DICE

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Jun Kamiya
Production
Bandai, Studio Galapagos, XEBEC
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2004

D.I.C.E. V5

By David Rasmussen
30th Dec 05

We’re coming near to the end of 2005, so let’s bring this series some closure review wise before then… though more than likely the last reviews will probably post at the start of January (so apologies if I’m still talking about New Years resolutions at the start of January).
Breakfast… does it weight on your mind? Does it haunt your every thought? Are you thinking of it now… and it’s not morning wherever you are living?
If that is the case then perhaps you are living a life of Saturday mornings, and once again in the virtues of Saturday mornings of shows you watch for the campy fun we go back to the series that lives the life of the Saturday morning (one review at a time), BANDAI’s D.I.C.E. (DNA Integrated Cybernetic Enterprises). Once again -- D.I.C.E.

D.I.C.E. DVD V. 5
Episode 19 - Runaway Train
Look on the bright side, at least the ending won’t be a total downer like the fairly old live action movie of the same name. After delivering a highly volatile explosive to a construction site Jet decides to indulge in his love of fast trains by riding the fastest bullet train in the galaxy back to base. Along the way he runs into his own personal fanboy, an annoying guy and an incident that turns the train into a runaway train!
Yeah, we didn’t see that one coming.

Episode 20 - The Point of No Return
Despite the name it’s not as “no return” as it sounds. So what’s with the so-called “Point of No Return”? Seems a unadvised side trip through a “restricted” area to avoid a bad storm gets Jet and one other D.I.C.E. member trapped in this “phantom zone” type place where criminals were sent to die… oh, and some people who explored the area and vanished into said area “died” too. Seems the area traps people in their memories and… well… it drains them until they die… original!
Anyway it’s up to shopaholic QVC slash Home Shopping Network addicted D.I.C.E. girl Puffy to save the day, with the help of the Phantom Knight (of course).

Episode 21 - Uncovering Heron’s Secret
Heron. What is it, besides being a festival that nobody knows it’s origins of, as well as a planet being sought after by the Phantom Knight and hidden by some DaVinci Code style secret organization of truth hiders, and has something to do with eternal youth? Only by watching the episode you’ll find out… maybe.
At the very least it gives the crew a chance to goof off in another festival setting, at least for awhile.

Episode 22 - Jet Escapes
Quick! Somebody call Amnesty International! There’s something rotten on the planet and it isn’t a Brie Festival! A little fuzzy pocket humanoid rodent fellow and his daughter are off vacationing when their ship crashes on this planet of NIMBYs (aka the Not In My BackYard people) who seem to have the same dim view of “immigration” as the people who live near Mexico… only, mind you, he and his daughter are NOT IMMIGATING! THEY’RE ON VACATION!!!
So one thing leads to another and he’s locked away, separated from his daughter and sentenced to deportation from the planet WITHOUT HIS DAUGHTER!! Sufficient to say he somehow ends up in a bank, with a gun, and things go weird then. He calls for D.I.C.E. and trades his last “hostage” (who was all too willing to become “hostage” material despite the fact the guy was confused when he rolled into the bank post crash in the first place) for a D.I.C.E. member (Jet) who (after a long confusing chase) gets him back to his daughter (with the help of the Phantom Knight). He’s then arrested and locked away as his daughter sits silently in a foster home waiting for… WHAT THE HELL!!
Can you say human rights violation? Sure you can! The ACLU would be all over this like viral plague on a Raccoon City zombie! If there was one episode of D.I.C.E. whose ending sucked the most, it’s this one.
Congratulations! You’ve just justified the idioticy of out of control police powers and given the gold star of approval to interstellar policy that sucks. Way to go, D.I.C.E.!! Ack! It makes me want to throw a DinoBreaker across the room… but my doctor warned me against heavy lifting of things over 50 tons.
Now the breakdown, before I have a breakdown.

D.I.C.E. Breakdown the 5th
What’s Hot?
Saturday morning lives on, and it lives through D.I.C.E.. You know the drill, D.I.C.E. is sort of like NintenDogs for the DS… which is not to say that you can use your stylus to pet Jet, walk Jet, and clean up after Jet… I mean to say that you’ll have your first and only opinion of D.I.C.E. at first sight. You’ll either watch it, and think at least fairly good thoughts of it, or you’ll pass on it. Either way BANDAI has more than enough quality series to keep you satisfied even if D.I.C.E. doesn’t turn out to be your cup of campy. However it’s a campy little view and has some merits in at least it’s not totally die hard serious and you can have some fun watching the campy-ness of the stories (with action too)!
Younger viewers who have seen this show should dig it, especially since I’m sure the series was always geared to younger viewers. Older ones… well, not so much except if you are the campy fun Saturday morning excessive fluff action type then you might get a kick out of D.I.C.E.
Try it, judge it, pick it up if it appeals.

What’s Not?
That’s for you to decide. If you like this series, go for it. If not there’s plenty of other appealing series BANDAI has worth your time and effort. Nuff said.

Moments to Remember?
Today Puffy takes a bigger role in one episode, which is a rare thing despite the fact that (once again) she doesn’t shine solo… will it actually kill the creators to let her have one solo effort?!?

What to Ignore?
Episode 22 comes to mind. Sheesh, would it have killed them to have “smuggled” these two off planet in their pockets?!? They freed that woman who almost caused the genocidal death of a planet back in Episode 15 after it was proved that they tortured her so why not now?!? It’s not like they were trying to be “criminals” or anything!! Somebody call a lawyer, these two psuedo residents of Animal Crossing are having their humanoid rights violated! (Maybe they can get Crazy Redd to represent them in trial).

Overall?
Same as always. The love or hate of D.I.C.E. will probably not be a major undertaking for you to decide, but at least give it some chance in it’s merits as a piece of campy goodness. It’s not the best, and probably won’t win any Best Of Awards for 2005, but at least it’s somewhat interesting in a campy sort of Saturday morning way (Saturday morning as a 24/7 reality lives as long as D.I.C.E. still airs on TV).
Give it a rent, if nothing else, and see what you think before you judge it sight unseen.

-- David Rasmussen 30th Dec 05

DICE Images