The first anime inspired by Bandai's Battle Spirits trading card game. It premiered in Japan in 2008 as part of TV Asahi's Sunday Morning Kids block. There was also a manga series serialized in Kero Kero Ace about about the same time. The anime was Lighter and Softer than both the manga, and its successor, Battle Spirits Shonen Gekiha Dan.
The series focuses on Toppa Bashin, a 12-year-old Idiot Hero in love with Battle Spirits. Of course, his favorite attribute is red. He goes through daily school life and battles his friendly rivals J, Striker and Suiren. It's a slice of life series, with very little ongoing plot, but things do get more serious at about the half way point.
Also see Battle Spirits Heroes for the 4th series in the franchise.
This show provides examples of:
- Accidental Athlete: When Bashin runs down a track one episode to try and catch a runaway Aibou, beating all his school’s runners, all the sports teams try to recruit him. Of course, he has no interest in joining any team.
- Action Girl: Suiren, who is shown to be a competent card battler from the start. Later Meganeko too
- Actually, I Am Him: Subverted in Bashin’s first meeting with Suiren, as he’s too oblivious to realize that she’s actually My Sunshine.
- Affably Evil: Pretty much all of Thousand Spirits Group. Barring Smile who is a Jerkass, they have a tendency to be some of the most polite and friendly people you'll meet, while plotting to take over the world behind the scenes.
- Affectionate Nickname: Card Sensei's nickname for Masako is Ma-chin and she calls him Kyo-chin.
- All-Encompassing Mantle: J’s cape wraps around him way more than a cape probably should for comfortable movement.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: J is seen to be very popular with girls in canon especially when he becomes a Number, considering all the merchandise of him, including plushies and half-naked pictures.
- Alliterative Name: Kyouji Kawatou, Kyuusaku Kujou, Manabu Miyagawa
- All Just a Dream: Most of ep. 44 where Striker believes that Suiren and Kyouka are fighting for his heart.
- Aloof Big Brother: J. He obviously does care about Kyouka, as well as Bashin but his personal agenda forces him to distance himself.
- Alternate Continuity: Battle Spirits Shonen Gekiha Dan is the first of these
- Apologizes a Lot: Suiren, but it’s a subversion as she does it in a totally mocking way.
- Art Shift: Regular anime-style to CG during battles.
- Ascended Fanboy: Bashin was one of J’s big fans, and ultimately gets to hang around with him all the time, and be regarded for his skill like J.
- Badass Driver: Hayami. Particularly interesting, because the car she drives is a taxi.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Number Nine. He's a top card battler who is never seen without a suit and of course he's plotting to rule the world on the side.
- Badass Teacher: Card Sensei. He's definitely protective of his students. Fortunate that he's an ex-Number who's had some pretty amazing feats in the past.
- Battle Couple: Bashin's parents used to be this.
- Beach Episode: Episode 44 is a lighthearted filler episode, where Bashin and his friends go to the beach to train, right before the more serious final arc.
- Becoming the Mask: Apparently, giving the task of “watch over Bashin” to Thousand Spirits Group members is a dangerous idea Considering the effect it had on Card Sensei and Number Eight. Both took it seriously, and ended up betraying Number Nine as a result.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Meganeko. Her real name (which is Fumiko Otonashi) isn't even mentioned until later into the series, as she's called almost exclusively by her nickname in reference to her glasses. She's a polite and sweet, yet practical girl. The twist is that she starts wearing contacts later into the series, because it's easier for her to read the cards when she starts playing Battle Spirits. But her friends continue calling her Meganeko, because it's too weird for them otherwise.
- Later, the series also introduces Setsuko, who is of the serious, studious type.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Believe it or not, Meganeko turns out to be one of the best players in the show
- Big Brother Instinct: J. He is indeed protective of Kyouka, enough for him to flip out when he thought Bashin sent a romantic card to her.
- Big Eater: Bashin definitely has an appetite
- Big Fancy House: The Sawaragi household. All of them.
- Biting the Handkerchief: In episode 48, mimicked by Seven mockingly, except it’s his cape he’s biting.
- Bland-Name Product: Card Sensei owns the My Sunshine game for Ninnindo GS.
- Brainwashed: Towards the end, most of Thousand Spirits Group, including ex-members and fodder, aside from Nine, Smile and J.
