Our story begins in "The X", a tower in which professional players called "Bladers" use spinning tops called "Beyblades" to compete against each other in "Beybattles" to reach the top to earn the title of "Battle Champion". We then encounter amateur blader Robin Kazami competing in the amateur arena for a chance to claim the title. After a devastating loss in his first match, his beyblade is crushed by his opponent, his teammates abandoned him, and his internal passion to claim the Battle Champion title begins to fade away. In what appears like fate, a mysterious blader wearing a helmet marked with an X, named "Blader X" offers him the chance to team up. Robin is skeptical of the offer, but reluctantly agrees, and the duo return to the amateur arena.


The duo face off against the same opponents who destroyed Robin's beyblade. Robin doubts the outcome will change until X steps into the arena and eliminates their opponent in an instant in the first round. Angered by this, Takumi Ishiyama stepped up to challenge X. As the second round starts the odds favored Takumi, but mid battle X unveils his special xtreme dash attack eliminating Takumi. After the match, Robin questions X about his true identity. "Blader X" reveals himself as Jaxon Cross, a former teammate of the current battle champion Khrome Ryugu. Jaxon explains he wants to challenge Khrome one-on-one, but to do see he has to start from the bottom. Thus beginning Jaxon & Robin's battle to the top of "The X" in Beyblade X.

While I'm familiar with beyblade and even did my fair share of challenging other kids at the school lunch table. I lost interest in the series overtime. When I saw Viz Media announced the series for an English release and looked into it. I was curious how the series was considering it's stacked cast behind it which includes Kawamoto & Hikaru Muno (Kagegurui- Compulsive Gambler) as the authors and Posuka Demizu (The Promised Neverland) as the manga's illustrator.


What caught my eye was the art style of Beyblade X. The art direction presented throughout this volume offers you an intense visual spectacle. Each seems to be designed to reflect their personality both on and off the battlefield. When the perspective shifts over to the actual "Beybattle", the incredible attention to detail of each beyblade highlights their uniqueness. This is further enhanced as we see each beyblade's attack when they clash against each other. Thus creating a visually engaging fight between two spinning tops. I also want to give immense credit to letterer Brandon Bovia who's incredible lettering techniques which gives each beybattle the weight and intensity to make it engaging to read through. I'll showcase below a few examples below

Beyond Beyblade X's incredible art direction, how does it's narrative hold up? Beyblade X opts for a for a "low-stakes" and as of finishing the volume: a predictable outcome which might cause readers such as myself to lose interest. For example, the story follows Team Persona's journey to the top of "The X", naturally encountering various obstacles along the way. As the team encounters each obstacle, Robin is almost always unable to do anything on and use's Jaxon as a crutch to overcome the challenge. Initially, this wasn't an issue and it made narrative sense. However, when this exactly scenario played out consecutively I started to feel disinterested as it seemed Robin wasn't really "learning" for each battle.

With that in mind, I can imagine this narrative style appealing to an audience not looking for something narratively engaging. When we look at the manga's origin at Shogakukan's CoroCoro Magazine, which targets a younger demographic. I can easily see this manga being featured in numerous libraries and scholastic book fairs as the very first manga readers explore given its overall approachability before moving on to other series like One Piece, Naruto, or Dragon Ball.

The art direction in Beyblade X excels at creating a captivating visual experience, drawing readers into each beybattle as team persona go through their journey to become the "battle champion." However, the narrative's "low-stakes" approach personally caused me to lose interest in Robin Kazami & Blader X's quest to reach the top of Tower X.


While I personally lost interest, there's value for fans of the series experiencing this story through the manga format (especially if you appreciate Posuka Demizu's art style & Brandon Bovia's Lettering Style). Additionally, I think it's an excellent "starter" manga to introduce to a younger audience for those looking for an approachable story to introduce them too.

It doesn’t matter how much you know about Beyblade—this new Viz Manga will draw you right in. Beyblade X is written by the team behind Kakegurui and illustrated by the artist of The Promised Neverland, giving this entry in the kids’ battling toy series a vibe all its own. Our hero is Robin Kazami, an amateur Blader who dreams about battling in the prestigious X tower. When a rival team crushes his Bey after a battle, telling him this game isn’t a game at all, he’s about to give up for good. But then he meets the masked Blader X, and his whole world changes.

It turns out X is Jaxon Cross, a retired pro Blader who’s climbing the tower again to face his former teammate. Together with Multi, an idol who’s a master of many Beys, Robin and Jaxon hone their skills to prove that Beyblade can be both serious and fun. Whether you’re a Beyblade pro or new to this world, it’s a fun, action-packed series with a lot of heart.

A great new manga, captures the charm and the wit of the anime well. A must read for fans of Beyblade and fans of more juvenile manga as a whole.