History Anime / TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold

A [[http://www.lescitesdor.com/actualite/mco2/mco2.php sequel series]] was recently announced consisting of three seasons with 26 episodes each. This sequel supposedly deals with Esteban's further adventures in finding the other six cities of gold. [[http://www.animeland.com/animebase/anime/voir/2788 Season one is set to premiere in September 2012 on TF1]]. From the [[http://www.wat.tv/video/mysterieuses-cites-or-trailer-52rdh_2ey1r_.html trailer]], it appears to be rendered in CelShading.

* CreatorCameo: Which turned into an extended role. Howard Rysphan, the director and head scriptwriter of the English dub, auditioned for Mendoza purely on a whim and was stunned when the producers in France and the UK picked him.

->''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 path of setting sun that leads to El Dorado, and [[TitleDrop the Mysterious Cities of Gold]].''

* TripodTerror: The Olmecs' three-legged flying machine, which is also capable of walking.
* VerbalTic

* HoYay[[invoked]]: A PuppyLove version with Esteban and Tao, who cling to each other when stressed or frightened, invade each others' space at any time for any reason, and generally behave like a married couple. Also, when Tao was [[spoiler: forced to destroy the Solaris]], only the sight of Esteban calling to him could cheer him. Also: Sancho and Pedro for the adult version, or Gaspar and Gomez for the villain version.

* TitleThemeTune: [[http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/generique.php?id=603 ''(Ahhh-ah-ah-ah) Someday we will find the Cities of Gold!'']] It's also an EarWorm.
** A generic J-pop song , as well as MIDI samples as BG music in the Japanese version. It flopped miserably.

* AdaptationDistillation: The TV show was theoretically adapted from a novel which actually has very little in common with it; it especially lacks the SpeculativeFiction elements and {{Kid Hero}}es.

There was also an [[http://www.lescitesdor.com/actualite/naez/naez.php attempted retool]] by a different animation company in the mid-aughties, which featured very different character redesigns, the removal of some characters (Tao being one of them), the addition of new characters, and choppy animation. It was not well-received and was subsequently abandoned after a limited DVD release in France.

** A generic J-pop song , as well as MIDI samples as BG music in the Japanese. It flopped miserably.

** A generic J-pop song , as well as MIDI samples as BG music in the original Japanese. It flopped miserably.

A [[http://www.lescitesdor.com/actualite/mco2/mco2.php sequel series]] was recently announced consisting of three seasons with 26 episodes each. This sequel supposedly deals with Esteban's further adventures in finding the other six cities of gold. [[http://www.animeland.com/animebase/anime/voir/2788 Season one is set to premiere in September 2012 on TF1]].

* DumbMuscle: Teteola, the Doctor and Marinche's henchman.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Marinche suggests poisoning a village to get at the gold in the lake as well as to keep the kids from being sacrificed. The doctor's response to this suggestion is, "What?!" and says he hates doing it -- and even then, he only ''mixes'' the poison.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The heroes have two sets of these following them around, Commander Gomez and Gaspar, and Marinche and The Doctor , trying to beat them to the treasure.

** Uh, I'm pretty sure that Pedro and Sancho openly consider the monetary worth of the ''Solaris'' at one point - Mendoza *certainly* would have, but wouldn't be stupid enough to mention it. In fact I'm pretty sure it's one of the main reasons that Pedro and Sancho are [[spoiler:so despondent when Tao is forced to destroy it]]. They're also open in speculating about the value of the Condor, but because it only has seating for three, only Esteban seems to be able to pilot the thing, and as the comic relief they are narratively required to be scared of flying, it's a practical impossibility.

** Isn't he more of a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor? The question isn't really 100% resolved until towards the end when he [[spoiler:catches Pedro and Sancho preparing to run off to plunder the First City and abandon the children to the battle, then proceeds to ''beat them senseless while chastising them for their cowardice'', which is probably his ultimate CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the show]].

** One of the characters was supposed to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malinche Malinche]], but JapaneseRanguage combined with the translators not recognizing the name caused her to be called "Marinche".

* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: The mini-documentaries shown after the episodes are possibly the greatest example of this trope (very long, accurate, an actual budget)... But also it's subversion. The one about human sacrifices is nothing but ''traumatizing''. It ends with a first-person shot of a victim tied up on a sacrificial altar. You see the priest, on top of you, lifting up his knife and stabbing you. The screen suddenly fades to black. Then the narrator says "see you next week on another episode." Thanks for the NightmareFuel, Edutainment!

