Kimba the White Lion/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Accidental Innuendo: The show is full of them. Seriously, if you watch the series on YouTube and read the comments, half of them are about something involving sex.
    • "Now I'm on top!!!"
  • Non Sequitur Scene: For the voice actors anyway. Knowing absolutely nothing of how the original story was supposed to evolve, a woolly mammoth coming out of nowhere sort of threw them for a loop.
  • Broken Base: So, is the 1989 series unnecessary and destroys everything the original series stood for, or is more realistic and better than the original series?
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The Japanese Opening and ending were awesome in their own right, but NBC freaked at the cost Tezuka spent to create the themes to a kid's show so they tried to get something much simpler done on the cheap. The result was actually not that bad
  • Ear Worm: The theme song from the 1989 dub of the original series.
  • Fan Dumb: The rabid segment of the fandom who hates The Lion King for ripping off Kimba is far more successful at driving people away from Kimba than they are at winning them over. It doesn't help that TLK and Kimba have entirely different narratives, and that if they actually bothered to watch TLK, they'd probably come to the conclusion that it's a Composite Story of Kimba, Bambi, and Hamlet.
  • Iron Woobie: Kimba. Both of his parents managed to die in the first episode when he was still a young cub...and yet he still manages to forge ahead and create a peaceful utopia.
  • Memetic Molester: Claw became this after the episode Battle at Dead River where he tried to marry Kitty. And then there's the exchange they have when they first meet:

Claw: Well, Well, I'm Claw.
Kitty: Are... Are you talking to me?
Claw: (salivating at the mouth) That's right; you're a pretty young thing aren't you? I like you. How you'd like to be my queen when you get a little bit older?
Kitty: Your queen?
Claw: Yes.
Kitty: I don't think so, but it was very nice of you to ask.
Claw: Alright,(now talking to his hyenas) take care of her boys!
Kitty: Claw, I really don't understand what's going on.
Claw: (chuckles) You will!

  • Memetic Mutation: "SING A HUMAN SONG!"
  • Tear Jerker: See Tesuka's page.
  • They Copied It, So It Sucks: There is much controversy over whether the 1994 Disney film The Lion King is a ripoff of Kimba or not.
    • The main similarities are the character designs and setting - the story of The Lion King is more about accepting responsibility - Kimba is more about using authority wisely, and Kimba also deals with greedy or unaware humans messing things up for the animals.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Happened to those who're not familiar with the series watching a filler episode from the 90s dub for the first time.
  • The Woobie: Leo in the 2009 special embodies this trope. He hasn't yet learned to hunt properly, and even the *prey* laughs at his pathetic attempts. Considering the original Kimba/Leo swam the seas to get back home and learned early on to get tough, this cute-but-less-confident Leo comes as a bit of a surprise to fans.
  • Woolseyism: The dub actors weren't given the episodes in order and were forced to write their own scripts. While this brought up some issues later on involving Kimba's past, they really tried to make the best possible show they could.
    • Unfortunately, the 90's redub wasn't so lucky. It's worth noting that the original 60's dub sells for about $110 in boxset form, while the 90's redub is a staple in most dollar stores.
      • While fans will admit the 90's redub sticks closer to the Japanese Script generally, they disliked that the dub removed the original background music and non-dubbed voices. There's also a feeling that the original dub cast overall gave a better performance of the characters and that despite some confusion and censorship still retains much of the intended spirit of the show.