Welcome to the Anime Walk of Fame, a series of retrospectives on the many characters of the anime world. You'll see all your favorites along with a few that deserve more than their reputations give.

So sit back relax and enjoy the show.

Kai the Ultimate Gigachad

Not the anti-hero you think he is.

Kai is an absolute Gigachad and there is plenty of evidence to back it up.
Starting right from the beginning he punishes his lieutenant in the Blade Sharks after humiliating Tyson right at the start of Beyblade.
Straight up flexes on his opponent to prove a point to Emily about data.
When he loses to Johnny he straight up beats him later without any need for a growth arc.
Takes a humiliation from Spencer like a pro, doing a much better job than Kai's own teammates of curing him of his emo phase.
In V-Force he comes out of retirement because he enjoyed battling Dunga.
He's the one who hires Hilary as coach for the team seeing sense in her back to basics training regime.
Kai saving his teammates multiple times in V-Force.
Any fight Kai wins in G-Revolution is absolute gold, this includes the satisfying beatdown of Brooklyn.
Probably his most noble action and one that really elevates Kai to legendary status, silencing the crowd who were booing his opponents the Allstarz and demanding they show respect to all competitors, something I wish more sportsman did.
This is why Kai is S tier, his only black mark being the Black Dranzer saga but I blame the writer who clearly came up with that after watching Majin Vegeta episodes of Dragonballz.

Lee is a Lost Kitten

G Revolution really brought out the best in characters.

Lee starts off as Ray's disgruntled friend who hated the fact that Ray seemingly deserted the White Tigers for the Bladebreakers but ends up losing and making up with Ray, in G Revolution, Lee joins Ray for the championship but has a rough time of it at one point having an emotional breakdown forcing Ray to snap him out of it, it's a massive shift from fierce hotheaded Lion to lost kitten, not what I expected from Lee but was welcomed to really show how well he plays off Ray, it all pays off when Lee emerged as winner of the battle royale between White Tigers and All Starz and his emotional reaction to the win really hits the feels.

Rick is an Asshole and That's Okay

Beyblade is a sport at the end of the day and Rick is a reality check.

Rick was recruited into the Allstarz following Steve's injury prior to G Revolution, the reception to Rick joining was frosty at best, hostile at worst as both Eddy and Michael challenged him for the position to join Max in the championships, Rick battling with his more streetwise aggressive style that has even injured opponents, he hates losing, hates teamwork and is more motivated by his stereo than any kind of human encouragement, he's not so above it all when he loses, in fact his character growth is stronger than most of the other beybladers.
A lot of sports anime shy away from making someone like Rick anything other than a subpar villain but like any sport, it's full of people who are exactly like Rick.
Cristiano Ronaldo didn't get to where he is by being nice all the time, Rick is no different but also like a sportsman, he knows when to take defeat, this is why G Revolution is one of if not the best sports anime giving even the most disliked in universe character a chance to grow and earn their place.

Not Near's Fault He's Not L

Going through unpopular opinions and hot takes you start to see a few repeat ones that aren't as true as you might think.

Near is the successor to L after he is killed by Kira, the response to the character was about as welcome as you expect having to take the mantle of such a major popular character in Death Note meant Near never really had a chance to be liked and those who were more accepting hated Mello more.
In most arguments, Near is too similar in demeanour, personality and almost mannerisms as well but the fundamental difference is that rather than quirky habits, he treats everything like a puzzle, including the case that ultimately brings down Light Yagami, each puzzle resembling a toy from your average toy box.
In fact his detective skills turn out to be better suited for taking down Light as opposed to L who engaged Light more directly, the downfall of Kira being the grand finale we deserved.
Had L not been such a good character, Near wouldn't get such hate and will probably be respected with the same grandiose as L did.

Does Max Serve Any Purpose?

The downside of being surrounded by infinitely better rivals.

Max is the token nice guy of the Bladebreakers, a little too nice, I've always struggled to see Max as anything more than just making up numbers, Kuwabara of Yu Yu Hakusho comes to mind as a comparison.
I would say he brings knowledge with his Mom being a BBA researcher and his Dad being a hobby store owner but Kenny fills in for a lot of the technicals, so yeah Max isn't left with much.
Tyson has plot armour.
Kai has rival armour.
Ray has heritage armour.
Kenny has exposition armour.
Even Daichi has Scrappy-Doo armour.
Max at best is the heart of the team, at worst he's the best friend character with above average skills, even paired with Rick in G Revolution, he was so out of place next to someone who is twice his size that you forget that he's a main character.