The Beet the Vandel Buster manga series and its adaptations feature an extensive cast of characters created by Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada.
The Beet Warriors Beet
Beet is a young boy who has always desired to be the strongest Buster. He aspires to be like his heroes, the Zenon Warriors, who are known as the strongest of all Busters. However, unknown to Beet, the leader of the Zenon Warriors is his brother. When Beet was a baby, Zenon wanted Beet to stay away from the path he chose, wanting him to live a life of peace which he tried to give him. One day, Beet told his heroes he had become a Buster, they quickly told him to quit, telling him he was not fit for such a thing. Beet, however, believed that Busters are fighters for justice and continued the hard Buster life. However, due to a fight with Beltorze, the "King of Tragedy", one of the strongest Vandels, the Zenon Warriors were critically hit. To make things worse, Beet showed up to the fight, trying to cheer his heroes. Beltorze saw Beet and rapidly took him as a hostage and mortally wounded him. Seeing this horror, the Zenon Warriors became distracted and were hit by Beltorze's most powerful attack, the Phantom Explosion. Thus, after receiving such an attack, they were left at a critical state. Worst of all, Beet was about to die. To save his life, they decided to give up their lives and give Beet part of their souls which were sealed in their Saiga, the power symbol of a Buster. Beet reluctantly tries to stop this; however, he is finally told that Zenon is his brother, and in a dramatic moment, Beet sees his heroes leave to try to defeat Beltorze- even without any Divine Power or Saiga. Seeing them leave, Beet promises that he will become the strongest Buster and end the suffering Vandels cause to the world.
Thus Beet grows over three years and begins learning to handle his gift, and founds the Beet Warriors to end the Dark Century. Beet is not particularly intelligent (something to which he openly admits) but he has a good heart. He is not able to use Divine Power as most of his fellow Busters can, which sometimes makes Beet ashamed, though his amazing use of Saiga show that Beet is truly at another level. Beet also has the ability to stay awake for three days, after which he falls into an almost comatose sleep for one day. He is a reckless prodigy on the battlefield, defeating strong monsters and Vandels (just barely) relying on his Saiga, his will to complete his goal, his luck, and his friends. Many, however, believe that such luck might also show that Beet has true strength within him- something that he has not truly developed. Beet is angry that other Busters are mostly corrupt, since he believes that they must protect others at all times. He likes to help people and never asks for money in return, except the Buster reward money which is given when you defeat a Vandel or level up. Since he does not use money, he usually camps in the wilderness and eats bugs which are free- much to his teammates' dismay. Voiced by: Reiko Kiuchi (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Main) & Tiffany Grant (Younger) (English)
Currently, Beet has a one-star bounty on his head, although this knowledge has only been released to the seven-star Vandels. These Vandels drew cards to determine the order of who gets to attempt to kill Beet. This bounty was placed on his head after he managed to kill Grineed.
Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada said that they gave Beet a name related to the chest since Beet releases a saiga and that they wanted to convey "the meaning of excitement for adventure" as in "beat from the heart." The two decided to spell his name "Beet" as they felt two es would make the name "visually energetic.""On the Beet." Shonen Jump Volume 2, Issue 11. November 2004. VIZ Media. 8.
Poala
Poala is Beet's childhood friend. Sanjo and Inada said that she represents the "average person living in the Century of Darkness" and the character "closest" to "the readers."
Beet's so-called future wife that joins Beet in his adventure. Her family adopted Beet after Zenon left Beet to fight against Vandels. Poala has looked over Beet since they were very young, being critically harsh on his mistakes and wanting him to think reasonably which, of course, he does not do most of the time. When Beet leaves for his training in the outside world, Poala decides to become a Buster herself to protect her town from the menaces which arise. She is a tough, tomboyish girl that is ready to get her hands dirty in a fight with Vandels. She also has a crush on Beet. She's a reasoning person and does not understand how Beet can be calm and collected in very tough times such as fighting against tough Vandels. Also, she's the brains of the Beet Warriors, keeping everything about the group in her special diary. She is also the money manager, though sometimes she spends the money to "help" the group by buying all sorts of weapons. She likes to use the Divine Power of fire, specifically fireballs. Poala does not like to eat bugs or rough it, and sometimes hates camping with Beet because of his weird schedule, yet this is a major part of survival while busting. Currently in volume 12, Poala is revealed to be recovering from a life and death situation after the Vandel Baron's baptizing attack. The shot missed her heart by mere centimeters.
