Kai Hiwatari

About
Kai is the captain of the Team BBA (Bladebreakers in the dub) throughout most of the Beyblade anime series and the keeper of the phoenix Bit-Beast Dranzer, or in the original Japanese version, Suzaku, the phoenix god of the South in Chinese/Japanese legend.

Kai is voiced by David Reale in the English dub and by Urara Takano in the original.

Personality
Although rather introverted, Kai is far more expressive when he beyblades, depicting the great importance that blading holds over his life. Even as a the captain of the Bladebreakers, he always kept a certain distance from his teamates. According to Emily, Kai was afraid to get to know them as he might start to like them which, eventually, happens. He appeared to not know the meaning of friendship after being alone and friendless most of his life, only caring for his abusive grandfather who continuously used him. While Kai was stuck in the ice at Baikal Lake and his teamates, who he had betrayed and insulted, desperately tried to save him, he was appalled to realize that they liked him and never stopped being his friends, finally shattering the "invisible wall" he created. As the series progresses, he matures and becomes more open with his team-mates and grows more comfortable around them. In the end, despite his differences with many of his peers in the Beyblade community, Kai sacrifices a great deal to free the world of the influence of Boris Balkov and his BEGA company.

Kai also seems to be caring about his team mates, since he has saved them many times. He saved Max Tate from being smashed under a meter thick glass from beyblade season 1, he brought Driger back to Ray during a fight with Dunga, he saved Tyson, Hilary, Ray and Kenny from the Psykick's headquarter in V-Force, he saved Hilary several times on the island in V-Force, and risked his life to destroy BEGA league, even thought it didn't came out the way he thought it would be.

His most distinguished trait is his sense of pride and fairness.

Although a tough guy, he is shown giving a cat milk, bringing food for a family of cats and in the first ending for the third season, feeding a dog. This indicates he has a soft spot for animals, showing the more human side of his nature than the cool, collected and silent front he usually has.

Relationships
Kai interacts with many characters to varying degrees, most of which he treats with a cool disregard.

There are a few exceptions:

Tyson Granger (Takao Kinomiya): Kai's main rival throughout the series; Tyson was the boy who snatched Kai's title of world champion away from him. Though Kai initially strongly dislikes Tyson, he later accepts him as his closest friend, though this does not diminish the rivalry between them in any way when they face one another across the dish. In the third season, Kai's rivalry almost becomes something of an obsession with Tyson. Their bond might be considered supernatural, as seen when they fight during Beyblade G-Revolution, they can actually read each others thoughts.

Ray Kon: Closest to Kai in age and mentality on Team BBA. Kai states early on when Ray lost Driger in the Asian Tournament that he had higher expectations of Ray. As the series develops (especially in 2002/V-Force), Kai and Ray appear to form a tentative friendship.

Max Tate: Though Kai initially barely interacts with Max, as the series progresses (more so after the battle on Lake Baikal) Kai reveals that he has a deep respect for and faith in Max's defensive style. In Beyblade G-Revolution, Kai is the first to come to Max's defense when the crowd boos the blond due to propaganda spread by Barthez.

Hilary Tatibana: Kai is very close to Hilary. In fact, he is the one who got Hilary a job on the team in the first place. He feels very protective of her and has saved her life countless times. Whenever Kai is missing, Hilary is always to one to go and find him so she could talk to him and make him feel better. Hilary was revealed to have a crush on Kai as well.

Tala Valkov: When they first encountered one another in the Russian arc of the first season, Kai and Tala disliked each other intensely. It is only in the third season that Kai begins to warm to him a little more, though until Tala's fall at the hands of Garland, Kai claims that Tala is not his friend. However, after both suffer painfully at the hands of BEGA, they develop a sense of understanding that many see to be a form of friendship.

Brooklyn: Kai's other great rival. After losing horribly to Brooklyn, Kai loses the will to Beyblade. However, upon regaining it, Kai's spirit burns with the desire to beat him at any cost yet encouraged by his new Dranzer Metal Spiral, he challenges Brooklyn and defeats him. Brooklyn and Kai share a distinct rivalry near the end of G-Revolution. Brooklyn acts a lot like Kai used to in the beginning of season one, being fairly aloof and arrogant and their rivalry could be compared to Tyson and Kai as it was in the beginning of season one with Kai being the 'Tyson' of the relationship. This is most likely a plot device to show that Kai's greatest enemy is himself.

