xyzzysqrl: (Hot blooded with a sense of justice!)
xyzzysqrl ([personal profile] xyzzysqrl) wrote2010-05-06 03:12 am

SERIES COMPLETE: Mysterious Cities of Gold

What a sense of closure. I watched this cartoon first during its run on Nickelodeon in the eighties. I'd always remembered it as being a great adventure story, but really confusing.

No wonder it was confusing: It was largely aired out of order. Watched in sequence, this is a DAMN fine story that takes some, uh... well, if you're an anime fan they're not exactly UNEXPECTED twists. What did impress me was the level of animation and detail in the show, this could easily stand alongside shows made today, particularly in the later episodes, if the prints weren't quite so faded.

Mendoza, incidentally, still a stone badass. How much of my conception of "semiheroic swashbuckler" came from him?

Also, I continue to claim this is the Proto-Avatar in a number of ways. Not quite as good, not quite as funny, not quite as well-dubbed (oof, watching the special features makes me realize how much eighties dubbing studios had to LEAP through hoops to get ANY kind of performance done), but still...

I dunno. I'm not willing to claim it's nostalgia anymore: Aside from the voice acting and the slightly redundant writing, this is a genuine classic. I feel comfortable saying that. I also have high, high hopes for the sequel series which are supposedly in production. Here's hoping I won't be let down.

We've replaced it on the schedule with Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water, a 19th-century story that has some of the same themes of adventure and exploration.

(Afterthought: OF course, I'm notoriously positive and enjoy EVERYTHING. There's no reason you should believe me, here.)

In other shows: Kamen Rider Den-O has introduced The Rival. He is trying very hard to be a bad guy. It is not working. In part this is because he has the world's most woobiest Imagin possessing him. This is the BEST PART of the show.
Tactics continues to be The Japanese X-Files + Homoeroticism.
Legend of Galactic Heroes episode 26 made me cry like a little girl. Noooooooo... Oh, man, what is he gonna do without you...
GaoGaiGar is still fricking BERSERKER. Courage will form true peace in space!
And finally, we finished Patlabor, went for All-Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku, finished THAT, and have moved to You're Under Arrest, which was drawn by someone with a massive throbbing erection for cars and is lighthearted police drama. Refreshing, like a light rain. Mmmm.

[identity profile] kiruppert.livejournal.com 2010-05-06 09:50 am (UTC)(link)
Wasn't You're Under Arrest! by the same guy who did Gunsmith Cats and Riding Bean? (Kenichi Sonada, I believe). If so, yeah, he has a massive throbbing erection for cars, among other things.
seawasp: (Default)

[personal profile] seawasp 2010-05-06 11:46 am (UTC)(link)
I never saw much of Mysterious Cities, but I may have to track down a copy sometime.

Nadia is one of my favorite Anime series of all time. It doesn't quite reach the top (Vision of Escaflowne) but it's damn good. For quite a few years I was driving a tough red-orange colored VW Diesel Rabbit that I named "The Gratan" because of this show.

[identity profile] relee.livejournal.com 2010-05-06 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow you're just plowing through the shows now, aren't you? That's a good fluffer!

It's been a few months so Imma gonna poke Macademi Wasshoi at you again! You should TOTALLY watch it, and it's only like 12 eps long so you'll probably watch it all in one day. <3

[identity profile] relee.livejournal.com 2010-05-07 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
What does it look like, if not your kind of thing?

I'll be surprised and disappointed if it wasn't your kind of thing. There's elf on super robot gay romance!

[identity profile] foxish.livejournal.com 2010-05-09 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I have an odd longing to go and sit with my younger self and watch the stuff Nickelodeon ran back in the 80s. Not that I can remember much of it, other than Cities Of Gold, Spartacus, and annoying my mother by insisting on watching Belle & Sebastian for the 80th time.

Nostalgia runs deep in some of us.