Beyblade, Vol. 2: The Bladebreakers [DVD]

Features

• Type: DVD
• Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
• Language(s): english, japanese
• Actor(s): Marlowe Gardiner-Heslin, Alex Hood, Gage Knox, Daniel DeSanto, David Reale, Julie Lemieux, Caitriona Murphy, Tony Daniels, William Colgate, Raoul Bhaneja

On his 13th birthday, Tyson beats Kai to become National Beyblade Champion. Kai's team, the Blade Sharks, is forgotten as he, Tyson, Max, and Ray become teammates (with Kenny as computer guru) headed for a tournament in Asia. While the others celebrate their new identity as The Bladebreakers and develop an espirit de corps, Kai remains aloof and arrogant. In Hong Kong, the quintet encounters Ray's former team, the White Tigers. Ray apparently left under less than amicable circumstances, and there are old scores to settle. The White Tigers are clearly bad guys, but they're a little too eager to steal and sabotage their opponents for characters in a show aimed at small boys. The storytelling is awkward, with plot points beginning and ending arbitrarily, and director Toshifumi Kawase fails to infuse the matches with much excitement, weakening the focus of the series. (Rated TV7: minor cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon