Jungle Emperor Leo & Kimba the White Lion – Part I: Synopsis
Jungle Emperor, Kimba, Onward Leo! and Jungle Emperor Leo all relate as a single ‘mythos’, but not always as a consistent, single work. In this section I will review the ‘core’ plot of Jungle Emperor which runs through all of the works above, and note where certain themes have been explored in greater detail or amplified by the films. At times, the two TV series certainly take liberty with the original plot, and this can result in some highly satisfying ‘alternative versions’ of the basic Jungle Emperor story.
The story begins before Leo’s birth with Hamegg, selling his services to the Donga tribe as a great hunter. Hamegg has been tasked to kill Panja, the white lion who has been killing the tribe’s domesticated animals. The purpose behind Panja’s attacks have different explanations in the manga and the film, though for the most part we may understand them as an attempt to feed himself and other animals without killing wild animals. This issue is disguised in the US dub of Kimba.
Through devious means, Hamegg is able to catch and kill Panja. In exchange he receives a jewel from the Dongo tribe which becomes a critical plot element later on in the story. Panja’s wife (pregnant with Leo) is shipped off to a zoo, and this is where Leo’s story begins.
Leo is born on the ship, but does not tarry there for long. He is eschewed off by his mother because it is not his fate to be in a zoo (that, and while he can slip through the bars of the cage, his mother cannot.) She tells him to return to Africa and be strong like his father. Surprisingly, Leo is encouraged to leap directly from the porthole into the raging seas–which he does!
Leo of course survives, but the ship does not (it is destroyed in a storm), and so Leo is an orphan. There are a few adventures here that I’m going to skip over (and are either deemphasized or omitted from the animated films), but eventually Leo meets up with a mouse named Jacques (floating on a plank of wood) and the two of them make their way to land. Unfortunately not Africa but Portugal.
Here Leo befriends Kenichi and his uncle, Mr. Mustachio (Uncle Pompous in the US dub, properly Shunsaku Ban or Higeoyaji.) There are once again a string of adventures that can for the most part be omitted here; however when visiting a zoo, Leo is abhorred by the imprisonment of animals and begins to long for his homeland. He vows one day to return and free the animals, though this promise is never fulfilled. This is significant because it is the beginning of Leo’s vision of a world where humans and animals can live together. It is also the beginning of his recognition of an unjust world.
Left out of Kimba is the moonlight stone given to Hamegg. Returning back to civilization with the jewel he is at first is discouraged to find it has no monetary value, but then is confronted by two scientists (Professors Plus and Minus) who say the stone is of the utmost importance to science.
Written in 1950, Jungle Emperor predates the discovery and acceptance of Plate Tectonics though Tezuka does acknowledge Wegner’s popularly discredited theory of continental drift. Instead, the continents are proposed to have been moved by a great, explosive natural force, of which Professors Plus and Minus feel that the Moonlight stones are the key.
The scientists offer Hamegg the opportunity to lead an expedition to find more Moonstones, with payment promised for each Moonstone found. Now what I haven’t mentioned is that Leo, Mustachio and Kenichi are living right next to Hamegg and that Kenichi and Mary (Hamegg’s daughter) are friends who regularly play together.
As it just so happens, Mustachio is the only one with any money and he ends up footing the bill for the expedition, taking everyone (Hamegg, Plus, Minus, Kenichi, Mary and Leo) in tow. During the trip Leo is able to observe the behavior of wild animals and is confused by his own feelings. He does not like being thought of as a wild beast, but he can feel his instincts to prey on other animals.
Their journey leads them back to the Dongo tribe where three significant things happen. First is the revelation that the chief of the Dongo tribe does not know where the Moonlight stone came from–but there are hints that it is connected with a mysterious mountain called the ‘mountain of dreams’ or ‘mt. moon’
Second is the appearance of Lamp who confronts Hamegg with the threat of exposing the crimes he committed during the war (we learn that Hamegg was a Nazi who worked the prison camps), and forces him to wrangle all the money he can out of poor Professor Plus and Minus. The two scientists are then abandoned in the jungle.
The third significant event is Leo’s discovery of the pelt of his father. By stealing it, Leo angers the chief who orders the entire tribe to attack his guests. During this chaos, the expedition party is split up such that most of the characters are separated.
