Kimba the White Lion

Kimba the White Lion is a 1965-66 television series made as a coproduction between Mushi Production in Japan and NBC in the U.S., and broadcast originally in Japan on Fuji TV. It's based on Osamu Tezuka's manga "Jungle Taitei" (1950-1954). The series follows a white lion named Kimba (Leo in the Japanese version), who due to the death of his father, is forced to become the king of the jungle. With the help of an old baboon who once advised his father and a comically mismatched pair of buddies, he must reclaim his kingdom from a black-maned, scarred lion who has usurped the throne in his absence.

Remind you of anything?

However, for all the comparisons between The Lion King and the show, Kimba's story doesn't just consist of reclaiming the throne, but rather focuses on the aftermath as he tries to reassert his authority across the jungle, and create a new paradise where every animal has rights and prove that even animals can overcome the laws of nature..

Yeah, in some adaptions of the story, this really doesn't end well. However due to the fact that this particular series was a collaboration between NBC and Tezuka Studios, the anime series remains high on the more upbeat side of the scale. The more serious stuff was saved for the sequel Jungle Taitei: Susume Leo! which continued the anime storyline through 1968 (and was specifically marketed in Japan as being made without American involvement). Nevertheless, the sequel would also air in the U.S., though not until 1984 (as part of an early-morning anime block on CBN Cable that also included Superbook, Flying House and Honey Honey), with the protagonist's original Japanese name restored (though it's otherwise notorious as one of the worst-acted English dubs ever made). In 1989, the original story would be rebooted for a second TV anime on TV Tokyo (though Tezuka died during production), which also got an English dub as The New Adventures of Kimba the White Lion, courtesy of Vancouver's Ocean Studios.

As an additional note, this was in fact the first color anime series to appear in Japan, an achievement that was made possible by the funds provided by NBC.

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Tropes:

• Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: "The Gigantic Grasshopper" courtesy to radiation.
• Bilingual Bonus: Arguably, Kimba is a corruption of Simba, the Swahili word for "Lion."
  • Actually, Kimba was originally supposed to be named Simba, but the lead letter was changed due to its similarity with the name of a contemporary soft-drink product. At least, that's the story...
    • This theory has been disproved. The real reason is complicated and barely makes any sense, so we'll just go with that.
• Bittersweet Ending: If you take the 60's Leo the Lion into consideration, it's the ONLY version of the original story that doesn't end tragically. Yet in spite of the high kill count, the near collapse of the animal's utopia when the humans' interest in their area is piqued, and Leo/Kimba's decision and ultimate fate-- The last major threat to said kingdom has been removed, Rune has learned that there is good and evil in animals AND in humans finally understanding his father's balanced perspective on the issue, and through the actions of both father and son, it's hinted that the animals are on the fast track to being considered sentient by humanity.
  • The '89 series sort of throws this out the window though, making the deaths and sacrifices seem utterly meaningless.
• Bubble Gun: The Hunting Grounds has turrets that shoot out bubbles that trap its target inside a gaint bubble.
• Caramelldansen Vid: Strangely enough. It can be seen here.
• Cats Are Mean: Played straight with Claw, inverted by Kimba.
• Carnivore Confusion: When Kimba became the new king, all of the carnivores, including the titular character, weren't allowed to eat one other. They eventually decided to feast on insects.
  • In the 1993 dub and original Japanese, it's shown that Kimba struggles with allowing the carnivores to use the locasts as a food source, but it's that or the preditors continuing to attempt to eat the other animals in the jungle. Even Kimba is not prone to the natural urge, occasionally going wild with hunger (but stopping himself from actually doing the deed)
    • Later Inverted(or is it subverted?) when an artificial meat subsitute is found
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Two female voice actors supply the voices for nearly every young character, including the manliest, Kimba himself. The only notable exception is in the Canadian-made dub of the 1989 remake, which features Brad Swaile as Kimba.
• Cute Kitten
• Darkest Africa: Both Played straight and subverted- The main chunk of story takes place in the last bit of frontier on an Africa on the fast track to becoming a world power. Kimba himself joins in by reorganizing the jungle along the lines of human civilization. In fact, a running theme of the story is the battle between this modernization and nature itself. It's a tie.
• Darker and Edgier: The 1980's remake series. This is probably because Osamu Tezuka died after he made the sixth episode. In the final episode in the Japanese version, half of the main cast, including those that didn't even die in the manga, just got shot after a whole freaking 52 episodes of them appearing regularly.
• Demoted to Extra: Rune's a crybaby and kind of a jerk. Now Rukio? Rukio's awesome! I can't wait to see more of...uh...why are you shifting to Rune's perspective? The ending doesn't even treat her fairly. We don't see her as an adult and she's given a one liner mentioning how she's married off to another pride. Her main purpose is to give us a a glimmer of hope that things might end well. Depending on what version you are watching, they don't.
• Double Aesop: Humans and animals should love one another, and foster feelings of peace and understanding.... because nature is trying to kill both of us.
• Downer Beginning: The series starts off with Kimba's mother being captured & his father being killed in the rescue attempt. Snowene lives long enough to give birth to her cub — but soon as he's old enough and been told about his father and heritage, the ship gets caught in a nasty storm, Kimba is urged to escape before it hits. He's swept away and wakes up among the debris of the ship. Kimba quickly realizes his mother did not survive the storm.
• Dub Name Change: At least 90% of the characters.
  • This caused some confusion when the sequel series lost the rights to NBC's trademark, and attempted to go back to using the Japanese names. To try and justify it, they hinted that 'Kimba' may have been Leo's nickname when he was younger. This may have worked had a few characters not pronounced it 'Kye-mba'.
  • The dub also played a bit with Theme Naming, with a certain Shakespeare play as an inspiration This is arguably an improvement, as one of the villains went from the rather laughable 'Toto' to Cassius, better reflecting the nature of his character and his past with Panja/Caesar.
  • Another improvement would be "Bubu," the most serious villain, to "Claw."
• Fantastic Racism: Specklerex had an issue with white lions during his debut episode.
• Follow the Leader: It's an ersatz version of Animal Farm.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Tom and Tab
• The Good King: Kimba and his father.
  • Slightly inverted in the case of Caesar in the Manga and original Japanese: while Caesar was a good king to his loyal subjects, he had little mercy for animals in captivity. Believing that in fact, animals that served humans were unfit to live and fair game for good eatin' — however in the dub this perticular detail was generally omitted, and it was instead implied that Caesar was as progressive as his son. Though that makes some episodes somewhat awkward (Like Sampson's return, who offers some former pack-mules to Kimba as an offering for a celebratory meal)
• The Hero Dies: Kimba in all but the 60's TV series and the TV special. The eighties' series doesn't come out and say it but whatever happened, our hero's been shot and is currently bleeding to death....then there's a shot of the clouds.
• Humans Are Bastards: Hamegg's near insane, Being left on her own in darkest Africa causes Merry to fall apart into a dominatrix leading a bloodthirsty tribe, and Lamp? Lamp is a bad man. There are several exceptions as seen with Kimba's human friends though, and ultimately Kimba's sacrifice in the manga and movie is hinted to have bridged a very large gap between man and animal.
  • Humans Are Flawed
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Unless a named character is named Ceasar, odds are that he or she will dodge any bullet that comes his or her way.
• King of Beasts
• Lighter and Softer: The original manga was filled with some heartbreaking scenes, horrible events happening for no reason, and one of the most infamous endings to a shonen manga ever. As for the anime series? It still edges into some pretty sad territory, but things don't self-destruct this time around.
• Misplaced Wildlife: You'd think Kimba would be the king of a savanna...
  • ...Which actually turns out to be a plot point involving the heritage of the White Lions to begin with. The unusual background also let NBC give Kimba super strength and vitality.
  • The main reason why the Neo-Jungle isn't working in the TV special. Mixing species together turns out to be a bad idea. Turns out this was intentional. The Director had planned to use the mixed jungle to weed out the weaker animals and create new species. He kind of let this get to his head.
• Mood Whiplash: The first episode. It literally goes from tragedy to comedy and back every minute or so.
• Never Say "Die": The 60's dub. "I'm just going to lie down for a minute..."
• Nice Hat: "Tommy, you aren't supposed to eat it!"
• Not So Different: While we have some humans that don't have any second thoughts about killing animals, we also have a few animals that are more than happy to lead humans, whether they're good or evil, to their deaths.
  • In Leo the Lion, this is what Totto tells Leo after he (supposedly) kills Mandy.
• Nuclear Nasty: The Gigantic Grasshopper.
• Official Couple: Kimba and Kitty.
• Panthera Awesome: Many characters are big cats.
• Pretty Butterflies: Kimba followed a swarm of migrating butterflies to get to land when he was lost at the ocean during the first episode.
• Punny Name: The dub has it's fun with Paulie Cracker, Speedy the Cheetah and the like. Kimba/Leo's kids are given this treatment in the manga....thanks to Paulie/Coco remembering the names mean to 'sleep' and to 'wake up'.

