History Manga / KimbaTheWhiteLion

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: "The Gigantic Grasshopper" courtesy to [[ILoveNuclearPower radiation]].

* NuclearNasty: The Gigantic Grasshopper.

* NiceHat: "Tommy, you aren't supposed to ''eat it''!"

Of course, if someone in the western world knows of this franchise, it's likely because of its similarities to Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'', leading to Kimba essentially becoming known as "That Japanese thing that ''The Lion King'' plagiarized." (In reality, [[PopCultureUrbanLegends the similarities don't go beyond the surface level, and the story, characters, and overall themes are very different.]]) [[note]]"Simba" is just the Swahili word for "Lion", for the record.[[/note]]

** This is invoked in-universe in the episode "Too Many Elephants" from the 1965 TV adaptation, where the nature reserve declares that there are [[TitleDrop too many elephants]], [[AlwaysChaoticEvil who are said to be "bad" animals]], and they all need to go away to make room for the "good" animals, with the plan being to [[DisproportionateRetribution murder every last one of them]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill with literal tanks, bombs, and machine guns]]. Kimba goes to warn the elephants of the impending FinalSolution, but they all rudely blow him off and even physically beat him up badly. Only one baby elephant, Peewee, is nice to Kimba, so [[spoiler:Peewee is the only one who ends up following his advice to hide, while the rest of the elephants with the sole exception of Peewee's mother are all [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence brutally slaughtered onscreen with military-grade ordinance]].

** This is invoked in-universe in the episode "Too Many Elephants" from the 1965 TV adaptation, where the nature reserve declares that there are [[TitleDrop too many elephants]], [[AlwaysChaoticEvil who are said to be "bad" animals]], and they all need to go away to make room for the "good" animals, with the plan being to [[DisproportionateRetribution murder every last one of them]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill with literal tanks, bombs, and machine guns]]. Kimba goes to warn the elephants of the impending FinalSolution, but they all rudely blow him off and even physically toss him away with their trunks. Only one baby elephant, Peewee, is nice to Kimba, so [[spoiler:he completely gives up as a result and decides to just save the baby while the rest of the elephants are all [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence brutally slaughtered onscreen with military-grade ordinance]]. Kimba then remarks that this was, ''[[ProtagonistCenteredMorality apparently]]'', the correct solution to the GenocideDilemma after all;]]

* CruelElephant: Elephants in general seem to be this in the Kimba universe.
** The elephants in episode 25 of the 1965 anime are massive bullies to every other animal of their preservation center, they believe that the weaker animals deserve to die and keep stealing their food. Once the humans realize if they're not dealt with, the other animals will die, they decide to ShootEverythingThatMoves. Naturally, the other animals in the preservation center all hate them and don't care if they die in the slightest, so Kimba tries his best to save them. [[spoiler:It doesn't work and [[AssholeVictim a pack of over 400 elephants are shot dead]], with the only survivors being a baby and his mother.]]

** In the episode “Diamonds in a Gruff”, alligators are the main source of conflict, even though the species doesn’t thrive in Africa. They might be misnamed Nile crocodiles, which do thrive and bear the most resemblance.
*** From the same episode, a giant anteater is seen among the crowd of animals that are mourning silently for they’re offspring’s imprisonment.

* NamedAfterTheInjury: Claw has an injury over his left eye, presumably missing an eyeball, most likely caused from a claw attack on his face at some point.

** Episode 14 of the 1965 anime is ''supposed'' to be an episode that teaches children racism is bad. Kimba is picked on for having white fur and called an inferior/fake lion, and much of the episode is focused on him accepting and proving himself as a real lion. UnfortunateImplications about Kimba's fur color aside, the message is broken the minute the story reveals Kimba's ancestor drank a special potion that gave him super intelligence and strength, therefore making the ''entire white lion race genetically superior'' to all others by default.

** The elephants in episode 25 of the 1965 anime are massive bullies to every other animal of their preservation center, they believe that the weaker animals deserve to die and keep stealing their food. Once the humans realize if they're not dealt with, the other animals will die, they decide to KillEmAll. Naturally, the other animals in the preservation center all hate them and don't care if they die in the slightest, so Kimba tries his best to save them. [[spoiler:It doesn't work and [[AssholeVictim a pack of over 400 elephants are shot dead]], with the only survivors being a baby and his mother.]]

* NotSoDifferent: 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.

In some versions of the story, this ''really'' doesn't end well. However, due to the fact that this particular series was a collaboration between Tezuka's Creator/MushiProductions studio and Creator/{{NBC}}, it remains on [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism the more upbeat side of the scale]].

* MightyWhitey: In addition to Kimba's white fur being described as a symbol that he comes from a great line of leaders, the series has several pro-colonial themes, stating that Africa must abandon their original culture of "voodoo masks and bongo drums" in favor of modern European ideals.

