Did The Lion King RIPOFF Kimba the White Lion? (Video Update: Check Pinned Comment)

[Music] the lion king was one of the most groundbreaking animated films ever made the impact it left in audiences was felt across the world and it remains popular to this very day for disney it was their defining moment of their animation renaissance now this was already an era of massive success for the studio the little mermaid beauty and the beast aladdin but the lion king surpassed all expectations and was a critical and financial juggernaut [Music] the story for the lion king is pretty straightforward and takes heavy inspiration from previous works in literature hamlet the biblical tales of moses and joseph and even a previous work from disney bambi life death betrayal redemption these are some of the most universal themes in storytelling and the lion king did a fantastic job of utilizing them [Music] but in the sea of inspiration behind the lion king there's one series that wasn't acknowledged by disney despite the massive amounts of parallels between the two kimba the white lion a popular japanese anime from the 1960s [Music] [Applause] this is one of the most bizarre situations i've ever seen from disney and this is a company that tried to trademark day of the dead yet it's strange how disney was very open about their inspirations behind the lion king but claimed to be completely oblivious to the existence of kimba and it gets even worse when you see how many themes and visuals they have in common so that begs the question did the lion king steal from kimba the white lion well disney denies it but there's more than enough evidence to at least have a discussion about the matter so let's take a closer look at this controversy so before i get into the video i want to throw out a disclaimer i am far from the first person to cover this topic there are quite a few channels that have already addressed it i know this because i get plenty of emails from my viewers linking me to said videos and requesting that i cover the subject too that being said i haven't watched any of them whenever i cover a topic i prefer to go into things blind to do my own research and form my own opinion that way i know that my thoughts are my own and not somebody else's so if this is a topic that is of interest to you please go check out these other videos i'm just gonna stick to the bullet points here so i'm sure that there's more to watch and discuss with these other creators i'll link them down in the description so it only makes sense to start at the beginning of our story and that's with the creator of kimba osamu tezuka a man who carries very prestigious titles such as the japanese disney and the father of manga like this guy is one of the true legends of japanese entertainment born in osaka japan in 1928 tezuka came from a wealthy family his mother and father would take him to the theater and would also show him disney films that were premiering around the same time according to tessica he watched bambi over 80 times ugh i couldn't imagine listening to that song 80 times over [Music] but all of the art and plays and movies inspired him to create his own style and make his own comics fortunately he was able to avoid the front lines during world war ii and worked in a factory instead after the war he went to osaka university to study medicine and become a doctor but he never gave up on his pursuit to become an artist he eventually found his momentum and created one of the most iconic characters and manga and japanese animation astro [Music] published another series called jungle tate aka jungle emperor it was a three-volume manga that ran for 16 years and would become the premise for kimba the white lion it would even go on to get an anime and premiered in japan in october of 1965. it was also the first color tv anime series in history you are your father's son my child like him you must be brave and strong understand yes something that's very important to understand about the kimba series is that there are different versions of it there's the original run that included 52 episodes that aired from 65 to 66. there's the movie in 1966. there was a sequel series that ran from 1966 to 67. there was a remake of the series called the new adventures of kimba the white lion that ran from 89 to 90. there was an ova in 91 and then there was a movie released in 97 called jungle emperor leo so when folks say you should watch kimba they should probably be a bit more specific [Music] the main character of the series is unsurprisingly kimba though he was called leo in japan the story for the original anime tells about kimba and how he loses his parents he then spends time with humans but eventually returns to his home to be the rightful king from that point on the anime follows kimba and all of his adventures like i said there's a lot more to kemba than most people realize folks are quick to think that the story from the lion king is essentially all that kemba has to offer but that is far from the truth yes there are similarities but kemba has a lot more variety which makes sense for example humans never make an appearance and the lion king but they're quite prominent in kimba also did simba ever fight off a mob of kaiju no yeah if there was a who would win fight kimba would destroy simba he stops an elephant foot that's insane [Music] when covering such a broad series it's hard to give a judgment call on the overall quality there are times when it's good and then there are times when it's bad oh and please don't get me started on some of these dubs anyone who disobeys king booboo the great will have to pay let them disobey i'll show them but i'd say kimba is definitely worth checking out especially if you're a fan of animation despite all the parallels compared to it from the lion king kemba has a lot more to offer again the lion king is just one single movie but kimba has been around since the 1950s and has been featured