Tyson: Crest of Loyalty, Partner: Pteromon line - Galemon - GrandGalemon - Zephgamon
Kai: Crest of Persevarence, Partner: Vorvomon line - Lavorvomon - Lavogaritamon - Volcanicdramon
Max: Crest of Adaptability, Partner: Sangomon line - Shellmon - MarinBullmon - Ariemon
Rei: Crest of Balance, Partner: Liollmon line - Liamon - LoaderLeomon - BanchoLeomon
Hilary: Crest of Empathy, Partner: Elizamon line - Dimetromon - Laniamon
Chief/Kenny: Crest of Intuition, Partner: Terriermon (Assistant) - Gargomon
Daichi: Crest of Abundance, Partner: Coronamon line - Firamon
I wanted to give them different crests than the ones in the Digimon anime, hence the random set of names that clearly lack consistency, forgive me for that.
For Tyson I picke Loyalty, because I think that's not just his strongest trait but also his fatal flaw. He believes in his friend too much, to the point that he ties his existence to how useful he can be to others and is in turn not loyal to his own self worth. Getting past the obstacle of learning to moderate how he is loyal to his beliefs and to the people he cares about is what would help him evolve.
For Kai I really did want to pick Courage, but I went with Perseverance. The intention of the word here is to show that even if he does lose his way or make wrong decisions, he never wavers from the resolve he made. He will stick through his decision and see it to the end, and persevere the consequences till he can be the best version of himself. I picked Vorvomon line for him because honestly while Hououmon is apt counterpart for Suzaku, but I cannot imagine Kai next to Piyomon (he'd slit its throat fr ) 🤣
Rei and Max are two crests which are pretty self explanatory. For Rei I was going to pick Baihumon as the end evolution but when I put BanchoLeomon behind him, I just thought that they looked way too cool together. But yes Baihumon is pretty much Byakko in Digimon form, someday I will rectify this mistake 😌
Hilary gets empathy because just like with Tyson, I think this is something that she needs to learn to excercise with restraint. While being able to understand others and connecting with them emotionally is a great trait to have, we often see her blurt out statements which sound right for the situation only to her, and do more damage than provide comfort. So yes, she wants to help others but she can be overbearing with her kindness, so learning to understand and accept how the other person is feeling is what she needs to grow stronger. Also Empathy and Loyalty go hand in hand and I totally did not mean anything by that.
Chief gets intuition because while he's smart and Knowledge/Wisdom would've fit him perfectly, he's also shown to want to get practical and put himself forward in the middle of the action, which you can only get better at by relying on your intuition.
Daichi's crest of Abundance is somewhat similar in meaning to Light. He has the quality to motivate others when they're at the limits, his energy and hopefulness is always overflowing. He is sort of like the grounding last piece of the group, so when it feels like all hope might be lost, his positively spirited actions will still keep the group afloat and give them the strength to keep pushing forward.
Gonna procrastinate by making a list of the differences in the Bakuten Shoot Beyblade manga from the anime that I can think of at the top of my head.
Warning!!!
Spoilers for those who haven't read it. 🙏🏻
1. Pacing
In the anime each season takes place over three years with each season representing a world tournament. The Manga only takes place over a year with events in V-Force being the preliminaries for the second world tournament. This discounts Rising which takes a place a year after the original Beyblade manga concluded.
2. Hiro and Dragoon
Hiro is introduced way earlier on and Hiro is the one that gives Tyson/Takao dragoon, which was extracted from a rock in Bai Hu Zu village, which brings a whole load of questions about the bit-beasts.
3. Bit-Beasts
As I said previously, all the bit-beasts are sealed in a rock in a cave in Bai Hu Zu village, I know they kind of touched on it in V-Force but they're isn't really any explanation to how anyone other than Takao has one. Takao's dad works on site at Bai Hu Zu so that explains how Hiroshi gave Dragoon to Takao but how did everyone else get one? Who knows...
Also not a lot of bit-beasts are actually in the manga, only a select few.