Her favored weapons are a pair of short swords and an arm-mounted armored gun. Her strongest power is the Divine Attack of Fire and its powerful Burst End technique. Fired at point blank range, this attack can annihilate even the toughest targets. She discovered this move in the battle with Grineed, in which it completely annihilated the Vandel's arm. Although she has not yet materialized a saiga, it is likely that the saiga she materializes will be fire-based, reflecting her ultimate Burst End technique and the writer's probable goal to have all five elements represented in the saiga of the Beet Warriors. Voiced by: Ai Maeda (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
Sanjo and Inada said that Poala's name stems from poitrine, the French word for chest. The two said "it would be nice" if they could write Beet the Vandel Buster via her point of view.
Kissu
Beet's best friend and partner, Beet met Kissu two years into his training, and was amazed with Kissu's abilities. Kissu is different from other Busters because he is a master of all five types of Divine Power, while most Busters only use one. He is also exceptionally intelligent and able to notice even the smallest details and find a solution to complicated problems in a matter of seconds. He is not confident with himself and is wary of living up to his dreams but he wants to be bolder like Beet. Therefore, one day Beet and Kissu decide to make goals they wish to achieve. Beet's goal is to end the Dark Century, while Kissu decides to be the world's greatest master of the Divine Attack. Though it was time for both to take different paths, Beet went on with his training, defeating all kinds of Vandels. Kissu, meanwhile, decided to join another Buster team which took him in. As they traveled, Kissu was always treated as a weakling by his peers, until one day, a powerful Vandel appeared and challenged them. Seeing that the Vandel was beyond their powers, the team told Kissu to distract the Vandel with his Divine Attack while the others prepared a devastating attack to eliminate it. Kissu accepted and attacked the Vandel with all he had, which was useless. When he turned back to give the signal of attack, his partners were escaping-Kissu was used as a sacrificial lamb. Shocked, Kissu stood there while the Vandel struck the team with his power, killing them. To his surprise, the Vandel spared him since he was brave enough to attack him. As his partners had attempted to escape, the Vandel granted them death instead. Devastated, Kissu started to ponder the nature of humans. He traveled without direction until he stopped at a Vandel ruin, admiring them and beginning think how noble Vandels truly were. That was when he met Grineed, who was amazed that a human was looking at Vandel ruins. Seeing this, he took advantage of Kissu and decided to take him as his henchman, placing on him a poisonous bracelet, the symbol of Grineed's influence over Kissu. Kissu stayed with Grineed and obeyed every order that was given him, until one day, the one person that had changed his life came back-Beet. Then, he became ambiguous as to which side to stick with: the Vandel's or Beet's? After Beet defeated Frausky, Grineed's henchman, they were attacked by Rozzgoat, another powerful Vandel under Grineed. During the battle, he stood between Rozzgoat and a weakened Beet. At this point he decided that he would never leave his friend and would fulfill his dreams alongside him.
After the team defeated Rozzgoat, Kissu rapidly joins the Beet Warriors, being the long range Divine Attacker. He complains and pities himself sometimes as they travel, since he was out of shape, not being able to use Divine Power for two years. Though, when he is confident in himself, Kissu and Beet are an unstoppable team. However, serving under a Vandel is considered a serious crime, and Kissu is wanted by the Buster Association. After the Beet Warriors destroy Grineed, the Broad Buster Milfa sees the faith Kissu's team has in him and decides to escort the Beet Warriors to Kissu's trial.
Kissu's fighting style consists of using all five forms of Divine Attack (Fire, Wind, Water, Thunder, Light) to nail his enemies at long-range. To make it work properly, he throws arrows of light that secretly carry another Divine Power within them, making it hard to predict for his opponents what kind of Divine Attack it ultimately is. In addition, he's skilled at manipulating the Divine Attack of wind around his body as a shield. He has a favored final attack, Tengeki of Ice Shockwave (Frozen Wave of Divine Blue in the English manga), which pierces foes with an arrow of ice, freezing them completely. This, coupled with his genius-level intellect makes him a formidable Buster and asset to Beet's team. Although he has not yet materialized a saiga, it is likely that the saiga he materializes will be water-based, reflecting his ultimate technique and the writer's probable goal to have all five elements represented in the saiga of the Beet Warriors. Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese)
Kissu is currently suffering severely from the reappearance of the Vandel who spared his life: Baron. His subconscious fear of Baron caused him to do what he has vowed never to do again- leave Beet.
Milfa