I always saw this show Dinozaurs online though I had never heard of it when it actually aired. Liking anime and dinosaurs I was always curious but the screencaps made me wary. But at only 26 episodes I decided to check it out and well it’ ssomething. It’s definitely a product of its time of being an early anime American dub and also not being a top quality anime from Japan either. But there’s something this show has I have to admit.
The intro isn’t great and not too catchy, very generic although I think some people who grew up with it do like it a lot. In general the series looks cheap, no budget especially for the 2000s. CG looks like early Beast Wars and that was in 1996. The context of the original entrance is not really touched upon only briefly from dialogue, unlike the ovas that gave a full rundown. So the prequel OVAs and Dinozaurs 12 minute pilot are in a way canona nd essential to the show.
I like how tthis show did the whole 2D 3D neon dinosaurs combo before Dinosaur King. It feels like a 90s kids anime dub and it’s well done by Saban. . A bit ecological though not enough, the bad guys make reference to CO2. Unsure how accurate the dub is, I doubt the original is too deep, it feels rather childish but the dialogue does seem very Americanized and dumbed down. It also reuses some stuff from the OVAs at least in the early episodes.
Now to some of the story Dragozaurs want the life force of earth, there’s references they were there in the past. The good guys are the Dino Knights and you have a variety of characters like Dino Tyranno Dino Bracchio, Dino Tricera, Dino Stego, Dino Sabre, Dino Petra, Dino Mammoth, Cerazaur Brothers Dino weapons. Others. Dragozaurs Diamond Ryugu, Gigano Dragon, Drago Wing, Main hero a kid Kaito, Rena the girl and later the third guy Rick.
It reuses the models from the OVA so it’s a cheap production. Kaito has no personality beyond being the main character kid, and Rena has the classic Tsundere I’m a tough girl attitude. They use the Dino dagger to revive the Dinozaurs, though I think they can do it themselves, they just prefer to wait and save their energy until they are needed and called for (aka it’s not very consistent). Dialog is just too over the top and too childish. The 2D/3D mishmash doesn’t look good, and the CG is just poor.
It’s weird to see the fossils have conversations without any of them moving, but it’s not like their transformed state is much better. The plots of the episodes are pretty generic. The original story you can tell is already aiming at a very young audience, but even then the dub is not helping things out.
They get a new member Rick who has another dino dagger. They do find other new dinozaurs and wake up different dinosaurs during the show.. Rick as mentioned is like that sixth ranger kind of guy with his special team of Dinozaurs. The dialogue is very much made up, unsure what the Japanese version’s dialogue might be like, but they are definitely not saying “WASSSUUUP!!” when a T-Rex goes through a window. Again the Japanese version still seems very dumb down already and aiming at a very young audience, dialogue in the dub is just so generic for kids beyond that. Each episode is just about trying to find the life source on earth and the heroes stopping them. Battles range from bad to ok. You do get some nice scenes from time to time but you do have to suffer through a lot of the show for those little bits. Hardly worth it.
The second half of the show you get some multi part episodes, like the ones with sauratops (Saurasods?) the other good team with rick. Music is likely American and it’s all bad, The multi part episodes raise the stakes a bit and of course try to sell new toys and show hiow cool they look. The gigantic beings look great but still the same silly show. Dino ramph, dinoriugi, .. she wants the life force and is the big bad, you also get a cooler villain with Dark Dragon. You do get a fake kills of the T-Rex and Triceratops opnly to get upgraded forms. The Dino Ryugi empress looks intimidating and cool besides the dub lines she has to say. The ending just doesn’t feel was epic with the dub, there’s at least a conclusion with some stakes. Even if a death shown we get some dialogue that she doesn’t die. I do like how they combine into one power, it’s not as epic as the original ending likely was in Japan but still at least it got a conclusion. I’m sure a more accurate dub would’ve given a better show but as I mentioned the show is already lacking in many aspects so it’d still be a kid show for the most part.