Kai Hiwatari

Kai Hiwatari (火渡カイ Hiwatari Kai) is one of the deuteragonists from the Original Series, consisting of Beyblade, Beyblade: V-Force and Beyblade: G-Revolution. Kai originally appeared in the video game Jisedai Begoma Battle Beyblade. Tyson, Jin and himself are the only characters from the game to make it into further versions of the series. He was only known as "Kai" at the time. He serves as the games main antagonist, hating Beyblade wanting to erase it from the world

In the manga and anime is the former leader of the Blade Sharks and current leader of the G Revolutions. He is also a former member of the Blitzkrieg Boys.

His Bit-Beast and Beyblade is Dranzer F Y.Zt - one of the 4 Sacred Bit-Beasts.

Appearance
As Tyson was originally based off of the image of Red from the Pokémon games in Jisedai Begoma Battle Beyblade, Kai was likely based on Blue.
 * -|Concept=

Hudson made a number of Pokémon-like games aside from Jisedai Begoma Battle Beyblade and several characters also ended up referencing Blue also besides Kai.

Noted to have the most drastic outfit changes in the series, though he frequently wears a tight tank-top with baggy pants predominantly in purple and black.
 * -|Original Series=
 * Manga: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade

Kai is tall and muscular. His appearance in the anime of season one is the most similar to his Anime counterpart; pale skin-tone (lighter in the Anime), brown eyes and dark hair with blue-gray bangs that get darker as the series goes on. Kai is the tallest member of the Bladebreakers, being at a height of 5'6".

His most recognizable trademark is his cobalt blue face mark that are revealed to be painted on in V-Force (Doesn't have them while he is at school). Kai's facepaint is "war paint" and he first wore it when he declared to erase Beyblade, though even when he stopped hating Beyblade he continued to wear it. The face paint itself represents shark teeth, being he was the leader of the Blade Sharks originally.

Another trait would be his long and thick white scarf though he doesn't wear this in V-Force. It is filled with weights and is so heavy that it cracks the ground whenever it is thrown. He briefly has a black piercing on his left earlobe in V-Force.

He is the oldest member of the Bladebreakers so is more mature and subdued than the rest of the team. He gets along the best with Ray Kon as they are similar in age and are the most mature. Though the role of Captain (Dub Only) was forced on him, he is a good leader who is able to calm down Tyson when he is about to let his temper get the best of him.

Kai is seen wearing cerulean baggy pants with large pockets, with a black tight-fitting tank-top, with red ends and yellow buttons. His shoes are black with red stripes and resembles skater-shoes. He is wearing his signature scarf, and red arm-guards. His eyes are Carmine/brown and his bangs are Carolina blue, with Egyptian-blue short slick hair.
 * -|Beyblade: 2000=
 * Manga: Volumes 1-6

he is wearing gray pants with red stripes above his knees, and a purple tank-top with a turtle neck, replacing his scarf, and with red stripes and yellow buttons. He is wearing purple on his arms as well. His shoes seem to be timberland or military boots. His eyes are blue/gray in this season, and his bangs a dark shade of gray while the back of his hair is almost black. He is also wearing a school uniform, a green blazer, white shirt, a red tie and gray pants. He is seen wearing a black earring and loses his blue triangles temporarily.
 * -|Beyblade: V-Force=
 * Manga: Volumes 7-9

Kai wears purple pants with a purple top (it is debated whether it's a jumpsuit), and a black jacket/vest above with red stripes and yellow buttons. His scarf is back again and he's wearing black gloves and black shoes. His eyes are light purple, and his hair is a darker shade from his previous hair colour in season 2.
 * -|Beyblade: G-Revolution=
 * Manga: 10-14

Personality
Kai is a proud and a very confident blader who is willing to sacrifice everything to get what he wants. He doesn't mind crushing people on the way up though he would much prefer earning things through hard work. He doesn't like to lose and feels frustrated and upset whenever he does. However, when he returns to his old self, he does so with an even stronger determination to win. This is a trait he shares with his Phoenix Bit-Beast, Suzaku. He is a quiet and mysterious person.
 * -|Manga=

In the beginning, he is visibly more cruel and cold hearted than his Anime counterpart. He originally wanted to destroy all Beyblades as he mistakenly believed that they stole his father away from him, leading to a deep hatred of all Beyblades. After finding out that wasn't true, Kai has proven that he has a soft side and has even been seen laughing occasionally. Throughout the manga – unlike in the anime – however, Kai shows little personal development. His attitude remains mostly cold and indifferent.

