Leo the Lion Cub (Manga)
Also known as レオちゃん (Leo-chan)
| English Title: | Leo the Lion Cub |
| In English? | Yes* [partial digital] |
| Japanese Title: | レオちゃん Leo-chan |
| Type: | Chapter Serial |
| Original run: | 1965/04 – 1967/03 |
| Published in: | Kindergartener First Grader Second Grader Third Grader Fourth Grader 幼稚園 小学一年生 小学二年生 小学三年生 小学四年生 |
| Published by: | Shogakukan |
| Volumes: | 2 MT-277 | MT-315 |
As a tie-in to the Jungle Emperor (1965-66) television show, Leo the Lion Cub (1965-67), was simultaneously published on a monthly schedule by Shogakukan in both Kindergartener and First Grader from April 1965 to March 1967 and (presumably as the readership got older) in both Third Grader and Fourth Grader from May to November 1966.
What it’s about
A voice message from home
As the heir to the jungle throne, Leo – a little white lion cub with a mischievous twinkle in his eye – is sent off to live in Japan with a young boy named Kenichi and his family in order to learn the ways of the humans. However, the transition from the jungles of Africa to the concrete jungle of modern-day Tokyo is a bumpy one. Despite living with a loving and caring family, Leo quickly discovers that even something as simple as proper table manners can be a challenge.
During his stay in Japan, Leo has a great many adventures – and each one a brand new learning experience. However, one day when a mouse named Jack arrives – having traveled all the way from Africa carried by a stork! – and brings word that his mother has been shot, Leo decides that it is time to return to his home in the jungle.
Of course, simply getting to Africa is a challenge, but not as big a one as he faces after he arrives. With his head full of bright new ideas and skills gleaned from the humans, Leo finds out that mixing the benefits of human civilization with the law of the jungle is no easy matter.
What you should know
With the success of the 1965 anime television series, Osamu Tezuka also decided to revisit Jungle Emperor (1950-54) in manga format – only this time for a much younger audience.
Another lion learns a lesson
Of course, it certainly didn’t take much convincing for him to return to the story of the little white lion. On the one hand, the business man in him certainly saw the financial upside of having a manga tie-in on the shelves – especially since the original series was already over a decade in the past by that time. It was obviously a successful strategy, since he later replicated the formula almost exactly by publishing the Astro Boy (1980-81) manga series in Second Grader in order to tie it in to the animated television show of the same name.
However, that wasn’t the whole of it. On the other hand, Tezuka just really loved drawing stories about animals. As he mentions in the afterword to the Osamu Tezuka Complete Manga Works edition (MT-277), Tezuka himself says “I love drawing stories about animals more than anything else. Even if all I ever wrote were sci-fi comics, I would still end up wanting to draw animals with a bit of a Disney touch, at least for the children’s publications” (1983, p. 196).
So while Leo the Lion Cub (1965-67) is not truly a sequel, and the stories are not part of the regular Jungle Emperor (1950-54) continuity, they often touch on many of the same themes and events. The artwork and character designs are quite similar to the 1965 anime television series, and they include some of the stories not drawn directly or adapted from the original.
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