- Breather Episode: Episode 44 would qualify, as it's right in-between two more serious tournament arcs.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Perhaps Kyouka loves J a bit too much. Most notably, she's shown to be attracted to Pseudo-J, who looks just like him.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Michael Elliott. Perhaps the fact that his job is game designer has something to do with his weird, childish behavior. But even after becoming a school principal as well, he's seen building card houses in his office with Battle Spirits cards.
- Calling Your Attacks: But it’s kinda necessary playing a card game
- Carrying a Cake: Happens with Meganeko in the Christmas episode.
- Cats Are Mean: Okyou. She can be pretty snotty even early on, and later joins Thousand Spirits Group with J, effectively becoming a villain for a short time.
- Character Development: With limited focus on the battles compared to later entries on the franchise, the growth of the characters is much more pronounced this season. Especially Meganeko and J
- Chekhov's Gunman: For most of the series, there's no mentioning of Number Ten, despite there being a Number Eleven. It's Meganeko's grandfather.
- Christmas Episode: Episode 15
- Class Trip: Bashin’s school goes on one to Kyoto.
- Club President: In Bashin’s middle school, Seven is president of the Battle Spirits club
- Collectible Card Game:
- Combat Commentator: The hosts of Battle Spirits TV, seeing how they have no official names outside of Female Announcer and Commentator-san.
- Cool Big Sis: Number Eight. Bashin has also called her onee-san.
- Cool Car: Most cars now have talking AI navigation systems programmed into them.
- Cool Mask: Suiren, a mysterious masked card battler who hides the fact that she's secretly the super-popular idol, My Sunshine (who is also prohibited from battling, as it gets in the way of her cute image).
- Cool Shades:
- Galaxy Seven, who is a flashy egomaniac. In contrast, he doesn't wear them in his timid Nanao persona. Also, Number Eight, who changes her Kamina-esque sunglasses to a more practical pair when dressed as a teacher, but still wears sunglasses all the time.
- Number Nine wore them in one episode.
- Crash-Into Hello: How Meganeko and Number Eight meet
- Creator Cameo: Michael Elliott, the game designer, is a character in the anime. Technically, it’s more than a cameo.
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Cross-Dressing Voices: Bashin, J - Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Card Sensei gives off the image of being a dork, and he becomes pathetically lovestruck around Bashin's mother, whom he admired for a long time. In truth he's a member of the powerful card battler team, Numbers Elite, and in the past was super strong and lived out in the wilderness. Seven as well. His default persona, Nanao, speaks quietly and acts cowardly. When he becomes Galaxy Seven, he takes a turn for the flashy and dramatic. He's also a member of Numbers Elite.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Suiren uses a purple deck, wherein all the cards are zombie skull creatures. She's one of the heroes.
- A Day In The Lime Light: Used a couple times. Episode 16 is about Aibou, and episode 32 is about Bashin's mother. They're also the only episodes with no battles. Also, episode 37 is devoted to the pets.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After spending about 10 episodes as a member of Thousand Spirits Group, J quits once he loses to Bashin.
- Defictionalization: Both of the ED singles were released as if the actual artist was My Sunshine. While the second was actually performed by her seiyuu, the first was not. Also, the bonus track on the 2nd ED single is the first ED theme, actually sung by My Sunshine.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: J is a male version
- Demoted to Extra: Meganeko, Card Sensei, Masako, Seven and Hayami in the manga. Kyouka, Nanarin and Guraguri don't even exist.
- Descriptive Ville: Bashin lives in Toaru City (a certain city) and J lives in Tonari City (neighboring city).
- The Determinator: Bashin. What were you expecting? He's a shounen protagonist.
- Disappeared Dad: Bashin’s father, who left to travel the world. He's actually King Uchuuchouten, the leader of Thousand Spirits Group.
- Disc-One Final Boss: This is an interesting one. Of course Uchuuchouten is the final boss, until Number Nine turns out to be nuts, betrays him, possesses all the Numbers, and plots to ruin and conquer the world. However, after Nine tries to steal Uchuuchouten’s source of power, he transfers his soul into Uchuuchouten, who ultimately ends up the final boss, trying to carry out Nine’s plan for real.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Although Smile is the last Number to remain fully loyal to Nine, he’s actually opposed to Nine’s plans. He just wants the opportunity to defeat Bashin and J in battle, proving that he and J would be a stronger tag.
- Dreadful Musician: Number Eight, apparently. Aibou too, but that’s expected because he’s a mouse.
- Duels Decide Everything
- Education Mama: Hayami. She's always concerned about Bashin putting things before his schoolwork. Justifiable, because she's afraid of him turning out like his father.
