Lion King and Kimba controversy

You want to know something funny? There's a perception that the Western side has to copy off Japanese works and become Animesque to be successful, but it actually goes both ways! The Japanese side has copied off Disney works, the Alien movie, and other stuff to be successful. So both sides are actually guilty when it comes to imitating other people's work.

We have discussed that the Bambi eyes used In Astro Boy and Tezuka's other works were lifted from Disney's movies. The cycle has just gone full circle.

I find the fact that Walt and Tezuka were good friends quite funny (not in the "haha" sense). I guess it was that day's Lasseter-Miyazaki friendship.

The only good things about TLK are:

-animation

-character designs

-voice acting

-backgrounds

-music

There, I said it.

edited 28th Apr '12 7:24:24 PM by KlarkKentThe3rd

Or rather, the artwork and stylings of H.R. Giger, who in Japan is known for far more than just the Xenomorphs (they even opened a Giger-themed cafe).

Is there anything the Japanese haven't patterned cafes after?

... Is it normal for Japan to pattern cafes after things? And especially Swedish artists who are known for freaky paintings and sculptures?

@Klark: So...more or less everything?

I think he means everything but the plot.

It was a decent plot, but too been-there-done-that.

It's a nice plot, but it feels a bit simplistic. Watching it over, sometimes it seems that there's more adherence to a structure, than necessarily feeling the characters.

The plot reeks of excessive Classicism.

So many thumps. Did this topic generate its own controversy?

On the subject, recently I found out something weird re: Kimba. Apparently the original 1960 anime was dubbed into English twice, once in the mid-to-late 60s and again in... 1993. The newer dub is called "Kimba the Lion Prince" on home video. I found two tapes of this a few days ago at Goodwill, and... it sucks. I mean, I don't know how faithful it is to the original Japanese, but the new voice actors suck and a lot of the voices just don't fit the characters. It's worth watching for a curiosity, but really makes me wish I just had the Kimba Ultra Box.

Think they did that to capitalize on the work it inspired?

From what I've read, the reason for the re-dub had to do with one of the original producers having a falling out with the rest of the team and wanting to have a version of Kimba that he owned completely. There may have been some sort of legal issues as well.

...that actually sounds familiar, but I don't recall ever reading about Kimba much beyond stuff relating to The Lion King and the summary on its Wikipedia page.

This is quite an old story. Rintaro (...look him up) said that he personally felt that Lion King copied Jungle Taitei and thought that Tezuka could have taken action against them, but he chose not to for whatever reason. And since he didn't and did not discuss the subject much with anyone, not much more can be said about it.

Interestingly enough, I've never heard of anybody comparing the sequels of KTWL and TLK to each other. Maybe that's because they have too many differences.

It looks like TLK fans are very easily angered.

Hey, don't generalize us!!!

Indeed. I enjoy both Kimba and TLK. You can never have enough lions.

The "controversy" is pretty one sided. Disney admits Lion King is a Divorced Installment from Kimba the White Lion but won't actually come out and give credit publicly. Why do Disney fans get so defensive when someone points that out?

edited 6th May '12 3:29:15 PM by Cider

I don't get it either. I mean its not like Disney is known for their originality.

Besides, Osamu Tezuka is a god, and anything that's in any way like his work invariably shares some of that quality. If anything, pointing out similarities is a compliment.