The below list contains characters from the Bakuten Shoot Beyblade portion of Beyblade that can be considered of primary prominence as well as any characters directly related to them.
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BBA Team (Bladebreakers)
General
The team name is BBA in Japanese in the original manga and the first season of the anime, then becomes BBA Revolution (BBAレボリューション) when Daichi joins in the third season and lastly G-Revolutions (Gレボリューションズ) during the final arc. In the manga, the team also becomes the BBA Revolution when Diachi joins and the team name changes once more in Rising to BBA Rising (BBAライジング). In English and derived translations, the team is always called Bladebreakers except for the third season where they are also renamed BBA Revolution and G-Revolutions.
The protagonist team, formed after either the first ever Japanese tournament (original) or just the latest (dub). It grows from five to seven members over the course of the three seasons, though most members have alternative teams and sometimes hang with those instead.
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: The Bladebreakers' bit-beasts' names start with either "Dr-" (dub) or "Dra-" (original). The difference is due to pronunciation of "Driger", which in the dub rhymes with "digger" when it's supposed to be a match to "tiger" (original), which has the "a" phonetically included in the "i". Even the dub-exclusive Dizzi isn't far off, because her full name is either Dizzari or Dizzara.
- Breaking the Fellowship: Season 3 sees the original quartet split off into their own teams as the tag format means they have less time to play. This gives them the best opportunity to see how they do individually. Takao stays and forms the BBA Revolution with Daichi, Max joins his mother on the PPB All Starz, Rei goes back to his former team the Bái Hǔ Zú, finally Kai joins Neoborg.
- MacGuffin Super-Person: Aoki's original idea was for Dragoon, Dranzer, Driger, and Draciel to be the only bit-beasts in existence but the series became Merchandise-Driven and more were brought in. In the manga, the situation remains ambiguous and only the BBA's bit-beasts ever explicitly play a role. In the anime, they are definitely not the only ones, but implied to be the strongest of all. Regardless of the scenario, the effect is that there are plot lines in which other organizations try to forcibly take their bit-beasts. In the first season, the Bái Hǔ Zú try to take Driger away from Rei. In the middle of the manga and Season 2 of the anime, the team is hunted by the Saint Shields and later Zeo and his father. In the movie, the dark counterparts of the bit-beasts are freed and come after them. The desire for the bit-beasts also leads to the creation of cybernetic copies by Team Psychic.
- Multinational Team: It's not that strong, but noticeable when by far most teams are uninational. Of the main four, Takao is Japanese, Kai is Japanese but spent much of his childhood and later beyblade career in Russia, Max is Japanese on his father's side and American on his mother's, and Rei is Chinese. The extra three members are all Japanese.
- The Power of Friendship: Literally said to be the one certain winning card the BBA Team has during the first season's Europe arc. Whether it's the bond between the humans or between the humans and their bit-beasts, there is a quality to it most others find hard to match up to.
Takao Kinomiya (Tyson Granger)
Blader: タカオ・木ノ宮 / Takao Kinomiya / Tyson Granger
Bit-beast: ドラグーン / Dragoon
First Appearance: I-V1C0; S1E1Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (Japanese), Marlowe Gardiner-Heslin (English)
Lives with his grandfather, Ryūnosuke in his dojo, while his father and older brother, Tatsuya and Hitoshi, travel the world for work. His mother, Yoshie, is dead. Takao's passion for beyblade has lifted him to the top of the game, where only a few pose a true challenge. His bit-beast is Dragoon, a dragon that has been with the family for generations.- Aesop Amnesia: Especially in the later two seasons, where he is in constant need of getting his ego put in check.
- Adaptational Job Change: In the Japanese version of the anime, he's the team captain of the BBA Team. This is only said once in S1E28 and is supposed to be inferred from the fact he won the Japanese Tournament, even though he rarely does anything leaderish. In the dub, he's still the champion but it's Kai who is the team captain.
- Big Eater: Food is generally not safe in Takao's general vicinity; whether it be haute cuisine or fast food. It's a plot premise in S1E25. Takao can't participate in the American semi-finales because he's eaten too much and is both sick and constantly has to go to the bathroom.
- Blow You Away: Dragoon has wind-based powers.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: Kai in G-Revolution. Kai didn't lose a single match until the finals with BBA Revolution (apart from the match he threw against Daichi when he found out Takao was benched).
- Deus ex Machina: Takao has a long list of come from behind wins that look unbelievably cheap when everyone can see he should have lost.
- Fragile Speedster: Favours a speed based play-style.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Often says this to Kai, Rei, or Max.
- Heir to the Dojo: The full archetype. Takao's mother is dead, his father is off being an archeologist, and his older brother is off being a archeologist and ninja, leaving him in his grandfather's care. The family home is Ryūnosuke's dojo, where he teaches kendo. He is insistent that Takao respects the family legacy and becomes an expert at kendo, but he comes to approve of Takao maining a beyblade when he sees the boy dedicate himself to it in a way befitting a warrior.
- Hot-Blooded: Extremely enthusiastic about everything, especially beyblading and food.
- Hypocrite: In S1E04, Takao berates Hiruta for building knives into his beyblade. Remember that Takao has as good as a god built into his beyblade, so if anyone's not the person to teach Hiruta a lesson about fair play, it's him. This only occurs in the original version, however, as any mention of the knives is removed in the dub.
- Idiot Hero: Takao is not the brightest when it comes to life decisions not directly regarding beyblading. Who would have thought wandering around old castles unsupervised was a good idea?
- It's All About Me: For the first half of G-Revolution, Takao has this attitude. He refuses to understand it's not Rei, Max, and Kai's responsibility to get him to the finals of every tournament, only for him to take the title in the end, and then think "they" are champions, when Takao is the one who gets all the glory in the end.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yes, Takao can be self-centered and have a big ego, but he does care about his friends deep down.
- The Leader: Takao is the team captain in the original version, though it's only said once and otherwise has to be deduced from the fact he won the Japanese tournament. In the dub, Kai is the team captain.
- Missing Mom: True for the manga and the anime, in which Yoshie is dead. Not true for Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade, in which she's alive and well.
- Primary-Color Champion: His outfits almost exclusively use the colors red, blue and yellow, which is shorthand for him being the protag. His beyblade also has parts in those colors, though its main body is white.
- Raised by Grandparents: He was raised by his kendo-savvy grandfather, because his father's and older brother's jobs keep them busy abroad and his mom is dead.
- Ship Tease: With Hiromi starting V-Force, more specifically S2E4.
- Southpaw Advantage: One of the few left handed bladers of the series. It's a minor plot point several times because it means his beyblade spins in the opposite direction to most.
- Stock Shōnen Hero: Takao is on the route To Be a Master on a Serious Business show, has a powerful Bit-Beast, and he is a contrast of the typical "The Power of Friendship and Hot-Blooded sportsmanship will always defeat the 'heartless' type of Training from Hell and mindsets that make you a 'winning-justifies-the-means' psycho". What makes him an example of the Idiot Hero is the fact that the celebrity gets to his head and he needs to relearn to be a proper team-mate Once a Season.
- Suddenly Voiced: Dragoon, Seasons 1 and 2. Although in the dub, at least, Dizzi paved the way for the possibility.
- Took a Level in Badass: Takao starts off as "capable" on a town level, but by the end of the first series he's the world champion.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: While his team mates mostly mellowed out following their initial arcs, Takao's selfishness and ego problems snapped back and worsened with each season, only causing spaced issues in the first.
- Too Kinky to Torture: This is the reason behind several of his wins. For instance, at the end of the first season, Yuriy, as the members of Borg tend to do, tries to utterly break Takao in a way that would work on most. But Takao just gets up in utter giddy excitement at the promise of fighting such a strong opponent. Something similar happens in I-V7C1 when he battles Ozma and feels as if he himself is being engulfed by the flames of Flash Leopard. That should keep a normal person down, but Takao just gets up with a "Boy, that was good!".
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: Daichi's first appearance is in Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (GBC) and in that game he's introduced to Takao by Ryūnosuke as "onushi no kā-san no imōto no masuko-san" ("your mother's younger sister's son"). So, Takao and Daichi are cousins in that game, but in all fiction following they're unrelated.
Kai Hiwatari
Blader: カイ・火渡 / Kai Hiwatari
Bit-beast: ドランザー / Dranzer
First Appearance: I-V1C1; S1E1Voiced by: Urara Takano (Japanese), David Reale (English)
The strongest member of the BBA Team, whose past lies in Russia. He makes a habit of defecting to whichever team at a given time looks the strongest, which means he always eventually comes back to the BBA. It's not that he doesn't care about his teammates, but he has ambitions. As the only grandchild of Sōichirō Hiwatari, he's heir to Hiwatari Enterprises.- The Ace: One of the strongest beybladers of the world. By the end of Season 3 Takao even calls him the strongest blader in the world.
- Adaptational Job Change: In the Japanese version of the anime, Takao is the team captain of the BBA Team, but in the dub Kai is the team captain.
- Adaptation Species Change: In Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade, which preceded the rest of the franchise, Dranzer was a three-headed dragon. That's where the "dra-" part comes from. When the manga was written, Dranzer got changed into a bird as part of the added Four Gods theme.
- Always Second Best: Kai is never allowed to defeat Takao, ever. Except their very first battle which was before Takao got a bit-beast, and during his brief defection to Borg with Black Dranzer. Kai was also this in G-Revolution, where Takao and Brooklyn were the only ones to ever defeat him.
- Badass Longcoat: In the last episodes of Season 3 for some reason.
- Big Brother Instinct: For all his broodiness, Kai does have a distinct protective streak. In the first season, particularly during the American Tournament, it's Max whom he helps out, a favor later returned. In the second season, he looks out for Kyōju and Hiromi, but underestimates how badly Yūya wants to be acknowledged by him. This leads to the latter's downfall, which Kai later avenges. In Rising, Mutsuki, who blames Kai's father for the death of his older brother, reaches out to Kai. A rocky start aside, Kai does not reject him.
- Bruiser with a Soft Centre: Kai is physically intimidating and one of the most powerful bladers in the world. He also feeds stray cats and has a strong protective streak towards his friends (see above).
- Characterization Marches On: Hugely apparent in V-Force. Kai's more willing to talk to people, gives helpful advice, and is visibly closer to people. All while still being stoic and stand-offish.
- Child Soldiers: Was meant to be one along with Borg. Ironically enough, he was so dedicated that he, through circumstances, got himself memory damage and had to be taken out of Biovolt's program. This turn of events eventually allowed him to meet the Bladebreakers and to fully escape his engineered fate.
- Clothing Damage: Especially egregious in Season 3 in his fights against Brooklyn.
- The Comically Serious: Any rare time Kai participates in humorous moments. More evident in V-Force, which was fond of chibi-ish funny expressions, even with him.
- The Determinator: It is implied that he won his fight against Rei in Season 3 only with sheer willpower.
- Disney Death: Dranzer after defeating Brooklyn.
- Evil Counterpart: Black Dranzer, of Dranzer, of course.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door:
- In Season 1, he starts as the leader of the Shell Killers. Then he joins the Blade Breakers. Then he deflects to Borg. Then he joins the Blade Breakers again.
- In Season 3, he first joins Borg again. He then tries to join BEGA later and when that failed he returned to the BBA Revolution, albeit not officially.
- Facial Markings: Kai paints four blue claws on his cheeks everyday. It is never explained why. In Rising, he's manipulated into taking over CEO duties of Hiwatari Enterprises and temporarily ditches the look, which upsets Max in particular.
- Feather Flechettes: In season 3, Dranzer had an attack that was somewhat like this.
- Fire/Ice Duo: Kai forms this with Yuriy. Their color schemes are reversed, though, with fire-wielding Kai being mainly blue and ice-wielding Yuriy being strong on red and orange.
- Forgets to Eat: In the Japanese V-Force episode with Wyatt's unfortunate end, Kyōju remarks that he needs to remember to eat.
- Friend to All Living Things: Seems to have a soft spot for both cats and dogs, especially in the third season.
- Genius Bruiser: He is shown to attend a private school and seems to do pretty well there. He is also one of the strongest beybladers around.
- Glass Cannon: Favours an attack based play-style.
- Goomba Stomp: Kai is rather fond of attacking enemy beyblades from above. He starts off by disintegrating Takao's first beyblade with one of these, and whips it out once in a while during the whole series. In-universe, successfully attacking an opponent's beyblade from above is the sign that you're a formidable beyblader. Kai is still the one who does it the most, and the most devastating to boot.
- Hellish Pupils: Kai's eyes are naturally red, but when he gets angry, they look absolutely demonic.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Kai's attitude towards Yūya's fate is this. If only he'd given the boy the attention he craved...
- Jerkass Has a Point: His criticisms towards Takao may be harsh but for the most part, he isn't exactly wrong.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Started off as a genuine jerkass and slowly turns into this over the course of the series.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: In a Pet the Dog sort of way in G-Revolution.
- The Leader: Kai is the team captain in the dub; an adjustment from the original version in which Takao is the team captain. It works exceptionally well, though, because even in the original version Kai's behavior matches that of a leader better than Takao's.
