Underplayed Gems

The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982)

The Mysterious Cities of Gold poster
Original title
太陽の子エステバン
Genre
fantasy anime and manga, fantastique, adventure anime and manga, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country
France, Japan
Length
1 season, 26 episodes
Rated
TV-Y7
Rating
7.8 of 10 from 85 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More series like this

How it feels

A young boy named Esteban travels across South America in the 1500s searching for legendary lost cities of gold. He is joined by friends and encounters ancient secrets along the way.

adventurousmysteriouseducationalhopefulchild-centeredhistoricalwhimsicalslow-paced

What happens

Esteban: Child of the Sun (Japanese: 太陽の子エステバン, Hepburn: Taiyō no Ko Esuteban), known outside of Japan as the first season of The Mysterious Cities of Gold (French: Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or), is a French-Japanese animated series which was produced by MK, NHK, DiC Audiovisuel, CLT and animated by Studio Pierrot. The series was originally broadcast in Japan and the French version, edited with different characterization and music, was subsequently redubbed and distributed in many countries. It is currently licensed for English-language home video release in the United Kingdom, Australia, and North America by Fabulous Films. When it was rebroadcast in Japan on NHK BS2 from 1998 to 1999, the animation was imported back from France and the audio was redubbed. NHK had erased the original VTR when their contract expired, and the rights holder had lost the master copy. The voice actress for the main character, Esteban, was the only one to reprise her role. A sequel, serving as a three-season continuation of the original, premiered in 2012. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.