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Adam's Beyblade Introduction! || Chatsu-Nani?!
281 Plays3 years ago
In this episode Greenshield and Satsunami introduce Adam to the world of Beyblade by showing him the first and last episode of the first season. Will Adam be able to know what's going on? Do laptops thirst over anime characters? And what is happening?! All this and more on this episode of Chatsu-Nani!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chatsunani. I'm Satanami and joining me today is my very good friend Green Shield. Ayo, good to be here. And indeed my other good friend Adam. Hello, hello, also good to be here. You're saying that now Adam, but after what Green Shield and I have made you go through for this particular episode, you probably won't be saying that after the end of this episode.
00:00:42
Speaker
I said that through gritted teeth. Good to be here. Thank you, guys.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, just tapping out. No, you loved every moment of it. Oh, no, you're true. I love
Origins and Popularity of Beyblade
00:00:54
Speaker
them all. I love the gang, Tyson and Carlos. Well, before we get into Green Shield, do you want to explain what you're actually going to be talking about today? Yeah, for sure. Today we are talking about Beyblade or Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, as it's officially known. I have never heard of it. Well, obviously that is the name, but I've never heard of that title. Can you imagine people over here being like, actually, it's that.
00:01:19
Speaker
Oh, I did push my glasses up my nose. Oh, God, I did as well. The anime push up glasses thing. Yeah, sorry. For those unaware, it was a toy. I'm sure I'm sure most are aware that it was a toy spinning top game where you would battle against your opponent by letting it rip.
00:01:40
Speaker
pulling a cord and your spinning top would battle against another spinning top in a bowl shaped arena. And the last one standing one, it was created by the Japanese toy company Takara Tomimi. They'd worked with Hasbro previously, back in the 80s, making Transformers toys and worked with them
00:01:58
Speaker
with Hasbro to promote the Beyblade franchise both initially and in 2008 to start a Beyblade revival. Since 2010, 90 million units of Beyblades have been sold. The Beyblade, as a term, is a portmanteau of the words Beigoma and Blade. Beigoma is a traditional Japanese spinning top which influenced the Beyblade's creation and Blade referring to the spikes and protrusions found on the tack rings of the first generation of Beyblades.
00:02:26
Speaker
Beyblades were based on the company's failed spinning top toy line, and they just added a customization aspect to that, which then made, instantly made it much more popular. And the toy was initially released in July 1999, which was then brought over to the West in 2002 by
Beyblade in Media and Cultural Impact
00:02:41
Speaker
Hasbro.
00:02:41
Speaker
As a promotion for the toys, a series and a manga was created. There are three seasons of the original series, which we watched. We watched the original series today, the first and last episode, the first season. And in total, there are 154 episodes of the original series, going from January 2001 to December 2003. The animation studio was Madhouse, the same as the studio that made Death Note. You might remember I mentioned that last week. The story follows a team called the
00:03:09
Speaker
Bladebreakers who tried to win a world championship with spinning tops called Beyblades, which hold beasts inside along the way to make new enemies and allies. So that's a very brief kind of synopsis of the series. What we're doing today is a little bit different from the Death Note episode. The Death Note episode was a series review going through several episodes. We're doing a new thing today called First and Last.
00:03:30
Speaker
where we're going to have our newbie to the world of anime, Adam, watch the first and last episode of a particular series. In this case, the first and last episode of the first season of Beyblades. So that's what we're doing today. As you were saying there, it really was a phenomenon when it actually hit the West, wasn't it? Because I wouldn't say it was the same level as like Pokemania, but it was probably in the same level as like Yu-Gi-Oh and things like that. Would you agree? Yeah, for sure. I have a little bit of a different kind of
00:03:59
Speaker
take in a way as I grew up in Singapore at the time the Beyblade was becoming popular. And so I had a very kind of different kind of Southeast Asian kind of bubble of interest, like there were big tournaments in in the shopping malls. I attended some of those tournaments when I was younger.
00:04:17
Speaker
I was absolutely obsessed. I had several arenas, loads of different Beyblades, loads of customizations, loads of different, don't remember the term for them now, but essentially the cords that let you sort of rip the Beyblades. I had the official, yeah, the rip cords. I had loads of official and knockoff versions of Beyblades. I had so many different things.
Personal Beyblade Experiences
00:04:35
Speaker
I was absolutely obsessed. I watched the anime constantly. I was really, really invested in the whole Beyblade craze at the time, much more so than the likes of UBO or Digimon, but probably akin to my interest in Pokemon.
00:04:46
Speaker
Now I was definitely the same because you honestly couldn't walk in the playground when I was growing up without like stepping over someone's beyblade or someone saying like oh that kid's got an old metal beyblade which would have honestly these things like spun fast but they were more or less like a clump of plastic you know they wouldn't have taken your hand off but yeah if you had an old metal one that would have been like a dangerous weapon
00:05:10
Speaker
But I'm actually curious, turning out a new Adam, surely you must have heard of this craze at the time. What was your experience with Beyblade? So I have heard of Beyblade, however I have never owned, I've never played, I've never held and I'm not even sure I've ever seen a Beyblade.
00:05:29
Speaker
with my own eyes, I remember hearing about it, and I'm sure there were some people at my school who were into it, but I don't ever recall it being the same kind of phenomenon at my school as something like Pokemon was, or even like Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh. I remember those being much bigger. And perhaps, I said, I'm sure I remember kids talking about it, and perhaps I'm just forgetting they're worse than kids with Beyblades and stuff, but it just wasn't anything that ever really registered with me, all I have to admit. That's actually really exciting.
00:05:58
Speaker
I know what to get Adam for his birthday now. I was actually going to say, I didn't want to alarm you. I was just going to turn up at the weekend just with a whole thing of Beyblaze. I'll just start firing them at your door until you answer.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah, you know that trope in a rom-com where he like throws like small rocks at the windows? And just on the page they just shatter through the window. Under attack! With a note written on it when it stops spinning.
00:06:30
Speaker
just reading it saying let it rip it's like what does it mean what does any of this mean so yeah as you said green shield today we're going to be taking a different approach and doing the first of our first and last series where yeah we tackled the very first and well the very first season of the anime which totally is not a plug is it
00:06:53
Speaker
for the toy it's it's definitely it's one wonderful heartwarming tale about a boy in this plastic cheap toy yeah i mean we've we've discussed we've discussed this before but i mean it's
Beyblade's Return and Influence
00:07:06
Speaker
it the show is obviously made to sell the toys they cater a lot of the episodes around specific different variations of the toy and i know i don't i don't remember if the original series did this as much probably it did but i know in the most recent series burst a lot of the time
00:07:23
Speaker
When there's going to be a new variation of a Beyblade coming out, that Beyblade will be in the series and it will, it will win. Like they'll make sure that that character who has that Beyblade wins. So everyone's like, Oh, it's the one that won. I need to buy that one. So there's, there's a lot of very gimmicky Beyblades.
00:07:54
Speaker
Then again, you were saying earlier the sheer amount of Beyblades that they've actually sold for this series. I honestly haven't seen a Beyblade in years, like a physical Beyblade. That's funny you say that because they are back in fashion at the moment. If you go into any toy store, I'm sure you haven't had that many occasions to go to a toy store recently. What are you presuming about in my life?
00:07:59
Speaker
are advertised and sold via
00:08:17
Speaker
But you will find Beyblades in there, either the arenas or the toys themselves. Every time I go into a store over here, they have them well stocked, so you can't still readily buy Beyblades. I'm just like, next week we're all going to buy a Beyblade and review it. Yeah. Mine spins very fast.
00:08:39
Speaker
I'm just thinking back to when they were growing up and how popular it was because you know how some things are literally just a niche for kids. They'll go away, they'll play with a particular toy and then it kind of
00:08:52
Speaker
feeds away and no one really pays attention to it. I always remember watching and this is showing my age here but I remember watching Blue Peter of all things and they were even getting into the Beyblade craze by like showing you how to like make your own Beyblade arena and things like that so you could definitely tell how widespread this was. Some say phenomenon, others say spinning epidemic.
