Beyblade X’s Bey Kingdom Arc streams from 9 October

Takara Tomy has published a new key visual for the Bey Kingdom Arc of Beyblade X and dated its streaming debut: 9 October at 7pm Japan time on the series’ official BeyTube channel.

Start Dash Project

The reveal came with the launch of the Beyblade X Start Dash Project on 15 September, a campaign built around people who have never picked up a bey. BeyTube gets two special episodes, the first on 25 September with Shuichiro Umeda, the voice of Bird, looking back over Bird’s beybattles so far, and the second on 2 October promising first-look information on products, the manga and the anime. A prize giveaway runs alongside both.

Our opinion

Beyblade X has spent its run being a merchandising machine that also happens to be a decent Saturday morning show, and a new arc with a fresh visual is exactly the sort of announcement its audience wants. The Start Dash Project is the more revealing half of the news, though. Committing two prime BeyTube slots to a beginner’s guide and a first-look showcase suggests Takara Tomy is more worried about bringing new players in than about serving the ones already spinning, and that is usually the sign of a franchise thinking past its current season. For a series that lives or dies on toy sales, it is the right instinct.