Hilary Tachibana

Hiromi Tachibana (立花ヒロミ, Tachibana Hiromi) is a fictional character in the popular Bakuten Shoot Beyblade anime series. Her English dub name is Hilary. She only appears in the anime, and not in the manga. She does not appear in the first season.

Background
At times, Hilary can be very loud, bossy, overreactive, quick to jump to conclusions and stubborn as a mule, however, she's smart, independent, kind, and a leader. Daichi likes to call her "oba-san" (which translates to grandma or old lady) in the Japanese version.

Hilary is a cute girl in Tyson's class at school, and has been called cute by both Kenny and Max, but she doesn't take much notice of this.

Hilary is quick to make friends with all the Bladebreakers, and is one of the only people who can keep Tyson in line. She is also very out spoken. She's not afraid to argue with Tyson, and seems to a lot in the second season. She calms down a lot in the third season, acting more responsible and mature. She takes care of Daichi and Tyson by cooking, a running gag in the season since she is not good at cooking. She got angry when Tyson had a bad dream about her and spoke of her horrible cooking in his sleep.

Hilary is the voice of reason in the group, and is often the one coming up with smart ideas. She was even called clever by Kenny after she suggested that they ask Mr. Dickenson about the mysterious bladers that they ran into earlier. Later, when they were trapped on an island, Hilary suggested that they go to the lighthouse because there might be a way to communicate with someone and get help there, but since Tyson wanted to actually go through the island and fight all the bladers, they split up into two groups: Hilary, Kenny, and Kai in the first group, and Tyson, Ray, and Max in the second group. Not surprisingly, Hilary and the group reached the lighthouse before Tyson and his group defeated all the beybladers. They successfully contacted Mr. Dickenson, then went off to go find Tyson.

Hilary gets her strong and directing attitude from being the president of her class. She takes this position very seriously and uses it to her full advantage. Because she is the class president, she is able to sway the class anyway she wants and make them do anything, such as making Tyson stay after school and clean the classroom all by himself. However, although she may be a powerful speaker and a good leader, she is also easily fooled and pushed around. Tyson was able to trick her twice in the series, once when he pretended that he was bleeding internally in order to get Hilary to run for help so Tyson could sneak out and go to the tournament he wanted to go to, and he tricked her for the second time when he convinced Hilary that she would be able to see bit beasts if she did a weird and embarrassing dance on the beach while chanting "Oh Bitbeast. Oh mighty bitbeast" However, when she turned around and saw all the boys laughing at her, she became angry and ran at Tyson before punching him in the face, but since this was violent, it was taken out in the english dub. In fact, Hilary is very violent throughout the series, so most of her scenes had to be cut out, such as almost hitting Tyson with a kendo sword, the broadcasting system cut it out and made it look like she slammed her hand down on the ground, basically cutting and pasting a scene from later on in the episode. Hilary was also revealed to be a pushover since she admitted to doing other people's homework for them, but this might just be because she is the smartest in her class and she helps everyone with their assignments.

At the beginning of the second season, Hilary could not see bit beast and became quite frusterated about it since the boys could see them and she couldn't. After not being able to see them for awhile, Hilary started to think that they weren't real and that the guys were only playing a joke on her, but she soon found out that they did exsist, and accused the guys of "hiding" them because they wanted to "keep them for themselves." Hilary then came to the idea that if she trained with the boys, she would be able to see the bitbeast like they could. They allowed her to let them train with her, and were quite impressed when they found out that she was just as athletic as they were. Later, when a rival challenged Ray to a battle, no one could see the challengers bit beast since its power was to be invisible. Surprisingly, Hilary was the only one who could see it, and after she pointed it out to the guys, Ray won the battle. Max later explained to Hilary that what she saw was a bit beast. She then cheered and jumped up and down happily, crying out that she saw a bitbeast.

Second season (Beyblade V-Force)
Hiromi makes her first appearance in Beyblade 2002 as the "Wicked Witch of the Eighth Grade" (Takao's exact words describing her). The first impression we get from her is that she is a bossy class president but in later episodes we watch her become a loyal, caring friend who will stop at nothing to help the Team BBA.

The Team BBA first expressed their opinion of her as an annoying pain in the neck when she tried to fit in with the team. Kai accepted the idea of her being on the team. Hiromi became a new addition to their team as the new training "coach." For a period of time, she was unable to see holy beasts, but as the series progressed she was finally able to see them.

As the new addition to the team, she uses her head to figure out problems to help out the Team BBA. She is usually the comic relief throughout the series. Even though she is sometimes disliked in the Beyblade fandom, there are some good sides to her. In the later episodes, her commitment to the Team BBA becomes stronger as she gets closer to the team. Though she still has arguments with Takao, she quickly became good friends with the whole team, as well as receiving a better understanding in the world of Beyblading.