At this point in the story we are led to believe that Mustachio, Plus and Minus somehow safely return to civilization. Lamp and Hamegg join up (much to Hamegg’s distress) though the story does not follow them. Rather, we follow our favorite characters, Leo, Kenichi and Mary. This is effectively where the Kimba series starts (with some of the previous story told through flashback.)
Leo at last returns to the jungle, and through great difficulty is convinced to protect and become the leader of many of the animals living there. This does not include many of the strongest beasts (such as the elephants and lions)–though it does not necessarily exclude all of them either. Many ideas are started in this section of the graphic novel which are explored in much greater depth in Kimba. A farm and restaurant are conceived and implemented as well as a semi-functional mail service. All of these can be seen as ideas that Leo has brought with him from human civilization and which are hoped to alleviate the need for animals to eat one another.
Following this period of building and invention, the animals (as well as Kenichi and Mary) are attacked by the Donga tribe. It is unclear to me why they are attacked, but the animals say this is a regular affair. Leo is able to show off his leadership skills here and save the animals, but Mary is taken by the tribesmen and we don’t know what happens to her. In Kimba, native tribes are replaced by a hunting establishment–whether or not this makes more sense is hard to say, but it aided in circumventing Tezuka’s depiction of Africans.
Kenichi is obviously distraught about Mary’s apparent death, so in an attempt to cheer him up, Leo organizes a choir. I mention this because it is significant for the Kimba series, but also because in Jungle Emperor, the sound of the choir summons Lamp and Hamegg, who have decided to pick up some extra cash through poaching. Leo learns that Hamegg killed his father and knocks him about but decides to let him live. Nonetheless Hamegg is killed by a wild lion. Lamp escapes and we do not see him again until later in the story.
Obviously of great significance is the appearance of Lyre (Leo’s future-wife) who is among the animals captured by Lamp and Hamegg. Despite the similarity of the above story to the Kimba episode ‘The Trappers’, the origin for Lyre is completely different. In Kimba we discover that Lyre is the member of another group of lions–which in turns leads to a whole new story line not present in the manga.
In Jungle Emperor, Lyre is the servant of the lioness Luna (who is in fact Leo’s aunt.) In both story-lines we learn that Leo is the descendent of a long line of white lions first given great intelligence though an ancient Egyptian scientist for the purpose of saving his kingdom. That first lion however ultimately ended in the hands of a tribe of pygmies, and through the guiding wisdom of the lions, this tribe survives for some four thousand years into the present day.
Panja however at last made his break with humanity, whether because he simply lusted for freedom or wanted to aid the lives of the other wild animals, not just people. Luna however did not leave and had sent Lyre to search for Panja–instead however she finds his son, Leo.
It is significant at this point that the animals begin a ‘human school’ where they learn how to read and speak. By doing so, they learn about some of the events in the outside world and Kenichi finally has someone to talk to. The Dongo tribe once again re-emerges and is chased off, but we learn that the head of the tribe is now Queen Konga–who is in fact Mary. The manner of this transformation remains unconvincing in both Jungle Emperor and Kimba. The former suggests that Mary knows what she is doing and is acting out a fantasy of her own, where the TV series uses the all-too-familiar amnesia shtick.
Queen Konga wishes to control the entire region, which makes Leo a threat so she begins devising ways to capture and or kill him. Through one of these adventures we learn about Mamamoth and Mt. Moon. Leo makes a powerful ally by befriending Mamamoth and she will play an important role in the remainder of the story.
Of more consequence in Kimba than in Jungle Emperor is the conflict between Leo and Boubou (a one-eyed adult lion) who vies for the companionship of Lyre. Leo must put an end to this and puts Boubou’s other eye out. The event however leads to Leo and Lyre’s temporary separation (Lyre thinking Leo is dead, and Leo thinking Lyre has abandoned him.)
Leo ultimately ends up visiting his aunt Luna and the village of pigmies from which Leo escaped. He contemplates for a short time staying there as leader of the pygmies, but is convinced by Lyre (who reappears) that he must return to the animals he is king to. Mustachio also returns to the story at this point, convinced that Kenichi is still alive in the jungle. In Kimba, the tribe seems to have gone extinct, but Luna is still there with all the pelts of Leo’s ancestors.
