Watched the Beyblade Burst ss 1 + 2 long ago and now finally finished this season. I just didn't have the motivation to watch this because there is no old characters, nostalgia can be a scary obstacle! Anw, the series kinda suffers from the new format (12min/ep). The duration is technically 26 episodes - half of the normal BB shows. What suffers from this cut is the pacing, story, and characters. Not many new rivals are introduced, the villains appear out of nowhere and challenge the good guy's crew with an absurd reason like "darkness will consume all, your Beyblade is over" without any background.The story is basically non-existed and just "the protagonist is challenged by random people, process to win different tournaments".

However, there is a really strong cast and strong bond between them (the trio Drum, Delta, Akane), much like the ss 1. Although because of the short duration the staff couldn't do much with them, there are lots of scenes portraying these precious kids support each other. Beyblade Burst is always good at organizing battle to make the protagonist stand out but not OP at the same time, this series is the same. The growth of Drum feels really realistic, emotional when we see how far he has gone in the end.

Although the relationship between Drum and his main rival is average and pretty cliche, they make a great connection with the "real last boss" (not the one I mentioned above). The last boss Gwyn basically is just a kid that never has friend and doesn't realize his wish for making friend with Drum. There is a great irony and contrast in the Drum - Delta - Gwyn: Thanks to Drum, Delta develops to a better person while meeting Drum makes the normal world of Gwyn destroyed and forces him to get out.

The best part of this series would be animation, especially in ep 49 where all the freaking budget just throw in it.

Overall, I enjoy the series for what it is. The characters are cute, battles are good.