Wasted Potential: The Women of Beyblade
Alright lads, it’s time we address the elephant in the room: Beyblade sucks at portraying women. I know we all try our hardest to only look at the best aspects of the show and analyse every little detail as if it were intentional, but at the end of the day, this show was made to market toys to little boys. Of course we know toys shouldn’t be gendered like this, but the show came out in the early 2010s, so if it wasn’t pink and sparkly, it had to be for boys. It’s time to face the fact that the writers aren’t perfect, and they certainly didn’t put effort into every aspect of the show- especially the female characters.
There are exactly six prominent female characters in the entire show. There’s the occasional scared little girl here or a very likely dead mum there, but there are only six main girls in the entire show. That’s opposed to an estimated 50 male characters, all appearing in more than one episode. People have tried to come up with in-universe explanations for this, the most obvious being that Beyblade, like a lot of sports, is male dominated, and woman just don’t feel welcomed in that space (There’s a really good fic by TooManyTerribleCartoons that focuses on this, I cried while reading it). It would be really interesting if the show actually went in that direction and dealt with that, but of course, it doesn’t. Because the real reason is that girls just aren’t as marketable to boys as boys are.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love all six of these girls with all my heart, but maybe that’s just because there are so little of them to love. So, to figure out whether or not I actually like these characters based on their personalities or solely because they’re the only ones I have to represent myself in this damn show, I’m going to break them down individually.
Let’s start with our main girl, Madoka. The first thing that you may consider a problem is that the only girl that’s consistently there throughout the show isn’t even a blader. Some would argue she still has the ‘blader’s spirit’ but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Madoka is the healer of the group, as girls in media tend to be. And she doesn’t just heal their beys. Whenever someone is hurt, she’s the one they show patching them up. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing on its own. Female healers are just as admirable as female fighters. The problem starts with her being the only main girl in the show, and the only healer. None of the boys seem to be able to take care of themselves without her, which raises all sorts of alarms. They treat her like she’s their mother, and I don’t care how much of an orphan you are, a fourteen-year-old girl is not your mum. Hell, she even scolds them like she’s their mother. When you break it down, her entire character is based on being a maternal figure to all of her male friends.
What I really want to talk about with Madoka is how she’s usedin the show. I’m about to drop a bomb here so get ready. Here’s the thing: Madoka isn’t a main character, she’s a supporting character. Yep. Because, despite being the second most present character in the show, there is no storyline that focuses on her, not even an episode. She doesn’t have an arc. She doesn’t learn anything new about herself, doesn’t change at all throughout the story. Because if she changes, who will be Gingka’s new mummy? Sure, she’s a part of other people’s arcs, but she’s only used to further their development. She’s a means to an end.
Take the Survival Island arc for example. This is the only time we ever see her use a bey, so it should be a big moment for her, right? Nope. Because she’s only furthering Kyoya’s arc. He needs to learn that Leone has limits he shouldn’t push, and she needs to teach him that. She doesn’t learn anything from it, she was just doing what she knew she had to do.
I love Madoka dearly but when it comes down to it, her character was completely wasted on mothering the boys around her.
Hikaru is the first female blader we meet. And at first, her character actually looks promising! She’s a feisty, no-nonsense girl who only wants to take on the best of the best. She has a pretty good backstory (by Beyblade standards) that explains her actions well, and she even grows as a person throughout the show! Can you imagine? Of course, that just didn’t last. Once everyone leaves to collect points for Battle Bladers, she’s pushed into obscurity. When she does occasionally show up, she’s used as a dummy to display other blader’s power on. Everyone else during this time gets episodes dedicated to their travels- hell, even Tetsuya gets one- but she’s conveniently left out. Just couldn’t squeeze her into the fifty episodes of the season, could ya?
And then, we get to Battle Bladers, where she’s immediately put up against the most powerful person and gets crushed instantly. She couldn’t put up a decent fight like Tsubasa or Kyoya because her battle was tacked onto the end of another person’s episode.
From here on, Hikaru refuses to battle without absolute necessity. Another girl who just doesn’t play. Now, I don’t mind how they handled the whole PTSD thing (sus that no one else in the show has it but okay). Hikaru was only really blading to fulfill her mother’s dreams, and she decides that she shouldn’t force herself to anymore. That would all be fine and dandy if the show had focused on that. But they didn’t. The fandom came up with that explanation. The show decided to make her a secretary because they needed someone to balance out Ryo's idiocy. One might even say she’s mothering him. Another teenage girl forced into the responsible maternal role. And that’s how she stays.
Now… Mei-Mei. I’m not gonna sugar-coat this one, guys. Mei-Mei’s portrayal is blatantly sexist. She (of course) is the stupid one of her team, always mixing up her words. She blindly follows all of her male teammates with the utmost respect for all of them without getting anything in return. She never fights by herself, instead aiding someone else and taking orders. She is, once again, just a support to the real talent- the male members of the team.