- Even the Guys Want Him: J. Aside from his large amount of female fangirls, Smile basically stalks him and acts possessive of him, and Commentator-san's fixation on him is kinda creepy.
- Evil Costume Switch:
- When J joins Thousand Spirits Group, he wears a black cape as opposed to his white one. Once he returns, he immediately does a GoodCostumeSwitch back to his normal cape.
- Also, Nine’s reveal as the big bad is marked by him changing into a blood-red suit.
- Evil Laugh: Number Nine
- Expressive Mask: Suiren’s tends to change shape depending on her mood.
- Eye Catch: Just a picture of a trading card.
- Face–Heel Turn: J. Of course, it's not permanent
- The Faceless: King Uchuuchouten Until the last episode.
- Fangirl: Meganeko is a huge My Sunshine fangirl.
- Fanservice: Number Eight’s uniform probably counts as indecent.
- My Sunshine and Meganeko both wear swimsuits in the OP, and there’s both a pool episode and a beach episode.
- Finishing Move: See an X-Rare come into play and the match will probably be over soon. At least in the earlier episodes.
- Also, once Bashin gets Double Draw, he will pull the card(s) he absolutely needs to win.
- Flung Clothing: Done on several occasions, for characters to switch into their alter-egos.
- Friendly Enemy: Although he becomes an official member of Numbers Elite Seven was and still is Bashin’s sempai and friend.
- Masako is generally friendly with her students, despite her initial unhappiness towards her mission. Ultimately, she joins as a temporary 6th member of Bashin’s team.
- Foil: Bashin and J
- Four Is Death: Smile, perhaps the creepiest member of Thousand Spirits Group, is Number Four.
- He's much worse in the manga wherein he's outright demonic, and the Big Bad.
- Genki Girl: My Sunshine’s persona. Suiren’s, however, is not genki at all.
- Gratuitous English: Elliott inserts quite a lot of English into his speech.
- Also, a lot of terms in the card battles are English, and the cards have English names.
- Hachimaki: Aibou wore one while trying to prep Bashin for a school test.
- Happily Married: Striker’s parents. And he seems to be the only one of the five mains with a functional family situation
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Not in those exact words, but pretty much Masako's reaction whenever anyone brings up her past relationship with Card Sensei.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Number Five/Card Sensei pre-series.
- Eventually, Masako, Michael Elliott, J’s father, and J, after his earlier Face Heel Turn
- Hot-Blooded: Everyone. Card Sensei and Bashin in particular.
- Hurricane of Puns: Episode 27, with Amade Us, who talks exclusively in rap and forces others to do the same.
- Idiot Hero: Bashin, with the emphasis on idiot.
- Idol Singer: My Sunshine, who is popular with roughly everyone of every demographic.
- Improbable Hair Style: Where to begin? Striker deserves a special mention though, for having a scythe growing out of his head.
- Informed Ability: Thousand Spirits Group. Supposedly elite and powerful, but they lose a whole lot. Especially Number Eight, who is completely unable to win until paired with Striker in an offscreen tag match. And you would think game designer Michael Elliott would have better skills at his own game, but he never wins a single match.
- In the Hood: Suiren does this to escape performing a concert as My Sunshine. Later, this is mimicked by Meganeko and Card Sensei to keep their identities a secret while entering a tournament.
- Interspecies Romance: Joked about in Striker’s dream, where in all the female characters love him, including J’s cat, Okyou.
- Intertwined Fingers: Card Sensei and Masako’s hands are seen like this when sitting together in a flashback of their past.
- Jerkass: Smile. And he can be just as obnoxious to the other Numbers as he is to Bashin and his friends.
- Just Friends: Oddly enough, this could probably be applied to Bashin and J’s relationship, teasing and all.
- Keet: Bashin. He is a never-ending fountain of energy and loudness. Not particularly feminine in the anime version, but in the manga, he crossdresses as a nurse.
- Kid Hero: Bashin, J, Striker, Suiren, Meganeko, Kyouka
- Knight in Sour Armor: J's father starts off as close to this as possible for such an optimistic series.
- Last Episode, New Character: In the last chapter of the manga, Dan can be seen from behind in one panel.
- Light Is Not Good: Smile uses yellow, mostly based on angels and fairies.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Both J and Suiren did not seem to have any friends before meeting Bashin.
