The first chapter of the Beyblade X manga released today. I just finished reading it and since the anime won't release for several months (with the dub not coming until next year and an English version of the manga possibly never coming) I thought it might be helpful to share the story details of the manga for those in the community that can't speak Japanese since not everything can be communicated through pictures.
Please buy the digital version of the magazine so that you can view the manga and see the pictures. I will not be sharing photos from the manga due to copyright issues. Please support the series. You can get a digital version from Amazon Japan or other outlets. Amazon Japan will also ship the print version internationally.
![[Image: 27987e27f913f21023acd928ecac1530.jpg]](https://corocoro.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/27987e27f913f21023acd928ecac1530.jpg)
First, all of the Beyblade information for this month is contained in a separate booklet. The first few pages explain the features and details about Beyblade X and preview the BX-01 - BX-04 releases as well as Cobalt Drake which will be a prize beyblade.
Spoilers ahead.
We begin with Ryuguu Chrome - a pro beyblader who is part of team Pen Dragon - battling using Dran Sword. Then it jumps to one month later at the amateur arena where we see our main character battling. He's an amateur blader named Kazami Bird and is part of team Albatross Strikers, he wants to become a pro. He uses a beyblade called Strike Hawk, and we see him lose via an over-finish against someone from team... I'm not sure how to spell this in English. Phalanx? Bird has been training for a month and he's upset by his loss, then the leader of Team Phalanx states that he has been training for 10 years and he uses a special tool to destroy Bird's Beyblade and he states that Bird should give up on his dream of becoming a pro.
We are then shown X City and a view of the X Tower where bladers compete. At the top of the tower is the champion team and every blader aims to get to the top.
Bird's teammates decide to split up the team and tell Bird that he doesn't have the skill to become a pro. Bird is left alone and upset and thinks about how much fun beyblading was, and then he is visited by a strange new character... A mysterious stranger wearing a mask! He states that he wants to form a team together with Bird and shows him his beyblade. Bird recognizes that the beyblade is Dran Sword which belongs to Ryuuguu Chrome and asks why this guy has it. "Eh? Because this is my bey" he replies. Bird scolds him for lying and states that it's a fake but it looks just like it.
The masked stranger states that if Bird wants to become a pro, he doesn't have a choice but to become a team.
Then they head to the amateur arena together. The guy in the mask makes mention of the fact that the amateur arena is very lively today and Bird remarks that it's always like that. "Is it your first time here?" "No, but it's been a while..." At this point Bird finally inquires what this guy's name is to which he replies "Call me Kamen X!" "What? X? Why X?" He walks off saying it's a secret while Bird wonders if he really has to form a team with this guy.
Kamen X says that they should battle someone and Bird replies that he doesn't have a bey. Kamen X is confused and asks why, and at that moment we see Team Phalanx destroying the bey of someone else who just lost to them. Just as Bird raises his finger to point to them and explain what happened, Kamen X challenges them to a battle. Bird tries to explain how bad these guys are, and says that their nickname is the "Rookie Crushers" and that they are pro beybladers. In recent years the level of bladers has been decreasing because of them. They tease Bird and laugh and call him weak. Kamen X laughs too, and says that it's irrelevant if Bird is weak. "Winning isn't the point of beyblade. It's ok if you're weak or if you lack talent. The person who has fun is the winner." Kamen X tells the leader of Team Phalanx - Ishiyama Takumi - that he should quit beyblade. "This brat is interesting. Alright, let's beybattle."
It's Team Persona vs Team Phalanx.
Team Persona:
Next is Kamen X vs Takumi. They begin the battle and Dran Sword flies in at high speed and goes for the attack but his hits don't have much effect. Stone Mont Blanc is a defense type, and it's very resistant. Takumi states again about how he has been training for 10 years and that this is the strength of a pro. Bird thinks to himself about his month of training and we see a bit of his childhood playing beyblade together with his friends, studying about beyblade building his old bey Strike Hawk. This scene goes through the emotions of what it means to beyblade and what it means to be a beyblader. During this we see that Dran Sword is starting to change it's trajectory and maybe getting weaker. Kamen X gets hyped up and we get a full page with just a speech bubble saying "I'll show you 'X'". Dran Sword attaches it's gears to the stadium rails and then the crowd remarks that it disappeared(?!). "That's not it!" says Bird. It's moving too fast, so we can't see it.
This is "X"
Kamen X wins the battle thanks to Dran Sword's Xtreme Dash attack. "You actually won against a pro..." says Bird.
