I never knew about this... (Lion King and Kimba?)

[The Little Merman]

Japanese fans of the ever so dull KIMBA are just jealous that Disney went and made a much, much better film and animation, no one cares about Kimba and those japanese fans know it yup to them the truth hurts

It doesn't matter whether it is cheap of not, but that is just terrible! Half of those scenes are almost exact! It's disgusting...

[Dan05]

Japanese fans of the ever so dull KIMBA are just jealous that Disney went and made a much, much better film and animation, no one cares about Kimba and those japanese fans know it yup to them the truth hurts

It doesn't matter whether it is cheap of not, but that is just terrible! Half of those scenes are almost exact! It's disgusting...

In a slight way.. but i don't care about that anyway im with Disney on this one

[lolopimp]

Japanese fans of the ever so dull KIMBA are just jealous that Disney went and made a much, much better film and animation, no one cares about Kimba and those japanese fans know it yup to them the truth hurts

just stating my opinion on this don't mean to be rude or anything

Very well said. Some of us don't even care about some old Japanese anime and don't even know about it until someone mentions it. So what if it's a rip off? Oh well...too bad for them (trust me I still think TLK is original). The Lion King still is and will always be my all time favorite movie.
1- Far better story
2- Top notch animation
3- Memorable, classic, wonderful songs

No matter what anybody says I still believe TLK is a great movie and shouldn't be judged by most of you for rumors. I saw a post saying "disgusting of Disney"....why? The movie is a masterpiece and then again, fans of the Kimba a.k.a Leo(his real name) should stop hating

.....Get over it...

[Siren]

Japanese fans of the ever so dull KIMBA are just jealous that Disney went and made a much, much better film and animation, no one cares about Kimba and those japanese fans know it yup to them the truth hurts

just stating my opinion on this don't mean to be rude or anything

Yeah, but that's like saying the same about Mickey Mouse today, as opposed to Steamboat Willy.
For the Kimba fans, it's not just about the LOOK, but the story. They feel the story was mostly ripped off. All Disney did was subtract the humans.
Also you are comparing animation in a very non-artistic way. That's your opinion and you are entitled to it. But let's remember. Kimba was pretty LOW budget, while Lion King was HIGH budget, hence why Kimba doesn't look as smooth as Lion King. Also, consider the age. Film degrads over years, the color could have looked much better many years ago. And comparing the animation styles is like comparing Snow White animation to Hercules. It's not the animation that is BAD, it is the STYLE that is different.

[Sailor Eric]

I agree with Siren completely.
But I also think all Kimba fans should feel honored that The Lion King, such a masterpiece, is influenced by Kimba/ Jungle Emperor Leo.

[maxeythecat]

Japanese fans of the ever so dull KIMBA are just jealous that Disney went and made a much, much better film and animation, no one cares about Kimba and those japanese fans know it yup to them the truth hurts

just stating my opinion on this don't mean to be rude or anything

None intended I'm sure. As for the "dull" reference, the show would'nt have been so dull if NBC would've let Tezuka do it the way it was originally written in his manga. Believe me, it was a lot darker, alot more exciting etc. but the Yankeeville boys were afraid that it might freak out a few kids and that it would'nt be popular, hence the "dumbing down". Now, as for quality, let's face it my dear..."Lion King" had a multi-million dollar budget and a world class animation studio at it's disposal..."Kimba" was only the second Tezuka series produced - they created Mushi Animation just for the production of the show and were literally learning how to do a cartoon as they went along- it was the first one in color, it basically had a budget of ZERO and it was made for TV during a time when animation was'nt really taken all that seriously as a profit maker , ESPECIALLY a show from Japan. You take all those things into consideration and then look at the end result and it's amazing they were able to do what they did with just what they had. C'MON, did you ever see ANY cartoon for television before or since with a full orchestral score good enough to actually stand on it's own? HELL no! Tomita wrote an entire symphony to accompany the show and it even became a best selling soundtrack album in Japan....it's really a gorgeous bit of work. If you doubt me, get hold of a vhs called "Symphonic Poem"...it was a video that Tomita put together in 1991 as a homage to the Maestro's work ( Tezuka was affectionatelly known as "Master" or "Maestro") and it gives you some wonderful imagery to go along with the music. It also had a "New Age"
environmentalism theme running thru the entire storyline that was waaay beyond a kid's show even before the term was ever created or people even realized what it was. Heady stuff for a cheap TV program from Asia. Now, after all is said and done, the fact remains that if Tezuka had'nt created "Kimba" or "Jungle Emperor", we lucky tykes would'nt HAVE "The Lion King"...PERIOD. It does'nt matter which is better and all that...that's sort of besides the point now. If Kimba had never been created, I'm sorry but the Mouse House never would've created Simba, because despite whatever claim they want to make, IT WAS NOT AN ORIGINAL STORY IDEA CREATED BY THEM. And believe me, they've claimed that it was till they were blue in the face. Christ on a bus, even Roy Disney HIMSELF said that the source material was Tezuka!!! Can't get any clearer than that, can ya?

