Beyblade, known in Japan as Explosive Shoot Beyblade (爆転シュートベイブレード, Bakuten Shūto Beiburēdo), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takao Aoki in order to promote sales of spinning tops called "Beyblades". Originally serialized in CoroCoro Comic from January, 2000 to December, 2003, the individual chapters were collected and published in 14 tankōbon by Shogakukan. The series focuses on a group of kids who form teams with which they battle one another using Beyblades. The manga is licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media. An anime adaptation, also titled Beyblade and spanning 51 episodes, aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from January 8, 2001 to December 24, 2001. The second, Beyblade V-Force, ran for another 51 episodes from January 7, 2002 until December 30, 2002. Beyblade G-Revolution, the third and final adaptation, also spanned 52 episodes (the last two episodes were released together as a double-length special in Japan) and aired from January 6, 2003, until its conclusion on December 28, 2003. Nelvana licensed the anime for an English-language release. Takara Tomy also developed the Beyblade toy line.