Kimba the White Lion

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Kimba the White Lion
ジャングル大帝
(Janguru Taitei)
Genre
Manga: ジャングル大帝
Authored by Osamu Tezuka
Publisher
Serialized in Manga Shonen
Original run 1950 –
No. of volumes
TV anime : Kimba The White Lion
Directed by Eiichi Yamamoto / Fred Ladd
Studio Mushi Productions / Titan Productions
Network syndicated
Original run 1966 – 1978
No. of episodes 52

Kimba the White Lion (ジャングル大帝 Janguru Taitei?, lit. "Jungle Emperor") is a Japanese animated series from the 1960s, created by Osamu Tezuka, based on his manga of the same title which started in 1950. It was the first color TV animation series created in Japan. The entire series of manga was first published in serialized form in Manga Shonen magazine.

This anime series has enjoyed immense popularity worldwide — most notably in Australia, the United States, Europe and even in Middle East especially among Arab viewers — from the middle 1960s to today.

Contents

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Africa, mid-20th century: In the face of the encroachment of mankind, a white lion, Caesar, seeks to change things: He wants to give all wild animals a safe haven, free from fear. And, to a very large degree, he is successful. His mistake is to liberate the cattle from nearby villages.

A professional hunter, Viper Snakely, is called in to stop these raids. He avoids directly attacking Caesar — instead, Snakely tape-records the sounds of Caesar and uses that as bait to trap his mate, Snowene, who then becomes bait herself in a trap for Caesar. Caesar is killed, and the pregnant Snowene is shipped overseas, destined for a zoo.

Kimba is born on the ship. Snowene teaches him his father's ideals. But as a huge storm approaches, she urges Kimba out to squeeze out the bars of her cage. The storm wrecks the ship, leaving Kimba floundering in the ocean. The fish help him to survive and learn to swim. As he begins to despair, the stars in the sky form his mother, and she encourages him with loving guidance. With his mother encouraging him from above, and guided by butterflies, Kimba makes it back to land.

Kimba lands far from his ancestral home and is found and cared for by some people. Kimba learns the advantages of human culture, and he makes up his mind that when he returns to his wild home he will bring civilized culture to the jungle and stand for peace like his father did.

The show follows Kimba's life after he returns to the wild (still a young cub) and shows his learning and growing during the next year. One thing Kimba soon learns is that true peace will require communication and mutual understanding between the animals and humans.

Spoilers end here.

Kimba the White Lion has been immensely popular in Japan since its first broadcast in 1965. English and Spanish versions were created in 1966, creating a worldwide fan base that persists to this day. The show has also been translated into many other languages (see Worldwide Translations, below).

The show has such appeal that, with the rights to the original translations lost due to legal complications, new English and Spanish versions were produced in 1993. These are currently being broadcast in the US and Europe. Certain plot details of the original Japanese version, which were "softened" in the original English translation, have been allowed to remain in this new version -- such as, in 1966 we were told that Caesar freed the cattle to live in the jungle. The original plot had him taking the cattle as food for the jungle predators. However, the realities of modern-day television meant that each episode had to be shortened by three minutes or more in the new edition, and key plot elements from some episodes were often cut out.

[edit] Chronicle

  • 1950 — Original Jungle Emperor story started in Manga Shonen (Comic Boy) magazine.
  • 1965 — Anime series started as the first color TV anime series in Japan.
  • 1966 — Theatrical version of Jungle Emperor (Dir. Eiichi Yamamoto) released in Japan. Jungle Emperor Symphonic Poem (by Isao Tomita) released on LP. Kimba The White Lion (translated version of Jungle Emperor TV series) airs in U.S. A sequel series, Janguru Taitei: Susumu Leo! (Jungle Emperor: Onward, Leo!) airs in Japan. Features Leo (Kimba) as an adult.
  • 1967 — Jungle Emperor theatrical feature awarded the St. Mark's Silver Lion Award at the 19th Venice International Film Festival.
  • 1978 — Adult Leo character becomes mascot for Seibu Lions baseball team.
  • 1984 — Jungle Emperor: Onward Leo! finally comes to the US, as Leo the Lion on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).
  • 1989 — Dr. Osamu Tezuka dies at age 60 on February 9. A new version of Jungle Emperor is made and shown in Japan. This series is nothing like either the original manga nor the first TV series.
  • 1991 — A new animated film is created, using the Symphonic Poem for its audio.
  • 1993 — The first Jungle Emperor/Kimba The White Lion series is dubbed into English again.
  • 1994 — In Japan, over 1100 manga and anime artists and fans sign a petition requesting that the Disney company acknowledge that their movie The Lion King was based on characters and situations from Jungle Emperor.
  • 1997 — New Janguru Taitei theatrical feature (Jungle Emperor Leo; Dir. Hiroo Takeuchi) released in Japan, based on the second half of Dr. Tezuka's original manga story.
  • 2005 — The original 1966 dub of Kimba The White Lion is released as an 11-disc DVD set by Madman Anime of Australia and Right Stuf International of the U.S.

[edit] Worldwide Translations

This is a list of translations into various languages of the original Kimba the White Lion (ジャングル大帝/Janguru Taitei/"Jungle Emperor") TV show.