Third season (Beyblade G-Revolution)
Hiromi comes back, as still an official member of the Team BBA. Funnier than ever, Hiromi is though proved to be a bit more violent than the last season and at the same time, reveals more of her feminine side to Takao. She grew her hair out so it was past her shoulders, and in this season, she was seen in more outfits than anyone else in the series. For every city they traveled to, she changed her outfit, but most of her outfits consists of shorts and a t-shirt.

She is now part of the beyblading team called the BBA Revolution, together with Kyoujyu and Daichi, the new team member. They all are Takao's friends. She is the assistant coach/manager while Hitoshi is the team's coach/manager and she stands by her team whenever they need support. After a few weeks the BEGA appeared and demolished the whole BBA company and the building, putting the sport of beyblading in a different playing field. The whole team is forced out from buying beyblade parts from shops since each shop required a BEGA identification card, another one of Balkov's schemes to force Takao out of beyblading unless Takao joins the BEGA League, and throws in the towel on the Justice 5 Match. Hiromi tried, but failed to buy any parts. She lends out a hand to help the team build their own beyblading parts as the BEGA team gets ready for them.

While on the way to a training camp for the beybladers, Hilary tried to convince everyone that she could be a beyblader too, and promptly transformed into her own beyblade outfit before launching Einstein MS, in a style that Kai launches his beyblade, in the bus. She forgot that it could hop around and therefore, lost control and caused havoc in the bus. This was the first and last time Hilary was seen beyblading. Later, Hilary was seen taking out her depression on not being able to be on the team by peeling apples. However, she had to be told to stop by Max's dad since she was peeling too many, to which she quietly responds, "..............okay..."

In the last episode, after the BBA was saved, Hiromi looks for Kai and Tyson, as always, and finds them both about to start a Beybattle, the denouement of the final chapter of Beyblade G-Revolution.

Quotes
"That was rude!"

"I have plenty of heart,"

"I can't believe we got kicked out. How embarrasing is that? Now what?"

"Like this?"

"Tyson, stop being such a bully!"

"Okay."

"Oh, but beast, oh, bit beast, oh, bit beast, oh, bit beast, oh bit beast..."

"Hey, take that back...NOW!"

"Wow! That's so deep! For a minute there, you sounded...smart."

"Quit clowning around,"

"One day, Tyson's head is going to explode."

(screams) "It's the curse of the Egyptian prince, Tuku!"

Relationships
Tyson

Hilary and Tyson were in the same class in 8th grade, and Tyson referred to her as "The Wicked Witch of the 8th Grade." Hilary was the class president, and thus, was very strict on Tyson. Whenever Tyson was late, Hilary scolded him and got the whole class to cheer about Tyson getting detention for his punishment. Because of this long standing rivalry, Tyson likes to play tricks on Hilary and act rudely towards her. Once, he snuck out of detention by pretending that he was in severe pain, and got Hilary to run and get Ms. Kenkade while he snuck out. However, when Hilary and Kenny were kidnapped, Tyson immediatly went to go save them, and when he found them, he assured Hilary that he would definitely save them, which made Hilary soften up to him. After their rescue, Hilary started to hang out with Tyson and Kenny and learn more about beyblading. Soon, she was an official member of the team, much to Tyson's dismay. V-Force was filled with their many fights and arguements over their different ideas. However, Hilary's place as Tyson's "frienemy" was replaced with Daichi in G Revolution. In G Revolution, since Daichi replaced Hilary as Tyson's "rival" of sorts, Hilary and Tyson became more like friends, and instead of fighting, teamed up to pick on Daichi, and often had serious talks with each other.

Daichi

Daichi and Hilary have a rivalry from the moment they meet each other. Daichi often calls Hilary "Grandma," and Hilary often gets on to Daichi for being gross, immature, and annoying. Hilary and Tyson tease him a lot throughout G Revolution for his big (and almost impossible) dream of becoming a champion beyblader and beating Tyson. Hilary normally takes care of Daichi's immaturity by hitting him with a chair, punching him in the face, or simply yelling at him.