Kai is the son of a noble family and heir to the huge Japanese military company "Hiwatari Enterprise". He is a hard worker who is a cool, serious and rather unsociable person, but is full of ability in Beyblading and is one of the greatest Bladers to ever play the sport. His most distinguished trait is his sense of pride and fairness. Due to his Grandfather using him for his own means, Kai developed a hatred of Beyblades like in the manga, though for a different reason. He doesn't really enjoy the game because of it, and its only because of the events of the first season he grows to actually enjoy the game.
 * -|Anime=

Kai is a proud and very confident Blader who is willing to sacrifice everything to get what he wants, which he usually gets through hard work, sweat or steel-hard determination, though he doesn't seem to mind stepping on some toes on his way up. He is also a quiet and mysterious person. However, if he at any time doesn't succeed in what he wants to do, he is very likely to feel down, and stay down for a while, in a depressed state, even willing to give up what he holds so dear, Beyblading. However, when the time comes he overcomes his defeat and rises stronger and even more determined than before.

Although rather introverted, Kai is one of the most emotionally driven Beybladers in the series and far more emotional when he Beyblades, depicting the great importance that Beyblading holds over his life. He always kept a certain distance from his teammates. According to Emily, Kai was afraid to get to know them as he might start to like them which, eventually, happens. He has always acted alone without making friends and 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. But when Kai was stuck in the ice at Lake Baikal and his teammates, whom 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 had created as stated by Kenny. As the series progresses, he matures and becomes more open with his teammates 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 and his BEGA company.

Although a tough guy, he is shown to be feeding a cat with milk, bringing food for a family of cats, sitting with a cat in an alley and worrying over the safety of a cat whilst training near it. This indicates he has a soft spot for animals, showing the more human side of his nature than the cool, collected and silent facade he usually wears. Even in the ending for the Japanese G Revolution "Oh Yes", he was shown feeding a dog.

Kai actually does care about his teammates despite not showing it very often. He saved Max from being smashed under a meter thick glass in Beyblade, brought Driger back to Ray during a fight with Dunga, he saved Tyson, Hilary, Ray and Kenny from Team Psykick's headquarters in V-Force, he saved Hilary couple of times on the island in V-Force, he saved his teammates from the cage that was falling due to Sickle Weasel and risked his life to destroy the BEGA league.

It has been demonstrated several times throughout the series that Kai is very good at deductions involving certain situations and does it quickly with very few clues. This includes figuring out that the Dark Bladers have challenged the rest of the team to a battle after seeing a light show at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Another instance (from V-Force) was knowing that Tyson dedicates his whole life towards Beyblading, especially when he battles a Team Psykick Blader despite being injured or when they battle each other. A perfect example from G-Revolution is when he brings food to a cat and her kittens, but upon seeing them eating a plethora of food brought to them, he already knows that Daichi is responsible for that.

Kai is fond of old legends and prophecies, as stated by Max in the movie, Beyblade: The Movie - Fierce Battle.

Relationships
Voltaire Hiwatari Voltaire is Kai's grandfather and one of the main antagonists in the first season of Beyblade, alongside his partner, Boris. He runs the abbey where Kai was raised and is part of BIOVOLT. He is the source of all Kai's misery. He disowned Kai's father, Susumu, when Susumu chose Beyblading over Hiwatari Enterprise. He is extremely evil, and his upbringing of Kai is the reason for Kai's twisted side. In bakuten shoot beybalde rising he suffered with illness and after Kai stopped beyblade he want Kai joined a Hiwatari enterprise and gave all responsibility to Kai hiwatari
 * -|Relatives=

Susumu Hiwatari He is Kai's father, who is only mentioned once in the Japanese version of V-Force episode 5 but is shown in the manga. He was made to leave by his father Voltaire when he chose to Beyblade and bring happiness to children rather than inherit a large company. Kai tried to run after him but was restrained by his grandfather.

