Beyblade, which is known as Bakuten Shoot Beyblade in Japan, began in 1999 as a manga and a series of toys. It is a shonen anime that is geared toward younger elementary school aged children.

In 2009, the Beyblade anime series was resurrected in Japan, and as of this writing, three more seasons have been produced: Beyblade: Metal Masters, Beyblade: Metal Fury, and Beyblade: Shogun Steel. These three seasons feature different characters than the original Beyblade series. In addition, a spin-off series called BeyWheelz has also been produced. Nelvana has licensed all of the Beyblade material in North America.

The main premise of Beyblade is that groups of children participate in a battling game that uses spinning tops. The tops are enchanted with Holy Beasts or spirits of mythical and powerful creatures. There are several teams that appear in the series: Bladebreakers, White Tigers, All Starz, Dark Bladers, Majestics, Demolition Boys, Team Psykick, Saint Shields, King & Queen, Barthez Battalion, F-Dynasty, and BEGA League.

The protagonist of Beyblade is named Takao Kinomiya; in the American version, his name is Tyson Granger. He's a strong-willed boy who isn't afraid to speak his mind; however, his big mouth tends to get him into trouble. When he's in a Beyblade battle, he relies on his skill and talent to win the day. He battles with the Bladebreakers team, and his Beyblade is Dragoon. Takao/Tyson is aided in his battling by Kyonuju (Kenny in the American version). Kyonuju/Kenny is the "brain" of the group, and he carries a laptop around with him. The laptop contains all the information Kyonuju/Kenny has gathered on other Beyblade and their owners.

When Beyblade was dubbed into English, several changes were made. The phrase "Go shoot" was replaced with "Let it Rip." Several characters' names were changed, and many of the team names were also changed. All of the sound effects from the original Japanese version are gone, as is the soundtrack from the original Japanese version. The soundtrack was replaced with music that's in more of a punk or rock style. The opening sequences for the seasons were also changed.

There have been several soundtracks released for Beyblade: four in Japan, two in Canada, and one in the United Kingdom. There have also been several Beyblade videogames.

Title	Episodes	Release Year(s)	Director	Studio	N.A. Licensor
Beyblade	51	2001	Toshifumi Kawase	Madhouse	Nelvana
Beyblade: VForce	51	2002	Yoshio Takeuchi	Nihon Animedia	Nelvana
Beyblade: G-Revolution	52	2004	Mitsuo Hashimoto	Nihon Animedia	Nelvana
Beyblade: Metal Fusion	51	2009-2010	Kunihisa Sugishima	Tatsunoko Productions/Synergy SP/Nelvana	Nelvana
Beyblade: Metal Masters	51	2010-2011	Kunihisa Sugishima	Tatsunoko Productions/Synergy SP/Nelvana	Nelvana
Beyblade: Metal Fury	52 (Japan)/39 (international)	2011-2012	Kunihisa Sugishima	Tatsunoko Productions/Synergy SP/Nelvana	Nelvana
Beyblade: Shogun Steel	38	2012	Kunihisa Sugishima	Synergy SP/Nelvana	Nelvana