The show ran for 1 season in America (2 in Japan, 2004). The original manga by Eiji Inuki ran from 2002 to 2005 in Japan for 8 volumes. It's the fourth overall entry in the B-Daman brand.
The show had two spinoff Gameboy Advance titles, both of which covered the first half of each season while creating a different storyline which would lead into a Gecko Ending involving several Canon Foreigner characters. Unfortunatey they didn't sell as well as expected, because they were released after the Nintendo DS made the Gameboy obsolete.
Followed by the Sequel Series Crash B-Daman.
See also B-Daman Crossfire, The New '10s revival of the concept.
This show provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: The Blaster Core B-Daman were never released outside asia because the toyline was cancelled by Hasbro, but they were instrumental to the show. The toyline was continued by Takara/TOMY in Japan, and Sonokong elsewhere, under the name "Zero-2 System".
- Action Girl: Liena, mostly in Season 2.
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Adorkable: Yamato and Bull. - All Love Is Unrequited: Wen's crush on Liena and Liena's crush on Enjyu.
- All Your Powers Combined: The final battle
- Aloof Big Brother: Wen, and Gray to a lesser extent
- A Day in the Limelight: Li has an episode told from his perspective.
- Battle Aura
- Battle Butler: Joshua.
- Beat the Curse Out of Him: Enjyu and Cain although Cain would be " Beat the Jerkass out of Him".
- Beware the Nice Ones: Cain
- Big Beautiful Woman: Kiku, who's Gunnos' small chubby love interest.
- Big Brother Instinct: Pretty much all the characters feel this (in varying degrees) towards Liena, especially Gray, who is her brother. Also Wen towards Li.
- Big Eater: Yamato and Gunnos.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Cain turned out to be this after revealing his evil nature and trashing Cobalt Blade.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Ababa, Bull, Liena, Li (temporarily) and later Enjyu.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Yamato and Gunnos.
- Break the Cutie:
- Poor little Enjyu was forced to take a dive on each of his battles so his dad could pay for their rent. At the Junior B-Daman Tournament he was disqualified after unfairly being accused of cheating due to his refusal to continue with the charade, thus being betrayed by his only friend, Enjyu took out his anger on his father in a B-daBattle, resulting him into changing his hair from blue to red and changing from timid and meek to cold and ruthless.
- As a child, Cain went through training of his strict father, turning him egocentric and power hungry.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Bull.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gray and Liena.
- Cat Boy: After being raised by cats, Yamato is quick and agile, likes fish and has whiskers and a cat-like hair.
- Cheerful Child: Yamato, Bull, Terry, Wen, Gunnos and some of the characters are like this.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Miss Karat towards Bull. Later Hana and Kiku are revealed to be this with Gunnos.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Gunnos
- Cool Old Lady: Yamato’s mother.
- Cute Mute: Liena is this after being brainwashed by the Neo-Alliance.
- Darker and Edgier: After becoming champion, Yamato has to face some much tougher and scarier villains.
- Disney Death: At first it looked like Joe died after being defeated by Haja, but its later revealed that he is alive.
- Evil Patriarch: Cain’s father.
- Evil Mentor: Ababa.
- Face–Heel Turn: Cain, although it's implied that he was never really a good guy.
- Grey pulls this on Yamato early on, but only because he is forced to because the Shadow Alliance has his sister. He later reverts to his heroic nature.
- Filling the Silence: The English dub tends to do this sometimes, here's an example from episode 8;Terry: Yamato, stop drop and roll! Stop drop and roll! Stand still laddie! (Context: He's chasing Yamato who has his hands on fire)
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Wen and Li.
- Freudian Excuse: Cain had an strict father, Enjyu was betrayed by everyone and for a much more lighthearted example, Yamato, who was raised by cats.
- Gender Bender: Ababa the cat was turned into a male while under Marta B's control. She turns back into a female after being released from mind control.
- Genius Ditz: Bull. When B-Damans are involved.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Yamato.
- Heel–Face Turn: Every bad guy turns good eventually.