00:09:16
Speaker
Well, it's funny you should say that because there was a lot of controversy surrounding Beyblades in lots of schools. We banned them for various reasons, one of which because people were getting hurt by them. Even just the plastic ones spinning super fast with sharp edges. Like if that hits you, or if you try and stop a spinning Beyblade, like you're going to get
00:09:36
Speaker
If you've got a cut, at least it's going to scratch you and it's going to hurt.
Anime Adaptation and Character Design
00:09:39
Speaker
So there was a lot of complaints from parents and from school boards and that kind of stuff about Beyblades being brought into school. And so there were many schools that banned them. Do you know, I'm hearing the creaking right now of the Beyblade fans that grew up with the series leaning back in their chairs going, oh, yeah, I did that when I was younger. And I've still got all five of my fingers.
00:10:04
Speaker
will pull it up their sleeves and be like, oh, here's Gar, my Beyblade stars. Beyblade made me the man I am today. I did actually have some of my customizations, had metal components, one of which was a spark disk. And so if it connected with another Beyblade that had a metal aspect that sparks would fly off of it. Jesus. That was the early 2000s. Oh, yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, the closest I got to that was like this is kind of sounds so oh look at me but I remember I had one where it was like the launcher that you fired it from had like an antenna coming out of it so you could change what direction the beyblade could go. Oh that's cool. It was really cool, it wasn't very accurate like you pushed it one way and it was like
00:10:51
Speaker
No, I bet not. And you push the other one, then just go on to like, you know, the bend at the side of the arena to knock it out. Just be like, oh, that was always a disaster. And that never that never happens in the in the anime. It always perfectly lands in the arena and doesn't immediately fly off or go into the little bin. It is always perfectly in the arena. Even when the arena is like tiny, they always get it exactly in there. And I was like, that is not true to how it actually happens in your play.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, see before we jump into the main discussion, can I just say there is nothing more depressing than being a child and challenging someone to a Beyblade battle. You've got it ready, you're about to fire it, and then either it doesn't fire or it just falls off the launcher pathetically and then kind of slowly slides across the arena and you've got the other kid with the shit-eating grin saying, oh Luke, I won. I don't like Beyblade anymore.
00:11:48
Speaker
And the other thing that would happen a lot to me is the rip cord with one of the little teeth because it's kind of like serrated on one side that one of those would kind of screw up a little bit and then it would jam while you're trying to rip it. And so it just wouldn't rip and you'd get jammed or the cord would snap or something. I had so many snapped cords. Usually the knockoff ones would snap very quickly, but even the official ones would, I had a lot of those ones break.
00:12:14
Speaker
See Adam, do you see what you're missing? I know, I know, I can't believe it. Like all these fun times I missed. Well, don't you worry. You're what, we're gonna go away right now and order you some. So, listeners at home. Yay! So we will be right back after these messages. Give them one with a mystical dragon in it. Yes, exactly. So, come on Green Shield, let's go find him a Beyblade. Welcome to Shatsunami, a variety podcast that talks about topics from gaming and films to streaming in general interest.
00:12:44
Speaker
Previously on Chatsunami, we discussed Game of the Decade, Deadly Premonition, The Romantic Thriller, Burdemic, and Listen to Us Get All Sappy as we discuss our top 5 Christmas films. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can find us on Anchor, Spotify, YouTube, and all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
Nostalgia and Music in Beyblade
00:13:08
Speaker
We are Beer and Chill Podcast. Podcast where we review TV shows, games, movies, and whatever else takes our fancy. So what are you waiting for? If you're a cool kid like us, you're gonna listen to the Beer and Chill Podcast. You can get it anywhere from Spotify all the way to your grandma's radio. My name is Jan. And I'm Cricky C. And we are Beer and Chill.
00:13:43
Speaker
Okay, and that's it ordered. So yeah, while we wait for Amazon to deliver those tomorrow, Adam, would you mind to tell us your... Oh god, I am really excited for this by the way, but yeah, what were your impressions of the first episode?
00:13:59
Speaker
Do you know what? Watching the first episode of Beyblade made me retroactively appreciate Death Note even more because I didn't have a clue what was happening in this first episode. I have to be honest. It was literally like being thrown into the deep end of a pool here. A lot of stuff to gather up. You don't try and get your head around very quickly.
00:14:19
Speaker
Yeah, so anyway, so will I do a little, will I try and do, I said, will I do, will I try and do a little synopsis of the, of the first episode? I dare you to speed run up.
00:14:31
Speaker
Oh, here we go. I'm ready. I'm ready, boy. Put me in coach. I'm ready. So anyway, well, we begin with our, we begin with our intro song and I don't think it was as good as the death note intro song for me, but I know you have more fondness for it than I. So is there anything you guys want to say about it before I get going? I have a particular fondness for it. And I was, I'd asked Sasanami prior to the recording, I was like, I just want to kind of get a gauge. Is it purely nostalgia why I love this song? Or is it actually a very good song? Yeah.
00:15:01
Speaker
Satsunami responded, it's a bop. And like, I think it is. I think it's such a fun song. I think it's such a like, it's so cheesy, so easy produced. It was made by, it's called Let's Beyblade and it's by Sick Kid featuring Lucas Rossi. No way.
00:15:16
Speaker
I know. If that's not the most early 2000s thing that you've ever heard, I don't know what is. It is just so wonderful. If you've not, if you don't remember it, or if you've not watched the series, look up on YouTube, let's Beyblade intro and listen to it. It's so much fun. It's such a good jam. The accompanying visuals you get of like what's happening in the series is just, it adds to this whole experience of like, what is going to go on throughout the series? The weird Beyblades, the dancing Beyblades, the strange characters. Everything has a gimmick.
00:15:45
Speaker
And the song is just so, so much fun. But what are your impressions of it, Sasanami? Oh, no. Yeah, I would like to reiterate it is indeed a bop. Because that's what you were saying there. It's like definitely like an early 2000s kind of song. If you look at other animes at the time, like I think when I was talking to you about this, I compared it to any Dragon Ball fans out there. You'll remember this one, Rock the Dragon, which was literally just a guy saying, hold on, I think I've got the lyrics here.
00:16:13
Speaker
Dragon Dragon, Rock the Dragon, Dragon Ball Z, but they just kept repeating it like that's a really kind of upbeat funky tune and it's kind of the same here where it is just like repeating the same like you know beat over and over again and it is it's it's like a guilty pleasure.
00:16:29
Speaker
A little bit of the song from Let's Beyblade. Picking up speed, running out of time, gonna head to head, it's a way of life. You gotta fall down, meet ground, get back up again, Let's Beyblade. And then the chorus is, Let's Beyblade, Let's Beyblade, Beyblade, let it rip.
00:16:44
Speaker
It is awful and amazing at the same time. It is, it is that perfect kind of combination of it's just so stupid and so like centralized to the show. But you couldn't just listen to this as a song. Like that doesn't work. Whereas like, like there are certain anime songs you could just listen to because it doesn't just have the name of the product or the show is constantly repeated throughout the song. Like you could listen to the Evangelion intro. You could listen to the Death Note intro. You could listen to Hunter x Hunter kind of thing.
00:17:14
Speaker
entendre. But you won't just listen to the Beyblade one, like, unironically. ALICE Well, I am gonna interject there when you said you wouldn't listen to one where it repeats the product. The first Pokémon theme was a bop as well, and you know it. But that's the only exception.
00:17:30
Speaker
I guess. Even that one, I feel like it does say Pokémon in the chorus, but it still feels like it's not just like shoving it in your face. It seems a bit more subtle. But yes, I did come back to Beyblade. Actually, what did you think of it, Adam? I mean, one thing I'll say is that the song was my favourite part of watching it.
00:17:54
Speaker
No, wait. Really? Surprisingly, surprisingly, given the quality of everything else, but no, the song was my favourite part. I did kind of like seeing all the fun stuff. I mean, none of it has anything to bear with the first episode.
00:18:08
Speaker
Some of it, I was able to pick up a few things in the final episode. I was like, oh, there we go. There's that person, or that thing, that beyblade. But yeah, again, I think it's that thing that just hearing it for the first time now in my late 20s, it probably doesn't resonate with me as much as it would have if I'd heard it at the time. So yeah, I don't know if I'm the best judge to say it's bop-ability, because I'm a fussy old man now.