- Loners Are Freaks: He is by far the most anti-social of the Blade Breakers and tends to be scarily intense about beyblading.
- Master of All: When wielding Black Dranzer.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Prefers his own space but is shown to genuinely care about his teammates later on.
- Not So Stoic: After his first Face–Heel Turn, he displayed some seriously negative emotions. Also, anytime he's fighting Takao, this is bound to happen.
- Pet the Dog: He holds a soft spot for his team, and Wyatt. In fact, had it not been for them, he probably would've turned out just like his grandfather.
- The Phoenix: Dranzer is based on the Vermillion Bird of the Four Gods, which is considered a Chinese equivalent of the Phoenix. In the dub, Dranzer is flat-out called a phoenix by Kai in S1E02.
- Playing with Fire: Fun fact: Kai was designed as An Ice Person for Jisedai Bēgoma Battle Beyblade, where he wielded Dranzer when Dranzer was still an ice-type dragon. In the manga, this was changed to Dranzer being a Vermillion Bird (original) and with that Kai's elemental affiliation also was changed.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: His ultimate goal, particularly in Season 3, is to defeat Takao.
- The Rival: Very much the Vegeta to Takao's Goku.
- Say My Name: Dranzer! After losing to Zeo and Dranzer was taken.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Kai is never seen without his signature white scarf for all of the first season. He ditches the look for the second season, but returns to it in the third season. In the first season, it was tied so there was only one end hanging, while the third season has him sporting two loose ends. Apparently it also has weights implemented around the neck area, since it cracks the floor when he drops it.
- Slasher Smile: When Kai gets worked up, he has a tendency to make these.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kai gives an epic one to Brooklyn, explaining that despite being the most powerful beyblader in the series, it doesn't mean shit because Brooklyn has never once put his heart and soul into the game from beginning to end like Kai has. It pretty much traumatizes Brooklyn too.
- The Stoic: He doesn't communicate much at all and usually faces dire situations with the same attitude as freetime.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Kai has a habit of getting snarky if he perceives others as being stupid. Like when he shoots down Boris's questions in season 3.
- Technicolor Fire: Blue in Season 3.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Kai was a constant jerkass throughout the first season (until the end) but has mellowed out tremendously by Season 2 where he's shown to be a lot nicer towards his teammates as well as being more selfless.
- This becomes averted in Beyblade G-Revolution where he becomes cold and distant once again but mellows out like he has before.
- Training from Hell: Pushes himself the most out of the Bladebreakers.
- Turn Coat: From the Bladebreakers to Borg and back again.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: To Brooklyn as the first to defeat him.
- The Worf Effect: Despite being one of the strongest Beybladers in the entire series, and being Takao's greatest rival, Kai often ends up being the one to take the fall to the main threat at the end of each season, so as to build up said threat for Takao to beat in the final showdown. In season one, Kai loses to Sergei in a best of three team contest so Takao can beat Yuriy later in the final match. In season two, Kai loses to Zeo to build him up as a threat to Takao in the finals. This is inverted, however, in the third season, as he initially loses to Brooklyn, but later is the one to beat Brooklyn himself in a rematch. Meanwhile, the outcome of Takao and Brooklyn's battle in the final episode was never shown.
Max Mizuhara (Max Tate)
Blader: マックス・水原 / Max Mizuhara / Max Tate
Bit-beast: ドラシエル / Draciel
Voiced by: Ai Orikasa (Japanese), Gage Knox (English)
- Alliterative Name: Max Mizuhara
- Badass Adorable: Nice to everyone by default unless they give him reason not to be.
- Beware the Nice Ones: We see him enraged only once. It's one of the most terrifying scenes of the series, and his opponent looks like he's about to piss his pants.
- But Not Too Foreign: His father is Japanese, his mother is American.
- Characterization Marches On: In the first season, Max was more air headed and boisterous, and often joined in on Takao's Super-Deformed antics. This part of him faded significantly as newcomers such as Hiromi and Daichi started to fill in as Plucky Comic Relief.
- The Chessmaster: Max's tactical ability is one of his greatest assets, as several people learn the hard way, when they underestimate him for his childishness.
- Cuddle Bug: Max does ignore personal space a lot, and also likes to deliver glomps.
- Dating Catwoman: Has shades of this with Mariam.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: Black Dranzer. While everyone else, including the Bái Hǔ Zú and All Starz could not defeat Black Dranzer, Max's Draciel F shrugged off all of Kai's attacks.
- Distressed Dude: Several times in the first two season. He gets better by season 3.
- Et Tu, Brute?: In S2E28, his best friend Alan stole the rock from Max's mother's lab. Of all people, he really did not expect this from him.
- Evil Counterpart:
- Jim from Season 2, particularly when he's brainwashed by and under the control of his cyber bit-beast.
- Alan, in episodes 28-29 of Season 2, though calling Alan evil is a bit of a stretch.
- Mystel at the end of Season 3, though Mystel is actually rather friendly. This is only the case in regard for alignment, as Mystel is working for the villainous BEGA.
- Foil: Max gets one in season in the form of Alan, his childhood friend.
- First, there's how they fit in with the Noble Male, Roguish Male trope, where Max is the noble to Alan's roguish. Stealing for your own benefit and betraying your friends is a pretty roguish move. Max will stick by and fight for the ones he cares about, and doesn't resort to such underhanded actions for his own gain. While calling Alan Max's Evil Counterpart is a bit of a stretch, he's certainly more morally flexible out of the two.
- When it comes to Red Oni, Blue Oni, Max is the blue and Alan is red. Colour-Coded for Your Convenience as Max wears a blue shirt while Alan wears red. Alan acts on impulse and envy, which is what motivated him to act rashly and turn to criminal behaviour by stealing the rock from Judy's lab. He also gets incredibly angry and irritated during his bey-battle with Max, especially when his bit-beast doesn't show up for it. His beyblade was even fittingly called Impulse. Compare this to how strategic and level-headed Max (usually) is, both in and out of battle.
- The Sensitive Guy and Manly Man trope is played with as you might think at first glance that athletic and competitive Alan is the manly one compared to Nice Guy Max. But their arc together shows Alan is emotionally insecure and vulnerable, making Max the "manly" one of the two. Alan's jealousy and envy cause him to turn to crime and steal the bit-beast rock. Max is faced with an emotional struggle of his own when realising his best friend betrayed him, but he is ultimately the one who overcomes this and manages to fight more effectively in battle against his friend, allowing him to win. The scene after the two knock each other's blades out the battle dish shows this perfectly, with Alan on his knees, whining to himself about how his beyblade and bit-beast didn't work, with Max looking down and simply saying "pathetic".
- Genius Bruiser: Max's Stone Wall and surprising physical approach in dueling combined with the fact that he is the main strategist of the Bladebreakers and a Guile Hero makes him this. One of the best examples is his first match with Kai in season one, where he has to deal with Dranzer's Fire Bomb (basically Dranzer hitting the target from above with the tip) and finds a way not only to resist it but to use it against Kai.
- Good Is Not Soft: Says this during his final battle with Mariam in the dub.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese version of the first season. You hardly hear him do it in the other seasons and obviously it's not in the dub.
- Gravity Master: Season 3.
- Guile Hero: Look down at The Smart Guy, he also has a hint of The Chessmaster within him.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Max is one of the nicest characters in the whole series.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The only team member who lacks a Kick the Dog moment or is never a Jerkass
- Keet: More hyper and a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander in early episodes, he matures somewhat in later seasons, with Takao or Daichi usually acting as the immature one instead. However, he still quite upbeat.
- Kiddy Coveralls: Max's trademark outfit in the first season was an orange pair of overalls. In V-Force, its hidden, but he still shown he's wearing overalls underneath his baggy shirt by the strap shown from his collar. In the final season, he wears coveralls but with the upper portion tied around his waist.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Max wishes he could spend more time with his mom, but she's often too busy with her work. This gets partially amended after the Bladebreakers become world champions.
- Making a Splash: Draciel is an enormous tortoise with water-based powers.
- Morality Pet:
- To Kai, and even sometimes Rei and Takao.
- He's this towards Mariam.
- By season 3, he's this to his whole team, the PPB All Starz.
- Nice Guy: Unless you make him mad, then he enters Beware the Nice Ones territory.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Max is the nice one during the charity match, while Emily is the mean one and Mario the in-between one.
- The Pollyanna: By far the most optimistic member of the BBA Team.
- The Smart Guy: Easily the closest thing the team has to The Strategist and he often wins by cleverly outsmarting his opponents. In the English dub Kyōju actually calls him a ruthless strategist.
- Stone Wall: Favours a defence based play-style.
- Sturdy and Steady Turtles: Draciel is a purple tortoise wearing black armor, and is accordingly a defensive powerhouse.
- Weak, but Skilled: The weakest of the BBA Team in terms of raw power. His qualities lie in strategy and his unsurpassed defense.
- Youthful Freckles: He's one of the youngest characters and has freckles on his cheeks.
Rei Kon (Raymond "Ray" Kon)
Blader: 李・金 / Rei Kon / Ray Kon
Bit-beast: ドライガー / Driger
Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese), Daniel DeSanto (English)
A member of the Bái Hǔ Zú of China. He's the clan's chosen one, but left after receiving Driger to make a point that the clan would become obsolete if they continued to shun society. After some time travelling the globe, he joined the Bladebreakers and got the chance to clear his name during the Chinese tournament.- The Big Guy: The most passionate and brutal competitor of the Bladebreakers.
- Characterization Marches On: Similarly to Max, Rei started off slightly more comical and shared some of Takao's arrogance and playfulness. This faded in favor of him becoming a more lucid Team Dad for the others.
- Chick Magnet: Most obvious from his many female fans during the Chinese tournament.
- Clothing Damage: Suffers a brutal case of this in his battle with Boris at the end of Season 1. Boris uses his bit-beast to attack Rei as well as Driger. It ends up ripping sections of his shirt and his headband, leaving him cut and disheveled.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's prone to making a lot of snarky and offensive comments, though it faded away by G-Revolution.
- The Determinator: Refuses to give up at the end of Season 1 against Borg, even vetoing his friends' multiple attempts to pull him out of the fight (in fear of his safety). It's mainly through his endurance that he's able to take out Boris in the second session of their match, buffering against his attacks long enough for Driger to attack. This leads to him expending all of his energy, but even then (and after enduring even more damage in the third round), Rei refuses to back down, eventually winning the match largely through his bond with Driger.
- Disney Death: Driger after defeating Boris.
- Failure Hero: Rarely won a major battle during Season 3. In fact, he was the only original Bladebreaker to outright lose his battle in the Justice 5 tournament. (Newcomer Daichi also lost, while Max got a draw.)
- Jack of All Stats: Favours a balanced play-style.
- King of Beasts: Rei represents the tiger, while Rai represents the lion. Their conflict symbolically is about the true king of beasts.
- The Lancer: Takes this role if Kai is unavailable.
- Little Bit Beastly: Rei is from the Bái Hǔ Zú. The Bái Hǔ Zú all have animal traits, such as on/off Animal Eyes, Cute Little Fangs, and enhanced physical abilities.
- Martial Arts Headband: Rei always wears his headband. It also helps him keep his hair in check.
- Master of None: Rei practices being equally skilled in power, speed, and defense, and Driger is a Balance type bey but he doesn't excel in any of the aspects. Hitoshi (as Jin) even spells it out for him in G-Revolution. By his battle with Moses, he and Driger have evolved to be in between of a Jack of All Stats and Lightning Bruiser like the others.
- Panthera Awesome: His bit-beast Driger is a muscular white and green-striped tiger with lightning powers.
- The Perfectionist: Determined and hard on himself during training.
- Perpetual Smiler: His mouth is permanently forming a feline grin.
- Power-Up Letdown: Driger F, in a way. It's Rei's modified Beyblade after losing to Steve, and even hyped to be a crazy powerful upgrade. However, he only has three wins over the rest of the season.
- Seen It All:
- His reaction to a beyblader using pop art to create scenery that makes his beyblade disappear in it? Smugly declaring he had already faced that trick before and inflicting a One-Hit KO.
- Although not outright stated, it's clear that the reason Rei was anything but impressed by Paula's duplication trick is because he already knows Kiki's mastery at the same skill.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Slowly turns from nice and easy-going from season 1 to more angry and demanding by season 3. Possibly justified — he has inner longings to have a rematch with Takao (he forfeits in season 1, and does not have any chances to battle him in tournaments after) and is under the pressures of being the new captain of the Bái Hǔ Zú. After his rematch with Takao, he does get better.
- Shock and Awe: Driger gifts his beyblade with lightning-based powers.
- Slipknot Ponytail: Once in the first season, and twice in the third.
- Speed Blitz: Driger consistently mauls enemies before they can react with raw speed.
- Team Dad: He started out as a big brother figure to the rest of the Bái Hǔ Zú, and carried this over to the Bladebreakers. His relative maturity helped to ground Takao and Max in Season 1.
- Turn Coat: Between the Bái Hǔ Zú and the Bladebreakers.