** In the 1965 anime, all of the carnivores, including the titular character, weren't allowed to eat one another under Kimba's new rule. It doesn't end as expected as animals start dying because veggies don't have as much protein as real meat, even Kimba is shown to have carnivore urges from time to time because of it. Eventually, they switch to bugs after their farm is attacked, but even that turns out to be conflicting as the other animals still prefer real meat and Kimba doesn't want any living thing to die, including the bugs. The conflict is finally solved when Dr. Albert invents a fake meat substitute.

* BrokenAesop: In the 1989 remake, an arc involves Kimba learning how to enforce the law of his jungle: "Animals should not fight each other." Of course, not everybody follows his rules and try to eat each other anyway, so Kimba is caught in a dilemma: either he fights to enforce the law of his jungle and breaks them in the process or doesn't fight at all and lets everyone kill each other as they please. [[spoiler:The moral we learn as the arc is concluded is that you shouldn't fight, ''at all'', even in self-defense. Meanwhile, the antagonists continue to ignore that rule and try to kill each other while Kimba refuses to stop them.]]

** In the 1965 anime, all of the carnivores, including the titular character, weren't allowed to eat one another under Kimba's new rule. RealityEnsues when the animals start dying because veggies don't have as much protein as real meat, even Kimba is shown to have carnivore urges from time to time because of it. Eventually, they switch to bugs after their farm is attacked, but even that turns out to be conflicting as the other animals still prefer real meat and Kimba doesn't want any living thing to die, including the bugs. The conflict is finally solved when Dr. Albert invents a fake meat substitute.

->''Who's the one who brough the jungle fame?''

* MightyWhitey: In addition to Kimba's white fur being described as a symbol that he comes from a great line of leaders, the series has several pro-colonial themes, stating that Africa must abandon their original culture "voodoo masks and bongo drums" in favor of modern European ideals.

Of course, if someone in the western world knows of this franchise, it's likely because of its similarities to Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'', leading to Kimba essentially becoming known as "That Japanese thing that ''The Lion King'' plagiarized." (In reality, [[PopCultureUrbanLegends the similarities don't go beyond the surface level, and the story, character, and overall themes are very different.]]) [[note]]"Simba" is just the Swahili word for "Lion", for the record.[[/note]]

* CatsAreMean: Played straight with Claw and some antagonists, inverted by Kimba and the majority of the cast.

* [[ABoyAndHisX 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.

* [[spoiler:CloningBlues: Toto. To the point where he's blinded by rage for all of humanity.]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Goda]] is taken down by a brightly colored finch...[[HoistByHisOwnPetard Well, that and his electric prod, and a conveniently placed pool of water]].]]
** [[spoiler:He manages to appear later for [[LastBreathBullet one last spite-filled attack on said finch]].]]
* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Men Love Their Sons]]: Ooyama has delusions of godhood and is not afraid to kill everything in his way to accomplish his goals, but he'll stop everything he's doing if Kenichi is in danger.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Toto and Professor Hikawa.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Most of the personnel behind Eternal Earth, despite getting injured, get away scott-free.

** CerebusRollerCoaster

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: 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!

* AnachronismStew: The earliest recorded sighting of a white lion was in 1938. Kimba/Leo's ancestor in AncientEgypt, itself a geographic error as the white mutation ever occurred in the Barbary lion period let alone the Barbary lions of Egypt, is portrayed as being the same color as his descendants Panja/Caesar, Kimba/Leo and Rune.

''Kimba the White Lion'' is a 1965 television series based on Creator/OsamuTezuka's manga "Jungle Taitei" (1950-1954), directed by Tezuka himself. 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 [[GrumpyOldMan a cranky old baboon]] who occasionally attempts to offer advice and a [[ThoseTwoGuys comically mismatched pair of buddies]], he must attempt to hold peace in the jungle in order to achieve his and his father's ideal of all animals living in harmony without needing to eat each other to survive. His solution to this is to force all the [[VegetarianCarnivore carnivores to become vegetarian]]... somehow.

* ''Leo the Lion'' (1966): SequelSeries [[PostScriptSeason unrelated to the manga]] focusing both on the now-adult Kimba as well as his cub, Rune.

* ''Jungle Emperor'' (1967): A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonic_poem Symphonic Poem]] by Isao Tomita based on the series.
* ''The New Adventures of Kimba The White Lion'' (1989): A DarkerAndEdgier remake of the original series.

* ''Leo the Lion'' (1966): Sequel series [[PostScriptSeason unrelated to the manga]] focusing both on the now-adult Kimba as well as his cub, Rune.
* ''Jungle Emperor'' (1966): Feature movie telling the same story as the 1965 series, [[StockFootage borrowing a lot of its animation from it.]] Never Dubbed.

* ''Jungle Emperor: The Brave Can Change the Future'' (2009): OVA with an brand new story and different setting from the manga. Taking place in an AfterTheEnd 'Neo-Jungle'. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpIhB0wKieY An English dub]] was produced in 2019 by the Japan Foundation and as of July 2020 is available to watch on RetroCrush.