Zac on in a battle, but Zac can handle that. What makes Valt a threat is the exact opposite reason Orochi is a threat. Valt is oblivious to other people’s emotions. Zac needs to get rid of the threat without letting the public know he means to get rid of the threat, and Valt is simply too dense for Zac to do that. By the time Valt realizes what Zac is doing, everyone else already figured it out. Zac cannot get rid of Valt without letting his true intentions show very clearly

4. Joshua Burns: Joshua, like Zac, craves fame. Unlike Zac, Joshua is willing to sacrifice effectiveness for spectacle. Joshua throws the first round to up the tension so that when he wins, it’s more satisfying. If he faced Zac, Zac may or may not see through Joshua. If Zac does not, then Joshua loses the first round and Zac is caught off guard in the second. If Zac does see through Joshua however, Zac would freak out. Joshua is so confident he’s basically going “I can beat you with my eyes closed, and to prove it, I’ll put on this blindfold.” Zac would not be able to intimidate Joshua because Joshua’s ego is just that big. And to Zac, this means that Joshua is powerful enough that he can fight Zac while handicapped

5. Laban Vanot: Like Orochi, he’s too perceptive. Laban can look into people’s souls, and would be able to tell Zac’s not as pure as he presents himself. But since Zac is at worst, a massive dick, Laban probably wouldn’t care much. Laban doesn’t care about Kyle for example, despite Kyle being extremely shady. He only cares about Phi because Phi is downright evil and possibly not even human. I see Zac and Laban getting along after a while since Laban doesn’t want the spotlight

6. Hyde: Hyde is a showman, just like Zac and Joshua. Zac would see some guy that’s good at getting the crowd excited and would percieve him as a threat. Hyde and Zac have the same goal: Being the strongest while having fans because of it. Zac can handle losing if his image stays intact (look at his loss to Valt), but Hyde ridicules his opponents. Zac could not handle losing to Hyde because if he does, Hyde will taunt him on TV until Zac shuts him up in a rematch

7. Fumiya Kindo: Fumiya wants fame. That alone makes him a threat to Zac. Fumiya and Zac both tell the audience “look at how awesome I am,” albeit Zac is more subtle. Zac would probably deal with Fumiya like he dealt with Akira

8. Pheng Hope: Pheng, like Laban, can look into people’s souls. Laban can tell what kind of person someone is, while Pheng can tell what their current state is. This means that Pheng is more similar to Orochi, but replace “heartbeat and breathing” with “chi.” And ulike with Orochi, Zac cannot play it off as anything because Pheng’s perception of people’s states is even deepter than Orochi’s. But like Orochi and Laban, Pheng doesn’t care about fame so when Zac realizes that, he’ll stop worrying

9. Blindt DeVoy: Like Laban, Blindt can tell what your soul looks like. Like Laban, he does not care for fame. This would play out very similarly to how it would with Pheng since Blindt prefers to be away from crowds of fans

Last time I covered Madoka. Today, it’s the self-proclaimed number 1 blader, Masamune

It’s no secret I have issues with V-Force. Tyson’s character regressed without good reason and the blader-of-the-week formula got stale fast. Buut my single biggest issue was Hilary in how she was written and utilized throughout V-Force

Let’s look at what Hilary brings to the cast. She acts as the voice of reason for the Bladebreakers (mainly Tyson) while not being a blader herself. In G-Revolution she is also the BBA Revolution’s manager. The problem is that all of these roles were already filled. Kenny was the voice of reason for the first season and doubled as the Bladebreaker’s coach and manager. Hilary becomes redundant when everything she does can be done, and has been done, by another character

Not only does Kenny already do most of what Hilary does, he does it better. Hilary has absolutely no knowledge of blading at the start of V-Force but still lectures the world champion. If anyone is to lecture the world champion, it’s his teammates or his coach. And if not them, then at least someone that knows what they’re talking about

I get that they wanted to add a female character to the main cast, but when Mariah and Emily already exist, it’s proof that this show can write female bladers well. If you want Hilary in a non-blader role, you have Judy, who doesn’t battle but is still involved in blading. Even Frankie, a one-off opponent at a tournament, was better than Hilary. V-Force then introduced Mariam, Salima, and Queen. And again I ask myself why was Hilary not a blader? Or if she absolutely needs to be in a support role, why not make her good at it?

G-Revolution gave her a better role as manager, but only because Kenny started battling more. G-Rev basically went “yep. Hilary is just a backup Kenny” instead of showing how qualified she is for her job. When has Hilary at any point shown her competence at being a manager? It’s like the show expects the audience to think she’s competent and qualified, despite the series doing everything it can to prove the statement “Hilary is a good manager and important member of the team” wrong

Last time I went over Masamune’s design. Now for Doji (requested by Anon)

Doji’s character can be divided into 4 main personas. The evil businessman, the cultist, Shogun Steel, and his “true” self. The evil businessman we saw for most of Fusion is a villain focused on world domination. Well executed, but nothing groundbreaking

The cultist we saw in Metal Fury. The Hades cult’s main belief is fairly simple: Man defied the “will of the heavens” by defeating Hades. Defying the heavens is a bad thing that needs to be corrected. Doji’s businessman persona was a front to further his “real” goals, with the cult. While this adds another layer to Doji, it’s still barely underneath the surface

Shogun Steel focused on an important aspect of Doji’s character, that we saw before but never this much. Doji enjoys simple, material pleasures. He likes eating pizza and drinking orange juice. He has a fascination with the needles of cacti, and how they hurt when you pet them. This goes directly against his involvement in the Hades cult. If Doji thought “I enjoy these things in life, but am willing to sacrifice these pleasures for the sake of a higher goal,” he’d be a layered, but still pretty standard character. But it’s the fact that in Shogun Steel, Doji didn’t care about the defeat of Nemesis. He didn’t even care that he was dead, except for the fact that since he’s dead he can’t feel pain or taste food

Doji values simple, material pleasures over the Hades cult. That’s fine. But then why would he devote so much time and resources in helping the Hades cult when it directly interferes with that which he holds above the cult?

Doji is the equivalent of a guy who wears a mask over another mask over another mask. So what happens when you strip Doji of his outwards presentation and find what he really is like? So far, the closest I have to a concrete answer is “a man whose innermost desires are whims, and whose whims are of divine proportions.” Every “deep” thing that comes out of Doji’s mouth and every “important” action that he takes are ultimately meaningless to him. To Doji, resurrecting a god is like trying a new recipe, while eating a good dinner is what truly brings him joy

When others devote their entire lives to understanding how the universe works, or to making a change in society, Doji devotes his life to pricking his fingers on cactus needles. Ans when others spend an hour making dinner, Doji spends an hour finding out how to bring about the apocalypse. If humans have layers like onions, then Doji is an onion turned inside out. But he doesn’t want people to know that. The reason he helped the Hades cult, knowing its success would mean the end of his orange juice, was because Doji is so used to hiding his true self that he would let his fake persona harm his real self if it meant keeping the disguise working. The thing about the onion is more like “an onion turned inside out, which is wrapped around another onion.” Doji created an extremely complex, yet impossible to truly understand, character to hide who he really is

Last time, I went over Hilary’s design. Breaking the recent streak of original series characters, today I will cover Madoka

Last time I covered the metal saga’s main character, Gingka Hagane. This time, I’ll cover the original series main character, Tyson Granger (aka Takao Kinomiya)