The first two seasons very consistently maintained that Takao's strength lies in the faith he recieves from his friends, that his power stems from support, that his relentlessness is rooted in knowing that he is never alone.
But in the first half of Grev, the people he considers friends have left him (without a decent explanation) and when he needs someone to tell him that he is not alone, and that he has every right to feel hurt but he needs to understand that this doesn't mean that his friends have abandoned him - what is drilled into him instead is that he shouldn't ask why the people he considered friends would leave him, but that if his strength is only dependent on these people then he won't even be able to give them a fair fight.
Yes, actually Coach Hiro, that's exactly what Tyson was trying to say, but thank you for pushing him away and making it seem like the dependency he considers his strength is actually what will make him weaker.
His real strength has always been the people he surrounds himself with, his "beyspirit" exists for the sake of his friends, his reason for enjoying beybattles is dependent on connecting with the person he is battling with, he has rivals but never enemies because anyone he has ever battled with is someone he considers a friend.
From this point on till Episode 21, rather than trying to beyblade for the sake of forming a connection, he is focused on maintaining the status of a World Champion, which is why he loses his way, which is why he cannot battle at his full capacity, because he is battling for all the wrong reasons.
The minute he is able to reconnect with what he believed to be his real willpower for battling, he returns to his usual self almost instantly.
(sidenote the person who created this wall that didn't need to exist 🤡)
(another sidenote, his friends who knew that he was going through an identity crisis and not his usual self, choosing to wait out the crisis because they know he will just 'solve the problem on his own' 🤡)
(another another sidenote, yes, thank you for being the reason he began to doubt himself in the first place and then doing nothing to help him with it, glad that he is now answering to all of your expectations, glad that you saw him as a goal and not a friend who needed you 🤡)