Manabu "Kyōju" Saien (Kenny "The Chief")
Blader: マナブ・才媛 / Manabu Saien / Kenny
Bit-beast: Dizzi
First Appearance: I-V1C0; S1E1Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Alex Hood (English)
The Bladebreakers' resident tech nerd whom they could do absolutely nothing without. He usually doesn't battle himself, but is invaluable in analyzing the opponents' strategies and upgrading the teams' beyblades. Kyōju's got a costumed identity as Frogman (フロッグマン) and in the dub a bit-beast named Dizzi, who resides in his laptop.- Cowardly Lion: So very, very easily brought to shivers - which seems at least part of why the Dark Bladers specifically target him, but he fights his own battles and won't watch if he can act.
- Distress Ball: In the anime, he's abducted by the Shell Killers, twice held hostage by Team WHO, and once held hostage with Hiromi by Team Psychic. In the manga, he's also abducted by the Shell Killers and later by Mister B in I-V2C3.
- Exposition Fairy: Solitary in the original version, together with Dizzi in the dub.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He's the one who comes up with most of the Bladebreakers' beyblades, and in season 3, invents the superior Heavy Metal System.
- The Heart: Is most likely to call people out if they're not acting in good faith. His "victims" include Takao (multiple times), Giancarlo, and Daitenji. He is also the one to make sure the entire team is cared for, bladers and bit-beasts both.
- Hypocrite: In S2E20, he (along with everyone else) scolds Takao for cheating simply because his bey is modified. This is coming from a character who's job is to modify his teammates' beys in other for them to be able to compete against higher ranked bladers.
- Later on in G-Revolution, he even creates an entirely new system that was homemade, though to be fair, he can't get access to legal parts as he isn't part of BEGA.
- In-Series Nickname: "Kyōju"/"Chief". In the original, he barely ever gets called anything but his nickname, while it's more 50/50 in the dub.Kyōju (dub; S1E01): 'Round here they call me "The Chief". They call me "The Chief" 'cause I'm an expert on beyblading.
- Meaningful Name: "Manabu" means "to learn" or "knowledge".
- Non-Action Guy: For the most part but occasionally he'll get involved in battles.
- Non-Powered Costumed Hero: His Frogman persona in I-V12CSS2 is him dressed up as a frog-man. He uses the look to challenge Daichi to a fight after the latter had called him an amateur for being an engineer and not a true blader. By exploiting Daichi's weaknesses, which Daichi didn't want to hear about, Kyōju got a tie and an apology out of it.
- Only Sane Man: Easily the most focused member of the Bladebreakers, constantly working on the team's needs and odds, and trying to convince the others to take his advice. The downside is that because he's the one most acutely aware of the challenges they face, he's also the one who needs a good hope talk every now and then. But he learns.Kyōju (sub; S1E17): It'll be fine, Rei. According to my analysis... (Looks at his laptop in absolute horror, then quickly closes it.) Either way, you'll be okay!
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Though worn on top of his head with his eyes obscured by his hair.
- Ship Tease: A little bit with Emily, mostly in S1E50 and S3E40.
- The Short Guy with Glasses: Combined with bangs and Goggles Do Nothing. He's the shortest team member by far, and always wears glasses on top of his hair, which hides his eyes. Green comes in due to his association with frogs. This is also why his goggles are atop his head; they're meant to look like the bulging eyes of a cartoony frog. He only very, very rarely has them on his eyes and only when he's concentrating on a computer screen, such as in I-V3C1.
- Those Two Guys: Forms this with Hiromi. Their team role is supportive and when they're not being used in a hostage situation they're pretty much safe from harm or threat because their presence or absence doesn't affect the action.
- Took a Level in Badass: Though he's still not a great blader overall, he has shown noticeable improvement during the third season. He has beaten a couple of bladers on his own and was able to last against Yuriy of all bladers (albeit, he still lost).
Dizzi
Bit-beast: Dizzi
First Appearance: S1E1Voiced by: Julie Lemieux
Kyōju's dub-exclusive and non-combatant bit-beast. One day, she got trapped in his laptop during a power surge and has stayed at Kyōju's side ever since.- Alternate Company Equivalent: To Meowth from Pokémon: The Series.
- Canon Foreigner: Doesn't exist in the original; she's solely an English dub creation.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears without a trace in the third season. Probably due to the fact Kyōju doesn't use his laptop as often.
- Exposition Fairy: Along with Kyōju. Specifically, she gets a lot of the lines Kyōju had in the original version.
- Gamer Chick: Implied in dialogue.
- In-Series Nickname: "Dizzi" is short for either Dizzari (credits) or Dizzara (S1E02). Her program name is "Dizzi.01" in Season 1 and "Dizzi.02" in Season 2. Kyōju also occasionally calls her "Dizz".
- Little Miss Snarker: Dizzi's commentary is filled with snark, much to Kyōju's chagrin.
- Nonhuman Sidekick: A bit-beast who got trapped in Kyōju's laptop and a lot more talkative than the average bit-beast, which at most say something to their human only once in a blue moon.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's this for season 1 and passes on the baton to Hiromi during season 2, disappearing for season 3.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Because Dizzi is a voice-only addition to the dub, she can't actually interact with the plot (notwithstanding the dub team forwent opportunities, like the events of S1E11). But in-universe, bit-beasts are rare, and a chatty one like Dizzi is extra rare. Yet no one ever comments on her, nor do any of the teams out to capture bit-beasts so much as hint they could add Dizzi to their collection.
- The Voice: Dizzi is only ever shown as a computer screen, but what with her being a bit-beast, that's not her true form but rather the vessel that holds her. No design exists because she is a creation by the dub. It overlaps with Computer Voice, fulfilling the standard of such a voice being female.
Hiromi Tachibana (Hilary Tachibana)
Character: ヒロミ・立花 / Hiromi Tachibana / Hilary Tachibana
First Appearance: S2E1Voiced by: Shiho Kikuchi (Japanese), Caitriona Murphy (English)
The representative of Takao's and Kyōju's class, who didn't bother with beyblading until she got caught up in their first adventure since the world championships. From zero, she worked herself up to co-team manager.- Adventure Rebuff: Gets this from the moment she invites herself to Takao's and Kyōju's world of beyblade in response to her being abducted and having her life threatened. It lasts until she finally learns to see bit-beasts in S2E15.
- Bicep-Polishing Gesture: She shows off her really impressive (and surprising) biceps during a flex.
- Butt-Monkey: There are some notable moments in V-Force, such as S2E28, but G-Revolution goes for it in regards to her not having much of a role in the team and in comparison to female bladers. Apparently poking fun at her for having no established purpose is preferable to giving her one.
- Class Representative: Moving towards Academic Alpha Bitch, but because the school context only lasted for the first three or so episodes, she didn't get to actually be it. In that short time Hiromi was established as the class rep who had to provide the authority their teacher, Keiko, lacked. She's well-liked at least by her female classmates, who readily helped her enforce Takao's punishment and took care of her when she fainted. Entirely fair she was not, as she was willing to extend any punishment she thought up for Takao to Kyōju, but she learns to be a little more lenient.
- Control Freak: The well-meaning and capable kind.
- Cute Sports Club Manager: First acts like this in S2E8, not even a tiny bit introspective on the fact that she didn't know a thing about beyblading until a few days prior and is trying to lecture the world champions. Takao calls her out on this, but eventually has to concede that her fresh take on beyblading is just the kind of grounding they need. She steadily grows into the role of manager and coach from there on.
- Damsel in Distress: Gets abducted along with Kyōju to force Takao into releasing Dragoon in S2E4. The abductors weren't even after her; they just happened to strike for Kyōju right as she happened to walk by and then it was two for the price of one.
- Demoted to Extra: Happens in G-Revolution. She still appears a lot, but has very little importance.
- The Empath: Looks like an Aborted Arc for Hiromi. Specifically, in episode 2 of V-Force, she clearly responds to the presence of Flash Leopard by fainting. It's in-universe explained as her getting brought down by the weather and nothing more is said of it. Then in episode 15, not only is she the first to see one of the Saint Shields' invisible bit-beasts, but she also makes it visible to the rest of the Bladebreakers. It's never explained how and again, nothing follows from it. As off-the-wall as her early theories about Team Psychic were, she did hit close to the Zeo and cyber bit-beasts situations.
- Fortune Teller: As per S2E42, Hiromi is read up on fortunetelling by means of horoscopes, blood types, flowers, tarot cards, zoological fortunetelling, and more. It doesn't grant her any actual supernatural insight, but she knows what she's talking about when it comes to fortunetelling methods.
- I Just Want to Be You: Has some strong vibes of this in regards to Ming-Ming, who enjoys all the successes that are well outside of Hiromi's reach.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The "jerk" part is only early on in season 2 before she mellows out.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Tries to coach the protagonists on blading despite never having even picked up a beyblade before (and never does over the entire series either). Keep in mind the Bladebreakers are already the world champions by this point.
- Little Miss Snarker: Seldom maliciously, but she does get in on the snark especially towards Daichi in season 3.
- Pink Means Feminine: Played straight in V-Force, but averted in G-Revolution, in which her main color is orange.
- Ship Tease: There's moments with most of the male Bladebreakers (Rei and Daichi being the exceptions), but she mains with Takao. This is first hinted in S2E4 when she blushes at his promise he'll save her and Kyōju.
- Sixth Ranger: She joins the Bladebreakers in season 2.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female main character during V-Force in the original version and along with Dizzi in the dub. Dizzi is dropped in season 3, making Hiromi the sole main female presence in either version of G-Revolution.
- Those Two Guys: Forms this with Kyōju. Their team role is supportive and when they're not being used in a hostage situation they're pretty much safe from harm or threat because their presence or absence doesn't affect the action.
- Tsundere: Type A, especially towards Takao. Anger Born of Worry and Well, Excuse Me, Princess! are very much at play.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: She's worn the most outfits out of all characters, courtesy of G-Revolution. She's gone through a total of five core outfits and is the only character who changed which colors they mained within one continuity. G-Revolution also gave her four one-scene outfits: as a (Greek) goddess S3E33, as an Egyptian queen, as a hostess S3E39, and as a Magical Girl S3E39.
Daichi Sumeragi
Blader: 大地・皇 / Daichi Sumeragi
Bit-beast: ガイアドラグーン / Gaia Dragoon / Strata Dragoon
Voiced by: Nao Nagasawa (Japanese), Mary Long (English)
- Accidental Misnaming: He's unapologetically bad with names in the manga, remembering Max as "Socks" in I-V10CSS5, Frogman as "Clockman" in I-V12CSS2, and Tenmaru as "Omaru" ("Chamber pot") in I-V13CSS5. For the anime, this trait was changed to persistent custom insults, like "obā-san" ("granny") for Hiromi and "uta no nē-chan" ("Miss Singsong") for Ming-Ming.
- Big Eater: Just like Takao. The two bond over food in the third season.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: An impressive pair framing the scar on his forehead.
- Bratty Half-Pint: He tends to butt heads with most people he meets.
- Catchphrase Insult: Inverted. For some reason, everyone he meets will sooner or later and sometimes immediately call Daichi a "yama saru" ("mountain monkey"). The English translation goes with "monkey", "mountain monkey", or "monkey boy".
- Dishing Out Dirt: As a contrast to the original Dragoon, who has wind powers, Strata Dragoon has earth-based powers, in accordance with it being Kohryu/Huang Long, who is associated with earth.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: His pants; one side goes all the way down to his foot while the other is torn at the thigh. It matches well with his wild nature.
- Fiery Redhead: Combined with Hot-Blooded and Bratty Half-Pint this makes for an explosive mix that clashes with many people at first.
- Hot-Blooded: Boy howdy, almost as much as Takao is.
- The Lancer: Becomes this to Takao during the time pursue their careers as members of other teams.
- Nature Hero: He is most comfortable outside the artificial bey-stadium.
- No Indoor Voice: His yelling has gotten him into trouble quite a bit.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: More than a head shorter than Takao, but capable of taking on multiple adults in a fight.
- Sixth Ranger: His first appearance is in season 3.
- Tagalong Kid: Starts out as one in the third season of the anime, but is eventually accepted as Takao's teammate.
- Took a Level in Badass: His manga side stories are all about this. At the start his immense strength was so wasted by his lack of skill that Hiruta could inflict him a Curb-Stomp Battle, but by the end of it (start of the arc corresponding to G-Revolution) he's taken enough levels to give a good show against the likes of Takao, Yuriy, and Max.
- Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of the series, Daichi isn't nearly the brat he used to be which includes being much nicer to Takao and his team.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: Daichi's first appearance is in Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (GBC) and in that game he's introduced to Takao by Ryūnosuke as "onushi no kā-san no imōto no masuko-san" ("your mother's younger sister's son"). So, Takao and Daichi are cousins in that game, but in all fiction following they're unrelated.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Starting S3E9, Daichi has to deal with his airplane sickness many times when each tournament is held somewhere else across the globe. It's treated both humorously and seriously.
