Battle B-daman

Battle B-Daman was a Merchandise-Driven anime about a boy named Yamato Delgado who wants to become the best at a game called B-Daman. Yamato obtains a special B-Daman "blaster" named Cobalt Blade, which an evil organization called the Shadow Alliance plans to steal.

The show ran for 1 season in America (2 in Japan). However B-Daman did not meet as much success as it was expected. This may be due to the fact that the toys were of poor quality, sometimes arriving broken straight out of the package. The game called for the toys to launch marbles at each other or at targets. Since every piece of armor on a B-daman enhanced its abilities (for example, a longer barrel for increased accuracy), a broken piece made the toy useless. Since each figure was quite expensive, they weren't easy to replace. The fragility of the B-daman was attributed to their brittle plastic. Instructions encourage children to customize their B-daman. However, Parts could break when being removed or inserted. However the concept and game itself was well received. The problem was entirely a matter of execution. The toys were also marketed at the wrong time. "Collectible toy games" like Beyblade were no longer in style. The Release of Bakugan years later would bring them back into style.

The show's failure can be attributed to it not being featured on any major cartoon channels until after the toyline was cancelled. That said the show was celebrated for being funny, yet action packed. The story was very gripping, which made any loose ends that resulted from the show's abrupt ending very noticeable. The only major criticism was that the writers would often destroy popular B-Daman blasters in order to promote new toys.

The show had two spinoff Gameboy Advance titles, which sold poorly because they were released after the Nintendo DS made the Gameboy obsolete.