* InternationalCoproduction: Between DiC and StudioPierrot.

* InternationalCoproduction

* HoYay: A ToyShip version with Esteban and Tao, who cling to each other when stressed or frightened, invade each others' space at any time for any reason, and generally behave like a married couple. Also, when Tao was [[spoiler: forced to destroy the Solaris]], only the sight of Esteban calling to him could cheer him. Also: Sancho and Pedro for the adult version, or Gaspar and Gomez for the villain version.

* TheAragorn: Mendoza

''The Mysterious Cities of Gold'' is a sprawling adventure epic that is well worth a watch, although an English DVD version of the series has not yet been released in the United States. A Region 2 English DVD release was brought about in the UK in June 2008, and a French movie company is currently planning a film based on the TV series. A Region 1 English DVD was released in April 2009.

* NotableOriginalMusic: The theme song and BGM was composed by the musical team of Shuki Levy and Haim Saban. The music was collected and released vinyl and then on DVD in France. [[hottip:*:Some of the music got reused in ''HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse''.]]

It was aired in several countries, and was shown in the United States on {{Nickelodeon}} during the late 1980s. [[hottip:*:Anyone brought up in the UK in the 1980s will remember it as one of the three cartoon serials on permanent loop along with ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'' and ''DogtanianAndTheThreeMuskehounds''.]] Despite its similarities to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' -- including being shown on the same network -- ''The Mysterious [[CityOfGold Cities of Gold]]'' was notable in its disregard of NeverSayDie and GoshDangItToHeck, two tropes which have dogged American cartoons well into the present day. In some countries where this series was shown (although not in the United States), each episode was followed by a short documentary exploring subjects related to the episode. The documentaries were funded by the NHK.

* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks

It was aired in several countries, and was shown in the United States on {{Nickelodeon}} during the late 1980s. [[hottip:*:Anyone brought up in the UK in the 1980s will remember it as one of the three cartoon serials on permanent loop along with ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'' and ''DogtanianAndTheThreeMuskehounds'']] Despite its similarities to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' -- including being shown on the same network -- ''The Mysterious [[CityOfGold Cities of Gold]]'' was notable in its disregard of NeverSayDie and GoshDangItToHeck, two tropes which have dogged American cartoons well into the present day. In some countries where this series was shown (although not in the United States), each episode was followed by a short documentary exploring subjects related to the episode. The documentaries were funded by the NHK.

It was aired in several countries, and was shown in the United States on {{Nickelodeon}} during the late 1980s. [[hottip:*:Anyone brought up in the UK in the 1980s will remember it as one of the three cartoon serials on permanent loop along with ''AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'' and ''DogtanianAndTheThreeMuskehounds'']] Despite its similarities to ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' -- including being shown on the same network -- ''The Mysterious [[CityOfGold Cities of Gold]]'' was notable in its disregard of NeverSayDie and GoshDangItToHeck, two tropes which have dogged American cartoons well into the present day. In some countries where this series was shown (although not in the United States), each episode was followed by a short documentary exploring subjects related to the episode. The documentaries were funded by the NHK.

* {{Misblamed}}: Some differences between the French and Japanese translations are attributed to {{Bowdlerization}} by the former of the latter, which is inaccurate since the series is a joint Franco-Japanese production written by Jean Chalopin and Bernard Deyriès but animated in Japan. If anything, the differences were more to tailor them to their respective (80s-era) audiences than anything else.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: The original series was broadcast in Japan, then in France. The French translators altered many plot points and toned down some aspects of the story. For example, the Olmecs were changed from being aliens, as stated outright in the Japanese version (the original opening begin with a shot of the galaxy, then panning to the earth), to some "mysterious advanced people". This carried out with subsequent translations, which are based on the French version.
** I'm not sure that category works for this aspect of the show - it was a French/Japanese co-production in the literal sense of the term, and Jean Chalopin was effectively the chief writer (i.e. the concept was his, he wasn't simply translating the Japanese script). I suspect it had more to do with tailoring the show to the respective audience, and it went both ways - Studio Pierrot deliberately toned down the traditional anime 'look', to make it appear more European.

->''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 across uncharted seas and discover unknown countries, to find secret gold on a mountain trail high in the Andes. They dream of following path of setting sun that leads to El Dorado, and [[TitleDrop the Mysterious Cities of Gold]].''