Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

Hi everyone! I would like to know what you think of my plan for my new Jungle Emperor Leo book series that I'm writing.

I started the project back in 07, and have been working on it since. I currently have two books written, and am working on the third (fourth in chronological order) now. There will be seven in all, and a prequel Before I go into detail, let me explain the background first.

t all started six years ago (I'm 16 now) when I was flicking through TV channels. Kimba happened to pop up, and I began to watch it, and I fell in love with it. For the next two years, I watched it continuously, every Saturday morning. However, it mysteriously vanished off the air, and I was left without anything to watch.

It was around this time that I began to look for more info on Kimba, and that's when I found a lot of websites. I learned a lot from these websites, and became interested in other Kimba-related works, like Onward Leo for example.

I bought a tape of "Onward Leo" off of Amazon, and watched it. I was horrified of Leo's treatment of Rune. So, after it was over, I thought to myself, "I'm going to make this better." and that's how my stories wear born. I wrote two shot Onward Leo stories, and then when I got to my third story, (I was 14 at this point) that's when things changed.

My previous two stories had never been over 30 pages, so by the time my third one was at 60 pages and far from done, I knew it was going to be a novel. It was also during Christmas time as I was writing the book that I got a chance to See the Jungle Emperor movie. I hated the way it ended of course, but a new idea was planted in my head: that was going to be the first book, the one before the one I was writing at the time, but with a few things changed. (Leo and Lea not dying for example) It was then that I firmly decided that I was going to make a book series out of it. It was originally going to be five books, but I changed it to seven. (I'll explain why soon)

I finished the book on August 18, 2008, at a page count of 194 pages. Also, I immediately began to write the second book,and by the next day, I had the first chapter for the next book already completed. By April of this year, I completed that book, (188 pages) and immediately started the next one, and now, I'm up to 83 pages for that one. So now that you know my story, I'll explain the story of the series as a whole, what I've changed, and why.

Enjoy.

The series starts off with the first book, "The Case of The Moonlight Stones". The Book opens with Leo waiting for Rune and Rukio to be born. I add a few things here than what the movie original had. After this point, we move on to some manga-inspired adventures before we delve into the main plot. Now, there are some plot changes I have made. First of all, there's a lot more humor in it, and a significant decrease in the amount of deaths. Also, I have Leo and Dr. Mustache recognize and know each other. A big plot change is Rune's discion to run off to the human world. He thinks about it, but decides not to. Dr. Mustasche saves both Lea and Rukio from the Pruapra, so that plot is changed.

Rune sneaks along with Leo on the exspidison to Mount Moon like he did in Onward Leo. This is very significant because Rune ends up saving Leo's life. Just as Leo is about to jump on Dr. Mustasche's knife, Rune spots a heard of elk, and they eat those instead.

The book is a combination of the Jungle Emperor Leo movie, (for the most part) Bits of the Onward Leo series, and bits of the manga, all carefully placed together so that they fit seamlessly with each other.

Now that I've explained the plot of the fist book please allow me to explain the second, which was the first one I wrote.

It takes place five years later, and Rune and Rukio are 13 now. A plane crashes in the jungle, and Leo and Rune release a pack of twenty Russian Silver wolves. Three of them become very important secondary characters: Exovus, Boris and Malachi, who appear in every book from then on. I'm not going to explain anymore of the plot. Instead, let's skip ahead to book three for a moment.

Book 3 occurs one year later. (as do all the books from this point on) And for the surprise plot twist, Ham-egg is reviled to still be alive, and comes back. But that's not the reason I wanted to mention this one. We meet a very important character: Rune's future mate and wife, Annie Lionel, who he finds after she's been shot Their relationship grows thought the series, and at the start of the 7th book (he's 18 now), the secrately get married. More on book 7 later.

Let's skip to book five for a moment. In this one we meet another important character, Kennith Lehmoore, Rukio's future husband. He turns out to be the exiled prince of the Lehmoore kingdom, who was exiled because of his power-hungry half-brother. What's interesting here is that Rukio and Kennith COMPLETELY dislike each other at first; Kennith is arrogant and prideful, and thinks Rukio's a complete idiot, and a waste of his time, and likewise, Rukio thinks that he's a jerk, and can't imagine being with someone as obnoxious as him. However, love has other plans, and they fall in love with each other. They are the most unlikely pair, but somehow it works out.

Now for Book 7. This one is the last in the series, and opens with Rune and Annie eloping, with Daniel and Paulie and Bucky as the only witnesses. They elope in the middle of the night. It then moves on to their High School Graduation. Interestingly, almost all their classmates at the party know that they're married.

Soon a war breaks out between Leo's Kingdom and the Empire of Panteronia. (Things between the two countries begin in book 4) soon, times are dark, and both Rune and Kennith are called to go serve. After a few months, Rune returns home for a little bit to discover a shocking secret he wasn't ready for yet: Annie is five months pregnant.

So now a double-plot line is made; the plot line with the war going on, and the romance between Rune and Annie as they try to keep her pregnancy hidden. I'm not going to give away how it ends, but I will say that book seven spans 8 years total. Not only does it cover the war, but it covers what happens afterward, like Rune and Rukio's coronation as King and Queen, Both Rune and Rukio's weddings, the birth of both their cubs, and much more. In fact, the epilogue, which occurs six years later, and we get a glimpse of what Rune and Rukio's children's childhoods are like, as we see them when they're 8 years old.

