Jungle Emperor Leo: The Movie

As we published the review in PA#52 (Fant-Asia '98 article) and Pioneer is releasing The New Adventures Of Kimba The White lion (a 1989 remake of the TV series), I hope that more & more young anime fans will watch this masterpiece! This 1997 theatrical version will make all audiences cry in the end for sure. I'd like to introdue you a little bit of the history of this series. (This manga was published before I was born!)

		Jungle Emperor: The Mt. Moon's Secret in Africa was originally published in 1950! This is an anecdote which I've read in the book Osamu Tezuka: Dr. Tezuka, by chance, met Mr. Ken-ichi Kato who was an enthusiastic manga-publisher and started publishing Manga-Shonen (literally means Manga Boy) in 1948. People like Mr. Kato created the Japanese manga culture right after World War II, and believe it or not, Mr. Kato was already publishing Shonen-Club before the war and this Shonen Club magazine already had more than "one million-copies-sold" circulation in Japan, with manga artists ("stars" in those days) like Mr. Eiji Yoshikawa, Mr. Yoichiro Minami, etc. After Mr. Kato started publishing Manga Boy magazine, he started receiving letters from readers, saying that they wanted to see Dr. Tezuka's mangas in the magazine. So Jungle Emperor was born in 1950, published in its November issue. Leo's fur color became "white", because in those days, Dr. Tezuka was using primitive yellow electric lamp at night to work on his manga pages and he thought he was painting Leo yellow like a real lion's colour of yellow ochre. Next day when he woke up and saw it in a daylight, he realized that he was mistakenly using the white paint and it stayed that way ever since!! Also, he was a great admirer of Disney's animation Bambi, and originally the story of Jungle Emperor was supposed to end happily, but after he saw Bambi, he changed the storyline to emphasize the nature: "Nothing lives forever; All living thing dies. Generation after generation, lives continue, but the nature remains on this earth." He wanted to emphasize the struggle for living, sadness, and the nature. This manga ended in the April issue of 1954. Later, Kimba The White Lion became a TV anime & feature films in the 60's, so I'd recommend you to see the anime works from the 60's and this 1997 version.

This 1997 version's storyline is basically the same, with some changes. The original manga is of course over 400 pages, and some characters are missing in this anime version. But frames after frames with very smooth moves, we can enjoy the world of nature and I personally loved the snowy scenes! Some readers might ask why is this such a sad story? But please remember, 1950 wasn't a cheerful year in Japan at all, due to the outbreak of Korean War, the conspiracy by Japanese Communist Party to disrupt the labour movement during the era of Occupied Japan, while people were still struggling to survive! By the way, this manga became very popular and was published as a graphic novel format for ¥ 160 in 1952 (about maybe 50 cents for today's value; In those days, one dollar was ¥360).

Overall, this story makes you think how fragile the life is! I do hope that this manga will be published in English (French language version is already available from Glénat, and I must say that the translator Ms. Sylvie Siffointe did an excellent job) because there are many characters who are missing in the anime version, and Leo himself is more like a kid (although he's an adult) who expresses his feelings fully (In the anime version, Leo is very calm and distinguished).

Oh, yes, 1997 version offers you the original music by Mr. Isao Tomita from 1960's! This is surely a masterpiece for all ages of audiences. [MM]

Review: The movie is based on the manga (from Vol. 2, Chapter 6, to the end of Vol. 3, the last one). It stay close to the original designs, which give an "old" (a little cartoonish) look to the animation, but the characters that were not in the original manga have a little more "modern" design. This movie is Studio Tezuka's answer to Disney's Lion King. Because of the old-style designs, the animation lacks the realism of Disney's movie or the visual depth of the latest Miyazki (Mononoke Hime). However, the story has all the richness, the greatness, the moral depth of a Japanese animation masterpiece. In that aspect, it has nothing to envy to Miyazaki's movies and leaves Disney's version far behind. The original story is "modernize" and events are presented in a different sequence. A group of men come to the jungle in search of the Moonlight Stones (in the movie they are rare diamonds, but it the manga it was a powerful source of energy). The men starts destroying the jungle and a strange contagious disease is killing many animals, including Laia, Leo's wife. Leo's son, Rune, being curious about human civilization, is captured and put in a circus. Prof. Moustache develops a cure for the disease and Leo accepts to guide him to the mysterious Mount Moon, where the Moonlight Stones can be found. Incredibly, Leo makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the professor and it ends exactly like in the manga (with Leo's shape in the clouds)! [CJP -- From PA#52]

DESIGN	ANIMATION	SOUNDTRACK	STORY	TRANSLATION	OVERALL
				N/A

		Release information: Originally titled Jungle Taitei, the 99-min. movie was first released in Japanese theatres on 08/01/1997. It was released on DVD in Japan on 10/25/2001 (Pioneer, Cat.# PIBA-3082, R2 DVD, 99 min., ¥5800) and in North America in 2003 (Media Blaster, Cat.# awdvd0337, R1 Bilingual DVD, 99 min., $19.95 US, rated G). DVD avail. from:

Staff: Director: Takeo Takeuchi; Original Story (manga): Osamu Tezuka; Character Designs: Akio Sugino (Ace O Nerae, Black Jack, Oniisama E, Cat's Eye, Rose Of Versailles, La Seine no Hoshi, They Were Eleven); Music: Isao Tomita; Production: Tezuka/Shochiku.

Cast: Masane Tsukayama / Dan Green (Leo), Chieko Baisho / Veronica Taylor (Lyre), Danshi Tatekawa / Jamie McGonnigal (Ham-Egg), Hekiru Shiina (Rukkio), Kei Tani (Burazza), Kenta Kimotsuki (Coco), Kousei Tomita (Higeoyaji), Masato Ibu (Pagura), Mifuyu Hiiragi / Tara Jayne (Rune/Lune), Naoki Tatsuta (Tommy), Ranran Suzuki / Michelle Newman (Bizo), Yasunori Matsumoto (Ramune).

Related Releases: Jungle Taitei [Jungle Emperor / Kimba The White Lion] (Original TV series, produced by Mushi, 52 eps x 23 min., aired from 10/06/1965 to 09/29/1967 on Fuji TV every Wednesday at 19:00) available in North America as Kimba The White Lion (Rhino, Cat.# r2970133, Dubbed R1 DVD Boxed Set, Vol. 1: 650 min. (26 eps), $59.95, rated G. See reviews in PA#60: 55; #61: 58; #63: 55, #67: 57). Jungle Taitei [Jungle Emperor / Kimba The White Lion] (Movie, produced by Mushi, 75 min., released on 07/31/1966). Shin Jungle Taitei: Susume Leo! [New Jungle Emperor: Go Ahead Leo! / Leo The Lion] (TV series, produced by Mushi, 26 eps x 23 min., aired from 10/05/1966 to 03/29/1967 on Fuji TV every Wednesday at 19:00). Jungle Taitei [Jungle Emperor / The New Adventures Of Kimba The White Lion] (TV series remake, produced by Tezuka Productions, 52 eps x 24:30 min., aired from 10/12/1989 to 10/11/1990 on TV Tokyo every Thursday at 19:00) released in VHS for North America by Pioneer, but now out of stock. [See reviews in PA#58: 55; #59: 61]

Rhino's TV series DVD:

Web page: Tezuka Osamu World

References: J. Clement & H. McCarthy Anime Encyclopedia; ANN's Encyclopedia

Copyright: Jungle Emperor Leo © 1997 Shochiku Co. Ltd. / Tezuka Production.

Miyako Matsuda (with some addition by CJP)