(Sep. 18, 2011 3:22 AM)Kai-V Wrote: It is really weird because someone from DigInfo News was telling me that Beyblade was selling very well in Japan, and Adachi Takafumi reassured me that the manga was doing fine as well even though Beyblade had less and less space on CoroCoro's cover.
I think this is mostly because it's not new and even though it's doing well, not the number one thing in there, probably not even top three next to things like Doreamon, Pokemon, and Inazuma Eleven, but as those are pretty much the hottest properties in Japan, it doesn't mean it's doing bad I think.
There are a few shows that air 15 minute episodes in half hour blocks. The Megaman EXE anime moved time slots so that it aired within a show called Oha Colosseum, which is a 45 minute program that airs two 15 minute episodes of different shows, one three minute episode, and then the rest of the time is spent on hosts of the show doing skits and antics. But the Megaman anime also did this when a story arc was finished and it was starting its Beast story arc. It's strange that Beyblade is going to do this in the middle of the series. I think the current story arc is going to get a really abrupt finish in time for the new length or the show is going to be retooled to work better.
I imagine Takara is doing this not because Beyblade is doing bad, but because it's doing so well. (and trying to save money by not renting time for another full half hour) They're using the established Beyblade name as a lead in for this new show. If the B-Daman show fails, Beyblade will probably be back to its full length at some point, if it doesn't, then the staff will probably find some way to make the stories fit the new time structure better.
B-Daman has never been huge since the 90s, the last series only did okay and introduced a brand new cast with the third show, so I guess they want to associate it with something as big as Beyblade. If this turns out to be the case, I hope it means we'll get a seventh Beyblade series in six months time, either with this cast or a new one. Though three years is plenty of time to tell the stories of one cast and it would be interesting to see a new series with characters that were created to work best within that 15 minute allotted time.