This is all ignoring the most obvious ‘trait’ she has… yeah, the tits. Mei-Mei has big ol’ tiddies. Now I’m not here to body shame, I know that everyone grows and develops differently. But come on. She’s a child. And of course, she’s super skinny in every other aspect, it’s just her tits that have to be massive. Whoever designed her made a choice, and a bad one at that.
Mei-Mei is a dunce with big boobs that’s only there to be stared at and laughed at. She doesn’t get a story of her own like the others do, only there to fill in the fourth spot in Wang Hu Zhong. Sure, she can mean more than that to us, but that’s all she was intended to be.
Lera is an… interesting case. She has the same aspiration as the rest of her team: to go to space. That’s… almost like having your own goals, right? When she’s introduced, she’s stubborn, mouthy, and loud. Wow, that’s a lot like Masamune! She’ll make a great adversary for him- ah shit, he’s gone and gotten himself lost. Guess she won’t be fighting at all in the championships. What a waste.
Oh, but there she is again! Appearing in the Destroyer Dome tournament with her team, I’ll bet she has a lot to offer this time! And she kind of does, being the one who was able to counter one of Jigsaw’s special moves. This was most likely to make up for the fact that she didn’t do anything in the world championships, but hey, at least it’s something! Let’s hope she keeps this up and- ah. She got fire blasted with the rest of her team. Pity.
For my own metal health, I’m choosing to ignore the boob window on her fucking space suit. I’m not touching that one.
Sophie, my beloved. Her portrayal might be the one I’d say is the least sexist, but that’s by a very thin margin. When she’s introduced, she gives a massive display of power and even shares her dream of being an archaeologist. A woman with her own personal goals? What a world! Of course, we never hear about this ever again, despite there being plenty of opportunities where the gang could use an archaeologist *cough cough the entirety of Metal Fury cough*.
Sophie is very mature, being older than most of the cast. Everyone on team Excalibur is, but Sophie seems a lot more polite compared to her stubborn and rude counterpart, Wales. She has to be, as the refined lady of the group. She’s graceful and glamorous, as a woman of high class should be *eyeroll*. There’s also her complete and utter devotion to Julian and only being known as one of his ‘Twin Jewels,’ which is just… so great.
The only thing that puts Sophie above the rest in terms of representation is her power. Coming in relatively late in Masters meant that she had to be a far more powerful opponent. Granted, most of the time she’s fighting in a duo, but she’s still a threat on her own. And that’s proven when *gasp* she defeats one of the main characters? On her own?! When Gan Gan Galaxy interrupts the Festival of Warriors, and Yu tries to use his special move to destroy the stadium, she’s the one to stop him. It could’ve been Wales or Julian, but they decided Sophie should do it. And I think that works well with her character, since she seems to care the most about the cultural and historical aspect of everything. She’s the one who explains the importance of the festival to our main characters, she’s the one who knows the legend of Variares in Fury, so she would be the one who wants to prevent the stadium from falling apart. I’m glad they at least incorporated her desire to be an archaeologist into her character, though that could also just be a coincidence. Or her wanting to be tidier because she’s a woman. But I’m gonna pretend that’s not it, because I’d like to be happy for once.
Selen is the only ‘villain’ of all the girls. I say ‘villain’ because not wanting to starve to death definitely isn’t evil. Anyway, Selen seems to be yet another sex symbol in this children’s show. Despite living in poverty, she still finds time to dress in a cute crop top, tiny skirt, and skimpy leggings. I’m all for hot girls doing hot girl shit, but again, she’s supposed to be poor. And a fucking child.
Her battle style, much like her clothing, is very showy. She’s the weakest of her family (you’d think it would be the youngest, but no, it’s the girl) so she makes up for it in stamina. In other words, she distracts her opponents. The gorgeous woman distracts people in order to win. Huh. It isn’t even subtle in the show. During her world championships battle, she plays the crowd and they cheer and whistle at her. They claim to love her, even! But how can her country love her while also letting her and her family starve? Why, they love her for her body, of course! They love the performance, but her as a person? Whether or not she even lives through the night? They couldn’t care less.
Even when she returns in the Destroyer Dome, she says she’s fine with sacrificing herself for her brothers. She uses her incredible stamina to be useful to her brothers, to wear out their opponents. The devotion is the same with all of the siblings, but none of her brothers ever sacrifice anything for the family. It’s only the girl. The expendable one.
So that’s all the individual girls, spread as thin as they can go. All of this is to say that all of these girls have incredible potential but are shoved off to the side for the sake of their male teammates. They could’ve had great storylines themselves. I mean, each season of this show is around fifty episodes. You’re telling me you can’t give at least a few of them to the girls?
I’m not surprised by any of these revelations, because honestly, Beyblade isn’t objectively a great show. It’s a marketing scheme. I just wish at least one of the girls got the attention and detail to their character that they deserve. So many characters, even side characters like Da Xian and Zeo, have great development in their few episodes. Why couldn’t any of the girls get the same treatment?
All in all, this just makes me sad. At least I know that there are so many great content creators in this fandom who can give these girls the justice they deserve.
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