James' Rants Volume One
Hello and welcome to the first installment of James' Rants. I don't know how many of these I will make, only time will tell. First off, I just want you to know that is only my opinion, so take this with a pinch of salt. So, without for ado, I give you:
The first episode of Beyblade, made by Takao Aoki, was shown on the 8th of January, 2001 on a variety of channels across the world, and lasted until the 26th of December 2003, altough it is still shown on some channels at some very inconvienient times of day. During this time, three series were made: Beyblade, V-Force, and G-Revolution. But which of these is the best? That is what I am here to answer.
Thank you Wikipedia. I guess it was a little obvious that I ripped those dates directly of wiki.
The first series, Beyblade was advertised and portrayed as a children's TV show, to get kids to bug their parents into buying the toys, a business term called 'pester power'. This series was an instant success, due to the diversity of the characters, from arrogant and hot-headed, to calm and collected. Another major aspect of it's success with the distinct lack of other anime styled shows at the time. Beyblade's direct competition were shows such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Arguments frequently appear on the internet, based upon the question of what was the best show. However, the flaws in the first series were the cheesy lines and bad catch phrases, and the fact that it was marketed at twelve to fifteen year olds, and the show had to be portrayed as such.
As much as it doesn't sound like it, The first series was actually my favourite of them all. You would think that that would make this whole rant obsolete, but I guess it doesn't. Also, about pester power, I learnt that from my GCSE business studies class, from learning about Sunny Delight. I reckon that I just remember keywords well.
However, on the 7th of January, 2002, the first episode of Beyblade: V-Force was shown. In between the release of the first series and V-Force, Hasbro and Takara were making substantial profits, in no small part due to the animated series. This meant that V-Force was not so imperative in the sales of the toys, which meant more freedom to the writers of the show. However, it could also be argued that the sales of the toys were dependent on the quality of the show, meaning that more effort would have been put into making it a good programme. As a result of either, whichever of these, the characters where looked at in a much greater depth, and the show itself developed more like a traditional anime.
On the 6th of January, 2003, the final series of Beyblade was released, named Beyblade: G-Revolution. Great success was expected for this series, however after two previous series, the plot of the show began to become tedious, with similar things happening time and time again. Furthermore, the characters were also portrayed badly in G-Revolution, and were shown with alot more 'angst', ruining the show, at least in my eyes.
Ah G-Rev. It might amaze you, but I have only ever seen a few episodes of G-Revolution. eek However, aside from those few, I have also seen snippets of episodes, and I have talked to a good few people who have seen it. Most of it was just common sense otherwise.
Now, animation is a subjective issue, so please don't take offense by anything I say here. In the first series, it was clear that the anime was supposed to be like an anime. It can be argued that the way it was drawn was only Takao Aoki's style, but it was obvious that it was trying to be an anime, but also a kid's show, similar to what Pokemon was. However in V-Force, the animation became styled more like a traditonal anime. This included less detail in realistic facial proportions. However, the styling on the character's hair was more subdued compared to the original season. In G-Revolution, the styling was similar to that of V-Force, but was slightly more detailed, and they also started to add more features to the characters, ie: bigger muscles.
In conclusion, I believe that Beyblade couldn't keep up with it's competitors. Now don't get me wrong, Beyblade is without a doubt my favourite, but it is common knowledge that it wasn't as popular as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, otherwise it would still be shown on prime time TV. But getting back to my point, I believe that V-Force was the best series of Beyblade for the reasons I have stated, however feel free to post your opinions.
Yes Yes Yes, before you start calling me a heathen, Beyblade is my favourite out of the three. But coming to think about it, the creators of both Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh have also screwed up the same way that Beyblade screwed up with G-Revolution. All of them started well, and then began to waver, becoming progressivly more crap. I have noticed this especially with Yu-Gi-Oh. The latest series did actually make no sense to me. But then again, I guess the reason they have all gone downhill is because of a lack of ideas. There is only so long that you can do Bey battles before they become tedious.