Now, let me tell you what I've changed.

First of all, I'm trying to bring Kimba into the 21st century, and as such, has to be modified in some ways. I've set it to modern time, as I give reference to things such as iPods and computers. Also, (don't get mad at me) but I've completely gotten rid of the conny idea of carnivores not eating meat. Yes, I have them hunt, and kill, and eat. I'm sorry, but kids today just won't believe something as silly as connivers being vegetarian. But, I also explain why Leo turned his back on that ideology. When he was 15, (shortly after he returned from living with Leona in the village of the pigmys) there was a massive drought and famine. which left their fruit orchards and vegetable gardens without any produce. This lead to a seven-day starvation period, and Leo was caught right in the middle. As the years passed, Leo found it increasingly difficult to control instinctive urges to kill, and they became more prominent and stronger as he got older. Well, extreme hunger was the final push that lead him to realize that he can't escape being a lion at heart. So, for the first time in his life, he hunts and eats a antelope on instinct and impulse. After that, Leo realizes that he can't escape his instincts, and soon comes to enjoy the hunt, and eating meat. Not to say that they don't still eat fruits and vegetables, but they don't eat them as often, now meat ins their primary diet, with fruits and vegetables on the side. (sometimes) I honestly think the while vegetarian thing is just a from of brainwashing kids.

Also, another thing that I felt had to go was the whole human-animal relations thing. It's not even a real-life issue, and focusing on that instead of the characters is rather silly. The human and Animal words aren't separate; we all live on one planet, which God intended for both man and Animal to share. And it's not like animals possess any sort of real wisdom or anything. Sure, all of us love animals, and we can learn a lot about how nature works from them, but they don't possess any sort of wisdom, or facts of life. But I'm talking about realistically. The line in the Jungle Emperor Leo movie where Leo says to Rune, "I just hope you get to see that world, a world where humans and animals can share their wisdom." this made me crack up out of total irony. Also, I disliked how Kimba treated poachers, and humans in general. They portray it as if 90% of people have no respect for animals or nature and just got around killing animals senselessly and blowing-up forests. That's a big fat white lie. The poachers in kimba are not realistic pepeole or hunters: they're physicopath extremists. In fact, probably only 2% of pepeloe are actually like the poacher's portrayed in Kimba. Also, I'm sick of the notion that If you like like to hunt for sport, then your automatically a bad, evil person who has no respeect for animals at all. This view is very disrespectful to the human race, and downright not true. But enough of my ranting. Let's continue, shall we?

Now I also have it aimed at teenagers, not at young kids, so the tone of the series overall is darker, much like the Onward Leo series, but with a lot more humor to balance it out. I've tried to strike a balance between the Kimba and Onward Leo series; the book series has the cuteness and charm of the Kimba series, but also has the darker and more mature viewpoint of the Onward Leo series. Blood and violence are shown in full context, and nothing is held back. Also, since this is written for a older and more mature audience, mild language is more permissible. ("Damn" is about as far as I go) Also, in the later books in the series, (5-7) Rune and Annie's relationship gradually becomes more sexually charged as their romance progresses.

However, I have kept all the concepts in the Manga and Kimba completely intact, like the restaurant, school. and post-office for example, except with modern updates; the restaurant in no longer just a simple pavilion, but now a full-blown, American-looking restaurant, both on the inside and outside. I have even given it a name: "Kimba's", which I thought would be extremely appropriate. Same with the school: it is now a large, brick building which looks like you average school classroom. By this point, I don't think I need to explain what I've done to the post-office.

My book series tries to blend all of the different versions of Kimba together: the manga, the 1965 series. (both of which will be combined fully in the prequel) the Jungle Emperor Leo movie, the Onward Leo series, and the 89 series as well. My book series tries to mix everything together into one set so you get all of the different versions at once.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. I would love to hear from you, and your thoughts on what I've come up with.

This all sounds very interesting and exciting. I'm sure it would be enjoyable to read.

The only thing is won't you have to attempt to secure Tezuka Productions full permission before you try to find somebody who will publish a variation on Jungle Emperor for you?

Don't get me wrong. I think your ideas are very cleverly imaginative and I wish you the best of luck with it.

I hate to say this, but your dissatisfaction with the ending of the film only shows that you do not understand Tezuka. While I make no claim of expertise, self-sacrifice is one theme that all but permeates his works. In BUDDHA, a boy gives himself as food for a family of wolves or foxes. In ASTROBOY, numerous characters sacrifice themselves to save others, including ASTROBOY himself.

If Tezuka had wanted to provide an ox or some other animal at the last minute, he easily could have done so. In the book, GOD OF COMICS, self-sacrifice is listed 7 times in the index, in 5 different chapters. It may be difficult for some people to come to terms with the beauty of self-sacrifice, but it is the heart of Christianity. Without it, the Gospels would seem incomplete, there would be no finale. I could go on, but to gain a better understanding of Tezuka and the culture in which he lived, you need to read a ton of his manga, or the book I just mentioned, although that would only be a start.