Dinosaur Biyori Episode 1 Review

 

When I first discovered Dinosaur Biyori on an Anime News Network article back a couple months ago, the artstyle immediately caught my attention because of how cute and funny it looked. I was like, "Definitely going to watch this when it premieres on TOKYO MX". 

Without the ending theme and commercials, episode 1 is 1 minute and 30 seconds long. It's basically about the 3 dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus (the pink/purple one), Triceratops (the yellow one), and Stenonychosaurus (the green one) sitting in their apartment talking about stuff. It has a calm, laid-back pace that's reminiscent of shows like Ojarumaru and Danchi Tomoo. 

When I first watched episode 1, I didn't really get much out of it (besides the artstyle) because I watched it in Japanese without any subtitles, along with it being very dialogue heavy. The only thing I understood was a visual joke about Tyrannosaurus struggling to reach for his drink due to his short, stubby hands. I re-watched it a few times and eventually was able to fully latch onto the show's presentation. 

The animation is pretty good and has a nice use of squigglevision. The background music is just okay. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a "Dinosaur Biyori Original Soundtrack" CD if one ever gets released.

Episode 1 gives off the impression that the show is meant to be simple, cute, laid-back fun aimed at adults. It's not meant to be off-the-wall crazy, nor complex. I really like the show's style and intend on watching more of the mini slice-of-life adventures of the dinosaurs.

As of this writing, Dinosaur Biyori has yet to be licensed outside of Japan. It has only been fansubbed into Chinese. Episode 1 is streaming for a limited time on the show's official Twitter account and on YouTube by Aniplex (region blocked outside of Japan). I used the Japanese IPTV service iSakura in order to watch a playback stream of the TOKYO MX 1 broadcast.