Beyblade: Metal Fusion

Beyblade: Metal Fusion, known formally as Metal Fight Beyblade (メタルファイト ベイブレード, Metaru Faito Beibureedo^?), its Japanese name, is a Japanese manga production by Takafumi Adachi. It is also an anime production based on the original. It is currently being serialized by the monthly CoroCoro Comic (Shogakukan).

Manga

The chapters of the Metal Fight Beyblade manga are written and illustrated by Takafumi Adachi. In Japan, they have been published in Shogakukan's Monthly CoroCoro comics since September 2008.^[1] The plot follows the adventures of Gingka Hagane, a beyblader who is searching for his hidden past. He eventually meets up with a boy named Kenta Yumiya, and the two become fast friends. Kyouya Tategami, and Benkei from the Face Hunters become good guys and aid Gingka on his quest to defeat the evil Dark Nebula organization. One of the recruits of the Dark Nebula Organization is Tsubasa Otori.

An airing anime adaptation, produced by Tatsunoko Pro and Synergy SP, co-produced by Nelvana premiered on TV Tokyo on April 5, 2009.^[2]

Since Metal Fight Beyblade's debut, twenty chapters have been released in Japan so far. In the Monthly CoroCoro comics, the chapters do not have names, but rather an arc name and chapter number instead. The chapter names are only in the shinshoban manga volumes.

The individual chapters are collected by Shogakukan in a series of shinshōbon volumes. The first volume was released on March 27, 2009.^[3] The latest volume is four, released on March 26, 2010.^[4]

The anime version of Beyblade: Metal Fusion's plot is written differently than in the manga. One notable difference is that in the manga, the characters Beys transform for its upgrade, while in the anime, they just switch parts or get an entirely new Bey. Another notable difference is that in the manga, the characters started off with the Metal System (4-piece top), while in the anime they started with the Hybrid Wheel System (5-piece top). Some parts of the story are different in the anime version than in the manga, but overall the plot is the same.

Anime

The original Beyblade series led Nelvana to many awards and won the toy of the year award in 2002 and 2003. Since that time many toys and series had been produced in the North America and Asia, but many of them had not prospered. As a result Nelvana entered into talks with TV Tokyo to revise the series. TV Tokyo agreed if Nelvana would be co-producer for the series and if TV Tokyo could air the episodes first. With this plan agreed upon, Nelvana announced 51 episodes of Metal Fight Beyblade with the English name Beyblade: Metal Fusion. They would premiere in Japan in 2009 and in North America in the fall of 2010 to YTV and CARTOON .^[5] As co-producers of the series Nelvana was able to create the rights for other companies. Toys were given to Tomy Company and Hasbro, and TV rights would be distributed by Nelvana. In 2010 Nelvana announced they were looking at parties interested in the fifth season of Beyblade and the second season of the Metal saga to go under the name Beyblade: Metal Masters.^[6]

The sixth season for the series has been announced in Shogakukan's monthly CoroCoro Comic magazine. The upcoming third season of the Metal Fight Beyblade series will entitled as Metal Fight Beyblade 4D.^[7] The "4D" of the anime title comes from the game franchise's revised "4D" system. The "4D" stands for "different" materials, "divided" (multi-part construction), "dynamic," and "deep" customizability.

Season 1

The first season of the metal saga stars Gingka Hagane, a talented blader traveling all around Japan to get stronger so he can defeat the Dark Nebula, an evil organization who is also responsible for the death of Gingka's father Ryo Hagane. Gingka aims to recover the forbidden bey, Lightning L-Drago who has been stolen by the Dark Nebula who plan to use its powers to fulfill their wicked ambitions. Along with his bey, Storm Pegasus, Gingka must face and defeat many foes. Gingka's second biggest rival is Kyoya Tategami, formerly head of a bad bey clan, called the Face Hunters. Kyoya's goal is to defeat Gingka. Gingka is the blader who believes that every blader has a blader's spirit in him/her.The Dark Nebula recruits a blader named Ryuga, who is given the forbidden bey. He travels around the world, defeating and recruiting/destroying the beyblades of other bladers.Gingka battles Ryuga many times but gets defeated every one of those times. His friends also get defeated, including Kyoya. There is a tournament that the Dark Nebula has organized called Battle Bladers, and Ryuga hopes to battle Gingka in the final match, Gingka wins the match.