- Heroic Wannabe: After befriending Yamato and the gang, Wen ends up dressing like a super-hero only to be discouraged and turned down by Li.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Gunnos, and completely oblivious to it. It doesn’t help that every time he sings, the flying birds fall to the ground.
- Hopeless Suitor: Hana is this towards Gunnos.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Liena is this in canon.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gunnos is as annoying and cocky as Yamato, but he later shows care for Kiku.
- Kids Are Cruel
- Last Girl Wins: Gunnos and Kiku.
- Limited Wardrobe: While most characters avert this, Yamato is seen wearing the same clothes in Season 2.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Cain was this, although Joshua was his only friend.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Wen and Akyulus are this.
- Love Martyr:
- Liena continues to long for Enjyu, who clearly is more interested in B-da battling and becoming stronger.
- Joshua in the first season. He was fine with Cain's arrogant attitude because he remembers a time when his master was kind. Unfortunately, he broke down after Cain dared to destroy a marble that he gave Joshua when they were kids, which lead to Joshua betraying Cain in order to return him to his old kind self. He succeeds.
- Mama Bear: Yamato’s mother, Mie, fulfills this to a T, albeit lacking a B-Daman.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: The main characters eventually get new B-Damans by the end of the first season, and stick to using them through the second.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Gray is VERY overprotective of Liena. He even doesn’t want her to B-da battle, despite she is a bright player.
- No Accounting for Taste: Gunnos prefers Kiku (who is fat and plain) over the beautiful Hana.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased:
- Gunnos has a disliking for Hana after the latter shown him a bug. However he promised her that he will win for her father out of courtesy.
- This is subverted later, as he later develops a crush on Kiku later on.
- The Not-So-Harmless Punishment
- Oblivious to Love: Enjyu seems completely oblivious that Liena seems to like him. Or he knows and simply doesn’t care.
- The Ojou: Miss Karat.
- Only Sane Man: Somehow Gray is the only normal guy in Yamato’s group in the first season.
- Enjyu out of everyone in the Neo Shadow Alliance in the second half of season one. Marda B is obsessed with arranging the perfect battle with Yamato and is willing to take over the whole world just to do it, and Biarce is a personification of his evil. Cain is power hungry and vain, and Joshua, who means well, struggles to break his undying loyalty to his mad friend. Then there's also the brainwashed Li. Enjyu, after his redemption in episode 31, only puts on an evil persona as an act, and is constantly the only person in the group with any sense at all, until his defeat by Marda Biarce leads to him being brainwashed as well.
- Overprotective Mom: Mie, Yamato’s mother.
- Parental Neglect: Enjyu was forced by his father to take a dive on each of his battles so he could pay for their rent.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: Although in the case of young Enju would be "Anger Dyes Your Hair".
- Puni Plush: Which is much more evident in the anime adaptation.
- The Quiet One: Gray. Also Enjyu and Akyulus.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The cheerful and energetic Yamato and The Stoic and deadpan Gray.
- The brash Wen and the calm Li.
- The power hungry Cain and the reserved Joshua.
- Bull is this with himself. His normal self is the blue. His red haired personality is the red, and his confident personality serves as the middle ground.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Akyulus' B-Daman.
- Rich Bitch: Miss Karat. Also Cain is a male version of this.
- Samurai Ponytail: Wen sports this look.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The cheerful, child-like, soft-centered Yamato (sensitive) and the tough, stoic, serious Gray (manly).
- There's also the loud and blunt, brash, cocky and [1] arrogant Wen as the manly one to his soft-centred, quiet and morally conflicted brother, Li. Though it's the former who is sometimes emotionally dependant on the latter.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Enjyu.
- Taken for Granite: If you lose to a neo shadow alliance member.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Yamato and Gray, Bull and Akyulus, Wen and Li, Joshua and Cain
- Wrecked Weapon: On NUMEROUS occasions, a character's B-Daman is destroyed in a battle. The most major example being when Cain destroyed Cobalt Blade in episode 25 of the first season.