- "X" Marks the Hero: In the manga, every blader with a bit-beast gets a glowing silhouette of said bit-beast on their forehead when they call upon them. The permanent mark on Daichi's forehead foreshadows his eventual mastery of Gaia Dragoon. Because the silhouette thing does not happen in the anime, Daichi's mark ends up looking more special than it's meant to be.
Season 1 teams
Bái Hǔ Zú (White Tigers)
General
In the Japanese version of the manga, the team is 聖封士, pronounced Bái Hǔ Zú (バイフーズ), where the kanji means Fang Clan but the pronunciation evokes White Tiger Clan. In the Japanese version of the anime' first season, the team is 白虎族, pronounced Byakko Zoku (ビャッコゾク) and means White Tiger Clan. It's the same name in both mediums, but the manga utilizes a Chinese name and the first season a Japanese name. In the third season, they go back to being the Bái Hǔ Zú. In English and derived translations, they are the White Tigers in the first season and rename themselves White Tigers X in G-Revolution.
The Bái Hǔ Zú, formed exclusively by members of the Bái Hǔ Zú, is a secretive group of warriors with a strong sense of tradition and honor.- All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu: The Bái Hǔ Zú is a ninja-ish clan, capable of amazing physical feats. Stated in the manga and inferable in the anime, they have a natural advantage coming from being a Little Bit Beastly.
- Childhood Friends: All members of the Bái Hǔ Zú, Rei included, have been a tight-knit group since childhood. This is why Rei's perceived betrayal hurt them so badly.
- Family Eye Resemblance: A third season exclusivity, where each member of the Bái Hǔ Zú has Supernatural Gold Eyes. This isn't true in the first season, which gives Kiki purple eyes (well, at least the one visible). Aoki himself draws Kiki with blue eyes and Rai's eyes can be considered either a dark shade of gold or a golden shade of red.
- Foil: To the All Starz. The Bái Hǔ Zú are all about tradition, using ancient techniques honed and handed down over many generations. Compare the high-tech, ultra-modern methods of the All Starz.
- Good Old Ways: A fiercely defended tradition of the entire Bái Hǔ Zú until Rei, convinced it would make them obsolete, left the village to learn more of the world. Everyone else branded him a traitor and it wasn't until he sufficiently defended his decision by winning the Chinese tournament in a match against Rai that the clan accepted to follow his lead.
- Honor Before Reason: Happens when Kai steals the All Starz' bit-beasts and the Bái Hǔ Zú have to decide whether they'll fight him next and retrieve the stolen bit-beasts or to play it safe and not give Kai a chance to snatch theirs too. Mind that at this point they know they are evenly matched to the All Starz, that Kai just mopped the floor with the All Starz one-to-four, and that Kai as a result just obtained the power of four more bit-beasts. It should be simple math, but being who they are, of course they choose the confrontation. Kiki goes Only Sane Man by objecting and as a result gets to keep his bit-beast.
- Little Bit Beastly: The Bái Hǔ Zú has animal traits, such as on/off Animal Eyes, Cute Little Fangs, and enhanced physical abilities. In the manga, they're specified as catlike, but the existence of Gaoh and Kiki shows a greater range.
- Non-Indicative Name: Despite being called the White Tigers, they don't have the titular bitbeast. Ray does, and they're trying to take it back.
- Theme Naming: Three cases. For one, Type Alphabetical Theme Naming, the Bái Hǔ Zú's bit-beasts' names start with "Gal-", with the exception of Driger whose theme goes with the Bladebreakers' bit-beasts' names. For two, Mao, Gaoh, and Kiki are all animal sounds, matching the animals represented by their bit-beasts. And for three, "Rai" and "Rei" not only look like each other, but "Rai" also is the first syllable of "lion" (the "R" and "L" are the same letter in Japanese) and serves to emphasize the Lion vs Tiger conflict between them.
Rai Chen (Lee Wong)
Blader: ライ・チェン / Rai Chen / Lee Wong
Bit-beast: ガルオン / Galuon / Galeon
First Appearance: I-V3C4; S1E9Voiced by: Kouichi Nagano (Japanese), Peter Cugno (English)
The leader of the Bái Hǔ Zú, in Rei's absence anyway, and Mao's older brother. He and Rei are childhood friends and Rai took it badly when Rei seemingly betrayed the clan. Seeking revenge, Rai learned every single combat move the clan could teach him, making him a particularly dangeous blader. His bit-beast is Galuon, a lion.- Always Second Best: To Rei. A major sticking point in the first season was that Rei was chosen to wield Driger (and as such lead the clan) over him. Rai did accept that, until Rei appeared to have turned traitor and stolen Driger from the clan. In order to get the sacred symbol back, he trained hard to master all the clan knew of combat. During the Chinese tournament, Rei got to explain that he left because he believes that the Bái Hǔ Zú won't keep up with the world if it sticks to itself. Rai rejected this idea, but conceded that if the Bladebreakers would do better than the Bái Hǔ Zú during the tournament, he'd support Rei's vision. The two ended up against each other in the final match, where Rei's worldly experience won against Rai's stick-with-what-you-know-ism.
- Butt-Monkey: In season 3 he racks up several humiliating losses, which lead to him doubting his value to his team. His one moment of glory is when he comes out on top from an impromptu battle royal between himself, Rei, Max, and Rick, and even that felt like a pity win from the writers. Among his losses are two against Mao, a team member who's supposed to be ranked lower than him.
- The Comically Serious: Rai develops a case of killjoy in season 3, to the point that his seriousness puts enough stress on him to make him black out.
- Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Impressive ones for a teenager. They do go well with his lion look.
- King of Beasts: Rai represents the lion, while Rei represents the tiger. Their conflict symbolically is about the true king of beasts.
- The Lancer: To Rei in the third season.
- The Leader: Rai is the team captain in season 1.
- Meaningful Name: "Rai" means "lightning" in Japanese, referring to Galuon's lightning power. It's also the first syllable of "lion" ("raion"), emphasizing his animal theme.
- No Shirt, Long Jacket: It's not that long but it sure is flowy!
- Panthera Awesome: Galuon is a black lion with lightning powers. It contrasts well with the white tiger Driger and serves to underscore Rai's rivalry with Rei.
- Shock and Awe: Galuon uses lightning-based powers.
- We Used to Be Friends: Is greatly hurt upon hearing that Rei vacated the Bái Hǔ Zú and makes it his personal goal to get revenge on this perceived betrayal. This lasts all the way until Rei defeats him at the end of the Asian Tournament Finals.
Mao Chen (Mariah Wong)
Blader: マオ・チェン / Mao Chen / Mariah Wong
Bit-beast: ガルクス / Galux
First Appearance: I-V3C4; S1E9Voiced by: Niina Kumagaya (Japanese), Julie Lemieux (English)
A passionate and popular beyblader as well as Rai's younger sister and Rei's romantic partner. Her bit-beast is Galux, a lynx.- Adaptation Dye-Job: Type Pink Means Feminine. In the manga, Mao has red hair, a blue jumpsuit, pink shoes, and a lynx-print wrap-on and ribbon. In the anime, her color scheme consists exclusively of white and pink.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: In the original, Mao regrets never having told Rei she loves him. Aware that once their match ends, he'll probably continue his journey instead of returning home, she forces herself to confess. Rei answers he already knew, that he'll indeed continue his journey, but that the bond they share will never be broken and that he'll return to her. In the dub, it's the same, but the focus is put on their friendship instead of romance.
- Anime Chinese Girl: In both mediums, but more so in the manga where she on occasion wears a qipao.
- Dude Magnet: She has a lot of male fans cheering for her during the Chinese tournament. Whether accurate or not, Takao accused Kyōju of crushing on her too.
- Friendly Rivalry: One for the anime and one for the manga.
- When Mao and Emily first meet, an off remark by Emily about the Bái Hǔ Zú brings them on The Rival territory (while the rest of their teams get along well). It moves to Friendly Rivalry when Kai steals the PPB All Starz's bit-beasts. Mao tries to cheer up Emily, who actually attempts to crack a smile at the effort before her emotions get the better of her.
- Mao and Ayaka start out with a match that leaves Mao bitter at Ayaka for her arrogance. In following artwork, they seem to enjoy each other's company. Their relation has traits of Red Oni, Blue Oni, with Ayaka being the blue one.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When she goes all out, her eyes grow slitted like a real cat.
- The Lancer: To Rai in the first season. Her admiration and respect for her brother is without question, but it is her continued love for Rei that makes her the one to right Kiki's wrongs and go against the team's interest by pushing Rei to battle in earnest. Rai does not take kindly to it at all, but his own battle with Rei forces him to do some soul-searching of his own.
- Panthera Awesome: Galux is a lynx.
- Smurfette Principle: In the manga, where Hiromi and Dizzi do not exist, Mao is a little more prominent due to her connection to Rei and is the one girl of note in the story.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: At the end of the manga, Mao has married Rei and that they have a daughter together.
Gaoh (Gary)
Blader: ガオゥ / Gaoh / Gary
Bit-beast: ガルズリー / Galzzly
First Appearance: I-V3C4; S1E9Voiced by: Kazuyuki Ishikawa (Japanese), Craig Lauzon (English)
The Bái Hǔ Zú's powerhouse, who even in that capacity gets underestimated. His bit-beast is Galzzly, a bear.- Bears Are Bad News: Galzzly is a fearsome bear that completely thrashes its opponents once its wielder gets serious.
- Big Eater: Goa's love of beyblading competes with his love of food. In that regard, (the promise of) food can be both a motivation and a distraction.
- The Big Guy: He serves as the Bái Hǔ Zú's enforcer, primarily towards Kiki.
- Eyes Always Shut: And there never is a time he opens them either.
- Gentle Giant: Arguably the nicest of the Bái Hǔ Zú. Not counting Mao's personal dealings with Rei, Gaoh was the first to reach out to the Bladebreakers by showing Max respect out of gratitude for giving him a good battle. He also was the only one not to judge Mao for loving Rei.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: The one certain way for Gaoh's love of beyblading to win over his love of food is for him to face a Worthy Opponent, as Max found out the hard way. Funnily enough, this actually means a weak opponent has a better chance because Gaoh's less likely to care about battling someone like that.
- Unskilled, but Strong: On one hand, he's the least skilled of the Bái Hǔ Zú. On the other, once he stops thinking about food, he's just so ridiculously powerful that he shatters a steel beystadium (this feat wouldn't be equaled by anyone in the franchise until Brooklyn showed up).
Kiki (Kevin)
Blader: キキ / Kiki / Kevin
Bit-beast: ガルマーン / Galman
First Appearance: I-V3C4; S1E8Voiced by: Junko Shimakata (Japanese), Ari-Paul Saunders (first voice, English), Lyon Smith (second voice, English)
- Bratty Half-Pint: Kiki has a monkey-like nastiness to him and is also the youngest of the group.
- The Cavalry: Combined with Last Stand. Kiki and the Majestic 4 are the only ones whose bit-beasts havn't been stolen during the Russian tournament. Judy gathers the five and mentally prepares them to step in if Takao loses his match against Yuriy. Fortunately, it doesn't come to that.
- Doppelgänger Spin: Kiki's main beyblade trick is creating shadow clones to confuse his opponent which of the blades is the real one.
- Drunken Boxing: Kiki's beyblade tactics are based on this.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: His bangs are to denote he's the scheming kind.
- Jerkass: Prior to the reconciliation with Rei, Kiki dittoes the worst of Rai's anger and none of his sense of honor. Coupled with a need to prove himself and little respect for anyone outside the Bái Hǔ Zú, this leads to deceit, theft, sabotage, and more fun like that.
- Tagalong Kid: Kiki is part of the team, but also the weakest and the most unreliable. His sense of right and wrong isn't as developed yet either, and his actions to benefit the team generally only meet with disapproval.
Tao
Blader: タオ / Tao
First Appearance: I-V4C1; S3E4Voiced by: Masaaki Tsukada (Japanese), John McGrath (English)
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Captain Obvious: Has many moments (though obviously Played for Laughs), most notably:
- Tao: "Meaning is meaningless, unless it actually means something. Then it is not."
- Eccentric Mentor: Takes Takao clothes shopping as some means of life lesson in Season 3. An Imagine Spot reveals, he is thinking of them shopping for pretty frilly dresses.
- Hurricane of Aphorisms: Not one line of dialogue from him where he isn't teaching life lessons or spouting philosophy. But they're all of the Ice-Cream Koan variety.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: He doesn't even reach up to Kiki and in general is very shrunken-looking.
PPB All Starz (All Starz)
General
The All Starz are the core product of the PPB (Project Power Beyblade), a USA government-backed organization that seeks to raise the standards of beyblading by setting the example. Bladers are selected from all over the country and given custom-tailored training to ensure optimal development. The best of these go on to join the elite team.
- Academic Athlete: Emily in particular, but all the All Starz members show signs of having a good head on their shoulders. It's also implied to be part of the selection process.