First Season: Let it Rip!
Kai appears in the end of the very first episode of the show; at the time Kai is the team captain of the Blade Sharks (a group of beybladers that terrorize others who play the game by defeating them and stealing their blades), as well as the Beyblade World Champion. Tyson Granger, the main protagonist of Beyblade and Kai meet after one of Kai's 'underlings', Carlos, loses to him. Kai defeats Tyson as easily as Tyson did Carlos, though he does not use his bit beast for this victory. Later on, Kai kidnaps Tyson's genius friend Kenny, and is challenged by Tyson for his freedom. The fierce battle ends in a tie thanks to Tyson's new bit-beast, Dragoon. Kai releases Kenny anyway and leaves. No further confrontation occurs between Kai and Tyson until the Regional Tournament, in which Kai participates and defeats both Kenny and Max among others on his way to the finals.

In the finals, Kai and Tyson battle a close match but Tyson wins. After the battle the director of the BBA, Mr. Dickenson, offers Kai a position as team captain of the Bladebreakers, due to Kai's position as world champion and his great experience in the sport. Though Kai is unconvinced, his pride pushes him into accepting leadership. The team goes on to win the Asian and American tournaments, although with little participation from Kai, and then they also defeat the top European team: The Majestics. This battle Kai plays a significant role in which he defeats Johnny.

At the World Championship however after visiting Balkov Abbey, Kai begins acting strangely. In a bold step, he leaves the Bladebreakers and joins with his grandfather Voltaire, and his team, the Demolition Boys. Here, Kai reunites with a powerful bit beast he had become enraptured with as a child; the seemingly perfect Black Dranzer. With this new bit beast Kai is able to get the Demolition Boys all the way to the finals. Before these finals commence though, Kai issues a challenge to his former team, even sending a helicopter to escort them to the frozen Lake Baikal. There, Kai battles Tyson, Ray, and Kenny, overwhelming them all with his power. Just when Tyson's Dragoon blade seems about to be demolished, Max arrives on the scene with his brand new, much stronger Draciel blade. Tyson takes the opportunity to launch Kai's abandoned Dranzer blade, and Dranzer's anger, as well as the combined determination of Ray, Tyson and Max manages to defeat Black Dranzer, pushing Kai into realizing the true power of friendship. The ice on the lake they're standing on begins to crack, but Kai, frozen in realization of his pride, refuses to move. It is only after a few words of support from his team that he sheds a tear and allows them to pull him back onto solid ground. After this near-death experience Kai acknowledges his role as leader of a great team and rejoins the Bladebreakers for the championships.

He reveals the profound impact that the encounter upon the ice has had on him when he loses to Spencer of the Demolition Boys. Rather than rail against his loss, he graciously accepts defeat and manages to come out smiling. Proving his new-found team spirit over the last few episodes of the season, Kai offers Ray the words of advice and support needed to ensure the Bladebreakers the win they desperately need, before later helping Tyson to prepare for his final confrontation with Tala, along with the other team captains they have met throughout the season. Although it is not shown in the show, there is proof from BeyBlade: Super Tournament Battle the video game for GameCube, that shows that Kai's actual first beyblade was the Frostic Dranzer.

Kai's beyblades as seen on TV for this season were: Dranzer Spiral and Dranzer Flame.

Second Season: V-Force
After the events of Season 1, Kai decides to retire from beyblading to attend the Whitney Prep School. During his time there, though, he is attacked by a mysterious blader and saves a fellow classmate and his admirer, Wyatt, in the process. The intense fight Kai has with this blader rekindles his interest in beyblading and inspires him to return to the Bladebreakers. To his surprise, all of his former team-mates have been attacked by mysterious bladers too. These turn out to be the Saint Shields, a group that wish to capture the four sacred Bit-Beasts. Later, Kai and the team encounter strange cybernetic Bit-Beasts that are exact copies of their own Bit-Beasts. One of those to wield a prototype of these beasts is Wyatt, who challenges Kai, but is instead fought by Dunga, the Saint Shields member who attacked Kai earlier. Wyatt loses and falls into madness and later dies (though this is not revealed in the English dub). Kai blames himself for Wyatt's suffering, since he had previously refused to acknowledge him as worthwhile competition, driving the boy to seek other ways of gaining Kai's attention.