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, one of those kids to get off your lawn with those beyblades. Just stomping on any beyblade bats, would you say? Poor kid. My foot is all sliced up now.
00:18:50
Speaker
why we don't do these episodes in person anymore. That's why I'm doing it from a hospital bed right now. There's a more recent series called Baby Burst and that has another intro which is much more contemporary for like what the music like that is enjoyed about now is like and I know that's really popular. It's not my kind of thing. It's kind of a mumble rap kind of style which is my kind of thing but it's very popular at the moment especially in North America.
00:19:15
Speaker
And that one I've heard quite a lot recently because of various streamers and one art who discussed Beyblade have talked about that intro and played a little bit about that intro. And if those are home and you guys do after the episode, you should listen to it and sort of see what you think. See if you find that more appealing than the old school one. Go off and check it out because I'm definitely going to check out more Beyblade stuff after this.
00:19:37
Speaker
My appetite wetted. Well I can't wait. I was going to say I can't wait for the Amazon man to turn up to the hospital with like 10 boxes of beyblades. It's like sir please we need buyers like I don't care this man needs his beyblade stamped. Using the bed pan as an arena. Why is that the most disgusting yet brilliant idea?
00:19:58
Speaker
You genius. You utter genius. It's like, sir, please stop using the bedpans. Well, stop using them for that. Anyway, moving on, Adam. So you were saying about the first episode. Yes. Episode one. Right. I think this is the first scene, but the more I think about it, the more I think I've imagined it.
Episode 1 Recap: Tyson's Journey
00:20:16
Speaker
So please tell me if I've completely got this wrong.
00:20:18
Speaker
I swear the first episode starts with some mystical kind of mumbo-jumbo. They talk about like a mystical dragon or something. Does that happen in the first scene? It does happen. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. They're going to set up the lore. Yeah, exactly. This is why I got so confused. I can't remember what the hell the narrator said at all, but there was a mystical dragon and so it sets up this mystical shit in this
00:20:42
Speaker
this universe. So then we cut to an old man and his grandson practicing with, is it kendo sticks? Is that what those things are? Yeah, it's kendo swords. Endo sticks. Yeah. So the grandfather is trying to instill like discipline into his grandson, you know, to get him to train these kendo sticks, but the grandson really doesn't want to
00:20:59
Speaker
He's got other places to be, he's got other things to do, which we will soon find out about. And so he keeps trying to escape, but the grandfather keeps tackling him to the ground and dragging him back in. But eventually the grandkid gets away. And this is our eponymous title character called Tyson, who as far as I can tell is wearing some bad Ash Ketchum cosplay.
00:21:20
Speaker
He's got places to be and things to do, which he says is homework, but we all know, the grandpa knows, we all know it's not homework. He's got to do some hard drugs. He's got to do some hard, hard drugs called Bayblades. So he runs out of the house and he's on his way. He's got to make a very important appointment, but he gets accosted by three, I think they're meant to be kids, although like the main leader of the kid looked like he could be in his late twenties. Yeah, he's a Hollywood kid.
00:21:48
Speaker
He has a very bulbous nose and he looks like Bad Brock cosplay. You say Bad Brock cosplay, I know that I sent a picture of that exact character to Zazanami while I was watching it because he is spot on dressed exactly like Gone Freaks from Hunter x Hunter, which is another one. I've mentioned it several times, both in this one and in the Death Note one. It was one of Zazanami and my favorite animes.
00:22:11
Speaker
And he is dressed almost exactly like him, color-coded, the hair, everything. He's just much fatter looking with a bulb his nose. And so I was like, why is there like obese gonfreeks on my TV right now? But yes, he is a very bizarre character and he's got two like henchmen with him. Did that come up? Did this come up before that show that you had done? Are you talking about, or is this after?
00:22:31
Speaker
this is after well the anime for hunter hunter was like 1999 but i think the manga was before that yeah so there was i mean we're digressing away from bay blaze but very quickly yeah i don't think i don't mind
00:22:47
Speaker
Please continue. The Hunter Hunter manga came out in, I believe, the early to mid 90s and the original anime came out in the late 90s or early 2000s. And then that only ran for a little bit. And then there was a reboot of the anime that was kind of closer to the manga that came out in, I think, 2011. But the manga is still running, technically. It's not as hiatus ex hiatus for a reason because the creator keeps...
00:23:16
Speaker
putting the man going hiatus. Unlike Beyblade, which seems to be continually going, yeah. Beyblade will not stop spinning. It is a spinning top that continues going. It is like that one in Inception. It's just continually going. We're stuck in that dream. Yeah, it's Adam carefully watches it and thinks, come on, fall over, fall over, damn you. And it just won't fall over. I'm looking forward to the Christopher Nolan directed Beyblade movie. Oh my god. Now that would get me interested. I'd be all over that.
00:23:45
Speaker
One thing, one thing as well is when they're doing the kendo like practice, the grandpa says that like there's this like magic sword or like ancestral sword they have that Tyson's going to inherit on his birthday. And like Tyson's like, oh, a cool ancient sword. No, thank you.
00:24:02
Speaker
And I was like, what child sees a cool ancient weapon that they're going to get to be their own thing? And it's like, no, thank you. If you guys were offered a sword when you were, what, like 10, would you have been like, nah, I'm going to play a spinning disc. I'm like, no, I'm going to wave the sword around. No, if I had a Beyblade, then screw everything else. I don't need ancient mystical weapons, thank you very much.
00:24:27
Speaker
We grew up in the 90s, we just lumped up plastic and catchy theme tunes. Our brains have rotted so we no longer need cool swords. To be fair, it does seem like every fight is conducted via Beyblade battles in this universe, so I wonder if the concept of a weapon is completely invalid, because what's the point of hurting the other person? You just hurt their morale by defeating them in a Beyblade arena.
00:24:52
Speaker
Well, someone gets backhanded. I mean, I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but someone in this episode does get backhanded, and it's like, wow! Yeah, he had that coming, though. Yeah, but he did that without the Beyblade. No, no, his hand could have been concealing a Beyblade. Oh, that is true, actually.
00:25:10
Speaker
It's just like... It's an advanced let it rip form. What, the backhand Beyblade technique? So speaking of lore, Adam, feel free to continue. Right, so Tyson has been accosted by these three quote unquote children and we drag him to a playground and then before he can carry on with his important errands, the leader says, you promised me that we'd have a Beyblade battle.
00:25:35
Speaker
So Tyson agrees, and then one of the kids proceeds to give a massive exposition dump. Four Beyblades were how the competition works. And all these rules, I was like, wow, this is a subtle way to get this up. But you know what, it is important context, so you know what, fair enough. So they proceed to have a Beyblade battle, which Tyson handily wins, because he is the Beybladist of the mole. Is it a verb? I don't know. Let's just say this. There's no.
00:26:01
Speaker
He believes in the heart of the Blades. Exactly. So he wins and then he dashes off. He realizes how late he is to get to his appointment because he's actually going to, do you believe it, another Beyblade battle with this person called Andrew, who Exposition Kid tells us is the leader of a GAT? He's a legend in the neighborhood. Yeah, I know Andrew is a legend in this neighborhood and that is something that is often said about me. There you go. Do you not have issues with this character?
00:26:27
Speaker
No, I have no issues with this character. In this audio-only format where you can't see what he looks like, he's great and he's a legend. Yeah, well, I think you do.
00:26:36
Speaker
don't just don't just don't look up what he actually looks like yeah don't google andrew beyblade whatever you do do not google it or do you know i'm not your beyblade's parent go maybe i'll maybe i'll come up as like the the junior singapore beyblade champion or something oh my god imagine that but instead of your face it's just his face
00:26:58
Speaker
So yeah, Adam, why do you have an issue with Andrew from Beyblade? So, well, let me tell you. So, so Tyson sprints off for his rendezvous. We then cut to the top of a tower where Andrew is, and Andrew is now going to be fuel for my nightmares.
