Kimba the White Lion (TV series)

The series begins in Africa where a group of human hunters begin capturing many of the animals. Among these animals are a lion cub named Kimba (Leo in the Japanese version) and his mother Snowene (Eliza in the Japanese version). Kimba's father Caesar (Panja in the Japanese version), who is the king of the jungle, is killed trying to save Kimba. The ship that captured Kimba and his mother starts to sink and his mother provides Kimba a way to escape and he finds his way back to the jungle.[3] Throughout his journey, Kimba returns to his home in the jungle and becomes a leader of the animals like his father and tries to bring peace between humans and animals.[4] Some of the ways Kimba does this is by adapting human techniques into the animal kingdom such as farming.

Voice Actors for the Original Japanese Series. To see a full list of voice actors for the English dub, see List of Kimba the White Lion characters.

• Leo/Kimba: voiced by Ota Toshiko
• Lyre: voiced by Matsuo Keiko
• Tommy: voiced by Akashi Hajime
• Coco: voiced by Tamura Kinto
• Mandy: voiced by Katsuta Hisashi
• Totto: voiced by Kato Seizo
• Dick: voiced by Kawakubo Kiyoshi
• Bo: voiced by Kumakura Kazuo
• Kenichi: voiced by Sekine Nobuaki
• Mary: voiced by Yamamoto Yoshiko
• Higeoyaji: voiced by Chiba Junji

Other than the original broadcast in Japan in 1965, the series has been broadcast in many countries around the world.

In Asia, it was broadcast in Indonesia on Lativi, antv and SCTV (1995–96); in Iran on Channel 1; in the Philippines on ABC 5; in Saudi Arabia on Saudi TV and in Sri Lanka on ART TV.

In Europe, it was broadcast in Bosnia and Herzegovina on RTVUSK; in Croatia on ATV Split/TV Jadran, Nezavisna televizija (NeT), TV Nova Pula and Gradska TV Zadar; in Germany 1977 in ZDF; in France on ORTF (1972) and on TF1; in Italy first in syndication from 1977 and lately on Italia 1 (in 1999 and 2003 with the title Una giungla di avventure per Kimba [literally "a jungle of adventures for Kimba"]) and Boing (2010) and in Spain on TV3.

In North America, it was broadcast in Canada on Knowledge; in Mexico on Boomerang. It was broadcast, with English-dubbed voices, in the United States and other English-speaking markets, beginning on September 11, 1966. It was first commissioned for U.S. development by NBC Enterprises (the original version, now part of CBS Television Distribution) and adapted by Fred Ladd, for syndicated broadcast, with Kimba voiced by Billie Lou Watt.[5] In 2005 the original 1965 dub of Kimba the White Lion was released as an 11-disc DVD set by Madman Anime of Australia and Right Stuf International of the U.S. It was a best seller. The series was re-dubbed into English in 1993, featuring the voice of Yvonne Murray as Kimba and having a new opening, with an all new soundtrack composed by Paul J. Zaza. In 2012 Bayview Entertainment/Widowmaker releases "Kimba the White Lion: The Complete Series" 10 DVD box set of the original 1965 series.[6] It was broadcast several times in the United States: on KHJ-TV (1965–67; Billie Lou Watt dub), on NBC (1965–77, re-runs until 1980; Billie Lou Watt dub), on syndication (1965–77; Billie Lou Watt dub; 1993, re-runs until 1995; Yvonne Murray dub), on Kids & Teens TV (1993 re-runs; 2005–2009) and on Inspiration Life TV (1993 re-runs; 2005–2009).

All of the TV and film titles are translations from the Japanese version.

In 1994, Walt Disney Pictures released an animated featured length film, The Lion King. Soon after its release, news circulated of the visual similarities that the film had with Kimba the White Lion. Some of these similarities included the plot point of a lion cub's father having a tragic death, an evil lion with a scar under their eye (though in Kimba, said lion, Claw, is not related to Kimba), and a baboon as a sage.[4] Although many other plot points like human interaction in Kimba the White Lion differ from The Lion King's absence of humans, there were several design similarities. The Lion King's director Rob Minkoff claimed that he was unaware of the television series and also acknowledged these similarities and believed that within the elements of telling stories in Africa, there are bound to be similarities between all of these.[12] Moreover, this controversy has garnered huge media attention. For example, it was referenced in a 1996 episode of The Simpsons entitled "'Round Springfield". In this episode, Lisa looks into the clouds where Mufasa from the Lion King appears and says to her "You must avenge my death, Kimba, I mean Simba," referencing the similarities between the two works.[13]

In 2019, Walt Disney Pictures released a CGI remake of their film The Lion King, which resurfaced the controversy between Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King. When the Disney remake was released, an article by The Washington Post discussed the copyright issues between the remake and Kimba the White Lion. The Tezuka Family and director of Tezuka Productions claims that copyright laws are slightly different in Japan and therefore, The Lion King is not viewed as infringing copyright. They both viewed that the two works featured similarities in broad elements about nature and it would not be possible to copyright facts. Furthermore, Billy Tringali states that it is common for Japanese writers to take inspiration from each other; however, as a result the controversy in the America production of The Lion King lies in the lack of acknowledgement or similarities.[14]