[Sailor Eric]

None intended I'm sure. As for the "dull" reference, the show would'nt have been so dull if NBC would've let Tezuka do it the way it was originally written in his manga. Believe me, it was a lot darker, alot more exciting etc. but the Yankeeville boys were afraid that it might freak out a few kids and that it would'nt be popular, hence the "dumbing down".

off-topic... Yeah, US usually 'dumbs up' many anime. Take as an example "Sailormoon". The dub had various episodes removed (the final battle in season 1 was originally 2 eps., but they made it into 1 and removed stuff like the deaths of sailor soldiers) and had other stupid renovations like replacing the wonderful background music for crappy music.

[lucifer]

off topic, i know, but I'll never forget how butchered sailor moon was. Which makes me wonder how butchered the Kimba series was, for I've only seen the american. anyway...

But as for the whole Kimba thing in general, as much as I love disney, I think that it is time for some people to just accept that Disney has done bad things and isn't perfect. Disney worshippers usually tend to place their love for disney before the actual facts, sometimes you just have to admit that they aren't perfect, they have copied, it was wrong, and move on. This is just like all those worshippers of Michael Jackson who still believe that he's never touched his nose nor that he has ever harrassed kids. I mean seriously, I was a fan of Kimba before I was a fan of Simba and I honestly didn't feel rejoiced to the least extent that DIsney was "inspired" by it. And no matter how much Tezuka loved Disney, I still believe that he would have felt cheated at the complete lack of credit.

Sorry if it came off rather harsh, no offenses were ment. I just kind of rant...

[maxeythecat]

Not as harsh as I've seen myself get regarding this subject, so no apology is warranted. As far as Tezuka being miffed at the idea of his greatest work being plagerized, it was his love for Disney that kept the family from sueing the pants off of Mickey and the boys cos they knew that would go against his wishes. As said, Dr. Tezuka* would've be delighted that the Mouse would pay such homage to his little white lion and would've given the project his blessings without any vindictiveness whatsoever. That graciousness was typical of his unique personality and that is one of the many reasons he is so revered in his home country even to this day.

*BTW, he was also a doctor of medicine before he became the Father of Manga!

[Disney-Fan]

Some of you are reading way too much into this. The way I see it is this: We have two products, right? You can enjoy both because either way, Lion King will still be here to entertain others.

Truth be told, I couldn't care less if Disney ripped them off. If the rip-off is superior why not enjoy it? We are buying customers and this is the fruit of competition. We should enjoy either one. That's atleast the way I see it! [/b]

[Tascar]

Japanese fans of the ever so dull KIMBA are just jealous that Disney went and made a much, much better film and animation, no one cares about Kimba and those japanese fans know it yup to them the truth hurts

just stating my opinion on this don't mean to be rude or anything

Osamu Tezuka's work, both Kimba (Jungle Emperor Leo) and others are so far beyond the scope of what recent Disney has done, when considering that his work was done in the 1940s and 1950s, and resulted in a much greater impact on animation history than The Lion King that I doubt any fan of Tezuka is jealous of Disney over The Lion King.

However, I have to point out that very very few Japanese people seem to give a damn about these similarities. In fact, if you look at anime and manga, you will find that artists and stories frequently copy off of each other. For most, both Japanese fans and filmmakers, it's more of an amusing concept to them that Disney, the studio that inspired Tezuka back in the 1920s to 1940s would go back and draw from Tezuka himself, and not a lawsuit worthy event. Besides, the Lion King made tons of money in Japan when it came out. Obviously the Japanese weren't boycotting the movie.

The vast majority of the anti-Lion King pro-Kimba people are either Disney bashers or hardcore American anime fans who are obsessed with bashing anything Disney and will find whatever way possible to do that including picking at a point that even no one actually involved with Jungle Emperor Leo cares about. These are the same fanatics that blamed Disney for originally leaving out the Japanese language track of the Princess Mononoke DVD when it fact it was Studio Ghibli that requested its omission.

Please don't take the whole Lion King - Kimba spat as an excuse to bash anime because the views of this vocal minority do not represent the whole of the art nor its fans.

[2099net]

The vast majority of the anti-Lion King pro-Kimba people are either Disney bashers or hardcore American anime fans who are obsessed with bashing anything Disney and will find whatever way possible to do that including picking at a point that even no one actually involved with Jungle Emperor Leo cares about. These are the same fanatics that blamed Disney for originally leaving out the Japanese language track of the Princess Mononoke DVD when it fact it was Studio Ghibli that requested its omission.