00:27:16
Speaker
Um, because he is very tall, lanky, and his keep with very gangly limbs, and his face is the literal stuff of nightmares. I don't even want to describe, I'm not even going to try to describe it. He looks like Handsome Squidward. It freaks me out more than anything I think I've seen in a long time, and I've literally been trying to repress this memory. To be fair, he does look like the rough child of Jack Skellington in a peanut. I mean,
00:27:43
Speaker
just, of all the design, anime is well renowned for having wacky and weird designs. Who designed him? Because genuinely, I honestly do not know how anybody could have drawn that and said, that's okay. Or maybe they did, maybe they drew it and said, ah who cares, it's Beyblade. This is never gonna take off, which probably was the thinking. The whole show, or really the whole first episode is nightmare fuel for that though. Pretty much, actually.
00:28:11
Speaker
Well, what's kind of weird is that Andrew looks so different to everyone else in the show as well. Like, even in the next episode, in the final episode, which we'll discuss, like, we're at pans across this, like, great collection of weird and wacky characters. None of them look like Andrew's design. They all have, like, more consistent design with the rest of the animation, whereas Andrew just looks very different. It's very bizarre. But, yeah, I'll be honest, I was expecting worse. He actually didn't look as bad as I remembered him looking when I watched it six, seven years ago.
00:28:41
Speaker
Nice, that looks terrible. I can't imagine watching this as a kid. Honestly, God, I can't imagine. That would have scared the crap out of me. It's like a nine year old or a ten year old. One thing I noted about the appearance of all the characters, a lot of them seem to have whiskers, which isn't new to anime. There's lots of animes that kind of have like that kind of whiskery kind of cheeks.
00:29:03
Speaker
But several of the characters looked like they had whiskers. Tyson has a zed kind of pattern on him, but there's one character, I think Carlos, that definitely looks like he has whiskers. Oh god. Oh god, I forgot about Carlos. Yeah, I'm throwing it back to you here. Oh, back to me. Yeah, let's talk about Carlos. What's wrong with him? Let the circus of freaks continue.
00:29:26
Speaker
And where did he's parents, more importantly? So Andrew is waiting for Tyson, and people are disbelieving that Tyson will show up, but Andrew knows. Andrew knows Tyson would miss a B-blade battle. And then eventually somebody does show up on the roof, but it's not Tyson. It is. I don't even know how to describe this character. It looks like a 45-year-old man, and he has this giant sack with him, which we don't know what it's filled with. It looks like he's just come out of prison, and he
00:29:54
Speaker
His name is Carlos. I can't remember if we actually find out his name at that point in the episodes. Let's just say we do. So he's Carlos. And then he reveals that he's been collecting Beyblades, like he's been like challenging people.
00:30:09
Speaker
Okay, anyway, I'm just gonna presume this is revealed here. But anyway, he's been collecting Beyblades by challenging Beyblade owners and beating them in battle and taking their Beyblades, which is what's all in the sack. He's a Beyblade shark, as they call him. He's a Beyblade shark, exactly, the lowest form of scum in this universe.
00:30:26
Speaker
And so he challenges Andrew, and Andrew accepts his challenge. And then we cut back to Tyson, who has managed... Tyson sprints up the stairs and arrives, and he's like, I'm here to raise a battle. But he just arrived just at the end, just as Carlos has defeated everybody on the roof.
00:30:45
Speaker
taken their Beyblades and everybody's like, oh my god, he's wrecked us and so then Tyson and Carlos go at it and there's a war of words and ends up with Tyson trying to challenge Carlos to a Beyblade battle but this other kid keeps like kicking Tyson in the shins and stopping him from like making his formal challenge so eventually like a challenge is made for Tyson and Carlos to fight the next day, the next evening and then Carlos departs
00:31:09
Speaker
I've got to go into a diversion here because Carlos laughs a lot at this point and it is the creepiest laugh. It's so weird because it's like somebody who's heard recordings of laughs but has never been able to actually do one themselves.
00:31:27
Speaker
really unsettling. But yeah, so he leaves, he shuffles off with his Beyblade, and then yeah, Tyson learns that Carlos's Beyblade can't be beaten, and this kid has this laptop which has this like really advanced AI in it, which like
00:31:44
Speaker
analyzes Carlos's Beyblade and they discover that it's made of some really heavy alloy, which means that basically it's extra stable and it's impossible for a normal Beyblade to knock it out of the arena because it's so heavy. And they work out that to knock it out, you'd have to make an extra fast Beyblade that is four times as fast as a normal one to have any chance of winning. And so this is the conundrum, the setup, and they need to figure out how to make this Beyblade. If I missed anything here, because I forgot.
00:32:12
Speaker
This is so far so good, Tony. Yeah, I just want to get back to that laptop, because the laptop appears to be kind of thirsty for humans. It seems very interested in the humans. It calls Tyson a cute boy. In a later episode, it talks to the Chief, who owns the laptop. He goes by the Chief. And it asks, when are we going to get some alone time? Are you sure this is an AI, and not a Discord call?
00:32:40
Speaker
on this laptop. Well, I'm a little bit concerned for the Chief's safety, to be honest. I feel like this is going to get very dark very soon for our children's shows. So I'm a little bit concerned by this AI, which has a very adult woman's voice. And you just have to wonder what the voice actress was thinking when she was recording these lines. Yeah. I mean, if this AI was a character in this show, she would definitely drive a van around that said Three Baybleeds on the side of it.
00:33:12
Speaker
She's particularly problematic and interested in tweens. But also speaking of the chief, we talked about in a previous episode of Chatsunani about lip flaps and like making sure that the dialogue matches to like the opening and closing of the characters mouths and how studio is when it comes over to international distribution, they have to edit the lip flaps.
00:33:34
Speaker
to make it make sense with the new English translation. They do not bother for much of this, especially when it's the chief of lines who he's just opening and closing it like some like muppet character with sound, sound coming out from like someone some ventriloquist artist that is like five miles away trying to sort of communicate about whatever's going on.
00:33:55
Speaker
lip-flaps in particular are some of the worst I think I've ever seen in anime. Do you know what it reminds me of? Sorry, just before we go on, it reminds me of, do you remember those fish you used to get in the 90s to sing in ones? They were tangling them all. It is exactly like Billy the Bass. Exactly, yeah. It's like, just their mouth's opening but they're not, again, the lip-flaps don't match at all. And it does feel as if they thought, ah screw it, it's Beyblade. No kid's gonna watch this.
00:34:21
Speaker
If no one cares about this, why should we try? Which I'm being a little bit harsh because I'm sure they did try and did adapt it and it was a different time period where there wasn't as much interest in anime at the time, whatever, but it doesn't age well. Modern anime is generally much better done. I don't watch dubbed anime as much anymore, but I know it is generally much better done.
00:34:46
Speaker
And does Tyson beat Carlos? So, after soul searching and group thinking and pondering the question, Tyson comes up with an idea that if he lengthens his core, his ripcord, and bites, but... No, no, go on, son! He doubles the length of his chord. I swear to God, I'm a mature adult.
00:35:16
Speaker
blade more speed, which it does, but only gives it two times more speed, so it's still too slow. So then, then the mystical dragon shuts up again and charges through Tyson's window and like barrels into him, but then he wakes up and he's like, oh, it was just a dream. And he looks out the window again and the dragon comes barreling back through again and then like goes into his bay, does it go into his bay blade or does it just like,
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah. It goes into like the core of his Beyblade. Oh, okay. So this dragon was like housed in the sword that his grandpa was trying to give him. And it had been passed through like ancestral line where they'd obviously been using this to like win like countless wars over the centuries. And so a very proud noble dragon. It is now inside of a plastic spinning toy used to defeat like dweebs in this children's hobby. What a downgrade.
00:36:10
Speaker
Yeah, it'd be like if you discovered an ancient genie or something, and it was like, oh, now I'm going to put your power into my Tamagotchi. Get out of that lamp. It's my Beyblade. The dragon stuff here is his cry for needing to defeat his enemy. And he's like, oh, I must help another member of the, where was Tyson's family name, is in his battle. And so bonds with the Beyblade. Tyson Beyblade.
