So I just finished off the series D.I.C.E./Dinobreakers, and I thought it was rather good despite some greviances.
Now, before I actually talk about this series, I need to explain some background behind it. How I first found out about this series is that I happened across the game on the PS2 that was a "West" exclusive, figured I should watch the series before playing it, and now I have. In addition, this series was one of those rare occasions where it is an original anime production made solely in the interest of releasing it in West first and foremost as the series' target market. I'm assuming in an attempt by Bandai to make something competing against Power Rangers. So it was first released on American television back in January of 2005 with the Western dub before being backported to Japan and released in Japanese eleven months later in December of the same year. And with this being the case, I figured I'd watch the English dub since it was "intended" to be released with that script in mind. Before I say anything else, I cannot recomend that anyone else do the same.
So the plot for the series is based in some far future far-off place in a region of space known as the Sarbylion Galaxy. There, humans and aliens live out their lives relatively in peace aside from the occasional conflict between some planets. However there to maintain the peace are two organizations, the Space Police and D.I.C.E.. D.I.C.E. stands for DNA Intergrated Cybernetic Enterprises, and is also the name of the guy who founded the organization, Captain Dice. D.I.C.E. is essentially a "public service for hire" company who handles everything from escorting civilians, to being a mediator, to helping save people during a natural disaster. And the members of D.I.C.E. perform these tasks with the help of their Dinobreakers, living machines that take the form of dinosaurs and capable of transforming into an assortment of vehicles. The focus of the series is on D.I.C.E. Fortress F-99, the newest of the D.I.C.E. units and also comprised entirely of teenagers as part of an experiment by the organization's chairman. The series then follows these kids and their exploits as D.I.C.E. agents, primarily focussing on Jet. However as the series develops, they also begin having regular encounters with a mysterious figure called "The Phantom Knight", where episodes begin bouncing between him either being an rival to Jet or a mentor. All the while Jet still agonizes over the supposed "death" of his brother five years earlier, and the Phantom Knight's unexplained connection to him. I'll let you put two and two together. And in the background behind this, there is a massive galaxy wide conspiracy taking place where some mysterious group is searching for the long thought-to-be-legend "Heron's Gate", a wormhole that will transport people to the planet Heron that contains the Fountain Of Youth. Without spoiling much, it's real, they find it, they open it, but the Big Bads are so afraid of dying that they end up committing suicide in a fit of obsession before even crossing it. D.I.C.E. agrees to keep Heron's Gate a "secret" and guard it against anyone who seeks to exploit the wormhole in a bid to chase immortality. And so ends "season 1", the first 26 episodes.
Needless to say, someone talked. And so the series time skips six months later as F-99 now guards the opposite end of the wormhole to shoo people back home. But of course, some straglers got through. And on one of the rescue missions to save one of those groups, the kids in F-99 happen across another team called the "Heron Knights", the keepers of peace in the Heron Universe and the direct servents of the Immortal Pharoh. The Immortal Pharoh rules the planet of Heron, which is in the dead center of the Heron Universe, and thus the "second season" (The remaining 14 episodes) are about the kids bumbling about the Heron Universe until the Phantom Knight shows up again with the expressed purpose of supposedly "ending" the Heron Universe.
I'm not going to say much more than that because, honestly, I liked the series. It was a nice relaxing pace. Not being rather inconspicuous with the direction the show was going, but it was alright for a show that was essentially Thunderbirds with dinosaurs. The only real complaint I have is how much and how often the series had a plot that focussed on the fact that the F-99 members were "kids", and seeming to only emphasize that fact instead of showing and expecting them to behave and act like responsible and capable members of D.I.C.E.. There are just one too many episodes where Jet runs off to do something stupid, only for the conlcusion to be that he receives a stern talking to that basically amounts to, "Never do that again." Also, for some reason, the overall climax of the show during the second season sort-of felt like a "trial run" for Gurren Lagann, which came out two years later if you need some perspective. Don't know how or why though as almost no one who worked on D.I.C.E. also worked on Gurren Lagann, but it was just something strange that I felt worth noting.
The animation for the show is good. The only highlight is how it blends traditional animation with the CGI Dinobreakers, an aspect I haven't really seen another show do outside of the Transformers Unicron trilogy that was airing around the same time. Actually makes me wonder why most studios struggle with CGI these days when shows from twenty years ago seemed to be doing fine.
I sort of have to highlight the soundtrack because much of the OST reminded my of Phantasy Star Online, and I fucking live Phantasy Star Online. The only complaint I have with the audio is just how bad the dub is. When it's bad, you know it's bad. The best moments for the dub come across as average at best, but half of the voice actors sound like they're either miscast, had zero direction, or just cannot fucking act. Looking some of these people up, they've all been involved in Mega Man and Dragon Ball at some point, but almost none of them have been active since 2021/2023. With the notable exception of Caitlynne Medrek. And in case you're wondering, the show was dubbed by Ocean.
Overall, I do recomend the series. It's fun, simple, and entertaining. Just avoid the English dub and you should be fine. Now to finish torturing myself with the LAST English dub of an anime that I will be watching for a long time.