Alternative Titles
Taiyou no Ko Esteban; The Mysterious Cities of Gold
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 39
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: 1982 to 1983
Duration:
20 min. per episode Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.671 (scored by 337 users)
Ranked: #5122
Popularity: #1703
Members: 520
Favorites: 6 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
adventure historical |
Synopsis1532. Esteban (12) is a foundling from Barcelona, with a mysterious power of ordering the Sun to appear, for which he is called "Child of the Sun". Upon the death of his adoptive father, Esteban learns he was rescued as a baby from a sinking ship in the ocean. The mysterious medallion that Esteban wears since ever has a trace somewhere in the New World, probably coming from the Mysterious Cities of Gold. Esteban leaves Spain to find his parents and find out who he is. On the way he meets Zia, an Inca girl who was kidnapped from her people years back and has exactly the same medallion as him. Later on they are joined by Tao, a young Galapagos robinson, the last descendant of the Empire of Heva, an Empire said to have built the Cities of Gold. Following Coyolite, the shining star represented on their medallions, the three children travel through the unexplored New World, searching for the Cities of Gold, believing that this way is leading them to their lost parents.
from ann |
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Recommendations
No recommendations have been made yet. Come on, make one!
Reviews
| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
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May 23, 200839 of 39 episodes seen 11 of 12 people found this review helpful Ok, a little bit of a disclaimer before I start my review. I'll admit it - this review is highly biased in the sense that I'm a highly nostalgic person, and I am giving this anime such a high score mostly because of the great memories it gave me as a kid.
Mysterious Cities of Gold (MCoG) is a personal favourite of mine - a classic anime from yesteryear. A literal gold nugget that popped up admist the overflowing sludge that was children's television programming in general. As Indi...ana Jones would say: "It belongs in a mueseum!"
The problem with this anime is that if you are watching MCoG for the first time you may end up thinking that this DOES actually belong in a mueseum and I can see how watching it today may present some obstacles in its enjoyment. To cut to the chase - this anime was made over 25 years ago and it has not aged well. On comparison to today's animation production standards the quality of the soundtrack ranges from average to downright bad (depending on what copy you get your hands on), the animation is mediocre at best, and the voice acting? Lets just say, avoid the English language version like the plague.
Now if you're a nostalgic old coot like myself who is looking to recover a long lost treasure from childhood these shortcomings probably won't be much of a problem - you see nostalgia tends to blind you to such deficiencies. You'll sit back on your rocking chair and start thinking: "Now, back in my day..."
My guess is though that there is a fairly high chance that you may not be a cantankerous old git like myself. You may well be full of pluck, used to anime with high-octane thrills, visceral explosions with a pumping soundtrack in the background, ala Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan. If you are, I have to tell you in advance: despite the high score I have given to this, you MAY not get into this. You have been warned.
Now that that little disclaimer is over and done with, lets get down to why this show remains one of my favourite television shows, and why it will probably remain with me for the rest of my life.
Now I said earlier that MCoG has rather bad production values compared with a lot of material that is getting released today. You have to remember though, that at the time of its release this anime literally blew the competition away and reshaped the concept of what makes for a good animation both for myself personally as a kid growing up, but also for the animation industry as a whole. It's kind of funny to say this, but as a kid I never really 'got into' cartoon shows aimed at kids. I never really liked Disney or Warner Brothers cartoons - even as a kid they seemed pretty lame, and I hated it how the animators of these shows just assumed that kids wouldn't get into a cartoon with a deeper undertone. It was like they were making cartoons just to get you to shut the fuck up while Mum cooked the tea.
Then along came the Mysterious Cities of Gold - my first introduction the world of anime, and a cartoon with a riveting, exciting and at times highly emotional story.
Picture this. A wide eyed child of about 5 years old sits down with a bowl of ice cream and turns on the TV. The kid hopes like hell that he wouldn't get the fucking Roger Ramjet theme blare at him again. Silence... This could just be his lucky day...
A shot then starts to progressively cut in to South America and its temples from the far reaches of the galaxy while a man's voice booms:
"It is the 16th century, from all over Europe great ships sail west to conquer the New World, the Americas"
"The men eager to seek their fortune, to find new adventures in new lands"
"They long to cross uncharted seas and discover unknown countries"
"To find secret gold on a mountain trail high in the Andes"
"They dream of following the path of the setting sun that leads to El Dorado,"
"And the MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD..."
20 minutes pass and the show ends. The kid's ice cream, long since forgotten about, lies melted beside him untouched...
Now that's what I'm talking about! Finally there was a children's show that treated kids to something worth watching. The premise of it all - An adventure story with an intriguing, emotive plot and characters whose intentions were not always clear - finally a show that made you want to rush home from school and turn on the telly - it's all in the story. Yes MCoG is a children's show, but the story, setting and characters are so well done that I believe it can be enjoyed equally by adults - or, 'big kids at heart', much in the same way an adult may enjoy a Miyazaki film.
No, MCoG doesn't feature the pumping soundtrack, or the flashy visuals on offer as in the majority of anime today. But it does offer something extra, that little something that is so hard to define. The X-factor that separates a true classic from a passing fad. MCoG was and is so important for me personally because it was my very first encounter with 'classic' entertaiment - something deep and meaningful that sticks with you for years, decades later. I've seen a lot of other shows since then and I actually tend to like most of them, but I would have inevitably forgotten about them within a year or two. There is something about shows like MCoG and a handful of other 'classic' shows that makes them unforgettable entertainment. I can't guarantee that you'll get the same buzz that I got as a kid when I watched it all those years ago, but I can guarantee that you'll be watching a pioneering anime of the 80's, an eternal classic whose influence can be seen in a number of highly regarded anime of today's generation. read more
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
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Apr 8, 200839 of 39 episodes seen 5 of 9 people found this review helpful I watched this when i was a child, it was my first anime. This is coming from someone who's all time favorite movie was GOONIES. The animation is pretty good considering it was the early 1980's. It's about a boy called Esteban(child of the sun) who is taken from Spain and is boarded aboard a ship to help find the cities of gold. He and his friend's go on a puzzling adventure with some sci fi Mayan artifacts. If you like stuff about Mayan history and treasure hunting you should like this.
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Opening Theme"冒険者たち (boukensha-tachi)" by PARU
Ending ThemeNo ending themes found, add themes.
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