00:36:37
Speaker
or Tyson Ketchum as Adam pointed out. Yeah. When Tyson proceeds to train and look and look like a dork. He just pratfalls. Yeah. Yeah. It comes to his grandpa and his grandpa is like, ah, look at this silly bastard. I told him that move.
00:36:53
Speaker
like the grandpa, the grandpa just gives like no shits. It's just so funny. It clearly is like what a grandpa would be like like seeing like you playing with like the latest hit toy. Like just before we kind of go on like to you know the conclusion of this craziness. Can we just talk about the grandpa for a second? The fact that he speaks or rather he exudes fellow kids vibes like the way he talks he keeps saying
00:37:18
Speaker
Oh, he calls him dude all the time. He's like, hey, little dude, come on, keep your head in the game. Come on. You're like, well, like, is this child safe? I get the feeling that it's that the Japanese, the original Japanese was very different to the American release because I don't feel like because it's a very like a skater to early 2000s culture of the way he speaks. He sounds like Chichen Chong trying to like communicate with like with people like California surfer, grandpa esque energy, like a hippie in the 60s.
00:37:45
Speaker
Whereas in Japan, they didn't really have that same mentality. So I get the feeling that there was a very different kind of attitude. But I mean, I could be reading that wrong. I didn't watch the original Japanese cover of this or version of this. So I could be wrong there, but it does not seem like that is the case. No, I can't imagine that this was a faithful translation. So definitely think liberties were taken. So yeah, Adam, how does this episode end?
00:38:12
Speaker
Right, so we get to the fateful battle down by the river under a bridge for your illegal Beyblading tournaments, I'm sure it'll help, and Tyson's there and waiting, and then Carlos shows up with his big bag of Beyblades, and then they get set up, and Carlos is like, I'm gonna take... Oh yeah, meant to say, and Carlos, so if Carlos wins, he's gonna get Tyson's Beyblade, but if Tyson wins, not only will he get Carlos's Beyblade, but everybody else who, like,
00:38:37
Speaker
Everybody else who lost their Beyblade to Carlos will get their Beyblades back, because Tyson makes his big speech about Beyblade just being a community and, you know. It doesn't seem wholly fair. I mean, I know this guy is like, I know this guy is like conned, these children out there Beyblades, but one Beyblade for like a hundred doesn't seem like a great deal for Carlos.
00:38:55
Speaker
I mean, he's probably very confident that he's gonna win, but in the off chance that he did somehow lose, you've lost so many for the chances of getting one. It just didn't seem like a good deal. And also, why didn't these children just beat up Carlos? There's a whole bunch of them. Because he's a 40-year-old man!
00:39:13
Speaker
It's out of prison? I don't think he has a beyblade or something. He'll pull a particularly spiky beyblade out and shank you. Exactly. A switchblade is the beyblade. There's no difference in prison. You don't know what the prison beyblade is. That's how you got out of prison with a beyblade. I've heard about those illegal prison beyblade fights, they're ruthless men.
00:39:37
Speaker
So they get set up and Carlos takes the usual position of standing close by. He's raised it, let it rip. But Tyson takes like about 10 steps, maybe 20 steps back from the arena. And he's like, what's going on here? And then Andrew, the stuff of my nightmares, counts down the tournaments. And then what does he say? Is it let him rip? Is that like the thing they say for like, let it rip? Yeah, let it rip for starting it.
00:40:00
Speaker
Tyson begins to run up and he launches himself into the air, does a spin and this is how he's going to and then the chief works out what he's doing and this is going to give him that extra like four times speed and so they both launch the Beyblades into the arena and Tyson's is that fast that it's able to like disrupt Carlos' and knock it out of the arena and Carlos can't believe it and then Carlos tries to make a run for it and he falls over or something like that and drops the blades and
00:40:24
Speaker
Tyson is victorious and order is restored. I can tell you that it would have been a very different story had I been trying what Tyson did because it definitely would have ended up in that river because like running up from 20 yards out then jumping into the air and like letting it rip you have you have no control over where that Beyblade is going it is there's not a chance in hell that that is like at all like going anywhere near the Beyblade Arena at that point
00:40:47
Speaker
The Beyblade Arena is like the size of like a dinner plate. Your ranks are a river. It is going in the water. You are never seeing your Beyblade again. That dragon is going to like end up like on the beach, like the game of Jumanji where it's like doo doo doo doo. And then someone picks up and the new Beyblade craze starts like in the end of the world.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah, see, to be fair though, I don't think he was aiming for the arena. I think he was aiming for Carlos's face. You know, because if you listen closely to the dub, you can distinctly hear him say prison rules as he launches it. So, I mean, maybe he just missed. I think that was his plan when they accidentally hit the arena and thought, shit, I've got to play now. I've got to play now. Well done, Tyson. You worked it out. Yeah, worked it out. Yeah, and then it gets backhanded by an anime antagonist.
00:41:32
Speaker
A mysterious stranger shows up, who we find out is the leader of the, oh my god, he's the leader of a gang and I've instantly forgotten. Are they the Beyblades sharks? Yeah, Bey sharks or something. Bey sharks, that's him. He shows up and then instantly Tyson impetuously challenges him to a Beyblades duel and that's how the episode ends with them both about to launch their Beyblades at each other. I noted that the mysterious tween with face paint arrived, which I like bitch slapped Carlos.
00:41:55
Speaker
Kai is like every, as that's what I said, every like anime antagonist, every like rival in anime. He's the satsuke, he's the, he's not quite, he's not Gary. Gary is normal. Yeah but Gary's normal in comparison to Kai. Like Gary's like a normal kid with like brown hair and an eagle. This guy like has a, I mean how long is that scarf? What the hell is up with him?
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, he's like the most like main character energy of like anyone you've ever seen with like the crazy coloured hair and that kind of stuff. Oh yeah, he is. It would stand out in a lineup, that's all I'm saying. You know, if it was like between him and Carlos, you would definitely tag him as like the leader. Before we move on to the next episode, out of 10, how would you rate this episode out of...
00:42:40
Speaker
i'll be generous and because i know it is obviously a lot to set up and like you know you do have to you do have to quite quickly it is a kid show so you don't want to like hang around and explain a lot of things you need to kind of get in so i'll be generous i'll give this uh five out of ten in that like i thought like i was very confused but i wasn't bored so you know i was i wasn't sitting there being like oh god i wish this would end i was just more like what the hell is going
00:43:05
Speaker
And I was like, okay, there's some interesting stuff. One thing I'll say is, and I don't know how you guys, but you're obviously, you guys are both more anime aficionados than I am. I thought like the actual artwork itself in this episode would just, I don't know, maybe it's just from what I've seen. And again, I've only seen a limited like sample size, but when I compare it to Death Note, I'm like, oh, this just looks ugly. I'm sorry. And those characters are disgusting. Like, oh my God. Like Andrew and Carlos are just seared into my brain.
00:43:31
Speaker
They are not the worst I've seen in anime. Dazanami will be aware of this as well. Of the ugly bastard in anime. Which one was that again? No, it's just a term. Oh yeah. Like fat, roast looking men who were curving on girls.
00:43:47
Speaker
And it is a big trope in anime and anime-related material to have these really ugly characters. But in defense of Beyblade, it is an animation style. The Death Note style is a different style. It's not trying to look like Death Note. It's trying to look like its own thing. But there is a lot of frames which are really bad. And a lot of the characters do look gross.
00:44:09
Speaker
I won't defend it too much, but I will say that you can't necessarily judge objectively with anime styles like that. Death Note is a very particular style, and it's a bit like looking at Pokemon and Death Note. Pokemon looks very different to Death Note, whereas Pokemon's more akin to this.
00:44:26
Speaker
That's a fair point, so I won't judge it too harshly for that then. But yeah, I think my main criticisms are that I was just so goddamn confused with what was happening. And yeah, but as I said, I wasn't bored, so I was like, okay, I mean, if I was watching this series normally, I think I definitely would have watched at least the next one. I can't guarantee how far it would have gone into the series.