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: The All Starz' bit-beasts' names start with "try-". The exceptions are Draciel, whose theme goes with the BBA's bit-beasts' names, and Rock Bison. Both of them are later additions.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In S2E28, the BBA Team returns to New York on Judy's invitation and get a tour through the PPB facility. Everything references the American tournament arc of the first season except that not a peep is spent on the All Starz. Not even an offhand remark that they're off training somewhere else or visiting their families! The original version is worse in this matter than the dub because at least the dub states that the facility they visit is different from the one where the All Starz trained in the first season, while the original version implies it's the same building.
- Eagleland: The "massively funded, sports are Serious Business" variety.
- Foil: To the Bái Hǔ Zú. The All Starz build their blades and techniques using ultra-modern, highly scientific research. Compare the ancient, inherited methods of the Bái Hǔ Zú.
- Jerk Jock: The All Starz bladers were all accomplished players of other sports before being recruited into beyblading, and all act like arrogant jerks prior to their defeat during the American Tournament. The absolute bottom of their behavior is bullying Max with the fact that Judy picked them for the team over him. After learning some humility, they become Lovable Jocks.
- Science Hero: Their schtick is that they use expensive, scientific research to build their blades and blading skills, and to suss out the blades and techniques of their opponents.
Alan McKenzie
Blader: アラン・マッケンジー / Alan McKenzie
Bit-beast: インパルス / Impulse
First Appearance: S2E28Voiced by: Chisa Yokoyama (Japanese), Vik Sahay (English)
A boy from the Bronx and longtime childhood friend of Max. Seeking a bit-beast of his own to close the gap between his beyblade level and Max's, he got involved with Doctor K, which led him to become a valued employee at the PPB as a direct assistant of Judy. His bey is Impulse, which may or may not (but probably not) contain a bit-beast.
- Always Second Best: Subverted. Alan is better than Max at everything except beyblading. It gets to him badly.
- Ambiguously Related: To Jeff in the second season. They are never said to be related and V-Force is notorious for having as good as nothing to do with the preceding season. However, the visit to America in V-Force is one of the rare cases where there is some connection. Reasons to assume they're related is that Alan and Jeff share a surname in the original version, both have brown hair and blue eyes, and both are high-ranking employees of the PPB.
- Childhood Friends: Alan and Max go way back and were of great influence on each other in their formative years.
- Foil: Alan proves to be this to Max in a variety of ways.
- First, there's how they fit in with the Noble Male, Roguish Male trope, where Alan is the roguish to Max's noble. Stealing for your own benefit and betraying your friends is a pretty roguish move. Max will stick by and fight for the ones he cares about, and doesn't resort to such underhanded actions for his own gain. While calling Alan Max's Evil Counterpart is a bit of a stretch, he's certainly more morally flexible out of the two.
- When it comes to Red Oni, Blue Oni, Alan is the red to Max's blue. Colour-Coded for Your Convenience as Max wears a blue shirt while Alan wears red. Alan acts on impulse and envy, which is what motivated him to act rashly and turn to criminal behaviour by stealing the rock from Judy's lab. He also gets incredibly angry and irritated during his bey-battle with Max, especially when his bit-beast doesn't show up for it. His beyblade was even fittingly called Impulse. Compare this to how strategic and level-headed Max (usually) is, both in and out of battle.
- When it comes to the Sensitive Guy and Manly Man trope, Alan is surprisingly the sensitive one. Played with as you might think at first glance that athletic and competitive Alan is the manly one compared to Nice Guy Max. But their arc together shows Alan is emotionally insecure and vulnerable, as his jealousy and envy cause him to turn to crime and steal the bit-beast rock. Max is faced with an emotional struggle of his own when realising his best friend betrayed him, but he is ultimately the one who overcomes this and manages to fight more effectively in battle against his friend, allowing him to win. The scene after the two knock each other's blades out the battle dish shows this perfectly, with Alan on his knees, whining to himself about how his beyblade and bit-beast didn't work, with Max looking down and simply saying "pathetic".
- Friendly Rivalry: With some We Used to Be Friends thrown in. Alan's and Max's friendship never was a question, but Alan harbored resentment towards Max for becoming a world champion. Needing a bit-beast to compete, he took a deal from Doctor K that he'd get in with the PPB to steal the bit-beast tablet. In return, he'd get a beyblade charged with a bit-beast for him to control. Max discovered Alan's involvement and eventually heart-brokenly confronted him at a local tournament. Alan promised to confess if Max defeated him and demanded that he wouldn't hold back. After some hesitation, Max did. Was Alan angry? Nope. He readily kept to his promise and, possibly due to getting everything off his chest, was more open and pleasant around Max than before the theft. The two said goodbye promising each other another battle some time in the future.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Alan was promised a bit-beast of his own if he'd help Doctor K steal the rock full of them from the PPB. First, he did not wonder how she was going to extract the (complete) bit-beasts if the PPB was only in the early phases of research on that process. Second, he never imagined Doctor K could just... lie to him about having handed him a bit-beast. It's left ambiguous (the bit-beast could be incomplete or simply not obey Alan), but there sure was no image on the Impulse to indicate a bit-beast's presence.
- Sore Loser: If he doesn't beat Max at whatever comes their way, even if the outcome is a tie, it's unacceptable to Alan. This includes beyblading, in which Max is a world class player and Alan is not. Despite besting him at many things when they were kids, the mere idea that Max is better than him at something drove him to criminal actions. At least getting betrayed by Doctor K and defeated by Max snapped him out of it.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Alan, as a PPB employee, has several traits that belonged to Emily a season prior. Emily herself doesn't appear in V-Force.
Michael Summers (Michael Parker)
Blader: マイケル・ソマーズ / Michael Summers / Michael Parker
Bit-beast: トライグル / Trygle
Voiced by: Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Lyon Smith (English)
- American Eagle: As the American team's leader, uses the beyblade Trygle, which has an eagle as its bit beast.
- Art Evolution: Michael borders on having two designs due to his Season 1 interpretation. His manga appearance, which is the same as his G-Revolution design, features bangs, while his Season 1 design has the tuft in front of his eye lifted up to emulate an eagle's beak and overall make him look more cocky. Season 1 along with the 2001 GBC game Bakuten Shoot Beyblade also make clear that the instruction was for Michael to have red hair, but as the game, the first season, and the third season prove, "red" covers a wide range. The unusual choice for burgundy in Season 1 might have been influenced by a wish to make it distinct from the hair color given to Emily.
- Demoted to Extra: Doesn't even get to be The Lancer to Max when he joins the All Starz thanks to Rick.
- Fiery Redhead: Michael's gone through three types of red hair in his fictional appearances: red-red, burgundy, and strawberry-blond. His fieriness is primarily associated with the latter two.
- The Leader: Michael is the team captain in Season 1.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: In S1E28, it is revealed that Michael is right-handed. He'd been throwing with left up to that point and the fact that he gets a much better spin if he throws with right was the All Starz' secret weapon to be used during the Russian Tournament. Max, however, forced them to show their cards early.
- National Animal Stereotypes: His bit-beast Trygle is an eagle, suitable for the leader of the American team.
Eddy Smith (Eddy Wheeler)
Blader: エディ・スミス / Eddy Smith / Eddy Wheeler
Bit-beast: トライピオ / Trypio
Voiced by: Hisayoshi Suganuma (Japanese), Tim Grimes (first voice, English), Craig Lauzon (second voice, English)
- Death from Above: Eddy's style of attack, bringing together the slam dunks of basketball and the stinging movement of a scorpion's tail.
- Scary Scorpions: Trypio is a scorpion, and it completely demolishes Rei in record time.
Steve (Steven Jones)
Blader: スティーブ / Steve / Steven Jones
Bit-beast: トライホーン / Tryhorn
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Vince Corazza (English)
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the dub of S1E26, Steve is said to have been kicked out of his former football team for "unsportsman-like behavior". This isn't in the original version.
- The Big Guy: He's the muscles of the All Starz. In the dub of S1E26, he's given the title "Gridiron Goliath".
- Fatal Flaw: His Hair-Trigger Temper, which when it kicks in makes him unable to take anyone's advice and deadset on bruteforcing his way to the solution. It's what costs him a win against Takao during the American tournament.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: During his battle with Takao, he throws away his helmet in rage.
- National Animal Stereotypes: Since the bison is a North American symbol, it makes sense that someone from the American team would have a bit-beast based on one.
- In-Series Nickname: In the original version, Steve's Steve. In the dub, his name proper is "Steven" as heard in S1E20 and S1E26, but he's otherwise exclusively refered to as "Steve".
- Put on a Bus: A leg injury is why he wasn't seen in G-Revolution and why the All-Starz needed Rick. This information is exclusive to the original version of the show. In the dub, he's just gone.
- The Worf Effect: His introduction is a display of pure strength, emphasized by his beyblade's ability to smash through a door the Bladebreakers couldn't get through. Kyōju is even left with a nightmare about him. After one more show of power against the Australian team, Steve would have two guarantees: to have the first match of a given team competition and to lose it.
Emily Watson (Emily York)
Blader: エミリー・ワトソン / Emily Watson / Emily York
Bit-beast: トライゲータ / Trygator
Voiced by: Yukari Honma (Japanese), Julie Zwillich (first voice, English), Katie Griffin (second voice, English)
- Hair Antennae: Emily has two strands sticking out at the top of her head.
- Friendly Rivalry: When Emily and Mao first meet, an off remark by Emily about the Bái Hǔ Zú brings them on The Rival territory (while the rest of their teams get along well). It moves to Friendly Rivalry when Kai steals the PPB All Starz' bit-beasts. Mao tries to cheer up Emily, who actually attempts to crack a smile at the effort before her emotions get the better of her.
- Humble Pie: The exhibition match before the American tournament knocked her down a peg since even if you have good strength, it doesn't mean jack squat if your opponents gang up on you. Made more awesome by two simple facts: one, it was Max's strategy that wound up winning them the match, much to her chagrin; two, the president explained her the lesson that team work is just as important as individual strength if not more.
- Insufferable Genius: Emily's smart and she knows it. And won't let anyone else forget it either. Course smart doesn't mean automatically better.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Often wears a lab coat despite not being the type of scientist that needs one in the first place.
- National Animal Stereotypes: Another stereotypical North American animal is the alligator, thus there's Trygator being wielded by North America.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Trygator is an alligator.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Emily is the mean one during the charity match, while Max is the nice one and Mario the in-between one.
- Pink Means Feminine: Emily has pink hair in the 2001 GBC game Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, which was developed before the designs for the anime were finalized. Emily's hair color was likely un-pinked because it would've been overkill if both she and Mao would have had pink hair.
- Replacement Goldfish: Emily is an implied case. Narratively, she is placed as this to Max regarding Judy's affection. Not only is she Judy's constant companion during her time with the PPB, but she's also the only one of the All Starz who is about Max's age and uniquely has a matching color scheme (yellow, green, orange) to him. Throughout the American tournament arc, Judy gives Emily the affection she withholds from Max and Max outright wonders if that is because Emily easily beat him in a sample match. Relatedly, Emily is the only member of the All Starz who doesn't bully Max about his mother being on their side and who attempts to get Judy to admit to some affection for her son.
- Ship Tease: A little bit with Kyōju, mostly in S1E50 and S3E40.
- The Short Guy with Glasses: Is the shortest of the All Starz by far and also the youngest. She's as good a blader as the rest of them, but above that valued for her sharp, analyzing mind.
- The Smart Guy: Emily is often seen assisting with research and development.
Rick Anderson
Blader: リック・アンダーソン / Rick Anderson
Bit-beast: ロックバイソン / Rock Bison
Voiced by: Takehiro Murozono (Japanese), Tony Daniels (English)
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the manga, specifically I-V10CSS3, Rick's family owns a successful ranch. Part of his bonding with Daichi is because the both of them aren't city folk. In the anime, as noted in S3E24, he is from a poor neighborhood in the city and tries to make it big as a beyblader to inspire others.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy
- I Work Alone: Rick's Character Development involves him learning to be a team player and accepting Max as his tag-team partner.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His background as a street kid has not made a very nice person out of him, however, he is shown to care a lot about his old friends.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Steve, obvious since he uses a bison bit-beast.
Judy Mizuhara (Judy Tate)
Character: ジュディ・水原 / Judy Mizuhara / Judy Tate
Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (first voice, Japanese), Yumi Touma (second voice, Japanese), Susan Roman (English)
Tarō's American wife and mother of Max and Charlotte. She is an astrophysicist at MIT.- Girliness Upgrade: Undergoes this from Season 1 to Season 2. For Season 3, the upgrade stays but is dialed back a little.
- Happily Married: Impressively overlaps with Star-Crossed Lovers. Judy and Tarō are happy together, shown by those times they actually get to be together. Because they're both most comfortable in their native lands and have their careers there, they are often apart. Their children live wherever is most convenient for them at a given time.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Always wears a lab coat despite not being the type of scientist that needs one in the first place.
- Mentor Archetype: She is quick to help Max with any problems concerning beyblading and technology. She also has shades of this towards Emily, who is often seen assisting her during work.
- Parents as People: Loves Max very much, but she's also a top scientist and, as such, has a lot of work to do.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She is sometimes icey towards her own son.
