The latest installment in the BEYBLADE franchise continues with this second volume—devoted largely to the art of modding Beys for Beyblade battles. With our core team built, the business of battling can now begin. For a hardcore fan, this might be especially interesting. For someone just wading into the world of Beyblade, it can feel like a bit much. Then again, tie-in manga are generally for the aficionado rather than the newbie.

It is interesting to learn more about the structure of these battles, including testing that allows especially promising teams to skip entire floors of the X. But what's most interesting in this volume is the social engineering taking place at the hands of Blaze Fujiwara. This rich kid turned Beyblade battler has a very specific view of how battling should look in the future—and what starts as altruism ends up being a devastating long game that could knock Persona down a few rungs.

The main thing BEYBLADE X has going for it is artwork by Posuka Demizu, most famous for THE PROMISED NEVERLAND. While some characters are appealing (multitalented idol Multi Nana-iro is especially charming), this is mostly your run-of-the-mill kids' series. And there's nothing wrong with that; Robin and Jaxon will be extremely relatable to young players. That said, where this volume really shines is in its three extra stories, giving us a little further background into the hearts and minds of our three heroes.