For some people, Western and Japanese animation are like night and day—two completely different artforms that vary in countless different ways and are more or less incompatible with each other.
And while it’s true that there are clearly big, fundamental differences between Western and Japanese animation, there’s a lot more similarities than people acknowledge. One of the best examples I can think of is Kimba the White Lion, a manga-turned anime series from the 60s.
Kimba (or “Jungle Emperor” in Japanese) has existed in virtually every form of media in Japan. Like most franchises, Kimba started out as manga, but was turned into an anime, a made-for-TV movie, and an actual movie with a theatrical release.
The series itself is interesting now mostly because of its creator, the Godfather of Anime, Osamu Tezuka; but it’s also interesting because of how it influenced a Disney movie: The Lion King.
The Two Lions
Even if you’ve never seen Kimba the White Lion before, you can tell that the anime and The Lion King share more similarities than can be coincidental.
From the names of the two protagonists (Kimba and Simba), to the character designs of the two franchises, to even some of the scenes and shots, the two franchises have a remarkable amount in common.
Rotten Tomatoes has a quick video recap of some of the more obvious similarities, and Cracked has a pretty good roundup of some of the similarities too.
Kimba is not, by any means, the first story that Disney has borrowed heavily from; just look at Grimm’s fairy tales or The Thief and the Cobbler (seriously, look at The Thief and the Cobbler).
And while the similarities are pretty jarring, it might be a little too hasty to say that Disney just completely ripped off Kimba wholesale. Not only are there pretty significant differences between the two stories, but it wouldn’t be fair to have this discussion without talking about what anime took from Disney.
Disney’s Contributions to Anime
The creator of Kimba, legendary manga artist Osamu Tezuka, was an enormous fan of Disney back in the day. Tezuka devoured Disney comic books and movies, reportedly seeing the movie Bambi 80 times. I don’t think I’ve seen any movie that many times (nor do I want to).
It’s clear that the characters and stories of Disney had an incredible impact on Tezuka. His large-eyed character design, which became a hallmark of Japanese art, was influenced by the style of Western characters like Bambi and others.
“Thumper-kun, stop being so tsundere!”
I guess the takeaway with Kimba and The Lion King is that culture is an exchange, not a one-way street. Artists get inspiration indiscriminately from all over the place, regardless of where in the world they’re located; and especially more recently with the advent of the internet, Japanese and Western artists are influencing each other more than ever before.
Even though Disney doesn’t acknowledge any relationship between The Lion King and Kimba the White Lion, maybe it’s best to think of The Lion King as an homage to Tezuka and Kimba.
But if Pixar’s next movie is about a robot boy named “Astro Dude,” we might not be able to let Disney off the hook.