Metal Fight Beyblade

Metal Fight Beyblade
3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!!!
Genre: Action Adventure Sci-Fi Shounen Sports Running Time: 30 Minutes Country: Japan Canada United States Release Date: April 5, 2009 - December 23, 2012 Network(s): TV Tokyo (Japan) TNX (Japan) Cartoon Network (United States, Australasia, Philippines & India) YTV (Canada) Nicktoons (United Kingdom & British Isles) MTV (India) 10 Peach (Australia) Disney XD (Latin America, including Brazil) Network 10 (Australia) Primo TV (United States) Created by: Takafumi Adaichi Distributed by: d-rights Nelvana Seasons: 4 Episodes: 199 Previous show: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade Next show: Beyblade Burst

Beyblade Metal Saga (aka Metal Fight Beyblade in Japan) is a Japanese anime series produced by d-rights, Tatsunoko Pro (only in the first three seasons), Synergy SP, and Nelvana (only in the dub). The Anime series is based on a manga series created by Takafumi Adaichi of the same name. The series has four seasons called Metal Fight Beyblade (Beyblade Metal Fusion on International version), Metal Fight Beyblade Explosion (Beyblade Metal Masters on International version), Metal Fight Beyblade 4D (Beyblade Metal Fury on the international version) & Metal Fight Beyblade Zero-G (Beyblade Shogun Steel on the international version).

Why It Spins The Metal

1. The animation is really nice and beautiful and has aged very well throughout the decade.
2. It has a great grasp of original source material from its manga counterpart.
3. Unlike most English dubs of anime that are targeted toward younger audiences, the series stays faithful to the original Japanese version keeping the original character names, soundtracks, plots, and accurate dialogue translations.
4. Spectacular voice acting in both the English and Japanese dubs respectfully.
5. Characters like Gingka Hagane, Kyoya Tategami, Benkei Hanawa, Kenta Yumiya, Masamune Kadoya, and Madoka Amano are likable and receive massive character development throughout the series.
   • One example is where Kenta earns his respect from Ryuga and gives him his Beyblade power.
6. Some funny moments here and there like this and that.
7. Related to WIR#3, this also has sad and emotional moments:
   • Gingka's happy with his father (Ryo Hagane) is alive on the Metal Fusion.
   • The characters backstories like Gingka, Tsubasa Otori, Dashan and Chi Yun-Li, Hikaru Hasama and Masamune Kadoya are interesting.
8. The Beys' designs are very cool with a mixture of CGI and hand-drawn animation.
   • Also the character's designs are decent to look at.
9. Awesome bey battles most of the time, like Gingka vs Kyoya (both in the first three seasons), Kyoya vs Doji, Kenta vs Hikaru, Gingka vs Ryuga (same as Gingka vs Kyoya), Tsubasa vs Ryuga, Kyoya vs Ryuga, Team Gan Gan Galaxy vs Team Wang Hu Zhong, Team Gan Gan Galaxy vs Team Excalibur, Team Gan Gan Galaxy vs Team Star Breaker, Masamune Kadoya vs King, Kyoya vs Aguma, Ryuga vs Rago, Gingka vs Nemesis and the list goes on.
10. The main soundtracks of the shows are amazing.
    • The theme songs of both four versions in the English and Japanese dubs are catchy, memorable, and nostalgic to those who grew up watching the show.
11. Incredible villains like Doji, Damian Hart, Rago, Reiji Mizuchi, and of course, Ryuga (in season 1).
12. Like Power Rangers Dino Charge, it has very successful toy sales, which are still popular by today's standards.
13. In 2019, the series was back as a one-shot sequel manga called Metal Fight Beyblade Soul Burst.
14. It received a movie called Metal Fight Beyblade vs The Sun: Sol Blaze, the Scorching Hot Invader, which has a good story.
15. Metal Fury has one of the best conclusions that the series had to offer in Gingka's character arc.
16. Shogun Steel's ending in the Japanese version had nice fan service to where it shows later events of characters from the previous seasons that had all grown up and also had a change of careers.

Bad Qualities

1. Some characters are unlikable like Tetsuya Wateragani and Tobio Ooike (though not as bad as Tetsuya) who are also weak villains as well.
   • Gingka can be very annoying and unlikable sometimes.
   • Another problem with Gingka is that he suffers from the generic "hero with plot armor" cliche as he always survives the nearest death moments where it becomes unrealistic.
2. Kenta didn't have a role nor any screen time in Metal Masters until he reappeared again in Metal Fury, where his character traits massively improved.
3. Hikaru's potential of becoming a Blader was wasted as she was killed off early due to her PTSD of L-Drago which made her become an assistant in the later seasons.
4. Gingka's voice in the English dub can be annoying considering this is Robert Tinkler’s weakest role since he did a better job in voice roles like Max in The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police.
5. The first two seasons (Metal Fusion and Metal Masters) take too much of the elements of the original Beyblade series, Bakuten Shoot Beyblade.
6. Shogun Steel is considered to be the weakest season in the Beyblade Metal Saga since many fans found it unnecessary as Metal Fury concluded the series once and for all.
7. It gets cliched sometimes such as the character with a blader spirit is stronger than the another who's overpowered.
8. Yu can be quite annoying at times due to his sarcastic behavior.
9. Dark Nebula, Rago, Pluto, and Doji (while being great villains in Metal Fury and Shogun Steel) are walking plot devices, known as Generic Doomsday Villains.
10. It's successor Beyblade Burst, wasn’t the best compared to the original two series but still a decent show.
11. Because of its popular sales at the time, the franchise was eventually milked leading it to the infamous "Powered By Beyblade" series featuring three inferior spinoffs shows titled BeyWheelz, BeyWarriors: BeyRaiderz, and BeyWarriors: Cyborg (only outside of Asia and India) which temporarily threatening and killing the Beyblade franchise until the rise of Beyblade Burst.

Reception

Despite this show having mixed to positive reviews (like on IMDb has a 6.2), many Beyblade fans (not all) loved the Beyblade Metal Saga series.

Trivia

• The Beyblades of this series are based on the constellations.

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