But, while some see obvious references and influences to Tezuka's work in "Lion King," the story itself is quite different.
In "Kimba," the cub's mother dies aboard a ship and Kimba escapes, swimming back to shore. While trying to go home, he visits cities and realizes that mankind has created a wonderful civilization of laws--quite different from the law of the jungle.
In "Lion King," Simba leaves the pride after mistakenly believing that he had a role in his father's death.
In "Kimba," the hero battles poachers and trappers, a magic serpent and even the monster of Petrified Valley. He defends his domain against "the insect invasion," "the red menace" and "the gigantic grasshopper." Aiding his efforts are his animal friends, Dan'l Baboon, Pauley Cracker, Tadpole, Samson and Roger Ranger, who is a human.
In "Lion King," however, there are no human beings and Simba fights hyenas and Scar.
The character of Scar, the power hungry "black sheep" brother of Mufasa, is particularly intriguing to some observers. In the TV series, the villian Claw, who has a scar above his eye, takes over the throne in Kimba's abscence.
Takayuki Matsutani, president of Tezuka Productions in Tokyo, said there is some similarity between the animated creations on two counts: the son grows up to be the king's successor after his father's death, and the symbolic scene where Simba stands on a rock in "The Lion King," whereas in the Japanese version, the opening scene has Kimba standing on a rock. He also agreed there were similarities in the baboon, the bird, the hyenas and te evil lion.
"However, quite a few staff of our company saw a preview of 'The Lion King,' discussed this subject and came to the conclusion that you cannot avoid having these similarities as long as you use animals as characters and try to draw images out of them," Matsutani said.
"If the Disney Co. had gotten a hint from 'The Jungle Emperor,' Osamu Tezuka, a founder of our company, would have been pleased," he continued. "And, we feel the same way, rather than making a claim."
"Therefore, our company's general opinion is 'The Lion King' is a totally different piece from 'The Jungle Emperor' and is an original work completed by the Disney production's long-lasting excellent production technique." Asked about the apparent similarities, Minkoff said that whenever a story is based in Africa, it is "not unusual to have characters like a baboon, a bird or hyenas."
