The Mysterious Cities of Gold - S3E12 - The Memorial Temple

I can't hep but start singing tunes from the Junglebook

Of course it was kids, and I wasn't wrong about Temple of Doom reference since they pretty much referenced that plot point but with the adults missing instead of the kids. Our heroes decide to team up with the kids to save their parents from the magicians, the group of alchemist that Ambrosius leads called the Order of the Hourglass. The girl leader also tells Tao the name of the region which means the land of the sun and is the name of the capital of Mu, indicating a connection to the cities of gold and why Ambrosius have his base of operation here. Also Zia seems to still possess the power of telekinesis even without the crown as she moves a normal rock while sitting by a river. The next morning they split up with Mendoza, Esteban and one of the older boys scouting out the fort, Zia, Tao and the girl leader looking for a temple the order have taken an interest in an Sancho and Pedro been taken to a temple in search of offerings, which turns out just to be food and feathers, but the temple is home to a pack of monkies that chase them into a hole which seems to connect to a larger cave system, but some monstrous sounds scare them away, to the two children's delight.

Esteban is able to sneak into the fort by hiding in a passing cart and run into a side-opening where he is able to find Ambrosius and follow him to his laboratory in the ground. Ambrosius have discovered that the crown is able to make the wearer to lift things with their minds and connects them to something called the black suns, and the order begins constructing them, going as far as attempting to gather up children as workers as well since their parents aren't enough. Ambrosius sees Estebans reflection in a potion bottle and screams out his anger.

Tao and Zia finds the temple, releases a monkey the order put up against tigers and observe as they crack open a slate from the temple wall (I assume to bring to Ambrosius to translate), they are spotted and one of the magicians follows them into a corridor, but returns on the call of the other since they got what they came for and should warn Ambrosius. The kids returns to the place to look what was stolen and behind them a shadow of a tiger appears.

The documentary focused on the inspiration of the fort from the Jodhpur region in India and the fort Mehrangarh. The last segment was also about Hanuman, the monkey-god that was the central statue of the temple Sancho and Pedro visited. It was unfortunately cut short by 12 seconds by the recording so that was a bit of shame.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold - S3E11 - The Shadows of the Jungle

It's only a model

So, right when Ambrosius is about to attack Mendoza the volcano erupts, disturbing his aim so that Mendoza can escape and then they are separated by a chasm. Both parties fly off. Our heroes visits Yoshi and his family and the lord have gone to war with their neighbours and the grandson have been called into the army. The next morning they leave and tells of the plane. Since the lords symbol is attracted to the pearl they gave it to Ambrosius and they switch out the condors control panel and it begins following them, after they put it in the right way. A flying montage follows until they reaches India. Ambrosius lands at a palace (which looks like the one from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). There he gives his spoil to some robe clad figures that put it in a vault which apparently blocks the condor from finding it. Meanwhile he visits the maharaja that he supplies with migraine medicine, but the captain of the guard is suspicious. By the talk it sounds Ambrosius gets free rein for him and his group to gather citizens working in a factory and what not, so long as they supply the maharaja with the medicine. Although it can also be the medicine creating the addiction for it. He also meets Esteban's father and reinforces that they known each other for a long time.

Our heroes meanwhile have to land when the pearl is put away. While Mendoza gathers wood the kids runs off looking for berries and such while Sancho and Pedro tries to catch some fish. The kids feel like they are spied upon and they are attacked by shadowy figures looking like kids to me and they are hunted to a town where they are surrounded. Mendoza comes back and wonders where the kids are and spot some figure running away in the jungle. He follows with Sancho and Pedro and the episode ends on him catching the person, who is a girl or woman by the sound and shape of the shadow.

The documentary seems to be the last focused on Japan and is about the cherry-blossom tradition and gardening.

Mysterious Cities of Gold - S3E10 - Sundagatt

Love the design of Sundagatt.

Well, apparently I was way off with the name of the city. The only thing you get from googling that name is to the show itself, so they probably made it up themselves. Anyway, it turns out that the crowns for some reason enables the wearer to with their mind use the orichalcum blocks to move around as shown by Zia taking over creating different shapes and figures. Sancho and Pedro fights over who is able to use one to carry out as many blocks as possible. I can't help but notice that they are severely less capable than Esteban and Zia. Esteban runs off to get Tao who have hid himself on the Thallios, crying over his feelings of self-doubt. Esteban comforts him and have concocted a plan by taking the pearl that the daiymons emblem was attracted to. On their way back they find a room filled with the orbs from the beginning of the season and a opposite waterfall were the water went up instead. Tao figures out that it is some kind of escape pods (foreshadowing).

Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro finds a throne room and while the others goof off, Mendoza approaches it and discovers two new medallions for Esteban and Zia to pick up. Meanwhile Zia has another premonition of the erupting volcano and she meets up with Tao and Esteban. and tries to get the others. Mendoza tells them about the medallions so she goes after them while Tao, Sancho and Pedro runs for the Thallios. Mendoza tries to get Zia, but gets one of the water lanterns over him. Esteban helps him out and then goes after Zia. Zia have picked up the two medallions and somehow activated some kind of holographic sphere and is then picked up by Esteban. Mendoza swims badly wounded toward the Thallios and is drawn into it by Pedro. Thinking that the others have drown Mendoza takes over the controls of the ship and tries to escape while the city is walled off again. An intense escape scene later and they are at the surface. The music, the feeling of sadness and the use of the sound effects were amazing. As they looked back at the city walled of thinking the others have drowned, the sound effects cuts off and just the sad music plays, until the final rock entombeds the city once again with a single crash. LOVE IT.

