Children's anime often leaves something to be desired for the serious otaku. This is mostly due to poor scripts with no plot, repetitive animations and irritating voiceovers. Personally, I have never been able to get into DBZ, Pokemon or YuGiOh but figured I'd give DICE a shot when it was offered to me. This show is produced in house by Bandai for a North American release and everything for the series from marketing and broadcasting to a line of toys is handled by them.

DICE borrows a little bit of magic from other notable shows like Transformers, Voltron and Power Rangers but can't seem to capitalize on their success. The final product comes off as a hollow attempt to emulate something else and thus loses any of its identity. The only audience that this show is going to hold passing interest for is viewers under the age of ten and even then there is still better anime out there.

The basic premise here is that there is a team of teenage kids who live up in space and respond when there is a crisis. They are a group of DICE (DNA Integrated Cybernetic Enterprises) known as Unit F-99 and go around saving one world or person after another. There are quite a few characters that the show focuses on but most of the screen time is eaten up by a spiky redhead named Jet. Each of these kids also has unique abilities and vehicles that transform into mechanical dinosaurs.

As the group springs into action they whip out something that looks like a remote control and morph into a cybernetic warrior. When in this battle suit they can also control a vehicle that is custom designed for them. For instance Robert operates a hover jet that can turn into a pterodactyl named Hoverptera. Each member has their own vehicle that is used for transportation or for turning into a dinosaur.

The last volume followed the pattern of presenting a problem, having DICE react to it and eventually saving the day. A little character development came to the foreground and the world was fleshed out a tiny bit but overall it wasn't very much. B-DICE popped in for some comic relief (though their not that funny) and we learn some more about Jet, Robert and Puffy. The Phantom Knight made another appearance and a guy named Spike was introduced who wins over the ladies.

The third volume actually contains only four episodes instead of the five that the prior two installments featured. A guy named Macchiatto is introduced and Jet's character is fleshed out some more as seeing the Phantom Knight stirs up some memories. There's quite a lot of action in this volume too with a handful of adventures and even a little continuity. A mysterious group of adversaries emerge and a plot involving something called Heron starts seeping into show. It was definitely a nice change of pace for the series but not enough to save it from mediocrity.

Unfortunately DICE still suffers from some pretty abysmal dialogue and equally bad voice acting. Everything is just so awkward at times and so stiff that it comes off as wooden, no matter how lively the show may look. I understand that it's a kid show and you don't want to challenge them too much but even children will probably find the show boring thanks to the dull atmosphere and downtrodden dialect.

As it was with the previous volumes of DICE, the third continues to repeat many animations whenever necessary. If a dinosaur is transforming or a ship is going through a wormhole chances are that you've seen it over and over before. Aside from that the animation is also pretty low quality with some still shots and motion that doesn't look too fluid. There are some times when it looks very nice but those are few and far between.

In the end DICE feels uninspired, boring and like a cheap attempt to capturing the success of several shows before it. The Power Rangers aspect comes in when the team morphs into their cybernetic suits, the Transformers comparison happens when their rides "libertize" into dinosaurs and the team based nature of the show rips off other shows with the same concept. There just isn't enough that DICE can call its own and in the end it feels as if the franchise is a blatant attempt at creating a cash-cow. This is definitely a show that is designed for the much younger crowd and they may enjoy it somewhat. Older (as in over ten) viewers will probably not find it worth their time unless they're craving some older style Saturday cartoon fare.

DICE is presented on DVD with the 1.33:1 full frame ratio that it originally airs with. The quality of this release is very good with clean lines, sharp colors and next to no grain or compression artifacts. I did notice a little bit of aliasing at some points but it wasn't that prominent. Despite the repeat and sometimes sloppy animations the show looks very nice (if not a little unoriginal) and is vibrant enough to keep the kids happy.

Since the show is geared towards the American audience the only language available here is the original English. The track is presented with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio and sounds like you'd expect a stereo release to. Everything is front channel with very little directionality used and the quality is pretty clean and free of flaws. The music, sound effects and voiceovers for this show leave a lot to be desired though but children may enjoy it more. There are no subtitles available for this release which is kind of disappointing.

The only extra that is present on this disc is the same preview for the PlayStation 2 version of the DICE videogame that we saw on the first volume. Again it is just proof that this show is more of a marketing ploy than an attempt to create an original and interesting concept.

DICE is definitely a show that is aimed towards a much younger audience. The concept is very unoriginal, the characters are one-dimensional and the show has some rather low quality moments. I find it hard to imagine that the target younger audience would even be able to hold much interest in the series considering that there is just much better material on the market right now. If you have a kid that's looking for something new to watch you may want to give this one a rental to see if they get into it. Otherwise you're going to be much better off skipping it all together although this volume is definitely better than the last two. Skip It

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