Next we see Bird and Kamen X outside of a convenience store. Kamen X bought a tray of sushi and some cans of cola to celebrate their victory. Bird demands to know Kamen X's true identity. He shows a video of Dran Sword on "BeyTube" and says that it's the same bey. Therefore, "Your identity is... Ryuuguu Chrome."
Kamen X takes off his mask and it's not Chrome, but someone else. Bird is embarrassed because he was so confident but turned out to be wrong. But then he realizes, "Aren't you Kurose Ekusu?" (Note: Ekusu sounds like X. It's a pun.)
Ekusu was Chrome's teammate. He made news headlines recently because he quit Team Pen Dragon. Dran Sword is his bey and Chrome was just borrowung it. Ekusu states that the reason why he quit is because there was nobody interesting for him to battle. Then he realized that, actually, there is somebody - Chrome! But they can't battle because they're on the same team. So he quit and intends to start his own team and climb to the top of the X Tower so that he can battle Chrome, and he invites Bird to join him.
"If I join with him, I have a feeling that I can become strong too." - Bird
The chapter ends there and states that it will be continued next month. The final page is a general preview for the series which advertises the BeyTube youtube channel, states that they're preparing for real tournaments all over Japan, and advertises the upcoming anime.
"Next issue, more secrets will be revealed!!"
--
My thoughts:
I think it was a great opening chapter to the series I loved Bakuten Shoot and Metal Fight Beyblade and I was very excited when Burst was first released but I was ultimately disappointed by much of what we received, including the tone of the anime and manga which was a big departure from what we saw with the first two generations of Beyblade. I love that this is a return to form for the series and I think that pushing Beyblade as a sport is doing a huge favor for the story itself. And more specifically, this manga is being done by a handful of mangaka who were highly successful in other series just a few years ago. They know how to write a good story, and the art and character designs are good too. This was a great chapter, and with everything considered I think this will be a huge hit. It might be a bit difficult to understand if you don't live in Japan, but this is the perfect formula right here and I'm very excited to see where they go with this series. This is awesome. The new beyblades themselves are awesome and the battles are very exciting, and I'm so glad that we're getting a genuinely awesome manga and anime to go along with that. I'm very excited to read the next chapter next month, and I'm very hyped for the anime which is coming this autumn.
If there is a demand for these threads, I will continue to give a synopsis and my thoughts every month.
Please buy the digital version of the magazine so that you can view the manga and see the pictures. I will not be sharing photos from the manga due to copyright issues. Please support the series. You can get a digital version from Amazon Japan or other outlets. Amazon Japan will also ship the print version internationally.
First, all of the Beyblade information for this month is contained in a separate booklet. The first few pages explain the features and details about Beyblade X and preview the BX-01 - BX-04 releases as well as Cobalt Drake which will be a prize beyblade.
Spoilers ahead.
We begin with Ryuguu Chrome - a pro beyblader who is part of team Pen Dragon - battling using Dran Sword. Then it jumps to one month later at the amateur arena where we see our main character battling. He's an amateur blader named Kazami Bird and is part of team Albatross Strikers, he wants to become a pro. He uses a beyblade called Strike Hawk, and we see him lose via an over-finish against someone from team... I'm not sure how to spell this in English. Phalanx? Bird has been training for a month and he's upset by his loss, then the leader of Team Phalanx states that he has been training for 10 years and he uses a special tool to destroy Bird's Beyblade and he states that Bird should give up on his dream of becoming a pro.
We are then shown X City and a view of the X Tower where bladers compete. At the top of the tower is the champion team and every blader aims to get to the top.
Bird's teammates decide to split up the team and tell Bird that he doesn't have the skill to become a pro. Bird is left alone and upset and thinks about how much fun beyblading was, and then he is visited by a strange new character... A mysterious stranger wearing a mask! He states that he wants to form a team together with Bird and shows him his beyblade. Bird recognizes that the beyblade is Dran Sword which belongs to Ryuuguu Chrome and asks why this guy has it. "Eh? Because this is my bey" he replies. Bird scolds him for lying and states that it's a fake but it looks just like it.
The masked stranger states that if Bird wants to become a pro, he doesn't have a choice but to become a team.
Then they head to the amateur arena together. The guy in the mask makes mention of the fact that the amateur arena is very lively today and Bird remarks that it's always like that. "Is it your first time here?" "No, but it's been a while..." At this point Bird finally inquires what this guy's name is to which he replies "Call me Kamen X!" "What? X? Why X?" He walks off saying it's a secret while Bird wonders if he really has to form a team with this guy.