  • Arabic: "الليث الأبيض" (El Leith El Abyad)
  • Chinese: "森林大帝"
  • Croatian: "Kimba Bijeli Lavic"
  • Dutch: "Kimba de Witte Leeuw"
  • Finnish: "Kimba Valkoinen Leijona"
  • French: "Le Roi Léo"
  • German: "Kimba der Weiße Löwe"
  • Hungarian: "Kimba a Fehér Oroszlán"
  • Hebrew: "קימבה האריה הלבן" (Kimba Ha-Arie Ha-Lavan)
  • Italian: "Kimba il Leone Bianco"
  • Portuguese: "Kimba o Leão Branco"
  • Russian: "Кимба"
  • Slovenian: "Kimba Beli Levcek"
  • Spanish: "Kimba el León Blanco"
  • Turkish: need information

[edit] The Lion King controversy

See also: Lion King Origin
Comparison of Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King. Left: Panja, right: Mufasa.
Comparison of Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King. Left: Panja, right: Mufasa.

In 1994, controversy arose over the possible connection of Disney's animated feature The Lion King with Kimba the White Lion. Fans in Japan and the U.S. called for the Disney company to acknowledge the use of characters and situations from the Japanese production in the Disney movie. The situation has remained a controversy due to the Disney Company's statement that no one in the company had heard of Kimba until after The Lion King was released — in spite of the fact that people related to the production of The Lion King had referred to "Kimba" as the main character of The Lion King.

For example, in 1993, a person asked Roy Disney in a Prodigy session that whether there would be any nice motherly figures in future Disney animated films, and Disney replied that Kimba's mother in the following year's The Lion King will be lovely.

Matthew Broderick stated that he understood he was being hired as a voice actor for a Disney remake of Kimba The White Lion.[1][2][3][4]

Additionally, an early presentation reel of the film, included in the Platinum Edition DVD of The Lion King, features a piece of concept art depicting a white lion cub.

Screenshot from an early presentation reel of The Lion King that shows a white lion cub.
Screenshot from an early presentation reel of The Lion King that shows a white lion cub.

Note that the controversy does not involve the story of The Lion King. Disney movies often diverge from the story of the works on which they are based, so this cannot be considered as proof one way or the other. It is the similarity of characters and certain specific scenes and situations that are in question.

It has been reported numerous times that Tezuka Production Company Ltd. was looking for a U.S. animation company to bring Kimba back to the North American audience. Trade publications stated that they were in talks with the Disney Corp. It is theorized that The Lion King was developed from the pieces of the Kimba pilot made for Tezuka.[Quotation from source requested on talk page to verify interpretation of source]

The Tezuka/Disney connection extends back for years. Dr. Tezuka sought out and obtained the license to adapt Disney's Bambi into manga for the Japanese market. Tezuka met Walt Disney at the 1964 World's Fair, at which time Disney said he hoped to "make something just like" Tezuka's Astro Boy. And Disney animators were hired to train Tezuka's crew in the use of color when production was started on the Jungle Emperor/Kimba the White Lion TV series.

An odd coincidence is that when the English version of Kimba was in production, the character was to be named "Simba" (which means 'lion' in Swahili). But, since "Simba" was considered untrademarkable, they changed the "S" to a "K", and came up with the name "Kimba" that is now known in almost every country of the world. (Kimba is known as "Leo" in Japan, his country of origin and also in France where the series is known as Le Roi Léo.)

[edit] Kimba in pop culture

The Kimba and Simba controversy is mentioned in The Simpsons episode "'Round Springfield".
The Kimba and Simba controversy is mentioned in The Simpsons episode "'Round Springfield".

The Simpsons brought the Lion King controversy to the general public in the episode "'Round Springfield". At the end of the episode, Mufasa appears in the sky as he did in The Lion King. However, he parodies the original "The Lion King" line by saying: "You must avenge my death, Kimba... dah, I mean Simba." The picture at the right references the look and usage of imagery in The Lion King; see Kimba episode 13 ("The Trappers") for how that series addressed the concept of "avenging" the death of Kimba's parents.

Kimba has made cameo appearances in several video games. Two of these are Astro Boy: Omega Factor (as Pook, a shape-shifting robot) for the Game Boy Advance, and Columns with a large number of other Osamu Tezuka characters.

Kimba has made several cameo appearances in the anime series Black Jack.

Kimba's adult form serves as the logo for the popular Japanese baseball team, the Seibu Lions.

Some fans point to the appearance of a white lion in an Astro Boy (1960s) episode ("The Snow Lion") as a sort of cameo appearance, but this character is similar to the adult Kimba in appearance only; it is not meant to be the same character.

[edit] Music

  • English Theme (1966 version): "Kimba the White Lion" written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum, Florence Kaye
  • Japanese Opening Theme: "Janguru Taitei" written by Isao Tomita
  • Japanese Ending Theme: "Leo no Uta" written by Isao Tomita

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peter Schweizer and Rochelle Schweizer, "Disney: The Mouse Betrayed", pp. 167-168.
  2. ^ Trish Ledoux and Doug Ranney, "The Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Video Directory and Resource Guide", p. 16.
  3. ^ Charles Buress, "Uproar Over 'The Lion King'", The San Francisco Chronicle July 11, 1994, pp. A1, A13.
  4. ^ uncredited article, "Did Japanese Animator Inspire 'Lion King'?", The Washington Times July 15, 1994, p. C15.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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