Beyblade: Let it Rip - Volume 1
This game-based kids' series is trying a little too hard and too obviously to  be the nextPokémon. Tyson and his friends Kenny the computer nerd and  good-natured Max want to become Beyblade champions. They practice, study, and  work on strategy, as they're invariably pitted against someone who's never  been defeated. Their biggest foe is Kai, the nasty, win-at-any-price leader  of the Blade Sharks gang. Although some blades are inhabited by supernatural  "Bit Beasts," Beyblade is just a high-tech variation on battling tops. The  matches quickly fall into formula and there's no bond between Tyson and his  Blade like the one that links Ash and Pikachu. The animation is minimal, with  lots of pans over still artwork. The spiky-haired kids all look as if they just  came from Goku's barber shop and talk as if they've been studying diction  with Kato Kaelin. (Rated TV7: minor cartoon violence)--Charles Solomon