00:44:50
Speaker
I very least watched another episode. So I guess in that way it did his job. And speaking of another episode, go on. Oh my gosh.
Final Episode Recap: Tyson vs Tala
00:45:00
Speaker
The final showdown. The final showdown, episode 51, the end of the first season. So when I was watching this, I watched this episode a couple hours ago. I wrote down, before I knew I was going to have to describe what happened in the episode, I wrote down a list of 16 questions that were formed in this episode. So I'm going to try and describe what happened in this episode. I'm going to say things out of order.
00:45:21
Speaker
I'm gonna miss things so please if you ever want to jump in and just like or pick up something that I've missed please just feel feel free but anyway so we open up and the very first line is oh no what happened and I was like how appropriate from my experience of this
00:45:35
Speaker
But anyway, so we open up, we're in the middle of this massive stadium, which I believe is in Moscow, if I remember correctly. Yeah, I think I also heard that. And I actually had questioned that. I almost went back to check and I was like, I'm not gonna bother to go back and check. I'm just gonna believe it's Moscow. I'll just take the word for it. It's snowing. It must be Moscow. I saw somebody wearing like a big hat. It must be Russia.
00:45:55
Speaker
I'm guessing this is some kind of national, like, global tournament Beyblades? Which was a big surprise from having the first episode just watching kids, like, flinging Beyblades around in, like, playgrounds and by the rivers. All of a sudden, there's being, like, this global phenomenon which people are, like, crowding in to see.
00:46:11
Speaker
Yeah, I found that to be very interesting after watching the first episode as well because we had that kid doing the exposition dump to his friend who had never witnessed a battle when it seems like Beyblade in this universe is the number one sport in the world and everyone is very interested in Beyblade. So it's like, how have you managed to ignore it? It's like, oh, I've never seen someone kick a ball before. To be fair though, the audience is mainly made up of kids. Even in Moscow, they're
00:46:40
Speaker
are loads of kids like, whoa, this is the best thing ever. And it's like, yes, you're literally five. How did you get a ticket for this event? Where are your parents? Where are any of your parents? Did the Free Beyblades? The St. Petersburg Primary School did a day trip to the Beyblade Championship. Did the Free Beyblade Lady give them a lift? What is it?
00:47:04
Speaker
Oh, anyway, sorry, small nitpick. So sorry, what was your next question? I don't know. So in the middle of the arena, there is this massive like ice. Iceberg glacier. Iceberg, yeah. The massive glacier in the middle of this, like of the arena. And we discover that Tyson is inside it. And so is the person that he is battling, who I believe is called Tala. I have no idea. I did note it down. Where did I note it down?
00:47:32
Speaker
Yeah, Tala, T-A-L-A. Tala. I got some things right at least. What I mostly noticed about Tala was that his jacket had handles on the shoulders. Yes. His hair looks like an Air Force badge. Yes.
00:47:47
Speaker
Yeah, he's very, he's very distinctive. Anyway, so apparently, within this ice, within this glacier, they have entered another dimension, which looks like some kind of ice world thing because Tala told how Tyson is going to like freeze and everything. But somehow, even though they've entered another dimension, a TV camera
00:48:04
Speaker
There's also managed to enter that alternate dimension. I made that exact same note. I made that exact same note. A, how is this TV still filming? And B, how are they communicating everyone? Because at one point Kai shouts something and Tala responds to him. How is this working? And the way I get phrased is that they shatter the time-space continuum when their Beyblades crashed in the previous episode.
00:48:27
Speaker
They're plastic toys with gods inside, essentially, clashed, which shattered the time-space continuum, creating a pocket dimension that's apparently got a blizzard happening in it. And Tala just explains it to him. Like, of course this happened. Like, we have clearly warped into another dimension, you stupid fuck. We've never done a bubbly battle before.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yeah, clearly you've not been in a serious baby battle where you've destroyed space and time. How many battles is this guy having? I mean, he creates a small sun later. So like, I guess this is just like another like Friday night for him. Like he must realize the scale of the situation that he is in right now, even if he is supremely confident.
00:49:03
Speaker
Also, they really need to get some standardised rules for these Beyblade competitions, because throughout the first episode and this last episode, people are able to have Beyblades made of special alloys, people are able to lengthen their ripcords, people are able to do running kicks, jumps to start things up, people aren't able to break space and time, and none of these countless disqualifications, so they really need some kind of committee to standardise the rules and say what is allowed in a Beyblade battle.
00:49:29
Speaker
Which is strange, because in real life, when I played Beyblades as a kid, they banned loads of different types from the competitions. Like, I had pieces that I couldn't use in any kind of competition, because they were banned, yeah. You couldn't space-time continuum them? No, I couldn't break the space-time continuum, and I tried, several times. And the official was like, no, you've destroyed all humanity on Earth, that's not allowed. And I was like, ugh, fine. But the anime said I could. What would you kill, Joyce? I know exactly. What would kill Joyce? Brew this man.
00:49:58
Speaker
I had my high collar up and everything. Did you have handles though? No, that's that's where I was laughing. Yeah, exactly. Also as well, my next question, the Beyblades are still spinning at this point, and they're just like kind of like moving around by themselves. So I became very good. I was like, are they sentient?
00:50:15
Speaker
Can they operate without, like, their owners, like, actually setting them off? But I think that's kind of answered because we find out that there's, like, things, like, spirits trapped inside them. So I guess that's why they're doing that. But that was quite confusing when I asked for a sword. This is probably answered in the course of the series. But in Tyson's case, a spirit transfers from his family's ancestral sword into his beyblade, becomes his beast or whatever it's called. That surely did not happen hundreds of times to various competitors. Where are their beasts from?
00:50:44
Speaker
What is the connection there? How have they become attached to their Beyblades? Like, I'm almost interested enough to continue watching the rest of the show to see if it adds to that question. And I emphasize almost, I'm not going to, but...
00:50:58
Speaker
But I am very intrigued as to how this has happened so many times in this universe. But can you imagine like cleaning out your grandparents' house or something and then all of a sudden you knock over like a teapot or something and then a lion pops out. Yeah and then a lion pops out and is like, I wanna be in your beyblade. It's like, oh my god, I'm a yugioh fan. I don't care, I'm in your beyblade. It's like, it would just be terrifying. There must be a surplus of like spirit creatures out there.
00:51:28
Speaker
Well, so in Japan, there and I mentioned this a little bit in the Death Note episode, and I couldn't remember the name of them at the time, but Japan has a history or a mythology around what are known as yokai, which are essentially kind of like spiritual beings, which can inhabit like objects or people or just kind of create corporeal forms to kind of fit in with society. And there's a kind of there's a real cultural interest in yokai in Japan.
00:51:55
Speaker
There's a lot of games centered around them and lots of comics and idea. And like, I don't know if Shinigami from Death Note Classifies Yo-kai, but quite possibly they would. But this kind of Yo-kai element is very connected to the beasts in Beyblades. So what the hell was happening in this episode again?
00:52:14
Speaker
Yeah, so we find that Tala says that, like, an important point that Tala says is that as the owner weakens, their Beyblade weakens, and so we find out that, like, Tala's Beyblade is filled with, like, tons of these, like, spirits, which, like, begin to overpower the one that's in Tyson's Beyblade, and of course his, like, physical strength is failing because he's, like, freezing to death here.
00:52:34
Speaker
So things are looking dire, and there are so many characters here, and I'm not even gonna try and, like, describe. I think it's played half of them, because I obviously had no clue who half these people were. One important thing I did notice was that the gang leader from the end of the first episode is now on Titan's team. Was that as that Kai? Is that what his name is? Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:51
Speaker
So Kai, the leader of the Danger Beyblade gang from that first episode, now part of his friend group, which kind of, that's another kind of trope in anime of like your rival becoming part of your gang. Like in Dragon Ball, you have Piccolo and Vegeta and Yamcha and, well, Yamcha wasn't really a rival necessarily, but, um, and then you have, um, like Satsasuke and, uh, in Naruto. And there's loads, there's loads of kind of instances where your rival kind of becomes part of your group. Even even Pokemon, like even Pokemon, you have Misty and Brock who are gym leaders.