Goh Hiwatari Goh is Kai's son in the manga. He appears in the last chapter and is seen battling Tyson's son Makoto and Ray's daughter, Lin.

Misaki Hiwatari She is Kai Hiwatari's mother.

Tyson Granger Kai's main rival throughout the series. Though Kai is initially antagonistic with Tyson and thinks of him as a rank amateur, he later accepts him as a friend, though this does not diminish the rivalry between them in any way.
 * -|Teammates=

In V-Force he appears to have a great understanding of the bond between Tyson and Dragoon stating the following "The bond between Tyson and Dragoon is almost impossible to explain. When one is hurt so is the other."

In G-Revolution, Kai becomes obsessed with fighting Tyson as he believes this is the only way through which he can have faith in his own abilities. It can also be argued that even though Kai doesn't show it, he actually has a lot of respect for Tyson, as he was the first one to beat him. Their bond is supernatural, as seen when they fight during Beyblade: G-Revolution, they can actually read each other's thoughts.

There are two examples of Kai physically hitting Tyson, the first is in Season 1 when he first joins the Demolition boys and knocks Tyson out of his way in his first match with Black Dranzer. The second incident is in the manga, when Tyson goes to shake Kai's hand after meeting him for the first time since the world championships. Kai does not hit any other member of the team in such a way.

In teams of the overall series, Kai and Tyson are regarded also as rivals, whereas other members of his team do not always get seen as. This stems from their shared origins of being based on Red and Blue from Pokémon.

Ray Kon Ray is closest to Kai in age and mentality in the Bladebreakers. In the 1st series Ray is probably the closest thing Kai has to a friend (being rivals with Tyson at the start and generally mutual to Max and Kenny) as despite that he criticizes Ray for losing Driger he also seems to have some respect for him, telling Tyson and Max to leave him alone when the white tiger team 1st appear. As the series develops they develop more of a friendship which becomes especially apparent in V-Force when Kai even talks to Ray about trouble with Salima when he fights determinedly to help him get Drigger back from the Saint Shields. Even after their battle in G-Revolution, Kai acknowledges that Ray was an excellent opponent.

Max Tate Though Kai initially barely interacts with Max, in the American Tournament he appears to have a bit of a soft spot for him. After the battle on Lake Baikal, Kai reveals that he has a deep respect for and faith in Max's defensive style. In G-Revolution, Kai is the first to come to Max's defense when the crowd insults him and his team.

Max is one of two members of the BBA tea Kai never took his scarf off to, meaning that he doesn't view Max on par with other members of the team. However, he still enjoys blading against him and gives Max a good battle in G-Revolution.

Hilary Tachibana Kai is indifferent to Hilary. He is the one who got Hilary a job on the team in the first place. He has saved her life countless times. Whenever Kai is missing, Hilary is always the one to go and find him so she could talk to him and make him feel better. Hilary was hinted to have a crush on Kai, in V-Force. However, near the end of G-Revolution, her crush had faded away and might have had a crush on Tyson (it was open for fans to decide).

Daichi Sumeragi Though the two have barely interacted throughout the series, it is shown that Kai has a small liking for Daichi and his Beyblading style when he smiles at him in G Revolution, Episode 1.

Early on, Kai was not that impressed with Daichi and has never taken his scarf off to fight him. Kai's initial fight against Daichi has Kai barely doing much against him.

Tala When they first encountered one another in the Russia, they disliked each other intensely. It is only in G-Revolution that Kai begins to be a little warmer to him, 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. Tala even sheds a tear at the end of the Japanese version of Kai's disputed 'death' scene.