 * Absurdly Youthful Mother: Mie, Yamato's mother.
 * Aborted Arc: The Blaster Core B-Daman were never released because the toyline was cancelled, but they were instrumental to the show.
 * Abusive Parents: See Break the Cutie
 * Action Girl: Liena, mostly in Season 2
 * Adorkable: Bull
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Wen's crush on Liena and Liena's crush on Enju
 * All Your Powers Combined: The final battle
 * Aloof Big Brother: Wen
 * A Day in the Limelight: Li has an episode told from his perspective
 * Badass: Both Gray and Enju
 * Battle Aura
 * Battle Butler: Joshua
 * Beat the Curse Out of Him: Enju and Cain although Cain would be " Beat the Jerkass out of Him"
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Cain
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Kiku is this, at least to Gunnos.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Pretty much all the characters feel this (in varying degrees) towards Liena, especially Gray, who is her brother. Also Wen towards Li.
 * Big Eater: Yamato and Gunnos
 * Bishonen: Is the only way to truly describe most of the males in the series, except Yamato and Bull. And Terry, who looks too feminine.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Ababa and later Enju.
 * Bratty Half-Pint: Yamato and Gunnos
 * Break the Cutie: Poor little Enju was forced to take a dive on each of his battles so his dad could pay for their rent. At the Junior B-Daman Tournament he was disqualified after unfairly being accused of cheating due to his refusal to repeat his past life, thus being betrayed by his only friend, Enju took out his anger on his father in a B-daBattle, resulting him into changing his hair from blue to red and changing from timid and meek to cold and ruthless.
 * As a child, Cain went through training of his strict father, turning him egocentric and power hungry.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: Bull
 * Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gray and Liena.
 * Also debatably Enju and Liena
 * Catboy: After being raised by cats, Yamato is quick and agile, likes fish and has whiskers and a cat-like hair.
 * Cheerful Child: Yamato, Bull, Terry, Wen, Gunnos and some of the characters are like this.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl : Miss Karat towards Bull. Later Hana and Kiku are revealed to be this with Gunnos.
 * Clueless Chick Magnet: Gunnos
 * Cool Old Lady: Yamato’s mother
 * Cute Mute: Liena is this after being brainwashed by the Neo-Alliance
 * Darker and Edgier: After becoming champion, Yamato has to face some much tougher and scarier villains.
 * Disney Death At first it looked like Joe died after being defeated by Haja, but its later revealed that he is alive
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Cain and his original Bakugan, Knight Cavalry.
 * Evil Albino: At first Akyulus seems to be this.
 * Evil Patriarch: Cain’s father
 * Evil Mentor: Ababa
 * Face Heel Turn: Cain, although it's implied that he was never really a good guy.
 * Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Wen and Li.
 * Freudian Excuse: Cain had an strict father, Enju was betrayed by everyone and for a much more lighthearted example, Yamato, who was raised by cats.
 * Gender Bender: Ababa the cat was turned into a male while under Marta B's control. She turns back into a female after being released from mind control.
 * Genius Ditz: Bull. When B-Damans are involved.
 * Hair of Gold: Gray and Liena
 * Heel Face Turn: Every bad guy turns good eventually.
 * Heroic Wannabe: After befriending Yamato and the gang, Wen ends up dressing like a super-hero only to be discouraged and turned town by Li.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Gunnos, and completely oblivious to it. It doesn’t help that every time he sings, the flying birds fall to the ground.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Hana is this towards Gunnos.
 * Hot Mom: Yamato’s mother
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl - Liena is this in canon.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gunnos is as annoying and cocky as Yamato, but he later shows care for Kiku.
 * Kids Are Cruel
 * Kuudere: Enju
 * Ho Yay : Joshua for Cain. He even was willing to throw himself from a cliff for him.
 * Last Girl Wins: Gunnos and Kiku.
 * Limited Wardrobe: While most characters avert this, Yamato is seen wearing the same clothes in Season 2.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Cain was this, although Joshua was his only friend.
 * Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Wen and Akyulus are this
 * Love Martyr: Liena continues to long for Enju, who clearly is interested in B-da battling and becoming stronger.
 * Joshua in the first season. He was fine with Cain's arrogant attitude because he remembers a time when his master was kind. Unfortunately, he broke down after Cain dared to destroy a marble that he gave Joshua when they were kids, which lead to Joshua to betray Cain in order to return him to his old kind self. He succeeds.
 * Mama Bear: Yamato’s mother
 * My Sister Is Off-Limits: Gray is VERY overprotective of Liena. He even doesn’t want her to B-da battle, despite she is a bright player.
 * Names to Know in Anime:
 * Reiko Takagi as Yamato
 * Tomoko Kaneda as Terry (Tsubame in the Japanese version)
 * Daisuke Kishio as Enju
 * Aya Hirano as Miss Karat
 * Hiro Yuki as Cain
 * Makiko Ohmoto as Gunnos
 * No Accounting for Taste: Gunnos prefers Kiku (who is fat and plain) over the beautiful Hana
 * No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Gunnos has a disliking for Hana after the latter shown him a bug. However he promised her that he will win for her father out of courtesy.
 * This is subverted later, as he later develops a crush on Kiku later on
 * Taken for Granite: If you lose to a neo shadow alliance member.
 * The Not-So-Harmless Punishment
 * The Ojou: Miss Karat
 * Oblivious to Love: Enju seems completely oblivious that Liena seems to like him. Or he knows and simply doesn’t care.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Proto one is the only wave 1 B-daman toy that is not used by the main character. All we see of it in the show is Battle Crow crushing it after defeating its owner, who is never shown.f you blinked, you might have missed it.
 * Only Sane Man: Somehow Gray is the only normal guy in Yamato’s group in the first season.
 * Overprotective Mom: Mie, Yamato’s mother
 * Puni Plush: Which is much more evident in the anime adaptation.
 * Parental Neglect: Enju was forced by his father to take a dive on each of his battles so his he could pay for their rent.
 * Power Dyes Your Hair: Although in the case of young Enju would be "Anger Dyes Your Hair"
 * The Quiet One: Gray. Also Enju and Akyulus.
 * Rich Bitch: Miss Karat. Also Cain is a male version of this.
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender
 * Stalker with a Crush: Hana is this towards Gunnos. Also Karat towards Bull, although this is implied to be somehow requited.
 * Four-Man Band
 * Yamato: The Hero
 * Gray: The Smart Guy
 * Terry: Kid Appeal Character
 * Bull: Mood Swinger
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Yamato and Gray, Bull and Akyulus, Wen and Li, Joshua and Cain
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Liena and Yamato’s mother