Later, the Bladebreakers finally fight a team that can survive the awesome power of the cyber Bit-Beasts: The Psykicks. They are former friends, but their minds are taken over by their bit-beasts. Kai manages to break the bit-beast's hold over Goki, the user of Cyber Dranzer, despite having hallucinations of battling Wyatt. With Team Psykick freed from the hold of the cyber bit-beasts through the efforts of the Bladebreakers, the friendships are restored.

The next danger was the final confrontation with the Saint Shields. In this, Kai once again takes on Dunga in an effort to return Driger to Ray, as he had lost it in a previous episode. Kai and Ray fight in a 2-on-2 battle against Dunga and Joseph, eventually reclaiming Driger and defeating half of the Saint Shields.

For this season's world championship the tournament is a 2-on-2 tag-team-style format, meaning that the Bladebreakers must compete in pairs. Kai gets paired with Ray for the competition and they make it all the way to the semifinals, but are stopped abruptly by the duo Gordo and Zeo. During Kai's battle with Zeo, his bit-beast Burning Cerberus takes Dranzer. This upsets Kai greatly and he even thinks of quitting blading, but later his Bit-Beast and companion returns to him when Tyson defeats Zeo in the final round.

Overall, Kai seems, surprisingly, at his most mature in this season. While still quiet, he is happy to voice his opinion and not shy of offering support and even comfort when needed. He also seems to develop a lot more in personality by acting quirky occasionally, for example, lounging around in bushes, making the odd joke and teasing Goki after the Team Psykick showdown. He does not retake his position as team captain, but there seems to be a tendency to not have anyone in charge during the 2002 season, although Hilary arguably took it upon herself to fill the role from time to time.

Kai's beyblade as seen on TV were Dranzer Volcano and Dranzer Volcano 2



Third Season: G-Revolution
At the start of this season, Kai follows Ray and Max's lead and, in an effort to prove to himself that he is a better blader than Tyson, leaves the team. He joins the newly re-formed team Neoborg (Blitzkrieg Boys in English dub), which is now out of Balkov's control. Kai and Tala team up in this double-elimination, round robin, tag-team format tournament and make it to the finals with only one loss. This loss was actually against Tyson and Daichi's team, the BBA Revoultions, but Kai actually threw his match against Daichi out of anger that he couldn't face Tyson because their coach Hiro had decided against including him and replaced him with Kenny. This made it no coincidence that his blade almost hit Hiro in the process, showing his anger at him. In the finals though, Tyson and Kai got to face off after Daichi ties with Tala. The battle is more fierce than any of their past fights against each other and was so extreme that the arena starts to crumble, even taking 2 episodes of the anime. It comes to the point that Mr. Dickenson asks that the two call it a tie and share the title, but this does not go over well with many, Kai especially.

"No way! You can't do that to me! Are you telling me that this tournament has been nothing but a complete joke? That everything that we did doesn't count because you decide we get punished for working hard?" he shouted at Mr. Dickinson upon the announcement of the decision.

Ray votes for the match to continue, quickly joined by Max and many fans and bladers. After some coaxing the two are allowed to finish their battle. Kai and Tyson match each other blow for blow, eventually releasing powerful finishing attacks. They stare each other down afterwards, but Kai collapses, losing the battle.

Kai is missing for some time and does not reappear again until the qualifier for the BEGA Justice 5 Team, meaning that he won't battle with Tyson and the others in order to get rid of the BEGA League.. He stays in this tournament until the final round where he goes up against the top class blader Brooklyn. Kai does his best but is greatly overpowered by Brooklyn's natural talent, skill, and dark bit beast Zeus. Kai goes into hiding once again, only to emerge as the G-Revolutions' fifth member. He battles Brooklyn again using his upgraded Dranzer MS blade. It is a hard and torturing battle for Kai, but in the end he emerges victorious. The victory does not come without a heavy price, however. Kai only survives to make his final attack though his bit beast, his beloved friend Dranzer, appears to sacrifice its life to protect him. This shatters Kai's morale, although the effect is lessened by Dranzer's reappearance in the last episode, engaging Dragoon in battle. It is possible that Dranzer's reappearance could be explained by the fact that Dranzer is a phoenix and that phoenix's are revived from their ashes. This does however follow the trend to have Bit-Beasts play a more incidental role in this series. After Tyson's and Brooklyn's match everything returns to normal, almost coming full circle, with Tyson owing Kai a rematch from the tournament.

