The Mysterious Cities of Gold

The best animated children's series ever made! 100 stars!
This 1980's series, loosely based on Scott O'Dell's novel "The King's Fifth" is a superb blend of Japanese animation, French writing, and some of the best music ever.

The series which is one big story arc follows a group of Spaniards in the 16th century who go looking for a city of gold that is hidden somewhere in Central or South America, they are accompanied by an Inca girl who can decipher clues to its location and later meet other people along the way.

The storyline includes mythology of lost continents of Atlantis and Mu (Hiva in this story), and of their supposed highly advanced technology that rivals today's.

This series was the jewel of Nickelodeon's television programming in the 1980's and became a cult classic. It was previously released on DVD in Quebec and France in the early 2000's and Japan a few years later. It is now set for a long overdue US release with excellent special features.

I speculate that the success of bootleg...

A Golden Oppertunity
After 20 years of waiting, its finally here.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold is a show most of children would have seen on Nickelodeon in the mid-80's. A rare collaboration between French writers and Japanese animators (overseen by none other than Hayao Miyazaki himself), it combined strong characters with rich artwork, and set it all in a more or less historically accurate 15th century Meso-America. 39 episodes in length, this series tells one continuous story, told primarily from the viewpoint of the show's three main child characters.

Along their journey, these children demonstrate the virtues of love, friendship, kindness, and self-sacrifice, without any of the artificial constructs normally placed into such stories. They learn and grow, becoming deeper, more mature people as they explore and come in contact with real South American cultures, which are painted in a positive light. The primary antagonists are the invading Spaniards, seeking to look the new...

The long overdue MCoG box set, finally available!
To be certain, this show is terrific! The glowing reviews for the Mysterious Cities of Gold, both on this site and throughout the web, are well-deserved. With that said, I'm more interested in discussing the particulars of this DVD, to help you make an educated purchase.

This release spreads 39 episodes out between 6 discs. Each episode is presented along with its original, corresponding documentary. Additionally, there are DVD exclusives on each disc. The features are engaging, although it would've been nice to segregate the extras to disc 6, making it easier to find them!

Also, it is true that there are no other language options or subtitles on this disc. This is a little disappointing, as the documentary on the voice-over acting discusses the differences between the french and english translations frequently, making me wish I could hear some of the original french!

Yet, despite my criticisms, this box truly is very very good. An alternate Region 1...

Click to Editorial Reviews