Tommy: You swindler!

• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Kimba's family.
• Shout-Out: Astro Boy appears in a display line-up of robots in one episode.
• Sliding Scale of Animal Communication: At Level 8.
• Talking Animal: Make a guess.
• Terra Deforming: In episode 5, Kimba visits the World's Fair and sees, among other things, plans to melt the frozen polar regions so the space will be habitable.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted. Just like many of Tezuka's other works.
  • Well, there's this one pink baby alligator named Ali who has a yellow bow. It's a boy.
• Unusual Animal Alliance
• Vibroweapon: "AAAHHH, it's a saw shark!"
• Villain Song: The Black Four has one.

Jungle Emperor (2009) TV Special Provides Examples of:

• A Boy And His Lion: Kenichi meets Leo and, despite some misgivings on Leo's part to begin with, they strike up a firm friendship.
• Alternate Universe: This version of the story takes place in the future, wherein mankind has screwed nature up so much they have to create an artificial environment for the animals to live in.
  • Alternate Continuity
• Bittersweet Ending: The Neo-Jungle is destroyed, the animals are left in the hands...er..paws of a literal scaredy-cat emperor, and the real jungle has been blasted into all oblivion. At the same time, they now have a way to communicate with humans, a cure for the rampant plague that would have killed them, and a new-found drive and determination. We just never get to see what happens.
• Cloning Blues: Toto. To the point where he's blinded by rage for all of humanity.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Oyama. Sort of. Money isn't his objective so much as godhood
• Didn't See That Coming: Goda is taken down by a brightly colored finch....well, that and his electric prod, and a conveniently placed pool of water.
  • He manages to appear later for one last spite-filled attack on said finch.
• Gender Flip: Coco is now female...for some reason.
• Interspecies Romance: One sided anyway. The now female Coco has a fairly obvious crush on Leo. 'Course she'll deny it if you bring it up.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Applies to the monkeys. Sure, they pick on both Leo and Kenichi, but at the end of the day are more then willing to follow their emperor. And fight The Dragon and provide a bridge for Leo nearly sacrificing their lives.
• Mythology Gag: At one point, Kenichi sees a flock of birds, very VERY similar to the original Jungle Emperor opening.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: "Launch the carnivorous locusts!"
• Papa Wolf: Panja of course, who won't let anyone so much as lay a paw on his cub. Even extends to Oyama who will gladly lay aside his ambitions for Kenichi's safety.
• Scenery Porn: The Neo-Jungle may be manufactured, but dang it's pretty.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: All over the dang place. At first, things seem much happier than the original series due to the simple fact Leo's parents are still alive...then we learn that without going through the ordeal of losing both his parents, he's not the same lion. Humankind has recreated the jungle willing to spare no expense. Oh, it's being used as an experiment to try and manufacture "perfect" animals. Things then go into total despair towards the end, when no one wants to fight the humans, because they can do whatever they want without consequence... until Leo decides he has enough and leads the animals on a all or nothing assault on Eternal Earth. And wins.
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster
• World of Cardboard Speech: Leo gets one towards the end. While the other animals think opposing the humans will be utterly useless, he decides he's had enough of being a crybaby.

Leo: My father was strong right? He was a real Jungle Emperor, right? But I'm different from Father. I'm small, weak, I'm afraid of heights, I'm really just a cowardly lion. But..Father said, I was strong. That's why..That's why, I'm going!