00:53:20
Speaker
who become part of Ash's kind of traveling gang. So that's a clear trope in anime. They're kind of continuing with this. There's a lot of people rooting for Tyson, but they're really concerned about this. One of the people tries to karate chop his way into the glacier, but fails because obviously it's a glacier.
00:53:39
Speaker
So lots of people are really worried for Tyson, but there's also some people who are on Talah's side, who are nefariously dressed in trench coats and goggles and everything. And they begin talking about how, when Talah wins, they're going to then be on the next step to world domination, which made me think, how the hell does winning a Beyblade tournament lead to world domination? But Bram has played into that previous episode.
00:54:00
Speaker
I also know that exact thing of, uh, why, why is winning a Beyblade tournament lead to world domination? And did you, did you notice what the name of this evil organization that Tala is part of is called? The Dark Side. Is that the Dark Side? No, they're the Demolition Boys. Demolition Boys! Of course, because the logo appeared up. What a name.
00:54:18
Speaker
Yeah, in the title cards and the ad card, it flashes up Demolition Boys during the episode. It is just spectacularly terrible. Again, why does winning a Beyblade tournament lead to the end of the world? What does this mean? And if that's the case, why aren't more government officials involved in this entire endeavor to make sure that this doesn't happen? Because clearly, these are weapons of mass destruction, these Beyblades.
00:54:42
Speaker
And that's something we'll come back to later, as well, this idea of Beyblade being the most powerful weapon in the world. But we also cut to the Sands, and we see Tyson's granddad is there, who's sitting next to the Monopoly man. And then further up in the Sands, Dracula is sitting up, Beyblade Dracula is sitting up there, also talking about world domination. And I honestly can't remember their names, I'm sorry. But like, I think Beyblade, I'm gonna call him Beyblade Dracula, I think he's in charge of some corporation, or like company or something like that.
00:55:10
Speaker
Also, I began to wonder, so Tyson and Talur inside this glacier, there doesn't seem to be an arena anymore. So how is anybody going to win? Like what is, what happens, what's there to knock the other person's Beyblade out? I think, I, I, presumably it's when they stop spinning. Yeah, because it's not, it's not just about knocking your opponent off of the arena. It's whoever's spinning last, like the majority of victories in Beyblade isn't knocking someone out. It's, it's left, left standing kind of thing. But yeah, it pans over to this very regal looking villain guy at one point.
00:55:40
Speaker
And he's like, yes, he's clearly like the head honcho. Cause I appreciate, I thought the guy with the goggles was, but then I realized this to this guy who has like, yeah, who has a fantastic like stupid name. It is Voltaire. Um, and I, he might, he, I think he's just like a businessman, but my initial thought was he was like a member of some sort of Royal family, which made me think of like the queen attending like a Beyblade competition and how wonderful that, that image was.
00:56:04
Speaker
oh my god we've also got our commentary team and like one guy is just saying it sounds like your regular sports like announcer you know for whatever sport he looks to do the other one sounds like a goblin so i don't know if goblins in this universe he's got very high pitch i didn't notice that one but we never see what they look like so there we go
00:56:20
Speaker
my mind it was a god but then the guy the Dracula's head of the corporation he starts talking about how when he controls when Tala wins and he takes Tyson's baby blade he's also gonna get Tyson's mythical beast and then he's gonna control all the these mythical beasts and then he's gonna be more powerful than any of the like militaries in the world so that made me think like why are the
00:56:39
Speaker
As you said earlier, why is the world governments allowing this thing when apparently Beyblades are more threatening than nuclear bombs or cruise missiles or conventional militaries? Why are they letting these tournaments go ahead where people can gather all this power? It's like the Pokémon argument. Why do you let these 10-year-olds have these weapons of destruction? This does not seem like a good idea. Why do children have the greatest power imaginable? It was a definite time.
00:57:06
Speaker
in the 2000s. We didn't know. Yeah, it was a time when you let your children play with dangerous world ending animals. I had noted that the screen pans over to someone in hospital who's watching this tournament happen. Who looks like Tyson? I thought it was Tyson. He looks like a cat. He's like a cat man and he's got like his cat girlfriend there. And I listed Ying and Yang boy is in the hospital for some reason, likely injured in a freak Beyblade accident. Those things sting when they hit you.
00:57:33
Speaker
Is that your detective? Yeah, I think I figured that must have been what what did it but he does he does appear he was in hospital like two minutes earlier like in a hospital bed then he's at the arena to watch the the remainder of this fight which is nonsense because like a Beyblade fight should only last 30 seconds but apparently he's able to go from hospital to the arena and it's still going on with a crutch so I call shenanigans personally but maybe he's put the time and space continuum as well with his Beyblade that's true
00:58:03
Speaker
Maybe time is kind of stopped and he's able to get there. One thing that's worth knowing about the other dimension thing is I would be supremely interested to know if that exact phrasing was used in the original Japanese version because, as Satsunami will know, Western dubs often like to use the phrase another dimension instead of other aspects like death.
00:58:24
Speaker
I mean, I'm not saying they died or anything, but it might just be a mistranslation because quite frequently, in example, Yu-Gi-Oh, when someone dies, they get sent to another dimension. And likewise in Dragon Ball Z and they don't die, they get sent to another dimension.
00:58:40
Speaker
it would make sense. But then again, what else could it be? Unless it's like, they're going for the incident, shouldn't they?
00:58:58
Speaker
the original Japanese translation but it was like, we're just in a giant shoot of ice. I don't know how we got in here. My god Tyson, I'm scared. Pull me out of my misery. And then it's like, yeah, this is too dark. Let's change it to alternate dimension. Okay, you're good to go.
00:59:16
Speaker
It's a completely wrong translation and he like forms his son in there just to warm them up so they both don't die. It's really heartwarming. It is very heartwarming, quite literally. I did know as well with the design of Tala with his high collar. It's a very clever design in that it hides his lips so you don't have to animate the lips moving when you're doing the lip syncing. Oh sorry, I was just going to say, so another faction shows up to support Tyson. Is this the Dark Brotherhood who looked literally like ghouls and vampires?
00:59:43
Speaker
I know they look like the Universal monster movies shared universe. Yeah, so they even show up to support. And then Tyson, at this point, Tyson realizes the secret to Wimp, which is that you just need to have passion for Beyblades. Tala doesn't have that passion, so Tyson's mythical beast is able to kick the crap out of all these ones in Tala's mythical beast, and then they break the glacier.
01:00:05
Speaker
...refixed time space, I presume? Or maybe it's just permanently broken now, I don't know. But they come back to the arena and Tyson's able to win and, like, knock out Tala's Beyblade. And then there's a big pitch invasion. So there's no event security here. Then, there's an option. Sorry, did you know how Tyson won? Oh my god.
01:00:22
Speaker
His dragon just starts flying at like... His dragon starts flying at the big sun thing that Talos creates and then just like absorbs the energy and then fires it back? No, see, what you're clearly missing, Adam, is that he won with the power of friendship.
01:00:38
Speaker
Because as Tyson notes, he has everyone behind him helping him win. The entire stadium does that weird kind of effect where it cuts all their faces into screens.
01:00:54
Speaker
And which is just the most anime thing you've ever seen, and like, you've not had as much experience in the anime, but the power of friendship is generally the way that everyone wins. Oh my god, there we go. I also noted that at one point Tyson's grandpa, everyone's like concerned about Tyson losing, and then he just goes, oh well, like he can't give less of a shit.
01:01:17
Speaker
If that was your grandchild though, if that was your grandchild who was like falling in his arse in the mud in the first episode, would you be like finally a chance to get rid of the brat and then when he wins? I mean at the end he attacks him with a kendo sword for goodness sake. He's like oh it's good that you're alive from this alternate dimension. By the way I'm gonna beat your ass with this.
01:01:43
Speaker
I was like, what? What was your problem? Old man who speaks like a 90s slash early 2000s child. Yeah, I'd also noted about Carla having the power of the sun. Doesn't seem particularly fair against a plastic toy.