Kai

Hilary was first "introduced" to Kai when Kenny and Tyson were looking at an old picture of their team, and Hilary asked who he was. They told her that his name was Kai, and Hilary said, "He's cute." When Kai came to join the Blade Breakers again, Hilary scolded Tyson for not introducing her, and said that she's been waiting for him to introduce her to him all day. Tyson laughed and introduced her to Kai. Hilary smiled and bowed, introducing herself, but Kai remained silent. She then hung out with him at the airport when Max and Ray came to meet up with Tyson, Kenny, and Kai to recreate the Blade Breakers. When Max arrived, he looked over and saw Hilary and Kai sitting together, and asked who she was. Hilary and Kai, since then, have shared (probably) one of the closest relationships on the team. Over the season, Kai becomes very protective of Hilary, and has saved her countless times. For instance, when they were in a lab and a cyber bitbeast went on the frits, Kai put his arm around Hilary to protect her from the flying sparks going everywhere. Another time is when the Blade Breakers were trapped on an island by evil scientists, and to keep them from getting to the lighthouse, the scientists caused a rockfall. Hilary looked up and saw the falling rocks and screamed. The rocks fell, but managed to miss them. When the dust cleared, Hilary slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see Kai leaning over her, hands planted above her head, and staring down at her. He had used himself to cover her in order to protect her from the falling rocks. A faint blush appeared on Hilary's cheeks as Kai asked if she was okay. Hilary meekly replied "Y-Yeah...I-I think so..." Kai then told Hilary and Kenny that they would have to climb up the mountain to get to the lighthouse. Hilary smiled and said, "Yeah!" as she went to go climb with him. Kai smiled at her and was later seen taking her hand and helping her across the rocks. In another episode, the Blade Breakers are seen running towards a battle that Ray was having, but the evil scientists needed to stall them, so they shot out a bright light to blind them. Hilary accidently stepped back and fell off the cliff. She screamed as she fell quickly, but was quickly caught when Kai, who was leaning over the edge of cliff, grasped her hand and kept her from falling. He stared down at her and tried to bring her back up. Once the light died down, the rest of the boys ran over to Kai and pulled her back onto the cliff. Over the season, Kai has also become more close to Hilary than to any other member of the team. Hilary is the only known member of the team who has actually grasped or held Kai without him pushing her away. Unlike the rest of the blade breakers, who Kai just pushes off, Kai allows Hilary to hold on to him, and actually stares at her while she does it. Such as when Hilary grasped Kai's shoulders and asked if he was hiding the bit beasts. Tyson goes on to say that he'll show her the bit beasts, and only after this do Hilary and Kai look away from staring at each other and look at Tyson. In episode 8 of V-Force, Hilary leaves the team because Tyson didn't like her idea of "Basic Training," and ripped her schedule in half. Hilary then starts to cry and runs off, to which the team tells Tyson that he was too rough and that he needed to apologize. Tyson continues to be stubborn and does not apologize to Hilary, who has not showed up to practice in a week. However, one night, Kai is seen thinking outside the dojo, wondering how to control the new beyblades. He then sees the schedule that Hilary made and knew that he could control his new beyblade with it. He then spent all night using her methods to practice with, and ended up controlling his blade perfectly. He then smiled at the team and showed them that he used Hilary's methods on her schedule to practice. Tyson and the team then find Hilary walking home from school and apologize to her, asking if she would come back to the team. Hilary agrees and joins the team as their coach. Later on in the season, when Kai lost his Dranzer, Hilary was the only one to go look for him. When she finally found him, she told him that everything would be okay, but he didn't listen and started to walk away. He told her that he decided to quit beyblading, Hilary then yelled at him to wait and he stopped. Hilary then scolded him for giving up just because he was feeling a little sad. Kai thinks about her words, then slowly walks away. Hilary yells at him and walks away as well. However, Kai rejoins the team later, due to Hilary's words. When the Blade Breakers won the World Championships in V-Force, they took a team photo. Tyson, Max, Ray, and Kenny can be seen upfront in the picture, but in the corner of the picture, in the background, you can see Hilary and Kai standing together, with Hilary's arm joined with his. In G Revolution, when Daichi was started to say Kai wasn't that great Hilary got really mad and told him to take it back. Also when Hilary was watching Kai's match and saw that he wasn't even trying, she was close to tears as she feared that he had given up his will to win. However, when he ended up winning, Hilary went to the stage and smiled at him, telling him that she didn't have any doubts that he would win.

Kenny

Kenny, along with Tyson, is Hilary's classmate. They were both kidnapped by evil scientists in the beginning of V Force, but were rescued by Tyson. Kenny and Hilary often spend time together on the bench since neither of them beyblade, and Kenny usually shares his data with her. However, when Kenny started beyblading, he learned that he can not leave his computer with Hilary because she is clueless on how to use his computer and accidently erased all of his data. Kenny has also revealed that he thinks Hilary is cute.

Ray

Ray has an "older brother" type role with Hilary. Like the other members of the beybladers, Ray is protective of Hilary and treats her like a younger sister.

Max

Max first met Hilary when he arrived at the airport and saw her and Kai sitting together. He asked who she was, and Tyson told him that she was nobody. Hilary introduces herself before Max says that he had no idea that there would be a cute girl waiting for him at the airport. Throughout the series, Max and Hilary become good friends. Max is probably the one on the team who takes the most pity on Hilary when she is excluded because she cannot beyblade, or when she is being too annoying to the rest of the group and must be twenty feet away. Max has told Tyson when he is out of line with bullying Hilary, and he will apologize to Hilary if she feel excluded from the group.

Information
Hiromi' seijyu is Shiho Kikuchi (Japanese); in the English dub she s voiced by Caitriona Murphy.

Hilary was 13/14 in the second season (Beyblade 2002) and 14/15 in the third season (Beyblade G-Revolution)

Hilary is known to be very athletic and strong. Although she isn't skilled at Beyblade, she is a very skilled basketball player.