Borg (Demolition Boys)
General
In Japan, the team is Borg (ボーグ), a name shared with the larger organization they're part of. After cutting ties with Volkov, the team becomes Neoborg (ネオボーグ). In Rising, the team name was changed once more, to Borg 0 (ボーグ0). In English and derived translations, the team name is Demolition Boys, while the organization's name is Biovolt, and after cutting ties with Volkov it becomes Blitzkrieg Boys.
- Child Soldiers: Each of the members has been trained from a young age to become this for Borg/Biovolt. They only got out due to the efforts of the BBA, spearheaded by the Bladebreakers. They've since taken life into their own hands and welcomed Kai, the one who escaped before them and they initially resented as a traitor, into their group.
- Land, Sea, Sky: Wyborg, Seaborg, and Falborg are this respectively. Wolborg adds Void on account of its dimensional powers.
- Orphan's Ordeal: It's ambiguous in the anime, but the manga, specifically the light novel and Rising, are clear that each member of Borg is an orphan, abandoned by their parents, or a mixture of that. After escaping Volkov's control, they've come to live at the Golubeva Child Education Center, a quality nursery & orphanage.
Yuriy Ivanov (Tala)
Blader: ユーリ・イヴァノーフ / Yuriy Ivanov / Tala
Bit-beast: ウルボーグ / Wolborg
First Appearance: S1E42Voiced by: Chiaki Morita (Japanese), Jamie Haydon-Devlin (English)
The son of a disillusioned soldier who ended up drinking himself to death and a mother who left them both to start a new life. Yuriy lived on the streets for a while and then was picked up by Borg to be made into one of the best bladers worldwide. He's got a baby half-sibling from his mother's second marriage, but the child doesn't know about him.- Anime Hair: His hair looks like that of Future Trunks, in his Super Saiyan form.
- Cyborg: During the latter episodes of Season 1 he gets a cyber upgrade, courtesy of Volkov.
- The Dragon: Season 1, to Volkov.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: His bit-beast Wolborg uses ice-based powers.
- Evil Redhead: At first, until he and his team stop being/serving evil.
- Fiery Redhead: He comes across as a passionate beyblader in season 3, taunting his opponents and letting out the occaisonal Evil Laugh.
- Final Boss: The final opponent Takao battles in Season 1.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Before joining Borg, Yuriy and Boris met each other on the streets and stuck together to survive. Though while their friendship is mutual, Boris is far more dedicated to Yuriy than the other way around.
- Fire/Ice Duo: Yuriy forms this with Kai. Their color schemes are reversed, though, with ice-wielding Yuriy being strong on red and orange and fire-wielding Kai being mainly blue.
- An Ice Person: Wolborg uses ice-based powers.
- The Lancer: To Kai in the manga and in the third season.
- Light Is Not Good: White clothes, white beyblade, white bit-beast - yeah.
- Lightning Bruiser: Recovered from his Glass Cannon status in Season 3, where his beyblade is actually meant to take hits in long, drawn out battles.
- Redemption Demotion: While still a pretty capable blader in G-Revolution, it's clear that he's nowhere near as overpowered as he was in the first season. Most notably when he loses to Daichi, Rick and is hospitalized after barely forcing a draw with Garland, and has a surprisingly hard time against Kyōju. Justified as his blade is no longer sporting nine stolen bitbeasts.
- The Rival: Somewhat with Daichi in season 3. Daichi won their first battle which was Yuriy's first loss in the championship. Later they tied in their rematch in the championship final.
- Samus Is a Girl: In season 3, it turns out that Wolborg is a girl. A pretty one, at that.
- Savage Wolves: His bit-beast Wolborg is based on a wolf. Due to being owned by the (at first) evil Russian team and more specifically the very cold Yuriy, it comes off as very vicious.
Boris Kuznetsov (Bryan Kuznetsov)
Blader: ボリス・クズネツォーフ / Boris Kuznetsov / Bryan Kuznetsov
Bit-beast: ファルボーグ / Falborg
First Appearance: S1E49Voiced by: Wasabi Mizuta (Japanese), Craig Lauzon (English)
- Curtains Match the Window: Mainly a Season 1 thing, where his eyes and hair are a soft pink. In Season 3, his hair is a soft grey and his eyes switch from a grey-like blue to grey. It's averted in regards to Aoki's own choice colors, which give Boris soft pink hair and medium blue eyes.
- Feathered Fiend: Falborg, being a falcon bit-beast, comes across as this, especially since it's responsible for seriously harming Rei and damaging Driger to the point the bit-beast's energy dispersed.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Before joining Borg, Boris and Yuriy met each other on the streets and stuck together to survive. Though while their friendship is mutual, Boris is far more dedicated to Yuriy than the other way around.
- The Lancer: To Yuriy in the manga and in Season 3. Note that Yuriy in turn is the lancer to Kai, and at times that's the case Boris's role as lancer is pushed to the side.
- One-Steve Limit: Broken thanks to the dub. Boris Kuznetsov is Boris in the original version and Bryan in the dub. Vladimir Volkov is Vladimir in the original version and Boris in the dub.
- Razor Wind: The slices of wind Falborg produces. And, boy, does he love to dish them out!
- Sadist: He is hyped as being one, and it shows in his match with Rei. He's unrelenting in his attempts to harm the latter, both by flinging chunks of the stadium at him and having his bit-beast attack both Rei and Driger simultaneously with its various wind attacks. He outright states that he wants to make Rei suffer before the end of their fight, especially after Rei's victory during the second match angered him.
Sergei Rybakov (Spencer)
Blader: セルゲイ・ルイバコフ / Sergei Rybakov / Spencer
Bit-beast: シーボーグ / Seaborg
First Appearance: S1E44Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Peter Cugno (English)
- The Brute: Overlaps with The Big Guy for when Borg reforms. He's the biggest and physically strongest of the team.
- Elephant in the Living Room: In the anime, the bit-beasts used by the bladers were made by Borg by either extracting or copying the essences of living animals in their laboratory under the monastery. How they apparently got a whole whale in there (or if there's another laboratory elsewhere) is never commented on.
- Making a Splash: His bit-beast Seaborg unsurprisingly comes with water powers.
- Meaningful Name: "Rybakov" means "Fisherman's", which is fitting for someone wielding a whale bit-beast.
Ivan Pahov (Ian Pahov)
Blader: イワン・パホーフ / Ivan Pahov / Ian Pahov
Bit-beast: ワイボーグ / Wyborg
First Appearance: S1E42Voiced by: Aya Sakaguchi (Japanese), Shannon Perreault (English)
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He is not with the Blitzkrieg Boys in the third season and no explanation as to why is given. The explanation is exclusive to the manga, which shows that he was defeated by Kai in the Russian prelims.
- Cold Sniper: His launcher looks like one, and he actually fires his beyblade at Takao in S1E46 as part of a gambit to capture Max's bit-beast.
- Gag Nose: He certainly has an unusual nose, but it isn't treated as being out of the ordinary. For the record, his nose in the anime is about twice as long as it is in the manga.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Ivan has goggles resting atop his head, but he never wears them to protect his eyes. Not even when skydiving into battle in his intro episode.
Irina Golubeva
Character: / Irina Golubeva
First Appearance: II-V1C9Voiced by: N/A
The President of the Russian Beyblade Association and the head of the Golubeva Child Education Center. She took Borg in after they parted with Volkov out of genuine goodness, but also to use their fame to get money for the rest of the center.- Friend to All Children: It's the clearest sign that Golubeva, despite how underhanded and forceful she comes across, is a good person.
- Good Counterpart: To Volkov. They have a similar sense for business and publicity, keep their true motives to themselves, and don't shy away from using others. The difference is that Volkov is in it for himself, while Golubeva would sacrifice herself if it'd benefit the children of the GCEC.
- Parental Substitute: She's the head of the Golubeva Child Education Center, which among others means she's the closest to a parental figure Borg has as it is.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: She runs a nursery & orphanage, so she comes across as a good person to the general public. Borg, having had a long run under Volkov's machinations, don't exactly readily embrace her and therefore get more than one run-in with Golubeva's own machinations. The thing is, though, that everything Golubeva does is for the children in her care. In the end, she gets Borg to feel protective of the other children, thereby ensuring money for the latter and giving the former a purpose in life. The team still doesn't like her, but that's nothing she'll lose sleep over.
Anime solo bladers
Bruce
Blader: ブルース / Bruce
First Appearance: S1E8Voiced by: Ako Mayama (Japanese), Todd Hofley (English)
A boy from Hong Kong who wished to join the Bái Hǔ Zú. He made a deal with Kiki that the latter would recommend him to Rai if he did well against the BBA, but he didn't, so that fell through.- All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu: He might not be from the Bái Hǔ Zú, but he's certainly not their lesser when it comes to unlikely acrobatics.
- Bruce Lee Clone: Where to begin? With Hong Kong? With the martial arts? With the bowl-cut (though he fancies it up with an additional tail)? With the singular Shirtless Scene not related to swimwear in the entire show? The nunchaku shooter? The name!?
- The Dog Bites Back: He wasn't resentful towards Kiki for sending him away, but he also had nothing to lose anymore when the rest of the Bái Hǔ Zú asked him where Kiki was. Kiki had the nerve to be angry at him about it.
- Dual Wielding: He can command two beys at the same time.
- The Sneaky Guy: He and Kiki would make a good team if Kiki wasn't such a disrespectful egotist. They're both well-versed in the various aspects of stealth.
- Those Were Only Their Scouts: Kiki sent Bruce ahead to fight the BBA, dangling the promise of joining the Bái Hǔ Zú in front of him. Either he'd win and the BBA would prove to be of no concern or he'd lose and that still would've provided insight in the BBA's techniques. Bruce lost, Kiki told him no deal on joining the Bái Hǔ Zú, and made sure to disparage his skill within hearing range of the BBA, whose victory wasn't smooth sailing.
BBA
Kogorō Daitenji (Stanley A. Dickenson)
Character: 小五郎・大転寺 / Kogorō Daitenji / Stanley A. Dickenson
First Appearance: S1E03Voiced by: Tamio Ohki (Japanese), William Colgate (English)
The Chairman of the BBA is one of the most influential people in the world of beyblading. He has a firm belief in the nobility of the sport and despite his high position, he continues to take personal interest in the bladers.- Adaptational Backstory Change: Daitenji is close to a nobody in the original manga. He's there, he's said to be important, he's good-natured, and that's about the whole picture. The first season of the anime greatly ups his relevance by making him the secret mastermind behind saving the world from Hiwatari and Borg. Among others, this is accomplished by the removal of Hitoshi and transferring part of his role, such as being the one to convince Rei to join the Japanese Tournament, to Daitenji. Come V-Force and Daitenji is so far removed from his sagacious Season 1 self that even his manga self would pretend not to know the guy. He gets manipulated, deceived, threatened, and most of the time is occupied with looking worried. G-Revolution improves his station lightly, but it never returns to its Season 1 glory.
- The Chessmaster: Overlaps with Trickster Mentor. In the anime, he's the one who convinced and arranged for Rei to compete in the tournament, sent the BBA Antonio when they needed a reminder of where they came from, dressed up to trick the BBA offboard in England and set them on a course to battle the European champions, anonymously sent them a research report by Tatsuya about bit-beasts, and finally arranged for the Majestic 4 to challenge the BBA to reconnect them with their blader potential. All this was part of a larger scheme to have a team that could stand up against Borg. Note, however, that this is a characterization virtually exclusive to the first season of the anime. He becomes way less capable in the later two seasons and doesn't play as much of a role in the manga. In fact, much of his early actions in the anime are taken from Hitoshi's role in the manga.
- Demoted to Extra: His role is greatly diminished following Season 1.
- Evil Former Friend: Daitenji is the kind of jolly fellow who would never have just one.
- In the anime, he and Doctor Zagart used to be friends and scientific coworkers. Then they got their hands on a tablet containing one or more sealed bit-beasts. Zagart understood the potential better than Daitenji and one day stole the tablet and research notes. Daitenji did not hear from him again until thirty years later when a similar tablet was stolen from the PPB and he knew Zagart was behind it.
- In the games, he and Masamune Chizan used to be friends, but something went awry. Nowadays, Chizan wants to prove he's the better coach by having one of his bladers become champion.
- There's minor hints in the anime that Daitenji and Sōichirō Hiwatari have a past that's not fully hostile.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Daitenji's considerations lie first and foremost with the bladers, their fun, and their wellbeing, as opposed to most of his colleagues and peers who prioritize the sport. He's well-liked because of this.
Ken Daiba
Blader: ケン・ダイバ / Ken Daiba
First Appearance: I-V11C2Voiced by: N/A
The President of the GBC Committee, a legendary previous beyblade world champion, and the inventor of the Heavy Metal System.- Badass Longcoat: Goes hand in hand with Cool Shades, but the shades are dropped quickly while the coat stays.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
- Every Scar Has a Story: He's got a scar going up his left cheek, which he acquired as a child when trying to master his own HMS-style beyblade and not doing so hot initially.