Season 2: Metal Masters

After Storm Pegasus sacrifices itself to defeat Ryuga and Lightning L-Drago, Gingka hears from Hokuto a rock which contains Galaxy Pegasus W105R²F(Wing 105 Right Rubber Flat), The legendary bey and first Pegasus and meets with a new friend named Masamune Kadoya and his bey Ray Striker D125CS. Together with Madoka, Masamune, Yu, Tsubasa, and Gingka they form a team called Gan Gan Galaxy to participate in a new beyblade world tournament called Big Bang Bladers. On the way they have to battle other teams: Garcias, Wang Hu Zhong, Lovushka, Excalibur, Desert Blaze, Chandora, Wild Fang and Starbreakers.

Film: Sol Blaze, the Scorching Hot Invader

The film was released in Japan on August 21, 2010. The film is named Metal Fight Beyblade VS. the Sun: Sol Blaze, the Scorching Hot Invader. In the chronological order, the film starts after the events of the second season.

It's a nice summer vacation. In front of Gingka and his friends who are excited about a Beyblade tournament, Helios, a mysterious youth, stands in their way. In his hands, he possesses "Sol Blaze", a Beyblade that has been passed down since very ancient times. As intense battle between Gingka and Helios unfolds, extreme weather develops throughout the whole world.

Season 3: Metal Fury

Taking a break from their latest tough triumph over Faust and the Spiral Core, Gingka and his friends find themselves saving a boy named Yuki from a mysterious youth named Johannes. Although Yuki is a boy genius and an astronomer, he is a Blader who owns “Anubus”. Yuki says that he has come to tell Gingka and his friends about the voice of the Star Fragment. He witnessed the Star Fragment (a meteor) fall from the sky one day. That single light dwells within Anubus and he says that he heard the voice of the Star Fragment that evening. A great evil is trying to revive the “Black Sun” and "Nemesis", the god of Destruction, by using the unknown power of the Star Fragment and destroy the world. Gingka and his friends must fight again, just as soon as they get the hang of their new 4D System Beys!

Video games

The first video game to be released from the Beyblade: Metal Fusion series was Metal Fight Beyblade DS, which debuted on March 26, 2009 for the Nintendo DS.^[8] Currently, the majority of the games released so far have only been released in Japan, though Hudson Soft, Hudson has localized the second Nintendo DS game and the Wii game for North America which is called Battle Fortress.^[9] So far, all dedicated Metal Fight Beyblade games have been developed and published by Hudson.^[10] The most recent Metal Fight Beyblade video game to be released was "Metal Fight Beyblade: Choujou Kessen! Big Bang Blader" for the DS in Japan, which was released on December 2, 2010.^[11]

Merchandise

Beyblade: Metal Fusion has toys, along with the other series. These type of toys now feature Metal on the outside of the Beyblades. The parts are as follow-

• Face Bolt - These hold the Beyblade parts together (except the Bottom).
• Energy Ring - The Energy Ring is where the launcher hooks stay when connected and determines the direction the bey will spin.
• Fusion Wheel - The Fusion Wheel is the part that helps attack other Beyblades. Examples include Storm, Flame, Dark, Lightning, Burn, Earth, Rock, Poison, Thermal, Evil, Cyber, Hyper, Fury, Torch, Inferno, Midnight, Night, Counter, Thunder, Galaxy, Ray, Sol, Hades, Twisted, Grand, Gravity, Meteo, Cyclone, and Mercury. As of the recent 4D Series, Fusion Wheels have been split into two parts, the PC Frame and the Core, allowing full customization and various modes. (Examples include Big Bang, Wing, L-Drago Destroy, L-Drago Guardian, Fang, Beat, Scythe and Variares).
• Spin Track - The Spin Track helps a Beyblade spin and helps its weight and speed. Also, it connects the Performance Tip to the rest of the Beyblade helping construct the beyblade.
• Performance Tip - The Performance Tip is the main thing that makes the Beyblade spin and determines a good amount of its Attack, Defense, and Stamina.

• 4D System - As of the release of Beyblade: Metal Fury, The Spin Track and Performance Tip were fused together (For an example: F:D, F:S and D:D )but not all the time with the 4D Beyblades for e.g. (Blitz Striker 100RSF)

These toys are made by Tomy in Asia and Hasbro in the US, India, Australia and Canada, and they are made by Sonokong in South Korea.

• Beyblade (toy)

References

External links

• Official D-rights Metal Fight Beyblade website(Japanese)
• Official TV Tokyo Metal Fight Beyblade website (Japanese)
• Official Nelvana Beyblade: Metal Fusion website