Kamen X says that they should battle someone and Bird replies that he doesn't have a bey. Kamen X is confused and asks why, and at that moment we see Team Phalanx destroying the bey of someone else who just lost to them. Just as Bird raises his finger to point to them and explain what happened, Kamen X challenges them to a battle. Bird tries to explain how bad these guys are, and says that their nickname is the "Rookie Crushers" and that they are pro beybladers. In recent years the level of bladers has been decreasing because of them. They tease Bird and laugh and call him weak. Kamen X laughs too, and says that it's irrelevant if Bird is weak. "Winning isn't the point of beyblade. It's ok if you're weak or if you lack talent. The person who has fun is the winner." Kamen X tells the leader of Team Phalanx - Ishiyama Takumi - that he should quit beyblade. "This brat is interesting. Alright, let's beybattle."
It's Team Persona vs Team Phalanx.
Team Persona:
- Kamen X (Dran Sword)
- Kazami Bird (No bey)
- Sayou Genri (Iron Forest)
- Ishiyama Takumi (Stone Mont Blanc)
- Jinnai Bariki (Diamond Nuts)
Next is Kamen X vs Takumi. They begin the battle and Dran Sword flies in at high speed and goes for the attack but his hits don't have much effect. Stone Mont Blanc is a defense type, and it's very resistant. Takumi states again about how he has been training for 10 years and that this is the strength of a pro. Bird thinks to himself about his month of training and we see a bit of his childhood playing beyblade together with his friends, studying about beyblade building his old bey Strike Hawk. This scene goes through the emotions of what it means to beyblade and what it means to be a beyblader. During this we see that Dran Sword is starting to change it's trajectory and maybe getting weaker. Kamen X gets hyped up and we get a full page with just a speech bubble saying "I'll show you 'X'". Dran Sword attaches it's gears to the stadium rails and then the crowd remarks that it disappeared(?!). "That's not it!" says Bird. It's moving too fast, so we can't see it.
This is "X"
Kamen X wins the battle thanks to Dran Sword's Xtreme Dash attack. "You actually won against a pro..." says Bird.
Next we see Bird and Kamen X outside of a convenience store. Kamen X bought a tray of sushi and some cans of cola to celebrate their victory. Bird demands to know Kamen X's true identity. He shows a video of Dran Sword on "BeyTube" and says that it's the same bey. Therefore, "Your identity is... Ryuuguu Chrome."
Kamen X takes off his mask and it's not Chrome, but someone else. Bird is embarrassed because he was so confident but turned out to be wrong. But then he realizes, "Aren't you Kurose Ekusu?" (Note: Ekusu sounds like X. It's a pun.)
Ekusu was Chrome's teammate. He made news headlines recently because he quit Team Pen Dragon. Dran Sword is his bey and Chrome was just borrowung it. Ekusu states that the reason why he quit is because there was nobody interesting for him to battle. Then he realized that, actually, there is somebody - Chrome! But they can't battle because they're on the same team. So he quit and intends to start his own team and climb to the top of the X Tower so that he can battle Chrome, and he invites Bird to join him.
"If I join with him, I have a feeling that I can become strong too." - Bird
The chapter ends there and states that it will be continued next month. The final page is a general preview for the series which advertises the BeyTube youtube channel, states that they're preparing for real tournaments all over Japan, and advertises the upcoming anime.
"Next issue, more secrets will be revealed!!"
--
My thoughts:
I think it was a great opening chapter to the series I loved Bakuten Shoot and Metal Fight Beyblade and I was very excited when Burst was first released but I was ultimately disappointed by much of what we received, including the tone of the anime and manga which was a big departure from what we saw with the first two generations of Beyblade. I love that this is a return to form for the series and I think that pushing Beyblade as a sport is doing a huge favor for the story itself. And more specifically, this manga is being done by a handful of mangaka who were highly successful in other series just a few years ago. They know how to write a good story, and the art and character designs are good too. This was a great chapter, and with everything considered I think this will be a huge hit. It might be a bit difficult to understand if you don't live in Japan, but this is the perfect formula right here and I'm very excited to see where they go with this series. This is awesome. The new beyblades themselves are awesome and the battles are very exciting, and I'm so glad that we're getting a genuinely awesome manga and anime to go along with that. I'm very excited to read the next chapter next month, and I'm very hyped for the anime which is coming this autumn.
If there is a demand for these threads, I will continue to give a synopsis and my thoughts every month.
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