- Last Episode, New Character: That is, Last Arc, New Character. Daiba is introduced to bring the Heavy Metal System into the story of the manga, which makes for the premise of the final arc.
- Red Baron: Ken Daiba was a beyblade champion during his childhood of unparalleled skill. In those days, he was less known by his name and more by the title he'd been given: the Phantom Beyblade Champion ("幻の世界チャンピオン"; "Phantom World Champion").
Blader DJ (DJ Jazzman)
Blader: ブレーダーDJ / Blader DJ / DJ Jazzman
First Appearance: S1E04Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (first voice, Japanese), Himself (second voice, Japanese), Raoul Bhaneja (Seasons 1 and 3, English), Tony Daniels (Season 2, English)
- Combat Commentator
- No Indoor Voice: He is always talking into a microphone, admittedly.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: In the first season, he shows up in a new outfit each tournament. The one exception is the exhibition match between the Majestic 4 and the BBA Team, during which time he wears the same outfit he wore during the Japanese Tournament.
A.J. Topper and Brad Best
Voiced by: Eric Woolfe (A.J.) and Mark Dailey (Brad)
The dub-exclusive sports commentary duo that's present for most tournaments.- Canon Foreigner: Don't exist in the original; they're solely an English dub creation.
- Combat Commentator: A.J. and Brad are the commentators at each tournament.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Played with. In S2E47, Brad shares that his middle name is Aloysius and that it may get shortened to Ysi. He doesn't find it embarrassing, but A.J. finds "Ysi Best" to be ridiculous.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: They've got a funny thing going on according to the few lines about it. Like this one from S2E47:A.J.: "Respect's gotta be earned, Brad."Brad: "Like how I earned your respect over the years?"A.J.: "Don't go there!"
- Large-Ham Announcer: When you have the Voice of Citytv as Brad, it's a given.
- No Indoor Voice: A.J. always, always talks in a voice that's barely held-back screeching.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: When their commentary turns to themselves, it's a coin flip whether they will insult or compliment each other.
- The Voice: They're an addition of the dub so dialogue could be added during the battle scenes. Because of this, there's no look for them; they're voice-only. Reaches into Suspiciously Similar Substitute territory because a good percentage of their lines are taken from Blader DJ.
Hitoshi Kinomiya (Hiro Granger)
Blader: 仁・木ノ宮 / Hitoshi Kinomiya / Hiro Granger
Bit-beast: サイゾー / Saizo
Bit-beast: メタルドライガー / Metal Driger
Bit-beast: メタルドラグーン / Metal Dragoon
Bit-beast: メタルドラシエル / Metal Draciel
Bit-beast: メタルドランザー / Metal Dranzer
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Tim Hamaguchi (English)
First Appearance: Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade- Aborted Arc: Potentially. He's built up a lot in both the intro and the first few episodes of G-Revolution as a near unbeatable rival of sorts for Takao and the other main characters. After he's revealed as Takao's brother, he becomes his coach, then later a coach at BEGA, and he pretty much ceases activity as a blader. Even when he joins Boris and trains Brooklyn, he never really engages in a serious battle against anyone after his battle early in the season against Rei. As such, despite all the build-up, we never get to see a serious Takao or Kai vs. Hitoshi one-on-one battle in the season.
- Adaptation Distillation: Appeared much earlier in the manga (he did get mentioned in the anime in S1E1) and also wielded Metal Draciel and Metal Dranzer instead of just Metal Driger.
- Big Brother Mentor: When Takao was a little kid.
- The Chessmaster: His strategy of improving Takao's beyblading. He joined BEGA so Takao would step up his game considering the opponents he is facing. He personally trained Brooklyn, getting him interested in the sport and possibly getting better through Kai. (He may have wanted Kai to face Brooklyn twice because he knows that he will lose at first but come back stronger and beat Brooklyn. After all, Hitoshi approves Kai's request to challenge Brooklyn. He knew that Brooklyn would be deeply affected by the loss and become stronger, giving Takao a really tough challenge later on.) One must wonder how deep in the tournament did he plan.
- Code Name: In the Japanese franchise, he's known as the ninja 疾風のジン (Shippū no Jin). This has been translated in the manga as Hurrican Jin and in the anime as Jin of the Gale.
- Cool Shades: Hitoshi wears red sunglasses starting S3E40 when he starts working as the coach of the Justice 5.
- Dual Wielding: He can command two beys at the same time.
- Fake Defector
- Friendly Rivalry: With Mister B in the manga, although it's on the side of Tell Don't Show.
- Guile Hero
- Heir to the Dojo: He's less the archetype of this trope than his younger brother is, in part because he's already past the usual age range, but he still qualifies. It'd be a safe guess that several of his skills are owed to Ryūnosuke.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Joins BEGA in order to make Takao much stronger. How he does it with Brooklyn might have been overkill.
- Long-Lost Relative: He's Takao's older brother.
- Mentor Archetype
- Ninja: He is this. In Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade, his bit-beast Saizō, named after the legendary ninja Kirigakure Saizō, is a ninja too.
- Panthera Awesome: Metal Driger. Not that he uses it much.
- The Phoenix: Metal Dranzer, but it's manga-only.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Quite frequently gives them to players (Rei, Takao, Kai, Brooklyn).
Mister B
Character: ミスターB / Mister B
First Appearance: I-V2C3Voiced by: N/A
A top scientist of the BBA and close associate of Hitoshi Kinomiya. Together, they created the spin gear component, which they gave for field-testing to their respective proteges. In Mister B's case, this was Kyōju.- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He just stops appearing after I-V8C4. Granted, he'd not been relevant for some time, but no explanation is given either.
- Eyes Always Shut: His eyes don't ever open, always forming two pronounced arcs. It matches with Kyōju's hidden eyes.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Hitoshi, although it's on the side of Tell Don't Show.
- Trickster Mentor: Has shades of this to Kyōju. Their meeting was Kyōju sneaking up on Rei to catch a glimpse of his training technique, then Mister B sneaking up on Kyōju and straight-up abducting him. He didn't even introduce himself until after "trapping" the boy in his laboratory and noting they were alone there. Fortunately, it did not traumatize Kyōju and the two got along splendidly after that. Mister B trusts in Kyōju's skills and doesn't coach when he thinks Kyōju can handle research by himself.
- Only Known by Initials: Like Doctor B and Doctor K after him, Mister B is only ever referred to as "Mister B".
Family
Ryūnosuke Kinomiya (Ryu Granger)
Character: 龍之介・木ノ宮 / Ryūnosuke Kinomiya / Ryu Granger
Voiced by: Chikao Ohtsuka (Japanese), George Buza (English)
- Cool Old Guy: He's an accomplished kendoka from a long lineage of samurai who runs his own dojo. He raised his grandsons when their parents couldn't and instilled a warrior spirit, and skill in them. And while he doesn't quite like Takao choosing beyblading over kendo, he acknowledges the boy's devotion and supports him, going so far as to be the BBA Team's caretaker during their first stay in the USA and Russia. The dub takes it a step further by giving him a Surfer Dude accent and having him use associated colloquialisms.
- Everything's Better with Samurai: He's a samurai. Also of note is that his name, which means "Herald of the Dragon", is very similar to the story's other samurai, Kennosuke, which means "Herald of the Sword".
- Jive Turkey: Talks jive to such an extent that even Tyson sometimes can't understand him.
- Lineage Comes from the Father: Takao inherited Dragoon through his father's family line. Appropriately, "龍"/ryū" means "dragon".
- Parental Substitute: He raises Takao because Tatsuya is traveling the world for his archeology job and because Yoshie is dead.
- Parents Know Their Children: In I-V3C2, Ryūnosuke immediately recognizes Hitoshi in his Jin costume. Knowing the boy must have a reason to go around masked, he does not reveal his identity to anyone else.
Tatsuya Kinomiya (Tatsuya Granger)
Character: 龍也・木ノ宮 / Tatsuya Kinomiya / Tatsuya Granger
Voiced by: Osamu Hosoi (Japanese), Craig Lauzon (English)
Yoshie's husband, Ryūnosuke's son, and the father of Hitoshi and Takao. He's an archeologist who specializes in the history of bit-beasts and therefore isn't home often. Following Yoshie's death, he leaves the care of his youngest son to Ryūnosuke.- Adventurer Archaeologist: A mild case. Tatsuya comes close to being a normal field archeologist, but because his subject of choice are bit-beasts, there's inevitably adventure involved. In the anime, he is part of Daitenji's efforts to stop Hiwatari Enterprises and Borg from taking over the world.
- Ascended Extra: He was an insignificant example of The Unseen in the manga, but in the anime he gets to be part of the final arc to save the world. In a way, he gets to be for the anime's first season what his oldest son, Hitoshi, gets to be for the manga up to that point. And then Rising happened and, taking cues from the anime, incorporated him.
- Disappeared Dad: He's not even mentioned in Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade and his role in the original manga isn't stellar either. His dead wife gets more done for her character than he does, for starters by actually appearing. Season 1 of the anime did copy the excuse of him being an archeologist and out excavating, but it pulled him into the story during the second half. Needless to say, it was an emotional reunion for Takao. Since Rising, he's been depicted as more present in Takao's life.
- Lineage Comes from the Father: Takao inherited Dragoon through his father's family line. Appropriately, "龍"/tatsu" means "dragon".
Yoshie Kinomiya
Character: 良恵・木ノ宮 / Yoshie Kinomiya
First Appearance: Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade; I-V1C1; S1E1 (mentioned)Voiced by: N/A
Tatsuya's wife and the mother of Hitoshi and Takao. She died within a few years after Takao's birth.- Age Lift: Simultaneously subverted and played straight. Yoshie is much older looking in Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade, but that is fair because she's still around. There's some ten years difference between her game self and her manga self, who died when Takao was very young. Then again, the manga version is drawn to look an age about equivalent to the other mothers despite that supposed gap of ten years.
- Death by Adaptation: Was alive in Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade, not so much in the manga and the anime.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Little is said about her, but what is is positive. And not being there for your children because you are dead is a better excuse than career.
- Green Thumb: Played with. Yoshie doesn't have magical plant powers, but her love for her garden ties in with the Azure Dragon's wood element.
- Innocent Flower Girl: Evoked. Yoshie loved the flowers in the garden. When Ryūnosuke is about to step on them while training Takao, Takao makes short work of the bokken with his bey to prevent him from barging right over them. Once the problem is pointed out to Ryūnosuke, he is regretful and proud of Takao's protection of his mother's memory.
- Missing Mom: In both the manga and the anime, her death prompts a bonding moment between Takao and Max. When Takao learns that Max misses his mother badly, he lightheartedly mentions he understands the emotion because his own mother is dead, so they should be friends.
- Named by the Adaptation: Takao's mother isn't given a name in Jisedai Beigoma Battle Beyblade. She's named Yoshie in the manga.
- Sky Face: The only image of her provided in the entire franchise. It's seen by Ryūnosuke.
Sōichirō Hiwatari (Voltaire Hiwatari)
Character: 宗一郎・火渡 / Sōichirō Hiwatari / Voltaire Hiwatari
Voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese), Allen Stewart-Coates (English)
The strict and merciless head of Hiwatari Enterprises. His immediate family consists of his son, Susumu, his daughter-in-law, Misaki, and his grandson, Kai. He may (anime) or may not (manga) be out to conquer the world.- Adaptational Villainy: He's not raking in the sympathy points in the manga with the way he treats his family, but he's an honest businessman and all that. In the anime, he uses his company's wealth to fund Borg, which employs Child Soldiers, and tries to turn Kai into his ultimate weapon.
- Archnemesis Dad: Is effectively this in the first season of the anime to Kai.
- Control Freak: Is rather unhealthily obsessed with controlling his family. Kai in particular, but that might be because he has the least potential for resistance. He tones it down in Rising, but still only so much.
- Kimono Is Traditional: Hiwatari wears a kimono in the original manga to communicate his standing as the "iron-fisted patriarch". In the anime, he wears a Western-type business suit, but maintains the "man of ages"-look by combining it with a Badass Cape. Based on this appearance, he was redesigned for Rising to wear a suit, but lost the cape too, averting the trope.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In Rising, he pretends that his health is failing to force Kai into taking over CEO responsibilities at Hiwatari Enterprises.
Misaki Hiwatari
Character: ミサキ・火渡 / Misaki Hiwatari
First Appearance: I-V3C2Voiced by: N/A
Susumu's wife, Kai's mother, and the personal assistant of her father-in-law Sōichirō.- Beleaguered Assistant: Some form of it, anyway. A lot of Misaki's "choices" only make sense if she already was Sōichirō's personal assistant before marrying Susumu. Despite going out of her way for him, even taking care of him when he pretends to be on death's doorstep in order to manipulate Kai, he never so much as shows her basic human decency. Not once!