- Love Dodecahedron: Not that romance is a big deal at all in this series, but if you look at it, Bashin likes his childhood friend Meganeko, as well as idol My Sunshine and ojou Kyouka. Meganeko and Suiren (My Sunshine’s alter ego) both have crushes on Bashin. As well, J seems to have a
thing for Bashin. Kyouka may like J in more than just a sibling way, and Smile is a bit too obsessed with J. Striker is also infatuated with My Sunshine and likes Kyouka. - Love Makes You Evil: The main reason Number Eight is loyal to Thousand Spirits Group, seeing how she doesn’t even agree with Nine’s plan, is pretty much out of spite for her ex-boyfriend for leaving the organization.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Bashin and Striker both love My Sunshine rather than Suiren, despite the evidence that Suiren is interested in both of them.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Bashin’s father is Uchuuchouten
- Magnetic Hero: Bashin. Everyone is drawn to him.
- Meaningful Name: The nicknames Striker and Meganeko, because Striker plays soccer and Meganeko wears glasses.
- Aibou got his name because Bashin’s father used to call him “aibou,” meaning partner.
- Memento MacGuffin: Bashin’s stone came from his father
- Also, the Angel Voice card that Number Eight got from Number Five.
- Mentor Mascot: Aibou in particular, but the other pets to an extent
- Merchandise-Driven
- Mind-Control Device: Number Nine’s black masks.
- Ms. Fanservice: Number Eight.
- Mons: The spirits
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Number Eight, sometimes. Mainly the outfit she wears to tournaments, which seems very out-of-place for a kids show. It cuts down all the way to her stomach.
- No Sense of Direction: Number Eight, to the point of being a running gag.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Aibou, Okyou, Pink, Cap, Nanrin and Guraguri, all the pets of the chosen card battlers.
- Number Two: Manabu is called Setsuko's number two. Though Elliott is "Number Two" of Numbers Elite, Number Nine really seems to take the role of Uchuuchouten's number two.
- Oblivious Younger Sibling: Striker's brothers don't seem to know that he battles in an alternate world and talks to his parrot. Averted with Kyouka, who knows basically everything.
- Official Couple: Card Sensei and Masako
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Okay, so after Kyouka gets Card Sensei's stone in order to help get her brother back, she never actually uses it. She does, however, apparently get to own Number Nine, but we don't get to see the actual battle.
- Ojou: Kyouka. She's a wealthy and proper lady
- Only One Name: Smile, which may not even be his real name.
- Opaque Lenses: On Meganeko's glasses.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Number Eight's teacher outfit. Sadly, it works.
- Shock! Kiiroko and Master Yellow are Meganeko and Card Sensei.
- Parrot Pet Position: The pets tend to favor this
- Personality Powers: Several of the characters main attributes fit with their personalities.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Masako had a pink version of Card Sensei's normal blue outfit. She also has pink eyes while his are a gray-ish blue.
- Playing with Fire: Most red cards seem to be fire based.
- Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: Bashin's father is always hidden from view in his family photo Not that anyone could tell he was Uchuuchouten anyway, as Uchuuchouten wears a full-body disguise and his physical appearance underneath is changed as well.
- Polly Wants a Microphone: Even before actually gaining the ability to talk, Cap was learning how.
- Portmanteau Series Nickname: Batosupi. Though, it was used by the card game first, and all the characters use it in canon, making it an in-universe example too.
- Psychotic Smirk: Number Nine
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Nanarin, an actual dog, does this in order to distract guards in one episode.
- Raised by Grandparents: Meganeko, by her grandfather. Her parents aren't dead. They're exploring jungles in Africa.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Bashin is red, J is blue.
- Regal Ringlets: Kyouka's hairstyle.
- Relative Error: Bashin misinterprets the relationship between J and Kyouka in the episode where Kyouka is introduced.
- Rescue Arc: To an extent, the last arc. While the overall purpose is to defeat Nine and win the King Uchuuchouten Cup, Nine also captures and brainwashes most of Thousand Spirits Group, and as they lose, most of Team Shomen Toppa is also captured.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Aside from the squadron of pets, most of the yellow cards are pretty darned cute.
- Right-Hand Cat: After J joins Thousand Spirits Group, Okyou fits this role.
- Ring of Power: The rings worn by the members of Numbers Elite can actually open the gate to Isekai World.
- The Rival: Bashin vs. J is the main one, starting off a trend of the rival primarily using white which would go on until Battle Spirits: Saikyo Ginga Ultimate Zero.