Brooklyn Kai's most powerful opponent. Kai battles against Brooklyn and in the qualifier round of BEGA Justice 5 League Match and was shocked to learn that Brooklyn has never trained at all in his entire life, yet due to his natural talent, he is crazy powerful. Kai tried his best but failed to put even a scratch on Brooklyn and his Beyblade. Brooklyn effortlessly knocked down Kai and shattered Dranzer to countless pieces. Kai realizes that this time he is going up against someone completely out of his league. Then Kai masters new Hard Metal Beyblade Dranzer MS made by Kenny and faces Brooklyn again and this time Kai barely manages to win at a cost of getting his hard metal Beyblade shattered to pieces and Dranzer dies. After Brooklyn loses to Kai, he gets overwhelmed by his dark side and with his dark powers now unlocked he becomes even far more powerful than he already was before. Brooklyn and Kai share a distinct rivalry near the end of G-Revolution. Brooklyn acts a lot like Kai used to in Beyblade, being fairly aloof and arrogant and their rivalry could be compared to Tyson and Kai as it was in the beginning of the original series with Kai being the "Tyson" of the relationship. This is to show that Kai's greatest enemy is himself.
 * -|Rivals=

Robert Jürgens In the manga, his rivalry with the Majestics lies with Robert rather than Johnny. Although like the anime, he does lose to Johnny. He then loses again, but this time to Robert, who volunteered to battle Kai instead after Kai demanded a rematch from Johnny.

Johnny McGregor Johnny is Kai's biggest rival from the Majestics in the anime. Both of them have fiery tempers, loner attitudes and fire-attributed bit-beasts. At first, Kai viewed Johnny as someone who wasn't worth battling. However, this soon changed when they battled for the first time, and Johnny proved to be more than a match for Kai. When Johnny defeated Kai, he trained hard enough to face him again and win.

Dunga Dunga is the Saint Shields Beyblader who gave Kai trouble in V-Force. In their first battle, Dunga and Kai wound up tying, which made Kai see him as the kind of blader he'd like to battle again. This in turn motivated Kai to come out of retirement from Beyblading in order to have another battle like that.

Goki Kai faced off against Goki when he was part of Team Psykick, since he had the robotic version of Kai's bit-beast: Cyber Dranzer.

Skills
During season 1 he did not Blade for fun and although had a strong fighting spirit, he was fueled by the desire to gain power over opponents. The result is he willingly stole other Bladers and destroyed beyblades and was easily tempted by power, preferring this over teammates. While he was using Black Dranzer, he took all the Bit-beasts of the All Starz and all but Galman from the White Tigers. He was able to use their special moves to his advantage. He did not actually start enjoying the game until his match with Spencer, wherein he had rejection the bit for Black Dranzer in favour of his own Bit Dranzer. This allowed Dranzer to materialize with great splendor and beauty, despite both knowing the potential loss they could face moments later. Even though he lost Dranzer, he managed to maintain enough fighting spirit to continue on and train Tyson against Tala.

As shown in V-Force, Kai possesses so much skill in Blading that he was able to tie against Dunga of the Saint Shields, while the others lost their battles. He is even able to defeat the Team Psykick bladers without using Dranzer in battle.

Kai struggles however with new Beyblade systems at times. Going from his old Beyblade in V-Force to the new Dranzer V Beyblade left him like the other bladers unable to control their blades. Kai was able to set aside his pride and was the first to learn to control the new system Blade, simply by going back to basics; a suggestion by Hilary Tachibana that Tyson had mocked. Later he also struggled at first to master Dranzer MS, though it turns out the thing that was preventing control was himself.

Kai also had skills enough to warrant him a chance to become BEGA League's fifth Blader, the offer having been given and turned down by Ray moments earlier. Kai just wanted the opportunity to fight Tyson again. He accepts any challenge against him and has a strong will to see the fight until the end. He, however, fights on his own terms and conditions and chooses who he fights for and against. When he fought for the 5th position of BEGA, he came across the naturally gift Brooklyn, though Kai had met many bladers he had never met anyone with a natural talent and he was caught off guard and lost because of it.