in multiple remakes and sequels but there's one specific thing i want to mention kimba wears his dad's father's skin around in the show [Laughter] could you imagine simba doing this simba why are you wearing your father's dead skin that's really freaking weird [Music] no you're dead so we know about the origins of kemba now let's talk about the creation of the lion king so the 1980s and 90s were a very interesting time for disney animation after walt died in 66 the studio found itself in this weird limbo yeah there were some good films but it was clear that the studio was having a bit of an identity crisis but in the late 1980s momentum began to shift and new blood and leadership would lead disney animation towards massive success the little mermaid beauty and the beast aladdin the studio finally found its stride and it knew it they even reached a point where they could work on multiple projects with different teams at the same time now the idea for the lion king was thought up back in 1988 but went to production in 1991 around this time pocahontas was being produced and most of the animators at the studio wanted to work on that movie instead thinking it was going to be more successful oops i'm doomed so team b got to work on the lion king and went through the process of trying to figure out what kind of movie they wanted to make at one point the film was called king of beast then it was changed to king of the jungle and one of the original stories was scar leading an army of baboons to fight the lions hell simba was supposed to be a lazy piece of trash who was too slothful to be the king pretty dumb huh oh you're killing me i could go on and on about the production of the lion king and make an hour long video about it but i'm gonna cut to the chase the folks who made the film wanted a story with relatable age-old themes life death love betrayal redemption these themes will always be relevant to storytelling and the lion king exceeded in every category in 1994 after multiple rewrites and changes the final product was released and it was a smash hit now this was a bit of a shock to disney again most people were under the impression that pocahontas was going to be the bigger of the two but oh my god were they wrong the lion king blew it out of the water and disney was quick to run with that momentum walt disney pictures presents its all-new 30-second full-length animated motion picture the lion king they touted the film as a unique story and something that was an original concept for those who don't know disney usually falls back on existing properties for their animated films but they said that wasn't the case for the lion king well let's just say that this claim did not go unnoticed and people who knew of kimba were quick to call disney out [Music] during my research for this video i was floored by all of the similarities between the lion king and kimba like i somewhat knew that things were close but oh lord it's hard to fight for disney on this one that being said i want to give both sides an equal chance so let's go over the events and the evidence like i said disney paraded the lion king as an original concept and this really got under the skin of japanese artists they saw it as plagiarism and even created a petition to give the creator of kimba credit for the lion king this was especially insulting to them since tezuka died only a few years prior to the release of the film disney refuted the claims saying that its people had no idea about kimba despite the similarities between the two properties to which there are a lot of we have dead fathers baboon mentors evil lion villains bird sidekicks lackey hyenas and a story about being the rightful heir to the throne and that's just some of it apparently one of the lion cubs was supposed to be white oof that's uh that looks pretty bad and then you have roy disney during some interview saying kimba instead of simba was it a mistake maybe but this point right here this one's for certain matthew broderick the voice of simba said that he was under the impression that the lion king was an american version of kimba and that he was familiar with the property since he watched it when he was young it doesn't matter it's in the past there were a few other people involved with the lion king that shared their thoughts on the subject roger allers the director of the film said he'd never heard of kimba before and that he only learned about it around the end of the production for the lion king he also said that there was no mention of it during the development phase for the movie now there's this bit of information about allers working in tokyo during the 80s and how there was a kimber remake that aired around the same time that perhaps he saw it on television while he was in japan this accusation isn't true he left tokyo in 1985 and made his way to la and the remake for kimba didn't air until 1989. so as far as him watching that version of the series there was no way he wasn't there for it now if it was a re-airing of the old series then maybe that was the case it's also kind of strange that during his time there he never saw anything kimba related it's entirely possible are you sure boo boo's down there why don't you take a look for yourself sucker two animators who worked on the lion king tom ceto and mark holsler i'm so bad at saying names well they're on the record saying that they were familiar with kimba but that it didn't drive the direction of the lion king that bambi was more of an influence if anything and then you have the co-director rob minkoff who said that he wasn't familiar with kemba he's also on the record saying that whenever a story is based in africa it's quote not unusual to have characters like a baboon a bird or hyenas we could have whatever's lying around so yeah there are quite a few people who worked on the lion king who claimed that no foul play was involved that all of the similarities were just by