- Striker vs. Suiren as well, though more downplayed. Striker in particular becomes obsessed with beating Suiren after losing to her early on.
- Rival Turned Evil: J, temporarily, when he becomes Jack Knight.
- Road-Sign Reversal: Bashin and Striker do this in ep. 11 to try and lure My Sunshine to the Battle Spirits Center.
- Running Gag: Pink trying to eat Aibou
- Okyou calling someone a cat burglar, who points out that she's the cat.
- Maccho trying to get a battle with Bashin.
- Satellite Character: Cap, Pink, Nanarin and Guraguri to their respective owners.
- Sculpted Physique: Some of the Spirits
- Secret Identity: This trope is practically abused. Where to begin?
- My Sunshine is Suiren
- Temporarily, Meganeko puts on a Suiren mask and calls herself Kiiroko, along with Card Sensei, who is Master Yellow.
- Number Eight actually uses her real name (Masako Inogashira) to disguise herself as a teacher. And as it turns out, that was her original appearance without makeup.
- Seven-sempai is not-so-secretly Galaxy Seven
- Seven Is Nana: Seven’s real name is Nanao Watanabe.
- Ship Tease: Lots of it for Bashin/Meganeko and Striker/Suiren especially.
- Shorttank: Suiren
- Show Within a Show: Battle Spirits TV, the variety show which seems to be on 24/7.
- Shrinking Violet: Meganeko starts off this way
- Sixth Ranger: Kyouka eventually becomes this.
- The Smurfette Principle: While the chosen card battlers are surprisingly gender-balanced for this type of show, equally so once Card Sensei hands his stone over to Kyouka, the only female member of Numbers Elite is Number Eight.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Both Bashin and Striker look a lot like their fathers.
- Suck My Rose: Lampshaded in one episode with J, due to roses being conveniently around.
- Sunglasses at Night: Number Eight at least once.
- Surprise Santa Encounter: Smile dresses as Santa in the Christmas episode. Later, My Sunshine wears a more cute, girly Santa outfit.
- Student Council President: Setsuko, at Tonari Middle School. She is apparently powerful enough to have authority over the principal.
- Stuffed into a Locker: Number Nine did this to Aibou
- Talking Animal: Several of them. They can't talk naturally, but due to the powers of the stones possessed by the chosen card battlers, this ability is granted to them.
- Through a Face Full of Fur: Aibou blushes.
- Took a Level in Badass: Meganeko, after learning Battle Spirits.
- Tournament Arc: Several, as the series is about competitive gaming.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Aibou and mushrooms
- Trailers Always Spoil: The extended next-episode previews on the R2 DVDs are terrible in many cases, to the point where you might as well not watch the next episode.
- Training from Hell: Exactly how does Card Sensei’s training of Smile make you a better card battler?
- Transfer Student Uniforms: While Bashin and his friends start wearing school uniforms in middle school, Smile, who transferred from America, still wears the clothes he always did. It's somewhat similar to the proper uniform, but greener, and he wears the jacket like a cape.
- Transformation Sequence: The usual intro sequence with Meganeko and Suiren was replaced in ep. 37 with Suiren having a magical girl transformation into My Sunshine. This was only in the tv broadcast, and omitted from the DVD release.
- True Companions: Bashin, J, Striker and Suiren. Later adding Meganeko.
- Tsundere: Suiren, Setsuko, Masako. All are type A.
- Twist Ending: Done in numerous episodes, the biggest in episode 31 where J becomes Number Eleven.
- Two First Names: Michael Elliott
- Umbrella of Togetherness: Bashin and Meganeko share an umbrella on the opening theme.
- Unwanted Harem: Striker gets this in one episode, but it’s only a dream.
- Verbal Tic: Smile’s “kekeke,” or some variant of it.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Meganeko, probably.
- Villain Over for Dinner: A variant on this, where Aibou is very disturbed to find Bashin's mother having a fancy dinner on Number Nine's yacht.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: J. If his father would've just spent more time with the family, it probably would've saved him a lot of angst and his Face-Heel Turn.
- Wham Episode: Episode 31. Especially because it seems so silly and innocent up until the end.
- White Hair, Black Heart: J who becomes an enemy for a while.
- Window Love: Toward the very end Bashin and Meganeko have a moment like this.
- Wise Old Turtle: Guraguri is a wise turtle who teaches Battle Spirits to humans (albeit with ridiculous methods).