As shown against his second match with Brooklyn, he has a strong threshold for pain and a heavy willpower. He stood back up every time he was knocked down. Even though he is strong, he can only take himself so far, he eventually as the match drew to a climax and Brooklyn looked like he was winning, Kai heard Tyson calling his name in support. This gave him the ultimate will power to fight back and win, putting the victory down to being a season fighter who had seen many defeats and victories, learning and getting stronger, noting how the other blader lost due to a lack of strong fighting spirit within him.

In the GBA video games, he can at times end up the strongest Blader in the Bladebreakers simply because of game mechanics. Since Kai is the most balanced of his team, he takes longer to reach maximum resulting in him able to have more then a couple of stats at maximum.
 * As a example, Tyson has heavy Attack often and receives large boast in this area. He reaches max quickly, often before he even touches his maximum level. However his heavy focus in Attack results in his other stats never catching up and he suffers in these areas. Max is the same, but for Defence and Ray, Speed.

Other
Unlike Tyson, Kai is academically more sound and is seen in both V-Force and Beyblade: Rising attending top schools.

In the original anime, Kai was shown also able to read a map in Russian and was the only member of his team to do so. This was a slight foreshadowing of his raising in Russia.

He has a number of stealth related skill and was shown a couple of times in the anime silently nearly by his teammates listening to them. He is capable of sitting perfectly still for a number of hours, as seen in the original Japanese dub wherein he sat the entire plane ride to America without moving. This was noted by Tyson who was incredibly bored the entire journey there (in the English dub, this joke was replaced with a joke on airplane food).

Bit-Beast
Like his teammates, Kai's Bey/Bit-Beast is based on one of the Four Saint Beasts in Chinese mythology; Dranzer is modeled after Zhu Que the Vermilion Bird of the South and its Japanese name is "Suzaku". "Dranzer" comes from his Jisedai Begoma Battle Beyblade main bit of Ultimate Frostic Dranzer which briefly appears in the manga. This is similar to Dragoon, who also gets his name from Tyson's main bit of the game Spin Dragoon.

In fact "Dranzer" was originally meant to be a dragon, hence the "dra" in the name of "Frostic Dranzer", Frostic Dranzer was a 3 headed dragon and was a play with the "Panzer" tank. Spin Dragoon also got his name from a similar and more obvious combination of "dragon" and "dragoon" the name of a mounted infantry unit. Frostic Dranzer is the only non-phoenix Dranzer bit-beast for this reason and the only "type" bit who is not the same species as the bit variant "type" it is named after. Other Bits he was seen using include; Hell Freezer (ヘルフリーザー) the pre-evolution of Frostic Dranzer, Konit (コオニット), Devil magician (デビルマジシャン).

Kai's bond and fighting spirit with Dranzer grows after season 1 a great deal and by G-Revolution the bare are extreme strong together. Before Kai battled Brooklyn, Kai stared fiercely at Hiro. At this point, you can see an image of Dranzer GT igniting in flames in Kai's eyes.

Kai's Beyblades are normally blue in colour. The exceptions are Black Dranzer and Spark Knight. Black Dranzer's blade is black, while Spark Knight was issued in Orange. Both are also not his main beyblades.
 * Black Dranzer was a special "Black" version Beyblade issued of Dranzer. Two other Beyblades also have been printed namely Black Dragoon, which was a Japan exclusive, and Black Driger, in relationship to Bakuten Shoot Beyblade: Rising where it appeared.
 * Spark Knight was simply 1 of 3 Beyblades Kai had in Jisedai Begoma Battle Beyblade and was also not even his main Beyblade. Frostic Dranzer, his main Beyblade, was however blue.

Initial System
These beyblades were featured in Jisedai Begoma Battle Beyblade. Frostic Dranzer was featured in the manga in addition.
 * Ultimate Frostic Dranzer
 * Spark Knight

Spin Gear System

 * Dranzer S - Fire Arrow, Spin Fire, Spiral Survivor
 * Dranzer F - Flame Saber

Magnacore System

 * Dranzer V - Volcano Emission
 * Dranzer V2 - Volcano Excellent Emission

Engine Gear System

 * Dranzer G - Blazing Gigs, Blazing Gigs Tempest, Blazing Gig Punishment
 * Dranzer GT - Blazing Gigs Turbo, Blazing Gigs Tempest, Blazing Gig Reverse Attack

Hard Metal System

 * Dranzer MS - Spiral Fireball
 * Dranzer MF - Ultimate Flaming Meteor

Plot
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.
 * -|Manga=
 * Manga: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade

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, Voltaire turns up, demanding that the tournament be stopped. At this Kai's father steps in and tells him to leave Kai alone.