It should be noted that Kai returns to his more moody and introverted persona relative to Season 2, though his softer side is revealed by his recurring moments of caring for stray cats.

Kai's beyblade: Dranzer Volcano 2, Dranzer Gigs, Dranzer Gigs Turbo, &amp; Dranzer Metal Spiral

Manga
In the manga, a lot more is revealed of Kai's past. His father's name is Susumu Hiwatari, and little is seen of his mother.

Kai is even nastier than in his initial anime appearance. It is revealed that Kai, as a child, had a very close relationship with his father, a man who enjoyed engineering beyblades. The two played many battles together, delighting the young Kai and making him adore his father. However, when Kai's grandfather, Soichiro Hiwatari, learned of his son's playing rather than working, he dragged him and Kai both to his office at Hiwatari Enterprises. There he issued an ultimatum to Kai's father – to abandon his silly love for toys, or lose his position as heir to Hiwatari Enterprises. Kai's father chose beyblades, voicing a desire to make children smile as his reason.

Kai tried to go after his father as he walked away, but was held him back by his grandfather. At the tender age of ten, Kai took this to be rejection by his father and takes it upon himself to change his attitude. Donning face-paint, Kai begins his quest to destroy beyblades – the toys that 'stole' his father away. While his mother is present at the confrontation in the office, she seems to serve no role, neither aiding nor trying to prevent this rebellion.

Later, during Kai's and Tyson's battle in the regional championships, Soichiro turns up, demanding that the tournament be stopped. At this Kai's father steps in and tells him to leave Kai alone. Throughout the manga – unlike in the anime – however, Kai shows little personal development. His attitude remains largely coldly indifferent.

His rivalry with the Majestics team member lies with Robert rather than Johnny.

In the Beyblade epilogue, Kai is married to an unknown and unseen woman, with whom he has a son named Gou(Go) Hiwatari, who is seen blading with Makoto, Takao's son. Gou has an uncanny resemblance to Kai.

Trivia

 * Kai says the least in the series, and coincidentally, gets the last line: "Go Dranzer!"
 * Kai is fond of old legends and prophecies, as stated by Max in the movie, Fierce Battle.
 * Kai seems to be fond of nature, as you often see him fallen asleep in G-Revolution on soft grass or under a tree with a straw of grass in his mouth
 * Kai is usually the last in a group run. This suggests he doesn't like running. But in the first series he ran through the Abbey very fast and did not gasp for any breath until he destroyed all the computer beyblade turrets. He also has the talent of jumping and balancing on objects.
 * Kai's first Bit-Beast/Blade is known to be Ultimate Froster Dranzer
 * Kai's personality undergoes a dramatic change in the second season. He speaks more often and displays more emotion (at least in comparison to his season 1 persona), often struggling with his battles. He is also without his trademark white scarf. However, in season 3 Kai returns to his more moody and introverted persona, much more similar to that of season 1, also regaining his white scarf.
 * Kai is the character that had received the most changes between each season, either in personality or his design.
 * Kai has been on more teams than any other character in Beyblade.
 * In the fandom it is often assumed Kai is Russian, however it is entirely debatable that Kai is in fact Russian at all; his father's name is Susumu Hiwatari, and little is seen of his mother. It is possible he is of Japanese descent and merely grew up in Russia.
 * Kai's attack, Blazing Gigs Tempest, has only worked successfully once: against Ray.
 * Kai is one of the three remaining original characters, When Beyblade was still in the process of being created. The others were Tyson and his brother Hitoshi (Hiro)
 * Kai, for unexplained reasons, seems to strongly dislike Tyson's brother Hiro.
 * Kai and Tala were once team mates as stated by Kai in Episode 138 "pros and ex cons", he also says that he and Tala were never friends, however this defies his point in the Japanese version of episode 152 where Kai "dies" and Tala is shown in the hospitial shedding a tear, and also they share a friendly smile, in episode 154 " Beybattle for The Ages"
 * In episode 48 of every season Kai loses Dranzer: once to Spencer, once to Zeo and when Dranzer Metal Spiral shatters into pieces (but later reappears to battle Tyson).
 * In season 3, Kai is shown to like cats as he is seen feeding one milk in episode 4, bringing food to a family of cats in episode 31, sitting with a cat in an alley in episode 43. It can also be noted that he likes dogs too since he is shown feeding one in the first japanese ending of G-Revolution.