Season 1, Episode 3: Take it to the Max

There's a new blader in town, but can he be trusted?

My Review

The tutorial level is over, and the show starts to pick up the pace a little bit here. We’re not quite there, but we’re almost at the point where if you were showing beyblade to a friend or family member, you’d be able to stop sitting on the edge of your seat assuring them that “it gets really good soon” and telling them to “push through”.

Personally this is actually one of my favourite early-on episodes of season one for a couple of reasons. The first is that it introduces a couple of beloved characters (Max, and Mr Dickenson) to the show and it changes the tone entirely. Everything is switched up a gear because you have all of these new interactions going on. The second reason is that this episode contains the cutest puppy ever drawn in any anime series to date.

We get to see the heroic rescue of said puppy and this gives the viewer the opportunity to see what level of skill a beyblader possesses. This is the first time we start to see Tyson being open to outside advice when it comes to his technique.

We also start to hear more of the fantastic background music which was composed by Christian Szczesniak, which really adds to the feel of the series. Finally, we really start to see the dynamic between Kenny and Tyson grow, with Kenny being the brains and Tyson being the ‘muscle’ of the operation.

This episode hints at the regional tournament and sets the wheels in motion for the epic adventure still to come.

What I Liked

As already mentioned, I really like that Nelvana started adding in more of the fantastic background music in this episode. I’m also a fan of this episode because it just revolves around the characters being kids playing in their hometown.

My Favourite Quote

Tyson: *Sighs* “It’s always about the puppies.”

Trivia

• It’s much less clear in the English dub, but while Tyson and Kenny are Japanese, Max is meant to be half-Japanese, half-American – hence the not-so-subtle blond hair and blue eyes. In the Japanese version of the show, Max will often randomly say certain things in English (though with a heavy Japanese accent because his voice actor was still Japanese in this version). His first line in this episode in the Japanese dub is actually spoken in English: “haha you’re so funny I like you!”
• In the Japanese dub, Max’s dad mentions he and Max’s mom live apart for ‘reasons’, it’s safe to say they’re separated. Tyson also mentions that his mother passed away in this episode.

Favourite Screenshots