It is now time for conclusion of one of the major story arcs as Queen Konga masses her people and domesticated animals for a final attack against Leo’s jungle (and Leo himself.) Mustachio and Kenichi are reunited but it is a short bit of happiness for them as Leo and friends seem soundly defeated by the Dongo tribe. They are at last forced to retreat to a small island, awaiting their demise–a scene intensified in Kimba by the animals sadly (yet proudly) singing one of the first songs that united them as a community.
The day is saved however by the appearance of Mamamoth (who claims she just visited for more elephant grass.) Queen Konga is defeated and is able to return to her identity as Mary. Mustachio, Kenichi and Mary leave the story at this point, although we will see more of Mustachio later. This is effectively where the Kimba storyline ends, this being episode 45, “Much Sweet Sorrow”; the remaining episodes not contributing to any continuous storyline.
The final story arc begins with Leo and Lyre having two cubs, Lune and Lukio. There quickly emerges a childhood rivalry between Lune and the young elephant Bijo. This rivalry is played out fully in Onward Leo! but still remains important in Jungle Emperor in convincing the elephants that not everything about humans is bad.
After hearing many stories from Koko the parrot, Lune becomes convinced that his place isn’t in the jungle and he must visit the humans. Consequently, Lune embarks on a series of adventures similar to those Leo underwent in the earliest parts of the story, though with considerably harsher treatment from humans.
The story from now on until the end switches between the narratives of Leo, Mustachio (until they converge) and Lune, and there is no proper sequence in which to relate them:
Mustachio on his return trip from Africa falls into the hands of a spy ring which is involved with Nation A (or is it Nation B?) They now have control of the Moonlight Stone which they’ve forcibly taken from Lamp. Through a series of events I’m not going to detail, Mustachio ends up getting away from the spy ring and leading either Professor Plus (or is it Professor Minus) from Nation B (or is it A?) back on an expedition to Mt. Moon now that they are convinced this is where the Moonlight stones are from.
It becomes apparent through the involvement of Nation A and Nation B that the moonlight stones are of interest primarily as a weapon, and the two professors (Plus and Minus) who were such good friends at the beginning of the story are now pitted against each other because of politics. Both lead an expedition to Africa attempting to be the first to reach Mt. Moon and retrieve more moonlight stones (or at least learn about their origins.)
In the meantime, the spy ring which met up with Mustachio earlier now meets up with Lune (it is such a very small world!) It seems that their head man, Adam Dandy sees big money to be had in a talking Lion and apparently runs a circus on the side. Tricking Lune to cooperate at first, and then later by force, the little lion cub soon learns that humans and their world is not at all what he’d hoped it would be and begins to long for his homeland.
Lamp returns for a final bout with Adam Dandy and sets the circus on fire. It is high time for Lune to escape but instead he realizes all of the captive animals will die if he doesn’t help them. With the cooperation of the other animals, Lune puts out the fire and is recognized as a leader by the other animals. Adam Dandy and Lamp are trampled by elephants and perish.
Meanwhile in Africa, a castle is built in honor of Leo and Lyre; but its construction is opposed by the elephants. Upon completion, a contagious and fatal disease is contracted by the animals and many (including Lyre) die. It is at this point that Mustachio and his expedition team (in search of the moonstones) emerges and quickly conceive a remedy. Because the humans save Lukio and the other animals, Leo promises to accompany the exploration party–which of course becomes his undoing.
In time, Nation A and Nation B’s team meet up as they attempt to overcome the many challenges of Mt. Moon, eventually even aided by Mamamoth, who encourages them to turn back. Politics are abandoned as they approach the summit. Many have died and Leo goes snow-blind.
The source of the Moonstones are discovered and recorded by the scientists but all perish on the return trip. Eventually only Mustachio and Leo are left. Leo recognizes that with his hide and meat, Mustachio could make it down from the mountain so he sacrifices himself in a manner that Mustachio has no choice.
Returning to the jungle, Mustachio meets Lune who has just returned from the human world and must now deal with both his father and mother’s death. The film version (Jungle Emperor Leo) ends here, but in the manga we are treated to an epilogue in which we learn of Lune and Lukio’s future success and wonder what their new kingdom will be like.
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