01:01:57
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it was global warming. It was a different time. Yeah. They didn't have rules back then. We weren't in them. How could we know? Yeah. Adam, you were saying about the Monopoly man who I've known. His name is Dickinson, which is just wonderful. So Voltaire and Dickinson have their back and forth.
01:02:15
Speaker
Which also, as well, the Monopoly man is so rude that doesn't actually turn to face Voltaire for the first part of his soliloquy. But basically he's like, oh yeah, now we've got the evidence. We're gonna bring you down. But despite the fact that they've gathered all this evidence, they don't think to bring him to trial before the tournament.
01:02:32
Speaker
you know, to head off this danger. And also as well, they don't think to arrest him, like they just let Voltaire leave, even though they're like, we're going to see you locked up. He's able just to walk out. So there we go. I guess I got to set up for some sequel bait. Yeah. And so then Tyson's so happy he's the Beyblade world champion now. Then, oh no, like the power of friendship instantly breaks down as everybody's like, right, we're coming after you. We want that world championship. And then another two, and then as you were saying, that's not me, his grandfather's like, right, time to go back to the Kendo stick training.
01:02:58
Speaker
Before that though, did you hear how Dickinson ends his little dialogue? No. He says, enough of him, let's rock, which is just the best way to end a conversation. And I want that to be like my go-to now, from now on. That's how you know how to end this episode now. That's how I intend to end emails, like business correspondences. Yeah.
01:03:20
Speaker
Yeah and enough of the rest of this analysis. Let's rock. See just in that note before we do wrap up though, just one thing I want to point out because I've been listening to your back and forth intently and there is one thing you have both missed out which I am very surprised at. When they're in the iceberg of death, you touched on Adam you were talking about the dragon coming out of the Beyblade and talking to him you know like
01:03:46
Speaker
like never-ending story style comes out and is like, I'll try you, you know, like yelling at him. And he has like this very, you know, deep, respectful voice of, I came out of your beyblade to fight, you know. Oh, oh, this. What does Tyson say to this, you know, ancient dragon that has seen this fair share of like, you know, centuries over the years wicked? That's always his. And that had me absolutely in stitches the first time as well, that.
01:04:11
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, this ancient dragon, you're not impressed by ancient swords, ancient literal ancient creatures in front of you and you just say wicked. Tyson, you don't deserve this, Beyblade. You really don't. He was the one who deserved to be trapped in that ice for eternity. They should have just painted it in a cold, like a sopranos cut just fade to black. What, wicked in that end? Wicked, and that's it. Shining style, it cuts the Tyson's throat.
01:04:41
Speaker
Well, with the Beyblade in the snow. One thing I also noted was at one point when we were having a conversation with the spectators and contestants of the tournament, we'd pan over a group who are in different sports regalia, who I don't remember that much about the Beyblade series. I remember them so vividly.
01:05:03
Speaker
And one in particular, essentially their gimmick is that they have their Beyblade is associated in some way with their sport. And so the one that I remember the most was the tennis girl because she'd throw, I think her Beyblade into the air, then like surf it onto the arena and like, and he couldn't deal with this like particular person. And it was, it was just the most bizarre like series. I think it was like a battle tower and they had to like proceed through the Beyblade battle tower against like each of them.
01:05:29
Speaker
and the tennis one he was particularly struggling with. And we also see the Latin American salsa dancer one, who I remember, plays his guitar. And his guitar is his ripcord. And when he plays the guitar, the Beyblade dances to the beat, which is very hard for him to match. And you see a little bit of him in the intro song. There's a wonderful cast of characters that you pan across from across the series. And you see them all at the very end, where they all want to battle Tyson,
01:05:58
Speaker
after he's just, as you say, he's just come back from the dimension and they're already wanting to battle. And then instantly starts up like there's like the MC of the tournament who's like been did like narrating the final battle. Anyways, he's instantly like he's on a 40 something like not a four. Cherry picker. Cherry picker, that's the one. Yeah. And he's like, let's let's let it rip again. It's like instantly starting up again. There's like no time at all. I noted that the the announcer or referee, whatever he is, is on a cherry picker and just immediately is like refereeing this unsanctioned street battle.
01:06:28
Speaker
He's brawl with everything. Yeah. And we also have one of the main characters who you weren't introduced to in the first episode, but you get introduced to, I think in episode two or three, Max, who's like this blonde, very spunky kid.
Discussion and Future Explorations
01:06:42
Speaker
And Max just goes, don't forget about me. And I was like, ah, no one can forget about you, Max, my glorious child. He's just so full of energy and just wonderful. Everyone loves Max. Best character. Do not steal.
01:06:53
Speaker
Was that not a sitcom? Everybody loves Macs. It should be. So, just before we finish up, Adam, I've gotta ask, out of 10, what did this episode rate compare to the first one? Oh my, my god. I mean, I don't even know how to score this one. I have no clue at all because, honestly God, I compared the first episode, like, diving into the deep end of a pool.
01:07:15
Speaker
This was literally like three people just came and threw me into the ocean and held my head under the water while an octopus attached itself to my face. And I got ripped into another dimension. I have no idea how to score this one at all. How many beyblades are there? I wasn't bored.
01:07:31
Speaker
bored again I wasn't bored I'll give it oh my god you know what for the pure novelty of I was like what the hell is going on here I'll give it six mythical creatures out of ten and because I was just like what what is going on like it was all in my face blah yeah so very confused but never bored there you go okay that's fair enough
01:07:52
Speaker
That's actually a lot more generous than I thought you were going to give it. I've kind of warmed to that. I think if you'd asked me straight after, I probably would have given it a three or something, but remembering back and then hearing all the stuff and thinking I missed everything and thinking about the Monopoly man made me smile. So what you're saying is, as soon as we finish this episode, you're going to go away and watch all of the other series of this.
01:08:14
Speaker
I'm going to start picking random episodes. I've introduced you to a new medium of entertainment of just skipping through episodes. I just want to give you a quick warning. There is an episode later on in the series, they do the thing where they eventually replace Tyson with other kids.
01:08:44
Speaker
Not your favourite character. Not my boy Tyson. Yeah, so we have like three seasons of this Beyblade series, which I believe is always Tyson. And then I think we go into Metal Fusion, which is another series, I think in like 2008 or 9 or 10 or that kind of time. Yeah, it was long gone after that.
01:09:06
Speaker
Yeah. And then we have the recent one, which is Beyblade Burst. I might have missed one in between all those. I think those are the three main series that people are aware of. I've not seen Metal Fusion or Burst, and I'm not even confident I watched past the first season of this Beyblade, but I might have done. It's almost impossible to say. I remember this finale very well from having watched it. I rented it as a kid for Blockbuster and rewatching it today and in university.
01:09:32
Speaker
That is true. We did watch a lot of this. Well, not a lot. We watched a couple of episodes and then we turned it off, didn't we? And just skipped ahead to the end, which is... We watched two episodes of the start of the season, then we watched the very last one, which is what inspired this entire series. Which I am so excited to find more anime with you, the Egg Green Show to show. Yeah.
01:09:52
Speaker
to show a very regretful autumn. I mean, I can refuse to believe I can be any more confused. All I'm saying is that don't be surprised when you see Moses using a beyblade to part the Red Sea. And before people think, oh Satsu, you're being, you know, sacrilegious or whatever. That is beyblade lore. That is actually beyblade lore. That actually happens in the show. Why didn't they show me that episode?
01:10:17
Speaker
I don't even know what episode that's from. I've only seen it on the news. No, that is what I was getting at earlier. As soon as they go, it's the usual progression of these kind of shows. They go from, oh, we're playing with this toy, oh look, buy it in stores, to catastrophic apocalypse.
01:10:39
Speaker
situations and deep ritual war. It gets crazy. It really does get crazy. So yeah next week of course we are going to be going on to the next season of Beyblade clearly because you enjoyed it so much. I was hooked to be honest. Let it rip that's what I say now.
01:10:59
Speaker
And on that note, should we just wrap up and say Rocco? Is that what he says? Rocco? I've forgotten already. Enough of this episode. Oh, let's forget this episode. Enough of him. Let's rock. Enough of Beyblade. Let's rock.