Of course, since they already hinted about it, Zia and Esteban escaped in the escape pods. Zia have now figured out that the medallions are encoded with information and their mission is to get the final piece. For what end is unknown. Also, they notice a ship approaching so they enter the Thallios and dive towards the volcano to pick up the condor and who is on that ship if it isn't Gaspard. Pretty funny sequence. On the island they see Ambrosius ship and confronts him. He grab the crown from Sancho and Esteban hands over the pearl (which apparently is part of his plan). Ambrosius tells him that it isn't over so he will keep Esteban's father as leverage. And then he points his dartbow on Mendoza with the intent of finally get rid of his greatest obstacle.

Amazing episode. The documentary was about the volcano again and its latest eruption, as well as some of the precautions the area have for new eruptions, like a evacuation drill with ferries, children wearing hardhats and so on.

Mysterious Cities of Gold - S3E1-9 English Recap

Jump for joy!

Guess what? The show finally has been released with an english dub... in Australia. Thankfully the world is tied together with the internet so I was able to get my hand on them. Hopefully it won't be that long until the show gets a proper DVD release in the Europe. Still wonders why it took 2 years before it came into english. So I got to watch the whole season again since I need to see (or hear) what I missed.

Episode 1: Its funny how correct I was in my first watch through it. The only things I missed was that the fisher kids talk about the fact that they are forced by the law to turn them in to the local lord. Also, I didn't mention that Zia tells Tao that she also is a descendant of the people of Mu. And the documentary was more about the volcano that is still active today than about Japan in general as I gathered the first time. Also, Ambrosius handed over some kind of orichalcum matrix to the woman as well as Esteban's father. And by their discussion it seemed like they knew each other from before. Also, the fact that Zia can feel natural disasters before they happens are shown here the moment the condor falls into the water. Maybe I didn't notice it because it could just have been the birds and such flying away that warned her, but since it come up multiple times since then maybe it's something more to it. At least they are smart enough to say that it might just be a coincidence or it might actually be a real power, comparing it to Esteban's own sun calling abilities that might or might not be real. And it seems Mendoza's full name is Juan-Carlos Mendoza which he identified himself to the japanese.

Episode 2: Pretty much accurate this time as well. The water image didn't say anything special other than that the mirror shield was the key and apparently was supposed to be in the orichalcum capsule, but as Yoshi told the kids, was given to the lord of the lands that put it in the sacred temple at Izumo (I think its the place they are talking about). Also Ambrosius did indeed sell out Mendoza and Co as spies. The documentary was as described about the White Heron Castle and also about the fact that you have to take off your shoes in Japan... which is a strange thing to make notice of for a Swede that have the same custom. I know the Americans don't always do it, but does the french as well?

Episode 3: Nothing different really. It was clarified that the kids happened to fly over the field of rice with Mendoza and the others. What I don't get is the geography of the place. They start in Kagoshima that is almost the most south-western part of the country. They travel to Izumo that is north-east of there, but they somehow see Mt. Fuji which is even further east? That doesn't make sense really. So I checked where the mirror shield is located in real life, and it's supposed to be Isuzu and yes, it aligns better with Mt. Fuji and is probably in viewing distance since it is the highest mountain in Japan.

Episode 4: Another episode where the dialog really didn't matter so I got most of it the first time around. 

Episode 5: I actually understood the riddle on the mirror shield and that the key was missing from its place on it this time around. Also the daiymons plans was a bit clearer in his aspiration for the shogunate and wanting Mendoza to hand over the Condor and the city of gold in order to achieve that, The documentary was cut in my original viewing of the show, but it was about the tea ceremony and a bit about the real temple that the mirror shield was hidden in together with a short bit about the existence of Kappa.

Episode 6: Understanding Gaspards motives are pretty interesting since it seems that he isn't that stupid. Since he knows the dayimon needs Mendoza he isn't willng to upset the lords plans by killing him. I like that. The documentary was about the smithing process of the katana, how they fold it and hammer it under running water while hot and so on and a small bit about the japanese clans different emblem and how they appears all over the place in buildings, clothing and what not.

Episode 7: Pretty much the same, probably due to it being action focused. The documentary was more about the sharpening of the katana and then it was more about the different parts of the katana.

Episode 8: Another action oriented scene. Most fun to listen to the insults Mendoza throws at Ambrosius during their duel. Also the documentary was about the scabbard of the katana and about Seki, a japanese city with workshops for the modern day katana-makers.

Episode 9: Apparently the inscription on the submarine was Thallios and Tao told everyone. Also the script on the statue at the third city was the name of that city, Soundgata or something like that. Googling it led me to this wikipedia page about the founder of the Mali empire, the empire that had so much gold that it almost destabilised the economy of a country they visited on a pilgrimage (I think the legend goes). Now, I don't know if it was supposed to be that word or such, but that seems to be a huge coincidence. If that's true the city names have meaning beyond what I could imagine and have to go back to season 2 and find what the name was. I don't think the first city got a name beyond Eldorado, but I don't think that was its Mu-name. The documentary was about the real world inspiration of the rock formation that hide the city of gold and the discussion if they were man-made or natural phenomena. Also talked about the spider-crabs that attacked our heroes.

This concludes the recap of the first 9 episodes so then we're back to our normal viewing schedule, but without me complaining about not understanding what they are saying. I also gotta mention the voice acting. I still think that Esteban sounds more like a girl than a boy, but I'm probably getting used to them by now. And maybe that's the reason for the delay, since it sounds like the voice acting been tweeked and I don't know if its due to looking at a better version of the show, but the music sounds better. Just something I thought would be worth noting.