Below are images of the main characters of the two series: Kimba ( Kimba the White Lion) on the left, and Simba ( The Lion King), on the right,in two eerily similar scenes.Īlthough the two characters do not look similar (the only similarities I find are the names, Kimba and Simba, only have one letter difference, and the situation of a lion cub losing its father), the scene shown in the pictures are.
#KIMBA THE WHITE LION MANGA MOVIE#
The similarities between character designs, and even scenes in the movie do not stop there. Both characters also have a scar on his left eye. As seen in the pictures below of the two evil lions, Bubu ( Kimba the White Lion) on the left (the image size has been increased) ( Bubu image), and Scar ( The Lion King) on the right ( Scar Image), the characters have very similar character designsĪs you can notice, both evil lion characters are brown, with a dark colored mane. Both even feature an evil lion, with a scar, that wish to take control of the jungle. There are also hyenas in both media that represent evil.
#KIMBA THE WHITE LION MANGA SERIES#
Both series feature a baboon as a wise character that mentors the main lion character, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Buzara in Kimba the White Lion. Both media feature a lion cub whose father has died, then the lion cub leaves their home, and returns.Īlso, after watching The Lion King and multiple episodes of Kimba the White Lion I can see many similarities between the series. He then returns to his home in the jungle. Kimba is then taken in by a Japanese family. Kimba the White Lion is about a lion cub, named Kimba, whose father dies. The Lion King is about a lion named Simba, who after his father’s death, leaves his pride (a lion’s family), and then returns to confront his father’s killer, Simba’s uncle Scar. The storylines for The Lion King and Kimba the White Lion are somewhat similar in a few aspects, however the general plot of each media is different. The letter would include a petition signed by 488 Japanese, 82 of which were comic artists. In August 1994, Machiko Satonaka, a Japanese comic artist, wrote an essay about her activities to protest The Lion King and her intention send a letter to the Walt Disney Company. On July 11, an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, pointed out close resemblances between The Lion King and Kimba the White Lion. Prior to its theatrical release in July 1994, many Japanese were made aware of The Lion King due to Disney’s marketing strategy, which allowed the use of the characters from the movie without royalty payments.” This means that businesses could use different characters from The Lion King as they wished, without having to pay for the rights to use any images.
The Disney movie, The Lion King, was released in 1994.The movie grossed $42 million in its first weekend at theaters. In 1965, Jungle Emperor Leo began broadcasting in the United States and became renamed, Kimba the White Lion.
On October 6, 1965, the first episode of Jungle Emperor Leo was broadcasted. According to, this led to Tezuka publishing his series, Jungle Emperor Leo, in Manga Shonen, which was a manga magazine. He was born in Toyonaka City, Osaka, and was the first born son of three children. Osamu Tezuka was born on November 3, 1928. After watching both The Lion King, and seeing screenshots taken from Kimba the White Lion, I support the speculation. There is speculation among fans that Disney plagiarized, or drew heavily from Tezuka’s work, Kimba the White Lion, without giving proper credit to Tezuka for their 1994 movie, The Lion King.
The manga artist and anime creator Osamu Tezuka is regarded amongst anime fans as being one of the most influential creators who has ever lived in the anime and manga industry. This guest post by Zach Weaver looks into the controversy surrounding Disney’s The Lion King and Osamu Tezuka’s Kimba, the White Lion.
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