All HAIL THE TRUE KING!!!!!
Posted by Emperor Leo Worshipper on 21/11/2005, 2:40:59
Hello, out there. I'm a 1st year animation student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and I've just come to say what a privilege it is that I have come to discover "Kimba" after all my years of watching animation! To be honest, I am relatively new to the "Kimba" world....I only just discovered it a few days ago when I rented the DVD "Jungle Emperor Leo" from my school library. I was BLOWN AWAY by the power and majesty of such a beloved character, and by the heartfelt emotion I felt throughout the movie. Having grown up on the idea that "The Lion King" was the best movie, it was very hard for me to filter out my confusion at the simliarities between Kimba and Simba. But, I was only too happy to realize the truth....Kimba (Leo) is the REAL king of the Jungle!!! I was SO MOVED by the movie that from the instant the movie ended, I was immediately a hardcore fan of such a series that I know little about. I was so saddened at the ending, I couldn't get over it for the last couple of days. And to think a movie made roughly 8 years ago moves me today!! I'm not a very impressable person, you see, so the mere fact that a single movie from a heritage of history turned me into a "Kimba" fan is something incredible. I instantly fell in love with Kimba/Leo, Kitty/Lyra and all the others. I've done a lot of research so far to add to my store of knowledge on Kimba, and little did I know the LONG heritage of history that lay behind such a beloved character!! I never, to be honest, paid much attention to Japanese animators before until very recently. Tezuka Osamu is, in my mind, THE greatest animator of all time, even better than Disney!! Speaking of Disney, I think it is a treacherous and terrible thing for the Disney Co. to be making so much money (even today) off of a cartoon that borrowed so heavily from "Kimba". I had never really considered Disney to be run by such conglomerate bastards, but I guess now I know. What pains me even more is to see people talk about "The Lion King" as the greatest movie in the world, yet they don't realize the entire story behind the making of it!! So few (when I say few, I mean in regards to the whole world) people realize how much Disney ripped-off of "Kimba" in "The Lion King" and who the real creator, Tezuka Osamu, is, and what little credit he is given for bringing such a character to life. The fact that "Kimba" was created back in 1950 (!!!) is enough to blow my mind....so MANY people, GENERATIONS of people, have grown up on "Kimba" even before the whole concept of talking lions ever occurred at Disney. Osamu really was a master ahead of his time....and unfortunately, so little known by the majority. What saddens me even more is the fact that the executive monopolists at Disney won't even ADMIT the FACT that they had even the TINIEST inspiration from "Kimba", something I find so hard to believe. To rip off from such the skill, power and genius of such a great animator and not even give him CREDIT for it is to my mind the lowest, most debase, most repulsive form of hypocrisy and treachery I could have ever imagined. If I had only known who Disney had taken their idea from back in 1994, when I was but a kid, and what a sleazy, treacherous corporation it was, my loyalties would now be firmly rooted with Osamu and "Kimba". It pains me to think I've been so deceived for so long. What hurts me even more was that I had heard of the "Kimba v.s. Simba" argument many years before, but the very idea struck me as so outrageous and so utterly treacherous that I took no notice of it, and firmly held onto my belief that it was Disney who had come up with the idea all along. I wish I could go back and change the past, but that is something beyond my power. All I can do now is have hope that "Kimba the White Lion" will get his due credit, and maybe even one day, replace Simba as one of the most beloved characters in the history of animation. TO think that such a deep character as Kimba/Leo has been kept mostly in the dark for many years now is something that pains me to my very heart. I WILL NOT ALLOW Disney to go down in history as the genius behind "The Lion King"....I will do what I can, in the years ahead, to bring "Kimba" back from obscurity. I just hope I'm not too late....it would make me so happy if I only knewjust how popular Kimba is now, and if he's being forgotten or not. I pray that he isn't being forgotten, and I pray that one day people will know what an impact he had not on just Japan, but on the world. Kimba is just as a part of the American psyche as Simba....it premiered back in the 60'S on NBC. So, to end this all, I would just like to say to the people reading this to never forget Kimba. He has moved me far more than any cartoon character I have ever seen before, with his love for not just animals but life itself. His wisdom and desire for peaceful coexistence between human and beast is something I can relate to, so he definetly ranks on my list as the greatest of all characters. If there is any character that deserves to be remembered throughout history, it is "Kimba the white lion", the true KING OF THE JUNGLE!!!
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