His rivalry with the Majestics team member lies with Robert rather than Johnny although like the anime he does lose to Johnny just before he demands to another battle in which Robert volunteers. The first time Kai faces Robert he loses horribly. The next time he faces Robert was in the world tournament which proved to be one of Kai's hardest battles at that point though in the second match he defeats Robert once again and claims that he can't stand the idea of anyone being better than him.

In the Beyblade epilogue, Kai has a son named Goh Hiwatari with an unknown wife, who is seen blading with Makoto, Tyson's son. Goh has an uncanny resemblance to Kai that dreams of defeating Tyson.

In episode 1, Kai made his first appearance. When Carlos lost his Beybattle against Tyson Granger, Kai, the team captain of the Blade Sharks mysteriously appeared to punish member Carlos for losing, thus damaging the Blade Sharks' reputation. He slapped Carlos across his face, making him fall to the ground. Kai then received a challenge from Tyson who did not like this and Kai accepted the Beybattle.
 * -|Beyblade: 2000=
 * Manga: Volumes 1-6

In episode 2, Kai used his Dranzer S Blade against Tyson's Dragoon Grip Attacker Blade. Kai won and ended up destroying Tyson's Blade as well. Later in the Blade Sharks headquarters, he continued his punishment for Carlos by commanding other Blade Sharks to destroy Carlos' Blade, Kid Dragoon in front of him. He also commanded them to kidnap Kenny, a friend of Tyson's so they could lure Tyson in to see if he owns "the ultimate Bit-Beast" they are searching for. Tyson and Andrew appeared, this time with a new Blade, Dragoon S. Kai and Tyson fought but it ended in a draw and it also summoned their Bit-Beasts, Dranzer and Dragoon for the first time. As Tyson leaves rescuing Kenny, Kai warns him that the battle is not over.

In episode 3, it is revealed Kai is entering the Beyblade Battle Tournament and is the returning champion. While at the Blade Sharks headquarters, he undergoes training by commanding three members to attack his Dranzer S Blade but he wins easily.

In episode 4, Kai participated in the Beyblade Main Event regional qualifying tournament. Kai was placed in the C Block and as the returning champion, had his work cut out for him. With his Dranzer S Blade, he easily wiped out most of the competition, including Kenny's Dizzi Blade which had its spring mechanism broken. After this, Tyson came close to assaulting Kai for defeating Kenny but Kenny stopped him from doing so, instead telling him to challenge Kai in the next round.

Kai appears at 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 who has the following team members Carlos, Stuart, and Trevor), as well as the Beyblade World Champion. Kinomiya Takao, 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.

Only in the English dub, 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 the regional 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, At Robert's Castle Kai is challenged by Johnny although he is seemingly unconvinced at first he decides to challenges him and unexceptionally loses to Johnny. However, Kai settles the score with Johnny in the European Tournament 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, Kai accepts his Dranzer Beyblade from Tyson and head's back to the Boris HQ unleashing Black Dranzer destroying their machine's after that he 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 against Spencer of the Demolition Boys. Proving his newfound 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.

Kai's Beyblades for this season were: Dranzer S and Dranzer F.

Kai lost Dranzer for the first time against Spencer, but his Bit-Beast was later returned.

After the events of Beyblade, Kai decides to retire from Beyblading since he had already topped the world. He goes to a boarding school. During his time there, though, he is attacked by a mysterious Blader and saves a fellow classmate and a fanboy, Wyatt Smithwright, 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 wishes 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, instead he is treated in hospital). 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.
 * -|Beyblade: V-Force=
 * Manga: Volumes 7-9

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 championship. During Kai's battle with Zeo, his Bit-Beast Dranzer was taken by Zeo. This upsets Kai greatly and he thinks of quitting Beyblading.