4. Rei and Bai Hu Zu
After the Japanese qualifier, Hiroshi takes the gang to Bai Hu Zu Village, this is where Takao meets little lion man, Rai is also able to smell that Takao is from Japan, mad skill. Rei and Rai's beef is different, Rai's just frustrated about Rei leaving to join another team, Rei's the strongest blader in his village and he just ups and leaves, Rai is valid in feeling betrayed.
Rei's personality is all over the place in the anime but in the manga he stays consistently an aloof lay-about who just seems to eat, sleep and fight (just like a cat).
Kiki also seems to have a verbal tick in the manga "keek keek" which I wish was included in the anime because it's cute.
Master Tao is also introduced on this visit.
5. All Stars
Michael is actually a really sweet guy even though he's still full of himself. Michael helps Takao stop blade thieves from steeling kids beyblade after mistaking Takao for one of the thieves, he then helps defeat the gang of thiefs. Max doesn't get bullied by the All Stars and Judy is a better mum. I don't know why the anime made them so mean.
Rick has a complete different backstory, I don't know how to explain my surprise when I read that he grew up on a farm, his personality is pretty much the same though, he's also canonically the oldest out of all the beybladers (excluding Hiroshi) at 16, meaning everyone else is younger than 16. Rick's dad gets introduced way before Rei's dad does, Rei's parents are only mentioned in Rising. Daichi also ends up on Rick's farm after sneaking into the back of Rick's dad's truck to eat his supply (little shit he is).
6. Daichi
Daichi doesn't wear shoes in the manga at all, and that bothers me. He also has his own little journeys and arcs where he meets manga exclusive characters.
7. Borg/Blitzkrieg/Demolition Boys
Borg are introduced in between getting back from China and before they go to America and they are crazy. Basically they show up at Taro's (Max's dad's) hobby shop to take everyone hostage, including Rei who's sleeping. Yuriy demands to fight the number one blader in Japan which is Takao, Takao shows up and Yuriy annihilates him. Takao does a big cry which earns him a punch from Kai, Yuriy goes back to the Abbey feeling pleased with himself only to be torn down by Volkov who points out a crack in Wolborg, Yuriy then gets back in the chopper to f*ck things up once more.
Borg are not involved in the first world tournament, the ones to beat are the Euro team but I'll get to them. They gatecrash the tournament, then go on to round up all the bladers onto the chopper to take them to god knows where and all the adults just let it happen. They end up on a Battle Royal style island where they are attacked by loads of abbey foot soldiers.
Boris doesn't fight Rei, that's actually Sergej. Rei wins and Yuriy straight up is like "die" to sergej. He launches his blade at Sergej, causing Sergej to fall off the cliff they are on, luckily Rei saves him. Boris actually fights Kai with a bunch of shock troops, Max steps in to help Kai whilst Takao takes on Yuriy.
Yuriy and the other Russians aren't loyal to Volkov like they are in the anime, Yuriy is more sadistic, less caring of order, he doesn't recognise the other borg members as his allies, which is incredibly sad because if you know Yuriy lore you'd know he wasn't always this way. He's more violent and doesn't get turned into an android lol. After Takao beats Yuriy, Yuriy challenges Takao to a rematch in a month's time, when that time comes, Ozma from the St Sheild's beats Yuriy and takes Wolborg.
Boris is less sadistic, less violent, he just does what Yuriy does.
8. Euro Team/Majestics
The Majestics are in the tournament, Kai gets beat pretty badly by Ralph, also the Majestics are the only ones aside from the main four that all bit-beasts are shown. Ralph's beyblade is like a transformer too which is pretty cool. When Borg hijack the tournament The Majestics stay behind as they saw no honor in battling Borg lmao. Ralph doesn't destroy beys like he does in the anime as that would be dishonorable. Giancarlo is floozyless.
9. Fernandez Twins
Raul and Julia are not circus entertainers, like the Majestics they come from a wealthy, influential family. Takao seeks out the man who created beyblades to help him improve his own beyblade and the man turns out to be the twins grandfather. I don't remember Romero being mentioned in the manga.