Acknlowledgements: Wikipedia, my brain.
Thanks for reading.
Why V-Force was the best series
A Rant by James Tanner
A Rant by James Tanner
The first episode of Beyblade, made by Takao Aoki, was shown on the 8th of January, 2001 on a variety of channels across the world, and lasted until the 26th of December 2003, altough it is still shown on some channels at some very inconvienient times of day. During this time, three series were made: Beyblade, V-Force, and G-Revolution. But which of these is the best? That is what I am here to answer.
Thank you Wikipedia. I guess it was a little obvious that I ripped those dates directly of wiki.
The first series, Beyblade was advertised and portrayed as a children's TV show, to get kids to bug their parents into buying the toys, a business term called 'pester power'. This series was an instant success, due to the diversity of the characters, from arrogant and hot-headed, to calm and collected. Another major aspect of it's success with the distinct lack of other anime styled shows at the time. Beyblade's direct competition were shows such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Arguments frequently appear on the internet, based upon the question of what was the best show. However, the flaws in the first series were the cheesy lines and bad catch phrases, and the fact that it was marketed at twelve to fifteen year olds, and the show had to be portrayed as such.
As much as it doesn't sound like it, The first series was actually my favourite of them all. You would think that that would make this whole rant obsolete, but I guess it doesn't. Also, about pester power, I learnt that from my GCSE business studies class, from learning about Sunny Delight. I reckon that I just remember keywords well.
However, on the 7th of January, 2002, the first episode of Beyblade: V-Force was shown. In between the release of the first series and V-Force, Hasbro and Takara were making substantial profits, in no small part due to the animated series. This meant that V-Force was not so imperative in the sales of the toys, which meant more freedom to the writers of the show. However, it could also be argued that the sales of the toys were dependent on the quality of the show, meaning that more effort would have been put into making it a good programme. As a result of either, whichever of these, the characters where looked at in a much greater depth, and the show itself developed more like a traditional anime.
On the 6th of January, 2003, the final series of Beyblade was released, named Beyblade: G-Revolution. Great success was expected for this series, however after two previous series, the plot of the show began to become tedious, with similar things happening time and time again. Furthermore, the characters were also portrayed badly in G-Revolution, and were shown with alot more 'angst', ruining the show, at least in my eyes.
Ah G-Rev. It might amaze you, but I have only ever seen a few episodes of G-Revolution. eek However, aside from those few, I have also seen snippets of episodes, and I have talked to a good few people who have seen it. Most of it was just common sense otherwise.
Now, animation is a subjective issue, so please don't take offense by anything I say here. In the first series, it was clear that the anime was supposed to be like an anime. It can be argued that the way it was drawn was only Takao Aoki's style, but it was obvious that it was trying to be an anime, but also a kid's show, similar to what Pokemon was. However in V-Force, the animation became styled more like a traditonal anime. This included less detail in realistic facial proportions. However, the styling on the character's hair was more subdued compared to the original season. In G-Revolution, the styling was similar to that of V-Force, but was slightly more detailed, and they also started to add more features to the characters, ie: bigger muscles.
In conclusion, I believe that Beyblade couldn't keep up with it's competitors. Now don't get me wrong, Beyblade is without a doubt my favourite, but it is common knowledge that it wasn't as popular as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, otherwise it would still be shown on prime time TV. But getting back to my point, I believe that V-Force was the best series of Beyblade for the reasons I have stated, however feel free to post your opinions.
Yes Yes Yes, before you start calling me a heathen, Beyblade is my favourite out of the three. But coming to think about it, the creators of both Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh have also screwed up the same way that Beyblade screwed up with G-Revolution. All of them started well, and then began to waver, becoming progressivly more crap. I have noticed this especially with Yu-Gi-Oh. The latest series did actually make no sense to me. But then again, I guess the reason they have all gone downhill is because of a lack of ideas. There is only so long that you can do Bey battles before they become tedious.
Acknlowledgements: Wikipedia, my brain.
Thanks for reading.
