--Previous Message--
: 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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