Beet the Vandel Buster
Beet the Vandel Buster is a manga series written by Riku Sanjo and illustrated by Koji Inada. Its story takes place in a fantasy world where humans have been suffering from the attacks of the demon-like Vandels. Humans can fight back by becoming a Vandel Buster, a paid monster and Vandel assassin. The protagonist of the story, Beet, is a young boy who becomes a Vandel Buster to be like his heroes, the Zenon Warriors.
The manga was published in Shueisha's Monthly Shōnen Jump in Japan from 2002 until September 2006, when Inada became ill. On December 17, 2015, it was reported that the manga will resume in the Spring 2016 issue of Jump SQ.Crown. The manga ran in Jump SQ. Crown until October 2016 and it is currently published in Jump SQ.Rise.
Viz Media published the first twelve volumes in English. An anime adaption was produced by Toei Animation and Dentsu and aired on TV Tokyo. It ran for 52 episodes, followed by a sequel, Beet the Vandel Buster: Excellion, which ran for 25 episodes. The anime was licensed in North America by Illumitoon Entertainment, who only released one DVD containing 4 episodes with an English dub track.
Conception and development
Sanjo and Inada described the partnership as a "50/50 between the know-how from the long years we've been a team, and tackling new difficulties."Story
The story is set in the "Dark Ages", a term referring to the time since Vandels appeared and started attacking humans. Beet is a boy who dreams of joining the "Zenon Warriors", a group of "Vandel Busters" who are considered to be the strongest on the continent. When the group comes to protect his village from the Vandel, Beltorze, Beet tries to join them but is rejected.When Beltorze appears, the Zenon Warriors seem to have the upper hand until Beet cheers them on, causing the Vandel to notice his presence. Beltorze attacks Beet, and the Zenon Warriors are forced to break formation to help him. Beltorze uses that moment to attack again, which mortally wounds all of them. Hidden in the smoke, the Zenon Warriors decide to rescue Beet’s life by putting their life force into their “Saiga” and giving them to Beet. When Beet complains and asks them why they are doing this, it is revealed that Zenon is Beet’s brother. The now weaponless Zenon Warriors then emerge from the smoke and continue to attack Beltorze. When Beet regains consciousness, both Beltorze and the Zenon Warriors are gone. Guilt-ridden and sad, he cries and vows to destroy all the Vandels and end the Dark Ages. He then goes on a three-year training expedition.
His childhood friend, Poala, who Beet keeps impressing that she is going to marry him, later joins Beet and they form the “Beet Warriors”. As the story continues more is learned about the fight between the Zenon Warriors and Beltorze and the fantasy world of Beet is expanded on.
The manga series had been on hiatus since September 2006 because of Koji Inada's sickness. It went off hiatus and starting published again in spring 2016 but went on hiatus again later that year.
Main characters
; Beet: The fifteen-year-old protagonist of the story, Beet is the leader of his own group of Vandel Busters, called the Beet Warriors. His dream is to end the dark century, and to kill all the vandels so they will stop killing humans. At the beginning of the series, he received five Saiga from the members of the Zenon Warriors, which are his major weapons in fighting vandels. He is strong when fighting monsters and Vandels but is weak when fighting humans. He also keeps mentioning that Poala will be his future wife.; Poala: Beet's childhood friend, and the second person to join the Beet Warriors. She is a beautiful girl mentioned by Kissu and some other busters. Though beautiful, she is also an intelligent and wise girl, but often lets her anger towards others get the best of her. Poala is shown to be quite good with fire tengeki, but has trouble controlling its raw power. She is fairly skilled in tengeki. She is also known among Vandel Busters as Beet's future wife.
; Slade: Slade is a Vandel Buster and a rival of Beet's whom he has known since his training journey. Like Beet, he is highly skilled in the use of spears, which has been developed by the 120 bouts he and Beet have fought. His main weapon is Wind Tengeki, which makes up his saiga, the Silent Grave. Despite his outward attitude towards Beet, he cares for him, but also believes he is too naive. He is also a friendly rival with Beet and hopefully a new member for the Beet Warriors.
; Milfa: Milfa is a Broad Buster who is very upbeat, big fan of the Zenon Warriors and has a dream to either marry Zenon, Beet, or Kissu. She may even become a new addition to the Beet Warriors. She is especially skilled in the Lightning Tengeki, which also makes up her saiga, the Lightbolt Grasper.
; Kissu: An old friend of Beet. He is a genius and master of tengeki, using his abilities to rival even the strongest busters. He is trying to redeem himself in his eyes and the eyes of Beet for teaming up with a Vandel, and Beet's biggest enemy, Grunide.
; Zenon: Beet's older brother and leader of the Zenon Warriors. His saiga is the holy Excellion Blade, which was passed onto Beet. Upon meeting Cruss, Beet learns that Zenon used "the power beyond saiga" to handle Beltorze before being sucked into a dimensional rift. His current state and whereabouts are unknown.
; Laio: Member of the Zenon Warriors. Laio's fiery saiga is the Burning Lance, which was passed onto Beet. Taught Beet how to fight with the spear. After the encounter with Beltorze, his whereabouts became unknown.
; Cruss: Member of the Zenon Warriors. Handsome and skilled with the power of water, uses the saiga 'Crown Shield' which he passed onto Beet. He had lost his memory until after the battle with the Vandel Garownewt. Told Beet what he remembered about the fight with Beltorze and helped him sharpen his skills with the Crown Shield saiga.
; Bluezam: Member of the Zenon Warriors. To match his immense size, he wields the Boltic Axe, which was passed onto Beet. After the encounter with Beltorze, his whereabouts became unknown.
; Alside: Member of the Zenon Warriors. His saiga is the Cyclone Gunner, which was passed onto Beet. After the encounter with Beltorze, his whereabouts became unknown.
; The Winged Knight: A buster who saves Beet's life when he encounters Garownewt. He also teaches Beet how to properly wield the saiga within him. His presence is an enigma, yet he seems to know the Zenon Warriors somehow.
Terms
; Busters; Tengeki
; Vandels
; Encyclopedia of Monsters
;Saiga