Trip Down Memory Lane - The Mysterious Cities of Gold
Time: 01:50am
Date: 8th March, 2007

The Golden Condor and the ship Solaris

Since I haven't written much recently (*You can blame having to spend too much time at work for that ;D*) I decided to write a ramble on the one thing I've been watching the most of recently. Thanks to a forum topic about Retro cartoons we used to watch as kids, I have re-discovered my love for one such show, "The Mysterious Cities of Gold"

A Japanese/French collaboration, The Mysterious Cities of Gold follows the story of a boy named Esteban, who is said to have the power be able to bring out the sun, a power he doesn't even believe in himself. Saved during a storm by a Spanish ship when he was just a baby, he carried around his neck a medallion said to be linked to the Mysterious Cities of Gold.

12 years later, Esteban, along with an Incan girl named Zia and a descendent of the people of Heva, Tao, travel together to find these cities of gold, along with Mendoza, the Spaniard who saved Esteban's life when he was a baby and his two right-hand men, Pedro and Sancho.

The series is very beautifully done, I didn't quite remember how the series went, the only thing I remembered from it was that it had a giant golden Condor, so when I found the series on Youtube I just HAD to watch it again. This piece of animation is a far cry from the animation of today, where as most of the animation today follows the line where it has to be all hip and EXTREME as well as being bound by too many rules saying "You can't show this that or the other to children", Cities of Gold is a beautiful example of classic animation back before cartoons were overtaken by too many rules so that cartoons don't offend ANYONE, gwah, I miss those days! The animated shows back in the 80s will always be awesome <3
But not only is the animation and story beautiful, so is the music! From the lovely opening theme too the enchanting BGM score, it'll have you captivated!

From L to R: Tao, Esteban and Zia

I've only re-watched up to episode 9 but I HIGHLY recommend you watch this show, it's beautiful!
Unfortunately there are no English language DVDs out yet ;~~; They really need to bring a box set out or something. I think there are DVDs available in France, but of course, it's in French! XD
But but, all is not lost as the user JWFau on Youtube has all 39 episodes of this amazing show uploaded, the videos are a bit dodgy at times, they're taken from various VHS sources it seems and the previews for the next episode previews are in French (*The rest IS in English*), but it's worth the watch.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JWFau

Just be warned that episode 39 is uploaded before the rest of the series XD Just so you know where to look for it~ If you come across this and you see the link not working, it means Youtube took it down, which is bad for those of us who don't have any other means of seeing the English version, other than bootleg DVDs of course ;p

Watching this brought back some good memories, I remember running around the playground at school pretending I was in the Golden Condor :D

For further information visit the Wikipedia Article :D

And ya know, watching this now makes me wanna go buy the Dogtanian and Around the World with Willy Fog box sets XD I also find it funny that when I was a kid, I was already watching anime without even knowing the cartoons I watched came from Japan (*Or partly from Japan XD*), apparently Dogtanian was also animated in Japan even though it was created in Spain.


Mood: Nostalgic
Listening too: Mysterious Cities of Gold English Opening~