coincidence but there are still some who remain adamant that plagiarism was involved machicko santanaka the manga artist who led the japanese petition against disney said quote no one is claiming the stories are identical however when my observations first reached disney i was told abruptly that disney had never heard of kimba the white lion she also said quote at least a subtitle to pay homage to tessica or a few lions paying respect to the origin of the story should be included you must avenge my death kimba i mean and then we have fred ladd a guy who was involved with importing kemba over to nbc america he said it's ridiculous that disney claimed to be ignorant to the existence of kimba we see uh the uh simba what i was gonna call our little lion before it became kiba walks out to a promontory against the sky with with building clouds and i turned to my wi-fi elena said boy i i said don't tell me they're going to pan up to the clouds in the clouds we're going to see the dead father's image and the camera did indeed in in in the in this picture of lion king cameron panned up and and there the clouds took the shape of the dead father i said oh boy i said this is this is right out of canvas sorry but it was unmistakable for jeff katzenberg then to later on taking the position when when confronted with this uh to be accused of ripping off a series down 30 years earlier not 30 days earlier or 30 weeks or 30 months earlier 30 years earlier and and for uh for any disney rep to say well this couldn't be a ripoff of of kimber because i'm anime there's no young guys they never even saw kimba when in fact i knew those guys i knew that they had kimber masks in their in their animation cells at the disney studio they had they were young kids they did all grow up with kimber they couldn't help but be influenced by it and and there's just to say so much similarity there that i i think one cannot just globally try to explain it away the evidence is pretty stacked against disney but they hold their position about kimba to this very day now there was a question of whether tezuka's family would pursue a lawsuit against disney but they ultimately decided against it something about tessica and how he would have been honored about a kimber adaptation from disney i guess and how they also want to maintain a good relationship with the company okay your call but let's be real here the probable reason of why they backed out is because disney has a terrifying legal team there is one little problem you see them they think i'm king so in conclusion did disney steal from kimba the white lion i was stuck on forming an opinion on this one on one hand there's plenty of evidence to insinuate that disney borrowed from kimba i mean how could a studio full of animators who were somewhat the best in their field not know about kimba to at least bring it up and say maybe our movie's a bit too close to the old anime it just seems highly suspect but on the other hand coincidence is not out of the question there have been times where animated movies and shows look quite similar but there was no foul play involved it was just common creative territory being interpreted by different people i love you i love you i do believe that the staff who worked on the lion king at least knew of kimba and drew some inspiration from it but i don't think that they maliciously stole from tessica as in hey ever see this japanese show before screw it let's take it for ourselves again the visual parallels do raise suspicion but it might just be great artists thinking alike it does happen at times at least i hope that's the case but there's no doubt that disney did an awful job of handling the entire affair all they had to do was acknowledge it to say hey this other show existed and this person was good friends with disney give tezuka a shout out it really isn't that much of a sacrifice but no it also looks pretty bad when you send a cease and desist letter at a screening of the jungle emperor yeah that happened i still believe that the lion king is a fantastic movie and is still absolutely worth watching the staff did a great job of condensing all of its inspirations and themes into a single movie again it falls back quite heavily on some major works of literature but it successfully combines them all into a wonderful interpretation of the story but i think one of the biggest victims here is kimba itself outside of japan it's mostly unknown and that's really a bummer it's an important part of animation history and was made by one of the greatest creators in japan it was one of the earliest japanese cartoons on american television and it really should be known for more than being that one thing that the lion king might have ripped off seriously try it for yourself type kimba into google and most of the results are going to be about the lion king and how it might have stolen its premise from kimba the entire legacy of kimba now is tied to the lion king and that's unfortunate if you get the chance please check it out it's absolutely worth it but no matter how bad things get between kimba and the lion king we can all collectively on the shameless rip-off that is simba king lion a show that stole from both properties with some adult themes added for good measure ew i'll give it a try ew wait a second this is from the remake [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Saberspark

Views: 1,094,779

Rating: 4.8658791 out of 5

Keywords: saberspark, saber, the lion king, the lion king remake, lion king 1994, lion king 2019, kimba the white lion, kimba, leo, jungle emperor, osamu tezuka, steal, copy, ripoff, did the lion king ripoff kimba, Kimba VS Simba Controversy, disney

Id: 9xdSmjNFdM4

Length: 22min 36sec (1356 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Saberspark]

New video is up! This topic was super fascinating. I didn't realize how much content and info there was about it. What do you all think about the subject?