No. Personally, the bashing is because, had the "shoe been on the other foot" Disney would have slapped a court case, injunction, product recall etc on Kimba within days. I personally don't like how letigious Disney is (plus a major contributor to the copyright extension bills), but thinks it is so free to copy other people's work - from fairy tales to, apparently in-copyright anime.

Take this news about a Peter Pan prequel. Disney say Peter Pan is out of copyright, as he first appeared briefly in one of Barrie's early novels. Technically that may be true. But the character is an ongoing concern. Even if the character is not, the trademark is. Does Disney have a right to make a Peter Pan prequel without consent of the current copyright owners?

If Peter Pan is out of copyright, then so is Pete. Pete first appeared in Alice cartoons which are now all Public Domain. But Disney would jump on anybody who used Pete in their own cartoons.

Oh, and also some of Warner's Looney Tunes characters appear in Public Domain cartoons. There are a number of Daffy Duck cartoons which are Public Domain for example. You can buy DVDs now of Public Domain Warner Bros cartoons. But it doesn't mean Daffy Duck, as a character is Public Domain.

Rant Over

[JiminyCrick91]

today at wal-mart i saw 3 2-disc dvds of leo the white lion for $6.88 each just to let you know.

[zack626]

This is soooo true

"If that's a rip-off from Kimba, then Kimba's a rip-off from Hamlet. But, did Shakespeare get any homeage?! "



The Lion King also resembled Hamlet..

[Dan05]

sorry for getting off topic but where does everyone get those avatars?? ^^^ i've seen lion king ones too so i was just wondering..

[purplebluelove99]

In Canada there used to be a t.v. station called the Access Network. It used to broadcast all these different cartoons never to be seen or heard of again. I remember Kimba the White Lion. I knew it had similarities with the Lion King. It was never made into a big production. There were books and I even recall seeing a dvd a few years ago. I never heard anything about a lawsuit, but I always did wonder how did Disney get away with it?

[purplebluelove99]

Regarding Sailor Moon isn't it a rip off of Rainbow Brite? I heard a review of a Rainbow Brite movie that was released last year and the reviewer called Rainbow Brite one of the first Anime.

[maxeythecat]

[quote=]The vast majority of the anti-Lion King pro-Kimba people are either Disney bashers or hardcore American anime fans who are obsessed with bashing anything Disney and will find whatever way possible to do that including picking at a point that even no one actually involved with Jungle Emperor Leo cares about. These are the same fanatics that blamed Disney for originally leaving out the Japanese language track of the Princess Mononoke DVD when it fact it was Studio Ghibli that requested its omission.

Please don't take the whole Lion King - Kimba spat as an excuse to bash anime because the views of this vocal minority do not represent the whole of the art nor its fans.[/quote]

Okay, now I AM getting a little steamed...for starters I'm NOT a Disney-basher as a rule, and I'm NOT obsessed with anime. If you came up and asked me who Dragonball Z was or Yu-GI-Oh was about I could'nt even begin to tell you, and in regards to Disney, I say what I say BECAUSE I love the films and it's rich legacy...ask me a question about any of their animated movies and I can give you a frame by frame description without batting an eye and even rattle off the names of some of the animators and what scene they were responsible for! My problem with "Eisney" is that I am deeply disappointed about the direction they've taken these past few years by the overbearing and heavy-handed tactics from a bunch of $1000.00-a-suit businessmen that have destroying the very thing that made that company so great. Fer chrissake, OPEN YOUR EYES!!! Do you even think for one second that such substandard fare like "Cinderella II" EVER would've been concieved let alone released had not Eisner decided to play "Mr. I-know-what-makes-a-great-animated-movie-and-you-don't" and jump into a place where he and his cronies clearly did'nt belong?? Or that "Treasure Planet" and "Atlantis" were complete failures NOT because they were unbelievebly lousy films with appalling bad storylines and abysmal voice casting but because it proves that the big "E" and company were right when they say that 2D was dead and that CGI was what people wanted? You believe all that then I've got a great bridge to sell you...it's big and it's reeeal purty and it's in Brooklyn.

[PrincessJen]

wow, that sure is interesting to know. I'd never heard about the Kimb character before. I wonder if anyone's really mad about this? I mean, with the CRAZY amount of success that the Lion King has had, don't ya think someone would have surfaced and made some huge public complaint? I'm sure it's been done already, but who's gonna try to put the smack down on Disney?

[orestes.]

today at wal-mart i saw 3 2-disc dvds of leo the white lion for $6.88 each just to let you know.

Nice, I'll have to check that out. I've noticed Wa-Mart in my area has been selling some very cheap anime DVDs recently.