10. Barthez Battalion
In the G-Revolution segment, the contestants are given a new piece for their bey which will make it more powerful, however if you can't handle the new power you'll turn evil. Everyone is fine except Barthez Battalion, who turn evil and resort to cheating (much like their anime counterparts). Barthez is only in one panel in the manga.
11. Leon Zagart
Leon isn't a robot in the manga, he's the younger of two brothers, his older brother, Zeo was took out by Truck-Kun (he was run over by a truck). Causing their father Dr Zagart, to develop an obsession with resurrecting his son by using the four sacred bit-beasts. Leon tries steeling them to get daddies approval.
Volkov works for Zagart in the manga.
12. St. Sheild's and Team Psykick
As I said previously, Ozma is introduced fighting Yuriy, where he beats him and takes Wolborg. Ozma says someone as evil as Yuriy shouldn't have a sacred beast. Takao doesn't struggle as bad with defeating Ozma as he does in the anime. Team Psykick are Australian, Kane starts off evil then becomes good, unlike the anime, where he's good but becomes corrupt. Salima and Marriam don't have any lines with the main four boys so there's no weird, romantic tension with Max and Rei.
13. Kai
Kai is probably the most different in the manga, he has no ties to Russia whatsoever, he's Japanese born and bread, he has a mum called Misaki and a dad called Susumu, Susumu is Soichiro's son. Susumu loves engineering beyblades, he shared this hobby with Kai which they bonded over. Soichiro wasn't happy about this, he's not cartoonishly evil like he is in the anime but he is controlling and manipulative. He didn't agree with how Susumu was raising kai so he gave Susumu an ultimatum; beyblade or his family. Susumu chooses beyblade and walks out. This devastated Kai, Kai deals with this by swearing vengeance on all beyblades.
Susumu is gone for three years by the way and it doesn't explain where he was either, however he is the director of the BBA. During the regional championship Soichiro tries to stop the battle between Kai and Takao but Susumu finally stands up to his dad to tell him to leave Kai alone.
Kai's less emotional in the manga, he doesn't have as much character growth, but as I pointed out, the manga takes place over a year and he's like 12. He's weirdly obsessed with having power but this is probably Soichiro's influence. He doesn't have a sewey-woowy moment in the Russian wilderness, and he's not as kind or as flowery as he is in the anime.
He's more bitter towards Takao, Takao is supposedly two year's younger, he's beat Kai and he's beat opponents that Kai struggled to beat. He takes this out on Takao by being a crappy friend to him, Takao never gives up on him though. During the second world tournament Kai refuses to battle anyone but Takao at his best so Kai pretty much snubs Rei by not battling him, leaving Yuriy to beat everyone himself.
The series ends with Kai once again getting owned by Takao. The battle conclusion wasn't actually shown but in Rising it's shown that Takao and Daichi did win the tournament, however Kai beats Takao in an unofficial match.
Mao flying with her snowboard to show off in front of Rei
Meanwhile Rei helping Kenny/Kyoujyu to learn how to fly (they are taking it very seriously)
Max trying curling, convinced he was going for something easier and regretting all his life choices
Daichi being the real star of the event in disguise after he stole the Olympic Mascot costume from a closet (HE IS SO EXCITED)
Neoborg teaching the world how to do curling the Russian way and make it actually useful
Raul and Julia Fernandez being perfectly in sync and winning every single ice dance competition
Yuriy pulling off life-risking moves that he casually learned while skating on Lake Baikal
Kai Hiwatari doing the giant slalom at 150km/h speed because he is not for teamwork and wants the entire slope for himself only
Takao/Tyson going for the hockey puck and getting nearly killed by Rick Anderson's glorious butt
Bonus: Mascot-Daichi falling, getting a broom on his head without reason and being left there in the snow for 3 hours because nobody knew it was him (the broom cracks me up every time)
(Ps. I've been in love with the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics mascots and I just HAD to mention them)
