Who believes in doing good and doing right?/Kimba the white lion is the one!

Kimba the White Lion is a 1965 television series 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.

As an additional note, this was in fact the first color anime series to appear in Japan.

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Tropes used in Kimba the White Lion include:
  • 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.
  • Bubble Gun: The Hunting Grounds has turrets that shoot out bubbles that trap its target inside a giant 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 locusts as a food source, but it's that or the predators 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 substitute is found.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: Two female voice actors supply the voices for nearly every young character, including the manliest, Kimba himself.
  • 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 particular 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 the Real Monsters: 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.
  • 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!

Jungle Emperor (2009) TV Special Provides Examples of

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!
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