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.

Kai's beyblades in this season were Dranzer F, Dranzer V and Dranzer V2.

This was the second time Kai lost Dranzer, both his Bit-Beast and Draciel were taken away be Zeo, but when Tyson beats Zeo, Dranzer was returned to his Beyblade alongside Draciel who returned to Max's Beyblade.

At the start of this season, Kai competes with Daichi for a position on the BBA Revolution team and despite trailing behind in the match on purpose he manages to assert his dominance by claiming victory. Later he 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, Blitzkrieg Boyz, which is now out of Boris's control. His team progress through the World Championships only losing once and that too because Kai purposely threw away the match. He also confronts his former teammates Ray and Max but even this does not faze him and he wins the matches for his team. Later the Blitzkrieg Boys and BBA Revolution make it to the finals where he faces off against Tyson to decide the champion. The battle is more fierce, extreme and intense than any of their past fights against each other and was seemingly the best battle in Beyblade history according to the commentators. It ends in a draw. Mr. Dickenson asks that the two call it a tie and share the title for their own safety.
 * -|G-Revolution=
 * Manga: Volumes 10-14

Ray votes for the match to continue, quickly joined by Max and many other 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 attacks. The battle rises to a level never seen before as Kai and Tyson seem to be able to read each other's minds. Finally, Kai loses but by a very close margin and he congratulates Tyson on the victory albeit he asks him to wait until next year.

Kai is missing for some time and does not reappear again until the qualifiers 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 at overpowering Brooklyn's natural talent but is badly crushed and his Beyblade completely destroyed. Kai goes into hiding once again, only to emerge as the G-Revolutions' fifth member. He battles Brooklyn using his upgraded Dranzer MS blade. It is a hard and torturing battle for Brooklyn, and in the end, Kai emerges as the winner.

The victory does not come without a heavy price, however. After the battle, Kai walks into the hallway where he falls on his knees and his Beyblade shatters while Dranzer dies because he sacrificed himself to win the battle. In the Japanese version, Tala is seen crying in the hospital.

Kai's fate is up to various interpretations by fans. There is debate whether he dies of his injuries and only appears in spirit afterwards, or that Dranzer resurrects itself and Kai (if he did die). Regardless, he soon returns with his wounds treated to support Tyson in his final battle against Brooklyn. At the end, he and Tyson battle one last time and release their Bit-Beasts.

Kai's Beyblades in this season were Dranzer V2, Dranzer G, Dranzer GT, and Dranzer MS.


 * -|Rising=

Quotes
For a full list of quotes from Kai, see Kai Hiwatari/Quotes.

Trivia

 * Kai has been on more teams than any other character in the Original Series.
 * Kai is the character that had received the most changes between each season, both in personality and design.
 * Kai has lost Dranzer once every season; once to Spencer in 2000, once to Zeo Zagart in V-Force and once in G-Revolution when Dranzer MS shattered into pieces after beating Brooklyn. Dranzer later reappears completely fixed to battle Tyson strangely enough, and Kai even lent Dranzer's strength to Tyson when he battled Brooklyn in the Justice Five finals.
 * Among fans of the show, Kai is the most popular character in the west (in Japan it was Tyson who was most popular). Dranzer was also one of the most popular Beyblades in the west from the show (in Japan it is Dragoon).
 * Several references to Kai have been made in other parts of Beybalde
 * Karura; both of them wear blue face paint, white scarves and baggy pant, Karura himself is a tribute to Kai.
 * "Ōtori Asuka"; made an appearance in the two part manga Beyblade Battle Saint Lolita and was the female counterpart to Kai who controlled Dranzer.
 * The Japanese boxart for Spark Knight has Kai on the box in the incorrect colours. His hair is blonde and his trousers green.

Gallery
For a full gallery of images of Kai, see Kai Hiwatari/Gallery.

Kai Hiwatari Kai Hiwatari Kai Hiwatari Kai Hiwatari