The Mysterious Cities of Gold (French: Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or) is an animated series that serves as a sequel to, and a continuation of, the original 1982 anime television series of the same name. The series premiered on La Trois in Belgium on November 17, 2012.
Contents
Characters
The main cast of the series includes:
Esteban (voiced by Audrey Pic): An orphan who was rescued at sea as a baby twelve years ago by the Spanish navigator Mendoza, he wears one of the two sun medallions. He dreams of adventure and is extremely impulsive. Esteban has a fear of heights which is confounded by the people of Barcelona who believe him to be the "Child of the Sun" and hoist him up high at the port to call out the sun to aid the departing ships. He joins the Spaniards in their search for one of The Seven Cities of Gold in the New World, hoping to find his father.
Zia (voiced by Adeline Chetail): The daughter of an Inca high priest, she was kidnapped from Peru five years ago, when she was seven, by the Spanish invaders and given as a present to the Queen of Spain for her daughter, Princess Margarita. She met Esteban when she was kidnapped by Mendoza for Governor Pizarro who wanted her to read the golden quipu. Zia wears a sun medallion like Esteban's, with an interlocking sun and moon disc.
Tao (voiced by Caroline Mozzone): The last living descendant of the sunken empire of Mu, he lived alone on the Galápagos Islands following the death of his father. Initially he is cautious of the others' company when they wash up on his island, but when the ship Solaris is revealed he joins them on their journey.
Juan Carlos Mendoza (voiced by Bruno Magne): A Spaniard and navigator for the Spanish fleet, he rescued a young Esteban from a shipwreck during one of his voyages. An experienced sailor, a proficient navigator and a master swordsman, Mendoza places himself in the role of a leader. It is not always clear, however, where his loyalties lie and he is often at odds with the other characters. He is accompanied by two mercenaries: Sancho and Pedro. Mendoza has spent many years searching for information about the Mysterious Cities of Gold, which eventually led him to the sun medallions, one of which he took from Esteban when rescuing him for safe keeping.
Episodes
Season 1
Episodes 1 and 2 were shown on 9 November 2013 as a premiere double bill edition. They were repeated on 11 and 12 November at 6pm on Pop Max before continuing on a daily basis every weekday until the end of the series.
Broadcast
The English version premiered on Pop Max on November 9, 2013. Fabulous Films released it on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2014, in the UK. In 2016, the second season was made and released in France, and subsequently released in English in Australia in 2018. Season three was broadcast in French on RTS Un, but has yet to receive an English dub.
Reception
The show was perceived as losing its identity and untrue to the original, generally badly received by critics such as Starburst and HuffPost.
Video game
A video game called The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths for Windows (available on Steam), Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and iOS based on the show was published by Ynnis Interactive.