- Extreme Doormat: To the point it's a fair question if she even qualifies as a character. With Keiko in the anime, her doormat-ism serves a purpose, while Misaki's doormat-ism seems a consequence of the need to let the narrative between the three men in her life happen. She's present when Susumu and Sōichirō have their falling out and Kai basically gets traumatized and all she does is cry in the corner. She never has any opinion on Kai's upbringing, even though Susumu gets to point out Kai's his son and not Sōichirō's when Susumu has spent years being absent from the boy's life. There's no clarity on how Misaki's homelife functioned after the falling out either.
- No Name Given: Would've been true if not for the anniversary chance to add another arc to the manga by means of Rising. Took a little under 15 years for her to finally be named.
Tarō Mizuhara (Taro Tate)
Character: 太郎・水原 / Tarō Mizuhara / Taro Tate
Voiced by: Hidenari Ugaki (Japanese), John Stocker (English)
Judy's Japanese husband and father of Max and Charlotte. He runs the Mizuhara Hobby Shop in Akebono, which sells parts from all over the globe.- Childhood Friends: In the manga, Tarō and Daigorō Sumeragi have been close since childhood. The Mizuharas still maintain good contact with his widow Rinko.
- The Engineer: He may not seem like he's in Judy's league intellectually, but this is far from true. Due to his vast experience with bey parts and combinations, he is the practical side to her theoretical side. At the end of Season 1, it's him, instead of all the engineers America has to offer, that Judy brings along to Russia to help build the ultimate bey for Takao to use.
- Happily Married: Impressively overlaps with Star-Crossed Lovers. Tarō and Judy are happy together, shown by those times they actually get to be together. Because they're both most comfortable in their native lands and have their careers there, they are often apart. Their children live wherever is most convenient for them at a given time.
Charlotte Mizuhara (Charlotte Tate)
Character: シャルロット・水原 / Charlotte Mizuhara
First Appearance: II-V1C2Voiced by: N/A
Judy's and Tarō's second child and Max's younger sister, who was born some time after Max became a beyblade star.- Babies Ever After: Played with. Charlotte's introduced in the 2016 manga Bakuten Shoot Beyblade: Rising, which is a revival of the original storyline that previously ended in 2004. Her existence shows that Max's home situation has stabilized for a while.
- But Not Too Foreign: Like Max, Charlotte is Japanese on her father's side and American on her mother's side.
Mrs. Saien
Character: 才媛 / Saien
First Appearance: S2E2Voiced by: Yuki Kaida (Japanese), ??? (English)
Mr. Saien's wife and Kyōju's mother. She and her husband manage a noodle restaurant named Ryū-Ryū (龍龍) where she does the delivery and waitressing.- Happily Married: Most obvious in the Japan-exclusive slideshow ending of G-Revolution.
- Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: Mrs. Saien looks like Kyōju if he was bigger, heavier, and female. Her husband, meanwhile, is tall and muscular.
- No Name Given: No name is given in the show and her last name is derived from the fact her son's last name is known. The credits list her as "Kyōju's mother".
- Strong Family Resemblance: Kyōju seriously gets all of his looks from his mother.
Mr. Saien
Character: 才媛 / Saien
First Appearance: S2E2Voiced by: Nobuaki Kanemitsu (Japanese), ??? (English)
Mrs. Saien's husband and Kyōju's father. He and his wife manage a noodle restaurant named Ryū-Ryū (龍龍) where he does the cooking.- Happily Married: Most obvious in the Japan-exclusive slideshow ending of G-Revolution.
- Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: Mr. Saien is tall and muscular. His wife, meanwhile, looks like Kyōju if he was bigger, heavier, and female.
- No Name Given: No name is given in the show and his last name is derived from the fact his son's last name is known. The credits list him as "Kyōju's father".
- Real Men Cook: He's a man and his cooking skills are good enough to run an eating establishment. In the dub, the store is even said to be the number one in town (by Mrs. Saien, granted, but not in a situation that called for exaggeration).
Daigorō Sumeragi
Character: 大悟郎・皇 / Daigorō Sumeragi
Voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese)
Rinko's husband and Daichi's father, who sacrificed himself to save his fellow loggers from being crushed to death. In his dying moments, he gave Daichi Gaia Dragoon and made him promise to always strive for greatness. Daigorō may or may not have become a ghost since then.- Battle Couple: They are never shown together, but their personalities and physical inclinations hint that they were this. Daigorō is most definitely a Papa Wolf and Rinko a Mama Bear, so they also have that going for them.
- Childhood Friends: In the manga, Daigorō and Tarō Mizuhara have been close since childhood. The Mizuharas still maintain good contact with his widow Rinko.
- Happily Married: Rinko and Daigorō had a good marriage when he was still alive and Rinko still treats life as if he's around.
- Spirit Advisor: An ambiguous case since it could also be All Just a Dream. In I-V12CSS2, Daigorō's spirit visits Daichi to motivate him and grant the boy the chance to defeat him that his death seemingly took away. It's implied he visited Rinko also. By his own words, his spirit is one with Gaia Dragoon.
- Theme Naming: Daigorō's name matches with Daichi's. They both have "dai" (meaning "great") at the start of the name and "Daigorō" fully means "great fifth son", relating to Daichi's and Gaia Dragoon's roles as the fifth pair of the Bladebreakers.
Rinko Sumeragi
Character: 凛子・皇 / Rinko Sumeragi
First Appearance: I-V6CSS2Voiced by: N/A
Daigorō's wife and Daichi's mother. After Daigorō's heroic sacrifice, she's been raising Daichi on her own, with some backup from the grateful town.- Battle Couple: They are never shown together, but their personalities and physical inclinations hint that they were this. Rinko is most definitely a Mama Bear and Daigorō a Papa Wolf, so they also have that going for them.
- Happily Married: Daigorō and Rinko had a good marriage when he was still alive and Rinko, not unlike Daichi, still treats life as if he's around.
- Hot-Blooded: She may very well be the one Daichi's got it from.
- In-Series Nickname: The townspeople call her "Rin".
- Morality Pet: Whenever Daichi loses fate or does not act in the spirit of the promise he made his father, Rinko kindly but firmly reminds him of it. This is always enough to get him back to standards.
- Nature Hero: She lives in a forest area and often is around in the outdoors.
Next generation
Makoto Kinomiya
Blader: マコト・木ノ宮 / Makoto Kinomiya
Bey: ドラグーン / Dragoon
First Appearance: I-V14CSS1Voiced by: N/A
The son of Takao and an unmentioned mother some 20-30 years after the story's "present". He has inherited his father's Dragoon as bey and/or bit-beast.- Babies Ever After: Overlaps with Last Episode, New Character. Makoto is one of the three descendants of the Bladebreakers introduced in a special chapter closing the story of the original manga.
- Passing the Torch: Overlaps with Last Episode, New Character. Makoto's inherited Dragoon from Takao.
Gō Hiwatari
Blader: ゴウ・火渡 / Gō Hiwatari
Bey: ドランザー / Dranzer
First Appearance: I-V14CSS1Voiced by: N/A
The son of Kai and an unmentioned mother some 20-30 years after the story's "present". He has inherited his father's Dranzer as bey and/or bit-beast.- Babies Ever After: Overlaps with Last Episode, New Character. Gō is one of the three descendants of the Bladebreakers introduced in a special chapter closing the story of the original manga.
- Facial Markings: Like his father before him, Gō wears face paint. In his case, it's a shield under each eye.
- Passing the Torch: Overlaps with Last Episode, New Character. Gō's inherited Dranzer from Kai.
Lin Kon
Blader: リン・金 / Lin Kon
Bey: ドライガー / Driger
First Appearance: I-V14CSS1Voiced by: N/A
The daughter of Rei and Mao some 20-30 years after the story's "present". She has inherited her father's Driger as bey and/or bit-beast.- Babies Ever After: Overlaps with Last Episode, New Character. Lin is one of the three descendants of the Bladebreakers introduced in a special chapter closing the story of the original manga. She specifically also serves to confirm Rei and Mao got together after all.
- Genki Girl: She's only in six panels, but that's enough to win a beybattle and get in trouble for kicking Daichi, now the DJ, in the shin after he called her short.
- Lineage Comes from the Father: Lin takes over from her father as beyblader, even though her mother is skilled at the sport too. This is a little less egregious than it might seem, because Mao's defined legacy as a blader, including her ownership of Galux, does not exist in the original manga. It's an anime invention that didn't became part of the manga storyline until Rising.
- Passing the Torch: Overlaps with Last Episode, New Character. Lin's inherited Driger from Rei.
Others
Vladimir Volkov (Boris Balkov)
Character: ウラジミール・ヴォルコフ / Vladimir Volkov / Boris Balkov
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Tony Daniels (English)
- Affably Evil: Becomes this by season 3. He is actually quite good at hiding his intentions with the bladers he picked being fair and passionate people.
- Badass Longcoat:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Starts revealing his true colours once BEGA starts losing.
- Big Bad: Although he has been subordinate to others (Hiwatari in the anime and Zagart in the manga), he's operated as head of his own organizations too (BEGA in the anime and Borg in the manga) and is the only villain who's showed up more than once in a given medium. Therefore, if anyone can qualify as the first franchise's Big Bad, it's Volkov.
- The Fagin: One that grows into The Mephistopheles. When he was still in control of Borg, he sought out bladers who had nothing, offering them something if they would work for him. When he came into control of BEGA, he switched tactics by seeking out bladers who had one big wish, the fulfilment of which he could dangle in front of them.
- Manipulative Bastard:
- One-Steve Limit: Broken thanks to the dub. Vladimir Volkov is Vladimir in the original version and Boris in the dub. Boris Kuznetsov is Boris in the original version and Bryan in the dub.
- Sinister Minister: In the first season of the anime, Volkov either is or only poses as a man of God to throw off suspision towards any of his true activities. Befitting the trope, he's extra creepy for it.
- Sinister Shades: During his time running Borg, Volkov wears a black visor.
- Villain with Good Publicity: How he got many beyblade fans by his side in season 3. Mainly thanks to his speech where he cried and stated that "he turned a new leaf". Of course, Takao and co. didn't believe it.
Bái Hǔ Zú Elder
Character: Bái Hǔ Zú Elder
First Appearance: S1E13Voiced by: ??? (Japanese), John Stocker (English)
The leader of the Bái Hǔ Zú and wielder of Driger before he entrusted the responsibility and the bit-beast to Rei.- Miniature Senior Citizens: Counting that forehead of his, he's about as tall as Rei and Rai were when they were eight or so.
- No Name Given: Depends how you look at it. He is referred to as "chōrō", which means "elder", in the Japanese version. In the dub, he isn't named either, though by virtue of being Rai's and Mao's grandfather in the dub it's possible he shares their last name, which in the dub is "Wong".
- Related in the Adaptation: In the original version, he's the leader of the Bái Hǔ Zú and his relation to Rai and Rei isn't more personal than deciding who between them is the best pick to become the next leader. In the dub, he's Rai's and Mao's grandfather, which makes his favoring of Rei all the more harsh.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Tao. Anyone coming in from the manga might wonder just where the Bái Hǔ Zú's coach is and then wonder if it's supposed to be this guy. Tao would eventually make an animated debut in the third season, so the answer is no. The elder just sort of took his place in the first season.
- Unusual Eyebrows: They are many times longer than eyebrows tend to be.
Jeff McKenzie (Jeff)
Character: ジェフ・マッケンジー / Jeff McKenzie
First Appearance: S1E19Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Gabriel Plener (English)
The good-natured vice director of the PPB Educational Center (original) or the director of the BBA Educational Center (dub) as well as a big fan of Ryūnosuke.- Adaptational Job Change: He's vice director in the Japanese version of the anime and the director in the dub. It seems a small change, but it means that originally he was Judy's direct subordinate and now he's her equal.
- Ambiguously Related: To Alan in the second season. They are never said to be related and V-Force is notorious for having as good as nothing to do with the preceding season. However, the visit to America in V-Force is one of the rare cases where there is some connection. Reasons to assume they're related is that Jeff and Alan share a surname in the original version, both have brown hair and blue eyes, and both are high-ranking employees of the PPB.
- Fan Boy: Ryūnosuke impresses almost all Americans he meets with his skill at kendo and some improvised antics, but Jeff is left postively water-eyed.
- Token Good Teammate: Of all the people related to the PPB the BBA meets, only Jeff was welcoming from the start. It's a shame he was the first they met because it only enhanced just how awful the rest acted.
Douglas
Character: ダグラス / Douglas
First Appearance: S1E20Voiced by: Masaki Aizawa (Japanese), Chris Marren (English)
The Secretary of State of the USA and the liaison between the PPB and the government.- Early-Bird Cameo: Douglas appears for the first time in S1E20 and is properly introduced and all, but not made a big deal of. He then disappears until S1E26, where he's as good as introduced anew, stepping out of his car with at minimum twenty bodyguards ensuring his safety.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Judy had promised him that the All Starz would win the American Tournament. When they lost to the BBA, Douglas demanded an explanation. He accepted her story about how some things, implicitly stuff like willpower and team spirit, cannot be measured or predicted.
- Smoking Is Cool: Douglas smokes in S1E26 during the briefing with the PPB when he becomes assured they will emerge victorious from the American Tournament. Obviously, this was cut from the dub.
